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Native macOS app for streaming, viewing, and controlling your Commodore 64 Ultimate device with real-time CRT shader effects.

25 starsSwift

C64 Ultimate Toolbox for macOS

by amiantos·Apr 7, 2026·2 points·0 comments

AI Analysis

●●SolidNiche GemCozy

Metal-based CRT shaders with 8 presets bring authentic retro feel to modern Macs.

Strengths
  • Zero dependencies using pure Apple frameworks — Metal, Network, AVFoundation, AppKit
  • BASIC scratchpad IDE lets you write programs on Mac and send directly to C64 to run
  • Auto device discovery scans network for Ultimate devices with service status indicators
Weaknesses
  • Requires specific hardware (Commodore 64 Ultimate) — audience is inherently tiny
  • macOS-only; Windows and Linux C64 enthusiasts need alternative solutions
Category
Target Audience

Commodore 64 enthusiasts with Ultimate or Ultimate 64 FPGA hardware

Similar To

OpenC64Cart · VICE Emulator · Pi1541

Post Description

My wife got me a Commodore 64 Ultimate (https://www.commodore.net) for my birthday, and it became an obvious hassle to have to keep an entire monitor connected to it just to tinker with it. When I found out the Ultimate FPGA board has built-in support for streaming the video and audio data over the network, as well as a REST API allowing for file and configuration management, I set to work on an app to remotely control my new device.

- View and hear your Commodore 64 Ultimate or Ultimate 64 device over the network, with a fully configurable CRT shader so you can dial in just the right retro feel.

- View and manage files on your device, including support for drag and drop folder/file upload, as well as the ability to run and mount disks, create new disk images, and more.

- BASIC Scratchpad is a mini-IDE in the app where you can write BASIC apps and send them directly to any of your connected devices to run.

- Keyboard forwarding allows you to interact with your device with your computer keyboard, includes a keyboard overlay for Commodore specific keys your keyboard definitely doesn't have.

- Visual memory viewer and editor, along with a terminal-like memory viewer and editor for debugging and tinkering. - Built-in support for recording videos and taking screenshots cleanly.

- Fully native macOS AppKit app.

Here's a rough and ready demo video I recorded and sent to App Review for the 2.0 release which was approved yesterday: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_2wJO2wOGm8

Please note again this app only works with Commodore 64 Ultimate or Gideon's Ultimate 64 devices. Ultimate II does not have the data streams feature to power the display.

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