First off, thank you all so much for the outpouring of support for this Digest idea. I didn't expect to see so many of you subscribe to a newsletter sight unseen. I really hope it'll be an enjoyable use of your attention.

And boy did we time this right, because we get to discuss big news in the first issue!

Batch #2 is shipping soon

MEGA's assembly and distribution partner Trenz Electronic has parts in hand for the next batch of 400 computers, and is scheduled to assemble and deliver them by the end of the 2022 calendar year. Soon there will be 800 MEGA65s in the hands of new owners, not counting the 100 Dev Kits.

All batch #2 machines will ship with updated factory-installed firmware and system software, including fixes and improvements made since batch #1 shipped back in May. Batch #2 will include the printed User’s Guide from the first print run. If you receive a batch #2 machine, you'll want to download the most recent PDF as a supplement. I'll try to keep the Welcome Guide up to date as well.

Trenz is planning these fulfillment batches based on the availability of parts, especially the Xilinx FPGA chips. The MEGA65 team has done a great job mitigating risk in the supply chain, with unusual pieces like the injection molded cases and floppy disk drives well stocked. (We were all surprised when the first batch was delayed due to a shortage of cardboard, of all things.) We can all look forward to continued fulfillment of pre-orders through next year.

Help with testing for batch #2

The MEGA65 community made a huge push to test the factory-installed firmware and system software for batch #1. We're doing it again for the batch #2 release candidate—and you can help!

The closer you can get your MEGA65 to the final configuration, the better for testing. If you own a MEGA65, a Dev Kit, or a Nexys FPGA board, jump in the release-test forum on the Discord. Check out the release candidate verification home page with links to downloads and instructions for testing and reporting bugs. You can install the latest core in slot 1 of the core management utility, and prepare a new internal SD card with the latest system software and bundled disk images.

If you're one of the lucky ones to have both a batch #1 MEGA65 and a JTAG programming interface, you can install the candidate core in the special "slot 0," which is how batch #2 machines will be configured. Overwriting slot 0 requires opening your case to flip a tiny switch, as well as running some fancy commands. We need slot 0 testers, so if this sounds like you, please give it a try. See the wiki page for instructions.

If you don’t yet have a MEGA65, you can still help test the ROM using the Xemu emulator. You’ll need to use the C65 ROM diff files along with a copy of the original Commodore 65 ROM version 910828 (which you can find online or on the C64 Forever CD-ROM) to produce the mega65.rom file.

Thanks to everyone who can help out!

What's the latest firmware, anyway?

The core team and contributors have been improving the MEGA65 firmware and system software (including the MEGA65 version of the Commodore 65 ROM code) continuously since batch #1 shipped. So what's co