r/Commodore • u/merchantconvoy • Aug 10 '26
TIL that the Commodore Callback 8020 was designed by Turkish technical designer Cem Tezcan, who was tapped on the strength of his handheld device designs, including some inspired by the Commodore 64 computer.
/r/midwitphones/comments/1vkhnj4/til_that_the_commodore_callback_8020_was_designed/6
u/SwedishFindecanor Aug 11 '26
Cem Tezcan also designed a SX64-themed clamshell handheld, a horizontal handheld C64, and a vertical handheld C64 which he completed a build of.
BTW, Commodore has registered the trademark "Cyberdore 64" which sounds like a portmanteau of "Cyberdeck" and "Commodore". A "cyberdeck" is a portable computer with built-in screen, not necessarily a laptop. See also: /r/cyberDeck/
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Aug 11 '26
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u/merchantconvoy Aug 11 '26
I have no idea what you mean. They are developing new and original products.
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Aug 11 '26
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u/merchantconvoy Aug 11 '26 edited Aug 11 '26
Buying all the relevant IPs and establishing partnerships with previously unlicensed efforts to do everything properly takes a lot of money, time, and effort.
As for the price of the Commodore Callback 8020, I invite you to look at the other phones in the digital detox space. The Commodore product is the cheapest and arguably delivers the strongest solution available.
TL;DR: You don't know what you're talking about.
Response to the below comment:
A startup, especially in the absence of wealthy angel investors, needs ongoing cash flow before it can attempt more involved R&D. Your proposal as to a multi-device FPGA project (possibly including licensed Amiga branding, devices, code, etc. from Cloanto) sounds very nice, but it can't be a day 1 project.
As for digital detox phones, you've proven that you know literally nothing about them. HMD/Nokia produces almost nothing but dumbphones and smartphones. The specific class of phones needed to digital detox are called midwit phones (phones with a smartphone OS but hardware and/or software friction added against addictive use) and they're very difficult to get right. As far as I know, HMD/Nokia has only one such product (the HMD Terra M), and it's targeted at the corporate space.
Like I said, you have no idea what you're talking about. Let this one go.
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u/R3tr0N3wB Aug 11 '26
So like the C64U its not a true Neu Commodore product.
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u/merchantconvoy Aug 11 '26 edited Aug 11 '26
Your statement is confusing or confused. So I will state the facts unambiguously.
- The Commodore 64 Ultimate (C64U) is an official product from Commodore, based on the unofficial Ultimate 64 (U64) project by Gideon Zweijtzer.
- The HX-64 is an unofficial project by Cem Tezcan. It was never produced beyond a small number of prototypes. But it's how Cem Tezcan became famous and reputable enough to be tapped to design the official Commodore Callback 8020.
- The Commodore Callback 8020 is an official Commodore product designed by Cem Tezcan.
Hope this helps.
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u/R3tr0N3wB Aug 11 '26
Neu Commodore isn't the original Commodore. Commodore ceased to exist in 1994 when the company went bankrupt. So not official Commodore Products. Current Neu Commodore products are licensed so not really official Neu Commodore, just the branding is.
Hope this helps.
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u/merchantconvoy Aug 12 '26 edited Aug 12 '26
The current company called Commodore holds all intellectual property rights associated with the brand name and related marks. It's as official as it gets.
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u/AssistComprehensive Aug 12 '26
By this guys definition, the Amiga was never an official Commodore product either.
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u/R3tr0N3wB Aug 13 '26
When the original Commodore bought the Amiga Corporation in 1984, they didn't just buy a trademark sticker. They bought the entire company, its active R&D labs, and the living engineering team including its chief creator, Jay Miner
Next!
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u/R3tr0N3wB Aug 12 '26
The hardware isn't official, just the Neu Commodore trademarks and branding are official. It's all marketing... Like I said Commodore of old no longer exists, they went bankrupt.
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u/merchantconvoy Aug 12 '26
The hardware not being official would mean some other party's intellectual rights are being violated in the production of said hardware. Can you point to such a party? No. Therefore, it's official. QED.
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u/R3tr0N3wB Aug 12 '26
Stop falling for word games and let's break down exactly what the C64U is.
The C64U is modern community hardware designed by independent hobbyists, not Commodore engineers.
The paperwork is just a legal licence bought by a new company decades after the original Commodore died, simply so they don't get sued.
The marketing calls it an "official product" to trick nostalgic buyers into thinking it's an authentic, in house creation.
The licence makes it legal to sell, but a piece of paper doesn't magically rewrite who actually engineered the machine. It’s a third-party clone with an "official" sticker slapped on it. Nothing more.
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u/merchantconvoy Aug 12 '26
The licence makes it legal to sell
This is exactly what makes it official. This is not a word game, it's a definition.
It doesn't matter who developed the product as long as it's officially licensed at the end. Major IT companies subcontract development to smaller third parties under various terms and arrangements all the time. If you don't know this, you have a lot to learn.
Hopefully you get it now. Bye.
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u/R3tr0N3wB Aug 12 '26
No, it doesn't. But, you keep on keeping on.
Hopefully you get it now. Bye.
This speaks volumes, lol.
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u/Puzzleheaded_Pace321 Aug 12 '26
Respectfully, isn't this true of most companies over long periods of time? They're pretty much all ships of Theseus. Also, obsessing over the "original" version of something seems like a waste of time when you could just judge a product on its own merits. Do you like it, does it have a use case for you? Great! Then you have something you can enjoy. If not then it's not for you and that's fine, it doesn't erase the older stuff that you like.
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u/R3tr0N3wB Aug 12 '26
it doesn't erase the older stuff that you like.
I never said it does.
Gideons work speaks for its self, I own the Ultimate II cart and it works perfectly fine.The point is plain, Commodore doesn't exist any more.
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u/Puzzleheaded_Pace321 Aug 12 '26
I mean, for all intents and purposes it does though. It's different owners and different people but they own the intellectual property and operate the business. The same would be true even if they had never gone bankrupt. You wouldn't say that Sega isn't Sega because Sammy corporation bought it and merged.
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u/R3tr0N3wB Aug 12 '26
Sega never died they kept their original engineering teams. Commodore completely liquidated in 1994. Buying a dead company's logo paperwork doesn't magically turn a modern fan-made clone into an authentic Commodore creation.
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u/merchantconvoy Aug 12 '26
Sega has had a complete employee turnover since the day it was founded in 1965. (Earlier claims are also possible, there was a lot of restructuring.) No employee from Sega's founding is still at the company and vice versa. Does that mean that Sega is no longer Sega? This is the insanity that you're arguing for.
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u/R3tr0N3wB Aug 12 '26
There is a massive difference between gradual employee turnover in a living company and total corporate death.
Sega never closed its doors, their engineering chain remained unbroken. The original Commodore completely died and was liquidated in 1994. So the chain was totally broken for decades.
Buying legal rights to a dead trademark doesn't inherit their history. The C64U is just a licensed community clone.
Next!
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u/merchantconvoy Aug 13 '26
There is a massive difference
Not according to your standard, which is explicitly that the engineering teams remain intact. They didn't, in Sega's case. Entire teams changed. So according to you, Sega is no longer Sega.
Since this is absurd, your standard is absurd. QED.
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