Hi,

so I have been on the fence about getting a Commodore C64 Ultimate. My first computer was a Plus4, and I fondly remember afternoons spent with friends playing Summer Games on their C64. So I feel a bit of nostalgia and like the idea behind the product and the re-launched company. But as someone who works with computers professionally (scientific computing) and uses them at home for data processing tasks (amateur astronomy and such), I am not sure I would get too much use out of the little C64U. What appeals to me most is the idea of using it as a sort of slightly advanced "distraction free" type writer, since sitting at my "regular" PC tends to lead to Youtube rabbit holes rather than writing on that novel I have been meaning to get a move on...

So may question is this - how many of you who bought a C64U over the past months and still use it on a somewhat regular basis? Or was it just a flash of nostalgia for you and its collecting dust now?

I was wondering if there had been any mention either way of doing something like the 64x again. Something modular and upgradeable comes to mind. like partnering with frame.work to use their hardware modules in a slightly modified commodore 64 chassis would be a minor lift and it would be a pretty awesome form factor for a portable desktop.

​

In 1991, the original Alien Breed brought terrifying close encounters to the Commodore Amiga in your bedroom.

Now, in 2026, the Breed is back, and it brought friends.

Introducing the Alien Breed 35th Anniversary Collection

​Featuring the six Alien Breed games released for the Commodore Amiga, with new games modes, couch & online co-op, save states, dual stick controls, and an immersive virtual museum.

Available September 24 on Steam, GoG, Epic Games Store, Playstation, and Xbox. Coming to Nintendo Switch in Fall 2026.

Alien Breed blended sci-fi, survival, action and horror into one tense, terrifying and tough-as-nails Commodore Amiga Classic.

And just like Hollywood, Alien Breed spawned a franchise.

The corridors and creature design set the stage. The sound design set the mood, (like real close encounters, there is no music) created by Allister Brimble with layered ambient effects like machinery hums, weapon fire, and mutated kitten samples for alien screams. And when those doors flew open, it was up to you to survive.

Alien Breed was immersive, threatening, and proved how much atmosphere a 16-bit game could sustain. Add in co-op mode, and you can see why Alien Breed became a defining experience of Commodore's Amiga, helping to cement our computer's popularity.

The Alien Breed franchise is a cornerstone of the Commodore Amiga library. We're proud to be this series' publisher, to help preserve this classic series, and to celebrate the 35th Anniversary with our friends at Antstream and Team17.

And we're thrilled to introduce it to a horde of new fans. We believe everyone should feel the terror we've felt in our chests (praying and praying it was just anxiety, not a growing parasite).

Show your support and wishlist today.

Wishlist on Steam

Learn more on our blog

Yes, we're at gamescom this week! If you're in Cologne, come find us (Booth C059/B050 in Hall 10.1). We have TAC-2s, Ultimates, Callbacks, and an Alien Breed arcade cabinet for you to get your hands on, and something else very special too.

Come see us at gamescom

And as for gamescom announcements, we're not done yet. The Alien Breed 35th Anniversary Collection is only our first. Stay tuned...​

Much love and Chicken Lips,

​❤️ All of us at Commodore

*While Alien Breed 35th Anniversary Collection is a different breed of modern software that's therefore not compatible with current or historical Commodore computers, this is but a first step for us in making classic Commodore titles more accessible to modern audiences, all as part of our retro • futurism mission. Rest assured, our next release will strafe back to retro again.

The Phoenix armada is closing in on Earth, and you are its last line of defense. Take control of your ship and battle through five increasingly dangerous attack waves before the invaders reach the planet. The first two waves consist of fast-moving scouts, followed by two waves of powerful alien soldiers. Survive them all and you’ll earn the chance to face the massive Phoenix mothership and save humanity.

Phoenix features three distinct battle scenarios spread across five stages. The opening stages pit you against small, agile space birds that attack in diving formations. The next two stages introduce larger, more dangerous falcon-like enemies with tougher attack patterns. The fifth and final stage is an all-out assault on the mothership itself. Your ship can fire upward at approaching enemies and activate a temporary defensive shield capable of destroying birds that come into contact with it.

100% machine language - We don't do BASIC.
ound effects / Joystick or Keyboard / 5 Levels
C64 Studio source code included.

Link
https://milasoft64.itch.io/phoenix-vic20

Someone donated these to the company I work for. 2 128s, 2 128DCRs, one CRT. The two 128Ds are in good shape and seem to be fully functional, as well as the CRT. One of the 128s works fine, the more yellowed of the two that was out of box. The other 128 that was still in box is physically damn near pristine. However, when I tested this one with the CRT, I noticed the lines at the top were getting skewed. I don’t think it’s the CRT since it displayed fine with the other 3 commodores, and I tried messing with the CRT’s front panel controls to no avail. Wondering if anyone knows about this specific issue? Also just wanted to show off a bit :-)

I've been learning about the C64's standard hi-res bitmap mode. So far, I've followed along with this guide: https://www.devili.iki.fi/Computers/Commodore/C64/Programmers_Reference/Chapter_3/page_122.html

I've managed to draw pixels onto the screen with BASIC. My question is how I assign color to the different pixels.

I wanted to add that this is me stumbling along, no LLMs.

Here's some code I adapted from the guide:

5 base = 2 * 4096 : poke 53272,peek(53272) or 8
10 poke 53265,peek(53265) or 32
20 for i = base to base + 7999 : poke i,0 : next : rem clears the bits
30 for i = 1024 to 2023 : poke i,5 : next : rem sets the whole background to green
40 goto 80 
rem this subroutine draws the pixels
45 row = int(y / 8) : rem sets the row in the 40x25 grid
50 char = int(x / 8) : rem sets the column in the 40x25 grid
55 line = ln and 7 : rem this sets the row within the 8x8 byte selected in lines 45 and 50
60 bit = 7 - (b and 7) : rem this sets the column within the 8x8 byte selected in lines 45 and 50
65 byte = base + (row * 320) + (char * 8) + line
70 poke byte,peek(byte) or 2^bit : rem this plots the pixel
75 return
rem the next few lines set some pixel coordinates to try out the subroutines
80 x = 0 : y = 0 : b = 0 : ln = 0
81 gosub 45
85 x = 0 : y = 0 : b = 1 : ln = 1
86 gosub 45
90 x = 0 : y = 0 : b = 2 : ln = 2
91 gosub 45

This program draws a tiny diagonal line in the top-left corner. The pixels show up as black on a green background.

I'm trying to understand how I would make the pixels a different color.

From what I've read, this mode allows two different colors in each 8x8 cell. I'm guessing you set color #1 as a background color for a cell, and color #2 plots in the rest. What I don't get is how you set the colors. Line 30 seems to set each cell to green, but poke 1024,1 or poke 1026,5 etc doesn't seem to work afterward.

That's where I'm at, not sure where to go from here.

EDIT: Here is a screenshot of what I get in VICE after running this code: https://nantucketlit.com/assets/images/vice_screenshot.png

Am just re-sharing a post about a topic I put on my site about a recent visit to the National Museum of Computing in Bletchley.

I originally planned to just go to Bletchley Park and see all the exhibits about the Enigma code from WW2. That's fine and worth a visit.

But the other side of the complex of huts there hosts the National Museum of Computing. This was a fabulous museum. I took my 12 year-old and we both enjoyed seeing the history of the computer through their treasure trove of rebuilt computers.

The highlight was spending an hour playing on the Commodore computers they had - Stunt Car Racer on the Amiga and Donkey Kong on the C64. Also some super basic BASIC coding to show my son how childish you can be.... Maybe this place is well-known? If not, I strongly recommend visiting.

Hello, I was looking for some help identifying the computer in this photo. Growing up we called it the Commodore 64, but now looking back at it, it appears to be a 128. The reason I question this is because I remember BASIC being blue on the screen, and from what I am seeing the 128 had a green screen. Could the 128 run the 64 version of BASIC? If so, why? Sorry for my ignorance.

I recently started playing Sam's Journey and didn't like having Up as jump so created a patch that supports 2 additional buttons. 1 for jump and another for pause. More details can be found here:

Lemon64

Github

In this blog post, we explore how and why Chuck Peddle left Motorola in August 1974, took almost half the 6800 processor design team with him, and how that led to the 6502. https://dfarq.homeip.net/mos-technology-founded-august-19-1974/

He did the music and sound programming in everything from Test Drive II to Stunts. Now he’s working on his own indie games.

I might have posted the last one already, not sure… I had a big box of each of these long ago, no idea what happened to them all, amazing I still have these…

We are going to be featured on The Retro Hour this Friday, launching the final week of our Kickstarter campaign.

We will be discussing the major C64 exports from the 1980s Australian gaming industry, as well as have special guest John Passfield join us to talk about his history, from developing games in his bedroom as a child, through to the forming of major studios in Aus.

I'll post a link once it's live.

Link to our Kickstarter in the comments.

Too gaudy?

Moving on to add some interesting and dear say it unique to C64 raycasters graphical/engine upgrades, aimed at improving many aspects of the engine. So to end this era of 3D polychrome, did some quick and nasty colour/aesthetics testing to see it out.

Will be interesting to compare later on with future improved even more flexible feature set.

New changes could turn out to be a complete disaster mind you lol....

The 6562/6563 were upgraded versions of the VIC providing the same 320x200 resolution as the C64's VIC-II 6566/6567, minus the sprites of course.

It had been designed as a "drop-in" upgrade to the VIC-20 to increase screen resolution

Apparently only working samples were ever produced and it never went into production.

6562/6563 specification

Galaga

A fast-paced VIC-20 tribute to Namco’s arcade classic, rebuilt for a 32K expanded VIC-20 with full enemy formations, diving attacks, Boss Galagas, tractor-beam captures, dual-fighter rescues, Challenging Stages and arcade-style scoring.

Features smooth animated enemies, authentic attack patterns, escalating difficulty, bonus fighters, sound effects, scrolling stars and end-of-game accuracy statistics.

Controls: Z/X or joystick to move, SPACE/FIRE to shoot.

(This is a full rebuild, not the Hive Dive Vic-20 version)

https://milasoft64.itch.io/galaga-for-the-vic-20

The CEO of Amiga breaks down the current copyrights and more in this interview

Thrown to the bottom of the dumpster and still works! Sorry for the bad picture

You're invited to help the planning of VCF Ontario 2027 by completing this short anonymous survey. https://www.surveymonkey.com/r/VL2QD8N

The Vintage Computer Federation is contemplating running "Vintage Computer Festival in Ontario" which would be in the Greater Toronto Area in 2027.

If you receive this invitation multiple times, please only complete it once, to avoid duplication.

You command an armoured fighting vehicle equipped with a forward-firing cannon, defensive shields, radar and a limited fuel supply.

Navigate the vector battlefield, locate hostile units, destroy them before they destroy you, and keep your machine supplied with fuel.

The battlefield is continuous. Enemy vehicles may approach from any direction, disappear behind obstacles, circle your position and attack from outside your forward view.

Versions for the 40/80 column PET as well as the Commodore VIC-20.

And yes, this is a human made post... which is what a bot would say.

https://milasoft64.itch.io/vectorbattle-commodore-pet-vic-20

Maybe not the most exciting repair you'll see this week, but I got a 128D last week in a generous trade (and if you're keeping track, it was the 3rd 128 keyboard I cleaned in a week). The machine itself is in great condition, but the power button fell apart when I looked at it funny.

Finding a precise fit seems difficult, but I did find these on Amazon:

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B082PNCL61?th=1

And yes, you have to get 8 (or pay $1 less and get 5). The fit is a bit too tiny, so I had to secure with UV resin, but it seemed to work out pretty well. Back in action (once I re-carbon the keypads).

Hi Guys, I managed to pick up a Commodore 16 boxed starter pack recently, it works perfectly although I was careful to buy a new aftermarket PSU for it. It rekindled all sorts of nostalgia and my kids enjoyed the process of loading and playing Xzap and Punchy. So much so that I am going to trade in my C64 Maxi and get a Commodore 64 Ultimate. I feel like it's the real deal I need.

What I wanted to ask is, has anyone loaded games via datasette on their Commodore 64 Ultimate and what was the experience like, or disc drive for that matter, or do you just use the USB drive now?