A new version of the firmware for the interface 1541 Ultimate II is released. This version runs only on the 1541 Ultimate II cartridge (new fpga).

Version 2.6d includes some new features and fixes:

• FIXED: Ultimax mode forced now correctly implemented (solves issue with freeze and DMA load)
• FIXED: Updater now works on C128… (not all C128 issues are fixed)
• ADDED: Programmable cartrige emulation timing.
• IMPROVED: Some drive emulation enhancements.

Release notes:

• This version does *not* include SID, but it does include the Ultimate Audio module. Different builds may become available upon request.
• The internal copier is still in beta. It has been tested with some of my drives, but there might be drives out there that won’t work. Make sure you have an IEC link from the Ultimate to a real drive to use this function. (No need to have a link to the computer.) There is still no retry mechanism; sectors that failed to read correctly will not be re-read.
• The Kernal replacement function is critical when it comes to timing. Tested on two machines only. Might not work on all C128.

Download: 1541 Ultimate II Firmware v2.6d (1315)

source: 1541ultimate.net

NAV, is a new file browser for the C64. NAV can use a mouse in Port 1, joystick in Port 2, or the keyboard. NAV can work with up to five drives and has been tested with the following drive types:

1541, 1571, 1581, uIEC, IDE64

Browsing through directories and disks is just point and click! Drives like the uIEC that can store gigabytes of software can be tedious and frustrating to navigate. NAV lets you easily work with D64/D71/D81/DNP/M2I disk images as well as “real” Commodore disks and the IDE64. Up to five drives at a time!

Just click a drive to browse it!Pressing the “@” key brings up a command line that acts just like the good ol’ DOS Wedge. In addition, there are a few additional commands that can be entered on the command line. Just type “@HELP” to get the complete list.

Changelog:

• More drive icons. The font has been improved, directory listings look better.
• NAV now displays the number of files on the disk.
• Lots of bug fixes.
• LOAD and RUN the CHANGES program to read the complete changelog. As before, type “@help” in NAV to get a full list of features.
• You can now choose from 12 different backgrounds. I copied most of these tiles from ones used in GEOS (thanks ShadowM).
• Unfortunately, NAV still does not work with the Final Cartridge III. Sorry. It seems as though there is a way to temporarily disable the FCIII to allow it to work with NAV… but I can’t figure it out… yet. Feel free to drop me a line if you think you can help.

Download: NAV v9.6 (D64 & PRG) (1268)

source: commodoreserver.com

There are not a lot to say about this gadget, the photo speaks for itself. It’s a pillow that has the shape of a Commodore 64, simply a fantastic idea.

source: bieno64.blogspot.com.es

source: ebay

This is the official demo party results from Datastorm 2013 (Top 3 Entries only). See also the CSDB DATASTORM 2013 section for more informations.

C64 Demo:

• Revolved by Triad
• Too Old To Rol And Ror by Fairlight + Offence + Prosonix
• Censor_Matrix by Bob_CD/Censor Design

C64 Music:

• Monophono by Mahoney/Visa Röster
• Alpha Bitch by Dane/Booze Design
• Multiverse by Wiklund/FairLight

C64 Graphics:

• I WILL SHOW THAT STUPID BUNNY by redcrab/genesis project
• ST. JOAQUIN by Twoflower/TRIAD
• Future Sphere by Prowler/Up Rough ^ Nectarine ^ Brainstorm

C64 PETSCII:

• fågel by acidT*rroreast

Download: Datastorm 2013 Party stuff (1299)

source: datastorm.se

HermIRES it’s a cross-platform hires bitmap (Art Studio 1 format) editor for the Commodore 64.

The format has some restrictions, here are the rules:

• The maximal resolution of the picture is 320×200
• Only 16 fix C64 colours can be used (no gradient either)
• In a 8×8 pixel-block only 2 colours can used to be displayable by C64 (this is detected in HermIRES, but .hbm files can be saved with clashes too.)
• On a real C64 the PAL will blur the screen-content a bit, should check on CRT, or at least VICE emulator’s CRT simulation.

Changelog:

Fixed:

• Pen-shapes are symmetric again. -> solution: 2.23*radius as diameter and 80 as angle-steps.
• Pen-preview is more accurate now -> solution: typing some ‘-1′ in PenPreview function.
• 0 sized filled rectangle with dither freezed the app -> solution: when start and end X or Y is equal, only drawing line…
• Taking tasbar size (30 pixel high) into the resolution-decider equation – more probable for GUI to fit into the screen comfortably.
• Windows – now the program Icon appears again in taskbar and window-title -> with the new compile.bat (not from DevCpp with Makefile.win)

Download:

• HermIRES v1.26 (Linux) (905)
• HermIRES v1.26 (Windows) (1239)

source: hermit.netne.net

Featureful native Commodore 64 music tracker with MIDI/XM converter.

SID-Wizard is an open-source project from the very 1st release, and everyone is welcome to help in further developments of my extensively commented sourcecode.

Download: SID-Wizard v1.4 (D64/PRG & Docs) (1018)

source: sourceforge.net

These are the top three winners of the “Crack Intro Music Compo 2013” for the Commodore 64. More information can be found on the site CSDB.

• 1 – Retrospectful by DRAX.
• 2 – Introduction to Crack by DRAX.
• 3 – Y-Lax-It by celticdesign.

The archive below contains all songs in SID and PRG format.

Download: Crack Intro Music Compo 2013 (1178)

A new version of the firmware for the interface 1541 Ultimate II is released. This version runs only on the 1541 Ultimate II cartridge (new fpga).

Version 2.6c includes some new features and fixes:

• NEW: Disk Copier from real drives to .D64 images.
• NEW: Command Interface.
• NEW: Ultimate-II DOS V1.0 (command target)
• NEW: Kernal replacement function.
• FIXED: TAP file recorder failed miserably on high latency write devices. Rewritten; should work better now.
• FIXED: Drive data timing has improved. Timing is now dependent on the data track itself, not on the speed setting of the VIA. This fixes some protected titles in G64 format.
• FIXED: USB stick present on boot time caused the Ultimate-II to crash when loading a file from SD at initialisation time (kernal rom / drive rom)
• FIXED: Starting a program with RUN sometimes caused the ultimate to become unresponsive when freezing afterwards.
• FIXED: Now reads USB sticks with FAT16 format, but without partition table.

Release notes:

• This version does *not* include SID, but it does include the Ultimate Audio module. Different builds may become available upon request.
• The internal copier is still in beta. It has been tested with some of my drives, but there might be drives out there that won’t work. Make sure you have an IEC link from the Ultimate to a real drive to use this function. (No need to have a link to the computer.) There is still no retry mechanism; sectors that failed to read correctly will not be re-read.
• The Kernal replacement function is critical when it comes to timing. Tested on two machines only. Might not work on C128.

Download: 1541 Ultimate II Firmware v2.6c (1231)

source: 1541ultimate.net

Commodore 64 Gold Edition on Ebay.de.

from Richard Lagendijk Homepage:

This a special edition of the Commodore C64, celebrating the 1.000.000th sale of the C64 in Germany. This is one of the most desirable Commodore items. There are about 300 golden Commodore C64 produced. The numbers from 1.000.000 until 1.000.100 were for the staff of the Commodore factory Braunschweig.

The rest was given to hard- en software companies, magazine-publishers and distributors. The C64 is a computer system with a keyboard, external power-supply and a motherboard. On the motherboard you will find a MOS 6510 processor, RAM / ROM memory, MOS 6569 VIC-II video chip, MOS 6581 SID sound chip and twice a MOS 6526 CIA. PAL version.

source: ebay.de richardlagendijk.nl

Loading game Armoured Assault and Spectron on Spectravideo SV-318.

Video:

Download:

• Spectravideo SVI 318-328 - CAS (TOSEC-v0.01) (1476)
• CAS to WAV Converter v1.0b (1337)
• Service Technical Manual SVI-3x8 (2388)
• SVI-328 Basic Reference Manual (4886)

source: spectravideo software tools

Autopsy:

123►

This configuration includes:

• Spectravideo SV-904 Data Cassette (Boxed)
• Spectravideo SV-602 Mini Expander (Boxed)
• Spectravideo SV-803 16k RAM Cartridge (Boxed)

from Wikipedia:

Spectravideo, or SVI, was a U.S. computer company founded in 1981 as “SpectraVision” by Harry Fox. They originally made video games for Atari 2600 and VIC-20. Some of their computers were MSX-compliant or IBM PC compatible. They ceased operations in 1988.

SpectraVision was founded in 1981 by Harry Fox and Oscar Jutzeler as a distributor of computer games, contracting external developers to write the software. Their main products were gaming cartridges for the Atari 2600 VCS, Colecovision and Commodore VIC-20. They also made the world’s first ergonomic joystick, the Quickshot. In late 1982 the company was renamed to Spectravideo due to a naming conflict with OnCommand’s Hotel TV system called SpectraVision.

In the early 1980s, the company developed 11 games for the Atari 2600, including several titles of some rarity: Chase the Chuckwagon, Mangia and Bumper Bash. A few of their titles were only available through the Columbia House music club.

The company’s first attempt at a computer was an add-on for the Atari 2600 called the Spectravideo CompuMate, with a membrane keyboard and very simple programmability.

Their first real computers were the SV-318 and SV-328, released in 1983. Both were powered by a Z80 A at 3.6 MHz, but differed in the amount of RAM (SV-318 had 32KB and SV-328 had 80KB total, of which 16KB was reserved for video) and keyboard style. The main operating system, residing in ROM, was a version of Microsoft Extended Basic, but if the computer was equipped with a floppy drive, the user had the option to boot with CP/M instead. These two computers were precedent to MSX and not fully compatible with the standard, though the changes made to their design to create MSX were minor. The system had a wide range of optional hardware, for example an adapter making it possible to run ColecoVision games on the SVI.

A later version, the Spectravideo SVI-728 was made MSX compatible. SVI-738, also MSX compatible, came with a built-in 360 KB 3.5″ floppy drive. The last computer produced by Spectravideo was the SVI-838 (also known as Spectravideo X’Press 16). It was a PC and MSX2 in the same device.

Today the Spectravideo name is used by a UK based company called SpectraVideo Plc, formerly known as Ash & Newman. That company was founded in 1977, and bought the Spectravideo brand name from Bondwell (SVI owner) in 1988. They sell their own range of Logic3 branded products, and do not have any connection to the old Spectravideo products.

source: wikipedia

Autopsy:

from Roger Spectravideo homepage:

The SV-803 16K RAM Pack allows you to easily and economically add 16K worth of “Random Access Memory” to your SV computer.  You can bank switch to a second bank of memory from BASIC.

Download: SVI 803-807 Users Manual (1206)

source: roger spectravideo homepage

Autopsy:

from Roger Spectravideo homepage:

SV-602 Single Slot Expander it houses one interface cartridge, and provides a very economical means of interfacing your SV computer with a single peripheral at a time.

source: roger spectravideo homepage

Autopsy:

12►

from Roger Spectravideo homepage:

SV-904 Data Cassette it connect easily to the SV-318 or SV-328, our data cassette provides an inexpensive means of running and storing a wide range of computer programs.

source: roger spectravideo homepage