Social media and forum posters started to grumble about the impending firmware locks soon after some users highlighted a section concerning firmware tinkering in the official 1.1.0 release notes. There are some very welcome changes in 1.1.0, including a new Left Arrow key implementation, USB mouse support for “most mice,” and enhancements for LED lighting interactivity – as well as a long list of fixes. However, some enthusiasts found it. problematic that Commodore wrote that “A future update may introduce safeguards to help make sure incompatible firmware not released by Commodore does not damage your motherboard.”
You may like Denuvo promises countermeasures against the recent hypervisor-based DRM bypasses Atari ST enthusiast announces the MiniST with FPGA, MiSTeryNano core, and black TKL case Framework founder says that ‘personal computing as we know it is dead’ Commodore and its supporters characterize the change as one safeguarding user hardware while official firmware updates still flow. “The Commodore 64 Ultimate is not a static product," the blog post reads. There will be new hardware revisions, new components, and new capabilities! This is foundational to our roadmap and, frankly, core to the Commodore 64 Ultimate's value proposition." But then it warns about firmware built for different boards, causing issues on the C64U.
Probably most concerning for Commodore is that it says it has already seen non-functioning casualties of third-party firmware updates requiring support. This isn’t just hypothetical, insists Commodore. No company would find it sustainable to service “hardware returns and replacements due to actions entirely out of our control.”
It also uses the blog to make clear it isn’t intending to stomp on system patches, like the popular SPIFFY. The distinction is that SPIFFY is a community patch for the C64U – improving quality-of-life in many ways, and is not a replacement firmware. “This policy is not aimed at that kind of community-driven ingenuity,” Commodore makes clear.
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Reference reading
- https://www.tomshardware.com/video-games/retro-gaming/SPONSORED_LINK_URL
- https://www.tomshardware.com/video-games/retro-gaming/commodore-fans-split-over-c64-ultimate-fpga-firmware-lockdown-firm-says-it-wants-to-protect-its-hardware-and-reduce-support-fallout#main
- https://www.tomshardware.com
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