Just won Commodore SX-64

[lumbee74]

Just won commodore sx-64 in really good shape. I have been wanting one for awhile to add to the collection, but usually go for hefty price. Anyone on the forums own one? what has been your experience good or bad. I have c-64 too, but haven't got but 1 game for it, but now getting the sx-64 has gotten me wanting to get more games. Any suggestions? Thanks in advance for any advice you can give me.

[the-topdog]

Just won commodore sx-64 in really good shape. I have been wanting one for awhile to add to the collection, but usually go for hefty price. Anyone on the forums own one? what has been your experience good or bad. I have c-64 too, but haven't got but 1 game for it, but now getting the sx-64 has gotten me wanting to get more games. Any suggestions? Thanks in advance for any advice you can give me.

 

 

I have four (two CIB) and a spare parts unit to keep mine running. It is my hands down all time favorite computer in the history of the seven known universes! A self contained portable color Commodore 64!

 

When I am running it at home I hook it up to my big-screen TV(since it ies easier to see than the 5") but on the road at parties, vintage tech conventions and friends houses I use the little built in 5" color monitor. It is the ultimate gaming machine and by hooking up a 1541 external drive to it, you can duplicate disks for your buddies straight from the built in disk drive (no more swapping read and write disks 32 zillion times to copy).

 

I have a trillion or so (ok fine, about 25) extra C64 game cartridges, and a few disk based games, I can let go for cheap (or trade for) so you can have fun with your SX-64. I even ran a BBS off of one of mine.

 

My brother still has the original one we bought back in the 80's.

 

You will not be disappointed with that little (big) gem!

Edited May 30, 2011 by the-topdog

[+doctorclu]

Been working on one. Have it where it powers up and displays ok, but the keyboard still needs work. And I have it listed for sale since I think I probably won't tinker with it much longer, but a cool computer all the same.

[bigbee99]

I had been messing with my old C64 a lot lately until my monitor just died. Sure I could hook it up to the TV or something but I want a dedicated screen for it. Looking for a cheep CRT TV with S-vid in right now.

 

That would defiantly be a nice "on the go" machine though. As far as games, the C64 is still very a live with a lot of home brews coming down the pipes all the time. Lately I've just been playing VICE with Paperboy, Wizard of Wor, Summer Games, and a little bit of Giana Sisters 2 thrown in the mix. When I get my x1541 cable finished (waiting on parts in the mail. I was out of 6 PIN DINs) the c64 will find it's place back on my desk and I can kick Vice to the curb, new monitor or not. I'll drag an old CRT out of storage if need be.

 

B

[lumbee74]

I had been messing with my old C64 a lot lately until my monitor just died. Sure I could hook it up to the TV or something but I want a dedicated screen for it. Looking for a cheep CRT TV with S-vid in right now.

 

That would defiantly be a nice "on the go" machine though. As far as games, the C64 is still very a live with a lot of home brews coming down the pipes all the time. Lately I've just been playing VICE with Paperboy, Wizard of Wor, Summer Games, and a little bit of Giana Sisters 2 thrown in the mix. When I get my x1541 cable finished (waiting on parts in the mail. I was out of 6 PIN DINs) the c64 will find it's place back on my desk and I can kick Vice to the curb, new monitor or not. I'll drag an old CRT out of storage if need be.

 

B

 

I am looking forward to playing some games on it. It games with some epyx and other games as well as some disk with copied games and other software. I'll probably get sd2iec type devices or 1541u-II for it eventually.

[bigbee99]

The 1541u-II is just too expensive for me right now. Very nice though. A Flash Cart of some type would be nice to have as well. Hell, I'd even like to get a modem for it, but 1st I just want one of my PC's talking with a 1541 drive. I picked up a cute little TV with S-video in today, so I'm 1/2 way back in business.

 

B

[Rockin' Kat]

A lot of floppy disk games with copy protection fail on the SX-64 if it isn't modified due to some differences related to it's lack of the datasette port... which is why mine is modified... honestly though, I can't recall where I found info on the mod.

 

So if you should load an original game disk and it hangs at load... don't freak out and think your SX64 is bad.

 

On other notes, there are a lot of documents on trouble shooting commodore equipment here:

 

http://personalpages.tds.net/~rcarlsen/cbm.html

 

[edit]I think I found the mod I was talking about... it's pretty simple. http://personalpages.tds.net/~rcarlsen/cbm/sx64.txt

Just do a find-in-document search for "Robotron 2084"[/edit]

Edited June 24, 2011 by Rockin' Kat

[amiman99]

I had been messing with my old C64 a lot lately until my monitor just died. Sure I could hook it up to the TV or something but I want a dedicated screen for it. Looking for a cheep CRT TV with S-vid in right now.

 

That would defiantly be a nice "on the go" machine though. As far as games, the C64 is still very a live with a lot of home brews coming down the pipes all the time. Lately I've just been playing VICE with Paperboy, Wizard of Wor, Summer Games, and a little bit of Giana Sisters 2 thrown in the mix. When I get my x1541 cable finished (waiting on parts in the mail. I was out of 6 PIN DINs) the c64 will find it's place back on my desk and I can kick Vice to the curb, new monitor or not. I'll drag an old CRT out of storage if need be.

 

B

I made my self X1541 cable and for some reason it did not work with my 233MHZ Win2k Laptop, I tried different settings with parallel port and did not work. BUT, there was a similar cable for Amiga 1200 Computer, there are 2 extra pins with little different pin out. the Amiga version of X1541 cable and Amiga software work beautifully. Just drag and drop files, the 1541 disk drive shows up in Amiga desktop. I needed this setup to transfer some games for my C=Plus/4. works very well.

[Guest]

Very cool! They are one of my favorite commodores.

[desiv]

A lot of floppy disk games with copy protection fail on the SX-64 if it isn't modified due to some differences related to it's lack of the datasette port... which is why mine is modified... honestly though, I can't recall where I found info on the mod.

 

I had my SX64 for about 2 years Back in the Day (never should have sold it, but..) and I don't recall having any issues..

I'm not saying they weren't there, but the games I owned (several) didn't have any problems, and the rest (de-protected we will say... and there were a LOT of those) never complained....

 

If I hadn't heard of the compatibility issue, I never would have known about it.

 

desiv

[lumbee74]

A lot of floppy disk games with copy protection fail on the SX-64 if it isn't modified due to some differences related to it's lack of the datasette port... which is why mine is modified... honestly though, I can't recall where I found info on the mod.

 

I had my SX64 for about 2 years Back in the Day (never should have sold it, but..) and I don't recall having any issues..

I'm not saying they weren't there, but the games I owned (several) didn't have any problems, and the rest (de-protected we will say... and there were a LOT of those) never complained....

 

If I hadn't heard of the compatibility issue, I never would have known about it.

 

desiv

The only issue I am having right now is some of keys don't work when pushed or have to push and hold multiple times to get them to work. Not really sure how to fix this, so might try to find another keyboard, but that will probably be hard to do; I think?

[the-topdog]

A lot of floppy disk games with copy protection fail on the SX-64 if it isn't modified due to some differences related to it's lack of the datasette port... which is why mine is modified... honestly though, I can't recall where I found info on the mod.

 

I have played hundreds of disk games on my SX-64 computers and have never had the problem you describe. The only gaming problem I ever had with the SX-64 is that some oddly shaped cartridges like MR Computer Products, OEM and Parker Brothers, don't fit quite right in the cartridge slot... tho the Parker Brothers games still work, they are just fidgety on the connection.

[Rockin' Kat]

I seem to recall Qix was one of the games which would not load until I got the mod done. It's been a while.

[jmetal88]

A lot of floppy disk games with copy protection fail on the SX-64 if it isn't modified due to some differences related to it's lack of the datasette port... which is why mine is modified... honestly though, I can't recall where I found info on the mod.

 

I had my SX64 for about 2 years Back in the Day (never should have sold it, but..) and I don't recall having any issues..

I'm not saying they weren't there, but the games I owned (several) didn't have any problems, and the rest (de-protected we will say... and there were a LOT of those) never complained....

 

If I hadn't heard of the compatibility issue, I never would have known about it.

 

desiv

The only issue I am having right now is some of keys don't work when pushed or have to push and hold multiple times to get them to work. Not really sure how to fix this, so might try to find another keyboard, but that will probably be hard to do; I think?

 

Just take the keyboard apart and clean the metal contacts on the plastic sheets. It's not that hard to do, I did it with mine. I think there are just plastic tabs holding the shell together, IIRC, but there might be some screws inside. Oh yeah, and I think I had to pop all the keys out to actually be able to peel off the sheets. Just be careful, and you should be fine.

[Prodos8]

I've had one since '85 that my dad bought my brother and me for $400 from a liquidator, COMB I think was the name of it. The SID chip died back in the late '80s and was replaced by some local computer repair place. I think its susceptible to static shocks through the joystick ports, so be careful when plugging stuff into them and avoid touching the pins. We used to take it with us on vacations to keep us kids entertained.

 

Only issue on mine now is the keyboard isn't very responsive. Probably need to open it up and clean it as suggested above. Until a few years ago, I hadn't used it for well over ten years.