Neo-Rio

The best cart would probably be the Ultimate-II+ cart. It has everything you would want and some more things you didn't know you wanted. The biggest issue with these devices for the C64 is the full emulation of the 1541 disk drive. Many fast loader systems rely on the 1541's onboard CPU and memory in order to work. If this is not emulated, then the loading will fail. The ultimate II also supports alternate kernal ROMs, so you purchase JiffyDOS ROM images and load it onto the ultimate to support fast loader abilities https://store.go4retro.com/search.php?search_query=JiffyDOS&x=0&y=0

Oh OK. I'll need to wire up the rest of the TMS pins to the 9 pin din instead and then I'll probably get some video. I was hoping to get away with using the pre-existing 5 pin but I guess that's not how this works. The daughterboard on the PAL SC3000 has a busted transistor set and can't convert the input 9V up to the 12V required for the daughterboard to produce composite PAL outputs. Note: Only the PAL SC3000 has one of these because it uses the PAL TMS9929ANL chip and not the NTSC 9918. Hopefully the TMS-RGB does away with the need to have this daughterboard because it should be able to do it all by itself - I assume. That's the reason why I got it in the first place. Finding replacement parts to the daughterboard is ... hard.

I have a PAL SEGA SC3000, and the daughterboard that did the signal from the TMS9929ANL broke leaving me with an SC3000 that seemed to work (produced sound OK when BASIC cart inserted), but had no picture. So in order to get a picture back I socketed the 9929 and soldered the TMS-RGB underneath. Rather than go the whole hog with a 9-pin output jack (which is what I ordered when I bought the TMS-RGB), I figured I could simply get the composite signal from S to pin 3 of the original 5-pin video jack and wire the ground signal to pin 4. This however, doesn't work at all. I end up with some screeching coming out of the audio and no picture. Clearly I have done something wrong, but I'm not sure what. I tried plugging the daughterboard back in and the TV actually got a good sync on the sound with no screeching, but still no picture. The daughterboard doesn't work though so it's no surprise there's no picture, but there's no screeching at least. Any idea how I've flubbed this one? Hopefully it's an easy fix.

Well it didn't take too long, but already the C64 "scene" created a single-filed, docs included version. The nice feature here is the ability to hit runstop/restore to jump between modules without having to restart the computer and re-load again! https://csdb.dk/release/?id=194928

Incredible release! Is there anything Mariuszw can't do? Aside from the other Freescape games (Castle Master I&II, Total Eclipse II, Driller, and DarkSide), it would be cool to also see The Sentinel (the Geoff Crammond game), Elite, and Stellar 7 ports from the C64. All that lovely 3D for Rapidus owners (hint hint!)

Got my copy recently. Really professional piece of work this is. From the box to the overlay and the cart. The game itself really feels like the original it is based off as well, although I found it a bit easy. That may be a good thing as the difficulty doesnt ramp as hard as the arcade original - but all the same the tanks will get you eventually so its not too easy either. You can tell the Vectrex is doing its darndest to display everything - which is why the rammy zone and gloaming zone options are welcome to have a faster game. Complaints? It seems like the score and display options are often encroached on by the game display (the ufo flies up there when shot) and for some reason my vectrex displays the score, indicators and radar too high to be clealy visible within the gaps in the overlay. (I presume its just my vectrex?) Also the sticky tank trap issues can be a bit annoying if you get an enemy tank wedged - it slows the pace of the game down while you angle to wipe him out. Very impressive package nonetheless.

I am crying with laughter

Good point, but I would probably go for a mini-ITX form factor these days A PC form factor would warrant the requirement of a PS/2 or USB compatible keyboard interface though. ...and I suppose the XE series (with the notable XEGS exception) is prime for motherboard replacement, given that the quality on the original boards was very poor anyway, meaning that some cases could at least be salvaged. Also, Best has plenty of replacement XE keyboards and key rubber kits, so even if you hated the keyboard you could do something about it. I'm also guessing that Best has a lot of spare POKEYs and other 8-bit chips too,... but I'm only guessing.

The purpose of the C64-Reloaded was to make a drop in replacement motherboard for a Commodore 64. What made the C64 great was that all motherboards were 99% backwards compatible with each other and would fit into any C64 case. In the case of the C64-R, there was also a kickstarter that pressed out brand new C64 cases from the original moulds. I managed to put together a brand new C64 from spare chips, only needing to find some 3d printed keyboard mounts, and to scavenge a keyboard from a dead C64. In the case of Atari 8-bits? So many different models..... making a replacement motherboard is mostly out of the question unless you limit it to one form factor (800XLs, most likely), but even then I doubt you will get people wanting to cannibalize their 800XLs. The C64 was made in the millions and can broken ones can still be easily found, repaired, or scrapped for parts. Ataris?.... not so much. If you're going to go for the complete Atari remake, you may as well build a new computer from scratch, throw in as many updates and features that you like, redesign a new case, and redesign a new keyboard. ....Or just use a MIST.

Really should be porting all of these SIDs that haven't already been done! http://www.transbyte.org/SID/HVSC_Top100.html

Would ideally like to know if there's a way to make a player that can play the C64's SID library on the Atari.... just because you can. Also, the reverse has been done too. The SID has been cajoled to play the POKEY to some extent. See here: http://csdb.dk/release/?id=148198

Best Electronics also has replacement cartridge sockets

I did end up contacting Best Electronics. Unfortunately he doesn't have replacement 800XL mylar for that type of keyboard (seems to have replacements for the crappier XE mylars though) I did ask about perhaps getting a replacement mecahnical keyboard, but he mentioned that if something hard was to hit the keyboard - the PCB underneath could crack.

Wouldn't they be 41464s? Effectively 32KB per chip.... which is why on your 65XE, two chips are missing.

Just did some research on this kind of keyboard. Yup it's a mylar Type 4. Wonder if I can get a better one?

Just wondering if it's possible to get replacement keyboard mylars for the 800XL I was just pulling apart my 800XL keyboard to clean it.... oh boy, so many springs that could possibly be lost. I figure that if I do it, I only want to do it once - which makes me think that it would be a good time to replace the original mylar. Anyone know if best electronics have replacement 800XL mylars? If not, I'll ask myself. Also the cartridge port on this 800XL is having trouble making a connection. Are there replacements I can get to bring it back to as-new functionality?

Just something to note with the SIDE2, and Ulitmate 1MB combo... While you can set the OS to OS-B (as per the 800), that OS has no support for PBI (which is what the SIDE2 needs for ATR disk mounting) This means that this combination cannot play disk based games that haven't been fixed for the XL/XE roms, because you can't mount the ATRs via the SIDE2. The only way to play those games is with a SIO2SD If you're looking to play 100% of everything on real hardware, I'd recommend the SIO2SD, Ulitmate1MB upgrade, and a flash cart (for Space Harrier and larger cart only games)

Replacing the XEGS MMU with an ultimate 1MB unit would surely get it back though, wouldn't it?

Looking good so far.

As the others noted... I can't tell who is zombie and who isn't. This is the big issue. I just walked around randomly killing everyone! human and non zombie alike! Can't take any chances, I suppose?!? I ended up losing health but I couldn't tell how or why this was happening. Also there's glitching purple spots coming from the main character. Not a good look. Managed to get my character stuck trying to walk through a house, but persevered and he moved through it eventually.

I remember seeing Pac-Man on the Atari 2600 for the first time. The ghosts flickered. We thought the VCS was broken. Fortunately Space Invaders got better novelty single treatment. It's very early house music, just as Disco was on the way out.

I was a bit confused at first on which modern mods would be best to kit out an XEGS. First thing to buy would be an SIO2SD. Put the entire game collection onto an SD card. After that, the ultimate 1MB board would be my second choice.... primarily for the memory upgrade, but also for access to the older OS-B roms for compatibility with older games that haven't been fixed. Third thing would be a flash cart, for you know... Space Harrier, and other large cart ROMs. That combination will get you able to play anything from the Atari 8-bit back catalogue. A non-essential but very nice inclusion would be the best-electronics best-touch caps. Makes the XEGS a lot of fun to type on. It's tricky to get the 1MB upgrade board mounted inside the XEGS because of the darned shield. It's possible though, but there's quite some hacking involved. I made a thread on the fun I had with achieving that. And yes, all the chips aren't socketed. Lots of fun desoldering chips and inserting sockets with all the risk involved.

Finally managed to get some ST floppies to try out on my ST yesterday. Turns out the floppy drive is dead. Nothing loads. I guess in addition to all the other mods I'm going to need a replacement floppy drive.

Do you really want repetitive strain injuries on your thumb? Played it last night on CJs Jaguar. The game lulls you into a false sense of security. Early levels are relaxingly easy, but the multi-hit asteroids will start to sneak up on you.... and then you're wondering how you got done in so quickly.

No worries. All good now.