* RETRO COMMANDER 1.0 ALPHA
MASTER YOUR
C64 DISK IMAGES
LIKE A PRO.
A keyboard-first, dual-pane disk image manager in the Norton and Star Commander tradition. It opens D64, D71 and D81 like folders - on your PC or straight on your Ultimate. Now a native Windows app of a few megabytes.
* SEE IT RUN
Watch it in action
Here's an early walkthrough: dual-pane browsing, editing disk images like folders, and launching straight onto a real Ultimate.
Heads-up: the video shows the classic 0.9 app, recorded under the project's old name. Retro Commander 1.0 has since been rebuilt as a native Windows app - the screens have moved on, but the keyboard-first workflow you see is the same. The features page has the current tour.
Early footage of the classic app - recorded before the rebrand.
* WHAT'S INSIDE
The highlights
A fast, keyboard-first file manager built around Commodore 64 disk images. Runs completely standalone - no special hardware required. The full feature tour goes deeper.
A D64 editor that feels like a folder
Open a D64, D71, D81, D80, D82 or DNP inline. Drag files in, F2 to rename, F8 to scratch, Ctrl+Z to undo. No extract-repack dance.
Edit disks on your Ultimate
Own an Ultimate 64, C64 Ultimate or Ultimate-II+? Open a D64 that lives on the device and edit it in place, move files over FTP and launch PRGs on the real machine.
For Ultimate owners →Keyboard-first
Every operation that matters has a key - your hands already know it.
The cheat-sheetNative and small
No .NET runtime, starts in an instant. Installer, or a portable zip for a USB stick.
Norton dual pane
Your PC on one side; another folder, an open disk image or your Ultimate on the other. Tab to switch, F-keys to act - or maximise one pane and work between its two halves.
Show deleted, restore
Scratched files show up dimmed; Restore as brings them back, in D81 partitions and for GEOS files too.
Find in disks
Search inside disk images, even ones packed in .zip, .7z or .rar, and match a disk by its name or ID.
Stamps
Save a block of directory rows - a separator, a logo, a header - and drop it into any disk with Ctrl+I. Draw your own in the C64 font, with lines and frames.
Five-level Safe Mode
Block writes inside images, to the Ultimate, or everywhere at once, from one chip in the toolbar.
How it worksEvery feature is available during the beta.
The first time you run Retro Commander 1.0 it asks you to create an account: enter your email, pick a password and confirm your email. That signs you in as a beta tester with every feature switched on - including live Ultimate support. No codes to enter, nothing in the way. Getting started walks you through it.
Download & join →* YOUR PART IN THIS
Why do you want me to beta-test?
Honestly? Because you'll make it better than I can on my own. I built Retro Commander to scratch my own itch (the story behind it) - but you wrangle disk images your own way. The moment something feels clunky, slow, or just missing for you, that's exactly what I want to hear. Every bit of feedback, every "why doesn't it just…", every workflow I never thought of helps shape where this goes.
Some of the best features in a tool like this come straight from the people who live in it every day. If you've got an idea - however small or wild - it might be the very thing that turns the final release into something that genuinely fits how real C64 hobbyists work, instead of just how I imagined they do. The goal is simple: a tool you're honestly happy to reach for.
* WHERE MY FOCUS IS
File management comes first
Keep one thing in mind: efficient file management is the heart of Retro Commander, and getting that rock-solid is my number-one priority. The everyday flow - browsing, copying, moving, editing and launching - is what I'm polishing first.
Once that core stands like a house, the nice-to-haves and the deeper, more specialised features get their turn. So feedback about the daily grind is worth its weight in gold right now.