YEAH!!! 
The64 started as a Kickstarter over a year ago. You can read a (very) long discussion about it here (don’t forget to grab some popcorn while reading):
http://www.lemon64.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=63181
From what I have read until now the The64 should be a “better” C64DTV.
If you just want to play those 64 games which are installed on this thing, it is probably the machine for you.
If you are serious about a C64 remake, then you should seek out a FPGA board. There are a few specially designed for recreating retro systems.
I have a Turbo Chameleon 64, which I also use to play Amiga games and Atari 8 bit games, and the possibilities don’t end there. There are more system you can recreate with it.
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Talking about keyboards…
Above there’s probably the version I used in the early nineties, the Commodore 64 G, one of the latest versions.
As a child, I always wondered what the little squares on keys mean. Still a mistery to me.
A special language code like that one on the flags of the ships? https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/International_maritime_signal_flags
Weren’t they special characters you could print on the screen pushing just 2 keys??? (a function key like C= plus the key with the character you wanted).
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I really don’t remember… so they were just graphical signs, with no special use apart the representation…
There were several retro consoles released over the recent ten years. Though, the Nintendo minis have been hyped, because they were developed by Nintendo themselves. Furthermore, the company increased this hype just by limiting the number of units deliberately, so that those units rose drastically in value on the second-hand market. Many people would have liked to get a Nintendo mini, but only few got the opportunity to own one. The Nintendo retro consoles have been basically a marketing strategy, rather than serious products. If they really intended to come up with serious recreations of the classic consoles, they wouldn’t have limited the number of units, but they would have provided an online game store with a wide range of old games. Nintendo just want to create a myth around the NES/Famicom and the SNES/Super Famicom.
If you use RetroPie and a couple of Nintendo-like game pads, you have a platform on which you can play way more games than those official remakes provide.
Seeing the announcements of other companies, my guess is that the success of the Nintendo minis just inspired some copycats.
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Exactly. They are chars, like _ or ~ on current keyboards. The C64 used the PETSCII code.
There are artists who use these characters to make wonderful pictures. This one for example is build only with characters on the C64:
There is even a special paint program.
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That’s their main purpose indeed.
Although some of them are displayed as reverse characters in strings representing control codes.
For instance, when entering a BASIC line, in quotation mode, you can use the cursor keys, but instead of moving the cursor, you are entering the control codes as a string.
Quite unusual I guess, but at the time, I didn’t know it any different.
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They were used to draw stuff on the screen using the equivalent of ascii codes. Like
PRINT “╚═════════”
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I thought they were the symbols for the exit visa codes for Zak! 
There is. It´s called the Wii Virtual Console. Many of the old games can be downloaded for it.
Though, you don’t have access to the Virtual Console via your Nintendo mini console. You need a (modern) Wii or a 3DS instead. I just meant that the Nintendo mini consoles are not only restricted in the number of sold units but also restricted in the number of provided games. I admit that 60 bucks were nonetheless a great price for such a nostalgic retro console. But, what is it worth for, if you don’t get any at this price? The fact that Nintendo isn’t interested in producing any more units of the NES mini reveals that they just sold it in order to create a hype and increase the value of their brand this way.
The online PETSCII editor is the second coolest thing I have ever seen, for C64!!!
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I agree. And even though I was lucky enough to get both for their recommended price, I just wish they weren´t so valuable. I´ve already put the NES pack into the package and when I have played through most of the games of the SNES I will do the same with it because I can´t something like this just stand around exposed. Otherwise I´d probably even take them on travels, but not if the things are so much worth that I can´t risk absolutly anything happening to them. Though Nintendo announced to produce more of both of them, I still can´t be sure.
Somebody should create a mini ENIAC. It would weight only a few quintals and the player could run on it the program to calculate the feasibility of an hydrogen bomb.
I didn’t know that. My state of knowledge was that they would not. Well, it would be a great opportunity to add the NES port of Maniac Mansion - or even access to Virtual Console.
It seems that MM is not available on Virtual Console, though.
With it being a Disney property now, the chances may have shrunken for that (also the demand might not be very high) though I think I´ve seen an Indiana Jones game on there(but there might be a higher demand for that).
I guess they weigh how much they have to pay for licenscing fees vs. how many people will probably pay for it.
That’s true. I cannot find any Disney game on the mini consoles or on Virtual Console.
Hence, it’s great to have RetroPie!
You know I say, if there is absolutly no way for me to legally obtain it, it is their own fault (this is also true for movies).
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Just put that:
(Source code here: GitHub - kinnla/eniac: Graphical simulation of the ENIAC, first universal digital electronic computer built 1942-1946)
on an Raspberry Pi.
Gog.com re-released several Disney games (btw: at the moment some of them are on sale). So the chances are not “zero”. 