The Bruc 100 is one of the few home computer designed and manufactured in Italy by Frael (Franchi Electronics) . Released in the 1987 it was sold along with the computer courses of the School 2F.

There are two models. The first has no cartridge slot but only one extension BUS. On the second model the extension BUS has been replaced by a cartridge port.

The Bruc 100 is not totally an MSX1 computer. The cartridge port (or the extension BUS) and the cassette tape connector are a bit different. This computer doesn’t support the FM-Pac nor floppy disk controllers, etc because the port does not provide + 12V nor -12V. The cartridge port also has the particularity of having two /SLTSL signals (pin 4 for slot 2 and pin 16 for slot 3).

The Basic of Bruc 100 is not the MSX-Basic but it is very similar. The keyboard is a bit different from a MSX. There are 107 keys which a number pad, shortcut keys and some mirror keys.

Gallery:

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Replacement of non polarized plug C7/C8:

source: computerhistory.it msx.org

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:

Gotek floppy emulator with HxC firmware (Testing on Amiga Computer):

Gotek floppy emulator with HxC firmware (Testing on Amstrad CPC computer):

Gotek floppy emulator with HxC firmware (Testing on Atari ST Computer):

Gotek Audio Track Loader:

The schematics is here

Components:

• 1 x Buzzer.
• 1 x BC547 or similar bipolar transistor.
• 1 x 1k resistor.

I have to thank Jean-François DEL NERO for the support that he gave me for the bootloader programming.

source: hxc2001.com

In this short article (i don’t like to writing long articles that nobody reads) i share with you the three days spent with some dear friends.

Thursday 25th June at 6:45am i took the train to Rome/Termini, the journey is went well without a hitch on the times. I’m arrived in Rome/Termini at 12:20pm where i met Andrea, from Rome/Termini we took another train that took us to Nettuno.

Arrived in Nettuno we went to eat a sandwich, i was starving :-D, then we went to the “den” of Andrea and we immediately put to work, my initial idea with Andrea
it was to repair more computers possible in three days. In the afternoon we heard at the phone Paolo and Ciro. Thursday evening we went to the Andrea house for the dinner where i have known the wife and the daughter.

Friday morning wake up at dawn and we are back to the “den” to continue the repairs and half morning it came Paolo, could not resist one more day to see me ;-D
the appointment for the barbecue together was scheduled for Saturday, the day after. Friday Afternoon came Ciro and we spent the afternoon together to talking and in the meantime we have made repairs and  testing of computers turned off for over 30 years, we never stopped to work. Friday evening with Andrea and Ciro we went out to eat, the photos of the three dishes speak for themselves :-D

Saturday morning with Ciro we are moved from Anzio to Nettuno where we have continued to do repairs and talk. Saturday afternoon/evening they arrived Paolo and Carlo, i had never met Carlo in person, but it’s as if i knew him always, we write and hear at the phone often. The evening is ended with a large barbecue where we talked not only of “Retro” until around the midnight. i had to go to sleep, the next day there was the train from Rome/Termini at 8:45am to back home.

I have spent three wonderful days with a friends which sharing the same passion. Thanks again to all.

Below a gallery of the photos taken in these three days.

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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):

• 798 new SIDs
• 121 fixed/better rips
• 3 repeats/bad rips eliminated
• 412 SID credit fixes
• 67 SID model/clock infos
• 8 tunes from /DEMOS/UNKNOWN/ identified
• 19 tunes from /GAMES/ identified
• 24 tunes moved out of /DEMOS/ to their composers’ directories
• 22 tunes moved out of /GAMES/ to their composers’ directories

Download:

• HVSC Update #63 (1466)
• HVSC Complete #63 (1530)

source: www.hvsc.c64.org

Some new games or tools (Cracked / Trained or Unrealeased) for Commodore 64 have been released from your favorites groups.

Titles:

• Bumping Buggies HS
• M45 Preview
• Tornado +3ED
• Turn Change Preview 3 +2
• Rebound +2H
• Moonfall (early) Preview
• Dungeon Crawl +2JF [pal/ntsc]
• Dungeon Crawl
• Trojan Warrior +25D [crazy hack]
• Dungeon Crawl +2D
• Ontwerpen in kleur [dutch]
• Bill da Snowman 101% +1JFD [pal/ntsc]
• Master-Word
• Jet Set Willy +10D [crazy hack]
• Ultima IV Remastered V2.2.1
• P0 Snake [sales version 64k] +3PD
• P0 Snake [64kb cartridge]
• Worm! &H [pal/ntsc]
• Crazy Carson Cousins +2
• Rowly +3D
• Break 64 +4M 101%
• Chest Bump
• Hessian V2 Preview +2
• CJ in the USA +27D [crazy hack]
• P0 Snake [sales version 64k] 100% +3PD
• Altair 4 +DMS 101%
• Xykik Preview
• C63 Preview
• Brilliant Maze V1.1 +5HD 100%
• Brilliant Maze V1.1 +5HD
• Hangman’s Hazard +2D
• Brilliant Maze V1.1 [16kb cartridge]
• Ghosts’n Goblins Arcade
• Guardian +1
• Spel
• Car-rac +1
• Airwolf +22D [crazy hack]
• Sankara Stone +S

Download: All Games in One Archive (3342)

source: csdb.dk

This is the official demo party results from Nordlicht 2015 (Top 3 Entries only). See also the CSDB Nordlicht 2015 section for more informations and download.

C64 Demo:

• Fantasmolytic by Censor Design, Oxyron
• Nicht gut, aber ausreichend! by Forunkel64

C64 Music:

• Shapeshifter by dEViLOCk
• Vortex by MultiStyle Labs
• Daydreaming by Genesis Project, MultiStyle Labs

C64 Graphics:

• The Eagle Has Landed by Censor Design, Oxyron
• Legion by Onslaught
• Medussssa by Arsenic, Oxyron

Productions released outside compos:

• Comaland 100% by Censor Design/Oxyron (Demo)

Download: Nordlicht 2015 full Party stuff (1115)

source: csdb.dk

The Commodore 1540 (also known as the VIC-1540) introduced in 1982 is the companion floppy disk drive for the Commodore VIC-20 home computer. It uses single-sided 5¼” floppy disks, on which it stores roughly 170 kB of data utilizing Commodore’s GCR data encoding scheme. The launch price in Germany was 1898 DM (approximate 970 EUR). The US-American version is named VIC 1540 and the German version VC 1540.

Because of the low price of both the VIC-20 and the 1540, this combination was the first computer with a disk drive to be offered on the US market for less than $1000 USD, although the combination of the Commodore 64 and 1541 would prove more enduring. The 1540 is an “intelligent peripheral” in that it has its own MOS Technology 6502 CPU (just like its VIC-20 host) and the resident Commodore DOS on board in ROM – contrary to almost all other home computer systems of the time, where the DOS was loaded from a boot floppy and was executed on the computer’s CPU.

Due to a timing conflict with the C64′s video chip, the C64 doesn’t work properly with the 1540. The better-known 1541 is mechanically and nearly electronically identical to the 1540 but has a revised ROM that permits it to work with the C64 by slowing the drive down slightly. However, it is possible to revert the 1541 into 1540 mode with a Commodore BASIC software command (OPEN 15,8,15, “UI-” : CLOSE 15) to permit better speed when used with a VIC-20.

The 1540 is relatively rare. While cheaper than most other drives of the day, it was more expensive than the VIC-20 computer itself, and the disk media was also still relatively pricey. Also, the relatively small memory of the VIC meant that the faster program loading times of the drive did not gain more than a few seconds compared to tape media. Thirdly, almost all commercial software for the VIC-20 was sold on cartridge or cassette tape media, giving low incentive to buy a floppy drive. The C64 followed close on the heels of the VIC-20, quickly discontinuing the 1540. Most 1540s still in existence were modified with a 1541 ROM so it would work with a C64. Unmodified 1540s are now considered collector’s items.

Gallery:

source: wikipedia

The Coleco Adam is a Home Computer, and expansion for the ColecoVision (port 3), released in 1983 by American toy manufacturer Coleco. It was an attempt to follow on the success of the company’s ColecoVision video game console. The Adam was not very successful, partly because of early production problems, and was orphaned in early 1985.

Coleco announced the Adam at the Summer Consumer Electronics Show (CES) in June 1983, and executives predicted sales of 500,000 by Christmas 1983. From the time of the computer’s introduction to the time of its shipment, the price increased, from USD $525 to $725.

Coleco’s 1983 announcement of the Adam received favorable press coverage. The Boston Phoenix, observing that the computer’s $600 price was comparable to the lowest price for a letter-quality printer alone, stated “a nice trick if they can do it!” It was, in fact, a trick; the computers were shown behind tinted glass that hid the fact that they were hand-made and had non-working tape drives.

In June the company promised to ship the computer by August. In August it promised to ship a half million Adams by Christmas, but missed shipping dates of 1 September, 15 September, 1 October, and 15 October. Ahoy! reported that Coleco had not shipped by early October because of various problems. Each month of delay could mean losing the opportunity to sell 100,000 units, the magazine reported, adding that missing the Christmas season would result in “inestimable losses”. The company only shipped 95,000 units by December, which were very defective; Creative Computing later reported that “the rumored return rate was absolutely alarming”. One store manager stated that five of six sold Adams had been returned, and expected that the sixth would likely be returned after being opened on Christmas. Coleco partnered with Honeywell Information Systems to open up repair chain stores around the nation. By December 1983 the press reported that company executives at a news conference “fielded questions about Coleco’s problems with its highly-publicized new Adam home computer, which has been plagued by production delays and complaints of defects”, with the company only able to fulfill one third of its Canadian orders for Christmas. Less than 10% of Adam units had defects, the company claimed, “well below industry standards”.

Gallery:

Gallery (Cleaning the Keyboard):

Gallery (The big Box & Under the Cover):

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Adam ColecoVision Video (Daisy-wheel Printer Test / Tape Loading / Game Cartridge):

source: wikipedia

CBM prg Studio Version 3.3.0 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:

• Sprite Editor:
  • Add background picture to sprite editor.
  • Sprite reorder tool.

• Character Editor:
  • Character tools work on a range of characters.

• Assembler:
  • Import binary as decimal data
  • Improved value pop-up formatting
  • Removed the restriction where files included in a build must have a name when building the project as a batch.

• BASIC:
  • Code reformatting remove zeros from DATA statements.
  • Option to ignore invalid GOTO destinations.

Bug Fixed:

• Assembler:
  • Reformatting code with TEXT directive.
  • Using * with labels.
  • Wrong rules for ifdef when variable is zero.
  • Debugger problems with X and Y indexing, stack under/overflow, SBC, RTI, BRK.
  • Incbin problems with large files.

• BASIC:
  • Output to disk image generating basic programs.
  • ‘Save File As’ only saving BASIC files.
  • Commenting blank lines.

• Character Editor:
  • Wrong colours changed on the character editor for VIC20 projects.
  • Undoing character editor changes when the character index > 127.

• Sprite Editor:
  • Scratchpad exception when using deleted sprites.

• General:
  • Syntax colouring changes not applied properly until restart.
  • Some BASIC only tools were available to the assembler.

Download: CBM prg Studio v3.3.0 (1068)

source: ajordison.co.uk

Sorry, this entry is only available in Italian.

Onslaught / Offence / Vandalism News Staff, bring to you the 64th issue of the Vandalism News.

Download: Vandalism News #64 (1474)

source: csdb.dk

This is the official demo party results from Flashback 2015 (Top 3 Entries only). See also the CSDB Flashback 2015 section for more informations and download.

C64 Demo:

• Stupid Bitmap and Scroll [party version] by Duck and Chicken    
• Reborn Intro by Onslaught
• Edelin Tales Theme [3sid] by Samar Productions

C64 Music:

• Urban Canyon Cruising by MultiStyle Labs, Toondichters
• Head Around You by Artline Designs    
• Flashback – part 1 of 4stori3s by Finnish Gold

C64 Graphics:

• xklmychn! by Onslaught
• Secrets from the Onslaught Demolabs by Onslaught
• Fingers of Doom

Download: Flashback 2015 full Party stuff (1265)

source: csdb.dk

Defect:

• The backup system not using correctly the on-board memory and don’t load any games.

Diagnosis/Repair:

• Broken pcb track under the GAL (position U9). The battery acid has corroded some pcb tracks.
• GAL (position U9) completely dead.

Note1:

• The glitches on the screen that you see in the photo are caused by a failure on my Super Famicom. I have to fix it. ;-D

Note2:

• I don’t have the .JED code of the GAL and however i have sold many years ago my PAL/GAL programmer so i cannot replace the faulty component.

Download:

• Super Wildcard 2.8CC ROM & 2 x GAL16V8 (406)
• Super Wildcard DX (EPROM & EEPROM DUMP) (533)

Microprofessor II (MPF II), introduced in 1982, was Multitech’s (later renamed Acer) second branded computer product and also one of the earliest Apple II clones. It does not look like most other computers. The case of the MPF II was a slab with a small chiclet keyboard on its lower part.

In 1983, the Multiprofessor II retailed in the UK for £269.00 including VAT.

One key feature of the MPF II was its Chinese BASIC, a version of Chinese-localized BASIC based on Applesoft BASIC. There was also a version sold in Europe that did not have Chinese localization.

Differences to Apple II:

The MPF II was not totally compatible with the Apple II.

The MPF II did not have Apple II’s text mode. All the text was drawn on the screen by software rather than generated by hardware. It was the only cost-effective way to generate Chinese text on screen at a time when a hardware-based Chinese character generator could cost hundreds of U.S. dollars.

Like Apple II, MPF II had two graphics buffers. However the second buffer was at address A000H while with Apple II it was at 4000H. The keyboard input was mapped to a different address than the Apple II making impossible to play Apple’s games on the MPF II.

MPF-II keyboard interface was very simple and consisted of an 8 bit output port and an input port that were directly connected to keyboard matrix. The Apple joystick interface was not there, and instead the joystick appeared as a keyboard with arrow keys and two other buttons.

The external slot interface was also not compatible with the Apple II and could not use many standard interface cards including the Disk II controller.

Technical information:

• CPU: MOS Technology 6502
• Clock rate: 1 MHz
• RAM: 64 KB (including 16KB RAM mapped at the same address as the ROM)
• ROM: 16 KB (12 KB of which is a BASIC interpreter)
• Text modes: 40×24 (using graphics mode)
• Graphics modes: 280×192
• Colours: 8 colours
• Sound: 1 channel of 1-bit sound
• Connectors: Keyboard, Printer, Expansion port, cassette recorded input and output, Composite and TV-out
• Optional peripherals: 55 key full-size keyboard, Floppy disc drive, Thermal and Dot-matrix printers, Joystick
• Power supply: External PSU, 5,12V

Multitech Micro-Professor MPF-II – PapaTudo (Pacman Clone) by Microsoft:

Gallery:

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Powersupply Pinout:

Multitech Micro-Professor MPF-II Loading TK-2000 Game:

source: wikipedia mpf-ii.blogspot.it TK-2000 games download

Atari The Educator

The package includes:

• Basic Cartridge.
• Software & State Capital software on tape.
• The Program Recorder Atari 410.

Download: Atari Educator Owners Guide (1776)

Atari 1025 80-Column Printer

Printer Specifications:

• 40 cps (80-column 10 cpi mode)
• 5 cpi expanded (40 col), 10 cpi (80 col), 16.7 cpi condensed (132-col)
• 5×7 character dot matrix.
• Buffer: 132 chrs at 16.7 cpi, 80 chrs at 10 cpi.
• Paper: roll,fanfold,single sheets. optional:roll paper holder, tractor feed.

Atari 1030 Modem

With the introduction of Atari all new XL line of computers came the all new Atari 1030 direct connect modem. The modem had a very unique feature packed into it. Just like the Atari 850 interface, the Atari 1030 modem had not only its device driver in ROM which would automatically upload into the computers memory, but also its software as well.

The Atari 1030 came with an on-board software package called ModemLink which would automatically upload into the computers memory. However there was a catch, like all previous Atari software, ModemLink had no provisions for Uploading or Downloading software, also in order to use the on-board ModemLink software any disk drives that were connected to your system had to be turned OFF.

Later Atari 1030′s were packaged with “The New Atari 1030 Software Package” which was a diskette with Amodem, Tscope and DiskLink software. Amodem was written by Jim Steinbrecher of Atari telecom fame, Tscope was written by Joe Miller and was for use with Compuserve.

Gallery:

source: atarimuseum.com