The Commodore 64 add-on that turned it into an Apple II — and took 2 years to ship
A bizarre Commodore 64 peripheral, a mime, and some pretty bad ads
Mimic Systems' Spartan, an Apple II+ emulator for the Commodore 64, was announced in 1984 but didn't ship until 1986, by which time its target platform was obsolete. Despite tepid reviews and a troubled development, a fully kitted Spartan sold for over $5,500 at auction in 2024. This piece explores the bizarre ads featuring a mime, the technical compromises, and the chaotic history behind the device.
It has the distinction of being the only 64 peripheral that when operational turned the 64 into a peripheral.
- badc0ffee
Love it.
I wonder if they could have made the disk support work better by producing an interposer board to turn the (much simpler) Apple Disk II drive into a 1541, rather than butchering a 1541 to go the opposite way.
Adrian Black found that the 1541-compatible Enhancer 2000 was essentially that, right down to having a pin-compatible Disk II style interface internally. He tried using a real Disk II with the Enhancer's logic board, and had some success using it as a C64 drive: https://youtu.be/zGm5Jvo571g?t=5780
- gwbas1c
The Spartan keeps smelling worse and worse as the article goes on:
First, it points out that the ads came out before the thing was even built: I know there's good reasons for companies to gauge interest before investing in a product; on the other hand, they didn't "know what they were getting into" or that they were going to screw up the timing of the product.
Next, it points out that the lead engineer was a teenager. This project is way to complicated for a bright kid. It implies that the company didn't have the budget to build what they wanted to build.
Finally, the coup-de-grace in the article is the description of the owner's management style. A draconian guy who fired people on a whim and made people clock out to poop. It's no wonder the only constant engineer was a teenager; they probably didn't know any better than to jump ship.
- Malic
I remember seeing ads for this back in the day.
It is so much worse than I imagined.