Remember the days of yore when,  before the advent of that fancy-schmancy Windows, owning a computer meant that anyone with a little gumption could put on their  uber-nerd hat and program a low-end rip-off of the most popular game of the day? Truly, those were the wonder years.

But thanks to Makershed, those days may have returned in its fully old school glory. The 8-bit TV-Computer,  originally sold in emerging markets as an educational tool, has touched down stateside and is ready to be hacked to your heart’s content. Peep the decidedly ’80s specs:

• 1-MHz CPU
• Comes with keyboard, mouse, and two Playstation-like controllers (that aint keepin’ it retro!)
• Plays Famicom carts (NES with an adapter)
• Mandarin Chinese GUI with English DOS prompt
• BASIC
• 8-bit music controller
• Visual Theremin mode

Priced at $50, it’s a tad overpriced; you can get a Commodore 64 off of the eBays for half that. But if you’re godless Socialist who hates the C64, or someone with a woody for purchasing ancient computing hardware fresh out the box, it’s not to bad a deal for chiptuners, homebrewers, and the like.

Jeffrey L. Wilson  (703 Posts)

Founder and Editor-in-Chief Jeffrey L. Wilson’s love of all things shiny/digital has lead to jobs penning gadget- and video game-related nerd-copy for E-Gear, Laptop, LifeStyler, Parenting, PC Magazine, Sync, Wise Bread, and WWE. Besides overseeing the editorial content at 2D-X.com, the Brooklyn College grad hosts New York City’s monthly Bits and Bytes video game media and public relations meetup. You can find him at a bar sampling foreign beers, or on Twitter doing twittery things.