Okay, I have heard this mentioned several times and I gotta ask. What is the difference between a breadbin and non-breadbin case? 🙁

The breadbin is the original style case - it's the one described in this thread. The later C64 (https://www.c64-wiki.com/index.php/C64C) had a more modern case design, and the later versions of the C64C had a smaller motherboard and different sound chip IIRC.

The designers of the C64 had planned to use a more modern case in the first instance but with deadlines slipping and Jack Tramiel demanding they get it out the door ASAP, they were forced to simply re-purposed the VIC-20 case.

Chaniyth wrote:

Hmmm, only time will tell if this is another bait and run scam or legit.

What isn't a scam on Kickstarter and Patreon?

Just because one person owns the molds that were used to make the original cases, does not necessarily mean they have the legal right to make them. Someone out there, somewhere, may still hold the rights to the design. When Commodore liquidated, SOMEONE bought their intellectual property including the design of their cases.

sliderider wrote:

Just because one person owns the molds that were used to make the original cases, does not necessarily mean they have the legal right to make them. Someone out there, somewhere, may still hold the rights to the design. When Commodore liquidated, SOMEONE bought their intellectual property including the design of their cases.

Design copyrights have a far shorter term of protection than other IP. It is 10 years from the date of the publication of the registration or the date the design is first made available to the public.

I have a breadbin C64, its motherboard is not compatible with the C64C's case design without keyboard mounts, which are not included. Otherwise, I would love this because my C64's case has turned to brown.

Great Hierophant wrote:

I have a breadbin C64, its motherboard is not compatible with the C64C's case design without keyboard mounts, which are not included. Otherwise, I would love this because my C64's case has turned to brown.

The breadbins do take on a sickly nicotine-ish yellow hue with too much exposure to heat / UV, but I'd consider brown to be the original colour. That is to say, it's one of the original colours - they seem to range from a 'light tan' to darker browns depending on where they were made, by whom, and (I'm guessing) what materials were available at the time.

I added another refinement to my C64 setup last night - JiffyDOS. This is a replacement DOS which includes bug fixes, new commands, etc, but most importantly it allows for much faster loading of programs. The slow load times didn't bother me initially but oh boy, 2+ minute loads begin to bring a man down after a while.

I’ve tried various fast loaders and my 1541 Ultimate’s ‘DMA load’ option, which all work to varying degrees depending on the game. Sometimes they work really well, sometimes they have no effect, and sometimes they fail to load the game at all. JiffyDOS is reported to be more compatible and to not only decrease load times, but to increase the speed of all subsequent disk access, such as saving games and multi-disk games.

With a hardware-only setup, your only option for upgrading to JiffyDOS is to open your machine and your disk drive, yank out the kernal ROM IC's from both units, and replace them with JiffyDOS ROMS. We lucky 1541 Ultimate II owners however can do it all via the Ultimate's ability to override the ROM's of both the C64, and the emulated 1541 drive. So all I had to do was:

- purchase the ROMs:

For the drive: http://store.go4retro.com/jiffydos-1541-dos-r … -overlay-image/
For the C64: http://store.go4retro.com/jiffydos-64-kernal- … -overlay-image/

- copy the relevant .BIN files to the 1541UII's MicroSD card.
- tell the 1541UII where to find the alternative ROM images.
- reboot.

It works perfectly so far – it’s been 100% compatible with the handful of games I’ve tried and significantly improves load times. The only disadvantage to using the 1541UII to override the C64’s kernel ROM is that you have to navigate through a couple of menu screens to turn it off, where the IC replacement (http://store.go4retro.com/jiffydos-kernal-rom-overlay-ic/) allows you to revert to the original DOS with the flick of a switch. But that’s a project for another time.

Another update from Commodore land - here's my attempt at building a better PSU for my breadbin C64. Previously I've used a C128 PSU with an adapter, which is a solid option, but it's still 30 year old hardware, and the transformer emits an annoying hum. I've read countless threads on the topic over at Lemon64, some of which end in brutal flame wars, and I concluded that the 'wall-wart' solution was the way to go.

I hit up Jaycar for the ingredients (I heart Jaycar) and came away with a project box, etc. The 9VAC @1amp supply was an easy choice because they only had one to choose from. The 5VDC supply on the other hand was harder because there're countless options these days. Initially I tried an all-in-one 240V pass-through + USB charger thing, which was rated at 3.5amps and was physically compact. It worked, but sagged to 4.74V under load, which is right at the bottom end of the acceptable range for the 5V line.

Next I tried an actual power pack (as apposed to a charger), and it pumps out a perfect 5V when fully loaded (even with my 1541UII attached). After taking readings from various chips over the course of a few hours, I've deemed it good - the only thing remaining was to paint the project box a more appropriate colour and add some branding 😀

It's just a glorified hack job at the end of the day, but they're all new components, all joints are soldered and carefully insulated, and it's all held firmly in place with non-conductive motherboard standoffs + a velcro strap. My only concern was heat build-up, but it doesn't seem to get more than luke warm and the case has reasonable ventilation.

Simple solution and stealthy. I like it!

Bit bulky 😀
My c64c psu seems fine, it gets slightly warm but they've always done that.

Very nice badmojo.

A bit bulky but very good looking. 😀

Another step on the seemingly never-ending road to C64 nirvana - new caps this time. I saw no evidence that this was required, but replacing 30 year old capacitors can't be a bad thing. Being fond of short cuts, I bought a kit here - making sure to get the correct one for my board's revision (there were several). It arrived surprisingly quickly (from the UK) and included all the correct caps - hooray for the internet.

That old solder can be hard to budge at times, but it was a pretty easy job, and had a happy ending (my 64 still works).

Some more fun upgrades for my C64, which has come a long way since emerging from storage a couple of years ago. I have vague regrets about subjecting this humble and once original machine to all of these refinements, but it’s just too much fun to leave alone.

A new old stock keyboard:

And I’m trying out a new hack that’s been developed to help to remove the vertical stripes that are evident in the display output of most C64’s. The idea is that you whack this thing in b/w your mainboard and the VIC-II chip (the IC which handles the visuals), and then adjust the pots until the lines are gone (or at least minimised). It’s obviously not an exact science; I tried it with 4 different VIC-II’s (all the same vintage and off the same revision board), and the results were variable. With 3 of them I’d say the improvement was negligible, but the 4th chip – which happened to have the most visible striping when used on its own – cleaned up very nicely after some patient pot twiddling. I’ve ended up with a very clean, stripe free image, and pending some further testing I think it’s a winner.

OMG! The S.I.D chip! THE best music ever!

... no.

I followed the whole "new cases" thing on Lemon 64 - and he really did manufacture new cases in red, white, and blue colors. I honestly did not think it was really going to happen.

jwt27 wrote:

... no.

Oh c'mon, it is and you know it 🤣

ncmark wrote:

I followed the whole "new cases" thing on Lemon 64 - and he really did manufacture new cases in red, white, and blue colors. I honestly did not think it was really going to happen.

Yes the new cases eventuated and people have been posting pics. They look fine and all but I don't see the attraction myself - a) I don't do C64C's and b) the colours look a bit odd. The transparent ones are pretty cool though I must admit.

jwt27 wrote:

... no.

The C64 is a legend among 8-bit machines partly because of the SID chip.

badmojo wrote:

Yes the new cases eventuated and people have been posting pics. They look fine and all but I don't see the attraction myself - a) I don't do C64C's and b) the colours look a bit odd. The transparent ones are pretty cool though I must admit.

And most people would need a new keyboard to go with the case.