Hi Doug, thank you for your review and all viewers, thank you for your kind words. It's flattering to see and read all this, but most of all, it's nice to see such a big group of enthousiast for the C128 sharing their passion for these machines.
Technically, CGA was capable of supporting 8 colors plus intensity at the same time. The PC Jr. did this inherently. However, the video card had to support the intensity bit for this to work. The later Tandy 1000 series of computers also supported this.
That's right , totally underrated Never really given a chance with Amiga Computers release almost at the same time I absolutely love my c128 , this thing is a beast !
Yep. They are really great machines. In a perfect world, they would have integrated the TED chips from the Plus/4 line into the C128 modes (those 128 colors are lovely), but kept the sprites. Then keep the 80 column and C64 modes. The native C128 modes just were not enough of an upgrade to make people need to code for that specifically.
Yes, they are quite obvious, aren't they! It is more subdued on my 1902 monitor and I don't notice them much. I actually work about 75% of the time in 80 column mode so I rarely see them
Wow this is great for my cbm 128! I just contacted this man in my own country, the netherlands and he answered within a few seconds. So i paid for the V5 together with the box. looking forward to the postman at the end of the week here in the netherlands.
But they are just wrong!!! love that! I just got my new C128D about a month ago. It was my 3rd Commodore computer after my Xmas 1983 C64 which I still have and use and then my SX-64 that I had from 1986-1988 while in West Germany while in the U.S. Army. I sold the SX-64 when I was leaving West Germany and bought the C128D as soon as I got to Fort Polk LA in 1988. Oh yah I also got a SX-64 about a month ago also. I bought that as working, well it wasn't by the time it got to me!! lol The MOS PLA died in transit and a new Phillips PLA got it up and running to find out it has a very sick SID chip. I want a real SID in it, so I went looking for just the chip and at $75 to $90 I instead found and bought 3 working breadbin 64's and told by each seller that its still a real SID in it. Got them at or under a $100 each. I'm hoping one of the three has a working older SID that I can put into my new SX-64. Long story short is I know have my first three commodore computers on display.
Oh my! What a great story! Shane that your SX-64 came in with bad chips. Luckily there are lots of options for getting the SID working again, I clouding ARMSID which apparently is as good or superior to the real thing
I know you've never played "Mayhem in Monsterland", but you're supposed to race through them like Sonic instead of jumping on them like Mario :) (you can still jump on them, but its more fun the other way) On a side note, this is one of my favorite C64 games due to the fantastic use of color and super-fast Sonic-like gameplay. When I first played it back in 1993, I thought the developers had figured out how to get more than 16 colors out of the C64 -- it was truly impressive! I'm sure the multi-color illusion benefits from a CRT monitor, and I'm curious if any of these modern video/HDMI adapters take-away from the effect.
Truly it was the first time I ever even loaded it up - I saw it on my Kung Fu Flash when I was doing the video! I do need to play it for real sometime.
Great video - although the part about the "best 8 bit computer".... well, I never had a C64 or C128 as a kid, I had an Amstrad CPC 6128, a machine which had an 80 columns mode, built-in CP/M version 3.1, faster CPU than the C128 so it could run CP/M software faster, backwards compatibility with the earlier model CPC 464 and you could run SymbOS - which is like GEOS for the Commodore - so now there are 2 best 8 bit computers around, and the last one here only needed 1 CPU to do it all ;-))
@@dempseydiscus the CPC 6128 is a rather under-appreciated machine because too few people really know about it. But, feature for feature, it is not even close to the C128 in capabilities, even if it does a few things better (mostly, a faster z80).
It does look like an impressive device, though I am hesitant to buy based on the limited buying options, but I do understand why he wants to avoid using an online storefront. I may reconsider if my BIT-C and GONBES converters for both my 128s ever crash out. UPDATE: Found a reseller that Sven supports on his site; ordered one, and giving it a try.
I agree with you on luma/chroma over regular composite. I got hold of a beautiful 14” NOS PVM CRT and it only accepts composite or SVIDEO. So I got my A500+ modded and it looks a million dollars.
I've tried 2 different versions of the C128 Lumafix and neither could really do a great job getting rid of the jailbars on 2 different machines. When i adjusted for the jailbars, shadows/fuzziness occurred. So they're in a drawer.
I have heard of just a few people it has worked well for, so I don't even bother. I suspect the difference on the VIC chips is to great for a one size fits all solution.
Any link to buy one from US? You mention a friend here that might do that, but how to contact to query/purchase is missing. I had both the original C128 in June 1985 and upgraded later to the "hard to find" C128D model in November 1987 -- it was the best 8-bit computer ever.
Super easy to buy them from overseas from the creator, usually. You may be surprised at how inexpensive shipping is, even compared to buying it in the USA
You have a document on your Geos desktop called Flippity. What is Flippity? We need a whole video about Flippity! This is a great video, and every time you fire up your 128D, I drool with envy. I have a128, but the D is where it's at! I have like four 1084 monitors, so I don't need an adapter, but it's good to know this is out there if I ever downsize and decide to connect everything to a newer display.
The 'brown fix'.. First thing to know is this is actually part of the CGA standard, dark yellow is not. If anyone is in doubt about this, I challenge you to dig through the schematics of original IBM branded CGA monitors, you will find all of those have a 'brown fix'. There even is a historical and functional reason for it existing. No, not making an argument about if I personally want dark yellow or brown, just pointing out a historical fact. That fact is not subject to opinion, the only thing subject to opinion is if you like having this fix or not. So.. Sven's adapter does not support the 'brown fix'. That is not because it would be technically difficult to support, it is not, but because it fundamentally changes a design aspect of such an adapter. Sven's adapter is passive in the sense that it does not need power to do its RGBi to RGB analog conversion, none at all. A brown fix however requires adding a tiny bit of logic that will require power. Yes, I made one myself, no I do not distribute it, but the details for making one are easily found on the h2obsession website. I've also been involved with Sven's adapter from day one (my name is on the PCB for a reason), and discussed this aspect with him quite a bit. Making the RGBi to RGB conversion purely passive is a design choice, one which has some distinct advantages, but comes with the disadvantage of not having a 'brown fix'. If you really need a 'brown fix', get the gglabs rgbi converter, it is more expensive, requires some soldering in most cases, and is generally not a plug and play experience, only handles 80 column mode, requires external 5v power, but.. is 'active' and provides a 'brown fix'. Also it provides proper composite sync (as opposed to just passing through the composite signal from pin 7 to the sync pin on scart) and as a consequence, can also deal with some of the more obscure capabilities of the VDC chip in the 128DCR specifically (like supporting EGA style reverse polarity sync) Its a matter of choices, which compromise suits your use.. I have both solutions around, built my own one, oh, and have a few other 'rgbi converters' around as well. Sven's approach is practical, and for most applications quite good enough. but if you really are into exploiting what VDC can do and have no issue doing a little soldering, you may want to look at the gglabs solution instead.
@@10MARC yes, it seems totally appropriate for your use.. and also is for most of my use.. At times I like to use VDC for displaying hires color images, for this it does at times matter.. For example, Tokra's VDC mode mania demo has this very nice sunflower image, but it really doesn't look right with dark yellow. There are more examples of this.. but.. for typical use cases, esp when running some piece of text mode productivity software or such, its usually irrelevant. It is however funny to at times see people ending up in a flame war over preferring dark yellow or brown.. Sometimes it seems such things turn many people into 7y olds arguing about who'ms dad has the bigger car or more impressive job..
Thanks for the explanation, makes sense. I'm all pro brown fix so I'll wait some more until someone creates a complete 40/80 solution with the brown fix. I don't mind external power requirement even tho there should be +5V and GND at the 40-col DIN connector.
Australia missed out (for the most part) on SCART too. This is a great little device, but probably best for the “normal” C128 given the switch on it. The D looks kinda incomplete without a 1084 or similar. Oh, as for the Lumafix. Don’t bother. I fiddled for hours with my 128D and the tiny improvement just wasn’t worth it.
I agree on the Lumafix. All the videos I have watched basically come to the same conclusion. A ton of work for a very small payout. The Jailbars never bothered me much anyways.
I just used a standard SCART cable from the device and connected it to a $35 SCART to HDMI converter on Amazon. Get the box-shaped one, not the elongated one with a blue stripe on it. That model does not work. I have it featured in a couple other videos and will put the link in the description for you right now.
How about the STL file for me to print on my printer? Just askin'. What kind of Scart cable did you use? As you said, I have no idea about Scart here in the USA. Thanks. I really want to get that board, just hope it is available. Well I tried to order one but I cannot seem to find ENGLISH or a supplier in the USA. Guess I am out of luck. Thanks anyway.
Order it from Sven Pooks website and it will ship from his USA distributor. As far as I know his website is in English - I have never had an issue with it. The STL file is available on Thingieverse.
@@10MARC I tried to link you show under this video and if you go all the way down to the bottom of that page is shows 3 links to order it. None of them show anything close to a USA website or US dollars. Sorry, if I am being a problem but I just wanted an easier way to use my Commodore 128's on something different than rca jacks. Thanks
![ว้าว!ลุงบีมแบกทองมารับขวัญหลานกันยกบ้าน [cc] แดนแพทตี้ SS2 | EP.49 |](http://i.ytimg.com/vi/Osihq1OAs-4/mqdefault.jpg)
Hi Doug, thank you for your review and all viewers, thank you for your kind words. It's flattering to see and read all this, but most of all, it's nice to see such a big group of enthousiast for the C128 sharing their passion for these machines.
It is truly a great product and I know it is a labor of love to you! Great job!
I want one as my C128 is crying!!!
Are there any distributors that sell to to United States?
The C-128 possessed a VIC-II chip and the VDC. The VIC-III was the video chip planned for the C-65 that Commodore was working on.
Technically, CGA was capable of supporting 8 colors plus intensity at the same time. The PC Jr. did this inherently. However, the video card had to support the intensity bit for this to work. The later Tandy 1000 series of computers also supported this.
That's right , totally underrated
Never really given a chance with Amiga Computers release almost at the same time
I absolutely love my c128 , this thing is a beast !
Yep. They are really great machines. In a perfect world, they would have integrated the TED chips from the Plus/4 line into the C128 modes (those 128 colors are lovely), but kept the sprites. Then keep the 80 column and C64 modes.
The native C128 modes just were not enough of an upgrade to make people need to code for that specifically.
This is a good solution. Thanks for the great review.
You bet! This is quite a great device and the price for it is fantastic
Holy hell Doug those are some jail bars on that 128!
Yes, they are quite obvious, aren't they! It is more subdued on my 1902 monitor and I don't notice them much. I actually work about 75% of the time in 80 column mode so I rarely see them
well, there were models of the BBC micro that were fantastically capable for 8-bit computer designs
yes but those were almost non-existent outside of the UK and maybe some of Europe. the C128 was sold world wide.
What the SCART? Nice little adaptor and yea that case is better than having a board hanging out the back stressing things out.
Oh yes, the 3D printed case is a must!
Wow this is great for my cbm 128! I just contacted this man in my own country, the netherlands and he answered within a few seconds. So i paid for the V5 together with the box. looking forward to the postman at the end of the week here in the netherlands.
That is so great! You will enjoy your new product.
But they are just wrong!!! love that! I just got my new C128D about a month ago. It was my 3rd Commodore computer after my Xmas 1983 C64 which I still have and use and then my SX-64 that I had from 1986-1988 while in West Germany while in the U.S. Army. I sold the SX-64 when I was leaving West Germany and bought the C128D as soon as I got to Fort Polk LA in 1988. Oh yah I also got a SX-64 about a month ago also. I bought that as working, well it wasn't by the time it got to me!! lol The MOS PLA died in transit and a new Phillips PLA got it up and running to find out it has a very sick SID chip. I want a real SID in it, so I went looking for just the chip and at $75 to $90 I instead found and bought 3 working breadbin 64's and told by each seller that its still a real SID in it. Got them at or under a $100 each. I'm hoping one of the three has a working older SID that I can put into my new SX-64. Long story short is I know have my first three commodore computers on display.
Oh my! What a great story! Shane that your SX-64 came in with bad chips. Luckily there are lots of options for getting the SID working again, I clouding ARMSID which apparently is as good or superior to the real thing
I know you've never played "Mayhem in Monsterland", but you're supposed to race through them like Sonic instead of jumping on them like Mario :) (you can still jump on them, but its more fun the other way)
On a side note, this is one of my favorite C64 games due to the fantastic use of color and super-fast Sonic-like gameplay. When I first played it back in 1993, I thought the developers had figured out how to get more than 16 colors out of the C64 -- it was truly impressive! I'm sure the multi-color illusion benefits from a CRT monitor, and I'm curious if any of these modern video/HDMI adapters take-away from the effect.
Truly it was the first time I ever even loaded it up - I saw it on my Kung Fu Flash when I was doing the video! I do need to play it for real sometime.
I have to agree :) I'm a happy owner of a C128DCR, best 8 bit computer ever :) I also have Sven's adapter, works perfect :)
What a great combination! I have a second 1571 drive, an SD2IEC and a nice 9 pin printer hooked up, and she is such a great computer!
“…but they’re just wrong!” 😂 Preach!
I just have to tell the truth... It's all I can do...
@@10MARC great video as usual. Thank you for all you do for the retro community!
Never owned a 128. So the best 8bit that I have ever used, are the 250466-SixtyClone that I build my self. 🙂
Oh those are nice!
@@10MARC Yup. I love mine. Blac-gold board. Black case. Orange LED and brown rubber feet.
Great video - although the part about the "best 8 bit computer".... well, I never had a C64 or C128 as a kid, I had an Amstrad CPC 6128, a machine which had an 80 columns mode, built-in CP/M version 3.1, faster CPU than the C128 so it could run CP/M software faster, backwards compatibility with the earlier model CPC 464 and you could run SymbOS - which is like GEOS for the Commodore - so now there are 2 best 8 bit computers around, and the last one here only needed 1 CPU to do it all ;-))
Sounds like a great machine! I would bet the 12 people that owned one really enjoyed them! ;)
@@10MARC :-))
@@dempseydiscus the CPC 6128 is a rather under-appreciated machine because too few people really know about it.
But, feature for feature, it is not even close to the C128 in capabilities, even if it does a few things better (mostly, a faster z80).
Nice episode. Maybe a small tip when filming a fixed point like a screen : put the camera in manual focus. 👌📺🕹
Gee, thanks...
For the price this is a total must in my book also! Now to also pair it with a case for the value of a Double Quarter Pounder, no brainer!!! SOLD!
You will be quite happy with it for sure! I think the 80 column mode with GEOS looks fantastic!
It does look like an impressive device, though I am hesitant to buy based on the limited buying options, but I do understand why he wants to avoid using an online storefront. I may reconsider if my BIT-C and GONBES converters for both my 128s ever crash out. UPDATE: Found a reseller that Sven supports on his site; ordered one, and giving it a try.
I agree with you on luma/chroma over regular composite. I got hold of a beautiful 14” NOS PVM CRT and it only accepts composite or SVIDEO. So I got my A500+ modded and it looks a million dollars.
Oh nice! S-Video from your A500! I bet that looks good
Technically, 5 os or 7 if you count geos 64, geos 128, lunix, 64os, c=64, c=128, cp/m, and another couple i can't remember the names of...
Very true. It was an incredibly versatile machine
Hey, great shirt
I could not find it for over a week! My wife put it in my Stepsons closet accidently. I had to go track it down! 🤣🤣
I've tried 2 different versions of the C128 Lumafix and neither could really do a great job getting rid of the jailbars on 2 different machines. When i adjusted for the jailbars, shadows/fuzziness occurred. So they're in a drawer.
I have heard of just a few people it has worked well for, so I don't even bother. I suspect the difference on the VIC chips is to great for a one size fits all solution.
eventually I’ll get a 128D. When I do, I’m definitely getting one of these.
I was so lucky to get the one I did. It is truly a gem!
Any link to buy one from US? You mention a friend here that might do that, but how to contact to query/purchase is missing.
I had both the original C128 in June 1985 and upgraded later to the "hard to find" C128D model in November 1987 -- it was the best 8-bit computer ever.
Super easy to buy them from overseas from the creator, usually. You may be surprised at how inexpensive shipping is, even compared to buying it in the USA
You have a document on your Geos desktop called Flippity. What is Flippity? We need a whole video about Flippity! This is a great video, and every time you fire up your 128D, I drool with envy. I have a128, but the D is where it's at! I have like four 1084 monitors, so I don't need an adapter, but it's good to know this is out there if I ever downsize and decide to connect everything to a newer display.
You were not supposed to see the "Flippity" doc. You know too much. You may be receiving a visit from the M.I.B.
The 'brown fix'..
First thing to know is this is actually part of the CGA standard, dark yellow is not. If anyone is in doubt about this, I challenge you to dig through the schematics of original IBM branded CGA monitors, you will find all of those have a 'brown fix'. There even is a historical and functional reason for it existing. No, not making an argument about if I personally want dark yellow or brown, just pointing out a historical fact. That fact is not subject to opinion, the only thing subject to opinion is if you like having this fix or not.
So.. Sven's adapter does not support the 'brown fix'. That is not because it would be technically difficult to support, it is not, but because it fundamentally changes a design aspect of such an adapter. Sven's adapter is passive in the sense that it does not need power to do its RGBi to RGB analog conversion, none at all. A brown fix however requires adding a tiny bit of logic that will require power.
Yes, I made one myself, no I do not distribute it, but the details for making one are easily found on the h2obsession website.
I've also been involved with Sven's adapter from day one (my name is on the PCB for a reason), and discussed this aspect with him quite a bit. Making the RGBi to RGB conversion purely passive is a design choice, one which has some distinct advantages, but comes with the disadvantage of not having a 'brown fix'. If you really need a 'brown fix', get the gglabs rgbi converter, it is more expensive, requires some soldering in most cases, and is generally not a plug and play experience, only handles 80 column mode, requires external 5v power, but.. is 'active' and provides a 'brown fix'. Also it provides proper composite sync (as opposed to just passing through the composite signal from pin 7 to the sync pin on scart) and as a consequence, can also deal with some of the more obscure capabilities of the VDC chip in the 128DCR specifically (like supporting EGA style reverse polarity sync)
Its a matter of choices, which compromise suits your use.. I have both solutions around, built my own one, oh, and have a few other 'rgbi converters' around as well. Sven's approach is practical, and for most applications quite good enough. but if you really are into exploiting what VDC can do and have no issue doing a little soldering, you may want to look at the gglabs solution instead.
Thanks for that information! It has honestly never bothered me, as really so little of what I use 80 column mode for requires perfect color.
@@10MARC yes, it seems totally appropriate for your use.. and also is for most of my use..
At times I like to use VDC for displaying hires color images, for this it does at times matter..
For example, Tokra's VDC mode mania demo has this very nice sunflower image, but it really doesn't look right with dark yellow. There are more examples of this.. but.. for typical use cases, esp when running some piece of text mode productivity software or such, its usually irrelevant.
It is however funny to at times see people ending up in a flame war over preferring dark yellow or brown.. Sometimes it seems such things turn many people into 7y olds arguing about who'ms dad has the bigger car or more impressive job..
Thanks for the explanation, makes sense.
I'm all pro brown fix so I'll wait some more until someone creates a complete 40/80 solution with the brown fix. I don't mind external power requirement even tho there should be +5V and GND at the 40-col DIN connector.
Australia missed out (for the most part) on SCART too.
This is a great little device, but probably best for the “normal” C128 given the switch on it. The D looks kinda incomplete without a 1084 or similar.
Oh, as for the Lumafix. Don’t bother. I fiddled for hours with my 128D and the tiny improvement just wasn’t worth it.
I agree on the Lumafix. All the videos I have watched basically come to the same conclusion. A ton of work for a very small payout. The Jailbars never bothered me much anyways.
What kind of scart cable did you use to connect from the device to a scart to hdmi? Or can you get a scart to hdmi cable and skip the converter box?
I just used a standard SCART cable from the device and connected it to a $35 SCART to HDMI converter on Amazon. Get the box-shaped one, not the elongated one with a blue stripe on it. That model does not work. I have it featured in a couple other videos and will put the link in the description for you right now.
@@10MARC seems the cable is about as much as the box, was hoping for a cheaper solution but oh well, i already bought the unit.
How about the STL file for me to print on my printer? Just askin'. What kind of Scart cable did you use? As you said, I have no idea about Scart here in the USA. Thanks. I really want to get that board, just hope it is available. Well I tried to order one but I cannot seem to find ENGLISH or a supplier in the USA. Guess I am out of luck. Thanks anyway.
Order it from Sven Pooks website and it will ship from his USA distributor. As far as I know his website is in English - I have never had an issue with it.
The STL file is available on Thingieverse.
@@10MARC I tried to link you show under this video and if you go all the way down to the bottom of that page is shows 3 links to order it. None of them show anything close to a USA website or US dollars. Sorry, if I am being a problem but I just wanted an easier way to use my Commodore 128's on something different than rca jacks. Thanks
Why is the mouse kinda freaking out in geos?
Hi, you can try this little thing - th-cam.com/video/qOvFwwrAEIk/w-d-xo.html - switches between 40/80 col mode with brown fix. Your welcome...
Must have color on c128,anything less is blasphemy :)
You bet! That's what makes this in combination with the SCART to HDMI upscaler so wonderful!