Commodore-64

Ordered a rubber belt + pulley to control the dimmer from the printer header New UniJoystiCle PCB arrived (v0.4.0). I assembled one and works Ok both on the SX64 and the C128D. I just need to create a “user port” power cable for the SX64 since it doesn’t have a datasette port. Started the UniJoystiCle desktop client in order to control the dimmer from the PC/Mac. TODO: UniJoystiCle Desktop Client: Linear Mode, finish it. UniJoystiCle Desktop Client: Commando Mode, finish it (although not needed for the dimmer) UniJoystiCle Desktop Client: DPad Mode, finish it (although not needed for the dimmer) Assemble the rubber belt + pulley and connect it to the printer header Create user-port power cable to be used with the SX64 for the UniJoystiCle WiFi module C64 I.D.IoT.R app: Add voice, probably using SAM or similar. UniJoystiCle iOS/Android Client: Support voice commands in Linear Mode so people can say: “Ok Commodore, turn on the lights” Quick and Easy: Just support keyboard input More complex but more “professional”: Add api.ai support And I guess that’s it. ...

I started building the C64 I.D.IoT.R a few months ago, but never finished it. What better than to finish it for the Retro Challenge contest. C64 I.D.IoT.R is a smart light controlled from a C64. Its name means: C64: Commodore 64 I: Intelligent D: Dimmer IoT: Internet Of Things: R: RRRRR What I have done so far is this: (and is not part of the contest since I built it two months ago): ...

Here are more UniJoystiCle videos: Showing how to play C64 games using a real Game Controller via the UniJoystiCle: Showing how to play Gyruss using the UniJoystiCle Gyruss mode: ...

Two weeks ago I attended the Commodore Vegas Expo XII, and last week I’ve been at the Vintage Computer Festival West XI. CommVEx XII As the name describes it, it was a Commodore Expo in Las Vegas. But the format is a mix between conference and expo. It is a real expo, but with the social part of a conference. It is friendly and casual. People give talks in a very informal way. I gave a talk + live demo about the UniJoystiCle. Everything went well except that in the middle of the demo my phone’s glass broke. But that wasn’t an issue since the accelerometer kept working. ...

I assumed that the Commodore 1581 was failing because of a bad WD1772 IC (as documented in Part I). So I ordered a WD1772 replacement + the IC socket, I developed some basic desoldering skills, watched some desoldering videos, and also got a cheap desoldering iron from Radio Shack: So, I removed the board from the Commodore 1581 and started to desolder the IC. To my surprise the $11-buck desolder iron worked pretty well. I was able to remove all the solder from the the pins in a few minutes. The desolder iron just takes some time to reach the needed temperature, but besides that, it seems to be a great tool for occasional desoldering tasks (a hobbyist desoldering iron cost more than $250) ...

As a kid, I always avoided the Drean Commodore. I didn’t like them because they were not compatible with the NTSC software. As an adult, I really wanted one basically because I’m from Argentina, and the Drean was produced in Argentina. And I want to make sure that all the software that I develop works on a Drean. And in my lastest trip to Argentina I was able to get one :-) The condition of the computer is Ok, neither great nor terrible. It works, although I need to do more tests. Here are some photos: ...

Today was the premier of the Growing the 8 Bit Generation movie at the Computer History Museum. Great documentary about the 8-bit computers, focused on Commodore although it talks about Apple, Sinclair and Atari as well. Chuck Peddle, Bil Herd, Leonard Tramiel were there. And Jeri Ellsworth was there too. I went with my Commodore mug and I was able to to get Jeri’s and Bil’s autographs. Yeah!

I got my 1581 like one year ago. It worked for 2 or 3 weeks and it stopped working. The stepper and the motor weren’t moving. So I guessed that the “floppy drive” was broken. Quick introduction: the Commodore floppy disk drives have 2 major components: The controller board: which has the 6502, RAM, ROM and other ICs to control the drive The floppy disk drive: which is the “thing” that has the header, the stepper, the motor to spin the floppy disk, etc. So, in my case, my quick guess was that the “floppy disk drive” was broken because the stepper and the motor were not moving. ...

Spot the difference. Before: After: The former owner replaced the original SX-64 KERNAL (251104-04) with a C64 one (901227-02), most probably to be 100% compatible with all the games. But an SX-64 doesn’t feel like an SX-64 without its unique colors. That’s why I replaced the KERNAL chip again, this time with the original one. Actually I couldn’t find the original chip (the MOS 251104-04) anywhere, so instead, I installed an EPROM chip with the original SX-64 KERNAL programmed into it. ...

MOS 6526: The CIA chip You turn on your beloved SX-64 and you don’t see the blinking cursor. Don’t panic. Most probably one of the CIA chips (MOS 6526) is not working correctly. No blinking cursor. The Commodore 64 has two CIA chips. What you need to do is to replace the one that controls the keyboard, the CIA 1. But if you don’t know which one is CIA 1 and which is CIA 2, then you can either replace both, or do trial-and-error, or look at the IO schematics (hint: it is the one with the UB3 legend). ...