Laner

These look great; I'd love to see covers for the 8-bit computer line.

Same. I need to try a different SD card and see if that makes a difference Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Agreed. The fact that I can hook it up to a PVM via RGB or a CRT TV via Component in addition to HDMI for modern displays was a huge selling point for me.

Looks like they got the VAT thing straightened out. Now it's a hair over $100 shipped to the US. Better, but still too rich for my blood. There's still some cases on ebay from the previous run... just ordered a white one for $30 shipped.

Yeah, it's pretty disappointing. The lighter colors are more tolerable, I suppose. But between that and the high cost of shipping, I'm taking a pass.

My guess is Nintendo will unofficially drop support for the 3DS once the first "core" Pokemon game comes out for the Switch. That's a year off, at least. However, with 65M+ units in the wild, I bet you'll see a decent stream of non-shovelware third party games through 2020.

Gideon posted some news earlier in the week regarding the Ultimate 64 board. Looks like he's going with a larger FPGA; there will be two SID chip slots, and wifi. Preorders start next month, € 209 incl 21% VAT. Which is very competitive with the C64 Reloaded Mk2.

Of course they put it up for sale as the Euro is rallying against the dollar. I want one, but I'm not sure I $200+ want one.

21

Doubtful. There's a lot more to the 128 than just the extra RAM; the CPU is faster, the BASIC is different, the video chip is larger (not to mention the extra one for 80 column mode), not to mention the Z80 for CP/M mode. It's more likely that Gideon's FGPA approach would be able to support a C128 mode.

I may be an outlier, but I'll probably buy both, finances permitting... The Reloaded, so I can put all of the harvested chips I have to use. More "authentic" in a general sense. Then the Ultimate for a more modern experience... no need for old chips, built in ethernet, HDMI, 1541 emulation, etc.

Yesterday, Gideon Zweijtzer (The 1541 Ultimate developer) announced that he is working on a C64 mainboard replacement, the Ultimate 64. You can read more at the link, but the short version is it's FGPA based, with niceties like HDMI out, Ethernet, 1541 Ultimate built in, etc. It will also have built in SID emulation, but will come with a socket to drop in a real 6581 or 8580. Today, in a not entirely unexpected move, Jens at iComp updated the page on the C64 Reloaded mk2.* This was announced last year, but it appears that pre-orders will be opening up shortly. This is more of a direct replacement for the C64 - you'll need to supply a handful of original ICs, including the 6510 and SID chips - whereas the Ultimate 64 looks to be a thoroughly modern redevelopment. Either way, it's nice to see the C64 getting some attention on this front. Personally, my C64s have dropped off one by one due to age, and I'm always a little hesitant to fire up my main one for fear that it'll kick the bucket sooner rather than later. Having some modern replacement options is great.

I realize this doesn't solve your immediate problem, but I use Plex to do media streaming to my X1, and it's always worked like a charm.

I let Swampfox "repair" one of my heavy sixers, which is now more dead than it was when I sent it to him.

Two separate purchases today; one was a big win, the other not so much. I ebayed two Epyx 500XJ NES controllers for use with the Analog NT Mini (need a stick for the 2600/7800 games - the NES gamepad just doesn't feel right). I asked the guy before ordering if they worked - no dead buttons, no sticky buttons. Of course not! he said. They both work great! They arrived, and one has a sticky A button, the other one has a flaky B button. Back they go! Finding 100% working 500XJ NES controllers is a bit of a challenge - I'm currently 0/4. On the other hand, there was a mystery box of Atari controllers that popped up on Varagesale today. I saw the usual suspects in the photo - paddles, a 5200 connector, a CX40. But I also spied what looked like a Competition Pro in there as well. For $15 I figured I'd take a chance. Got home, dumped out the box... two pair of paddle controllers, a driving controller, two CX40s, two CX52s (broken, of course), and the real score - two working Competition Pro 5200 controllers! I'd say I came out ahead on that transaction. Makes up for the lame eBay seller.

bump for the Vampire accelerator auction ending today

I wanted an Atari 800 and an Amiga 1000 at different times, but knew both were out of my family's range financially speaking. For Christmas '83 I really wanted an Atari 800XL, but got a Commodore 64 instead. I wasn't terribly disappointed (my dad had prepped me ahead of time), and in retrospect the C64 had much longer legs, so I have no complaints.

While I'm all about original hardware in most cases, the 90s era PC is something I have no nostalgia for - I'm perfectly content to emulate. However, YouTube keeps suggesting videos about building those machines, so there's obviously a number of people who are into that. So... more power to you - have fun Now 8086/286/CGA era? For some reason that intrigues me - probably because I didn't get on the PC train until 386/VGA was commonplace.

I'd pay $100 for a good VIC-II replacement, if only to reduce the heat output and vertical lines. VGA/HDMI output would be a bonus (plus Component and RGB as long as I'm wishing out loud...)

I've got a couple of slightly newer G4s (2002/2003 era), and have looked at upgrading them as well. At least for the models I have, CPU upgrades are very hard to come by, particularly 15 years after the fact. It always seemed like a very pricey, niche market. You'd probably get better (and more available) bang for your buck by getting an SSD and an IDE->SATA converter - https://eshop.macsales.com/upgrades/apple-power-mac-g4-agp-graphics-sawtooth-450mhz-1999/internal-drives

I have a couple of dial-up modems lying around, but everyone else has enumerated the reasons why they remain gathering dust. I miss the dial-up BBS days, but that's one area in this hobby where you just can't go home again.

I've got a couple of G4 Power Macs at the office just collecting dust... may need to check MorphOS out.

Anyone else been able to get the RCA Studio II core working with component output? It appears to load the core, but the display never comes back on. Seems to work fine over HDMI.

Might want to check out the MIST FGPA; - it currently has a Mac core up and running (among many others). No idea how good/complete it is, however. https://github.com/mist-devel/mist-board/wiki

There's some light scuffing on the metal faceplate, but overall it's in very good condition. Edit: Apparently the auction was showing up as "local pickup only" for some people. That is not the case.