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Commodore 64 Quickstart Guide

Welcome to the FujiNet quickstart guide for the Commodore 64. FujiNet for Commodore (also known as “Meatloaf” / “Fujiloaf”) connects via the IEC bus and provides network access, file loading, and more. For a broader overview of all supported platforms, see the Platform Overview.

Beta Notice: FujiNet for Commodore is currently in active development. Software and hardware features are subject to change. Join the FujiNet Discord for the latest updates.

Hardware Options

FujiNet for Commodore uses the IEC bus, making prototype construction relatively straightforward – just 6 wires and an ESP32. Several hardware options are available:

Custom Prototype

You need:

  • An ESP32-WROVER DevKit board (minimum 8 MB Flash, 8 MB PSRAM) – the official ESP32-DEVKITC-VE from Espressif is recommended
  • A DIN 6 plug (for the IEC bus connection)
  • Wire to connect them

Use the pinout defined in the generic IEC board configuration.

LOLIN D32 Pro

The LOLIN D32 Pro ESP32 board includes an onboard Micro-SD card socket and additional hardware that may be enabled in future firmware versions. It is available from AliExpress.

FujiApple Adapter

If you have a FujiApple Rev0 (FujiNet for Apple II), you can repurpose it for Commodore testing by building an IEC-to-FujiApple adapter cable.

When configuring the firmware build, set: build_board = fujiapple-iec

Firmware Installation

Follow the Board Bring Up Guide to install PlatformIO and build the Commodore firmware.

Setting Up WiFi

Since there is not yet a fully working on-screen CONFIG for the Commodore, you have two options to configure WiFi:

Option 1: Edit the SD Card Directly

Remove the SD card from FujiNet, insert it into your computer, and create or edit the fnconfig.ini file with your WiFi credentials.

Option 2: Set WiFi from BASIC

  1. Start your Commodore 64 with FujiNet attached to the IEC bus.
  2. Switch to upper/lowercase mode by pressing the Commodore key + Shift.
  3. Enter the following command, substituting your network name and password:
OPEN1,15,15,"SETSSID:YourSSID,YourPassword":CLOSE1
  1. Reboot FujiNet. It should connect to your WiFi network.

Tip: If your SSID contains capital letters, the SETSSID command must include those capitals. They may display as PETSCII characters on screen, but will be sent correctly.

Connection Diagram

flowchart LR
    C64[Commodore 64\nIEC Port] -->|DIN 6 cable| FN[FujiNet\nESP32 + IEC]
    FN -->|WiFi| NET[Network / Internet\nTNFS servers, BBSes]
    FN -->|SD card| SD[Local Storage]

Using FujiNet as a Modem

FujiNet can emulate a modem, letting you connect to BBSes and other telnet services.

NETCAT

  1. Start your Commodore 64 with FujiNet attached.
  2. Load NETCAT:
LOAD"ML:NETCAT",8
RUN
  1. In the NETCAT terminal, type a telnet address:
telnet://bbs.retroacademy.it:6510

PTERM

PTERM is a more full-featured terminal application available from the Meatloaf file repository:

LOAD"ML:PTERM",8

Loading and Running Software

FujiNet for Commodore provides two network disk devices:

DeviceNumberProtocolDescription
TNFS12TNFSStandard FujiNet protocol for accessing TNFS servers
Meatloaf (ML)8HTTPMeatloaf-specific HTTP file access

Loading via TNFS

TNFS loading works the same as on other FujiNet-supported platforms. Use device number 12:

LOAD"TNFS://APPS.IRATA.ONLINE/PETSCIITERM.PRG",12
RUN

More examples:

LOAD"TNFS://FUJINET.DILLER.ORG/C64/DIGDUG.PRG",12
RUN

Warning: Due to PETSCII character mapping, always type in uppercase on the Commodore. The URIs will be converted to lowercase when sent to remote servers. Even if examples here appear in lowercase, type them in uppercase on your Commodore.

Loading via Meatloaf

Use the ML: prefix with device number 8:

LOAD"ML:GAME$",8
LOAD"ML:EMPIRE",8,1
LOAD"ML:DIGDUG",8,1

Custom File Browser (FB64)

The Meatloaf distribution includes a modified version of FB64, a file browser for the Commodore 64/128. It supports navigation and loading of files from both the local SD card and internet-connected Meatloaf file repositories.

LOAD"ML:FB64",8

Advanced Features

JSON Parsing

Meatloaf supports parsing JSON data from web APIs, opening up possibilities for retrieving and displaying internet data on your Commodore. Here is an example that fetches and displays a random joke from an API:

10 REM *** OPEN COMMS
11 OPEN 15,16,15, ""
12 OPEN 2,16,2,"HTTPS://API.CHUCKNORRIS.IO/JOKES/RANDOM"
20 REM *** RECEIVE, PARSE, PRINT DATA
21 PRINT#15, "JSONPARSE,2"
22 PRINT#15, "JQ,2,/VALUE"
23 PRINT#15, "BITEPARSE,2,80"
24 INPUT#2, J$: PRINT J$;
25 IF(ST AND 64)=0 THEN GOTO 24
30 REM *** CLOSE
31 CLOSE 2: CLOSE 15

Running Your Own File Server

You can host your own Meatloaf-compatible file server. All you need is a host that runs PHP. Grab the server script from the Meatloaf Specialty repository.

For more information, visit meatloaf.cc.

Further Reading