ZoomFloppy is an USB device for connecting Commodore disk drives to your PC.

The ZoomFloppy is an improvement based on XU1541 from Till Harbaum. Nate Lawson and Jim Brain teamed up to produce a professional product.

This controller will support IEC drives, IEEE-488 drives and a user-port connection for parallel speeder drives.

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

KryoFlux is a USB-based floppy controller designed specifically for reliability, precision, and getting low-level reads suitable for software preservation.

Technical Specs:

• Compatible with USB 2.0 (high-speed).
• Powered by USB interface (approx. 500mA). Drive requires it’s own power.
• Shugart (with extensions) drive interface. 34-pin dual-row header connector.
• Developed with 3.5″ Samsung SFD-321 and 5.25″ Newtronics D509 drives and compatibles. Other types of drives and media (such as 3″) currently under investigation.
• Connection of two drives supported using a dual floppy cable, one can be accessed at a time.

source: kryoflux.com

Attitude is a disk magazine for the Commodore 64 computer. This edition is written in collaboration with the joint forces of TRIAD and Oxyron.

We hope you enjoy this issue as much as you did the previous ones!

source: attitude.c64.org

Dtv2ser is a small hardware device that bridges TLR’s dtvtrans protocol used to communicate with a DTV via a RS232 interface to your Mac or PC.

By using a serial-to-USB adapter the dtv2ser provides dtvtrans access for all modern PCs where the original dtvtrans parallel cable cannot be used.

The new firmware integrate the support for Arduino 2009 board.

Changelog version v0.5 – 11.12.2010:

dtv2sertrans:

• Fixed double open problem in pySerial on Windows.
• Added missing ‘g’ command available in TLR’s dtvtrans for usage compatibility.

dtv2ser firmware:

• Added support for Arduino 2009 board (ATmega168, 16 MHz, 250kB/s transfer)

source: lallafa.de

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

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…

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

Commodore Free Magazine Issue #46

Free to download Commodore magazine dedicated to Commodore Computers.

source: commodorefree.com

Floppy Emulator (PCB by Lotharek):

12►

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

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 & 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)

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

source: noname.c64.org

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

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

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