Furniture and Feripherals
[the publish date is retroactively published]
So, the BMC64 and C64C both have had the same issue. They are displayed under the TV, but to use them, meant moving the computer, connecting it to power, connecting the peripherals and then playing. When I finished, I did the whole thing in reverse. If I kept this up, I could easily see myself getting bored of it very quickly. As the C64 IS a computer, it then made sense to get a desk. I have the space, but the desk needed to be small, on wheels and with a fair bit of storage.
I opted for this one on Amazon
This has the mobility that I needed, along with the look of a desk that would house a BBC Micro in a school!
I was using a monitor originally, but to get ‘the best’ image I could, I remembered I had a portable TV that was ‘HD-Ready’, but it had every conceivable socket you could ever need from HDMi, right back to analogue TV and everything in between. This is a Matsui TV.
As I had speakers with my original setup, it was only right to do the same with this one. So again, back to Amazon, and I found these little beauties.
So, now I have the desk, the TV, the speakers, and a lot of C64 stuff to put onto the desk; now it was a case of getting the right connection. I tried a lot of convertors but ended up using an AV breakout adapter,
Lo and behold, it all worked! I do have the ‘jailbars’ and I distinctly remember when I had my original one, so I must have bought a cable that split the audio and video way back then.
So here is the complete setup (the monitor is not correct – as these posts are done retroactively, they do not exactly correlate with when the parts were bought). But as you can see, it doesn’t have a proper chair to sit on!
I was using a fold-up chair that made your bum hurt after ten minutes of using it, so I knew it needed to be replaced, and on Monday 11th November (yup, ultra-specific – but I am writing this on Friday 15th November – told ya they don’t properly correlate!) I bought a new chair that was ‘shop spoiled’ – it was out in the shop window and became faded. It was £40. I like the idea that it’s blue and faded, as it gives the full retro vibe, and now I can use it for longer than 20 minutes!
Here is the photo with the correct TV and the chair.
I am pleased with how far this has come since last year when I bought the BMC64, if it wasn’t for emulation, I wouldn’t be having a complete C64 setup that harks back to my original, with a bit of literal school nostalgia as well as getting things I drooled over as a kid. And yes, I’m bouncing for joy even writing this!