Happy Martin Luther King Day, C= and Ami aficionados!
     The Fresno Commodore User Group has its next meeting from 11 a.m. to 2:00+ p.m., Sunday, January 19, 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

     We'll talk about April Commodore Los Angeles Super Show and filming a commercial and presentation(s) for it.
     In software we'll go over the venerable FCUG New Members' Disk and suggest updates for it.  Then in new C64 software we have Manic Miner 64DX, Super Vortex 2, Amazon Tales 2019, Krakens, Spoil, the text adventure Deer Creek, and Gruniozerca C64 (a game in which you control a guinea pig!).  For the C128 we have Elite v2.0 for the SuperCPU.  For the VIC-20 it's Jeff Daniels' One Key Party.  For the Plus/4 it's 2048 Octaluxe.  For the classic Amiga we go over public domain disks from The Other Group of Amigoids.  Plus we'll try to catch up with software/hardware business unfinished from the December meeting! 

          Truly,
          Robert Bernardo
          Fresno Commodore User Group -

     No repairs on the Chevy truck currently, because all monies are going to a rebuilt engine for the 1988 Mercury Colony Park station wagon!

          Truly,
          Robert Bernardo
          Fresno Commodore User Group - http://www.dickestel.com/fcug.htm
          Southern California Commodore & Amiga Network - http://www.portcommodore.com/sccan

     Instead of our usual second Saturday of the month, this time we go to the third Saturday for this meeting.  Now set for March 21.

           The preliminary announcement,
           Robert Bernardo
           Southern California Commodore & Amiga Network - http://www.portcommodore.com/sccan

     Development of the Mega65, a clone of the Commodore 65, is progressing slowly but surely.  Prototyping has gone on for a few years, prototype boards have been sent out to beta testers, and now a Kickstarter campaign has started to gather money to build the steel moulds (molds) for the injection-molded cases of the Mega65.

For more information on the Mega65, go to

http://mega65.org/

or go to the page for Kickstarter donations at

http://mega65.org/moulds.html

To see the Mega65 discussion forum, go to

http://mega65.net (which will lead you to Forum64.de)

or on Facebook, see

https://www.facebook.com/pg/MEGA65RetroComputer/posts/

     Happy New Year!
     Robert Bernardo
     Fresno Commodore User Group - http://www.dickestel.com/fcug.htm

     Back in 2016 the premiere of the movie, "Growing the 8 Bit Generation", was held at the Computer History Museum in Mountain View, California.  After the movie premiered, CBM engineer Bil Herd and the film's producer Bruno Grampa were interviewed on-stage.  And at the end, 6502 engineer Chuck Peddle had surprise questions and comments from his seat in the audience!   You can see it at

https://youtu.be/eRl31o1vBeA

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

Happy New Year, C= and Ami comrades!
     The next meeting of the Southern California Commodore & Amiga Network is Saturday, Jan. 11, from 2 to 5+ p.m. at

  Panera Bread Restaurant
  19662 Nordhoff Street
  Northridge, California
  (818) 407-9400

     In this meeting we'll have time to examine the Bogdan Macri Ultimate 64 with its Kickstarter case and Mechboard64 which has Cherry Blue mechanical microswitches!  Mario will bring his newly-acquired Amiga 2000, and we'll dig into its hard drive for any application goodies.
     In software we'll look at the newly-updated Super Mario 64 (now at v1.2), among other items.  Also we'll try out the hit of the Downtown Los Angeles Maker Faire - the C64 VR glasses with Street Defender v1.6... now with Atari Driving Controller! 
     We may have a special guest -- Amiga hardware repairman Paul "Acill" Resendes!  You can ask him repairs or about his Amiga hardware projects.
     Feel free to bring any other hardware/software that you wish to show off!

     Truly,
     Robert Bernardo
     Southern California Commodore & Amiga Network -
     http://www.portcommodore.com/sccan

     December was a month of travel... from Los Angeles and up to San Jose.  Here are photos from our successful exhibit at the Downtown Los Angeles Mini Maker Faire --

http://blog.retro-link.com/2020/01/commodoresamigas-at-downtown-la-maker.html

     Later in the month I visited The Other Group of Amigoids, a group which has been in existence since the 1990's in the South Bay --

http://blog.retro-link.com/2020/01/visiting-other-group-of-amigoids.html

          Happy New Year!
          Robert Bernardo
          Fresno Commodore User Group -
          http://www.dickestel.com/fcug.htm
          Southern California Commodore & Amiga Network -
          http://www.portcommodore.com/sccan

    I just made a Paypal payment for the Mega65 molds!

         Happy New Year!
         Robert Bernardo
         Fresno Commodore User Group - http://www.dickestel.com/fcug.htm

And another article on the passing of Chuck...

https://bangordailynews.com/2019/12/23/news/bangor/chuck-peddle-umaine-grad-whose-invention-paved-the-way-for-personal-computing-dies-at-82/

plus a Maine Alumni Association article written when he was alive...

https://www.umainealumni.com/magazine/he-changed-the-world/

His obituary has appeared at Legacy.com.  See

https://www.legacy.com/obituaries/santacruzsentinel/obituary.aspx?n=charles-peddle-chuck&pid=194838073&fhid=8818

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

     More articles on the passing of Chuck are found at

https://hackaday.com/2019/12/25/honoring-chuck-peddle-father-of-the-6502-and-the-chips-that-went-with-it/

and

https://www.nytimes.com/2019/12/24/technology/chuck-peddle-dead.html?nl=todaysheadlines&emc=edit_th_191226?campaign_id=2&instance_id=14779&segment_id=19878&user_id=52e9bd8191fe2014c39ec1549b47f2c1&regi_id=311626211226

and on the front page of

https://www.commodore.ca/

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

     Once again, another  Commodore Vegas Expo video from Matt Brewster has just been posted!  See

Roving Camera 3 - CommVEx 2019

https://youtu.be/GSp46GuBPWw

     Merry Christmas!
     Robert Bernardo
     Fresno Commodore User Group
     http://www.dickestel.com/fcug.htm
     Commodore Vegas Expo
     http://www.portcommodore.com/commvex

     Famed 6502 engineer Chuck Peddle has passed away.  To see memorials to him, go to

https://www.team6502.org

and

https://wdc65xx.com/in-memoriam-of-chuck-peddle

          Sincerely,
          Robert Bernardo
          Fresno Commodore User Group
          http://www.dickestel.com/fcug.htm
          Southern California Commodore & Amiga Network
          http://www.portcommodore.com/sccan

     The Commodore Los Angeles Super Show - CLASS now has a Facebook page!  See

https://www.facebook.com/Commodore-Los-Angeles-Super-Show-CLASS-104818074348337/

          Merry Christmas!
          Robert Bernardo
          Fresno Commodore User Group - http://www.dickestel.com/fcug.htm
          Southern California Commodore & Amiga Network -
          http://www.portcommodore.com/sccan

     Another Commodore Vegas Expo video from Matt Brewster has just been posted!  See

Roving Camera 2 - CommVEx 2019

https://youtu.be/_BUQ0ftZ9HI

     Truly,
     Robert Bernardo
     Fresno Commodore User Group
     http://www.dickestel.com/fcug.htm
     Commodore Vegas Expo
     http://www.portcommodore.com/commvex

On Tue, August 27, 2019 7:51 pm, I wrote:

> Barring another CommVEx attendee who wants to post, this is the last...

     Lo and behold, a CommVEx video from Matt Brewster has just be uploaded!  See

Roving Camera 1 - CommVEx 2019

https://youtu.be/dGOoYZeA1Lo

     Truly,
     Robert Bernardo
     Fresno Commodore User Group
     http://www.dickestel.com/fcug.htm
     Commodore Vegas Expo
     http://www.portcommodore.com/commvex