I just got my grandfather’s C64 up and running for fun. I ordered a 4:3 “security camera monitor” flat panel with an analog composite video input for a screen and it works great. Was only like $80 on Amazon.

I haven’t had time to play with it yet, but I also got one of these:

https://www.thefuturewas8bit.com/shop/commodore/sd2iec-range...

It’s a little mini replica of a C64 floppy that takes SD cards!

With that plus the monitor I hope to get some games going and order some controllers so I can play with my daughter. She loves retro games. They’re much more approachable and fun for young kids than a lot of newer titles.

I also plan to introduce her to programming on it. The simplicity and instant feedback on these old machines makes them great for taking the first programming steps. Sort of reminds me of how a lot of car people learn with old cars or other simpler engines as they are easier to work on. Makes me worried about how the engineers of the future will get started with today’s walls of complexity. I guess a Pi is the best modern learning machine.

The one I got running is the one my grandfather taught me BASIC on when I was like 6 so there is a neat tradition aspect too.

Commodore really could have been Apple had it been better run. The C64 was amazing, rivaling the early IBM PC for capability despite being only 8-bit. The Amiga was in many ways far superior to the early Mac and way ahead of its time.