WatchX VS KungFuFlash

https://github.com/FASTSHIFT/WatchX

Not Linux related, but I've been trying trying recent (at least to me..) C-64 accessories:

I've tried the "Kung Fu Flash"- it's a software defined cartridge that is cheap- just a single STM32 and can do pretty much everything. I bought this because I'm trying to duplicate the developer experience I see on "8-bit show and tell"- it can emulate the "super snapshot", but not the REU. It's a really nice way to quickly try a lot of C-64 software and games.

https://8bithardware.wixsite.com/website/post/kung-fu-flash

https://github.com/KimJorgensen/KungFuFlash

I also have an SD2IEC: what I've learned is that it would have been useful to get a variant with an extra DIN socket. It's nice but I was never a fan of C-64's DOS and this reinforces it. To mount a D64 disk image you have to: OPEN1,8,15,"CD:MYIMAGE.D64":CLOSE1... yuck..

JiffyDOS (replacement ROM for the C-64) improves this (it's faster and includes a permanent DOS wedge), I bought one- it's on the way. I'm curious to try it with the real 1541 drive.

The advice I've seen regarding current videogames seems sound (particularly: Get a Steam account).

Here's some advice regarding C64:

>Floppy disk is incredibly slow

Floppy really is slow without a fastloader. I use EPYX fastload[0], as an emulated cartridge on kung-fu flash[1].

Also consider sd2iec[2] as an alternative to an actual floppy drive.

>it's super difficult to find new games (these floppy disks with games are crazy expensive on eBay)

Research TOSEC[3][4]. Some archives[5] are available at The Internet Archive.

And about retro-gaming in general:

>maybe using a multi-system platform like the Overcame console?

I suggest the miSTer[6], a multi-system FPGA solution, because it is open source and has the strongest ecosystem there is for this sort of thing.

0. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Epyx_Fast_Load

1. https://github.com/KimJorgensen/KungFuFlash

2. https://www.c64-wiki.com/wiki/SD2IEC

3. https://www.tosecdev.org/

4. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/TOSEC

5. https://archive.org/details/tosec

6. https://github.com/MiSTer-devel/Wiki_MiSTer/wiki

The fact that the KFF Helps doesn't seem to be electrically. The reset line is only connected to the Collector of a NPN Transistor, see Q1 in https://github.com/KimJorgensen/KungFuFlash/blob/master/hardware/KungFuFlash.pdf

Maybe Kung-Fu Flash will work with your system. It allows you to load cartridge files from a MicroSD card. So, you could have all of the fastloaders like FastLoad, Mach III, Super Snapshot, etc, on a single cartridge.

I use the Kung Fu Flash for loadin images; https://github.com/KimJorgensen/KungFuFlash