- #SWITCHING DISKS VICE EMULATOR C64 FULL#
- #SWITCHING DISKS VICE EMULATOR C64 SOFTWARE#
- #SWITCHING DISKS VICE EMULATOR C64 MAC#
You can change between PAL and NTSC but there will be framerate conversion, and if it thinks the display can't do 50 Hz (which it again thinks way too often) it runs at 60 Hz anyway. The THEC64 Maxi lets you choose between PAL/50 and NTSC/60 when it comes out of the box, but you can't change this setting later without doing a factory reset. or fail to detect a 50 Hz display (even on some that can handle this just fine) and run in PAL mode but convert from 50 to 60 Hz, which makes a lot of action look choppy. The THEC64 Mini will detect a 50 Hz display and run in PAL mode. The C64 used a 320x200 pixel screen (although apparently, some clever manipulation of the video chip allowed showing stuff in the border area), with NTSC (North American) versions refreshing the screen 60 times per second and running the CPU slightly faster, and PAL (European) versions refreshing the screen 50 times per second and running the CPU slightly slower.
#SWITCHING DISKS VICE EMULATOR C64 SOFTWARE#
(As far as I know, over the 12 years that the C64 was sold new, there wasn't a single software update.) Remember, the C64 doesn't have much in the way of built-in system software, so games hit the hardware directly.
#SWITCHING DISKS VICE EMULATOR C64 FULL#
Apparently modern computers are fast enough to emulate all the chips with pretty much full accuracy. I'm very impressed with how well each system emulates a computer from 1982. There also seem to be various Javascript implementations that work to various degrees, with this one working relatively well, but still not suitable for anything serious, in my opinion. In addition to the C64, VICE can emulate a whole bunch of 8-bit Commodore computers, including, much to my delight, the C128. VICE is multi-platform open source software that has been under development since the 1990s. (Apparently there's a THEVIC20 on its way.) There are also a few more settings, and the THEC64 can also run in VIC20 mode. However, in addition to upping the number of USB ports to four, the Maxi has a fully functional keyboard, including the graphic character labels on the front sides of the keys. That's a fairly significant downside compared to the Mini, in my opinion. Late last year, the full-size ("maxi") THEC64 was released, which is twice as big and therefore takes eight times as much space. It has a micro USB port for power and an HDMI port for video out. It has two USB ports and comes with a USB joystick that's used to control the system and play the 64 included games. It looks like a half-size Commodore 64, but the keyboard is just decorative, none of the keys work. I paid € 80 for the Mini and € 120 for the Maxi, which I think are great prices. Verdict: the THEC64 Mini is great for casual retro gamers, the THEC64 Maxi is even better for more serious retro gamers and VICE is for people who want to do anything other than playing games.
#SWITCHING DISKS VICE EMULATOR C64 MAC#
PAL games don't have smooth graphics because the Mac uses a fixed 60 Hz frame rate with most LCD displays, but I didn't play any games because of joystick issues anyway. But: you can load and save directly from the Mac file system, and with the right keyboard mapping, typing on an emulated C64 works just fine.
The VICE emulator, on the other hand, is difficult to work with on the Mac. Also, saving your programs or data is not easy, as they need to go on a disk image on a flash drive and then you have to keep plugging that flash drive into different computers. However, I tried running some BASIC programs and making a few changes to those here and there, and it's very hard to get used to the weird layout of the C64 keyboard.
The THEC64 Maxi is even better for playing games, as it has an accurate keyboard. After a firmware update, it's now also fairly simple to use C64 disk images on a USB flash drive. Just hook it up to your TV, which is exactly what we did with the original C64, too, and it's super easy to use it to play the 64 included games, some of which are pretty good. The THEC64 Mini is pretty good for playing games. This story is getting pretty long, so I'm going to start with the conclusion.
The contenders are the THEC64 Mini, a half-size recreation of the C64 powered by an ARM CPU running an emulator, the full-size THEC64 that adds a working keyboard and the VICE emulator running on my MacBook Pro. In this post, I want to look at different ways of running an emulated Commodore 64 (or Commodore 128) and how they compare. Reviving the C64 (or C128) experience (posted )