Autopsy:

from MOS6502 Homepage:

The idea of running the multitude of CP/M software on your Commodore surely was one of the drivers for people to invest in the C128. But what about that obscure CP/M cartridge, containing of course the Z80 CPU (running at 3MHz), that Commodore released for the C64 in 1983?  Did this introduce CP/M for the classic Commodore computer?

At least in theory, the cartridge would open up the world of CP/M to the C64 user, but 1541 disk drive incompatibilities made it next to impossible to run CP/M software on the home computer.  A disk of, let’s say an Apple (CP/M) would simply not run and only produce a “Bad Track” or “Bad Sector” error.

Commodore quickly stopped manufacturing these cartridges and Commodore users had to wait till the C128 before they could really start playing around with CP/M So was the CP/M cartridge a complete waste?  Surely there would be some “proprietary” Commodore CP/M software for the C64? The answers are “no” and… “no”.

This may seem a bit contradictory but there was one neat little trick that you could do to actually run the CP/M programs out there and it didn’t involve the incompatible disk drive: you had to utilize the user port to transfer CP/M software from another machine… talk about some workaround!

Download: Cartridge Schematic & Manual (1666)

source: mos6502.com

Hoxs64 written by David Horrocks is a Commodore 64 emulator for Microsoft Windows 2K/XP/Vista/Seven (DirectX 9+)

The emulator substantially reproduces this legacy machine in minute detail.

Changelog:

• Fixed an EasyFlash cartridge fault when loading a 4KB banked CRT file or state file.

Download:

• Hoxs64 64 bit v1.0.8.6 (920)
• Hoxs64 32 bit v1.0.8.6 (937)
• Hoxs64 Ansi Win98/2K v1.0.8.6 (938)

source: hoxs64.net

Hoxs64 written by David Horrocks is a Commodore 64 emulator for Microsoft Windows 2K/XP/Vista/Seven (DirectX 9+)

The emulator substantially reproduces this legacy machine in minute detail.

Changelog:

• Added emulation state file save, load and restore facility.
• Added Epyx Fastload cartridge.
• Added screen border hide options.
• Fixed Retro Reply cartridge banking fault.
• Reworked the CPU code to accommodate XAA/ANE for a MOS8500 as reported by Visual6502.org

Download:

• Hoxs64 64 bit v1.0.8.5 (1221)
• Hoxs64 32 bit v1.0.8.5 (1211)
• Hoxs64 Ansi Win98/2K v1.0.8.5 (1264)

source: hoxs64.net

Attitude is a disk magazine for the Commodore 64 computer by Triad. We hope you enjoy this issue as much as you did the previous ones!

Download: Attitude Diskmagazine #14 (1154)

source: noname.c64.org

Autopsy:

123►

I have received this computer to be repaired for a friend with a classic startup fault; the Black screen of Death.

After careful analysis of the problem and thanks to Alessandro Polito for the test, the failed component was the CPU 6509.

from Wikipedia:

The Commodore CBM-II series was a short-lived range of 8-bit personal computers from Commodore Business Machines (CBM), released in 1982 and intended as a follow-on to the Commodore PET series.

The CBM-II had two incarnations, the P series (P = personal, or, home use) and the B series (B = business use). The B series was available with a built-in monochrome monitor (hi-profile) with detached keyboard, and also as a single unit with built-in keyboard but no monitor (lo-profile). These machines were known as the “Porsche PETs” for their unique styling.

The P series used the VIC-II 40-column color video chip like the C64. It also included two standard Atari-style joystick ports. The 6509 CPU ran at 1 MHz in the P series due to the use of the VIC-II chip.

The B series used a 6545 CRTC video chip to give an 80-column “green screen” monochrome output more suitable for word processing and other business use than the VIC-II’s 40-column display. Most models have the Motorola 68B45 installed which is a pin compatible variant rather than the MOS 6545A1 2 MHz part. On the B series the 6509 CPU ran at 2 MHz.

Features common to both the P and B series included an MOS Technology 6509 CPU, an enhanced version of the venerable 6502, that was capable of addressing up to 1 megabyte of RAM via bank switching (however, no CBM-II model came with more than 256 kilobytes of RAM, 1/4 megabyte). The sound chip was the 6581 SID, the same one that was used in the popular Commodore 64 (C64) but with some limitations as it was over-clocked to 2 MHz. Additionally, the CBM-II had an industry-standard RS-232 serial interface and an IEEE-488 parallel bus (for use by disk drives and printers) just like the PET/CBM series. The CBM-II’s built-in operating system used an enhanced version of CBM BASIC version 4.0.

An optional Intel 8088-based coprocessor board allowed the CBM-II series to run CP/M-86 1.1 and MS-DOS 1.25; however, the computers were not IBM PC compatible and very little, if any, software taking advantage of this capability ever appeared. The coprocessor board only ran on hi-profile machines due to power supply and mechanical spacing requirements.

The production naming within the United States and Canada was the B128/B256 and CBM128-80/CBM 256-80 while in Europe they were known as the 600 and 700 series respectively (no “B” in front of the model number). The P machine was known worldwide as the 500 series. There are prototype models though such as the B500 (earlier B128 design) and B700 (earlier CBM 128-80/CBM 256-80 design) known to exist.

Due to the popularity of the C64, the P series was cancelled in the United States before it could be officially released; however, a few dealers who received preproduction units sold them. As these computers had not received approval from the Federal Communications Commission, this caused legal problems for Commodore. The units were recalled and destroyed, but a very small number exist today, in private collections. At least one model, the P500, was commercially released in Europe but only sold in small numbers.

source: wikipedia

FAIL is a viewer of pictures in native formats of Atari 8-bit, Atari ST, Atari Falcon and Atari Portfolio computers.

Currently the project includes:

• Fail2png – portable command-line converter to PNG files.
• FAILWin – viewer for Windows.
• Thumbnail providers for Windows Explorer and GNOME (Linux)
• Plugin for XnView.
• (de)coder for ImageMagick.
• Plugin for Imagine.
• HTML 5 based viewer.

Changelog:

• New formats: Interlace Character Editor font (ICE), GEM Bit Image (IMG), Multi Palette Picture (MPP).

This is the last release of FAIL. But don’t worry! We are just renaming our project to Retro Computer Image Library (RECOIL), because we are going to support formats from 8-bit and 16-bit machines other than Atari. Stay tuned!

Download: FAIL (First Atari Image Library) v2.0.2 (1620)

source: fail.sourceforge.net

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

Titles:

• Elidon +7DM
• Conway’s Game Of Life
• Harrier Strike +3
• Locomotive Preview
• Deep Star +4
• Codename Desert Storm +3
• Liberator Preview
• Mission Moon +2J 101%
• Megapede +DG
• Gigamaze +ED
• 911 Tiger Shark +2 [ntsc]
• Agent-X II +1DG
• Submarine Rescue +5
• Submarine Rescue
• Mission Moon
• Sheep vs. Fox DX +2H
• Job Race +2D
• Press It!
• Angry Birds Style
• Murray Mouse +26D
• Quod Init Exit v1.4
• Flin Flon
• Assembloids (Retail Version) +2HD

Download: All Games in One Archive (2672)

source: csdb.dk

Arc64 is a small tool to deal with D64, T64, LNX and ZipCode archives. It can be used to edit D64 images, run D64 images in the WinVice emulator, run
PRG files via CodeNet, convert T64, LNX, PRG, ZipCode and other formats to D64.

A key feature is the drag & drop support. If you drop a D64 image, it will be opened instead of the currently opened D64 image. If you drop any kind of other file, Arc64 will try to add it to the D64 image. Formats like T64, LNX and P00 will automatically extracted into the D64 image as PRGs.

Any changes to a D64 won’t be saved automatically, you either have to drag the header of the directory into an explorer window, or you have to use the
Save-option from the menus.

Download: Arc64 v2.5 by Graham of Arsenic,Oxyron (922)

source: csdb.dk

These two computers had the classic fault: Black screen of Death.

The first one was repaired by replacing a ram chip (4264) partially interrupted, the other one had One of the two chip PLA dead.

I have to thank my friend Andrea for providing me a motherboard of a 8296 for spare parts, where i have recovered the PLA which i needed.

Autopsy:

from CPCWiki:

The Amstrad (Schneider) CTM640/CTM644 are two colour monitors sold together with the classic CPC-computers. Optionally, the computer could have been purchased with GT64/GT65 green monitors. The only difference between the CTM640 and CTM644 models is the additional 12V power supply for the CPC664/CPC6128′s disk drive in the later model.

With the arrival of the CPC664 and CPC6128 models, the existing stock of CTM640 monitors was sold out and later only CTM644 monitors were sold, even with the CPC464. For that reason, the 12V power outlet was designed as a socket for a cable coming from the CPC, while all other connections were made with cables coming from the monitor.

Amstrad (Schneider) Colour Monitor CTM 644 demostration:

source: cpcwiki.eu

Autopsy:

12►

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.

Photo of the repair:

The 8250LP Floppy Drive is arrived with the following faults:

• The main motor of the Floppy Drive D0 spins only for a couple of seconds and then stops.
• The Floppy Drive D1 have a problem of the hinge for the disk pressure.

About the problem of the motor of Drive D0 have been replaced a voltage regulator 7812 and an electrolytic capacitor in losses. The mechanics of the Drive D1 was repaired using the Loctite.

source: wikipedia

The HxC Floppy Drive Emulator is a software and hardware system created by jfdn aka Jeff.

The aim of this project is to replace the floppy disk drive by an electronic device emulating the floppy disk drive (list of supported Computer/Hardware).

There are two differents emulators:

• A USB version which allows to connect the floppy disk drive interface of the computer to a PC via a USB cable.
• A SDCARD version which allows to emulate floppy disks which images are stored in a SDCARD.

Changelog SD HxCFloppyEmulator v1.8.2.36 (fat) & v2.1.2.36 (slim):

• Write Support : Write issue with VIA VT82C686A chipset based motherboard corrected.

Download:

• HxC Floppy Emulator Firmware v1.8.2.36 (1046)
• Slim HxC Floppy Emulator Firmware v2.1.2.36 (995)

source: hxc2001.free.fr

Sorry, this entry is only available in Italian.

SNDH archive v4.2 released - 3921 SNDH files (total 7389 tunes)

Ever since the birth of the Atari ST, different chip music formats have had different ways to use them. If you are coding a chip music player for the Atari ST you would have to use dozens and dozens of special ways to replay music.

But in the mid 90′s, BDC of Aura crew became tired of this inelegant system and decided to fix the issue once and for all. He then created the ‘SNDH’ file format. SNDH is actually the original songfile and replaycode with a header bolted on top of the music and replayer. The header has a unified calling interface no matter what type of chip music is hidden beneath it, and it has extended datas about the music.

Download: SNDH Atari ST YM2149 Archive v4.2 (1517)

source: sndh.atari.org

CBM prg Studio Version 2.8.0 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.

New features:

• Screen RAM viewer for debugger.
• Ignore/truncate REM statements during code generation switch.
• Project comments.
• The character editor’s scratch pad can be imported to the screen editor.
• Save/load configuration settings.
• Import multicolour bitmaps into the sprite editor.
• Export binary files from the character editor.
• Much improved BASIC and assembly generation time.

See the help for a complete list of bug fixed.

Download: CBM prg Studio v2.8.0 (1007)

source: ajordison.co.uk