Greetings from Texas USA

[Christacean]

Hi y’all,
I’m just getting started again with my Commodore 128 that I last used around 1987-1988 when I needed a computer for my university physics and engineering courses. Then I got into gaming a bit too!
But then, sadly, it sat in a box until 2 months ago, when I got interested in resurrecting it, just to see if it still worked.
I bought an s-video cable and connected it to my older tv set, and yes, it works — so does my 1571 drive, and several games I still had in another box.
Nostalgia is a powerful force. Now I’m finding it really enjoyable getting it working even better than it did before.
Back in college days I was broke, had no money, so it was a miracle even affording the c128/1571 back then. I couldn’t afford much else, never got a monitor, just used the crappy rf adapter to an old TV set.
So here I am, getting back into this stuff again, and I’m looking forward to getting to know other folks doing new stuff with their 8-bit computers!

 

[Watson]

Welcome to Amibay!

I personally do not own any 8-bit machines in my collection anymore, although temptation has nearly got me a few times, but i must resist due to not having the room to accommodate.

 

[steveed]

If you are in Central Texas there is a very active commodore user group.

Central Texas Commodore Users Group | Meetup

Do you still use old Commodore computers, such as the Commodore 64, Amiga, VIC-20, Plus/4, C-128, or even the original PETs? If so, join us for an afternoon of hacking, coding, fixing, tweaking, chatting, and, of course, gaming. Whether you want to learn about your computer or fix your computer, thi

www.meetup.com

 

[RetroNinja]

If you like to hack a bit, you can upgrade the VDC to 64K. I believe you can buy the board or build it yourself.

Also look into the SD2IEC or Pi1541 upgrades. Mostly these come pre-assembled. These mods allow you to put a zillion games/apps on an SD card so they are all at your fingertips. Loading times are the same though, that's dependent on the disk drive IEC interface.

Another idea is the wifi mod, just like you'd think, this allows your C128 to get on the Internet. It's really cool but kinda lacking in the 'what do I do now with it?' sense. There are some BBS' on the Internet you can access.

Lastly, cartridges galore. There are some new super cartridges that combine disk images (like the SD2IEC) + old cartridge games + wired Internet adapter + some RAM (?) .

For me the 8 bit scene is 1) do something then play Impossible Mission or 2) just play Impossible Mission

 

[Christacean]

Welcome to Amibay!

I personally do not own any 8-bit machines in my collection anymore, although temptation has nearly got me a few times, but i must resist due to not having the room to accommodate.

I’m just enjoying this resurgence of interest in these aging computers. People working so hard to refurbish old equipment, creating new replacement parts using raspberry pi or FPGA or swapping out dying DRAM chips with newer SRAM chips, etc. It’s the blending of old and new that’s exciting to me.

 

[Christacean]

If you are in Central Texas there is a very active commodore user group.

Central Texas Commodore Users Group | Meetup

Do you still use old Commodore computers, such as the Commodore 64, Amiga, VIC-20, Plus/4, C-128, or even the original PETs? If so, join us for an afternoon of hacking, coding, fixing, tweaking, chatting, and, of course, gaming. Whether you want to learn about your computer or fix your computer, thi

www.meetup.com

Thanks for the link! I think I was invited to one of their meetings by a friend but couldn’t make it. I see they are located not far from me, so I’ll definitely check it out now!

 

[Christacean]

If you like to hack a bit, you can upgrade the VDC to 64K. I believe you can buy the board or build it yourself.

Also look into the SD2IEC or Pi1541 upgrades. Mostly these come pre-assembled. These mods allow you to put a zillion games/apps on an SD card so they are all at your fingertips. Loading times are the same though, that's dependent on the disk drive IEC interface.

Another idea is the wifi mod, just like you'd think, this allows your C128 to get on the Internet. It's really cool but kinda lacking in the 'what do I do now with it?' sense. There are some BBS' on the Internet you can access.

Lastly, cartridges galore. There are some new super cartridges that combine disk images (like the SD2IEC) + old cartridge games + wired Internet adapter + some RAM (?) .

For me the 8 bit scene is 1) do something then play Impossible Mission or 2) just play Impossible Mission

Great advice! In fact I did just order the VDC upgrade (here in fact), and have recently got the SD2IEC (but with fastload cart, forcing it always into C64 mode). I’m going to mod the SD2IEC so it has independent power, freeing up the expansion port. I also bought a stack of versa64cart from pcbway to diy some carts using uv EPROMs. But for hardware mods, I’m afraid to do too much to my c128. I’d like to find another one so I can be more daring with making changes to it.

 

[kynikos]

Welcome! Good job on keeping it all these years and glad to hear it still works fine.