Sorry, this entry is only available in Italian.

Autopsy:

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The motherboard is the same of Commodore VIC-1540 (Rev A/B PCB 1540007 (C) 1981 made in Japan) with a old HIGH Rom MOS “901229-03″ instead of “325303-01″.

The Commodore 1541 (aka CBM 1541, and originally called VIC-1541), made by Commodore International, was the best-known floppy disk drive for the Commodore 64 home computer. The 1541 was a single-sided 170 kilobyte drive for 5¼” disks. The 1541 followed the previous Commodore 1540 (meant for the VIC-20).

Here you can find the US version of the Commodore Single Drive Floppy Disk VIC-1541.

Testing the Floppy Drive:

Autopsy:

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The Commodore Printer 4023 is a printer with a IEEE-488 Bus and may be daisy-chained with other IEEE-488 devices. This printer is fully compatibile with all computers Commodore PET/CBM.

Model 4023 Printer Specifications:

• Printing Method: Serisal Impact Dot Matrix.
• Print Rate: 45 LMP with 80 columns printed. 78 LPM with 40 columns printed. 124 LMP with 20 columns printed.
• Print direction: Bi-directional.
• Column Capacity: 80
• Character Font: 8 x 8
• Line Spacing: Programmable.
• Character Size: 0.094″ high, 0.08″ wide
• Copies: 3, including original.
• Ribbon Type: Cartridge.
• Ribbon Life: 1.2 x 10(6) characters.
• Ribbon Cartridge: Commodore P/N 613160550
• Paper Width: 10″ computer folded paper.
• Forms: 7.5 + (0.5 x 2 sprocket margins) Pin-to-pin distance .5″ longitudinally, 9.5″ laterally, 5/32″ diameter.

Commodore Printer 4023 self test:

Atari SAP Music Archive (ASMA) is a Atari XL-XE music collection. It is one of the largest and most accurate computer music collections known.

ASMA v3.6 contains 4630 tunes, 315 of which are new! Moreover, ASAP has been updated to the latest version and SAPMaker has been recompiled to run under the latest Windows.

Download: Atari SAP Music Archive v3.6 (1545)

source: asma.atari.org

AspeQt is a cross-platform, free and open source Atari 8-bit serial peripheral emulator. The name is an acronym for Atari serial peripheral emulator for Qt, Qt being the cross-platform application development framework used by AspeQt.

AspeQt emulates various Atari 8-bit peripherals like disk drives and printers via an SIO-2-PC cable. If you are familiar with software like Sio2Pc, APE, Atari810, AtariSIO etc., you probably won’t have any problems getting used to AspeQt.

Even though AspeQt is not fully mature yet, it is easy to use and, despite its shortcomings, has many features that you may find useful, the highlights being:

• 8 disk drive emulation.
• Up to 6x SIO speed.
• Support for ATR, XFD, PRO and ATX (preliminary) disk images.
• Mount folders as emulated disks.
• Disk image explorer.
• Directly boot Atari executables.
• Text only printer emulation with PC print, save, and ATASCII font support.
• Cassette image playback.
• Multilingual GUI (English, Polish, Turkish and Russian)
• AspeQt client module (AspeCl) for Atari, downloads information from the host to the Atari. Time/Date is an example with more functionality to come in the future.

Changelog:

• MainWindow of AspeQt is now fixed and can not be re-sized manually. Minimum screen resolution required is 800×600 for a proper fit on the display. Use of 1024×768 is recommended.
• Tooltips are added to display extended mounted image information.
• Added option to display/suppress message log window, setting is saved in registry/session file.
• Increased the supported drive numbers from 8 to 15 for SDX compatibility.
• Added option to display/suppress additional drives, setting is saved in registry/session file.
• Fixed SDX incompatibility of Folder Images.
• Added browsing capability for Folder Images. This release only allows read-only support with drag and drop file copying from the Folder Image. Multiple Folder Images can be mounted.

Download:

• AspeQt v0.8.5 (Windows) (1232)
• AspeQt v0.8.5 Manual (English/German) (1604)

source: aspeqt.sourceforge.net

2013 C64-RetroInvaders calendar by Nautilus.

Download:

• 2013 C64-RetroInvaders calendar PDF (English/Spanish) (915)

source: noname.c64.org

Autopsy:

from Wikipedia homepage:

The Timex Sinclair 1000 (TS1000) was the first computer produced by Timex Sinclair, a joint-venture between Timex Corporation and Sinclair Research. It was launched in July 1982.

The TS1000 was a slightly-modified Sinclair ZX81 with an NTSC RF modulator instead of a UK PAL (Units sold in Portugal have a PAL RF modulator) device and the onboard RAM doubled to 2K. The TS1000′s casing had slightly more internal shielding but remained the same as Sinclair’s, including the membrane keyboard. It had black-and-white graphics and no sound. It was followed by an improved version, the Timex Sinclair 1500.

Like the Sinclair ZX81, the TS1000 used a form of BASIC as its primary interface and programming language. To make the membrane keyboard less cumbersome for program entry, the TS1000 used a shortcut system of one-letter “keywords” for most commands (e.g. pressing “P” while the cursor was in “keyword mode” would generate the keyword “PRINT”). Some keywords required a short sequence of keystrokes (e.g. SHIFT-ENTER S would generate the keyword “LPRINT”). The TS1000 clued the user in on what to expect by changing the cursor to reflect the current input mode.

The TS1000 sold for $99.95 in the US when it debuted, making it the cheapest home computer to date at the time of its launch (its advertising angle was “the first computer under $100″.) This pricing initiated a price war with Commodore International, who quickly reduced the price of its VIC-20 to match and later announced a trade-in program offering $100 for any competing computer toward the purchase of a Commodore 64. Since the TS1000 was selling for $49 by this time, many customers bought them for the sole purpose of trading it in to Commodore.

source: wikipedia

I have gathered all photos of some phases of the work that i have done on the Atari 1200XL.

Below the descriptions:

• SIO 5v Enabled (you have to short-circuit the resistor R63 to get the 5v on the SIO of the Atari 1200XL)
• Repairing Keyboard (i have stretched the springs of a few keys for make the right pressure. The work must be completed using the liquid graphite where the contacts are more ruined)

Autopsy:

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from AtariMuseum homepage:

In 1982 Atari’s Home Computer Division (HCD) introduced the new replacement computer to its aging Atari 400/800 line. The new computer brought to Atari’s home computers line a high-tech and sleek low profile modern look. The case design and the “XL Look” were created by Regan Cheng of Atari’s Industrial Design group. The all new design took the 7 separate boards that made up the Atari 800 (Main, Power, CPU, OS and 3 16K Memory boards) and integrated them into a single motherboard with 64K of memory. The system also brought with it probably “THE” best keyboard for any Atari system.    

The system featured many new internal and external enhancements. Some of the obvious ones were the new Function keys and built-in HELP key that programmers could incorporate their usage into future programs. The tangle of wires from the system were now out of the back making for a clean and uncluttered arrangement. The cartridge port and controller jacks were now on the left side of the system. The new OS was designed for a new era of SIO “Plug n Play” devices to automatically load their device drivers and even on-board applications right into the 1200XL memory, also an International Character Set and built-in Diagnostic features were now part of the system. Other OS enhancements were included as well.    

However the downside was that many programs by both 3rd party companies and even Atari itself were incompatible with this new OS in the machine. The loss of 2 of the 4 original controller jacks from the earlier Atari 400/800 systems didn’t seem like much of a big deal to the 1200XL engineers, however the end users did seem to mind. The system was supposed to have a better video display output signal, however to most end users, the system appeared to have a fuzzier display then the Atari 800. The true sticking point for consumers:  No expansion whatsoever.   While the idea of a “Closed Box” design seemed like a good idea to Atari’s Marketing Department, the consumer felt exactly the opposite.

Atari’s whole design philosophy for their home computer line was that these would be Consumer Oriented, not Hobbyist Oriented Systems. Therefore that meant buffering the user from the actual electronics and chips within the machines. This design was very well executed on the Atari 800 with its easy to remove top cover and its various OS and Memory modules fitted into easy to install packages. The SIO connector also gave users a universal, easy to handle and understand expansion system. Atari felt it could take this philosophy to the extreme with the 1200XL and completely cut the users off from ANY internal access. Even the simplest of users still wanted to tinker and expand their systems and the 1200XL just didn’t give them the flexibility found in Apple ][e’s, C64s or Atari’s original 800 line of computers. The collective shortcomings of the 1200XL unfortunately overshadowed its many new enhancements. Atari’s new prodigy became its “Edsil” The introduction of the new 1200XL actually increased sales of the Atari 800. Users began to buy 800′s in fear that they would be stuck with a closed and incompatible system.

Atari 1200XL Video:

source: atarimuseum.com

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):

• 906 new SIDs
• 185 fixed/better rips
• 2 repeats/bad rips eliminated
• 971 SID credit fixes
• 111 SID model/clock infos
• 13 tunes from /DEMOS/UNKNOWN/ identified
• 14 tunes from /GAMES/ identified
• 33 tunes moved out of /DEMOS/ to their composers’ directories
• 14 tunes moved out of /GAMES/ to their composers’ directories

Download:

• HVSC Update #58 (1289)
• Complete HVSC #58 (1382)

source: www.hvsc.c64.org

ST-Paint is a Drawing program that lets you make Atari St picture on Windows based PC.

ST-Paint is still in a beta phase and it’s made by Peter Jørgensen same author of the program Ym2149 Tracker.

Note from the author:

• Windows mode (not complete)
• Clipboard : Remember the last 15 clip.
• Color Replacer : Use to replace a color somewhere in the graphic.
• Poly Line: Load/save Neochrome picture / Load Degas Under/Overscan Picture*
• Some other functions have been change, like the undo buffer in the polygon function, (now while drawing a polyg, and undo you will remove the last point, when finish the polyg and undo, you will remove the hole polygon.

Download:

• ST-Paint Beta (27/12/2012) (900)

source: fedepede04.dk

Some new games (Cracked / Trained or Unrealeased) for Commodore 64 have been released from your favorites groups: Dinasours, Iceout, The Mojon Twins, Underground Domain Inc, Really Proud Lamers, Excess, Nostalgia, Antarctica and Laxity.

Download:

• Candle Burner +2 [pal/ntsc/drean] (898)
• Master of Camouflage + (929)
• Sir Ababol +4FD [pal/ntsc] (913)
• Santa Claus + (914)
• Scoop! (910)
• Sir Ababol +4F [pal/ntsc] (909)
• A Popples Christmas Adventure (879)
• Sir Ababol (912)
• Tau Ceti USA [pal/ntsc] (915)
• Candle Burner (888)
• Candle Burner [pal/ntsc] (889)
• Sven-Goran Penalty Trainer Preview (909)
• Pirates! 101% +10DR [pal/ntsc] (1006)
• Crazy Car +HD (946)
• Frantic Fisherman + (897)
• All Games in One Archive (2343)

source: csdb.dk

Autopsy:

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from Wikipedia homepage:

The Laser 128 was a clone of the Apple II series of personal computers, first released by VTech in 1984. Unlike the Apple II clones from Franklin, VTech reverse-engineered the Apple ROMs using a clean room design rather than copying them. Apple Computer challenged VTech in court, but unlike its efforts directed at Franklin, Apple was unable to force the Laser 128 off the market.

As its name suggests, the Laser 128 had 128 KB of RAM. Like the Apple IIc, it was a one-piece semi-portable design with a carrying handle and a single built-in 5¼-inch floppy disk drive. Unlike the Apple IIc, it had a numeric keypad and a single Apple IIe-compatible expansion slot, which gave it better expansion capabilities than a IIc. VTech offered a metal 2-slot card cage that sat alongside the Laser 128 and attached to the computer’s single slot, allowing for even greater expansion flexibility. The Laser 128 retailed for about $700, substantially less than the price of an Apple IIc.

Apple countered the Laser 128 with its upgraded Apple IIc Plus. VTech responded with the Laser 128EX and the Laser EX2. The Laser 128 was aggressively marketed, both by mail order firms and in retail and catalog stores such as Sears. Even though its ROM was not derived from Apple’s ROM, the Laser 128 series had a high degree of compatibility with its competition from Apple.

VTech owed much of this compatibility to the fact that they were able to license Applesoft BASIC (which constitutes the largest and most complex part of an Apple II’s ROM contents) from Microsoft just as Apple did, heavily reducing the amount of code that had to be reimplemented. Microsoft had made most of its money by keeping the rights to the software that it sold to others. Likewise, Apple had failed to secure an exclusive distribution license for the Applesoft dialect of BASIC, and VTech was free to buy it. Much Apple software depended on various assembly routines that are a part of BASIC in ROM, and it’s quite likely that the Laser would not have been as successful had it not had compatible ROM entry points.

Download:

• LASER 128 ROM Version v2.9 (1333)
• Laser 128 and 128EX - User\'s Guide and Basic Manual (550)
• Laser 128 Technical Reference Manual (632)
• Laser 128 Manuals (490)

Game loading:

source: wikipedia

I have gathered all photos of some phases of the work that i have done on the Tatung Einstein TC01.

Below the descriptions:

• Replaced 2 x 74LS157 (IOO6/IOO7) Multiplexer.
• Replaced UK Power Connector.
• Repaired some not working keys.
• External Floppy Drive 3.5″. Yes, it’s better than 3″ ;-D

Todo:

• Repair the defect of the vertical sync of the Monitor Tatung TM01

Autopsy:

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from Wikipedia homepage:

The Einstein was released in the United Kingdom in the summer of 1984, and 5,000 were exported back to Taipei later that year. A Tatung monitor (monochrome or colour) and dot matrix printer were also available as options, plus external disc drives and an 80 column display card. It was also capable of emulating the Spectrum 48k with the “Speculator” addon.

More expensive than most of its rivals, and lacking an obvious niche market other than technically-advanced home programmers, the Einstein was commercially unsuccessful. A later, revised version, called the Tatung Einstein 256 suffered a similar fate.

The machine was physically large, with an option for one or two built-in three-inch floppy disk drives manufactured by Hitachi. At the time, most home computers used ordinary tape recorders for storage. Another unusual feature of the Einstein was that on start-up the computer entered a simple machine code monitor, called MOS (Machine Operating System). A variety of software could then be loaded from disk, including a CP/M-compatible operating system called Xtal DOS (pronounced ‘Crystal DOS’, created by Crystal Computers in Torquay), and a BASIC interpreter (Xtal BASIC). Thanks to the reliability of the machine, and ample memory, the machine proved useful by many software houses to use for programming, and then porting the code to the machines they were made for, Spectrum 48k, Amstrad CPC, Commodore C64, this later stopped when the PC and Atari ST would emerge as the development systems of choice.

source: wikipedia