Subj : C-128 Weekend!
To   : All
From : paulie420
Date : Mon May 31 2021 17:46:36

I've had some fun with a C-128 system this weekend. First, big thanks to user/sysOp NUKE for getting me great Commodore hardware. I didn't have to DO much, other than let him know I was interested [and make sure PayPal went thru!]... if anyone else is wanting Commodore hardware, he and his daughter are selling some systems. :P

So jumping into the world of Commodore having not owned one back in the day comes with a bit of a learning curve. I made a few mistakes, like ordering an Epyx Fast Boot Clone for a C-64 [drats! Anyone need a brand new one?]; but mostly have gotten along ok. What I've ended up with:

Commodore C-128 System w/ S-Video/RGB out currently. [HDMI in the future..]

JiffyDOS chips w/ phyiscal switch to go back/forth from JiffyDOS to stock. JiffyDOS allows for disk loading up to 10x faster than stock, with easier command-line commands.

uEIC/SDCard solution from RETRO Innovations. Its nice, you can sauder inside of your machine but I've chosen not to modify and have their daughterboard for external use. I need to get a 3d-printed case for this; if I could do it all over I'd of ordered the nicer, more expensive, SD2IEC option. It has an LCD screen and mounts as a CMD hard drive that has support for partitions, directories and.. is just really nice. $90 tho - ouch.

WiFi Modem from Netsurge @ Retro Rewind. I haven't recieved this just yet, AND I ordered that dang C-64 Epyx Loader too. Ugh. :P Frank's documentation is bar-none, and I was super happy to order from him as opposed to building my own - the software is all open-source, so you can certainly go that route!

Brand new C-128 power suppy; well, its not OEM... but looks great and has correct looking logos. Figured its better to not use the stock beast, some decades later. :P

Ok sorry for the book - but I'm having a lot of fun with this system. You can certainly spin up your own, with a lot less headaches and for the price of $0.00, but downloading VICE and running it wherever you like. It was nice to USE VICE as a way to learn the Commodore system before I was on real hardware.

In the future I'd like to learn about running CP/M on this machine, collecting old BBStros and other Commodore demo screen stuff, [The Second Reality conversion is AWESOME!!] I wanna load the Super Mario Bros. port and do some BBSing! Any other suggestions?! Commodores are wonderful, and now I have a system that makes me smile.



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