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C-64 upgrades

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bettablue

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What (if any)upgrades are available? I have a C-64, Floppy Disk Drive, Cassette tape machine, all of the required cables, and Power Supplies.

Now though, I will be getting a Commodore Color monitor, and some game and small business carts.

Even though I will have a basic complete system I want to get a few upgrades that I can either install, or otherwise add. So what Commodore 64 upgrades do you recommend?

Thanks Much.

Chiao
Thomas
 
I strongly suggest buying an Epyx "Fast Load" cartridge. It replaces the normal disk loading and saving program routines, which on its own takes a very long time.
 
bettablue said:
What (if any)upgrades are available? I have a C-64, Floppy Disk Drive, Cassette tape machine, all of the required cables, and Power Supplies.
Click to expand...
If you have the non-repairable brick power supply, that should be immediately replaced with a repairable, heavier-duty power supply.

Merry Christmas,
Robert Bernardo
Fresno Commodore User Group
http://www.dickestel.com/fcug.htm
 
T-Squared said:
I strongly suggest buying an Epyx "Fast Load" cartridge. It replaces the normal disk loading and saving program routines, which on its own takes a very long time.
Click to expand...

+1. While there are faster and more capable cartridges, FastLoads are cheap and plentiful, have all the basic features, are easily disabled in software when necessary, and have very few titles they won't work with.
 
RobertB said:
If you have the non-repairable brick power supply, that should be immediately replaced with a repairable, heavier-duty power supply.
Click to expand...

I second this. I've cooked too many C64s with the original power supplies. Buy a 3rd party one and you won't have to worry about frying your valued Commodore.
 
Or in one word, tons!. You can get whatever you need for your old C64, if you're going for cheap the best ones are a drive accelerator (Fastload carts or free kernal replacements like "Exos" or "The Beast") and a SD2IEC. If you're willing to spend some money, you can get flash carts like "Easyflash 3", the Ultimate 1541, extra RAM or CPU accelerators (these ones are hard to find, maybe the chameleon is still available...).
 
I'll go against the grain here and say to just keep your system the way it is, and enjoy it for what it is. Power supply replacement (of which I only found out about myself a few days ago) being the exception. At some point, after adding ram expansion, CPU accelerators, etc., it's no longer a C-64. Some questions to think about before you spend money on some of the upgrades above....

1. Are you going to use this for word processing / doodling / etc.? If not, no point in a mouse since GEOS is pretty much the only thing I've seen that supports it. You can turn it into a joystick by pressing one of the buttons (I forget how) but I wouldn't recommend it for games... Likewise for an REU. I don't think there is much use / support for one outside of GEOS, unless you would get some kicks from playing around with it on your own.

2. Do you care if your programs take 15 seconds to load instead of 45? If not, don't bother with a fastload cart either. Not worth the trouble. Of course, I had to wait to "graduate" to a disk drive (from a cassette drive!) and my first modem was 150 bps so patience for computers is something that has never really bothered me much. YMMV.

3. Anything that messes with CPU timing could affect the perf of games. Maybe not. Most people that spent the money on these (that I know) had to bump them down to 1MHz to use them with games most of the time anyway.

Now if you're tinkerer and just want to have the baddest C-64 in town, ignore all of the above. I've always wanted to do the second SID chip mod to one of my C64's, but only of interest to someone interested in electronic music...
 
Safe Power Supply should be your first upgrade.

After that, it's JiffyDOS, SD2IEC, REU, Stereo SID, and reset switch.

Or, just get the Ultimate II+.
 
LesB3 said:
2. Do you care if your programs take 15 seconds to load instead of 45? If not, don't bother with a fastload cart either. Not worth the trouble. Of course, I had to wait to "graduate" to a disk drive (from a cassette drive!) and my first modem was 150 bps so patience for computers is something that has never really bothered me much. YMMV.

Curious, what trouble do you speak of? And it's not 15 vs 45 seconds, it's more like 10 seconds vs 2 minutes for older titles. Not really understanding why you wouldn't want to speed up access... especially with modern SD card or USB stick devices.
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I can understand not wanting to perform permanent modernization modifications to a vintage machine (i.e. SD IEC devices that involve drilling holes or otherwise cutting into the case).

But for something like a Mach5, or Epyx Fastload? I agree, I don't see why an era-appropriate disk speed upgrade would diminish the experience of using a C64.
 
I've never had anything but trouble with the various speed carts that I've used, mostly with more complex (and disk intensive) games. And I don't use USB / whatever so...
The OP said this was his first C64 (or something like that) so don't see why anything beyond the basic setup he has is needed for the "experience." What he has is "good enough."

I also don't have room for a speedcart, since the lone port is occupied with a Swiftlink instead...
Looking at the Ultimate II+, it seems to have all of your needs covered!
 
I guess it depends partly on what you intend to do, like gaming programming, etc. If it were me, I would start with the power supply that others have mentioned, and then get either a Comet or Flyer for internet connectivity. This would allow chatting or online gaming, as well as easy disk image downloads.
 
My Commodore 64 has the original power supply, and I know about the dangerous of using the originals. Is there a power supply that is recommended over the originals?
 
If you can find the upgrade supply that came with the REU, it's safe (plus supplies more power).

But there are aftermarket supplies, and even inline protection for your original supply (hopefully someone has links for them).
 
mrarkus said:
Safe Power Supply should be your first upgrade.

After that, it's JiffyDOS, SD2IEC, REU, Stereo SID, and reset switch.

Or, just get the Ultimate II+.
Click to expand...

I agree but shouldnt reset button be the second choice? And for that matter stereo Sids is pretty neat, but unless your heavy into demos or music production 90% of people wont use the second second SID really. I mean I am toying with the notion to add a SID to my PET 2001-8,.... but will much actually use it? Probably not.
 
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