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Color palettes

Six palette presets, each sourced from an authoritative reference. All define the same 16 C64 colors in the same index order — only the hex values differ.

Presets

Palette Source Description
CGTerm CGTerm-3.0 src/gfx.c Default. Built-in palette from CGTerm 3.0 — identical to Pepto.
Colodore Petmate9 src/utils/palette.ts Analog simulation model by Philip "Pepto" Timmermann.
PALette VICE data/C64/palette.vpl Palette by PAL/Offence.
Pepto VICE data/C64/pepto-pal.vpl PAL calibration by Philip "Pepto" Timmermann. Authoritative measured values.
Petmate Petmate9 src/utils/palette.ts Colors from the Petmate C64 tool.
VICE VICE data/C64/palette_6569R5_v1r.vpl VICE internal palette — chip 6569R5 (Tobias measurements).

The VICE internal palette is chip-model-dependent. The 6569R5 variant is the default for a standard PAL C64.

Color index order

All palettes use the standard C64 color index order:

Index Color
0 Black
1 White
2 Red
3 Cyan
4 Purple
5 Green
6 Blue
7 Yellow
8 Orange
9 Brown
10 Light Red
11 Dark Grey
12 Grey
13 Light Green
14 Light Blue
15 Light Grey

The default foreground is Light Blue (index 14), matching the C*Base BBS terminal default. The default background is Black (index 0).

Settings persistence

The selected palette is saved to VS Code workspace state and restored when you reopen files. The .seq and .petmate viewers maintain separate settings.


See also