What about the Commodore community?

[bfollowell]

I'm curious about our ancient rival the Commodore 64. I'm assuming C-64 fans have a pretty decent sized community, much like we do. Do they have the same sort of OS/Memory, Video, Floppy Emulator upgrades that we do, or is that pretty much just an Atari thing? Do they have anything similar to the 1088XEL?

[irich2]

Check out this link for a partial answer: https://ultimate64.com

and this link: https://www.cbmstuff.com/index.htm

 

I'm sure others will chime in soon with other links they're aware of.

[+sm3]

I'm curious about our ancient rival the Commodore 64. I'm assuming C-64 fans have a pretty decent sized community, much like we do. Do they have the same sort of OS/Memory, Video, Floppy Emulator upgrades that we do, or is that pretty much just an Atari thing? Do they have anything similar to the 1088XEL?

 

This is probably a thread for the Commodore 8-bit forum, but we have stuff like this: https://icomp.de/shop-icomp/en/shop/product/c64-reloaded-mk2.html

 

Here's the forum for Commodore 8-bit on AtariAge: http://atariage.com/forums/forum/172-commodore-8-bit-computers/

[R.Cade]

Most of that scene is on Lemon64.com. It is very active...

Edited April 18, 2019 by R.Cade

[Rybags]

C64 seems lacking in RAM expansions - maybe due to a "purist" attitude due to 64K only being the overwhelming configuration. The REU of the day was somewhat rare and probably exponentially outnumbered by Atari 130XE and other Ataris both as the percentage of machines and raw numbers.

 

Also probably less modded OSes - IMO the Atari OS is much more modular and close to a serious OS of the day such as those offered by mini and mainframe makers.

[shoestring]

Check out this link for a partial answer: https://ultimate64.com

 

It's a must have if you own a c64.

[JamesD]

There are SD2IEC drives, an IDE interface, 2nd SID chip, 65816 upgrade with additional RAM, and an REU clone is in the works.
As previously stated, Lemon64.com is the place to go for the most C64 info

[+sm3]

For disk drive emulation, RAM expansion etc there is: https://icomp.de/shop-icomp/en/shop/product/Turbo_Chameleon_64.html

 

The Turbo Chameleon 64 does quite a bit. There are different kernals for the 64 and you can use this to temporarily replace them without opening the 64 for instance. Of course this kernal replacement feature is not strictly available with the TC 64, you can do with this with the 1541 Ultimate and also the EZ-Flash cartridge.

 

Plus it can completely emulate a 64 on its own when not being used in cartridge mode.

 

I have one and love it, but if cost is a factor, iComp is not your best bet

[R0ger]

As for hardware, they have similar upgrades. But as for software, they are miles ahead. C64 community is IMHO way bigger. It has several programmers doing C64 software for living. IMHO that's not possible on Atari.

[carlsson]

I don't agree that the Ultimate 64 is a "must have". To me it is just a hardware based emulator (*), though a rather good one I would assume. However nobody yet mentioned the 1541 Ultimate cartridge, now called Ultimate II+ which is made by the same people but only replaces the floppy drive with added features for cartridge emulation, emulated second SID chip and more. I think in the C64 community this cartridge is much more common than the full motherboard Ultimate 64 is.

 

Since the C128 only had moderate impact, it probably is true that memory expansions never really were considered important.

 

As for video upgrades there recently was announced a RGB upgrade in form of a chip that sits between the VIC-II and the motherboard. Though it soon was clarified it is a FPGA implementation of the VIC-II chip itself, listening to register changes made to the chip, which means the compatibility will be just as good as the FPGA implementation allows - probably some 90-98% though it will be hard to squeeze those last 1-2% from it.

 

Some people think that Lemon64 is rather Euro centric, which is why some other (more American oriented) sites have opened, like the Commodore section here at AtariAge and also places like Melon64 which came to be during an outage at Lemon64. Yet you can expect to meet the biggest community at Lemon for sure. That and CSDb which is more into demos and cracked games.

 

(*) Yes, I'm in the crowd who considers FPGA a sort of emulation, although a fast one and often very detailed. In rare cases when you can read every single gate from the original chip and implement those in the same order, it goes beyond emulation.

[scotty]

The 1541 Ultimate 2+ is the must have. Made by the same guy that makes the Ultimate64. The 1541 Ultimate 2+ does it ALL. It is a ram expansion (up to 16 Megs!), Runs cart images (Some built in), disk images and even cassette images if you get the extra dongle for like $5 extra. Has a built in SID player and TWO USB ports to add two flash drives of roms. I have an Ultimate 1MB, SIO2PC, S-Drive Max and Ultimate Cart, and this one device basically does the work off all the Atari devices I mentioned combined. Well work the money.

 

http://www.1541ultimate.net/content/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=42&Itemid=20

 

https://ultimate64.com/U2P_Cartridge_Red

Edited April 19, 2019 by scotty

[shoestring]

I don't agree that the Ultimate 64 is a "must have". To me it is just a hardware based emulator (*), though a rather good one I would assume. However nobody yet mentioned the 1541 Ultimate cartridge, now called Ultimate II+ which is made by the same people but only replaces the floppy drive with added features for

 

Yes, I meant the Ultimate II+. It's the swiss army knife of cartridges for thr c64

Edited April 19, 2019 by shoestring

[+wongojack]

For disk drive emulation, RAM expansion etc there is: https://icomp.de/shop-icomp/en/shop/product/Turbo_Chameleon_64.html

 

The Turbo Chameleon 64 does quite a bit. There are different kernals for the 64 and you can use this to temporarily replace them without opening the 64 for instance. Of course this kernal replacement feature is not strictly available with the TC 64, you can do with this with the 1541 Ultimate and also the EZ-Flash cartridge.

 

Plus it can completely emulate a 64 on its own when not being used in cartridge mode.

 

I have one and love it, but if cost is a factor, iComp is not your best bet

 

I have the U1541, but I've never actually talked to someone who has used the TC64. It sounds like you have both. How do you compare them?

[Kyle22]

True Patriots want Nothing to do with inferior Commies.

GO ATARI.

[IndusGT]

True Patriots want Nothing to do with inferior Commies.

GO ATARI.

lol

[+sm3]

 

I have the U1541, but I've never actually talked to someone who has used the TC64. It sounds like you have both. How do you compare them?

 

Yeah, the 1541 Ultimate was my first disk emulator (the previous version) and then I learned about the Turbo Chameleon 64. The TC64 just has some things the Ultimate doesn't, namely the turbo part, VGA output etc.. I use the dock with the TC64 now and then in standalone mode. Having a place to plugin a joystick is really cool! And you can also plugin a 64 or Amiga keyboard into the docking station if you want to use one in standalone mode. Of course you get the IR remote with it for use as a wireless joystick if you like.

 

What I like the most is that I don't tie up the IEC port when I use it, something you have to do with the 1541 Ultimate. Just a small thing really. I'm thankful to have them both. What's good about the 1541 Ultimate is that it works with my Commodore 128. That is a plus for the 1541 Ultimate. The TC64 will not work on the 128 and they say you can damage it if you try!

 

The latest version of the Ultimate II+ is on my list to purchase one day of course. Maybe I should sell a few of my Incognito boards I've never used to cover my purchase

[ricortes]

IMNSHO: For some reason the C64 crowd seems to contain a high proportion of weenies. They have just as many talented competent people but if you are a malcontent with personality disorders, you naturally gravitate to the C64. Kind of like the West Coast of the USA where I live. If you are looking for freaks, just go to SF or LA.

[Kyle22]

IMNSHO: For some reason the C64 crowd seems to contain a high proportion of weenies. They have just as many talented competent people but if you are a malcontent with personality disorders, you naturally gravitate to the C64. Kind of like the West Coast of the USA where I live. If you are looking for freaks, just go to SF or LA.

 

I used to live in Cali and loved it in the 1990's. I never saw human feces or needles in the streets. Not the same today. Ugh. Poor management has destroyed the Golden State. Sad.

 

I am confident that things will change for the better [soon].

[+mytek]

 

I used to live in Cali and loved it in the 1990's. I never saw human feces or needles in the streets. Not the same today. Ugh. Poor management has destroyed the Golden State. Sad.

 

I am confident that things will change for the better [soon].

 

You just need to get away from the large cities. A lot of the small towns in CA are no different then they are in other states. It's the greater population density that brings the problems. In the town I live in I've never seen needles or feces on the streets, or any number of other such problems. However it's tripled in size since I was a kid, so we do see a bit more crime and graffiti. Like I said it's the size of the city, and not the state that is the problem. Because if the town is small enough everybody knows each other which tends to keep people honest.

[Mclaneinc]

I own a 1541 Ultimate ++ and it is indeed a must have because of what is built in..And yes there's all sorts of stuff out there for the C64 in a similar style to the way Atarians do it, to be honest most retro computers have some sort sort of following built up by the people, its just what happens and not originated by anyone, it just happens.

 

The difference with the Atari and C64 is the openness of the scene, trained revamped old games are not seen as 'piracy', but as reinvention..

 

As for threads like these, can't say I'm keen because there will always be hostility with more bias to the host forum. Personally I wish these threads could remain civil but by the nature of the best, if you pitch a computer seen as a rival / inferior it will always end badly. I love both my Atari and C64, I am a huge fan of both because BOTH contain wonderful products, obviously I have a HUGE soft spot for my Atari and its been a job, a hobby and opened loads of doors for me, twas my first true computer love. These days,I'm a dirty player who cheats on her with numerous other systems but I always come home in the end...

 

Me, I see the ability to co exist and trade ideas as seen in the Bruce Lee update thread that people from both computers listened to my plea's and work started on an update which I just love to death..It can happen but hostility will kill little old projects like this..

[scotty]

 

The latest version of the Ultimate II+ is on my list to purchase one day of course. Maybe I should sell a few of my Incognito boards I've never used to cover my purchase

 

If you do, let me know. Have wanted one for a while.

[scotty]

I own a 1541 Ultimate ++ and it is indeed a must have because of what is built in..And yes there's all sorts of stuff out there for the C64 in a similar style to the way Atarians do it, to be honest most retro computers have some sort sort of following built up by the people, its just what happens and not originated by anyone, it just happens.

 

The difference with the Atari and C64 is the openness of the scene, trained revamped old games are not seen as 'piracy', but as reinvention..

 

As for threads like these, can't say I'm keen because there will always be hostility with more bias to the host forum. Personally I wish these threads could remain civil but by the nature of the best, if you pitch a computer seen as a rival / inferior it will always end badly. I love both my Atari and C64, I am a huge fan of both because BOTH contain wonderful products, obviously I have a HUGE soft spot for my Atari and its been a job, a hobby and opened loads of doors for me, twas my first true computer love. These days,I'm a dirty player who cheats on her with numerous other systems but I always come home in the end...

 

Me, I see the ability to co exist and trade ideas as seen in the Bruce Lee update thread that people from both computers listened to my plea's and work started on an update which I just love to death..It can happen but hostility will kill little old projects like this..

I agree totally. Atari is my first love. I eventually had both an 800XL and a C4C setup on my desk side-by-side back in the mid 80s. . Had the best of both worlds. Each machine has its strengths and weaknesses. I like being able to put a disk in and turn on the power and have the game load with no keyboard interaction whatsoever. While both Pokedy and SID sound great, I personally LOVE the synthesized sounds of the SID. Atari DOS makes the computer easier to use HANDS DOWN. Typing in a bunch of commands every time you want to format a disk? No thank you! Then you have the speed of the disk drives out of the box.

Edited April 20, 2019 by scotty

[ACML]

 

I used to live in Cali and loved it in the 1990's. I never saw human feces or needles in the streets. Not the same today. Ugh. Poor management has destroyed the Golden State. Sad.

 

I am confident that things will change for the better [soon].

I spent most of my life in California (moved there in 1969). Southern California in the 70's, 80's and 90's was fantastic. A truely awesome place to grow up. It's been living off that reputation ever since. So Cal is way too crowded now and Uber expensive to the point I would never consider moving back. If you lived there and bought a home before 2002, you are good to go, but now you can pay $500,000 for a home that I would not want to rasie my kids up in (neighborhood, schools, taxes, assault on 2nd Amendment). No longer the state I loved. My mom and one of the sisters and a brother still live there, but I only come to see them now. The crazy thing is that its now expensive, but you no longer get the great experience before the crowds, the schools used to be the best in the nation, housing was affordable. A blue collar worker could raise 5 kids in a nice neighborhood. Now its just pay through the nose for everything, put up with traffic and generally live in perpetual suck. I hate what has happened to such a wonderful place. They really screwed it up. There are many RED counties and small cities in California, they are just silenced by to big megalopolis'.

[Mclaneinc]

Same everywhere ACML, big business and not the best people in charge of our interests tend to destroy what was once nice.....Mind you, global warming will get us AND big business just the same..Money will not save them..

[Gunstar]

I spent most of my life in California (moved there in 1969). Southern California in the 70's, 80's and 90's was fantastic. A truely awesome place to grow up. It's been living off that reputation ever since. So Cal is way too crowded now and Uber expensive to the point I would never consider moving back. If you lived there and bought a home before 2002, you are good to go, but now you can pay $500,000 for a home that I would not want to rasie my kids up in (neighborhood, schools, taxes, assault on 2nd Amendment). No longer the state I loved. My mom and one of the sisters and a brother still live there, but I only come to see them now. The crazy thing is that its now expensive, but you no longer get the great experience before the crowds, the schools used to be the best in the nation, housing was affordable. A blue collar worker could raise 5 kids in a nice neighborhood. Now its just pay through the nose for everything, put up with traffic and generally live in perpetual suck. I hate what has happened to such a wonderful place. They really screwed it up. There are many RED counties and small cities in California, they are just silenced by to big megalopolis'.

I agree, I've have relatives (mother's side of the family) who have lived in SoCal all their lives whom I have visited since the 70's. My family lived there before I was born in the 60's. All in Orange county and most in the City of Orange. I lived there after college, in Huntington Beach, from '96 to the end of '99 and it was a fantastic place for me, I moved when I did because the cost of living started increasing drastically at that time.

 

But now I'd never want to live there again, and all my family out there hates what it's become too, and over half of them moved in the 2000's from California to Texas, as did I (after a short stint back in Wisconsin where I had gone to college from '92-'96). My parents said it used to be great when they grew up there in the 30's and 40's and still was when they left in the late 60's. There reason for leaving was due to the L.A. smog of the late 60's, when it was at it's worst and my brother and sister where constantly getting sick from it.

 

My grandfather and grandmother (father's side of the family) also built a house in Hollywood back in the 40's, and sold it and moved in the late 60's too. They sold it for $100,000 and it's worth 5.3 million today!

 

I started a successful business in 2005, in Texas, with $5000, I had for 10 years and sold for $160,000. I could NEVER have done that in California

Edited April 20, 2019 by Gunstar