0031 I'm completely blown away by all these "modern" C64 goodies!

[@jeremychrzan]

Good ol' Stewart, coming through with another fun (and well packed) treat!

[@adriansdigitalbasement2]

Never ceases to amaze me! Always a journey!

[@Ramdileo_sys]

@@adriansdigitalbasement2 at 27:04 .. I think that you have there a brand new case and keyboard for one of the real C64 boards that you repair Adrian 🤨​........ .. it would be an interesting video do... see if it is posible to mod the case and especially the keyboard for use it with a real C64 board 🤔​... ... .... for emulation just use a PC 🤷‍♀️​..

[@SomeMorganSomewhere]

The C64 DTV was designed by Jerri Ellsworth, I believe she's got a bunch of videos about it on her channel. You're probably correct about the cost likely being the reason they discontinued it, she has a story about having to go to the factory because the early production models didn't work, they'd stripped out pretty much all of the bypass caps to save cost...

[@Sebby_75]

Jeri is a genius.. highly recommend watching last interview with her.. Her AR gaming platform/system is finally coming out this summer after being in on/off development for over 12 years... Interview kzbin.info/www/bejne/qGXcpJVvgZtlZsk Jerri's Dungeon (look at all of that retro stuff) kzbin.info/www/bejne/l5aVZnh-jNKCjc0 C64 Bass Guitar kzbin.info/www/bejne/lZynmaN8lstne7s

[@minty_Joe]

I was just about to mention that, too! Yeah, AI6TK, Jerri Ellsworth, is a genius. On the same awesome playing field as Fran Blanche. 😁

[@gregorybrady3341]

Jeri is great. I worked in the Playground incubator space with her when she was doing CastAR. Super nice and fun.

[@DAVIDGREGORYKERR]

She did try to create an AMIGA ON A CHIP

[@LeoA2600]

The generosity of your viewers regularly makes my day when I watch your mail call. Just when you start to wonder about mankind, these videos help remind you that there's still a lot of good people out there.

[@LeoA2600]

Forgot to add, I'd love to see you fully mod the C64 DTV stick to interface it with an original keyboard, disk drive, etc. Would be an entertaining video for sure and I wouldn't worry about it from a collectability standpoint. These things sold in very healthy amounts as the Wikipedia article attests to, so while perhaps worth a fair bit sealed (Especially with what COVID seems to have done to retro gaming prices), it's not at all something rare that you'd be altering.

[@Vermilicious]

That last one looks especially intriguing! Next on Stewart's Digital Basement...

[@Dinnye01]

Stewart is THE angel behind this channel at this point. He has the means, and Adrian knows how to make the best of this. Wonderful team! I can only imagine Stewart watching the vids in anticipation of some epic content.

[@christopherjackson2157]

Thanks to Stewart for what he provides to the channel! I loved those ibm bios episodes

[@soberlife]

Yes, thanks!

[@-CrippledNinja-]

I LOVE my U64Elite (with 6581 and 8580 on those ZIFs), I'm really looking forward for that build!

[@organiccold]

Thank you Stuart for sending this to Adrian so we can see this cool stuff, and the letters are funny

[@RacerX-]

WOW what an amazing set. Dude dropped some coin on that mail in. Well done. What a nice guy.

[@kepanoid]

I have one of those DTV-64s which I bought a long time ago. Between when they were brand new and when they got (almost) rare geek items. I have test-used it a couple of times during all these years. My principal idea was, and still is, to build a perfect C64 laptop from it. Just need to get a round tuit (that's the most important and common part missing from any project)...

[@CubicleNate]

I love this Stewart. He seems like a hilarious dude. What a great "treasure hunt" he put you on!

[@AmigaOmega]

We boosted the colour and contrast in PAL land for the C64 too ya know :) The colours do only look right on a crt. Both ntsc and pal look naff on an lcd. What would be nice to see is a pal and ntsc c64 side by side on a properly tuned crt screen to show difference in colours. Maybe new and old luma vicII as well.

[@stevewhitcher6719]

The DTV1 ( NTSC) used to turn up regularly at the Car Boot sales near me( A car boot sale is like a yard sale, where hundreds of people (sellers) fill their cars with yard sale stuff and drive to a field, where hundreds of people (buyers) go to buy the stuff. I wondered why as UK is PAL and As you said they were NTSC! Aparently a shipment of them ended up in the UK and because if you were lucky you got a black and white picture, and if you were unlucky you got sqiggy lines if your TV couldnt sync they were sold off at a local discount retailer. I was going to build them into C64s but never quite got round to it.

[@stevewhitcher6719]

@@jkeelsnc I suspect that the european and japanese manufacturers made the pcb's so they could use either PAL or NTSC so they could use them in all markets with only a bit of a mod (SECAM was PAL with a different colour or should that be color). When VHS was still a thing and I used to import tapes from both the US and Japan ( I was an anime fan and doctor who fan) i used to have a mix of NTSC 3.58 and NTSC 4.43 equipment 4.43 was NTSC timing with PAL colour subcarrier ( not that common but more common in the UK than 3.58 which was the Standard NTSC) I had a analogue video standards converter that could shift the colour between the 2 without changing the timing. Why this mattered was tapes that i had bought expensively i wanted to record to DVD and i only had a NTSC 3.58 DVD recorder! I love car boot sales some amazing stuff turns up and if it something is bulky or the seller doesnt know what it is you will not see it online. So many times i have waved something at a seller said "how much" the seller has said 5 quid (10 dollars ish) i've paid and the the seller has asked me "So what is it?"

[@MichaelEhling]

That was fun! When Stewart gives Adrian a gift, we all get a gift.

[@paulturner5769]

The 'Commodore on a chip' was a Jeri Ellsworth product. She also worked on an 'Amiga on a chip' project - kzbin.infovideos -

[@NozomuYume]

She's also from the Portland area (well, Beaverton), in Adrian's neck of the woods.

[@CharlieShu86]

Wow, wow. Great gifts :D I can't wait to see that ultimate c64 go wild :D

[@kobe3576]

Just something that I noticed, in the C64 mini, at 19:25 when you play your demo, shouldn't be some sprite or something moving in circles in the center of the screen? If seems that is missing... 🤔

[@adriansdigitalbasement2]

Yeah funny! I'm not sure the one on CSDB has it but the one on my Easy Flash 3 does. Amusing!

[@sniperviperman6400]

awesome blown away mail call, especially the ultimate package got me goosebumps , looking forward to the build.

[@stephanemignot100]

I use Vice SDL on my old eMac with the alternate/good palette, CRT heaven!

[@pb_magnet]

A C64 Maxi! Those are unobtanium here in Canada. I gave up waiting for it to become available, and started building a BMC64 instead.

[@adriansdigitalbasement2]

I'm assuming this was imported from Europe. It's a shame, I think there is demand, especially for the Maxi.

[@MattKasdorf]

@@adriansdigitalbasement222:22 Yours is the USA model, note the E for everyone, the European model has a white 7 in a green box.

[@MattKasdorf]

Really like the idea of a BMpet, but I figured I'd better order a TheVIC20 from the UK while I still could... it's still in transit 🤞

[@CRCO1975]

I have TheVIC20 which I ordered when they were first available from Amazon UK. Interesting thing with the keyboard - the zero key is strange on TheC64 but correct on TheVIC20.

[@MattKasdorf]

@@CRCO1975 Oh! 😲 That's good. 👍 I'm surprised how much I noticed that 🥴

[@NeonNightmares]

Stewart really killing it with these packages! :D

[@rangercv4263]

I think we can all agreee, Stewart should be recognized officially as Adrian’s digital basement fan No. 1.

[@RetroGameCoders]

Wow that was a generous package. Love the Ultimate, I managed to fry part of mine and it still works great other than I can't use the joystick ports - amazing hardware! The DTV seems so cool, you should get @8BitShowAndTell on your show to talk about the programming of it :)

[@c128stuff]

Chris, did you get in contact with Gideon about a possible repair?

[@RetroGameCoders]

@@c128stuff yes! and I bought the CPLD and resistors, just hoping my buddy locally can help me program it and get it soldered before we move back to England :o

[@bruwin]

Wow, that's really an authentic C64 experience if you can fry something by plugging in a joystick!

[@c128stuff]

@@bruwin with the U64 elite that problem shouldn't happen anymore.

[@RetroGameCoders]

@@bruwin ha it wasn’t a joystick that fried it, I was experimenting with electronics and the user port

[@awilliams1701]

It's surprising about the colors. I have a vic-II² mod that does both PAL and NTSC. I don't see much of a difference between them. It's very slight. The colors seem vibrant in both.

[@OneSmallStepWeb]

Ohhhhhh yes. Ultimate C64 build video. Please Adrian. Please?

[@Lachlant1984]

On TheC64 you can navigate the carousel from the keyboard, keys U, H, J, and K are your joystick directions, G and spacebar are for the left fire button, L and return are the right fire button, Y is the top left triangle button, X is the top right triangle button, the A, B and C buttons map to the A, B and C keys on the keyboard, the menu button is mapped to the power button (briefly press and release it). I have TheC64 full sized version and I absolutely love it to bits. Watching you open those first 4 or 5 packages was just so interesting because the person who posted these to you clearly knows your tastes and knows what you like and don't like, it's almost like they were watching you opening the packages and then were trying to address your issues. Regarding scaling and colour palette issues, these are things I wouldn't notice, plus, I live in a country that uses PAL (Australia). I damn love my TheC64, it was probably the best thing I bought in 2020, I love it so damn much.

[@ran2wild370]

OMG... this Commodore64 mania drives me crazy!! 😃 So much efforts spent on emulation and casting plastic cases instead of recreating it on the modern microchips 😆

[@jeromethiel4323]

Retro computer hobbyists are not the most logical of people! ^-^

[@TonyLing]

5:19 Wasn't that Jerri Halliworth's thing?

[@twocvbloke]

ooh, the C64 DTV is an awesome little thing!!! Though the Toy Lobster version (aka DTV2) has the better options for expansion as you read, as the DTV1 is a bit lacking in some parts, I have both which I took to bits to turn into a "desktop" C64 in an old digital TV set top box shell, the DTV1 turned out to be NTSC only (not helpful on PAL-only CRTs!!!), so all I got was a B&W image, but the DTV2 I got, my goodness it's amazing what you can do with them, using David Murray's (8-bit Guy) archived website pages with all the info to make the interfaces, I even interfaced a 1541C to it and had it load an actual set of programs off an original Commodore 1541 test/demo disk, was such a proper geeky moment for me as it's the first time I'd ever used a 1541 ever... :D

[@ChrisCebelenski]

I built two U64(elite and non)'s last year and love-em! Being able to place real SID's in them is just icing but makes the whole thing so much nicer than pure emulation. It's like having a whole new generation of C64!

[@xorfive]

I'm looking forward to that Ultimate 64 build! Stewart is a true hero donor.

[@JoedeLange]

Does this Stewart live in the North Pole by any chance? Asking because I too have been a very good boy.

[@tetsujin_144]

6:20 - Regarding that C64 DTV joystick, some versions are more modder-friendly than others. I don't remember all the details, but I think some of them you can hook up disk drives and keyboards and boot into BASIC and others... Not so much. I have one, it's decently fun, but I think I was kind of disappointed to find mine one one of the less-hackable versions.

[@artstrutzenberg7197]

So you should totally see about creating a series to "add all of the mods" to that C64 joystick?

[@dschult3]

I'd watch!

[@JenniferinIllinois]

Stewart's letters are hilarious. They tell a story, a story of all the goodies he's sending ya. He's an absolute legend. Ok Adrian, we need to see 8-bit Dance Party playing on that Ultimate 64 in the transparent case with the LEDs. I has to happen!

[@mikewifak]

I would like my own personal Stewart. Where do I sign up?

[@bonemar66]

I was thinking something similar. All you gotta do is set up a reasonably popular channel and people you just met online send you $1500 worth of gear you can't get in the real world because of "supply issues".

[@casaderobison2718]

I tested my C64+REU port of PETSCII Robots on TheC64 Mini (with USB keyboard) and TheC64 Maxi, both with updated firmware. I was excited it played as well as it did in emulation. So these machines are a great way to play that, and presumably other REU based games.

[@adriansdigitalbasement2]

Agree -- really the Maxi is just pretty great overall for people who want to avoid the all the troubles of a real machine in 2022. Feels the same and yet, so much easier in every way.

[@Inadvisablescience]

I enjoyed every moment of this video. Wow. Stuart is a most excellent person!

[@rodhester2166]

Looking forward to the build... gear seekers has a few videos on the clear case 64.

[@SparkyMAWy]

It is possible to navigate around without the joystick using the keyboard on the Maxi, though I agree that it isn't intuitive. Keys HJKL do cursor movements and then another key selects.

[@sillyconguru]

Wow, wow, wow! Stewart has outdone himself once again. Fabulous!

[@eddiepetrick6222]

Do pixel perfect setting and change aspect ratio in the monitor, if possible.

[@Bewefau]

Could you use one of those case's and put one of those motherboard kits in there? Not the clear case the other full size case.

[@billfruge25]

Awesome nostalgic video AB! If only I had one (or 4) of those transparent cases back when I ran my BBS in the 80s :D

[@BluroStacks]

Spoiler free chapter marks: 1:14 #1 | 4:28 #2 | 9:12 #3 | 21:31 #4 | 31:37 #5

[@dougjohnson4266]

Does not look that there was a Userport cable for the U64E included? Nice to have so one can play Petscii Robots with the TexElec adapter & SNES controller.

[@8BitRetroJournal]

Stewart from NH is amazing. I work in NH...good people live there!

[@another3997]

Holy cow, what an amazing donation. I'd have been really pleased with any single one of them appearing on my doorstep, never mind all of them! The C64 Maxi is great, but the Ultimate board and new case are just ultra cool. A big thumbs up to Stewart. And yes Adrian, you're definitely very picky! 😉

[@johndeaux33]

Picky!! Looks really ungrateful from where I am watching, Stewart has gone out of pocket and time and all Adrian can do is complain and moan that they are not good enough for him.

[@orinokonx01]

I have a 1541 drive which the previous owner installed a C64 DTV board directly inside - along with modifying the 1541 case with two joystick ports, a PS/2 port (keyboard) and video out so it's like a C64 + 1541 box. Kinda cool - I need to rewire the joystick ports because they were wired a bit wrong...

[@timmooney7528]

My favorite joysticks were the home versions of the Wico arcade controllers. They had the same type of contact switches like an arcade stick used versus the pads on a circuit board like the Atari sticks used.

[@ToTheGAMES]

Amazing. Good delivery on those puns too, Steward!

[@sittingstill3578]

Stewart the steward of cool retro tech wordsmithing.

[@Halftrip]

I'd love to get a Maxi, but I haven't seen any for sale in the US under $200.

[@kcase601]

Have you tried to dump your vic 20 cartridges using the Retro Chip Tester Pro? I was just wondering if it worked for you?

[@nemike42]

Does your monitor/TV have scaling options, 4:3 mode ?

[@solarbirdyz]

I'm looking forward to that build video. I am here for it. :D

[@enigma776]

Now if I recall correctly on that ASUS monitor you should be able to set it to 4:3 in the monitors options, then using pixel perfect in the mini/maxi it should look well perfect.

[@InfiniteLoop]

I want to apply for the c64 maxi or the joystick one lol.

[@mark12358]

Stewart, you are the man! Great gifts!

[@xrayspx8725]

Eyoyo has a 4:3 12" display that I bought for exactly this reason. I have a 130XE and built a raspberry pi that boots up into an Atari ST desktop and wanted a correct aspect ratio in the 12" range. It has all the same inputs as the 16x9 version but gives you a more correct 12" display for classic computers.

[@davidhiggins9346]

A helpful tip for the mini: you can use any cheesy generic usb snes controller instead of the joystick without any mod: plug and play...and the newest firmware update supports both joysticks and has file tags to enable ram expansions.

[@frankowalker4662]

What a great gift. I can't wait to see the C64-C build. :)

[@GoogleSpyZon]

That was wonderful... the c64 ultimate is the bee' knees... cant wait for the build.

[@IntenseGrid]

Wow! I would love an ultimate 64 with dual SIDs. He gave you the most top end C64 you could get. Very impressive. I can't wait til you get around building the ultimate 64.

[@joshuamacdonald4913]

I have been waiting for the maxi to come down in price/become more plentiful here in Canada. I have an original on the shelf that needs attention but I literally have no time to dig into it 😓.

[@awilliams1701]

32:30 I'm guessing a U64?

[@awilliams1701]

hahaha called it!

[@Breeffeehey]

Would love a C64 Maxi... any development for North America's availability?

[@Breeffeehey]

(I should wait the end of videos before posting a comment...)

[@tarzankom]

The question I have about the C64 mini is how well it handles games that use different joy ports. Not all games used port 1, a fair number used port 2 instead. I remember the game Commando used port 2 for controlling your character (move + shoot), and used either the spacebar or the button on port 1 to throw grenades. Also, if you think that breakdancing program is a win, you should look for the game "Break Street". It was a really cool breakdancing program I had for the 64 as a kid in the 80s.

[@adriansdigitalbasement2]

Pretty sure there is a way to quickly swap between the ports -- and I think you can also configure games to assign the USB joystick to a particular port so you don't have to think about it once you set it up

[@bhhenry]

I can't wait to see the Ultimate 64 assembly video!

[@brianv2871]

Stewart is hilarious.. we all need a Stewart in our lives. Though, i'm not sure i'd ever eat at his house since he apparently has a penchant for eating bugs.

[@strunapl6103]

Awesome. It wasnt to long. And next should be with Ultimate. For me it's to expensive but i love to atleast watch You build it , test it. My only project is to insert RPi into Plus/4 case and give it BCM64 with real keyboard.

[@6581punk]

Love my Ultimate 64 board. Can use a USB wireless keyboard. Living room C64 action without needing the computer on your lap.

[@bretttesdall2155]

Hey, I’ve got one of those letter-openers too.

[@stooartbabay]

Love it!! so looking forward to the build :)

I've been for months trying to find a c64 maxi and haven't had any luck. Sadly, I'm from Chile and very few people ship their goodies here.

[@radio-ged4626]

What a generous guy! Great show.

[@TyphinHoofbun]

When I was young, I always wanted to get a Commodore 64. I knew of them (they occasionally showed up on TV/Movies and such) and since I wanted to learn about computers since I knew they existed, I was always sad that we never got one. A neighbor got one at some point, but he was even younger than me and didn't know what he was doing (and I didn't like the kid much), so we didn't get to do more than poke at a copy of one of the Dizzy games, I think. I believe he got it from a garage sale, so he didn't have the manual or anything either. I've poked a little at emulation, but without having gotten to learn the machine, it's been kind of difficult to really get into. Unfortunately, by the time we got a computer at our home, it was a DOS machine and software was no longer something you wrote yourself, it was something you bought off the shelf. I tried to teach myself some programming in middle/high school, but it wasn't until college that I actually got a class on the subject. I love watching your videos on repairing them and otherwise messing with the machines, it always makes me wonder "What might have been" if I had been able to get my hands on one as a kid.

[@mrjsv4935]

Cool C-64 stuff :) My original 64 was the 64 C version, but sadly sold it in 1991. Now have the C-64 Mini, which I bought in 2018. Firmware updates have made it all the time better and easier to use, for example switching joystick ports. So far haven't gotten the full size C-64, or Vic-20 though. I once tried typing a Basic program with the C-64 Mini virtual keyboard, but that was terrible job :D I may now wait and see if they'll release also a full size Amiga computer, even I have the real, original Commodore A500 as well.

[@leandrocosta3709]

Oh, I will stay tunned lol. Ways wanted a commodore and never even seen one IRL. Stuart (Stewart?) is one heck of a guy. Adrian as usual keep the awesome work and thanks for the entertainment. Your videos come through in more ways than you think.

[@steelplasma256]

I Also have the DTV 1 NTSC and bought it off Amazon about 10 years ago when I learned about how it was the only C64 ASIC. Sadly the NTSC version was referred about in forums as the inferior version. I still have it in a plastic container waiting to be modded as there is no way to play new non-BASIC games. You can access the Main C64 Terminal by inputting a button combo.

[@charlesheinle9908]

I've got a DTV 2 new in package :) 2 DTV 1's. One modded with keyboard and IEC cables.

[@leadedsolder]

Your eBay link to the side cutters in the description seems to be broken. Love the videos, the DTV is such a cool piece of hardware.

[@InfiniteLoop]

What if Stuart is actually an alternate persona of Adrian doing this stuff to himself.

[@willaimkazer9754]

Agreed, Nes and snes are the best D pads. I have a USB box to allow original NES and SNES to be used on emulation. It also support Game Cube controllers. For Genesis I have a USB controller that came with Genesis mini. I await the Amiga mini. I preordered. Also a Commodore product. I want a C64 Maxi. That may be next if I can find one.

[@andrasszabo7386]

Adrian, You can use the original C64 keyboard in this. You just need to get an USB to C64 keyboard adapter. It is Arduino Pro Micro based, and it is easy to do it yourself.

[@FullMetalFab]

Not much of a MMC but awesome, I have one of those clear C64C cases and plane to build a sixtyclone with as many new parts as possible and going to rig it with an LED strip and I light up mechboard keyboard. I'd love a C64 MAXI or an Ultimate64 one day.

[@paulstubbs7678]

One crazy haul - and not it was not too long.

[@RetroJack]

In PAL territories, the C64 was noted for it's "muddy" colour palette.

[@JustinEmlay]

All of the C64 sticks have the same emulation. But there are three versions. Original US. Then an EU model that replaced ROM with Flash but introduced a color issue. Then a third and final unit which fixed a Blitter issue and I suppose fixed the color issue? Anyway, the color issue can be fixed by moving around resistors. Not only do the earlier sticks run real C64, they have solder points for cool stuff: The C64DTV mainboard has exposed solder points for floppy-drive and keyboard ports, enabling hardware modifications (modding) such as: Keyboard connector (although some emulated keyboard faults exist, they can be rectified with the "Keyboard Twister"). External joystick connectors (Port 1 and 2). Floppy drive connector. Power unit connector. S-Video connector. User port connector. Data transfer cable connector (parallel port (or USB/serial port via DTV2ser) to joystick port or user port). SD card interface connector (1541-III or MMC2IEC) Rectifying PAL colour palette problems (to some degree this is possible in software by adjusting palette entries). Retrofitting to an original C64 case.[4] C64DTV was transformed by Rod Hull (tfw8b) into a fully functional portable C64 with SD2IEC Joysticks ports and 1530 touchpad, as in the case of the C64p Laptop

[@OneSmallStepWeb]

Stewart is a legend. Love this bloke. A Collab? Please?

[@Liberty309]

Anyone know where I can find a C64 Maxi?

[@JVHShack]

I would say that Adrian and Stewart need to meet up some day. I'd watch that even if it went over the 1 hour mark!

[@josedias5514]

Thumbs-up to Stewart. Amazing stuff, all of it.

[@DavidMarvin]

Thank you Stewart.

[@terryraymond7984]

Yes the C=64 DTV actually used actual remakes of all of the C=64 MOS chips, Jeri Ellsworth made this. :)

[@terryraymond7984]

Add to that the C64 MOS chips were all integrated into a blob chip the size of a nickel.

[@andymouse]

Cant wait to see the ultimate build !...cheers.

[@Colin_Ames]

What an awesome box of goodies.

[@krissjacobsen9434]

I can't really talk about TheC64, but TheVic20 has double shot keycaps. It is by no means the greatest double shot keycaps I've seen, but the letters are definetly not printed on. They are actually slightly recessed. The keycaps are also white on the inside.

[@tenminutetokyo2643]

Amazingly those VIC-20 carts only have 2 components in then.

[@anotheruser9876]

Still waiting for The64Maxi to appear in Canada..... any time now..... *chirp*

[@c128stuff]

One note with regards to the U64. Be carefull when inserting cartridges, and preferrably only use old cartridges with a nice rounded edge connector, as it is surprisingly easy to damage the cartridge port the first times you insert a cartridge. After a while, this is no longer really needed, but I'd reccomend getting one of the 90 degree edge adapters or a port expander, and leave that permanently installed, and insert cartridges into that. Not that you'd need it often, as in almost all cases you can just use .crt images.

[@williamsquires3070]

It would be cool if it would let you swap one (or more) of the built-in games with one of your choosing (like the C64 Attack of the Petscii Robots, for example)!