Some new games (Cracked / Trained or Unrealeased) for Commodore 64 have been released from your favorites groups: Alpha Flight, Nostalgia, Dév, The Mad Scientist, Dinasours, Didi, Unreal, The Hidden Farts and Laxity.

Download:

• Glider Rider +4/D/P/TL (1009)
• Arcade Fruit Machine 101% +4DFH (1191)
• Immensity Preview (1011)
• Jet Set Willy Bugfixed - TAPES (1054)
• Jungle Jack +2 (1000)
• Superbike +P (1019)
• Titanic (1070)
• Z-Zone +2 (996)
• Dina\'s Dinosaur Math (984)
• Electra-Ship +2 (1016)
• Fetris 100% [pal/ntsc] [bugfixed] (992)
• Chopper Command + (1025)
• Schlimeisch Mania (993)
• Schlimeisch Mania +F [pal/ntsc] (984)
• Guardian +2DH (985)
• Trance Sector CE +10HFD 100% [pal/ntsc] (1013)
• All Games in One Archive (2538)

source: csdb.dk

Autopsy:

I have to thank my friend Damiano for sending me the ITS Module with a low serial number, which like the previous one (C64SD v2.0) i really appreciate it.

The ITS module is a interface that enables SD2IEC to play .TAP files version 1 and version 2 to a commodore machine. The ITS module was designed to fit into the pass-through tape connector of C64SD Infinity and to be connected to the C64SD by a four wires cable that allows C64SD to manage it.

SD2IEC firmware has been modified in order to add the commands and the routines needed to control the external ITS module without removing any of the original SD2IEC functionalities

Features:

• Play back any V1 or V2 standard .TAP files in order to load them into a commodore machine belonging to the “classic” or “264” series including: VIC-20, VC20, C64, C16, C116, C128 (all
• versions) and Plus/4. Note: some models of C128D doesn’t have the tape edge-card connector, of  course ITS is not compatible with these machines.
• Rebuild the original tape grabbed into all the .TAP version 1 and for most of the version 2
• Work permanently connected between the tape port of the commodore computers and the corresponding datassette (either 1530 white model flat plug or 1531 black model mini-din plug) acting
• As a pass-through transparent gateway or activated in order to play back .TAP files: no need to connect and disconnect the module to use your datassette.
• Play back .TAP content with optimal accuracy and completely in digital format without the hassle of file conversions or level adjustment
• Simulate tape motor activation logic fully so that the play back of the tape is managed as it would be in a real C2N tape. An override button has been provided able to stop the play back of the “virtual tape” at any time when necessary.
• Work with either 1530 (White model, flat plug) datassette recorder as well as with 1531 (Black, mini-din plug) datassette
• Load .TAP with multiple programs recorded one after the other (like the classic tape compilations sold in the 80′s)  

What Can’t You Do:

• Create a .TAP file representing the content of a Tape (i.e. ITS is not a “tape content grabber”)
• Fix the content of a TAP file in case it’s broken. Broken .TAP won’t load on your Commodore box. Since there are literally thousands of utilities to create and manipulate .TAP files there is the possibility to come across non-standard or incorrect .TAP files.
• Play back the content of .TAP of version V0. Use an utility to convert V0 .TAP files to V1 such as TapClean then you will be able to use the converted .TAP file with ITS module.
• Manage programs saved on tape that are based on the tape-counter management or on the time of wind-rewind of the tape.

The ITS Module can be purchased on the Manosoft site.

ITS Tape Loading video:

source: manosoft.it

This is the official demo party results from Silesia Party 7 (Top 3 Entries only). See also the Silesia Party homepage for more informations.

C64 Demo:

• 1. “Quadrangulus 80%” Dream
• 2. “B-Land Scrapbook” Samar

C64 4K Intro:

• 1. “One Flew Over The Cuckoo’s Nest” Samar
• 2. “Big Blue” Vulture

C64 Graphics:

• 1. “S7″ CRRN/Elysium
• 2. “Masks” Questor/Albion
• 3. “Waiting For Silesia” Joodas/Albion

C64 Music (1SID):

• 1. “Human Hunting” Randall/Arise
• 2. “In A Rush” MCH/Genesis Project
• 3. “Cow Anus Fucked” Surgeon/Vulture

C64 Music (2SID):

• 1. “Love Fileosophy” GRG/Shape
• 2. “Last Party” Buddha/Vulture
• 3. “Blank Page, Part 3″ Conrad/Samars.

C64 Sample Music:

• 1. “Sandmonster” MCH/Genesis Project
• 2. “Chemoglobina” Bab00n/Brownhole
• 3. “Kanikurwy” Raf/Vulture

Wild competition:

• 1. “Somar” Elytarium

Download: Silesia Party 7 full Party stuff (1087)

source: noname.c64.org/csdb silesiaparty.pl

Autopsy:

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The RGB cable of  Schneider (radiola/philips) VG-5000 computer is compatible with the VideoPac G7200.

from Wikipedia:

The Magnavox Odyssey², known in Europe as the Philips Videopac G7000, in Brazil as the Philips Odyssey, in the United States as the Magnavox Odyssey² and the Philips Odyssey², and also by many other names, is a video game console released in 1978.

In the early 1970s, Magnavox was an innovator in the home video game industry. They succeeded in bringing the first home video game system to market, the Odyssey, which was quickly followed by a number of later models, each with a few technological improvements (Magnavox Odyssey Series). In 1978, Magnavox, now a subsidiary of North American Philips, released the Odyssey², its new second-generation video game console.

In Europe, the Odyssey² did very well on the market. In Europe, the console was most widely known as the Philips Videopac G7000, or just the Videopac, although branded variants were released in some areas of Europe under the names Philips Videopac C52, Radiola Jet 25, Schneider 7000, and Siera G7000. Philips, as Magnavox’s Dutch parent company, used their own name rather than Magnavox’s for European marketing. A rare model, the Philips Videopac G7200, was only released in Europe; it had a built-in black-and-white monitor. Videopac game cartridges are mostly compatible with American Odyssey² units, although some games have color differences and a few are completely incompatible. A number of additional games were released in Europe that never came out in the US.

Download: Philips VideoPac G7200 Schematics (1474)

Playing Munchkin game:

source: wikipedia

This is a firmware hack of the version 2.6d build for the 1541 Ultimate Plus (MK1) by Bradon (forum link).

The latest official version for the 1541 Ultimate Plus (MK1) is the version v2.4a.

Note from the author:

After much frustration, I finally managed to get a working build environment for the 1541U firmware.

My 1541U is a MK1 Plus unit (no network). The last revision of the firmware I could compile is 2.6d, SVN revision 131. Starting with 132 it seems that the content is too much for the older FPGA. I started to look into removing cart ROMs I don’t use and gave up realizing this would be too much to do in my spare time, since their offset locations are hardcoded.

I removed the “too old” warning check so it will boot up without having to dismiss a warning.

So far it seems to work correctly. I don’t know if the FPGA revision check really matters for this revision or not. It would appear Gideon has no desire to continue supporting MK1 units since building for them is not possible with the latest revisions. This is of course fine with me (I don’t expect he will forever and ever try to make it work on older units), I just wanted the most recent build possible.

Changes:

• Added F3 help screen to show 1541U commands.
• Modified the file viewer so that scrolling will not advance past the last line.
• Added F1 and F7 page up/down to the file viewer.
• Modified behavior of the file browser so that when you cursor-right on an item with no children, the context menu is brought up as if you pressed return.

Download: 1541 Ultimate (MK1) v2.6d.o918r4 (1305)

source: 1541ultimate.net

I have decided to repair my two ColecoVision consoles bought like non-functioning many years ago. Below a description of the defects and of components being replaced.

Defect: black screen

• 1 x 2114 (VRAM)
• Joystick port # 1 broken (replaced with the joystick port of a Texas Instruments TI-99/4A)

Defect: black screen

• 1 x 2114 (VRAM)
• 3 x 4116 (RAM)

Some new games (Cracked / Trained or Unrealeased) for Commodore 64 have been released from your favorites groups: Onslaught, INFERIOR Software International, Antarctica and Laxity.

Download:

• Up in the Air Preview 2 +4 (960)
• Triangle +1D (1005)
• Ball Preview (989)
• Flubble & Squij (+Remix) +8HD (1042)
• Gold Quest 5 (1017)
• All Games in One Archive (2481)

source: csdb.dk

The High Voltage SID Collection (HVSC) is a freeware hobby project which organises Commodore 64 music (also known as SID music) into an archive for both musicians and fans alike.

The work on the collection is done completely in the Team and contributors’ spare time and is proudly one of the largest and most accurate computer music collections known.

This update features (all approximates):

• 747 new SIDs
• 315 fixed/better rips
• 7 repeats/bad rips eliminated
• 629 SID credit fixes
• 750 SID model/clock infos
• 9 tunes from /DEMOS/UNKNOWN/ identified
• 5 tunes from /GAMES/ identified
• 27 tunes moved out of /DEMOS/ to their composers’ directories
• 15 tunes moved out of /GAMES/ to their composers’ directories

Download:

• HVSC Update #59 (1296)
• HVSC Complete #59 (1491)

source: www.hvsc.c64.org

How to write the .DSK files to Floppy Disk for the Sharp MZ-80B ?

The answer is quite simple, first of all there you need an old computer with harddisk with installed the operating system DOS/FreeDOS and a Floppy Drive 5¼. The tool to use is the CPDWrite (Copy Protected Disk Writer) v1.03 and some floppy disk image in .DSK format for the Sharp MZ-80B.

Below you can download the archive containing many floppy disk in .DSK format and the utility to write files on Floppy Disk.

The original archive was downloaded from this web page, but unfortunately the only one floppy disk that seemed to be more interesting ‘DISK15.DSK’ containing the games for this computer was corrupted. I found the problem and i have fixed with the use of a hex editor, the fixed version was included in the archive.

Download:

• CPDWrite v1.03 (1383)
• MZ-80B (DSK) Floppy Images (1410)

Autopsy:

12345►

from Wikipedia:

The Sharp MZ is a series of personal computers sold in Japan and Europe (particularly Germany and Great Britain) by Sharp beginning in 1978.

Although commonly believed to stand for “Microcomputer Z80″, the term MZ actually has its roots in the MZ-40K, a home computer kit produced by Sharp in 1978 which was based on Fujitsu’s 4-bit MB8843 processor and provided a simple hexadecimal keypad for input. This was soon followed by the MZ-80K, K2, C, and K2E, all of which were based on 8-bit LH0080A Sharp CPU (compatible to Zilog Z80A) with an alphanumeric keyboard.

From the first Z80 processor-based model to the MZ-2200 in 1983, the MZ computers included the PC, monitor, keyboard, and tape-based recorder in a single unit, similar to Commodore’s PET series. It was also notable for not including a programming language or operating system in ROM, like the IBM PC. This allowed a host of third-party companies, starting with Hudson Soft, to produce many languages and OSes for the system. In an era when floppy disk drives were too expensive for most home users, the MZ’s built-in tape drive was considered faster and more reliable than the drive on competing computers; however, this meant that the MZ series was relatively slow to adopt floppy drives as a standard accessory.

The MZ series is divided into several lines, including the text-based MZ-80K series, the graphics-based MZ-80B series, and the MZ-3500/5500 series, based on a completely different architecture. In 1982, Sharp’s television division released the X1, a completely new computer. The X series proved to outsell Sharp’s own MZ series, and in response, Sharp released the MZ-1500/2500 machines, which featured powered-up graphics and sound capabilities. However, this series saw little marketplace success, and eventually the company abandoned the line in favor of the X68000 series.

The MZ name lives on as the initials of two of Sharp’s most well-known products: the Mebius line of PCs, and the Zaurus line of personal digital assistants.

Sharp MZ-80B Loading Basic from Disk Drive CE 510:

source: wikipedia

We must always remember to remove the filter capacitor RIFA before turning on a computer off for over 30 years. Otherwise it might happen that you can see from the photos and the video.

This time is my fault because i had completely forgotten.

The Magic Smoke of a RIFA capacitor:

It’s been six long years of Design and Testing of the FPGA Arcade Replay Board and now finally is available for purchase.

Price is 199 Euro for the version without composite/SVHS output, 229 Euro with.

FPGA Arcade Replay features:

• Very large FPGA with high IO pin count for expansion.64 MByte of DDR memory.
• Six layer PCB for high performance and stability.
• 24 bit HD DAC with DVI / HDMI / VGA and legacy 15K monitor support.
• Video line buffer / filter for highest quality output.
• 24 bit / 192KHz audio DAC.
• Flexible clock generator.
• Small board size, fits in standard itx/atx case.
• Lots of expansion for custom daughterboards or IO adapters (JAMMA for arcade cab use).
• Optional dual host USB with dedicated CPU for low latency.
• Daughterboard with Ethernet, fast USB and optional 68060 processor being designed.
• Designed from the ground up to support multiple platforms (Amiga, Atari and others)

source: fpgaarcade.com

12►

Commodore CBM 8032 fully functional but without Monitor donated by Andrea Pierdomenico.

12►

I have received to repair five TI-99/4A with the following defects:

1. Black Screen
2. Working but with some dirt on the screen.
3. Vertical Stripes moving with a deafening sound.
4. Blue Screen with thin vertical stripes and deafening sound.
5. Blue Screen with thin vertical stripes and deafening sound.

The first two are repaired with the following faults:

Black Screen Fault: replaced TMS9929A followed by ROM CD2156NL
Dirt on the screen: replaced a 4116 RAM.

The third motherboard was used for spare parts.

The fourth and fifth motherboard with the blue screen have been the most annoying.

I spent 6 + hours to make measurements with an oscilloscope comparing one of the two motherboards with a working one to find the fault but the signals/voltages were absolutely identical.

So i have decided to go for exclusion and with a TI-99/4A Tech Data manual on my hand and 39.5 degrees in my Laboratory i have started to desolder and put a socket of the following components:

• 1 x TMS9901NL (20 +20 PIN)
• 1 x TMS9900NL (32 +32 PIN)
• 1 x TIM9904NL (10 +10 PIN)
• 1 x TMS 4732/2532 ROM U610 (12 +12 PIN)
• 1 x TMS 4732/2532 ROM U611 (12 +12 PIN)
• 1 x 74LS244 (10 +10 PIN)
• 1 x 74LS245 (10 +10 PIN)
• 1 x 74LS373 (10 +10 PIN)
• 1 x 74LS03 (7 +7 PIN)
• 1 x 74LS138 (8 +8 PIN)
• 1 x 74LS74 (7 +6 PIN)
• 1 x 4116 (8 +8 PIN)

After all this work nothing had changed, nothing worked, always BLUE screen.

I redid the measurements, but nothing, everything looked the same.

At this point there are only two static memories MCM6810P but that i don’t have investigated for what are used, because already on the motherboard are 8 x 4116 RAM Memory shared between Memory program and Video memory.

… anyway … i have tried to unsolder and put a socket.

So we add:

• 2 x MCM6810P (12 +12 PIN)

Et Voilà the two MCM6810P are both dead! both!

Obviously i don’t have this component in my laboratory, then i try to recover from the motherboard for spare these two RAM hoping that they are not faulty which however these RAM can be purchased online at a very low price.

The fifth and last motherboard that had the same defect of the previous one did not have the faulty ram MCM6810P.

To repair i had to replace the following components:

• 1 x 74LS04 (7 +7 PIN)
• 1 x TMS9900NL (32 +32 PIN)

Some new games (Cracked / Trained or Unrealeased) for Commodore 64 have been released from your favorites groups: Avatar, Nostalgia, Really Proud Lamers, Antarctica, Flimsoft, Genesis Project, Laxity, Hackersoft and Rewind.

Download:

• Phase Out Preview + (1085)
• XOR +7DS [pal/ntsc] (1019)
• Outbreak Preview (1007)
• Lights On +6HD (973)
• Lights On (993)
• The Last Ninja +8D (982)
• TRAZ +7DH (1019)
• Boxing Game Preview &D (999)
• I-Ball Revisited +35D (990)
• Tork Fighter-8 + (990)
• All Games in One Archive (2553)

source: csdb.dk