Long-time Commodore technician, Ray Carlsen, has power supplies for sale!  All kinds of heavy-duty power supplies for your VIC-20, C64, Plus/4, C128, and Amiga 500/600/1200!  Choose from the economy 2 barebones version all the way up to the metal-cased, super power supply to any custom power supply you can imagine.  Also external power supplies for your external disk drives.

Take a look at https://portcommodore.com/rcarlsen/customPS.html for photos of the power supplies and pricing.

Contact Ray at rcarlsen(at)tds.net

     Commodorians and Amigans descend into the Emerald City, gathering for the fifth annual Pacific Commodore Expo NW!  Meet new friends, get together with long-time acquaintances, listen to the presentations, play with the computers, and celebrate all that is Commodore and Amiga.
     PaCommEx has free admission, though donations are gratefully accepted.  A big thank you to SDF.org for funding the show and providing access to the venue.
     Speaking of our venue, we are at the

Old Rainier Brewery Intraspace
first floor
3100 Airport Way S
Seattle, Washington
USA

     The show runs from 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. Saturday, June 22, and Sunday, June 23.  Set-up time starts on Friday, June 21, 4:30 p.m., and then continues Saturday morning before the official start of the show.
     For further details, check out the show website at

http://www.portcommodore.com/pacommex

          See you at the expo!
          Robert Bernardo
          organizer – Pacific Commodore Expo NW

     Last year the 1979 Chevy C30 didn't pass smog, and that was traced down to a bad distributor.  New distributor installed.
     Earlier this year, I had the brakes looked at.  For years, the truck had pulled to the left, even after having the rear drum brakes redone in 2015 (or was it 2016?), new power brake booster installed afterwards, and the front disc brakes rebuilt a few years later.  New pads were put in the front, a front brake hose replaced, and the discs themselves resurfaced.  The pull to the left remained.
     After brainstorming for a bit, I told the mechanics that must mean the left front brake caliper must be causing the pull.  They replaced both front calipers and the other brake hose.  Now the truck brakes straight and true.
     A month or so ago, other problems surfaced.  The horn started blowing continually and eventually burned itself out, electrical-smelling smoke coming from under the hood.  At about the same time, I lost use of the turn signals on the truck.  The turn lever wouldn't click into position for either a right turn or a left turn; the lever just flopped around uselessly.
     O.K., I've looked for horn and turn signal parts in my classic truck parts' catalogs.  Seems like about a hundred dollars for the parts.  Add in the mechanics' fee for taking about the steering column.  Add in an upgraded, custom steering wheel to replace the old wheel.

           To be done in August,
           Robert Bernardo
           Fresno Commodore User Group - http://www.dickestel.com/fcug.htm
           Southern California Commodore & Amiga Network - http://www.portcommodore.com/sccan
           June 22-23 Pacific Commodore Expo NW 2024 - http://www.portcommodore.com/pacommex

Happy Almost Father's Day, FCUG members and guests!
     The Fresno Commodore User Group has its next meeting from 11 a.m. to 2:30+ p.m., Sunday, June 9, 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

     Note that our meeting is one week earlier than our usual Sunday, due to Father's Day.
     For discussion, we'll talk about the upcoming June 22-23 Pacific Commodore Expo NW in Seattle and the William Shatner-autographed VIC-20 and Amiga 1000 keyboard (which he signed on June 1)!
     Last month we played around with the new AmigaOne A1222+ from A-EON. This month we try out an Amiga 1000 which has been modded with the Apollo Firebird, the Firebird giving the computer massive CPU acceleration, HDMI, 512K of memory, AGA compatibility, and a very-compatible Workbench replacement, Coffin OS.
     Delayed from last month, v.p. Roger will be bringing in several amateur radio carts used by ham operators on the VIC-20.  Also delayed from last month, we look at the newest C64 games, like Timo's Castle and Impossible Mission Revised.

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

     Some more photos have been added!  See

http://blog.retro-link.com/2024/05/assembling-a1222-from-eon-part-2.html

          Truly,
          Robert Bernardo
          Fresno Commodore User Group - http://www.dickestel.com/fcug.htm
          Southern California Commodore & Amiga Network - http://www.portcommodore.com/sccan
          June 22-23 Pacific Commodore Expo NW 2024 - http://www.portcommodore.com/pacommex

Quote from: me on August 24, 2022, 09:51:05 PMI bought the Firebird as soon as it came out, though not all of its features had been implemented (they now have been implemented).  The question comes up, "Should I put it in an A2000... or should I put it in an A1000?"  The A1000 is severely limited, due to its 512K Chip RAM limit and Kickstart disk load (though there are ways around that).  A Firebird would get rid of those A1000 limitations!  So, the A1000 will get all the love this time. 

The Firebird has been installed in the A1000!  Duncan M. of The Other Group of Amigoids took the time to install, going as far as to get a new backplate 3-printed for the A1000 so that the extra Firebird ports could be accommodated.  The Firebird runs at 177 MiPs, 320x faster than a standard A600 according to SysInfo.  Its 512 meg of DDR RAM is divided into 481 megs of Fast RAM, 6 megs for Chip RAM, and the rest of the RAM going to other functions.  Because Apollo OS still has limitations, I've gone with Coffin OS r63 with its Gold core 2.17 and Kickstart 3.10.

          Truly,
          Robert Bernardo
          Fresno Commodore User Group - http://www.dickestel.com/fcug.htm
          Southern California Commodore & Amiga Network - http://www.portcommodore.com/sccan
          June 22-23 Pacific Commodore Expo NW 2024 - http://www.portcommodore.com/pacommex

P.S. Just released is the Giga series of Apollo Accelerators, all with a gig of RAM -- the Icedrake Giga (for the A1200), the Firebird Giga (for the A500/1000/2000), the Manticore Giga (for the A600), and the standalone V4 Giga.

     Another CLASS video is ready to be viewed.  See David Pleasance of Commodore UK at

Pleasance, Commodore UK, and more -- CLASS 2024

https://youtu.be/XRmETyjpLg0

          Truly,
          Robert Bernardo
          organizer - Commodore Los Angeles Super Show