I’ve owned a Commodore PET* 8032 for a few years now. I’ve been able to download and run many different programs for it, like WordPro you see above. But one thing always remained elusive. I’ve long wanted to connect it to a standard RS-232 device and use it as a terminal. The PET’s classic shape, […]
LumaFix64: Commodore 64 with less stripes
You might be asking yourself, less stripes? No, not the colorful stripes on your breadbin badge. We’re talking about the stripes on the video image. The same stripes that we’ve all become accustomed to over the many years of playing Commodore 64 games, watching demos and carrying on with modems and BBS’s. These stripes, which […]
SX-64 Short Expansion Board
If you were following along with my previous post about converting an SX-64 to a DX-64 by adding a second floppy drive, you’ll know that the process isn’t without it’s problems. There are some irreversible changes that need to be made to the case to accommodate all the extra equipment.
Converting a Commodore SX-64 to a DX-64 Dual Drive
The SX-64 was Commodore’s portable version of the best selling C64 computer that wrapped the C64, a 5″ color display and a 1541 floppy drive into one case that loosely resembled a Kaypro. They were also called luggables because, well, they are quite heavy. Despite folks calling them rare, they litter eBay very frequently and […]
A new dust cover for the Sony PS-F5 turntable
Introducing the Sony PS-F5– a very unique turntable created in 1983 around the same time as the Walkman. It was arguably the beginning of Sony’s own burgeoning portable music craze. It unfortunately wasn’t the same success as the Walkman. Production was halted and the remaining inventory was quickly sold at a discount and largely forgotten […]
Getting Programs For The C64 CP/M Cartridge
The Commodore 64 CP/M cartridge was released sometime in the early 1980’s, shortly after the introduction of the C64 itself. The cartridge contained the necessary Z80 chip inside to run CP/M software natively. While a novel idea, it was a bit too late with the popularity of CP/M waning which itself had been released almost […]
The Jameco JE520 Voice Synthesizer
The latest acquisition is the JE520 by Jameco. This external voice synthesizer came in two variants: the JE520-CM for Commodore and JE520-AP for Apple II. The only difference was the interface connection to the computer. The Commodore version, the one I have, connects to the user port while the Apple II version connects via an […]
Guest DJ Set On WVUD 91.3FM
I’ve been invited to have a guest DJ set for All Tomorrow’s Parties on WVUD 91.3FM in Newark, DE. It’s simultaneously exciting and terrifying. The theme is synthpop, new wave and the Fairlight CMI. I’ve attempted to put together some cuts that I enjoy myself while trying to weave some threads through the artists. I’ll […]
Commodore 1520 Plots .SVG Images
NOTE! Split gears causing causing or plot errors? New replacement Alps gears for the Commodore 1520, Atari 1020, etc are now available! Click here to order your set. I’ve put together a quick program that can convert an .SVG file into data statements that can be used to plot it on a Commodore 1520 Printer/Plotter. […]
Reddit/r/RetroBattlestations BASIC Week 3– C64 port
It’s BASIC Week on Reddit/r/RetroBattlestations and I ported the BASIC Week program “Under the Sea” to the Commodore 64. The original code was written by FozzTexx for the IBM PC which allows for variable names longer than two characters. The Commodore 64 BASIC version 2 would probably still work using the longer names, it would […]