Tag Archives: mods

Commodore Rebooted

If you are reading this blog, you probably already know that Christian Simpson (known as Peri Fractic on his Youtube channel) is acquiring the Commodore brand. However, it’s such huge news that I felt like a blog post was certainly justified, regardless of how well-known this is.

Take a look at their first advertisement:

Commodore 64 Ultimate

You can review Christian’s first two videos about acquiring the Commodore trademarks on YouTube:

Actually rather than watching those videos you might read this article on Tedium and then this one for a good understanding of what is going on.

Suffice it to say that he and some partners are purchasing the Commodore trademark from its current owners, with the intent to reboot the Commodore brand. Their website is live.

I am going to organize a few of my thoughts in Q&A form, because these are the questions I have pondered for a few weeks before ultimately deciding I want to support the new Commodore company.

Is this new Commodore really Commodore?

Of course it’s not! But also, Yes!

Continue reading →

My Ultimate 64 and a Commodore SX-64

1 Reply

I finally got my new C64C case from Pixelwizard Retro Shop. If you don’t know about these: these are new cases made from original Commodore C64C molds. They are a perfect fit for real hardware because they are from the real molds. And they make a great option for pairing with a new Ultimate 64. And if you don’t know about that: the U64 is a modern FPGA implementation of the C64 (and then some), with network, USB storage, and HDMI output.

I chose the SX-64 style case. I happened to come across an Aldi C64 keyboard, actually pretty rare in the USA. I like this keyboard because it is nearly white, making a good style match to the original SX-64 colors.

So here are some pics!

: A Commodore SX-64 next to a new Ultimate 64

Commodore 64 Power Supplies: Patient Killers of Vintage Computers

C64C Gold: uIEC/SD, JiffyDOS, Reset Switch Commodore mod

8 Replies

The C64C was an update to the C64 that brought a more modern look (for its time) to the Commodore 64. After Commodore finished off its stock of motherboards, it also got a new updated “short board” that cost a lot less to produce. By the time the Commodore 64 was discontinued, they were able to make them at about $20 a pop. Pretty good for something that retailed for about $100.

These short boards were not actually 100% compatible with the older version. Many of the parts were not interchangeable with older boards, and the famous SID chip was actually changed. (If you’re curious, you can test this with a C64C by playing Impossible Mission. If you can’t hear “stay awhile…. staaaaay forever!” then you have the updated SID chip.) Compatibility with the older C64 approached 100% but didn’t quite get there.

Anyway, this particular model has one great advantage: lots of empty space under the keyboard for modifications! So below is what I did with mine, in video and in higher resolution pictures.

Added a reset switch.
Replaced the KERNAL ROM with JiffyDOS. (My board did not have socketed chips, so I had to remove the old ROM and install a socket.)
Internally mounted a uIEC/SD — a great sd2iec-based device for mass storage from Retro Innovations. Easily the most gratifying part of this project!
Installed all four control switches for the uIEC/SD, too, and
Gave it a gold paint job with a shiny clear coat.