Most liked posts in thread: Then it came to pass...a wise (retro) man came in sight bearing gifts

PSU is GOOD...The good old wedge, the bad bit, non serviceable because from memory and weight its another epoxy encased monster BUT reliable..

Nice little haul there, Flash Gordon is ok, Batman so so, Laser wheel from mem is a budget shooter. Have to admit I still love Super Lander on the Vic20 but the intro noise will either grind or stick with you in a nice way

The Count has been on loads of systems and its good fun for a text only adv..The Human race has great music, good old Rob Hubbard..

So yeah, nice haul and a working breadbin, job done..And you have a Vic20?

 

Not really, they do things that will improve a chroma signal and help with banding, if that is through a modulator you could tweak the core and see if it removes that.

 

Oh, I give it for granted that you're using a video cable, not the RF/UHF antenna cable to connect the C64 to the LCD TV. Usually, LCD TVs offer lower image quality than LEDs or, of course, CRT monitors. Composite is ok, S-video best.

 

That was SCART to an LCD, fellas.

Here we go, here we go, here we go -

CBM64 > SCART > CRT and we are in business with Sub Hunt.

Love it:


ABOVE & BELOW: Video quality now much crisper and no longer any colour crawl and blurring.



The "banding" is just due to the camera out of sync with the CRT refresh rate.

Thanks for the top tips, fellas.

I'm sure I probably can get a decent pic from the breadbin to a LCD TV - you do hear a lot about different brands / different leads/inputs producing better/worse results so I'll experiment and feedback when I get chance.

For now, I'm busy shooting mutant giant fish, avoiding depth charges and rescuing scuba divers on this sodding Sub Hunt which is very playable and quite addictive!

BEFORE


AFTER


(The camera-image-banding not present on screen!)

Check out the Sub Hunt action here and catch you later, lads:

 

Very nice pictures of your new C64 there on a CRT TV, Andy. At least, you are safe with a fully functional VIC-II video chip. For the LCD you should try composite video or s-video but it's another cable, actually, the composite is the same you're using for the A8 machines. I'm pretty sure you have one somewhere. There are other solutions to the problem, anyway.

As for International Soccer, yes it's a classic title for all the Commodorians, but there's a few people doubting that the best soccer game for the C64 is Emlyn Hugues' International Soccer, which seems a bit like the IS v2.0, but the gameplay and the features of the game itself are indeed much more improved. You should have a go if you get the chance to load it from disk or from one of these modern devilish things that support D64 images.

 

Just like a good old cassette, he could get ejected...

 

Oy you, stop sneaking on here and look after your beloved...

No Andy, not the Oric, BEV!!

Seriously Happy New years to the pair of you and the puss and any other little family members around that you found in the garden..

And of course the same greetings to ALL, and nice to see Manu on....

 

It's the latter, Al.

No special project, I'm afraid (I wish) - just an ordinary retro addiction.

More to come, mate.

 

A sneak peek at what Baz is hopelessly addicted to (and hopeless playting at) on the C64 and the reason he bins then re-purchases a breadbin, JUST TO PLAY THIS DAMN GAME...



What can it be, Commodorians?

 

This is THE game of football for all the 64ers out there. It's the original cartridge of International Soccer.
It was amazing back in 1983 and on. Thousands of games have been played with this classic title. Personally, I used to reproduce the entire English Division 1 (then called Premiership), game by game, following the calendar I found in newspapers. I mean, literally game by game, home and away. Then it was fun to calculate the table of each week and comparing it to the real one. I know, I was a weird kid!

Good news for you, Andy. It was time you had a breadbin for yourself. I can advise you to look for a SD2IEC solution or UNO2IEC HOST cable in order to cheaply simulate the presence of a FDD CBM-1541. There are lots of solutions out there to use modern peripherals instead of the real Datassette (so slow) or a 1541. And I'd be happy to help. Recently @Klyde received a C64 from me and he was so good that he built a fully functional UNO2IEC cable for less than 12 €. Anyway, glad to see a 8-bit Commodore working in Baz Towers, anything you might need, just ask. Lots of experience here on the C64 here available for you or all the members here at AOC.

 

BTW, I also can see Vic-20 games / cartridges that are part of your friend's gifts. And talking about the PSU, it seems reliable the one that you received, but sometimes they simply go out and they can also damage the C64 motherboard, so if you really want to be safe, you should go for a modern C64 PSU. They're also on Amazon or EBay. I'm not saying that yours is going to blow (I've been using a "tank" PSU for 3 years now and it never gave a single problem) but... you know what I mean, it's no different question than the one about Atari PSUs. And as Paul said the C64 original PSUs are full of epoxy so they cannot be fixed once they stop working.

 

Many many thanks, Daz and Paul.

Yes - you certainly got it one, AlexDrito:


I have heaps to think about there and plenty to peruse and choose from.
I lurve those old retro tales of recreating the old English 1st Division and early Prem$hit(!) days of footie on International Soccer on the C64 - what a great hoot indeed!!
I am getting some weird colour crawl and artefacting on this machine and also it does not boot immediately and sometimes won't boot at all so clearly this breadbin has maybe spent too long left on the shelf and needs some TLC?
I will post some pics and try changing the SCART lead as I have a few & maybe this one is not giving the best picture possible though it looks like an internal chip or tuning problem.
Many thanks again for all the heads up re. PSUs, software and modern 1541 replacement options.
Cheers indeed, guys!

 

For a start, if you use a LED TV chances are that you will get a pretty fuzzy image. And the colours could be very blurry too. If your breadbin does not boot immediately may depend on capacitors or the infamous PLA which is a MOS chip among those that can fail more frequently in a C64 board. Try with a TV/monitor with a SCART or composite input.

 

Hopefully that isn't composite or that will be the very worst composite I've ever seen on a C64..

It so looks like a modulator picture where its not latching on to the channel 36 100%

There's also the possibility that the Modulator has a leaking cap in it...Won't be hard to miss if it is. All standard radial components. Check for board damage from the acid in the cap, can strip tracks...

 

Looks good Andy. You can't beat a CRT for that classic 8bit feel

 

Wahey, looks the mutts nuts..Very glad for you..

Hope you have a Vic20 for the other games..

 

Thank you Andy but no Vic here also, its one system I just emulate and truly to play super lander as it happens..

 

Wonderful top tips, folks.
I will indeed try those footie games, Dave and enjoy your Vic emulation, Paul.
More from the breadbin that came back from a crumby output soon!

 

Well, with more than 10,000 games in the "old" catalogue and basically two or more releases of NEW games for the C64, I bet you can find and play all your favourite games, some even already known and played on the Atari 8-bit computers. Is this your first C64 ever? Sounds like it isn't. I know that this particular machine can arouse dislike or even hatred. This always happens to things that are very successful. But at the end of the day, it's a fun computer, both for playing games and for programming (especially in assembly to me, because of its custom sound and graphic chips).

 

That's an amazing range to select from and I know, harking back to the good old days, it used to frustrate the hell out of me, David, not being able to get the majority of the games released which were almost always out on the Speccy and C64 but rarely appearing on the shelves for the Atari and... Oric!
Now, I can cast my mind back and think.... ah, I never got round to seeing how Robocop played on the 64 etc.
So,you are right in thinking I have owned a breadbin off and on over the past few years, buddy, but I didn't have one back in the day.
I keep selling the machines I have acquired in the past few years as I get an urge - get one - try it out with a few games, get a little bored or disappointed and then sell it again... only to keep finding say International Soccer on ROM or my stash of old C64 wargames and then think - christ, I want to play these again so I'll have to buy a 64 again!
This time, I reckon I just might keep this old breadbin as it seems to have a bit of character about it.
Your machine code/assembly language programming of its custom chips sounds great, Daz - please do keep us up to speed with whatever developments you are currently experimenting with - and thanks again for all the support and encouragement with this machine which I am still really discovering in many ways.

 

Baz, I'd be more than happy to share all my crazy and fun projects with all my retrocomputers, both hardware and software/coding. The latter is probably more fun than the first. But if I'd do, then it would mean that I have a couple of hours every day to dedicate myself to doing things and also writing about them here. That is absolutely NOT the case, unfortunately. I barely can find some time during weekends, but this is becoming such a bad period and all the holidays will be spent on the family and to help saving my wife's cultural foundation. Lots fo things to do, mate. Only time to comment here your retro-enterprises!

With the C64 it's difficult not to find games, hardware projects or coding sessions that can fill in your appetite for retrocomputing. Ok, it was actually my first computer ever, but I can assure you I'm being totally impartial here.

 

Hi, Al.
I haven't as yet, mate as I'd best concentrate on looking after Bev rather than the breadbin else I'll get binned, bud!

 

Bread binned....

 

Ha ha...Hope its a metal oxide tape...No cheap TDK's...

 

I'm up for a chat as long as it doesn't happen at the same time as the tradionital Old Firm football game (Saturday).

Will give me a chance to try out my new pc microphone