I ran to mine and tested it out and mine works as I would expect it to - whew!
At this point I only have 2 issues with the Mega65, and both I can live with. One is the case shell warping issue we've discussed already. The other is software related (something that should continue to improve over time, with caveats).
The Mega team do seem to be avoiding the case issue a bit at this point and simply focusing on the praise. I can't blame them. They must be totally exhausted. And I can get past most of the software stuff. That's going to be the reality of the M65 for a very long time and honestly it is what we signed up for.
The case being wonky kinda stunned me, though. German manufacturing standards are legendary and it never even crossed my mind something like this could have happened. It's as if they didn't have Quality Controls on the line. So, yeah - it's a bummer. I still love the machine and once I fix the case warp I'll get over it. But I'll have to do it sooner rather than later because it's going to bother me.
The other issue I alluded to above is a bit deeper than just software not being compatible. That's to be expected for a while - on both the C64 and M65 sides. What worries me is similar to the feeling I get with my zz9000. Amazing, glittering hardware. But the software support is entirely dependent on the community. In theory, that sounds awesome. In practice, though, it can be a mixed bag. And for me, it's a stunning lack of NTSC support. And this goes all the way down to the hardware levels from what I can tell.
I set my machine up as NTSC, but the ROMs still launch the demo disk as PAL. Is the demo disk PAL-only? That can't be. One of the M65's key selling points was the ability to flip either way. It makes me nervous we don't have any US hardware or software "champions" - just users and fans like me. So we will have to sit and wait and see what happens.
Example:
I popped in 11 C64 game cartridges. Now - this could be the C64 core being sub-par. But of the 11 I tried, 5 didn't work at all. Black screens. I'm talking old classics like Donkey Kong (Atari), Gyrus (Parker Bros), Zaxxon (Sega) and others.
Pitfall (Activision) loaded, but with screen glitches.
But for now, I'm putting all of that aside. I'm going to keep riding this wave of affection I have for a brand new "Commodore" hardware release even with its obvious flaws. And holy crap, guys - the keyboard is sensational!
As my friend Dan said:
I have to agree. And I'll find ways to work around some of what we're seeing in the early days.A project this complex at this scale coming together as well as it has feels like a small miracle.