On 9/19/2018 6:28 PM, Jeffrey Brace via vcf-midatlantic wrote:
For the last few years I asked different people questions, and didn't get anywhere. I realized that none of them had actually converted a C64 and were guessing.
It's a bummer I didn't know you were wondering. I converted such a unit years back (in the late 1990's), using the steps you mention (VIC-II, Xtal, and wire). For reference, it is important to note that this simple changes *ONLY* works on the C64 and C128 machines (and variants, like the 64C and C128D, etc.) The C64 and 128 use some code in the KERNAL to detect 50 or 60 Hz operation and select the correct operation. Notably, the 264 line (*C116/C16/+4) and the VIC-20 (and variants) do not perform the same checks and thus have two different ROM sets for the different regions. So, if you do the conversion on one of those machines, you need to get a new ROM as well.
Now it seems that the demos want to run from a 1541 and not a 1571 or uIEC SD card unfortunately, so I have to go vintage.
This sounds like an issue. There is no PAL/NTSC issues surrounding the IEC bus on the 64. I would be interested in what is going on here. Jim