Meet us on MeWe!

Meet us on MeWe!

This community will be migrating to MeWe....sort of.
The amazing Jeri Ellsworth has already setup a Commodore group there, and I've setup a Group called Retro Vintage Computing. Between them, they should serve to replace this Community.
I hope you'll all join us there.

You're all invited!

You're all invited!

Originally shared by Christopher Gaul

To all my fellow Vintage and Retro Computing enthusiasts, I've created a group for us on MeWe

Your all welcome to join it by clicking below.

I want you to join my group on MeWe: https://mewe.com/join/retrovintagecomputing
https://mewe.com/join/retrovintagecomputing

Review of the Pi1541 Commodore Disk Drive emulator and two of the PiHats available to make it easy to build

Originally shared by Christopher Gaul

Review of the Pi1541 Commodore Disk Drive emulator and two of the PiHats available to make it easy to build

The Pi1541 is a great option for those that want the speed and emulation accuracy of the 1541 Ultimate II, but don't need the extra features, or can't afford the price.
It slots perfectly in between the SD2IEC and the 1541 Ultimate II.

#VintageComputing #Commodore
https://youtu.be/CAqJKelw2_4

Hi

Originally shared by Karl Ellis (SOYLENT TV)

Hi,
here it is my first custom Amazfit Bip AMIGA watch face...
If you want it let me know...
Have a good day!
karl

Guy creates his own Amiga 4000 ATX form factor motherboard

Guy creates his own Amiga 4000 ATX form factor motherboard
http://www.amibay.com/showthread.php?101477-A4000TX-ATX-Amiga-motherboard

Community Showcase: Gregory Nacu and C64OS.com

https://www.vintageisthenewold.com/community-showcase-gregory-nacu-and-c64os-com/

This company tried to join this community and I rejected them because that's not what it's for.

This company tried to join this community and I rejected them because that's not what it's for. However I'm posting a link to their site just in case their services or products are useful to anyone here.
Be warned that I have never heard of them before or used their services so I cannot vouch for them in any way. Caveat emptor!

http://www.pcbdog.com/

CP/M on the C=64

CP/M on the C=64
https://virtuallyfun.com/wordpress/2018/07/27/running-cp-m-on-the-commodore-64/

A retro hardware blog I thought you guys might find interesting

A retro hardware blog I thought you guys might find interesting
https://retrozonesite.wordpress.com/page/1/

Another Commodore keyboard replacement project!

Another Commodore keyboard replacement project!

This one can even work as a USB keyboard so you can use it with your PC or with a modern Commodore emulator or Pi powered replica.

Much thanks to new member Geir Eivind Mork for sharing this link in a comment on another post.

https://deskthority.net/workshop-f7/mec64-keyboard-t4522.html

what is the cheapest way to give WHDLOAD to an Amiga 500?

what is the cheapest way to give WHDLOAD to an Amiga 500? internal mod preferred. (IDE + ram + possibly a faster 000 or 020/030). I want to mod a few machines before selling them to give the next users an actual reason to use them. I have a big problem selling stuff I know will end up in someones storage and tossed out in a decade or two given the work I've put in them.

My dad was a farmer who needed a tool to aid him in his farm accounting.

My dad was a farmer who needed a tool to aid him in his farm accounting. So he first purchased a vic 20 he saw an ad for in a DX Listening magazine, then a c64 when it came out, then a diskdrive to better organize. He also found friends to swap disks with and despite he only played text adventure games he swapped on behalf of us kids. So I grew up with a plethora of games despite the fact that if we had a Nintendo I would probably just get one game for christmas and one for my birthday and everything in between would just be borrowing from friends which would have sucked. When my dads swap buddies went to Amiga I was allowed to use my savings to purchase one myself. And he lent me one of his swapping buddies that fed me games a while on the amiga despite my dad didn't use it, he had transitioned to a PC at that time. When that source ran dry I resorted to cover disks since I loved reading magazines and probably could have had quite a few original games if I didn't spend all my money on the magazines but well. It gave me the memories of the Amiga that makes the vic 20, the c64 and the amiga my favorite computer memories. :)

Build your own Amiga dual floppy drive

Build your own Amiga dual floppy drive

This project lets you mount two fully working, slim floppy drives inside an Amiga 1011 external floppy drive case.
https://github.com/sgust/Amiga-A1012-PCB

An Amiga 600 With An FPGA Inside

https://hackaday.com/2018/07/10/an-amiga-600-with-an-fpga-inside/

http://https://hackaday.com/2018/07/08/amiga-2000-emergency-repair/

http://https://hackaday.com/2018/07/08/amiga-2000-emergency-repair/
https://hackaday.com/2018/07/08/amiga-2000-emergency-repair/

Yet another Amiga 500 accelerator board option

Yet another Amiga 500 accelerator board option

Amiga 500 users are spoiled these days.
https://youtu.be/0jyXd3BlpN8

This week, an early retrospective: a 1985 look at the C64, "the world's most popular computer" and its origin story...

Originally shared by mos6502

This week, an early retrospective: a 1985 look at the C64, "the world's most popular computer" and its origin story - being the "world's greatest video-game chips." See the full article here:
https://spectrum.ieee.org/ns/pdfs/commodore64_mar1985.pdf
There's lots of info in there about the VIC-II and the early production history of the C64, and a few hiccups too. Also "the albatross" - the slow disk drive interface, and the reasons for it, and the likelihood that this killed the C64's chances in business computing.
At the time of writing, the retail price had come down from $595 to an amazing $149 - and the bill of materials is estimated here as under $50.
"Although the machine has its flaws, the designers of the Commodore 64 believe they came up with many significant advances because of the freedom they enjoyed during the early stages of the project. The design team was autonomous—they did their own market research, developed their own specifications, and took their baby right up through production. But as soon as the production bugs were worked out and Commodore knew it had a winner, the corporate bureaucracy, which until then had been on the West Coast dealing with the VIC-20 and the Pet computer, moved in."
"And Jack Tramiel is currently chief executive officer of Atari Corp., the company that was Commodore’s chief competitor in the home-computer market before losing nearly a billion dollars in competing against the C-64. "

(It's not all about the VIC-II - there's an info-box about the SID too.)

"Design Case History: The Commodore 64" (PDF)

Originally shared by Norbert Landsteiner

"Design Case History: The Commodore 64" (PDF)
A great writeup on "world's greatest video-game chip," the VIC II chip, by Tekla S. Perry and Paul Wallich, IEEE Spectrum, March 1985. Includes lots of background and nifty details, like this explanation of NTSC artifact colors,

"Nonetheless, the Commodore 64 can display far more than the 16 colors listed in its documentation, in addition to its many other graphics features. Brian Dougherty, president of Berkeley, Calif., explained: 'The width of each pixel is almost half of the NTSC color clock, so when you alternate pixels of two different colors, instead of getting the two colors that you think you're getting, you get a whole new phase interpretation.'"

PDF: https://spectrum.ieee.org/ns/pdfs/commodore64_mar1985.pdf

HN discussion: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=17438106
https://spectrum.ieee.org/ns/pdfs/commodore64_mar1985.pdf

New replacement Commodore 64 (Vic-20) Keyboards with Cherry MX switches!

Originally shared by Christopher Gaul

New replacement Commodore 64 (Vic-20) Keyboards with Cherry MX switches!

With this final piece of the puzzle, we now have the ability to build a completely new Commodore 64 from scratch with all new parts. No more scavenging parts off of real machines.
With a new case, an Ultimate 64 motherboard, and now this keyboard, you have a fully functional, all new Commodore 64.
Long live the Commodore 64.
http://www.breadbox64.com/blog/c64-keyboard-prototype/

A tour and demo of the Ultimate 64

A tour and demo of the Ultimate 64
https://youtu.be/S8vZ2LCGUKY

Raspberry Pi based 1541 emulator

Raspberry Pi based 1541 emulator

FTA:
Pi1541 is a real-time, cycle exact, Commodore 1541 disk drive emulator that can run on a Raspberry Pi 3B (or 3B+). The software is free and I have endeavored to make the hardware as simple and inexpensive as possible.

Pi1541 provides you with an SD card solution for using D64, G64, NIB and NBZ Commodore disk images on real Commodore 8 bit computers such as;-
Commodore 64
Commodore 128
Commodore Vic20
Commodore 16
Commodore Plus4
https://cbm-pi1541.firebaseapp.com/

Workbench Explorer for the Amiga -- new file system explorer

Workbench Explorer for the Amiga -- new file system explorer


http://www.amiga.org/forums/showthread.php?s=349a52b68b4de31e740d789621c3fbf4&t=73528

New Amiga 500 cases with Vampire and RasPi support!

New Amiga 500 cases with Vampire and RasPi support!
https://igg.me/at/a500cases/x/689644

New cases for the Amiga 500 on Indiegogo

New cases for the Amiga 500 on Indiegogo
https://www.indiegogo.com/projects/new-compatible-case-for-amiga-500-plus#/

Complete Commodore 64 emulation on a Teensy 3.6?

Complete Commodore 64 emulation on a Teensy 3.6?

Apparently. Check the link.
https://www.pjrc.com/commodore-c64-emulator/

The C64 Mini - A half size retro gaming system for Commodore fans

Originally shared by Christopher Gaul

The C64 Mini - A half size retro gaming system for Commodore fans

Review by The 8-bit guy here:
https://youtu.be/GXXCj5kqPcM
https://thec64.com/

how to make a C64 CP/M or DOS/65 disk without using the CP/M cartridge and utility from CP/M simply using BASIC v2.

how to make a C64 CP/M or DOS/65 disk without using the CP/M cartridge and utility from CP/M simply using BASIC v2. may be usefull for DOS/65 user since DOS/65 doesn't come with a format utility.

code:
0 open 15,8,15
1 print "initializing..."
2 print#15,"i:"
3 print "cbm formating..."
4 print#15,"n:dos/65,65"
5 close 15
10 open 15,8,15:open 5,8,5,"#"
11 for d = 0 to 255
12 print#5,chr$(229);
13 next d
14 print "writing cp/m or dos/65 dir..."
15 for b = 0 to 3
16 print#15,"u2:"5;0;3;b
17 next b
18 close 5:close 15
19 print "allocating blocks..."
20 open 15,8,15
21 for t=1 to 17:for b= 0 to 20
22 print#15,"b-a:"0;t;b
23 next b:next t
24 for t=19 to 24:for b= 0 to 18
25 print#15,"b-a:"0;t;b
26 next b:next t
27 for t=25 to 30:for b= 0 to 17
28 print#15,"b-a:"0;t;b
29 next b:next t
30 for t=31 to 35:for b= 0 to 16
31 print#15,"b-a:"0;t;b
32 next b:next t
33 close 15

Pretty cool video on using modern compilers and dev tools to code for classic hardware

Pretty cool video on using modern compilers and dev tools to code for classic hardware
https://youtu.be/CdJOSfK1ja0

Trailer: The Commodore Story - Changing the world 8-bits at a time

Originally shared by Christopher Gaul

Trailer: The Commodore Story - Changing the world 8-bits at a time

Looking forward to this. Having lived and participated in this part of tech history, it's really neat to look back at it from multiple perspectives.
I funded the crowdsource campaign for the book "Commodore - The Amiga Years" and I've been reading it slowly, taking it in, and really enjoying it. It's got me even more excited about the release of this documentary.

https://youtu.be/yz-ptLXtNbc