Interesting to start seeing some C64U 64Mhz tests appearing youtu.be/O4vXalu10O8?...

Had my first play with mcdraw.xyz to paint up scene from #thelongdark in commodore 64 format and then ran it on on my #C64 Ultimate. Complete mis-mashup across the eras but it made me happy and kept me oit of trouble for a few hours. Dithering definitely has it's challenges.

Bit of random fun with the C64 Ultimate today - Tried to get AOTPR to load quicker with my physical Action Replay cart but think I had a clash with the REU addressing as it wouldnt find one. Bought & Installed Jiffydos and that all then worked fine. Got FTP and telnet working too.

Solar panels doing an awesome job today. Heatwave outside, aircon on, oven roasting food for xmas, had the washing machine, dishwasher, and ice cream maker all working away at different stages. Barely made a dent.

One of our whippets had some dental work and a lump removed today. This is my MacGuyered attempt at one of those padded collars instead of the cone of shame. It's a travel pillow with a compression stocking. He seems to think it's fine, but he's also high as a kite right now.

My C64 U turned up today. Much like others have said, there wasn't any notification from C= that it had shipped but the postal services app said it was on the way. Looking foward to unboxing it but going to hold on for xmas just like my first c64 in 1986. Dad said it was a box of socks & jocks.

Had a thought recently while watching Star Trek Strange New Worlds. There was a party scene with music that was more or less contemporary to us. It made me realise, in their future world, where the computer can conjure up "art" at will - the only music worth listening to is pre-AI

Meh. Just had to age very myself on Bluesky because of Australia's no kids on social media ban. I thought someone had decided that so few Australians were on here it wasn't worth it. I decided the less intrusive approach was the age estimating selfie. Thankfully it doesn't tell you its guess.

Feels like ages since I built anything but I finally got around to making my Destest Max Switch. Now I just need to find some more non-working C64s as I've recently got all mine working.

Once again, @frankchimero.com has taken the time to analyse & feel his way down a useful path through a difficult topic. frankchimero.com/blog/2025/be... I really appreciate his work. Via @densediscovery.bsky.social

Just stsrted trying my hand at SMD electronics and this may be the worst / best contraption I've ever cobbled together.

Decided to cancel my Disney subscription.

Well this sure was fiddly to bodge such a tiny wire, but seems to have worked out. First time I've tried a usb port replacement.

Yay! @factorofmatt.bsky.social has now released DesTestMax Switch. factorofmatt.com/destest-max-...

Rocking this tune out at the moment - open.spotify.com/track/18ZSlY...

Re-shelled my first DS. This one was revived from a decapitation - likely caused by how brittle its plastic had become. Screens were fine, as was the digitiser in the end. The battery seems to recharge, and games are playing well. I kept the original back and buttons, ship of Theseus style.

What the hell was going on with Nintendo's plastics in 2004? This stuff holds together worse than any of my 40+ year old Commodore stuff.

Before and after on a Gameboy Advance upgrade. Cheap pickup of a junker GBA but it worked fine and now has a second life. Not as challenging a "repair" as I was hoping for but now I can play a bunch of GB and GBA titles I never had the opportunity to enjoy as I've never owned a GB before.

It glows! My nephew lent me a little esp32-C3 super mini and a temperature sensor and I've been experimenting with Esphome and Home Assistant. Had some odd issues getting it all going but eventually it started working.

Came home the other night and found this chewed open in the entry. "Oh no! What have the dogs pinched that we left out" I thought. I then realised it's a bag of gravy powder. The dogs barely touched it, but confusingly, we've never bought gravy like this. Who's yeeting gravy into my yard?

Bought these 2 gameboys as "not working" and even though they are dirty and rough as, they both worked fine without being opened or cleaned at all. I've never owned any Gameboy stuff so was looking for a project piece. The GBA I've got plans for a new shell, IPS drop in and battery mod.

Fog days. Pre and post run photos from a few days ago. It's pretty rare that my city looks like Silent Hill. I was quietly terrified running in it 😅

I have so many photos from the window seat that I don't post anywhere.

This picture has a French electronic baseline. No? Just me? #Air

Misty valleys.

OK. This C64 keyboard has to be the grossest one I've cleaned so far. Check out the 'tea' coming off those keycaps. 🤢 Not to mention the crusty hair etc. It took a bit of removing I can tell you.

The very last non-working c64 I had is now working. The poor thing had been the chip donor for all the other repairs so I still need to get some permanent replacements but all it really needed (from its original chips) was a new Kernal. It does need a new power switch + the weird double RF gone.

About a year ago I'd had very minimal electronics experience. A bit of noodling with Arduino's, a tiny bit of soldering here and there, wondering what ever happened to my childhood c64. Then one late night drunken bid later, I found myself going from 0 C64s to an entire carload of them in one go.

Another day another c64 repair. This one had the all too familiar black screen, which basically means it could be anything but do you see what I see... Not 1, not 2, but 3 MOS logic chips.

Soothing the dog by telling him gentle tales of what his Outie gets up to

@morefunmakingit.bsky.social Did you end up doing a follow-up repair vid for this Commodore 128 issue from back in march 2024? I'm going through the back catalogue, it's left me on a cliffhanger and I can't find mention of the finale. youtu.be/9txVOBSFBu0?...

I wanted to play with Protracker on Amiga 500 but couldn't find an .adf image for the ST-XX sample files needed. I could get the files, and found XDFtool - a python toolset for making amiga disks. First time trying out Colab, I managed to get it all to work and now the samples run fine :)

Yarrr!

I ran a Half Marathon on the weekend. I was hoping for cool weather after struggling in summer on my first one. Weather was cool but it also rained and the course was very wet. Despite Strava thinking this was a PB it was about 2 mins slower than previous. GPS issues in a tunnel threw it off.

This Amiga 500 case was dinged up badly when I got it, but all the pieces were in the tub. I finally got brave enough to try to piece it back together. Ended up going with delicately painting acetone on the breaks to melt the ABS together. After sunbrighting, I'll attempt a filler pass.

How many of you all keep the failed chips? This is my collection so far from fixing up about 8 C64s out of 14 I own. Only 2 remain unworking and 4 worked fine from the start. Basic and Character ROM, RAM, CIA :(, and MOS Logic. I thought there'd be a lot more PLAs, and this one mostly worked.

This Amiga 500 has been sitting on the shelf partially disassembled for about a year while my pile of c64s got worked on. A mate who was a big Amiga fan back in the day came round so we got it out and started working on it. The floppy "worked" but had track zero issues so it was gotek time.

I've previously had pretty good success with taking each c64 key plunger out and wiping it over paper to get good contact again. This time, I wondered about doing it without pulling each key off first and decided to try it with an eraser in situ. Worked great and was done in under 20 minutes.

Cleaned all the solder out of the desoldering station because I'm an adult. The fact that this is only the second time I've done this is not an indictment on my adult-ness.

Another day another bad MOS logic IC. Was pretty happy with diagnosing this as pins 3 and 6 looked well dodgy on the scope (which I'm new to learning), and then once pulled, those are the pins that failed the IC test. Hopefully, when the replacement arrives, the 6510 proves to be OK. #C64

Some test prints at different thicknesses to see if these might hold up as a c64 badge replacement for one or two of my repairs. I'd likely need to paint, print in colours, or a combo. Possibly switch to the smaller nozzle and print a bit slower.

I'm so concerned for the fate of the hobby electronics industry in the US. I have friends who run small online shops selling modern hobby retro gear and it feels like, at least for now, it's going to end in short order. No one can absorb these tariffs. blog.adafruit.com/2025/05/08/h...

With great help from others on a C64 group I got a working process to run DesTestMax S/L (swiftlink version with terminal output) from my 1541 Ultimatte ii+ cart. A little fiddly and relies on running DTMSL once before opening a terminal for the signal and once after or you miss initial tests.

New toys arrived. Ben Eaters 6502 kit plus the clock and serial modules. Not sure when I'll find the time to do them but I figured having them on hand makes it easier to just plug away at it when I find some moments.

@joewintergreen.com I feel like you could do good work here.

THE BIGGEST NEWS! Rob and I are offering up a hand-signed hardback, first edition/first printing copy of Monstrous Regiment straight from the Pratchett archives. Those who know the story will know why it’s a pertinent one for this cause. (More pics to come.) www.32auctions.com/organization...

Today's the day I finally try out my oscilloscope. Target #1 is if this guy and his neighbour are the cause of my RAM weirdness. I could just yank them and test them in the T48 but I'd like to level up in the fault finding skill tree. #C64