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Anybody own the C64 Mini? Impressions?


Spike Danton

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im still struggling a little bit with how to get the Mini to recognize a controller it won't recognize right off the bat.  I've got a Logitech F310, which I think is listed as 'non working'.

 

I just may have to give up the ghost and either get a USB to DB9 adapter for my old sticks or buy another controller :(

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On 6/16/2019 at 4:17 PM, Shannon said:

 

I was just doing a cross of making fun of a rather persistent poster in this thread who insists the whole product is a piece of sh*t and and attempt on a play of the old commode joke ( partially because I was ALL atari growing up ).  But I've always appreciated systems for their content vs their capabilities.  So it is merely an attempt at humor.

 

As for the stick it is a little hard on my hands ( like the Atari 7800 nub and other painful joysticks of the past ).  I will know more as I use it more.  As I stated I did manage to get a decent run of boulder dash out of it.  But I can see where people complain about accidentally moving up when the are pushing right ( for example ) because it happened to me a couple of time.  I think if the joystick had "click" feedback then I might like it a little better.  We will see.  I only had about an hour to play with it.

So back to one of my questions.  Does anyone know of a way to add our own boxart and screenshots to custom added games.  The interface obviously has the ability to display such.

 

Thanks!

It looks like there is, but holy moly does it look complicated (to me).

 

https://gurce.net/c64mini/how_to_mod_the_c64_mini_to_add_extra_games

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1 hour ago, digdugnate said:

It looks like there is, but holy moly does it look complicated (to me).

 

https://gurce.net/c64mini/how_to_mod_the_c64_mini_to_add_extra_games

That DOES sound awful, but I think that was from the days before the firmware upgrade that made it easier. 

 

https://www.androidcentral.com/how-load-your-own-games-c64-mini

 

stick ‘em on a USB drive? I think most of us can handle that. 

 

I have only played mine “out of the box” thus far, but I want to load it up with some “best of” lists. I never had my own C64 besides the DTV unit so I’m going to have fun exploring. 

 

Or, if my current inertia would seem to indicate, I won’t bother. I’ve had 35 years to try this stuff out. ??????

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7 minutes ago, Flojomojo said:

That DOES sound awful, but I think that was from the days before the firmware upgrade that made it easier. 

 

https://www.androidcentral.com/how-load-your-own-games-c64-mini

 

stick ‘em on a USB drive? I think most of us can handle that. 

 

I have only played mine “out of the box” thus far, but I want to load it up with some “best of” lists. I never had my own C64 besides the DTV unit so I’m going to have fun exploring. 

 

Or, if my current inertia would seem to indicate, I won’t bother. I’ve had 35 years to try this stuff out. ??????

I did sideload my games on a stick and played em!  ?

 

I think tho to get them on the carousel you have to do wacky stuff to the Mini.

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6 hours ago, digdugnate said:

It looks like there is, but holy moly does it look complicated (to me).

 

https://gurce.net/c64mini/how_to_mod_the_c64_mini_to_add_extra_games

 

Thanks for the link!  I figured someone out there would figure it out in short order, but honestly I had neither the time nor wherewithal to look.  I think I will spend some time one weekend and add some of my favorites to the carousel, and maybe change the carousel music.  Not that I do not appreciate the music on there, but the high-pitches and sharp tones really grate my nerves.  I think perhaps a medley of various C64 remixes from KWED will do nicely.

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8 minutes ago, OLD CS1 said:

 

Thanks for the link!  I figured someone out there would figure it out in short order, but honestly I had neither the time nor wherewithal to look.  I think I will spend some time one weekend and add some of my favorites to the carousel, and maybe change the carousel music.  Not that I do not appreciate the music on there, but the high-pitches and sharp tones really grate my nerves.  I think perhaps a medley of various C64 remixes from KWED will do nicely.

agreed! the carousel music on the mini by default is annoying, lol.  i've turned mine off.  :P

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Thanks guys.  I already know about the USB option via firmware update.  It also seems like the FEL boot option won't work for me either.  I'm not even gonna try the UART option.  I was just curious if it was possible to add box art using the sideloading via firmware option.  But it seems limited to just giving a list and allowing customization of the emulator parameters per game.

 

So I'll just stick with that more.  I want to tinker around some more with the included games and possible alternative USB joystick options before I start adding games anyways.  :)

 

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On 6/18/2019 at 7:38 PM, OLD CS1 said:

Speaking of USB joysticks, this file highlighted in the mod link has my interest piqued.

 

/usr/share/the64/ui/data/gamecontrollerdb.txt

i am in the facebook group "Thec64 Mini Group" if you have been in the group or not. i have found an issue with a ton of controllers having both dpad "hat" and analogs sticks both set in the gamecontrollerdb.txt. i have removed the analogs out of a ton of controllers to hopefully fix the issue. ps3 controllers have buttons instead of hats on the dpad but the analogs had to be removed for them to function properly. i have also added a few adapters. back up your gamecontrollerdb.txt to your pc before replacing the one on the pc with mine. if a controller doesnt work in the main menu or the dpad doesnt work in the game edit the line in the gamecontrollerdb.txt with that controllers line from the original gamecontrollerdb.txt. if still an issue let me know what controller is the issue and i can try to help. also notify me if putting that controllers original config back on fixes the issue so i can update the file instructions to add mine:

 

    put my gamecontrollerdb.txt on your usb drive in a folder called gamecontrollerdb (so you dont overwrite your backup)

 

when you are logged in and have access to the c64 commandline type:

 

mount /tmp/usbdrive/sda1 /mnt

 

mount -o remount, rw /

 

cp -i /mnt/gamecontrollerdb/*.txt /usr/share/the64/ui/data/ type the entire word "yes" when asked to overwrite

 

mount -o remount, ro /

 

umount /mnt

 

poweroff

 

 

 

 

 

gamecontrollerdb.txt

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9 hours ago, pimpmaul69 said:

i am in the facebook group "Thec64 Mini Group" if you have been in the group or not. i have found an issue with a ton of controllers having both dpad "hat" and analogs sticks both set in the gamecontrollerdb.txt. i have removed the analogs out of a ton of controllers to hopefully fix the issue. ps3 controllers have buttons instead of hats on the dpad but the analogs had to be removed for them to function properly. i have also added a few adapters. back up your gamecontrollerdb.txt to your pc before replacing the one on the pc with mine. if a controller doesnt work in the main menu or the dpad doesnt work in the game edit the line in the gamecontrollerdb.txt with that controllers line from the original gamecontrollerdb.txt. if still an issue let me know what controller is the issue and i can try to help. also notify me if putting that controllers original config back on fixes the issue so i can update the file instructions to add mine:

 

    put my gamecontrollerdb.txt on your usb drive in a folder called gamecontrollerdb (so you dont overwrite your backup)

 

when you are logged in and have access to the c64 commandline type:

 

mount /tmp/usbdrive/sda1 /mnt

 

mount -o remount, rw /

 

cp -i /mnt/gamecontrollerdb/*.txt /usr/share/the64/ui/data/ type the entire word "yes" when asked to overwrite

 

mount -o remount, ro /

 

umount /mnt

 

poweroff

 

 

 

 

 

gamecontrollerdb.txt 48.27 kB · 4 downloads

 

This is only possible for people who are able to hack into their C64 mini's right?  I don't have a UART and the reset button is disabled on my version.  Unless there is another way that was discovered?

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6 minutes ago, Shannon said:

 

This is only possible for people who are able to hack into their C64 mini's right?  I don't have a UART and the reset button is disabled on my version.  Unless there is another way that was discovered? 

i added a button to mine but if you don’t want to add a button for efl mode unplug the led and plug the led into to button plug. Luckily the led was wired the correct way to act as a button being pressed.

Edited by pimpmaul69
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On 6/12/2019 at 9:01 AM, wongojack said:

I have no nostalgia for the tape drive known as the Datasette. If you are like me, you don't want to deal with the raw TAP files and starting .T64s is a little confusing. My understanding is that .T64s are just containers for the .prg files. 

Not using tapes .tap or .t64 files (.t64 are tapes too) you are really missing out on a lot of games. They made a lot of games that were tape only. 

Edited by pimpmaul69
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1 hour ago, pimpmaul69 said:

i added a button to mine but if you don’t want to add a button for efl mode unplug the led and plug the led into to button plug. Luckily the led was wired the correct way to act as a button being pressed.

Thanks for that information. I'm not sure how I overlooked that small tidbit on the wiki page.  Hopefully opening the thing is not that hard.  I have not looked at it closely enough to determine if it would be difficult.

 

I guess the only other concern would be how many games the interface can handle.  Too bad it can't do folders like the SNESC or NESC.

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2 minutes ago, Shannon said:

Thanks for that information. I'm not sure how I overlooked that small tidbit on the wiki page.  Hopefully opening the thing is not that hard.  I have not looked at it closely enough to determine if it would be difficult.

 

I guess the only other concern would be how many games the interface can handle.  Too bad it can't do folders like the SNESC or NESC.

256 files or folders. Inside each folder you can add 256 files or folders. You can keep going 256 times

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22 minutes ago, pimpmaul69 said:

256 files or folders. Inside each folder you can add 256 files or folders. You can keep going 256 times

Sorry.. I was referring to through the carousel.  Not via loading from the USB stick with the latest firmware feature.

 

I'm still debating on whether there is any real advantage to me hacking in through FEL mode or even messing with the carousel.

 

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Just now, Shannon said:

Sorry.. I was referring to through the carousel.  Not via loading from the USB stick with the latest firmware feature.

 

I'm still debating on whether there is any real advantage to me hacking in through FEL mode or even messing with the carousel.

 

The carousel is a huge pain but i believe it too has a 256 game limit. The hack is worth it just to swap out the gamescontrollerdb.txt file with the one i posted here. 

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Yeah thanks.  From what I have been reading.  That is the conclusion I've been coming to.  It looks like with the way things are currently set up.  I have to do the FEL mode every time I want to mess with changing things around.  That seems to be the only way to access the internals when needed.  Kinda makes me pine for the SSH/FTP abilities on the SNESC/NESC.

Oh and thanks for the link to the book.  I'm still doing as much research as possible before taking any potential action.

 

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1 minute ago, Shannon said:

Yeah thanks.  From what I have been reading.  That is the conclusion I've been coming to.  It looks like with the way things are currently set up.  I have to do the FEL mode every time I want to mess with changing things around.  That seems to be the only way to access the internals when needed.  Kinda makes me pine for the SSH/FTP abilities on the SNESC/NESC.

Oh and thanks for the link to the book.  I'm still doing as much research as possible before taking any potential action.

 

After you do the fel mod you can ftp/ssh with a usb ethernet adapter. 

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14 minutes ago, pimpmaul69 said:

After you do the fel mod you can ftp/ssh with a usb ethernet adapter. 

Oh ok thanks for the info.  For some reason I was thinking you had to be in FEL mode in order to ftp/ssh.  I guess OTG mode is not enabled with the default C64 kernel ( kinda like the PSC ).  It's a shame I got rid of the one USB Ethernet adapter I picked up a couple years back.  :lol: 

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Oh, man, so much to play with so little time!  I should be able to come up for air sometime in the next couple of weeks, I will give the gamecontrollerdb a try.  I want to use my NeoGeo X controllers.

 

Now knowing you can use a USB Ethernet adapter, I wonder if it would be possible to mount games via SMB or NFS.

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10 hours ago, pimpmaul69 said:

Not using tapes .tap or .t64 files (.t64 are tapes too) you are really missing out on a lot of games. They made a lot of games that were tape only. 

Not really, most of the .T64s that I've found have just pulled the .prg from the tape version.  Almost always, there is a disk version out there that is just less common.  BUT what I meant was I just don't really care about using them on the C64mini.  I start them in VICE all the time.

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