• Please review our updated Terms and Rules here

Won a C= SX-64 auction today!!

M

Maverick1978

Veteran Member
Joined
Mar 29, 2010
Messages
1,966
Location
Florida, USA
As I'm sure you guys all know, the SX-64 was touted as the first "portable" computer and was one of the luggable, not-so-portable portables :) I've been after one for years to round out my C64 collection, and have always lost out: either I wasn't willing to sell my body to science to get the funds, or there was just too much wrong with it for me to bother (I didn't want to have to hunt down keyboard latches and the like).

Saw one on ebay yesterday with bidding around the $100 mark. It didn't have broken keyboard latches, was in overall good shape, was complete with full manuals and system disks (I've actually got several of the system disks for it already), came with a boxed/likely-new printer, and best of all - it was tested working.

I tossed a bid of $175 and didn't look back, figuring that it would go to the $200+ mark, as most of them do.

As it turns out, I won :)

The guy's gouging me on shipping just a bit, but hey, that I can handle - I'm finally getting an SX-64!!!

Pictures forthcoming.

(now to find a place to set it up..... SIGH) :cool:
 
Sx-64

Sx-64

Sounds like you are pretty pleased with your purchase :)
I went looking for the auction and found it. Actually the shipping seems reasonable considering the printer in the mix is probably fairly hefty as is the SX-64.
Glad to see a fellow vintage computer collector happy with his 'new' acquisition - have fun, and definitely post some pics!

On further inspection of the auction I see the printer is as heavy as the SX. Also I note the seller has a short track record, which doesn't mean a lot most times - but some buyers tend to shy away from sellers with not too many sales under their belt. I've never worried about it in buys I've made and haven't been burned yet. Now I notice you've made about 4 times the buys I have on eBay, so I'm probably not helping you here - but maybe someone else will find the info useful :)
Did you notice the 'previous' auction on this same machine? Item # 320509331484 with a starting asking price of $350.
 
Last edited:
Oh, trust me - he charged more shipping than was listed on the eBay calculator! laugh.. but that's ok. While I probably won't keep the printer, the SX-64 I'm quite excited about. I did see his previous auction - he was definitely hoping to cash in.

I've only laid eyes and hands on one SX-64 before, and it was a gutted system. While I was rather upset, initially, to read about a guy that had gutted the system and turned it into a stealth 1ghz system (circa 2003), after seeing the implementation, speaking with the guy, meeting up with him, gaming on it, and taking it apart for a first-hand look at the custom PCBs he designed for the guts of the machine, I actually donated several other C64 peripherals to him for further stealthy expansion. Sadly, we lost contact not long after meeting up at that LAN party, so I never knew what he made of the 1541's, mouse, and monitor that I gave him, if he ever did anything with them. Unfortunately as well, I don't know whether the machine still even exists. The extents he went to so that the machine would appear to be an SX-64 from the outside was uncanny...

You can take a look at Neil Jansen's SX-64 rig here. I can personally attest that it was as awesome as it looks in the pictures, and that we had dozens of people come by to be amazed at the DVDs and gaming we had going on that original 5" screen! (we had Half-Life going on it, among other things!)
 
Respectfully, this is the first portable with a built-in color monitor, not the first portable. (ie. IBM 5100, Osborne I, Grid, etc came before the SX-64.). But that does not diminish it's value or importance.
 
Thanks for the correction, billdeg. You're 100% correct! Guess I should've inserted "color-computer" in there somewhere. See what happens when you get to typing too fast and not thinking fast enough!? :)
 
I still remember being in K-Mart in the 1980s playing with that model and wondering how a game would look on such a small screen.
 
$350 sounds like what one can expect for a PAL 220V SX-64, which are far less common than the NTSC 110V one. Actually I was bidding on a PAL one the other day, but didn't feel like shelling out those ~$450 it landed at. On the other hand that unit had an uncommon, loose OEM game cartridge bundled with the SX-64 which on its own might be worth at least $30-40 to collectors.
 
C264 on Ebay

C264 on Ebay

Maverick1978 said:
Thanks for the correction, billdeg. You're 100% correct! Guess I should've inserted "color-computer" in there somewhere. See what happens when you get to typing too fast and not thinking fast enough!? :)
Click to expand...

I am self-conscious sometimes about correcting others' posts, but I look at this board as a place where one can get *correct* information, these posts can last for years.

So...have you seen the C264 on Ebay? Got money for that one too?

Bill
 
Definitely saw it. I wish that I had money for it! While I do have a few ultra-rare pieces, I've no prototype-stuff in any of my collections. Scoring one would be awesome... but sadly, I've about tapped myself for spare cash in recent weeks, as I'm not willing to dip into my savings to satisfy my collecting bug.
 
Congrats on the win and the good part is it's one of the easy to excuse systems as for the importance of it's title of first color portable computer. They're just fun anyway ;-) You probably know but not only with the built-in disk drive can you play the games but it also has a cartridge slot on top for c-64 cart programs.
 
Well done on the SX-64.

I have one of these. The screen is amazingly small and I can't imagine actually having to do any work on one. Nevertheless, it certainly LOOKS cool and is a real vintage gem.

There was a RAM issue when I first got hold of mine. It needed a lot of care and patience to fix but I got there in the end.

Enjoy your new unit.

Tez
 
Thanks, barythrin - I'm quite excited about it. The screen's small, and it won't be worth actually using for anything more than show or "ahhhh - I have one" factor, but it's still too cool :) I actually used to program quite a bit on a Kaypro PC luggable in high school - with it's 5" amber screen with CGA-compatible graphics. I'll probably end up doing a few type-in programs on this just to say that I did!! I was aware of the cartridge slot on top, but thanks! It's a great feature for me as some of my favorite programs are on cartridge, and I would REALLY hate life without my FastLoad cartridge (as I've no desire to upgrade to a JiffyDOS chip).

Thanks for the link, Tezza - that may prove to be quite helpful, either now or in the future. I've an old copy of the C64 repair manual packed away, but I'm sure that it would avail me little should I run into problems with the SX-64.

Actually, I'm hopeful that I don't, as I never have taken the time to learn to solder properly - slapping a sloppy bead is about the best I can manage right now.... Maybe it's time to put that Hakko solder station I purchased to use and learn how!? :)
 
Lucky! I hope to get one some day - they're quite awesome.

Adding my tidbit of knowledge: there is only one disk drive, even though Commodore intended for two (thus the other slot) because of power requirements. You'd have to mod in a more powerful PSU or something to get a second drive in there - don't try it without doing this as it can cause damage iirc.
 
Just a word of caution to you SX-64 owners... be careful of plugging peripherals into the User Port that are powered by the system, you can blow out the transformer on the system's power supply and then nothing will work. Ask me how I know. ;)
 
geoffm3 said:
Just a word of caution to you SX-64 owners... be careful of plugging peripherals into the User Port that are powered by the system, you can blow out the transformer on the system's power supply and then nothing will work. Ask me how I know. ;)
Click to expand...

How do you know how? Experience? :p
 
Raven said:
Lucky! I hope to get one some day - they're quite awesome.

Adding my tidbit of knowledge: there is only one disk drive, even though Commodore intended for two (thus the other slot) because of power requirements. You'd have to mod in a more powerful PSU or something to get a second drive in there - don't try it without doing this as it can cause damage iirc.
Click to expand...
I know at least one person on here who's added a second drive to his SX64; looks nice and works well. Maybe he'll pop in.
 
I can only start to imagine how heavy a DX-64 would be. I am also aware that Commodore at first announced three models: SX-100 with B&W display, SX-64 and DX-64 with dual floppy drives. The general wisdom is that many potential business customers waited for the dual version, which never surfaced and dragged down the SX-64 itself.

By the way, if you want to see something creepy, look for the SX-500 which was a concept built Amiga 500 in a SX-64 shell. Perhaps not the most optimal luggable computer of its day (1988, 1989?) but then again I'm not sure Commodore would have been able to find a market for a proper Amiga laptop neither.
 
carlsson said:
I can only start to imagine how heavy a DX-64 would be. I am also aware that Commodore at first announced three models: SX-100 with B&W display, SX-64 and DX-64 with dual floppy drives. The general wisdom is that many potential business customers waited for the dual version, which never surfaced and dragged down the SX-64 itself.

By the way, if you want to see something creepy, look for the SX-500 which was a concept built Amiga 500 in a SX-64 shell. Perhaps not the most optimal luggable computer of its day (1988, 1989?) but then again I'm not sure Commodore would have been able to find a market for a proper Amiga laptop neither.
Click to expand...

Doubtful. The PC was so entrenched in the business sector by the time an Amiga laptop would have been viable, and there was little to no competitive business software for the Amiga by that time either. It was strictly a hobby machine for the most part.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top