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A working Commodore 64 under water

December 10th, 2010 No comments

The team from dienstagstreff.de has demonstrated a Commodore C64 on the “Hobby und Elektronik 2010” in Stuttgart.

Demonstrating a C64 is not so special but this time the C64 was under water! They submersed a C64 circuit-board in water, connected it to a power supply and a monitor and the C64 work without problems for 1 hour.

source: youtube.com commodore-gg.hobby.nl

Commodore 64 (WG 149763) & (UK B1611244)

December 8th, 2010 No comments
Commodore 64 (WG 149763) & (UK B1611244)

Autopsy:

Today i picked up two Commodore 64, both are in poor condition and Broken.

The first one with the chip SID 6581 can play a garbled sound and the closing hooks broken, the other one with the chip PLA 906114, 7406, CIA 6526 dead. I made some cleaning and repaired the problems.

Philips MSX VG-8020 + Tape Recorder NMS 1515/00

December 7th, 2010 No comments
Philips MSX VG-8020

Autopsy:

MSX was the name of a standardized home computer architecture in the 1980s conceived by Kazuhiko Nishi, then Vice-president at Microsoft Japan and Director at ASCII Corporation. It is said that Microsoft led the project as an attempt to create unified standards among hardware makers.

from Wikipedia:

On 27 June 1983, the date considered the birthday of the MSX standard, the MSX was formally announced during a press-conference, and a slew of big Japanese firms declared their plans to introduce machines. The Japanese companies avoided the intensely competitive US home computer market, which was in the throes of a Commodore-led price war.

Only Spectravideo and Yamaha briefly marketed MSX machines in the US. Spectravideo’s MSX enjoyed very little success, and Yamaha’s CX5M model, built to interface with various types of MIDI equipment, was billed more as a digital music tool than a standard personal computer.

source: wikipedia

1541 Ultimate I / II: New firmware v2.0 Final

December 5th, 2010 No comments

A new version of the firmware for the interface 1541 Ultimate I / II is released.

This version also runs on the Ultimate-I! (Of course, only the features that MK1-hardware supports will show.. no RTC, no USB, no C2N (tape), etc…)

This is a MAJOR update from RCA! Please note that former versions had issues with writing back data to .D64 images.

Your copies that you made with former 2.0RCx versions might be corrupt!!

Major improvement in latest release:

  • Added: Small step made to supporting block sizes other than 512 bytes (for CDROM, which I want to support soon!)
  • Added: Update changed to flash all roms too…
  • Added: Boot FPGA definitions added for booting with Winbond Flash.
  • Added: USB hub support (high speed devices only!)
  • Added: C64 reset included in 1541 reset (optional)
  • Added: Option to save current disk as D64 or G64.
  • Added: Option to create formatted G64.
  • Added: Progress bars in user interface.
  • Added: Stop option added to tape playback.
  • Added: Initial attempt to implement creating of G64 files.

Read more…

Categories: Firmware, News & Rumors, Today

Amiga Crusaders Eurochart issue #13 and #14

December 4th, 2010 No comments

With great pleasure I found two photo of xad (me) and The Ripper on the Amiga magazine: Eurochart by Crusaders.

  • The Ripper of Nightfall on Crusaders Eurochart #13
  • Xad of Nightfall on Crusaders Eurochart #14

Your Commodore – C16/Plus4 Retro Edition

December 4th, 2010 No comments

A free brand new C16/Plus4 special edition of Your Commodore is now available.

It includes every games review they published for the 264 series. Every “Our Comment” monthly feature. All the Data Statement news, all the type-in games and a review of both the C16 and Plus/4 themselves.

As always, all the scans have been straightened, reformatted and cleaned up, no yellowing of the pages to give a nice fresh original magazine feel. A brand new cover design and a new index page which I (hastily) designed for this retrospective lookback of yet another classic british magazine.

source: commodore16.com

Categories: Magazine, News & Rumors, Today

Commodore Free Magazine Issue #46

December 3rd, 2010 No comments

Commodore Free Magazine Issue #46

Free to download Commodore magazine dedicated to Commodore Computers.

In this issue you can find:
Editorial.
NEWS.
Interview with Joan Malé.
MCC-216 Review.
Not Just Another D64 Viewer Review.
MCC Quick Looks.
Back to the Past – Iss. 7, Apr 2007.
1,000 Kung-Fu Maniacs!
Amiga Monthly Page 16.
Not Just Another D64 Viewer.
Joyport switcher.
Nova Master A1000SA.
Kickstart ROM Replacement.
HyperViper.
The Richard Joseph Tribute.
More videos from CommVEx v6 2010.
Amiga Hostile Breed Preserved.
Blitterwolf Monthly Pages.
C64 TrueType V1.0/Style Options.
Commodore PET Synth.
IBatch 1.0.
WinUAE 2.3.0 Released.
Chuck Norris [2010]
5ALAD “Low res. graphics”
The TPUG Library CD.

source: commodorefree.com

Categories: Magazine, News & Rumors, Today

SD HxC Floppy Emulator (REV C) *Added Video*

December 2nd, 2010 No comments
SD HxC Floppy Emulator

Floppy Emulator (PCB by Lotharek):

The HxC Floppy Emulator is very smart device, designed by Jean-François DEL NERO. It allows you to emulate any 34 pins floppy disk drive. The SDCard HxC Floppy Emulator can replace different kind of floppy disk drive and allows you use SDCard media instead of floppy disk.

This emulator is actually used on Amiga, Atari, CPC, PC computers, different keyboards and samplers, CNC machine tool, and scientist instruments. The full list of supported host computer/instruments are on the project website.

source: hxc2001.free.fr lotharek.pl

Categories: Hardware, News & Rumors, Today

C128 System Information v7.4 by MirkoSoft

November 29th, 2010 No comments

Program that detects type of your hardware in Commodore 128.

Also added recognizing CMD Hardware FD/HD/RAMLink/RAMDrive/JiffyDOS/SuperCPU/RR-Net and a better detection of MMU and RAM size (SuperRAM), not works correctly in VICE.

The program is optimized for 80 columns mode.

source: mirkosoft homepage

Some new Games and Utility for Commodore VIC-20

November 28th, 2010 No comments

Some new Games & Utility for Commodore VIC-20.

  • Sprite Invaders by Robert Hurst. A clone of a classic arcade hit. Written in ca65 assembler using the VIC Software Sprite Stack, required 8k RAM expansion and a joystick.
  • Theater of War by Ghislain. A WW2 Tactical Strategy game where you play the role of a German general on the Eastern Front in Russia.

source: Denial (The Commodore VIC-20 forum)

DualSID by Tomi Malinen Assembling and Testing

November 28th, 2010 3 comments

DualSID Assembling and Testing

DualSID KIT by Tomi Malinen:

DualSID is a device which allows you to plug in two different SID models to your Commodore 64.

You can set the second SID‘s address to five different memory locations. For more information and price visit the Tomi Malinen homepage

Download: DualSID V3 PCB Scan (542)

Nanako in Classic Japanese Monster Castle +3

November 26th, 2010 No comments

Nanako in Classic Japanese Monster Castle +3 Trainer by Slator of Arsenic / Onslaught.

source: noname.c64.org

CBM-Command v2.0 Beta 1

November 26th, 2010 No comments

CBM-Command is a disk manager for the Commodore 64 / Commodore 128 / Commodore VIC20 and Commodore C16 computers. It is written like Norton Commander or Midnight Commander, but is much simpler due to the target platforms. Both the C128/C64/VIC20/C16 have their own native version of the application.

Release Notes – Version 2.0 Beta 1 – 2010-11-25

New Features:

  • REL file copying between devices that support REL files.
  • D71 disk image support – now you can create and write dual sided disk images with a 1571 drive.
  • Configurable Hot Keys – Don’t like the default keys? You can redefine them yourself for version 2.0 using the Configuration program.

Changes:

  • Almost all code optimized for space savings to allow more features.
  • Issuing a drive command is now done on the main screen instead of in a popup box.
  • When renaming a file, the directory remembers where you were so you don’t have to scroll to the newly named file any longer.
  • Changed disk image writes to reposition the buffer pointer in the drive instead of rolling the data in CBM-Command which freed up a buffer and some memory in the main program.
  • Old keyboard shortcuts that required using the C= key now use the SHIFT key instead.

Known Issues:

  • Documentation is way out of date. New documentation is being written but is not yet ready for this release.
  • * Some of the default keys have changed. If you cannot find your old keyboard shortcut then go into the Configuration program and redefine the function as you need. These changes will be documented in the new version of the docs.

source: cbmcommand.codeplex.com

Atari Lynx II with Carry Bag / Powersupply and Cartridges

November 25th, 2010 No comments
Atari Lynx II with some Cartridges

Autopsy:

Thank to Lynx of Nightfall for your generous donation.

The Atari Lynx has several innovative features including its being the first color handheld, with a backlit display, a switchable right-handed/left-handed (upside down) configuration, and the ability to network with up to 17 other units via its “ComLynx” system (though most games would network eight or fewer players).

from Wikipedia:

The Atari Lynx is a 16-bit handheld game console that was released by Atari Corporation in 1989. The Lynx holds the distinction of being the world’s first handheld electronic game with a color LCD. The system is also notable for its forward-looking features, advanced graphics, and ambidextrous layout. The Lynx was released in 1989, the same year as Nintendo’s (monochromatic) Game Boy.

However, the Lynx failed to achieve the sales numbers required to attract quality third party developers, and was eventually abandoned. Today, as with many older consoles, there is still a small group of devoted fans, creating and selling games for the system.

source: wikipedia

Unboxing C64/SX PLA replacement by Manosoft

November 24th, 2010 3 comments
Manosoft PLA Replacement

Autopsy:

Manosoft the author of the famous interface C64SD in these days is selling a replacement part for our Commodore 64 (first model) and SX64, we are talking about the PLA chip (906114-01), the component for excellence of failure of many Commodore 64.

The chip PLA (906114-01) is no longer sold as spare part, but the file for build a ‘homebrew’ PLA clone is available online. The Manosoft PLA is designed specifically to meet all people.

I and Manosoft after a careful reading of C64 forums we concluded that we must utilize a 27C512 PROM 90ns from ST (instead of an EPROM). This means you get a good compatibility (like 99%) with all Software and Hardware available for the Commodore 64.

source: c64sd.roxer.com