Commodore Clubs?

Welcome back to our Commodore Discussion forum. If you have a question, comment, problem, or just want to chat about Commodore, post it here for free.

Have some fun and talk to others interested in the Old and New Commodore world.

Moderators: wiskow, Trazan

User avatar
rbernardo
Posts: 3130
Joined: Fri Jun 09, 2006 8:00 pm
Are you a real person?: No... I am a spambot, delete my account!
Location: Visalia, California, USA
Contact:

Next FCUG meeting - Sunday, July 18, 2021 (confirmed)

Post by rbernardo »

Happy 4th of July, C= and Ami aficionados!

The Fresno Commodore User Group has its next meeting from 11 a.m. to 1:00+ p.m., Sunday, July 18, at

Panera Bread Restaurant
3590 W Shaw Ave. (corner of W. Shaw Ave. and Marty Ave.)
Fresno, CA 93711
(559) 271-0104
http://www.dickestel.com/meet_loc.htm

This will be our first meeting since November! I strongly recommend that all attendees come to the meeting fully vaccinated!

For discussion we'll be talking about what our activities since last November, the October Amiwest Show, and especially the November Commodore Los Angeles Super Show!

We'll be concentrating on lots of new C= software -- the latest for the C64, VIC-20, and Plus/4. Also we'll look at classics, like CAD-M from Loadstar disk magazine 150. We'll even try to create a rotating 3-D logo with CAD-M (especially fun at 48 MHz. on an Ultimate 64!).

The Amiga 600 will appear with the classic Deluxe Music Construction Set ready to play from the hard drive.

Truly,
Robert Bernardo
Fresno Commodore User Group -
http://www.dickestel.com/fcug.htm
User avatar
rbernardo
Posts: 3130
Joined: Fri Jun 09, 2006 8:00 pm
Are you a real person?: No... I am a spambot, delete my account!
Location: Visalia, California, USA
Contact:

Re: Next SCCAN meeting - July 10, 2021 (tentative)

Post by rbernardo »

Photos from yesterday's SCCAN meeting are at

http://blog.retro-link.com/2021/07/phot ... eting.html

Truly,
Robert Bernardo
Southern California Commodore & Amiga Network - http://www.portcommodore.com/sccan
User avatar
rbernardo
Posts: 3130
Joined: Fri Jun 09, 2006 8:00 pm
Are you a real person?: No... I am a spambot, delete my account!
Location: Visalia, California, USA
Contact:

Re: Commodore Clubs?

Post by rbernardo »

Photos from the July 18 FCUG meeting are at

http://blog.retro-link.com/2021/08/phot ... eting.html

Truly,
Robert Bernardo
Fresno Commodore User Group -
http://www.dickestel.com/fcug.htm
Nov. 6-7 Commodore Los Angeles Super Show 2021 -
http://www.portcommodore.com/class
User avatar
rbernardo
Posts: 3130
Joined: Fri Jun 09, 2006 8:00 pm
Are you a real person?: No... I am a spambot, delete my account!
Location: Visalia, California, USA
Contact:

Next FCUG meeting - Sunday, August 22, 2021

Post by rbernardo »

Happy summer, C= and Ami aficionados!

The Fresno Commodore User Group has its next meeting from 11 a.m. to 1:00+ p.m., Sunday, August 22, at

Panera Bread Restaurant
3590 W Shaw Ave. (corner of W. Shaw Ave. and Marty Ave.)
Fresno, CA 93711
(559) 271-0104
http://www.dickestel.com/meet_loc.htm

Our July meeting was so successful that we didn't have enough time to cover everything! First up will be the standard Amiga 600 running
WHDLoad games and other apps from a CF card and only 2 MB of Chip RAM and no Fast RAM (slow... but it gets the job done!). Then we switch over to the VIC-20, this time with a Commodore VIC-20 35K switchable RAM expansion with integrated SD2IEC, courtesy of Melbourne Console Reproductions of Australia, and C64/128/VIC-20CR/1541-II/1581 power supply, courtesy of Ray Carlsen. Then we will investigate the brand new BackBit Pro cartridge from Evie Salomon. This cart is not just for the C64/128 but with the optional adapters, it's for the VIC-20, Plus/4 (!), and Atari 800/XE (!!). Does that mean I'll have to bring that latter computer to the meeting? ;)

Discussion will center around the Oct. 16-17 Amiwest Show in Sacramento and the Nov. 6-7 Commodore Los Angeles Super Show in Burbank, among other C=-related items.

See you soon,
Robert Bernardo
Fresno Commodore User Group - http://www.dickestel.com/fcug.htm
Nov. 6-7 Commodore Los Angeles Super Show 2021 - http://www.portcommodore.com/class
User avatar
rbernardo
Posts: 3130
Joined: Fri Jun 09, 2006 8:00 pm
Are you a real person?: No... I am a spambot, delete my account!
Location: Visalia, California, USA
Contact:

Next SCCAN meeting - September. 18, 2021

Post by rbernardo »

Happy end of summer, C= and Ami comrades!

The next meeting of the Southern California Commodore & Amiga Network is Saturday, Sept. 18, from 2 to 5+ p.m. at

Panera Bread Restaurant
19662 Nordhoff Street
Northridge, California
(818) 407-9400

This is our meeting before the November 6-7 Commodore Los Angeles Super Show ( http://www.portcommodore.com/class ) in Burbank, and
we'll be finalizing our big plans for that event. If you have any ideas to make CLASS better, let us know at the meeting!

The Oct. 16-17 Amiwest Show in Sacramento is only a few weeks away. We'll talk about that, too.

For hardware/software, we'll look at the Dread, the new Doom clone, running off my low-spec Amiga 600. Also for those musically-inclined, we'll look at the classic Deluxe Music Construction Kit with its comprehensive 120-page manual. The Ultimate 64 returns; this time we'll try to design a Commodore Los Angeles Super Show logo with CAD-M and have that logo spin around so
that we can film it for a CLASS commercial on Youtube.

I'll be giving away bunch of Amiga commercial software packages (mostly games), courtesy of Brad H..

As always, feel free to bring any other hardware/software that you wish to show off! And you are strongly recommended to be fully vaccinated before coming to the meeting!

Writing from New Jersey,
Robert Bernardo
Southern California Commodore & Amiga Network -
http://www.portcommodore.com/sccan
User avatar
rbernardo
Posts: 3130
Joined: Fri Jun 09, 2006 8:00 pm
Are you a real person?: No... I am a spambot, delete my account!
Location: Visalia, California, USA
Contact:

Next FCUG meeting - Sunday, September 19, 2021

Post by rbernardo »

Happy summer, C= and Ami aficionados!

The Fresno Commodore User Group has its next meeting from 11 a.m. to 1:00+ p.m., Sunday, September 19, at

Panera Bread Restaurant
3590 W Shaw Ave. (corner of W. Shaw Ave. and Marty Ave.)
Fresno, CA 93711
(559) 271-0104
http://www.dickestel.com/meet_loc.htm

After we eat our lunch, the meeting proper will begin with old/new business and then with talk about the Oct. 16-17 Amiwest Show in Sacramento and the Nov. 6-7 Commodore Los Angeles Super Show in Burbank. Because CLASS is getting nearer, we'll lock down the video presentations for the show.

We'll watch a brief video on the Retro-Printer Module ( https://www.retroprinter.com ) which promises to easily connect your classic computer to modern USB printers! Supported computers range from the C64 and Amiga to the Atari 8-bit and Atari ST to the Tandy Model 102 to more!

The Amiga 600 returns, this time with the thick Deluxe Music Construction Set manual so that we can more easily make music with the accompanying program. Last month we tried out Evie Salomon's BackBit Pro cartridge with the Plus/4. This time we try out the cart with the VIC-20, thanks to its slot adapter. On the C64 side, among the several new games we'll see, once again we'll play around with CAD-M, this time more seriously trying to design a CLASS logo. Let's try to match the logo already done by Marc Rifkin of the Southern California Commodore & Amiga Network and CBM veteran.

Writing from New Jersey,
Robert Bernardo
Fresno Commodore User Group - http://www.dickestel.com/fcug.htm
User avatar
rbernardo
Posts: 3130
Joined: Fri Jun 09, 2006 8:00 pm
Are you a real person?: No... I am a spambot, delete my account!
Location: Visalia, California, USA
Contact:

FCUG "picnic" lunch - Sunday, October 10, 2021

Post by rbernardo »

Happy autumn, C= and Ami aficionados!

As customary, in October we don't have a user group meeting, but instead, we have the Fresno Commodore User Group club picnic! This year our club picnic is on Sunday, Oct. 10, starting at 11 a.m. at

DiCicco's Italian Restaurant
144 N. Blackstone Ave. (east side of Blackstone, south of Belmont,
almost to Divisadero)
Fresno, CA

To preview the tasty items on DiCicco's menu, see

https://store.getbeyond.com/diciccos-it ... blackstone

At the club picnic, members and their guests will have their lunch paid by the club. And we don't necessarily talk about computer things at the lunch!

See you at the picnic!
Robert Bernardo
Fresno Commodore User Group -
http://www.dickestel.com/fcug.htm
Nov. 6-7 Commodore Los Angeles Super Show 2021 -
http://www.portcommodore.com/class

P.S. Saturday, Oct. 9, I will be at Bernardo Studios (University Square Hotel) in Fresno to film presentations for the Nov. 6-7 Commodore Los Angeles Super Show.
User avatar
rbernardo
Posts: 3130
Joined: Fri Jun 09, 2006 8:00 pm
Are you a real person?: No... I am a spambot, delete my account!
Location: Visalia, California, USA
Contact:

Next FCUG meeting - Sunday, November 21, 2021

Post by rbernardo »

Happy 40th Anniversary, C= and Ami aficionados!

The Fresno Commodore User Group has its next meeting from 11 a.m. to 1:00+ p.m., Sunday, November 21, at

Panera Bread Restaurant
3590 W Shaw Ave. (corner of W. Shaw Ave. and Marty Ave.)
Fresno, CA 93711
(559) 271-0104
http://www.dickestel.com/meet_loc.htm

This meeting is extra special, because it marks the 40th anniversary of the founding of our club! For the anniversary, I'll bring in a small birthday cake, and there might be other surprises! A ruby is supposed to mark the 40th anniversary, but I'm not getting everyone a ruby. ;)

For discussion we'll talk about the successful Nov. 6-7 Commodore Los Angeles Super Show and planning for CLASS 2022. We'll talk about our annual donation to St. Jude Children's Research Hospital.

Then we'll see a few minutes, if not all, of v.p. Roger Van Pelt's Youtube presentation of the classic CAD-M program from Loadstar disk magazine. (As of this writing, his Youtube video has had 173 hits!)

For the hardware/software section of the meeting, we'll try out at the educational software purchased from Wayne and Sonia Aller of CompuLearn when they attended CLASS this year. (Hey, check out that Wico Trackball.) Also, we'll look at some of the newest software and demos for the C64 and VIC-20. For the brave of heart, we'll install a RAM expansion card on the Amiga 600; if not brave, then we'll run some games. :)

Truly,
________________
Robert Bernardo
Fresno Commodore User Group
http://www.dickestel.com/fcug.htm
User avatar
rbernardo
Posts: 3130
Joined: Fri Jun 09, 2006 8:00 pm
Are you a real person?: No... I am a spambot, delete my account!
Location: Visalia, California, USA
Contact:

Next SCCAN meeting - December 11, 2021

Post by rbernardo »

Merry Christmas, C= and Ami comrades!

The next meeting of the Southern California Commodore & Amiga Network is Saturday, Dec. 11, from 2 to 5+ p.m. at

Panera Bread Restaurant
19662 Nordhoff Street
Northridge, California
(818) 407-9400

Note: This meeting replaces the November meeting which was delayed due to the Commodore Los Angeles Super Show (CLASS).

Double note: Due to Los Angeles County health orders and because we meet in Panera Bread Restaurant, we must now...

- wear masks inside the restaurant (masks may be removed to eat and drink).

- be able to show proof of full vaccination against Covid-19.

For discussion, we'll talk about CLASS 2021 and plan for CLASS 2022.
For hardware/software, the Ultimate 64 returns with new programs, like Bagman, Lady PacMan, Rock Star Ate My Hamster +3GM, and Galaxian DX, and oldies, like Micro Rhythm and Eclectic. The Amiga 600 returns with its external Gotek, and we'll see how Amiga OS 3.2 deals with ADF's on the Gotek.
If you missed them at CLASS 2021, Wayne and Sonia Aller will be at the meeting to sell their VIC-20/C64 hardware and software. We'll just spread out their goodies on the outside patio tables. :) To get a preview of what they are selling, see

https://photos.google.com/share/AF1QipN ... lycTVkREhR

As always, feel free to bring any other Commodore and Amiga hardware/software that you wish to show off!

Sincerely,
Robert Bernardo
Southern California Commodore & Amiga Network -
http://www.portcommodore.com/sccan
User avatar
rbernardo
Posts: 3130
Joined: Fri Jun 09, 2006 8:00 pm
Are you a real person?: No... I am a spambot, delete my account!
Location: Visalia, California, USA
Contact:

Next FCUG meeting - Sunday, December 18, 2021

Post by rbernardo »

Happy 40th FCUG Anniversary, C= and Ami aficionados!

The Fresno Commodore User Group has its next meeting from 11 a.m. to 1:00+ p.m., Sunday, December 19, at

Panera Bread Restaurant
3590 W Shaw Ave. (corner of W. Shaw Ave. and Marty Ave.)
Fresno, CA 93711
(559) 271-0104
http://www.dickestel.com/meet_loc.htm

We continue to celebrate the 40th anniversary our club! Last month I wrote:

> A ruby is supposed to mark the 40th anniversary, but I'm not getting everyone a ruby. ;)

O.K., I relented. You'll get some rubies... the C64 text adventures, Ruby Rap and Ruby Chalice. Then we'll look at some Christmasy software and demos for for the C64 and VIC-20.

On the Amiga side will be the unveiling of the Amiga 500 with Vampire 500 v2 accelerator. It was my first Amiga computer, given to me by Dick Estel back in 1995. Throughout the years it's gone from a very basic machine to one with an outboard 1010 disk drive and ECS (its configuration for Classic Gaming Expos and Vintage Computer Festivals of the early 2000's) to its new Vampire state as a very mean computer with 149 MIPS (million instructions per second) compared to the original .56 MIPS and 128 megs of Fast RAM compared to the original with its 512K of RAM.

For discussion, we'll have the election for officers and more talk on the Commodore Los Angeles Super Show 2022.

Merry Christmas! Happy New Year!
Robert Bernardo
Fresno Commodore User Group - http://www.dickestel.com/fcug.htm

P.S. Again I will be driving in from Stockton, and I hope I will not be delayed by the fog. If I am delayed, I'm counting on v.p. Roger to carry on! :)
User avatar
rbernardo
Posts: 3130
Joined: Fri Jun 09, 2006 8:00 pm
Are you a real person?: No... I am a spambot, delete my account!
Location: Visalia, California, USA
Contact:

Next SCCAN meeting - January 8, 2022

Post by rbernardo »

Happy New Year, C= and Ami comrades!

The next meeting of the Southern California Commodore & Amiga Network is Saturday, Jan. 8, from 2 to 5+ p.m. at

Panera Bread Restaurant
19662 Nordhoff Street
Northridge, California
(818) 407-9400

Note: We are back to our bi-monthly (every other month) meeting schedule.

For discussion, we'll talk about the Commodore Los Angeles Super Show 2022. For hardware/software, the Ultimate 64 returns with new programs, like Sonic the Hedgehog, Scramble Infinity, Snowdown, and Snow Force. The refurbished Amiga 500 with v8 motherboard makes its first appearance and now has a Vampire 500 v2 accelerator. Spec.’s – 2 mb Chip RAM, 128 Fast RAM, Gold 2.12 core, Kickstart 3.10 (three point ten), Coffin OS r59, 32 gig CF card, and a full complement of platform emulators, WHDload games/demos, and native HDMI games/demos/music/videos.

If you missed them at CLASS 2021 and at the December SCCAN meeting, Wayne and Sonia Aller may be at this meeting to sell their VIC-20/C64 hardware and software.

As always, feel free to bring any other Commodore and Amiga hardware/software that you wish to show off!

Sincerely,
Robert Bernardo
Southern California Commodore & Amiga Network -
http://www.portcommodore.com/sccan
User avatar
rbernardo
Posts: 3130
Joined: Fri Jun 09, 2006 8:00 pm
Are you a real person?: No... I am a spambot, delete my account!
Location: Visalia, California, USA
Contact:

Next FCUG meeting - Sunday, January 16, 2022

Post by rbernardo »

Happy New Year, C= and Ami aficionados!

The Fresno Commodore User Group has its next meeting from 11 a.m. to 1:00+ p.m., Sunday, January 16, at

Panera Bread Restaurant
3590 W Shaw Ave. (corner of W. Shaw Ave. and Marty Ave.)
Fresno, CA 93711
(559) 271-0104
http://www.dickestel.com/meet_loc.htm

For discussion, we'll talk about the Commodore Los Angeles Super Show 2022. In hardware/software, the Ultimate 64 returns with new programs, like Sonic the Hedgehog v1.2, Scramble Infinity, Snowdown, and Snow Force. The Amiga 500 with Vampire 500 v2 accelerator returns, and we’ll have more time to delve into its many, many games, demos, music, videos, and emulators which are on its Compactflash drive. Attack of the Petscii Robots returns, this time with a proper 1084 monitor and 80-column cable so that we can look at it in 40 and 80-column mode. The VIC-20 returns, and we’ll try out some of its latest programs.

P.S. Our meeting venue, Panera Bread, closed early at our last 2 meetings. Be prepared if they close early again… say at 2 p.m..

Truly,
________________
Robert Bernardo
Fresno Commodore User Group
http://www.dickestel.com/fcug.htm
User avatar
rbernardo
Posts: 3130
Joined: Fri Jun 09, 2006 8:00 pm
Are you a real person?: No... I am a spambot, delete my account!
Location: Visalia, California, USA
Contact:

Next FCUG meeting - Sunday, February 20, 2022

Post by rbernardo »

Happy Valentine’s Day, C= and Ami aficionados!

The Fresno Commodore User Group has its next meeting from 11 a.m. to 1:00+ p.m., Sunday, February 20, at

Panera Bread Restaurant
3590 W Shaw Ave. (corner of W. Shaw Ave. and Marty Ave.)
Fresno, CA 93711
(559) 271-0104
http://www.dickestel.com/meet_loc.htm

We have a lot on our agenda this month. In hardware, we try out at the new Unijoysticle 2+, a bluetooth adapter for bluetooth controllers (joysticks, gamepads, etc.), for the C64 and the classic Amiga. https://retro.moe/unijoysticle2

Then, courtesy of Amigastore.eu, we look at the external Gotek drive for classic Amigas; Bruce N. may bring his A2000 so we can try out the Gotek on that. If the A2000 isn’t present, we’ll see if it’ll work on the A500 with Vampire 500 v2. For the C64, we have the classic Muppet Learning Keys – a giant touchpad – obtained from Wayne and Sonia Aller who had a private school with C64’s and VIC-20’s back in 1984.

In software, we have Attack of the PETSCII Robots for the C128, this time with a Super Nintendo controller for the adapter that came with the boxed game. Of course, the Ultimate 64 will be there with plenty of new software releases collected in January and February.

Discussion centers around the June 25-26 Commodore Los Angeles Super Show in Burbank and a possible exhibit at the April 2 City of STEM which will be at the Columbia Space Center, in Downey, California, from 10 a.m. – 4 p.m.. https://cityofstem.org

Truly,
Robert Bernardo
Fresno Commodore User Group
http://www.dickestel.com/fcug.htm
User avatar
rbernardo
Posts: 3130
Joined: Fri Jun 09, 2006 8:00 pm
Are you a real person?: No... I am a spambot, delete my account!
Location: Visalia, California, USA
Contact:

Next SCCAN meeting - Saturday, March 12, 2022

Post by rbernardo »

Happy New Year, C= and Ami comrades!

The next meeting of the Southern California Commodore & Amiga Network is Saturday, March 12, from 2 to 5+ p.m. at

Panera Bread Restaurant
19662 Nordhoff Street
Northridge, California
(818) 407-9400

For discussion, we'll talk about the April 2 City of STEM festival, the April 22-24 Vintage Computer Festival East, and of course, the June 25-26 Commodore Los Angeles Super Show. In hardware/software, the Ultimate 64 returns with some of the latest games released in January to March. The Amiga 500 with Vampire 500 v2 accelerator returns again so that you can play around with it. Mario L. brings in his laptop and will be running Amiga Forever. If you attend, don't forget to bring a USB joystick for him! :)

As always, feel free to bring any other Commodore and Amiga hardware/software that you wish to show off!

Sincerely,
Robert Bernardo
Southern California Commodore & Amiga Network -
http://www.portcommodore.com/sccan
User avatar
rbernardo
Posts: 3130
Joined: Fri Jun 09, 2006 8:00 pm
Are you a real person?: No... I am a spambot, delete my account!
Location: Visalia, California, USA
Contact:

Next FCUG meeting - Sunday, March 20, 2022

Post by rbernardo »

Happy Pi Day, C= and Ami aficionados!

The Fresno Commodore User Group has its next meeting from 11 a.m. to 1:30+ p.m., Sunday, March 20, at

Panera Bread Restaurant
3590 W Shaw Ave. (corner of W. Shaw Ave. and Marty Ave.)
Fresno, CA 93711
(559) 271-0104
http://www.dickestel.com/meet_loc.htm

At the February meeting, we ran out of time to try out everything we wanted to do. We'll try again this month! The new Unijoysticle 2+, a bluetooth adapter for bluetooth controllers (joysticks, gamepads, etc.), returns. https://retro.moe/unijoysticle2

Bruce N. may bring his A2000 so we can try out a Gotek SD card drive on that. The Ultimate 64 returns with software released collected from January to March.

Discussion centers on Commodore and Amiga exhibit at the upcoming April 2 City of STEM festival in Downey ( https://cityofstem.org ), the 40th anniversary of the C64 at the April 22-24 Vintage Computer Festival East ( https://www.eventbrite.com/e/vintage-co ... affiliate1 ) , and the the June 25-26 Commodore Los Angeles Super Show in Burbank.

Truly,
Robert Bernardo
Fresno Commodore User Group
http://www.dickestel.com/fcug.htm
Post Reply