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UK1541 aka Ultimate Killer

November 7th, 2015 No comments
UK1541 aka Ultimate Killer

UK1541 is a real time drive emulator with cycle-exact 6502 instructions execution and VIA’s emulation just by tiny MCU, LCP1114, Cortex M0, 48Mhz (0,84 DMIPS/Mhz).

Developed by Krzysztof Switajski aka Kisiel/ICON.

Features:

  • LCD TFT Screen 2,2“ , 320 x 240, True Color.
  • MSP430.
  • LPC1114.
  • Infra Red receiver, for remote control.
  • CR2032 battery holder.
  • Mini jack connector as replacement for IEC port.
  • DB9 connector for joystick.
  • User Port connector, for power and signals like 8-bit parallel aka burst.
  • Two buttons , MENU and RESET.

Features for the latest Core Version (1.1.4.012015):

  • Core 6502 running at 1Mhz with illegal opcodes – 16kB Flash ROM, multiple custom roms not available now
  • 4KB Ram, from $0000 till $0fff
  • VIA port and timers emulation
  • SD card 1 – 8GB, FAT32, formatted in Windows.
  • d64 35 / 40 track with read and write (beta testing)
  • Update from standard SD card.

Gallery:

source: wiki.projekt64.filety.pl

Categories: Hardware, News & Rumors, Today

durexForth v1.4.3 (Forth language for Commodore 64)

November 6th, 2015 No comments

Forth, the Language.

Forth is a different language. It’s aged and a little weird.
What’s cool about it? It’s a very low-level and minimal language without any automatic memory management. At the same time, it easily scales to become a very high-level and domain-specific language, much like Lisp. Compared to C64 Basic, Forth is more attractive in almost every way.

It is a lot more fast, memory effective and powerful. Compared to C, specifically cc65, the story is a little different. It’s hard to make a fair comparison. Theoretically Forth code can be very memory efficient, and it’s possible to make Forth code that is leaner than C code. But it is also true that cc65 code is generally much faster than Forth code.

Download: durexForth v1.4.3 + Manual (1007)

source: csdb.dk

Commodore VIC-20: latest games from VIC-20 Denial forum

November 3rd, 2015 No comments

Commodore VIC-20: latest games from VIC-20 Denial forum.

Download: All Games in One Archive (1506)

source: VIC-20 Denial Forum

Relaunch64 V3.3.5 – C64/65xx cross-development IDE

November 1st, 2015 No comments

Relaunch64 is an IDE (text-editor) for C64 assembler-coding on Windows, Linux and Mac OS X. Relaunch64 has a clean and intuitive user interface, yet it offers many features that make coding faster and easier.

Java 7 or higher is required to run Relaunch64. The program is licensed under the GNU GPL 3 (or higher) and free for private and professional use.

This editor works together with common cross assemblers like Kick Assembler, ACME, or 64tass. Other assemblers might work as well, but syntax highlighting may not be 100% correct.

Download: Relaunch64 v3.3.5 (Windows/OSx/Linux) (1179)

source: popelganda.de

1541 Ultimate-II website down (under attack and overloaded)

October 31st, 2015 No comments

This is what we read on the homepage of the 1541 Ultimate-II:

source: 1541ultimate.net

C64SD V3 Princess FLC available on stock

October 30th, 2015 1 comment

Available on stock the new version of the V3 C64SD Princess by Manosoft. For more information please visit the Manosoft website.

source: manosoft.it

Flashing 2 x Gotek floppy emu with HxC firmware w/ Track Audio

October 29th, 2015 No comments

Jean-François DEL NERO (who’s behind the HxC SD Floppy Emulator) recently has released a version of the HxC emulator firmware that is compatible with the STM32 chip used in the Gotek floppy emulators.

This means that the great functionality of the HxC SD emulator is now available on cheaper and more widely available hardware.

The bootloader to convert the Gotek floppy drive in HxC compatible must be purchased on the website HXC 2001 by sending an email to Jean-François DEL NERO. The price of the bootloader is one-off 10 Euro per Gotek that you want to update. Future updates of the software are free and can be made from a USB stick

The HXC Usb (Gotek) firmware supports:

Flashing the Gotek floppy emulator with HxC firmware:

source: hxc2001.com

3 x Commodore Amiga 1200 full Recap

October 28th, 2015 2 comments

Replacing electrolytic capacitors Commodore Amiga 1200.

As you can see from the photos, the latest motherboard (Gallery full Recap Amiga 1200 #3) of Amiga 1200 suffered the classic problem of leaking capacitors.

Gallery full Recap Amiga 1200 #1:

Gallery full Recap Amiga 1200 #2:

Gallery full Recap Amiga 1200 #3:

Amiga 4000 badly Distorted Clipped Saturated audio Repair

October 28th, 2015 9 comments

Amiga 4000 badly Distorted Clipped Saturated audio Repair.

The problem is quite simple to find. You have to make some measurements on the integrated SMD LF347 (Op AMP) with the computer running and no sound.

You need to measuring pin 1 and pin 7 and should have a voltage of about 2.5V if the voltage as in my case (see photo) is  of 11.43v and 11.37v. Something is not working.

At this point you must also perform a new measurement on the pin 14 and pin 8, if also in this case it has a higher voltage of 2.5v evidently there is’ something that doesn’t work or with the LF347 or with the 750ohm resistor (R440 and R430).

The other three measurements to be done are the two input voltages, pin 4 should be about 12V and -12V on pin 11 approximately. In my case (see picture) are + 12.28v and -12.04v and are fine.

The third measurement is the Voltage Reference (Vref), this is very important, should not be less than 2v or greater than 3v. In my case (see photo) was 5.30v. This problem could be caused either by the circuit that provides the VRef (2 resistors and two capacitors) or just the same ic that creates problems with the Vref input.

In my case the failure was caused of the integrated SMD LF347 that i have replaced with a LM324. After replacing the voltages are back to normal, in the example photo you can see the Vref at 2.33v

The Amiga sound now works very well.

I have repaired several Commodore Amiga 4000 with the LF347 burned and from my personal experience can say that the acid leakage of capacitors C404, C433 and C443 make some short circuits on pins of the LF347 that obviously dies.

Audio before and after the repair:

Gallery:

Cyberstorm MK1 & 3640 socket oscillator for overclocking

October 28th, 2015 No comments

Nothing of easier to put a socket for the oscillator to allow overclocking.

Gallery:

Yet another Commodore 64 repaired

October 28th, 2015 No comments
Yet another Commodore 64 repaired

Yet another Commodore 64 repaired

Defect:

  • White Flashing Screen then Black Screen.

Replace parts:

  • 2 x 74LS257
  • 1 x 6569 VIC-II

Note:

  • After replacing the VIC-II (6569) the screen has stopped flashing but there was still some component broken.

Fixing & Modding MacBook AIR MagSafe Power Adapter

October 28th, 2015 No comments

I did this repair for a friend of mine after i heard that the new power supply cost 89.00 Euros !!

I have inserted a female RCA connector thus avoiding that the problem of “broken” cable happen again.

Gallery:

Filter Capacitor RIFA removal from the PSU of a Grundy NewBrain

October 28th, 2015 2 comments

After the explosion of the filter capacitor (see video) i have removed the charred component.

Gallery:

Video:

Nintendo NES Hidden Sound Channels Fix + EverDrive N8

October 28th, 2015 1 comment

The original Famicom (Japanese Nintendo) consoles are superior in design compared to the American/European NES.

One long forgotten feature is the extra sound channel, this extra channel was disconnected on US/EU console and removed from US/EU games. Castlevania 3 is a classic example. The original Japanese version has a much different theme song.

Below the photos of the fix to get the extra channel on the US/EU consoles.

Gallery:

source: krikzz.com

CBM prg Studio v3.5.0 released

October 25th, 2015 2 comments

CBM prg Studio Version 3.5.0 is released. There are a lot of new features in this version. I’d really appreciate it if you report any bugs you find or have any suggestions/comments.

CBM prg Studio allows you to type a BASIC or Machine Code program in using a nice Windows environment and convert it to a ‘.prg’ file which you can run on an emulator, or even a real C64 / VIC20 or PET if you’re feeling brave and have the right kit.

CBM prg Studio is the result of merging C64PrgGen and VIC20PrgGen. Adding new features and fixing bugs in two apps which were 95% similar was a bit of a nightmare so merging them made sense.

It was also a good opportunity for a face lift and to add some new features, such as:

  • Programs are project based, meaning all related source files, sprite files etc. are kept in one place and multiple source files can be linked more easily.
  • Tabbed MDI.
  • Syntax highlighting.

What CBM prg Studio isn’t is a front-end for tok64, cbmcnvrt, bastext or any other tokeniser / detokeniser / assembler. It’s all been written completely from scratch.

Improvements:

  • Assembler:
    • Fragment assembly.
    • Debug directive.
    • Easier label exporting.
    • Custom character mapping for TEXT directive.
  • General:
    • Overlap detection when building mixed BASIC and Assembly sources.
    • Generate and Launch doesn’t rebuild the source if no changes have been made.

Bugs Fixed:

  • Assembler:
    • Better error reporting for invalid WORD values, specifically with arithmetic.
    • TEXT strings containing ‘;’ characters were truncated.
    • Crash when dragging text around a source file.
  • Debugger:
    • SBC instruction not setting/clearing carry flag properly.
  • BASIC:
    • Statistics tool not coping with ‘rem’ in strings.
  • General:
    • If the confirm quit dialog is turned off and changes have been made there is no save option.

Download: CBM prg Studio v3.5.0 (931)

source: ajordison.co.uk