Dan Tootill

Cover of RETURN magazine featuring the Commodore 64 Ultimate - Founder's Edition.

Promotional image for the Commodore 64 Ultimate - Founder's Edition from commodore.net

RETURN magazine, a German contemporary of Retro Gamer, put my artwork on their front cover.

My involvement with Commodore stems from the work I did with CBMSTUFF and Retro Fuzion, which was heavily inspired by Thomas Koch, whose artwork often graced the covers of this very magazine. ❤️

Ah, that's very kind, thank you. Will let you know if I get stuck. Just watching your latest repair vid on Patreon. 😃

Thanks for the offer Lee, but I have some arriving soon hopefully!

Have you got your tickets yet?

It's gonna be a good one 😊

Been waiting almost a month for the last thing I need to fix up that charity shop C64 so I can put it back up for auction, and it's the most mundane thing - the case clips.

In the meantime, I'm struggling to do other retro hardware-related things. I hate leaving stuff unfinished.

Looks like Davros.

We're all doomed.

Patriotism isn't something you practise, it's something you *feel*. If you practise it, it's nationalism.

FREEZE64 fanzine issue 82 featuring Rainbow Islands.

This was a nice surprise to come home to. Thanks as always @freeze64.bsky.social 👍

The photo of my office in our old house is still on Rightmove, complete with shelves full of my Commodore stuff.

That's the one, and I lived in blissful ignorance of that additional annoyance until today. 😐

"Never Ever" by All Saints. How did that even get recorded without a producer waving their arms and saying "Hold on, hold on. You're just talking over and humming along to Amazing Grace."

Ha, I already memed that. 😆

The Founders Edition keyboard is absurdly beautiful. Just look at it. 🤩

Photo by Martijn Bosschaart.

Due to popular demand, here is a demonstration video of how to make 3D printed PCBs using just vector drawing software, a 3D printed (PETG filament for mine) and self-adhesive copper tape. Any questions, let me know!

I had proper anger issues as a kid. But I don't think I ever actually broke any part of my computers or games. Not anything important anyway.

My brother-from-another-mother had that on his Amstrad. To this day I've never played it on the 64.

I always used to wonder what he was thinking. Probably something like "I'm going to fall of this bike so many times, I f@#!ing know it."

Same energy as this pic I guess. 😆

By brother used to get really ratty with it, or rather the time it took for the game to scroll the screen before it put you back on the bike. I can hear him now "Oh here we go, half a bloody hour..."

YouTube video by Alex Ball Depeche Mode Synth Bass

Yeah, the original demo played by Gore on a harmonium is quite stark. I've heard a few stories about how the final mix came about, credited to Wilder, Flood and also François Kevorkian.

I once tried to recreate the bass track and became slightly obsessed with it. Alex Ball did a great video on it.

This was an odd title, never see much written about it. Anyone play it much?

How incredibly odd. Would it have been acceptable to say to her directly "We've had a genuinely good experience, but this is ruining it"?

Enjoy the Silence is still my favourite song of all time, it just grabbed me the first time I heard it and still hasn't let go after 35 years. I wasn't even into Depeche Mode beforehand.

I reckon this was the energy Commodore were hoping to capture with the GS. I might be on my own here but I don't think there anything on say, the NES, which was kind of riding on the coattails of the 16-bit console boom (at least in the UK), that looked and sounded as good as the later C64 stuff.

It's only fresh in my mind because I changed a belt last week. The two screws act as a cam when engaged, if they're not in straight the base of the screw will foul the bracket and it won't slide. Had it happen myself, just needed reseating and the screws lining up.

For the record, I'm not a fan of the flags. Some people will even commit acts criminal damage to protect our 'sovereignty', while openly embracing the worst of another country's politics and culture.

YouTube video by More Fun Fixing It Commodore 64 C2N Tape Deck Repairs

Here's Lee to demonstrate.

I've done plenty. @morefunmakingit.bsky.social shows how it's done in a recent video as well.

The screws might not be seated fully, the bracket should move up and down when fully tightened, base has no thread. You might have the screws the wrong way around as I think they're different sizes.

Folks are putting union flags on lamp posts ^supposedly^ to remind everyone that "this is Britain", while at the same time we've got independent estate agents putting their own gurning faces on for-sale boards now?

Excuse me while I pop to Walmart for a zucchini and a quart of milk.

Congrats, well deserved. Our daughter still loves them, bearing in mind she goes through 'phases' like a champion. 👍