I think many of us were first attracted to the MEGA65 project for its hardware: the Cherry MX keyswitches in an authentic Commodore layout, the precision recreation of the Commodore 65 injection molded case, the 3-1/2" floppy drive—not to mention modern conveniences like HDMI video out and an SD card slot. It has taken nine years of hard work and persistence of vision to bring this project to the point of being something everyone can purchase and enjoy.

In this Digest, we’ll look at the recent history of the MEGA65 hardware, including the Nexys FPGA development board on which most of the firmware was written. We’ll take a tour of peripherals that work with the MEGA65, both vintage and new. And we’ll look at hardware experiments in progress that may provide a glimpse of the MEGA65’s future.

But first!

Resources for new owners

The latest batch of MEGA65s is being delivered, and it’s been super exciting to see all of the messages and photos from proud new owners in the Discord. If you’re a new owner, welcome to the world of personal computing!

We have many more resources for getting started with your MEGA65 than we did a year ago. There’s a new documentation landing page, which has links to the latest version of the User’s Guide.

Last year I wrote a MEGA65 Welcome Guide intended to help new owners get up and running. I’ve been keeping it up to date to be useful whether you received your MEGA65 last May or this January.

You’ve already found this Digest. You might also enjoy the back issues, available on the website.

That documentation landing page is part of the MEGA65 Wiki, a relatively new resource that we’re still building. If you’d like to contribute to the wiki, reach out to Gurce on the Discord chat server. You can also read and post articles on Filehost, another great resource.

Featured Files

It’s the Digest’s first recurring segment! Here at Featured Files, we look at cool stuff that has been posted to the MEGA65 Filehost. Download and try these on your MEGA65 today!

Mega Sisters, by Endurion. A version of the 1987 Commodore 64 classic The Great Giana Sisters, this multi-stage adventure pays homage to familiar side-scrolling platformers while adding a few twists of its own. Endurion, aka Georg Rottensteiner, is the author of C64 Studio, a Commodore cross-development IDE for Windows. You can download the source code for this MEGA65 game. Use a joystick in port 2; move up to jump.

Battle Sparrow, by gurce. A vertical scrolling space shooter in the vein of Warhawk for the C64 (1986), this action game was written entirely in MEGA65 BASIC with PETSCII graphics, vibrant colors, and a rockin’ soundtrack. Use a joystick in port 2.

Barnsley Fern Fractal, by heath8041. This elegant BASIC program renders the