Specifications:
- Monitors: DIY Portable 15″ Laptop Display, 1997 Shamrock Tech. C703 17″ (CRT Monitor Mod)
- Case: Commodore C64x Retro Keyboard Chassis – Vic 20
- Motherboard: Jetway LI39 Fanless Thin-ITX Board
- CPU: 4C4T Intel J6412 Processor + integrated Intel UHD Graphics
- RAM: 16GB DDR4 3200 SODIMM
- WiFi: WiFi 6E Card M.2 AX200 Network Adapter
- Storage: ADATA SU800 256GB Solid State Drive
- Keyboard: Cherry MX 71 Key Mechanical keyboard (built in)
- Tablet: Wacom Cintiq 13HD Pen Display
- Operating System: Manjaro Linux 25.0.7+
The case is a modern recreation of the original Commodore VIC-20, sold by mini-itx.com. Case was bought here- mini ITX C64x
Second Sleeper PC build, this is my go to “office computer” I use everyday. It’s not meant to be a gaming machine like the first, but it’s good enough for my simple needs and gets my work done well.
I specifically chose the VIC-20 over the C64 chassis because I wanted the good old light brownish side keys, it feels a bit more vintage than the C64 grey side keys and reminds me of wood grain appliances I had growing up as a kid and the orange-brownish late 70’s/early 80’s aesthetic. I love this case so much, it’s just so much fun and satisfying to have something that looks super retro, but was designed with modern hardware in mind. A LOT less thrift store/ebay hunting and head scratching DIY’ing on my end, I just ordered the parts and put it together. Just beautiful.
The mechanical keyboard feels VERY nice and clicky, lots of fun to type on it! It looks kind of bulky and heavy, but the components themselves are small and it actually feels kind of light to carry. I’m using an old 15″ Laptop display taken from a broken laptop, I revived it with an LCD controller board and re-used it as my monitor for the VIC-20 (I made a post about it here!). Sometimes I plug it into my modified CRT monitor if I’m feeling nostalgic. Since this retro case is much like the original of its design, it kind of gets HOT on the bottom of the case. So I went and made a DIY cooling pad specifically for my VIC-20. And yea I know, the VIC-20 uses a different screen of BASIC V2, but I like to put up the classic C64 screen for funsies. I don’t gotta be accurate with presenting it, heck, I’m running Linux on it lol.
I’ll get to showing a video of it in action at a later time, come back later to check it out!