This webpage has some good information of  CRT Monitors by Commodore.

source: gona webpage

from Playfaster:

Like it’s ancestor, it is a “computer in a keyboard” all-in-one. Of course, all materials and hardware have been updated.

Entry level is based on the Intel Core 2 Duo E7500 with Intel G31 Express chipset. You can, of course, upgrade it with a Quad core (Q8200, Q9400, Q9550 or Q9650). The amount of memory is 2 GB SDRAM-DDR2, upgradable up to 4 GB. Hard drive choices are many from a standard 160 GB SATA, up to 2 TB; not forgetting a removable 80 GB.

Graphic card is an Intel Graphics Media Accelerator 3100, supporting Microsoft DirectX 9.0c. Not to mention all the connectors like Ethernet, Audio in/out, microphone, 4 USB 2.0, 2 serials, 1 Parallel, PS/2, DVI, VGA or the build-in touch-pad and speakers. It is equipped with a slim optical drive (upgradable with a DVD recorder) and a PCI slot. Read more…

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from Wikipedia:

The Commodore 8050 and Commodore 8250 were dual unit 5¼” floppy disk drives for Commodore International computers. They used a wide rectangular steel case form similar to that of the Commodore 4040, and used the IEEE-488  interface common to Commodore PET/CBM computers.

The 8050 was a single sided drive, whereas the 8250 could use both sides of a disk simultaneously. Both used a “quad” density format storing approximately 0.5 megabyte per side. The density of media was similar to later PC high density floppy disks, but the 8050 and 8250 could not use PC high density disks reliably. Since “quad” density disks were rare even at the time, users quickly found that typical double density floppy disks had enough magnetic media density to work in these drives.

These drives were not dual mode, so they could not read or write disks formatted by the more common lower capacity Commodore 1541 or Commodore 4040 models. Some variants of these drives existed. The Commodore 8250LP was the 8250 in a lower profile, tan-colored case. The Commodore SFD-1001 was a single drive version of the 8250 in a Commodore 1541 style case (similarly to the Commodore 2031LP), often used by bulletin board systems for their physical similarity to 1541s and high capacity and speed.

source: wikipedia

Cartograph is a native Commodore 64 application created for designing tile-based maps/levels.

This versatile tool allows you to create maps and levels for your games, matrices and data for demos and tools and much more.

Changelog:

• New: Support for CartographPC filetypes.
• New: Sample source code to display full screen map.
• New: Save character set as part of project file if a custom one is in use.
• Fixed: Color table was saving 4 extra bytes, these have been trimmed off.

source: arkanixlab.com c64dev.com

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from Wikipedia:

The Commodore PET (Personal Electronic Transactor) was a home/personal computer produced by Commodore starting in 1977.  It was a top seller in the Canadian, United States, and United Kingdom educational markets, and was Commodore’s first full-featured computer and would form the basis for their entire 8-bit  platform. n the 1970s, Texas Instruments was the main supplier of CPUs for use in calculators. Many companies sold calculator designs based on their chip sets, including Commodore.

However, in 1975 TI increased the price to the point where the chip set alone cost more than what TI sold their entire calculators for, and the industry they had built up was frozen out of the market. Commodore responded by looking for a chip set of their own they could purchase outright, and quickly found MOS Technology, Inc. who were bringing their 6502 microprocessor design to market.

Along with the company came Chuck Peddle’s KIM-1 design, a small computer kit based on the 6502. At Commodore, Peddle convinced Jack Tramiel that calculators were a dead-end. Instead they should focus on making a “real” machine out of the KIM-1, and selling that for much higher profits. Tramiel demanded that Peddle, and Tramiel’s son, Leonard, create a computer in time for the June 1977 Consumer Electronics Show, and gave them six months to do it. The result was the first all-in-one home computer, the PET. The first model was the PET 2001, including either 4 KB (the 2001-4) or 8 KB (2001-8) of 8-bit RAM. It was essentially a single-board computer with discrete logic driving a small built-in monochrome monitor with 40×25 character graphics.

The machine also included a built-in Datassette for data storage located on the front of the case, which left little room for the keyboard. The data transfer rate to cassette was 1500 baud, duplicated for safety, giving an effective rate of 750 baud. The 2001 was announced at the ’77 Winter CES in January 1977 and the first 100 units were shipped in mid October 1977. However they remained back-ordered for months, and to ease deliveries they eventually cancelled the 4 kB version early the next year. Two more machines were released in the PET series.

The CBM 8000  included a new display chip which drove an 80×25 character screen, but this resulted in a number of software incompatibilities with programs designed for the 40 column screen, and it appears to have been unpopular as a result. The machine shipped with 32 kB standard as the 8032, but allowed another 64 kB to be added externally. Later the upgrade was installed from the factory, creating the 8096.

source: wikipedia petlibrary.tripod.com

Some new Games & Utility for Commodore VIC-20.

• AntiISDA Warrior. The game concept for AntiISDA Warrior was first developed on the Oric Atmos. The similarity to the game Space Invaders is not only coincidental, but here only the shots are movable, and not the enemies or the initial place for fire.
• Berzerk MMX. A clone of the classic Stern arcade hit, Berzerk. Written in ca65 assembler.
• CBM FileBrowser. A file browser for sd2iec firmware based drives (uIEC/SD2IEC/MMC2IEC) and standard CBM drives too.

source: Denial (The Commodore VIC-20 forum) hirudov.com

SD2IEC is a hardware mass storage device using an SD/MMC card and interfacing with the IEC bus. It is based on the ATmega644 microcontroller from the Atmel AVR microcontroller family.

The most prominent use of SD2IEC is emulation/replacement of a Commodore-1541 disk drive for a C64. Hardware and the microcontroller’s firmware is available as open source (GPL).

Changelog:

2010-03-07 – release 0.9.1

• Bugfix: Filling unused REL records used wrong offsets.
• Bugfix: Unbreak case-insensitive matching of FAT file names.
• Bugfix: Fix raw directory mode for D64/D71/D81.
• Bugfix: Tell the display about REL files too.
• Add preliminary support for the ATmega1284P.

source: sd2iec.de gitweb forum thread c64-wiki

SD2IEC is a hardware mass storage device using an SD/MMC card and interfacing with the IEC bus. It is based on the ATmega644 microcontroller from the Atmel AVR microcontroller family.

The most prominent use of SD2IEC is emulation/replacement of a Commodore-1541 disk drive for a C64. Hardware and the microcontroller’s firmware is available as open source (GPL).

Changelog:

2009-02-28 – release 0.9.0

• Bugfix: REL offset calculation for records 256,512,…
• Bugfix: Non-REL P command parameters now match README.
• Bugfix: Reading after EOI behaves correctly now.
• Red LED only active while unwritten data in memory.
• Remove XC,XJ commands.
• New fastloader: ULoad Model 3.
• New fastloader: G.I. Joe (said to be commonly ripped)
• New fastloader: Epyx FastLoad cartridge.
• Support reading raw directory ($ with secondary > 0)
• “display disk images as directories”-mode.
• DNP support.
• Remote display support.
• Build system doesn’t require gawk anymore.

source: sd2iec.de gitweb forum thread c64-wiki

I have found some ZZap 64 Magazine (Italian edition) in my attic.

from Wikipedia:

Zzap!64 was a computer games magazine covering games on the Commodore International series of computers, especially the Commodore 64 (C64). It was published in the UK by Newsfield Publications Ltd and later by Europress Impact.

The magazine launched in April, with the cover date May 1985, as the sister magazine to CRASH. It focused on the C64 for much of its shelf life, but later incorporated Amiga game news and reviews. Like CRASH for the ZX Spectrum, it had a dedicated cult following amongst C64 owners and was well known for its irreverent sense of humour as well as its extensive, detailed coverage of the C64 scene.

The magazine adopted an innovative review system that involved the use of the reviewers’ faces, artistically rendered by in-house artists Oli Frey and Mark Kendrick, to express their reaction to the games. These eventually evolved into static cartoons as the magazine began catering for a younger market.

By 1992, the magazine had changed so dramatically in design and editorial direction that then-publisher Europress decided to relaunch the magazine. Thus, issue 91 of Zzap!64 became issue 1 of Commodore Force, a magazine that itself lasted until March 1994.

source: wikipedia zzap64.co.uk

Island of Secrets Graphic Adventure – 22 column version by Jenny Tyler and Les Howarth.

This game is a conversion from Commodore 64 of a classic type-in text adventure from the book published by Usborne in 1984. Play it with the stunning graphic excitement of more than 30 hi-res screens! It’s require a VIC-20 + 24K RAM.

source: Denial (The Commodore VIC-20 forum)

A anonymous person has published a large amount of files on a web page about the history of Amiga.

At the moment there are more than 600 PDF files available for viewing or downloading.

source: commodore-gg.hobby.nl

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from Wikipedia:

The Amstrad CPC (short for ‘Colour Personal Computer’) is a series of 8 bit home computers produced by Amstrad between 1984 and 1990. It was designed to compete in the mid-1980s home computer market dominated by the Commodore 64 and the Sinclair ZX Spectrum, where it successfully established itself, especially in the United Kingdom, France, Spain, and the German-speaking parts of Europe.

The series spawned a total of six distinct models: The CPC464, CPC664, and CPC6128 were highly successful competitors in the home computer market. The later plus models, 464plus and 6128plus, efforts to prolong the system’s lifecycle with hardware updates, were considerably less successful, as was the attempt to repackage the 464plus hardware into a game console as the GX4000.

The CPC models’ hardware was based on the Zilog Z80A CPU, complemented with either 64 or 128 kilobytes of memory. Their computer-in-a-keyboard design prominently featured an integrated data drive (compact cassette or 3″ floppy disk). The main units were only sold bundled with a color or monochrome monitor that doubled as the main unit’s power supply. Additionally, a wide range of first- and third-party hardware extensions such as disk drives (for the CPC464), printers, and memory extensions, was available.

The CPC series was pitched against other home computers primarily used to play video games and enjoyed a strong supply of first-party (Amsoft) and third-party game software. The comparatively low price for a complete computer system with dedicated monitor, its high resolution monochrome text and graphic capabilities and the possibility to run CP/M software also rendered the system attractive for business users, which was reflected by a wide selection of application software.

During its lifetime, the CPC series sold approximately 3 million units.

source: wikipedia cpcwiki.eu

ACID 64 Player Pro is the sequal of Acid 64 Player and is a cycle based Commodore 64 music player designed for playing SID tunes on sound cards/devices that have a real SID chip (6581/6582/8580) on board like the HardSID cards and HardSID 4U USB device.

ACID 64 emulates the MOS 6510 micro processor, the 6526 CIA chip and partially the 6569 VIC chip to run the code of a SID tune and it controls the SID chip on the device for playing the Commodore 64 music.

What’s new in version v3.0.3:

New:

• Support for the new HardSID USB devices: Uno and UPlay.
• Auto detection of turned on/off USB devices.
• Added sorting on column of every grid.
• Emulated SID reading.

Improvements:

• When performing e.g. mute/unmute, filter on/off or pause then no time gap isn’t noticed anymore while playing on a USB device.
• Seek bar is always going smooth now and still synched with the 6510 CPU clock.
• Improved fast forward.
• HardSID.dll isn’t required anymore for USB devices.
• Many small improvements.

Fixes:

• Works now without administrator rights.
• When using dual monitor ACID 64 will now be centered on the screen instead of the desktop.

screenshot:

source: acid64.com

Achim released his game Space Limits II for the Commodore C64. This 4 kbyte game is the successor of Space Limits from 2009.

source: commodore-gg.hobby.nl noname.c64.org

Cartograph is a native Commodore 64 application created for designing tile-based maps/levels.

This versatile tool allows you to create maps and levels for your games, matrices and data for demos and tools and much more.

Changelog:

Cartograph V1.3 increases productivity and decreases the amount of time needed to create your data. Some of the major changes include six new fill modes (random and pattern), six more data types, REU support (backups and undo), and RLE compression. Maps created with earlier versions are 100% compatible with this new release.

source: arkanixlab.com c64dev.com