Building a Commodore 64 in 2023 – Construction and testing

I’m a geek, you’re a geek, we’re all geeks.

And sometimes geeks decide to build computers from the 80s.

Today’s article is showing the step-by-step progress of building the Commodore 64.

2023/08/012023/09/05 by wereallgeeks Categories: 100% Geek, C64Mainboard, Commodore 64, Computers and technology, Geekyness, Projects, RetrocomputingTags: 100% Geek, 250466, BYO, BYOC64, C64, C64C, commodore, Commodore 64, Commodore 64C, computer, connectors, DIY, Electronic, electronics, engineering, thec64 2 Comments

Stereo Commodore 64

I’m a geek, you’re a geek, we’re all geeks

and geeks enjoy their old games and computers on modern equipment.

In the eighties, most television sets were mono. So gaming aparitus and computers of the time were also mono. But modern televisions are at least stereo, and often cinema-style ambiophonic…

The commodore 64 uses what was revolutionary at the time, the “Sound Interface Device” – SID chip, for short.

The SID chip is capable to play 3 different voices simultaneously, and add filtering to the audio output, which makes for a remarquable audio quality, much more advanced than most of what was avaiable at the time.

Only issue (for modern times) is that it has only one channel. Mono. non-stereo. Being that the audio quality is rather advanced, audio snippets have been extracted from games for years in “SID files” and enjoyed by geeks – in mono.

In addition to outputting audio from the computer, the SID chip’s analog inputs are used to control paddle inputs from the game port, which is used for some game or as a mouse pointing device.

Is there a way to get the Commodore 64 to output in stereo?

2023/07/242023/09/05 by wereallgeeks Categories: 100% Geek, Audiovideo, C64Mods, C64SID, Commodore 64, Computers and technology, Geek lounge, Geekyness, RetrocomputingTags: 100% Geek, Arm2SID, ArmSID, C64, C64C, CGSC, commodore, Commodore 64, Commodore 64C, Commodore alteration, DIY, Electronic, electronics, Geek, Geekyness, HVSC, MixSID, mod, SID, Sid-Tuner, SidFX, Sound Interface Device, stereo, Stereoplayer, StereoSID, SwinSID, video games

C64 Sid chip replacement

I’m a geek, you’re a geek, we’re all geeks

and geeks enjoy their old games and computers.

In the eighties, the commodore 64 used what was revolutionary at the time, the “Sound Interface Device” – SID chip, for short.

The SID chip is capable of playing 3 different voices simultaneously, and adding filtering to the outputted audio, which made for a remarquable audio quality, much more advanced than what was avaiable at the time.

But the chip is no longer being produced.

When building a new Commodore, or fixing one up, where can a geek get a replacement SID?

2023/07/102023/08/10 by wereallgeeks Categories: 100% Geek, C64SID, Commodore 64, Computers and technology, Geek lounge, Geekyness, RetrocomputingTags: 100% Geek, ArmSID, C64, C64C, CGSC, commodore, Commodore 64, Commodore 64C, Commodore alteration, DIY, Electronic, electronics, Geek, Geekyness, MixSID, mod, SID, SidFX, Sound Interface Device, SwinSID, video games 5 Comments

C64 cartridge LED mods

I’m a geek, you’re a geek, we’re all geeks.

And geeks build their own cartridges. And mod their computers.

Why not combine it all and mod their own cartridges?

Today’s article will demonstrate how to implement a few possible LED alterations to a C64 cartridge.

2023/06/192023/07/11 by wereallgeeks Categories: 100% Geek, C64Cart, C64Mods, Commodore 64, Computers and technology, Geekyness, Projects, RetrocomputingTags: 100% Geek, 16k cartridge, 27512, 74ls04, Alterations, BYO, C64, C64C, cart, cartridge, Cartridge mod, commodore, Commodore 64, Commodore 64C, DIY, Electronic, electronics, EPROM, EPROM access, EPROM activity, Geek, Geekyness, indicator, iNimbleSloth, irq, led, LOADING, Logic chips, Lunde, magic desk, mod, Modifications, power led, retrocomputer, Retrocomputing, retrogaming, wereallgeeks 1 Comment

Hardware conversion from Tuya-compatible controller to Tasmota or WLED

I’m a geek, you’re a geek, we’re all geeks.

Geeks ofthen like/use/install/program home automation.

But they don’t like to have their devices connected to someone else’s cloud.

Unclouding smart devices isn’t a new concept. But what’s new is that Tuya moved out of the ESP8266 microcontroller in favor of their own proprietary WiFi-enabled microcontroller.

What to do when purchasing such Tuya-enabled non-tasmotizable device is the topic of today’s article.

2023/06/082023/07/23 by wereallgeeks Categories: 100% Geek, Computers and technology, Geek lounge, Geekyness, Home Automation, HomeAssistant, ProjectsTags: Athom, CBU, connectors, controller, convert, Electronic, electronics, ESP8266, hardware, Home Assistant, IoT, led, microcontroller, Neopixel, rehost, RGB, silicon, solcering, Tasmota, W8212b, WLED