Thanks go to my friend Andrea Pierdomenico.
Some Cartridges for Commodore 64.
Gallery:
A new version of the firmware for the Ultimate-64 / U2+ by Gideon is released.
This release has again some significant changes and improvements over 1.34 / 3.8. The following bullet list gives an overview of the features and fixes. Below the items, a short explanation is added.
Ultimate II+ Firmware see description of U64 updates. All non-U64 specific things are also available in the U2+
exFAT support: Until earlier firmware versions, it was only possible to use FAT16/FAT32 formatted USB disks. Version 3.9 adds the support for the newer exFAT. Many, if not all newer USB sticks are factory formatted with this file system. This brings the maximum disk size to 2TB. Note that 64-bit LBA is not supported.
Hyperspeed file system access through UCI? What does this mean? It means that the virtual file system can now be accessed using a driver that talks to the Ultimate in I/O space, in a CBM compatible way. [UCI stands for Ultimate Command Interface] In order to unleash this hyperspeed, a customized C64 kernal is available. This kernal includes the driver to map one of the device IDs to the virtual file system of the Ultimate. Loading speeds in excess of 200+ blocks per second are feasible. As long as kernal calls are used to access the ‘drive’, this is fully compatible with existing software. Note that this kernal also supports the @ and $ commands, to give drive commands and show the directory of any drive, including the device-ID that routes to the UCI.
Extended CBM file system support means that all (D64, D71, D81 and DNP) images can now be created and are fully writable. Although there is no hardware emulation yet of the 1571 and 1581 drives, the support for the file systems is there. In combination with the hyperspeed kernal driver, this is already very useful, even without hardware emulation of the drives.
REL file support has been added, and in such a way that works regardless of the underlying file system. Thus, it does not matter if the REL file is located on a FAT filesystem, or inside of a CBM disk image. The way the REL file is stored is dependent on the file system, including the side sectors and super side sector for CBM systems. Copying REL files between these file systems is therefore also possible, and the side sectors are created as needed.
Block Access (U1, U2 and B-P commands) have been added. When the current directory is (inside) a CBM disk image, these block commands can be used to read / write random sectors of the disk.
A new file naming convention has been introduced, which makes lossless conversion between CBM and FAT filesystems possible, up to 16 chars. It may not always give pretty results, but it is consistent.
The F5 menu (Task Menu) had grown into an unorganized mess. This has now been restructured and categorized, so it has become a lot easier to find the item and is thus quicker to use. Similarly, the key mapping of the configuration menu has been made more consistent. The cursor keys now always navigate through the menus. Use ‘+’ and ‘-’ to change the value. (I have to get used to this myself!)
In addition to the support for USB disks, an additional RAM disk was added. This is very useful for storing temporary disk images, updater files and so on. It can also be used for an even better file system performance. The size of this temporary disk is 16 MB and does not conflict with REU memory. It is truly additional. In a future version, this temporary storage will be used to implement remote commands that require data to be uploaded, such that remote commands will be more consistent with actions from the file browser, since all actions will be based on the file system.
Cartridge port compatibility improvements. Since the introduction of the turbo mode, the cartridge compatibility of the U64 was flawed. This is simply due to the necessary changes in system architecture to make the turbo mode even possible. In this system core version (1.37), some of the compatibility issues have been solved. In particular, cartridges that toggle the EXROM# / GAME# lines per cycle or even during a cycle are now handled correctly again. This affects also the IDE64 module. In order to get this to work, the cartridge bus mode should be set to “Dynamic”, which basically means that the U64 will carefully ‘probe’ the cycles on the cartridge bus to see how the cycle completes. By cleverly caching these results, turbo mode is applied automatically in memory regions that do not need to run at 1 MHz. This does not mean that cartridge compatibility is now guaranteed for all modules, but it is a good step.
The additional analog video modes can be used to run PAL software on analog monitors, such as the 1702, or run 60 Hz software on PAL only screens. In addition to this, the cyan color was adjusted in the analog signal, as it was too green.
The ACIA improvements fix the problem that occurs when an NMI interrupt is missed. In addition, the DCD and DSR lines can now generate interrupts, like on a real 6551. The modem emulation supports pulsing these lines when an incoming connection occurs.
The list of bugfixes is too long to describe here. Some of them were minor; others would eventually hang up the ultimate application; memory leaks… Many thanks to Bart van Leeuwen, who thoroughly tested repeated file system access through UCI.
Download:
Changes since official release (3.9 / 1.37):
source: ultimate64.com github.com
I wanted to try Bakisha SID Player also with the STM32F407VET6 (previous post: STM32F401CCU6) ARM Cortex-M4 32bit MCU based Development Board which runs at frequencies up to 168MHz.
After some hardware and software changes i was able to use the SD Card support, buttons and LED on the pcb.
What i would like to do is install a TFT LCD screen compatible with this DEV Board and modify the software to display the various information that is now are sent via serial.
The MCUs that uses this DEV Board reaches a frequency of 168 Mhz and consequently i should not have problems of CPU overload taking away precious cycles times of the SID Player.
I leave you with some photos and a video.
Gallery:
SDCARD SDIO (Native) to SPI1 Pins:
Video:
The Commodore parallel cable is a companion cable for the Commodore serial cable (IEC) and gives you an additional parallel connection between a Commodore 1541, 1570 or 1571 drive and a Commodore 64 machine or via XUM1541 (PROMICRO)/ZoomFloppy …
The cable is supported by the following Commodore software:
VIA 6522 Fix:
With the Commodore 1541-II disk drive there’s still an open issue after the parallel cable installation, you need also to cut the track between the PIN1 and PIN2 of the VIA 6522 (the same VIA where the parallel cable is installed).
No more to say.
I leave you the links, good reading.
Gallery:
source: d81.de/R.I.P/Para1541II.shtml ist.uwaterloo.ca/~schepers/1541port.html
I’m not posting anything new, it simply something that i wanted to do from ten years, assemble the “project” Hackvision using Arduino, now i’m using a clone: ELEGOO UNO R3.
There is nothing more to say and like you can see from the photos the games run well.
The games are compiled with ARDUINO IDE with the TV-OUT library.
Gallery:
Electronic diagram:
STM32 (Arm Cortex MCUs) SID Player by Bakisha.
SID chip (6581 and 8580) and 6502 CPU emulator for STM32 (Arm Cortex MCUs). Compiled with Arduino IDE and uploaded with ST-LINK V2.
NOTE:
I have added to the original code of Bakisha the visualization of the 3 SID voices via 3 x Green LED.
Useless to write more about this, watch the video and the photos.
Special thanks goes to Bakisha for his work.
Components used for this project:
You can found the schematic here.
Gallery:
Video:
Firmware upgrades for THEC64 Mini/Max & TheVIC20 provide new features and/or correct any technical issues.
We always recommend that you use the latest version of the firmware.
Version 1.4.2 – Changes and additions:
Changes from previous versions:
Download:
source: retrogames.biz
The VIC20 – Game & Watch: Super Mario Bros.
Advice for “not” purchases. Compulsive shopping syndrome without a shred of a brain.
A person in need of my help of which i have already repaired several devices has contacted me and asked if i could make a repair of one of his Commodore PET with two different trouble.
The first fault was solved by replacing the UD7 ROM (901465-02) with an eprom (2532), the correct functioning test could be done by connecting the LCD monitor that i use for repairs via a video adapter.
The second fault was brilliantly resolved by replacing the voltage regulator installed on the pcb monitor, a 7812 which on the pin output did not always return 12v but rather a mix between 3v, 6v, 10v.
I also removed some pieces of foam rubber (see photo) which due to the glue used has damaged the back of the monitor PCB leaving obvious traces of corrosion and a black sticky stain that i have removed.
I also rebuilt a missing pin of the ROM UF14 (901447-10) that someone had thought to fix in a very rough way (see photo)
Gallery of the repair:
Download:
DOWNLOAD FIXED! SORRY
NEW TAG: C64 BIG GAME PACK
Some new games or tools (Cracked / Trained or Unrealeased) for Commodore 64 have been released from your favorites groups.
Titles:
Download: All Games in One Archive (6448)
source: csdb.dk
This is a Music Collection that can be listened using the BreadAmp v05 and the Ultimate64 by Gideon.
The archive contains the following files in REU format.
Nightfall-01.reu
Nightfall-02.reu
Nightfall-03.reu
Download:
A new version of the firmware for the AVGCART (SD multicart for 8bit Atari) by tmp is released.
Changelog (v0020):
Download:
source: atariage.com
The UnoCart is an Atari 2600 cartridge emulator at low price and open source under a GPL license. It supports cartridges with up to 64k of ROM and 32k of RAM with extensions; BIN, ROM or A26.
It comes with a 3D printed case and it works on PAL & NTSC systems! It will also run on most 7800 machines (but will not run 7800 ROMs).
Most games and demos, including Pitfall II, runs fine on 99% of systems. The firmware has been updated, we are on version 17 released in September 2020 to maker sure of maximum compatibility.
Recent homebrew releases, like Galaga, The End and some others that require DPC or DPC+ commands will not work yet.
Gallery:
Video:
Download:
Atari 2600 UNO Cart Shell: https://www.thingiverse.com/thing:4580701
Before leaving you to the usual and boring description of the product which, among other things, was taken from Wikipedia, i add my opinion;
Among the many uneasy things to use that i own, the Commodore A570 is in the top 10 ranking. :-D
The Amiga A570 is a single-speed external CD-ROM drive for the Amiga 500 computer launched by Commodore in 1992. It was designed to be compatible with Commodore CDTV software as well as being able to read ordinary ISO 9660 CD-ROM discs.
The original designation was A690, and pre-production devices under this name were delivered to developers. The A690/A570 used a proprietary Mitsumi CD-ROM interface. It contained a header for an internal 2 Megabyte fast memory expansion, but this proprietary memory module was never put into production and only a few rare developer examples of this exist today.
It is also notable that by the time of the A570′s launch, the A500 computer had already been discontinued. The Amiga 600 (ostensibly the A500′s direct replacement) was, like the later A1200, incompatible with this external drive. Thus, Commodore were in the position of having launched a CD-ROM drive for a discontinued machine, while a similar device was unavailable for their current low-end Amiga. This move by Commodore marketing department could be justified by the fact that millions of A500 systems existed already, along with considerable demand for Commodore to release a more advanced data storage solution.
The device (like the Amiga A590 hard disk drive that was sold by Commodore for the A500) had no through connector, so it was not possible to connect both an A590 and an A570 to the computer at the same time. The A590, despite having an XT IDE hard disk, also carried a SCSI interface that allowed third-party hard disks and CD-ROM drives to be fitted. While these drives did not carry CDTV emulation, the lack of success of the CDTV format made this a null disadvantage for most users.
Gallery:
A new firmware update for the ARM2SiD/ARMSID has been released by Nobomi.
ARM2SID firmware 3.12:
ARMSID firmware 2.12:
Previous changelog of ARMSID firmware 2.11:
Download:
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