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Retro computing with a touch of modern and the home for all things, retroCombs (aka Steven Combs).

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26 December 2021

MEGA65 Christmas Eve Livestream with Box Art and Onboarding SD Card Preview

by Steven B. Combs, Ph.D.

In this companion blog post to the edit of my Christmas Eve 2021 live stream, I celebrate the holiday and briefly lament about the MEGA65 delay; however, it becomes a great time as viewers share stories and I share previews of the recently released box art (suitable for cutting, which I do at the beginning of the video) and the onboarding SD card that will come with new MEGA65s. This edit includes new information and corrections.

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This post includes both the original live stream and the “director’s cut” edit. Before you read the rest of this post, look at the companion videos below.

Table of Contents

Companion YouTube Video

Title: ‌MEGA65 Christmas Eve Demonstration | Onboarding SD Card and Box Art!

The video below is an edit of the full livestream (see second video) that includes corrections, updates, and new content:

Live Stream Edit

Full Live Stream

The raw full meal deal for those who want to experience the Christmas Eve stream in its entirety:

Video Errata

None as of 2021-12-26. The edit includes errata from the stream. If there are corrections to the edit, I’ll post them here.

Below are the links I mention in this blog post and companion video. All Amazon links are affiliate links. I’d like to thank everyone for your support of the blog and the YouTube channel by starting your purchases here!

  1. MEGA65
  2. MEGA65 Files Host
  3. MEGA65 Mini Box Art
  4. YoloBox Pro
  5. GitHub - MEGA65/mega65-release-prep: Preparations for MEGA65 final release
  6. Hyperkin Trooper Joystick
  7. Competition Pro Joystick
  8. Install the MEGA65 on a Nexys4 or A7 FPGA | Build your own MEGA65!
  9. Patch the Original Commodore 65 ROM for the MEGA65, Xemu, Dev Kit, or Nexys4

Additional Thoughts

  1. I’m sending a huge thank you to the MEGA65 for the box art and the onboarding SD card. I posted days earlier on the MEGA65 Discord I was going to live stream and they graciously made suggestions to make it even more fun and eventful. I’m pretty sure this is the first video to feature the onboarding SD card.
  2. Huge Thanks to both Mark Dell and Mislav Krleža for the Super Chats during the live stream. I appreciate your continued support and you both deserve an extra special Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!
  3. The unedited live stream has more “after watches” than any other live stream in my inventory. Not sure I need this edit, but hope viewers will dive in and look at the new content, corrections, updates, and faster flow. May not be worth the day of editing. Consider this an experiment to help me decide if live stream edits are a valuable use of time.
  4. During the live stream, there was a question about adding BBS software to the onboarding SD card. I told them I would make the request and recommended they include Haustierbegriff3. I did and here’s their response. Glad to see they plan to include this C64 software that takes advantage of the extra features of the MEGA65 including the Ethernet port.
  5. Thanks to Gurce (Goor-Che) for setting me straight on the pronunciation of his name and sharing additional information about his MEGA65 BASIC game, Poopie. I include this information as pop-ups in the video but you can read the full thread here.
  6. I’m becoming more comfortable with the YoloBox Pro but I still forget things from time to time–such as turning off chats. I would like an option to turn off chat displays automatically after a certain amount of time.
  7. Be on the lookout for a blog post and video specific to using the YoloBox Pro for retro computing live streaming.
  8. Speaking of chats, I need to work on the configuration of the window. Currently, they are too large. Hoping there’s an option to scale them.
  9. I had a blast with the live stream. Enjoying Christmas Eve with fellow retro computing fans was a blast and was like spending time with your best friends talking Commodore computers back in the 1980s; unless, like me, you didn’t have any fellow Commodore fans in high school!
  10. I created this companion post and video edit the day after Christmas and I’m happy to say, I have two weeks off and I plan to spend time on home projects, relaxing, and a few more retroCombs projects. I love the holidays!

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Help make this content better! Leave your comments, corrections, additions, and thoughts in the comments below. You can email me at retrocombs@icloud.com. Thanks for reading and if you are inclined, please let others know about the blog using the hashtag #retroCombs.

🕹️ retroCombs, OUT!