I think it would be interesting if he reviewed the Agon Console 8 (or one of the other Agon products) straight up, gave his honest opinion, said what he liked and disliked about it, and just left it at that. It would demonstrate an element of class that seems to be absent from the Agon creator's petulant sniping about other products, particularly Mr Murray's, that Mr Kastrup deems as some kind of threat. Then again, it would be another demand on Mr Murray's time that wouldn't really be justified, especially as he has so much else of greater importance to be getting on with.
When a new 8 bit guy video pops up in my feed, the feeling i get cant be matched. It’s the only channel that i watch every video from start to finish. Thank you for the years of magical content!
This is a very interesting system. I wish the Mega65 Team all the success in the world, and hope the X16 also succeeds and thrives in the coming year. (We need _more_ retro computers, not less.)
Though I would like to see it a bit cheaper (as a consumer. Just from David's documentation, i get an idea of what effort is going into developing such machines)
Fantastic content/channel mate! Me and my brother had 64 from Xmas 84, and we absolutely loved it. Me and some mates still used it heavily right up to, and for several years after, we'd left school in summer of 1990. Ot fired my imagination in a way nothing else did, and it's one of 2 major reasons for my lifelong love of electronic music. Subbed.
1/2 the reason I love this channel is cool retro tech from all walks. Just like a music artist likes other music on can also appreciate other things but still take pride in their own stuff. Great content as always
David, I am quite impressed. I admit I was one of the folks who may have had a few fears of the channel not giving the Mega 65 a fair shake but you were very thorough, open and unbiased in this video. I really liked what you said at the beginning about the riding tide raising all boats. Thanks for a great video! I should have never had my doubts!
It's great to see how thrilled you are to be looking at the MEGA65. I agree, by the way- It's likely that a rising tide will lift all boats here: a broader market creating cross support and perhaps a wider audience. Great video!👍
This is the first full video I've watched on the Mega65 - what an age to be alive in! There are so many great recreations of old systems, and entirely new systems inspired by them out at the moment. I had the opportunity and budget to support one a couple of years ago, and I narrowed it down to either the Spectrum Next or the Mega65. I ended up getting a Next - it all boiled down to cost at the end of the day for me. But that was the only deciding factor. Anyway, thanks for a great and honest review.
Yeah. IIRC, the Mega65 has an XC7A200T, which is a pretty decent FPGA. Technically, one could probably also do something a bit higher end than an 8-bit retro-computer on the thing. In my own project, I was using the slightly smaller XC7A100T and doing a 64-bit CPU and running ports of various DOS era games on it, like Doom/Quake/Heretic/Hexen/etc. Wouldn't be too much of a stretch to imagine someone doing similar on a Mega65 (well, apart from it seems like it has less RAM than a lot of the other FPGA boards, where 128 or 256 MB is fairly typical).
@@TheSulrossIts most compatible software mode is the MiSTer C64 core. It therefore makes sense to instead buy the MiSTer, for which the core was designed ... you'll also get a lot more RAM as a bonus
@@txtworld I have a Mister, an Ultimate64 and a Mega65. needless to say that when it comes to C64, the only machine i use now is the Mega65 since the C64 core which has been ported from the Mister also provides great improvements : I can plug any Retro cartridge such as EasyFlash, EasyFlash 3, Kungfu Flash, any physical cartridge whether it's old or recent, I can plug any SD2IEC drives to the Mega65 ... The experience with the high end keyboard is unbeatable.
Planar graphics was one of the nails in the Amiga's coffin. It was a solution to a problem (RAM prices) that became less of an issue as time went by. Granted, the idiocies of Commodore's management played a much larger role.
Agonizingly, there's an interview from April '85 where Tramiel talks about how he has a "crystal ball" that allows him to see the future, and his main prediction is that RAM prices will continue to drop rapidly: th-cam.com/video/AMD2nF7meDI/w-d-xo.html
Planar graphics had some advantages, especially with the technology available at the time the Amiga 1000 and 500 were released. But CBM made "big box" Amigas that could utilise PC style graphics cards. The problem was that the most popular machines weren't the ones with Zorro or ISA slots, so most Amiga software wasn't capable of using such cards. But hindsight is a wonderful thing... lots of really big companies got things wrong back then.
Yes, that's quite true, and why one of the key early design decisions we made with the MEGA65 was to create chunky video modes, because the bit-planes on an 8-bit computer was such a vexed concept. Apart from BASIC, which we have yet to rework the graphics commands from the original C65 ROM's implementation, I'm not aware of essentially any software that anyone has created for the MEGA65 that uses the planar modes. Instead, software that wants to get the multiple play field effect that planar graphics were good for, uses the Raster Rewrite Buffer (RRB) that we added to the MEGA65. That basically holds the most recent raster line in a buffer, and lets you draw multiple layers of text/graphics over it. That's how the FIRST SHOT game looks so nice, it is using multiple 16 and 256 colour graphics layers.
Funnily enough, It was actually part of the EGA standard as well. Sadly, it It needn't have killed the Amiga, retargetable graphics had evolved on the platform as a way to support the use of third party graphics boards.
I think this is an excellent, comprehensive review - and you acknowledge the potential conflict of interest re the X16, but also don't see them as "competitors" but as fellow enthusiast devices who can learn from and support each other. One of the many reasons I enjoy this channel, it's a very supportive positive place!
I am so sorry there will be less videos not because of you but because of what you explained last video, I really liked your videos over all other youtubers in this area
I remember staying up for hours typing in Rocket Command on my VIC-20 from the included manual. Only to lose it when I shut off the system as I didn't have a datasette or disk drive at the time. Totally worth it....
This project is so cool to follow. Best of luck for the future to the MEGA65 team and thanks for covering this. I just love how the Commodore 65 blends in between C64 and A500 with the added bonus of the MEGA65 that it's all FPGA based.
The mega 65 sounds like the modern retro computer David was dreaming of. I love the sound of the 12 channel SID. Would love to see more content about it.
A longer video please! We know that it is a competitor, and we love what your team has created in the Commander X16, but we didn't see enough of this new C65 remix.
A long-time subscriber here, who have slowly been drifting away from this channel. I miss these kinds of videos. It's been too much focus on X16 or the XXth rewrite of PETSCII Robots of late. I came to love this channel because of its in-depth passion about retro computers and I feel the focus have been shifting to other things lately. Hope to see more of these videos in the future. Great stuff.
I cannot agree more. However, the issue is that there is a very limited supply of retro computers that will interest his viewer base. The Atari 8-bit line or TI-99/4 are not as popular as the C64. ZX Spectrum and Amstrad CPC are nearly unheard of in the US. He has gone through the Commodores, even the PC clones. What's left are Amiga 600/1200, which are minor improvements over the 500, the C64GS, which no one cares about, and... nothing. The US moved on to PC quickly and there have been 1000 retro PC games channel out there. I guess he can make a 'rare/obscure computer channel', but he is no good electronic engineer, and making videos about what he doesn't know exposes that. Last time he tried to do something like that with the IBM PS/2 he came under significant fire.
@@andyhu9542 But does it have to be computers being reviewed? I enjoy it just as much when it is peripherals, devices, electronics and other releated stuff.
@@DanElgaard9 Yes! That's a great idea! Most people just bought the computer and maybe the datassette/disk drive to load games. Things like printers are usually 'the thing that was always on magazines but never owned.' It is a good source of content.
Great video David. I’d love to see you cover the ZX Spectrum Next. It’s a wonderful computer in a similar vein to those mentioned here. It also has an incredible version of basic with excellent new graphics abilities.
Would love to see the old Commodore bindings, as much of a pain as they were to actually use. Regular spiral's are common enough and fairly inexpensive. We do a lot of very small batch runs of them in my shop for training manuals and the like.
I really enjoyed this overview, thank you. I know you are cutting back on the number of videos but if they are this good I will keep watching and enjoying your visits to yesteryear.
Thank you, David! What you forgot mentioning is the VIC-4 video controller, which is based around VIC-III chip that can be found in the original Commodore 65.
If I'm gonna get one of the higher-cost new retro-style computers, it's going to be this one. There's so much cool stuff about it. Makes the price tag worth it IMO.
Someone could write an Atari 800 FPGA core for it. It's open source so it might happen someday. In fact, an FPGA Atari 800 core already exists for MiSTer so it might not be too much trouble to port it over.
I have an original Atari 800 I bought when in high school. It's just sitting in my closet. Been thinking of trying to sell it somewhere or give it to a computer museum. Used to play the crap out of MULE.
I love how welcoming you are about 'competing' products. Although it would have been fun if you'd just touched the Mega then dropped to the floor yelling "It burns! It burns!"
There's plenty of room for these types of products! More than one system available with different ports/conversions of software makes the experience that much more authentic too.
It's great that this kind of computing/design is still happening. Also really cool that two creators of competing products can meet up and check out each others gear.
Keep up the great work david. I look forward to your videos. Also came across a stash of old z80 comouters and ibscure sutff a few months ago you may be interested in taking a gander at
The MEGA65 looks like a nice complete computer, just plug it in and start using it 👍 It also seems like the old original 8 bit machines, C64, ZX Spectrum, Amstrad CPC and Atari 8bit have gained a lot in popularity over the last few years. Personally I find it a lot of fun to write code for the original machines.
I keep wondering if one can break even on game sales for old systems; like, ignoring your time to write code, can you sell at a price, enough copies, to pay for printing disks/pcbs/carts, boxes? I keep being tempted to write a few crazy games for various machines, but being able to break even would be a nice plus. (I wobnder which retro machines have the largest audience? Presumably C64 and NES or SNES, but you never know..)
@@skeezixcodejedi For something like C64 games there are companies who'll take care of the whole boxing, making disks, cassettes, cartridges, marketing and shipping, e.g. Protovision, but I can imagine they require the game to be original and high quality. Alternatively you can sell digital copies on itchio.
Competition in any space is generally good for consumers. This means that the X16 version 2 boards need to really knock it out of the park to challenge the Foenix and MEGA65. Price vs features, I guess? Either way, I'm excited for the future of this niche.
Not to mention several other modern 8 bit machines that already exist, some of which sell at a much lower price point than any of the ones you mentioned.
The features are already set in stone. The next goal should be to make it as cheap as humanly possible, so as many people as possible can afford it. Computers for the masses, not the classes.
Great to see another awesome 8-Bit Guy video about retro 8-bit systems. Also great to see you mention Foenix as well. I suspect the truely devoted 8-bit enthusiasts will eventually end up with all three systems! Especially from the point of developing and testing software that can be ported across all three systems.
I've been a long-time fan of your content, and I appreciate the effort you put into sharing your knowledge and passion for all things retro tech. However, I couldn't help but notice a shift in your last few videos that prompted me to comment. Lately, it seems like there's been a noticeable increase in indifference in your videos. While I understand that everyone has their off days, I wanted to express how it has impacted my experience as a viewer. Your content has always been a source of inspiration and joy for me, but the recent tone has made it a bit challenging to enjoy. I believe your authenticity is one of the reasons so many people connect with your videos. Still, I wanted to share my perspective as a viewer who has found the last few videos somewhat depressing to watch. Perhaps it's just a temporary phase, and I trust that you'll find the balance that resonates with your audience. Looking forward to more of your engaging content in the future. Keep up the great work, and I hope brighter days are ahead for both you and your videos.
Please don't take this question as a complaint but is the max resolution for this video 720p? I think David often posts at at least 1080p, IIRC. I ask because I have seen instances where other TH-camrs have posted vides up to 4K resolution and for some reason, that's not an option for me. Am I being throttled or is this just a lower resolution video?
The last few videos have been posted at 720p without explanation, perhaps he's hoping we won't notice? I suspect that higher resolutions are provided to patreon members but I have absolutely no basis for that belief. Also, for a while TH-cam has been trying to steer some "unprofitable" viewers to lower resolutions which could be manually overridden by the viewer, this could have skewed David's analytics indicating that the majority of viewers watch in 720p, which could have lead him to drop producing his content at 1080p. It's all guesswork, though, until he addresses the issue.
@@ffsireallydontcare Well, that's odd. I am... cough... probably one of those people that don't generate revenue for them. But not all TH-camrs have low resolution videos. I know of another guy (a fisherman in the UK) who I actually spoke with directly. He uploads in 4k, but often his videos for me are never higher than 1080p. Odd. For some reason, some channels seem to be throttled, but I have no clue if that's happening here.
@@RichardHartness I've noticed that sometimes the higher resolutions take a while to become available in certain regions. TH-cam uses regional cache servers and try to direct your connection to the closest one, and if a video is popular it is likely to have all the higher resolutions locally available. Sometimes though, like for me as I'm on the end of a wet piece of string at the other side of the planet, higher resolutions take a while to populate and only become available when TH-cam detects that I *really* want to watch the whole video.. Unfortunately this hasn't been happening for David's videos, so I suspect that he's actually posting at 720p.
Sad to hear you could have done a 2 hour video but didn't. Don't misunderstand, we all appreciate this but I'm sure there are many of us starving for in depth retro hardware videos. Particularly YOUR great insight and takes. If there is "cutting room floor" / unpolished "Snyder" extended cut, please release it 😅
As nice as a 2-hour cut of David's in-depth insight would be, I like a concise video that discusses a topic and sets the stage for further research - it's easier to invest 10 minutes than 1 hour into a subject that you're not sure interested in. Maybe that's just an attention span thing on my part!
Hey David, can we have more than 720p Video? Like, the camera makes a decent, really good image, but a bit low res on a large 4k monitor. Which is a bummer. Is the camera not capable of 1080p? I think your older vids were 1080... they kinda looked better in my memory, but maybe that's the fault, my memory.
BASIC is easy to use vs assembly. But modern Python or JavaScript etc are easier. A lot of the problem BASIC solved was how to enter a program in the first place - microcomputers didn’t have the memory to run a text editor. Line editing was the way, which is very cumbersome to modern minds. Also, most versions of BASIC lacked library support for graphics and sound, meaning if you wanted to do any of that you’d be writing machine code expressed as incomprehensible sequences of PEEK and POKE commands. It’s a relic of its time.
I think Python would be the best choice if you just want to learn general programming, it’s about as easy as BASIC. I originally learned BASIC decades ago and I think of Python as BASIC evolved for more modern computer capabilities.
This is so cool, I don't know even know where to begin.... I'd love to se more of this machine, as well as of the Commander. And I also fell in love with the awesome Oregon Trail t-shirt 💕
Thanks for another interesting, info-packed episode. Nice to see the main studio room back in use again. I was wondering if something had happened to it!
At this point in history I think it's no longer applicable to call this a "Commodore 65 repro" or to call something else a "C64 repro" or an "Amiga 500 repro," etc. These days since it's all just FPGA cores, it's more "What flavor do you want your FPGA machine in?" and you can get a shell of whatever you want the look and feel to be like and swap out some OS stuff to boot straight into your flavor of choice.
The Mega 65 is isn't really a reproduction of anything. The C65 was only ever released in prototype form, and in extremely small numbers. Not all the prototypes were complete, and therefore not compatible with each other. The Mega 65 has added capabilities that the C65 didn't. It's essentially an expensive fantasy computer, created in an FPGA, that can run a handful of software titles written for a machine that never made it in to production.
@@pelgervampireduck It's not emulation. It's a circuit recreation. That's why FPGAs cost so much. It is ironic however, that you're basically paying for more limitations. The Spectrum Next being incapable of loading the archival format for the platform without Pi assistance, for example. But they're authentic limitations. I mean, you CAN run a Spectrum core on the C65, but you don't really get the feel of either system without the associated hardware.
@@pelgervampireduck Wrong. FPGAs aren't emulation. When you write a bitstream for an FPGA, you aren't "programming" a CPU in a conventional sense. You're actually operating at a much lower level, actually manipulating the individual logic gates within the FPGA, linking them together in various ways that essentially exactly duplicates the functionality of something. Think of it as something similar in concept to a giant box of tinker toys. You slap them together according to a set of instructions (the bitstream) and you end up with a real working thing -- a bridge, or a robot arm, or a crane, or whatever -- that for all intents and purposes exactly duplicates the look and function of the original object. This is why FPGAs are so popular in the retro gaming community, because with the FPGA "toolbox" you can reproduce the behavior of whatever hardware (a Nintendo or a Genesis or whatever) with an extremely high level of accuracy, and without the performance penalty and inflexibility of traditional emulation.
@@pelgervampireduck What you're missing when running emulators on a PC is the feel of the system. These old systems used unique keyboard layouts and mechanisms, media and peripherals. THEC64 gave you the C64 keyboard, so certain keyboard based games played the way they should, for example "Star Trek by Ian Gray" which used the function keys and the keyboard arrow keys. Playing the game on Vice on my Apple keyboard just doesn't feel the same and isn't as enjoyable for me. The Mega65 gives you the C65 keyboard layout, if not the real key mechanism, ports and even a floppy drive so you can get it to work largely like a C65 would have.
I really love these videos. I have an interest in old tech. More 90's tech than 80's but these intrigue me. I jsut wish I had the confidence to be as technical.
Here’s my vote for a two hour episode on the MEGA65.
I will definitely watch it😊😊
That's not going to happen ... unless the MEGA65 team sends Dave a free review unit - that's his to keep
I vote for 2 hour episode on X16
David made 3 hours worth of videos in 2023; he claimed YT takes 25% of his time.
A 2-hour video would take him months to make.
Why not?, was very short and interesting system, an full experience for a great computer
You are a good man. You gave a fair and honest and even gracious assessment of a competing product. Thank you.
I think it would be interesting if he reviewed the Agon Console 8 (or one of the other Agon products) straight up, gave his honest opinion, said what he liked and disliked about it, and just left it at that. It would demonstrate an element of class that seems to be absent from the Agon creator's petulant sniping about other products, particularly Mr Murray's, that Mr Kastrup deems as some kind of threat. Then again, it would be another demand on Mr Murray's time that wouldn't really be justified, especially as he has so much else of greater importance to be getting on with.
@@paul_boddie🤣
When a new 8 bit guy video pops up in my feed, the feeling i get cant be matched. It’s the only channel that i watch every video from start to finish. Thank you for the years of magical content!
@heindijs what a shallow comment
@@brusspup what a deep comment
@heindijs your mother never wanted to adopt you, paperwork mishap.
@heindijs ok
Agreed ,
This is a very interesting system. I wish the Mega65 Team all the success in the world, and hope the X16 also succeeds and thrives in the coming year. (We need _more_ retro computers, not less.)
Neither of those is a real retro computer.
@@Okurka. they are
@@thenameless3271 you just don't know what you are talking about :)
@@xlr8r171 Retro style means imitating the style from the recent past, not retro.
Though I would like to see it a bit cheaper (as a consumer. Just from David's documentation, i get an idea of what effort is going into developing such machines)
This channel never gets old.
Fantastic content/channel mate! Me and my brother had 64 from Xmas 84, and we absolutely loved it. Me and some mates still used it heavily right up to, and for several years after, we'd left school in summer of 1990. Ot fired my imagination in a way nothing else did, and it's one of 2 major reasons for my lifelong love of electronic music.
Subbed.
1/2 the reason I love this channel is cool retro tech from all walks. Just like a music artist likes other music on can also appreciate other things but still take pride in their own stuff. Great content as always
David, I am quite impressed. I admit I was one of the folks who may have had a few fears of the channel not giving the Mega 65 a fair shake but you were very thorough, open and unbiased in this video. I really liked what you said at the beginning about the riding tide raising all boats. Thanks for a great video! I should have never had my doubts!
Thank you Dan for bringing the C65. Impressive piece of kit. And thanks Dave for the great video. Happy New year
It's great to see how thrilled you are to be looking at the MEGA65. I agree, by the way- It's likely that a rising tide will lift all boats here: a broader market creating cross support and perhaps a wider audience. Great video!👍
and healthy markets need some product choices
@@TheSulross Exactly!
no way it isn’t happening
Thanks for the video! And thanks to Dan for bringing the M65 out for us to see.
This is the first full video I've watched on the Mega65 - what an age to be alive in! There are so many great recreations of old systems, and entirely new systems inspired by them out at the moment. I had the opportunity and budget to support one a couple of years ago, and I narrowed it down to either the Spectrum Next or the Mega65. I ended up getting a Next - it all boiled down to cost at the end of the day for me. But that was the only deciding factor. Anyway, thanks for a great and honest review.
This is awesome for so many friggin reasons. Thank you for your efforts, David. It’s so cool to see y’all networking and making some content together!
I love the fpga inside letting you try different retro CPUs and even your own designs
it's a more classy take on MiSTer approach - and people will spend similar amounts on decking a MiSTer out, so why not go with a slicker end product
Yeah. IIRC, the Mega65 has an XC7A200T, which is a pretty decent FPGA.
Technically, one could probably also do something a bit higher end than an 8-bit retro-computer on the thing.
In my own project, I was using the slightly smaller XC7A100T and doing a 64-bit CPU and running ports of various DOS era games on it, like Doom/Quake/Heretic/Hexen/etc.
Wouldn't be too much of a stretch to imagine someone doing similar on a Mega65 (well, apart from it seems like it has less RAM than a lot of the other FPGA boards, where 128 or 256 MB is fairly typical).
@@TheSulrossIts most compatible software mode is the MiSTer C64 core. It therefore makes sense to instead buy the MiSTer, for which the core was designed ... you'll also get a lot more RAM as a bonus
@@txtworld I have a Mister, an Ultimate64 and a Mega65. needless to say that when it comes to C64, the only machine i use now is the Mega65 since the C64 core which has been ported from the Mister also provides great improvements : I can plug any Retro cartridge such as EasyFlash, EasyFlash 3, Kungfu Flash, any physical cartridge whether it's old or recent, I can plug any SD2IEC drives to the Mega65 ... The experience with the high end keyboard is unbeatable.
I wonder if the Mega65 could have an X16 fpga core 🤯
Planar graphics was one of the nails in the Amiga's coffin. It was a solution to a problem (RAM prices) that became less of an issue as time went by. Granted, the idiocies of Commodore's management played a much larger role.
Agonizingly, there's an interview from April '85 where Tramiel talks about how he has a "crystal ball" that allows him to see the future, and his main prediction is that RAM prices will continue to drop rapidly: th-cam.com/video/AMD2nF7meDI/w-d-xo.html
Planar graphics had some advantages, especially with the technology available at the time the Amiga 1000 and 500 were released. But CBM made "big box" Amigas that could utilise PC style graphics cards. The problem was that the most popular machines weren't the ones with Zorro or ISA slots, so most Amiga software wasn't capable of using such cards. But hindsight is a wonderful thing... lots of really big companies got things wrong back then.
Yes, that's quite true, and why one of the key early design decisions we made with the MEGA65 was to create chunky video modes, because the bit-planes on an 8-bit computer was such a vexed concept. Apart from BASIC, which we have yet to rework the graphics commands from the original C65 ROM's implementation, I'm not aware of essentially any software that anyone has created for the MEGA65 that uses the planar modes. Instead, software that wants to get the multiple play field effect that planar graphics were good for, uses the Raster Rewrite Buffer (RRB) that we added to the MEGA65. That basically holds the most recent raster line in a buffer, and lets you draw multiple layers of text/graphics over it. That's how the FIRST SHOT game looks so nice, it is using multiple 16 and 256 colour graphics layers.
Funnily enough, It was actually part of the EGA standard as well.
Sadly, it It needn't have killed the Amiga, retargetable graphics had evolved on the platform as a way to support the use of third party graphics boards.
@@RhetoricaRhamnusia Tramiel had left Commodore by the time the Amiga came about.
I think this is an excellent, comprehensive review - and you acknowledge the potential conflict of interest re the X16, but also don't see them as "competitors" but as fellow enthusiast devices who can learn from and support each other. One of the many reasons I enjoy this channel, it's a very supportive positive place!
I am so sorry there will be less videos not because of you but because of what you explained last video, I really liked your videos over all other youtubers in this area
I remember staying up for hours typing in Rocket Command on my VIC-20 from the included manual. Only to lose it when I shut off the system as I didn't have a datasette or disk drive at the time. Totally worth it....
you didnt miss out on anything it was rubbish
This project is so cool to follow. Best of luck for the future to the MEGA65 team and thanks for covering this.
I just love how the Commodore 65 blends in between C64 and A500 with the added bonus of the MEGA65 that it's all FPGA based.
„HDMI-compatible” never realized why its not just HDMI, thanks David for an amazing piece of knowledge as usual!
My kind of 8-bit guy content ❤
The mega 65 sounds like the modern retro computer David was dreaming of. I love the sound of the 12 channel SID. Would love to see more content about it.
A longer video please! We know that it is a competitor, and we love what your team has created in the Commander X16, but we didn't see enough of this new C65 remix.
This is a great episode!! Thank you~
A long-time subscriber here, who have slowly been drifting away from this channel. I miss these kinds of videos. It's been too much focus on X16 or the XXth rewrite of PETSCII Robots of late. I came to love this channel because of its in-depth passion about retro computers and I feel the focus have been shifting to other things lately. Hope to see more of these videos in the future. Great stuff.
Agree.
I cannot agree more. However, the issue is that there is a very limited supply of retro computers that will interest his viewer base. The Atari 8-bit line or TI-99/4 are not as popular as the C64. ZX Spectrum and Amstrad CPC are nearly unheard of in the US. He has gone through the Commodores, even the PC clones. What's left are Amiga 600/1200, which are minor improvements over the 500, the C64GS, which no one cares about, and... nothing. The US moved on to PC quickly and there have been 1000 retro PC games channel out there. I guess he can make a 'rare/obscure computer channel', but he is no good electronic engineer, and making videos about what he doesn't know exposes that. Last time he tried to do something like that with the IBM PS/2 he came under significant fire.
@@andyhu9542 But does it have to be computers being reviewed?
I enjoy it just as much when it is peripherals, devices, electronics and other releated stuff.
@@DanElgaard9 Yes! That's a great idea! Most people just bought the computer and maybe the datassette/disk drive to load games. Things like printers are usually 'the thing that was always on magazines but never owned.' It is a good source of content.
This looks very interesting david. Thanks for taking the time for the video, and not giving into the youtube algorithm!
Great video David.
I’d love to see you cover the ZX Spectrum Next. It’s a wonderful computer in a similar vein to those mentioned here. It also has an incredible version of basic with excellent new graphics abilities.
i do LOVE to see them!!! thank you David
The Mega65 looks amazing!!!
Good to hear from you on these dark cold days. The train was stunning, thanks for that.
Great episode, thank you! 👍
Absolutely brilliant video , David , if was the 2 hour version , no doubt i would have watched it from start to end in a single sitting...
Ahh nice. I met Dan and saw the C65 at the Commodore Expo in Seattle this summer.
It's great that you don't see each other as competitors and want to support each other. Nice to see a MEGA65 video here - happy to see more!
As a longtime technical writer I swooned when I saw the spiral-bound user guide.
Would love to see the old Commodore bindings, as much of a pain as they were to actually use. Regular spiral's are common enough and fairly inexpensive. We do a lot of very small batch runs of them in my shop for training manuals and the like.
I really enjoyed this overview, thank you. I know you are cutting back on the number of videos but if they are this good I will keep watching and enjoying your visits to yesteryear.
Is it just me or is the audio more "distant" in the talking heads?
Definitely. The audio at 0:35 onward is pretty naff.
Yeah, the HVAC was running while Dan was there, and I tried to filter that out some.
Personally I didn't notice anything.
@@ErrorMessageNotFound Eesh! Probably wanna get your ears tested! 😁
They make little wearable mics you can attach to clothing
Thank you, David! What you forgot mentioning is the VIC-4 video controller, which is based around VIC-III chip that can be found in the original Commodore 65.
If I'm gonna get one of the higher-cost new retro-style computers, it's going to be this one. There's so much cool stuff about it. Makes the price tag worth it IMO.
Back to the good stuff, thanks 8-bit-guy
Great video as a starter, please more about the MEGA65!
Thank you David for another, great video! Hoping to see more o'em this year ☺️
New videos from here are always appreciated. Constant gold.
A shout out for this gorgeous user manual ❤️
I would love to see a recreation of an Atari 800.
There's a project from Poland called "RM 800XL" that's trying to create one. The product isn't available yet though.
@@HLubenow Thanks I will look for it. I hope it comes out soon. I had a Commodore and an Atari 800 in my Ham Shack in the mid 1980s
Someone could write an Atari 800 FPGA core for it. It's open source so it might happen someday. In fact, an FPGA Atari 800 core already exists for MiSTer so it might not be too much trouble to port it over.
I have an original Atari 800 I bought when in high school. It's just sitting in my closet. Been thinking of trying to sell it somewhere or give it to a computer museum. Used to play the crap out of MULE.
I'd love to see a port of Ultima IV and Ultima V with music for the system.
You are a solid combo. Great video :D
I love how welcoming you are about 'competing' products. Although it would have been fun if you'd just touched the Mega then dropped to the floor yelling "It burns! It burns!"
How old are you?
@@Okurka. 56
There's plenty of room for these types of products! More than one system available with different ports/conversions of software makes the experience that much more authentic too.
Oooh! I spotted "Wizrd of Wor" on one of the cartridges. For some reason I loved that back in the 80s.
Same!
It's great that this kind of computing/design is still happening. Also really cool that two creators of competing products can meet up and check out each others gear.
Keep up the great work david. I look forward to your videos. Also came across a stash of old z80 comouters and ibscure sutff a few months ago you may be interested in taking a gander at
Welcome to 2024. Looking forward to another year of great content.
The MEGA65 looks like a nice complete computer, just plug it in and start using it 👍 It also seems like the old original 8 bit machines, C64, ZX Spectrum, Amstrad CPC and Atari 8bit have gained a lot in popularity over the last few years. Personally I find it a lot of fun to write code for the original machines.
I keep wondering if one can break even on game sales for old systems; like, ignoring your time to write code, can you sell at a price, enough copies, to pay for printing disks/pcbs/carts, boxes? I keep being tempted to write a few crazy games for various machines, but being able to break even would be a nice plus. (I wobnder which retro machines have the largest audience? Presumably C64 and NES or SNES, but you never know..)
@@skeezixcodejedi For something like C64 games there are companies who'll take care of the whole boxing, making disks, cassettes, cartridges, marketing and shipping, e.g. Protovision, but I can imagine they require the game to be original and high quality. Alternatively you can sell digital copies on itchio.
@@TheStuffMadeGood jumping off points, thanks!
Great stuff! Wishing you a great 2024!
Competition in any space is generally good for consumers. This means that the X16 version 2 boards need to really knock it out of the park to challenge the Foenix and MEGA65. Price vs features, I guess? Either way, I'm excited for the future of this niche.
Not to mention several other modern 8 bit machines that already exist, some of which sell at a much lower price point than any of the ones you mentioned.
The features are already set in stone. The next goal should be to make it as cheap as humanly possible, so as many people as possible can afford it.
Computers for the masses, not the classes.
X16 v2 is a freaking console game version.
Great video! Love the comparison
First Shot looks REALLLLLLLY good.
Thanks, hoping to finish it soon 😅
Great episode! Very entertaining
why are your uploads 720p now? it's so odd :(
These videos are just too good
Pretty cool machine. Would've loved to have it as a kid.
Cool, here's our first 2024 video from your new schedule, nice!
I love the attitude of lifting all boats with CommanderX16, Mega 65 and Foenix, very classy.
Mega64 the comedy group?
Wonderful vid, David!!! Keep going 😛
The long awaited video review of the mega 65
Looks great ! This 8 bit renaissance is good for us all.
Nothing I will buy, but I can understand the enthusiasts who will do so as I from time to time bring out my trusted HP-41CX for some programming 👍
good video David. .the commander 16 and the mega 65 are both cool and interesting machines..
The mega 65 looks cool :)
Been waiting a long time for my Mega65. Hoping 2024 will be the year!
Great video! I vote for a video talking about some interesting features on the Commander X16, such as: If you Can hook up a SNES mouse to it.
This is pretty cool. Here's to all retro gaming success! Cheers! 🍷
Great to see another awesome 8-Bit Guy video about retro 8-bit systems. Also great to see you mention Foenix as well. I suspect the truely devoted 8-bit enthusiasts will eventually end up with all three systems! Especially from the point of developing and testing software that can be ported across all three systems.
It's fantastic that these have finally been released, and it's great to see one like this.
Now that's what I like to see, creators lifting each other up!
An excellent and reasonably through review as usual.
Got my X16 today. Can't wait to hook it up, just need to get some of that hard-to-find "time" stuff.
I've been a long-time fan of your content, and I appreciate the effort you put into sharing your knowledge and passion for all things retro tech. However, I couldn't help but notice a shift in your last few videos that prompted me to comment.
Lately, it seems like there's been a noticeable increase in indifference in your videos. While I understand that everyone has their off days, I wanted to express how it has impacted my experience as a viewer. Your content has always been a source of inspiration and joy for me, but the recent tone has made it a bit challenging to enjoy. I believe your authenticity is one of the reasons so many people connect with your videos. Still, I wanted to share my perspective as a viewer who has found the last few videos somewhat depressing to watch. Perhaps it's just a temporary phase, and I trust that you'll find the balance that resonates with your audience.
Looking forward to more of your engaging content in the future. Keep up the great work, and I hope brighter days are ahead for both you and your videos.
Happy and Healthy New Year to the 8-Bit Guy and all the 8-Bit Guy viewers! Who's watching in 2024?
I'm watching in 2027
I love the housing of the Mega 65. It just looks awesome.
Please don't take this question as a complaint but is the max resolution for this video 720p? I think David often posts at at least 1080p, IIRC. I ask because I have seen instances where other TH-camrs have posted vides up to 4K resolution and for some reason, that's not an option for me. Am I being throttled or is this just a lower resolution video?
The last few videos have been posted at 720p without explanation, perhaps he's hoping we won't notice? I suspect that higher resolutions are provided to patreon members but I have absolutely no basis for that belief. Also, for a while TH-cam has been trying to steer some "unprofitable" viewers to lower resolutions which could be manually overridden by the viewer, this could have skewed David's analytics indicating that the majority of viewers watch in 720p, which could have lead him to drop producing his content at 1080p. It's all guesswork, though, until he addresses the issue.
@@ffsireallydontcare Well, that's odd. I am... cough... probably one of those people that don't generate revenue for them. But not all TH-camrs have low resolution videos. I know of another guy (a fisherman in the UK) who I actually spoke with directly. He uploads in 4k, but often his videos for me are never higher than 1080p. Odd. For some reason, some channels seem to be throttled, but I have no clue if that's happening here.
@@RichardHartness I've noticed that sometimes the higher resolutions take a while to become available in certain regions. TH-cam uses regional cache servers and try to direct your connection to the closest one, and if a video is popular it is likely to have all the higher resolutions locally available. Sometimes though, like for me as I'm on the end of a wet piece of string at the other side of the planet, higher resolutions take a while to populate and only become available when TH-cam detects that I *really* want to watch the whole video.. Unfortunately this hasn't been happening for David's videos, so I suspect that he's actually posting at 720p.
Really cool to see this working
can't even make a sponsored video without slippin in some self promotion
As of now, he's trying to sell a product, so that's what he's gotta do.
I love your videos even though I’m not into retro systems. I have no space! So I enjoy following you.
This is great but... it's only at 720p. Why???
Thanks Dan.
Sad to hear you could have done a 2 hour video but didn't.
Don't misunderstand, we all appreciate this but I'm sure there are many of us starving for in depth retro hardware videos.
Particularly YOUR great insight and takes.
If there is "cutting room floor" / unpolished "Snyder" extended cut, please release it 😅
As nice as a 2-hour cut of David's in-depth insight would be, I like a concise video that discusses a topic and sets the stage for further research - it's easier to invest 10 minutes than 1 hour into a subject that you're not sure interested in. Maybe that's just an attention span thing on my part!
Wow that spiral bound manual made me smile.
Hey David, can we have more than 720p Video?
Like, the camera makes a decent, really good image, but a bit low res on a large 4k monitor.
Which is a bummer.
Is the camera not capable of 1080p? I think your older vids were 1080... they kinda looked better in my memory, but maybe that's the fault, my memory.
Interesting machine, I havent heard much of the Mega 65. Look forward to more interesting content as always.
I would love to see a series on programing in basic, for young people like me who hear it is easy to use and like to mess with stuff.
BASIC is easy to use vs assembly. But modern Python or JavaScript etc are easier. A lot of the problem BASIC solved was how to enter a program in the first place - microcomputers didn’t have the memory to run a text editor. Line editing was the way, which is very cumbersome to modern minds. Also, most versions of BASIC lacked library support for graphics and sound, meaning if you wanted to do any of that you’d be writing machine code expressed as incomprehensible sequences of PEEK and POKE commands. It’s a relic of its time.
I think Python would be the best choice if you just want to learn general programming, it’s about as easy as BASIC. I originally learned BASIC decades ago and I think of Python as BASIC evolved for more modern computer capabilities.
This is so cool, I don't know even know where to begin.... I'd love to se more of this machine, as well as of the Commander. And I also fell in love with the awesome Oregon Trail t-shirt 💕
I'd watch the 2 hour video on this!
This is the best thing I ever saw.
Thanks for another interesting, info-packed episode. Nice to see the main studio room back in use again. I was wondering if something had happened to it!
I enjoy the diversity of different, semi-compatible retro systems. This is much like it was back in the day 😄
At this point in history I think it's no longer applicable to call this a "Commodore 65 repro" or to call something else a "C64 repro" or an "Amiga 500 repro," etc. These days since it's all just FPGA cores, it's more "What flavor do you want your FPGA machine in?" and you can get a shell of whatever you want the look and feel to be like and swap out some OS stuff to boot straight into your flavor of choice.
The Mega 65 is isn't really a reproduction of anything. The C65 was only ever released in prototype form, and in extremely small numbers. Not all the prototypes were complete, and therefore not compatible with each other. The Mega 65 has added capabilities that the C65 didn't. It's essentially an expensive fantasy computer, created in an FPGA, that can run a handful of software titles written for a machine that never made it in to production.
it's basically emulation, I don't see the point, just run emulators on a PC.
@@pelgervampireduck It's not emulation. It's a circuit recreation. That's why FPGAs cost so much.
It is ironic however, that you're basically paying for more limitations. The Spectrum Next being incapable of loading the archival format for the platform without Pi assistance, for example. But they're authentic limitations. I mean, you CAN run a Spectrum core on the C65, but you don't really get the feel of either system without the associated hardware.
@@pelgervampireduck Wrong. FPGAs aren't emulation. When you write a bitstream for an FPGA, you aren't "programming" a CPU in a conventional sense. You're actually operating at a much lower level, actually manipulating the individual logic gates within the FPGA, linking them together in various ways that essentially exactly duplicates the functionality of something. Think of it as something similar in concept to a giant box of tinker toys. You slap them together according to a set of instructions (the bitstream) and you end up with a real working thing -- a bridge, or a robot arm, or a crane, or whatever -- that for all intents and purposes exactly duplicates the look and function of the original object. This is why FPGAs are so popular in the retro gaming community, because with the FPGA "toolbox" you can reproduce the behavior of whatever hardware (a Nintendo or a Genesis or whatever) with an extremely high level of accuracy, and without the performance penalty and inflexibility of traditional emulation.
@@pelgervampireduck What you're missing when running emulators on a PC is the feel of the system. These old systems used unique keyboard layouts and mechanisms, media and peripherals.
THEC64 gave you the C64 keyboard, so certain keyboard based games played the way they should, for example "Star Trek by Ian Gray" which used the function keys and the keyboard arrow keys. Playing the game on Vice on my Apple keyboard just doesn't feel the same and isn't as enjoyable for me.
The Mega65 gives you the C65 keyboard layout, if not the real key mechanism, ports and even a floppy drive so you can get it to work largely like a C65 would have.
I really love these videos. I have an interest in old tech. More 90's tech than 80's but these intrigue me. I jsut wish I had the confidence to be as technical.
What I wouldn't give for a spiral bound programmer's reference for the systems I work on now.
If the reference exists in a printable form, any good print shop can bind one in a coil spiral for you. I know I'd be happy to do it.
great video as always. Thank you.!!!