A new version of the firmware for the Kung Fu Flash Cartridge by Kim Jørgensen is released.
Changelog:
- Simple text file reader. Thanks Sebby75, and Magician
- It is now possible to open small text files from the launcher.
The following controls can be used in the reader:
or Joy: Page up/down
or Fire left: Go to first page
or Fire: Exit text file reader
The reader supports text files up to ~64kB. Larger files will be truncated
- Support generic cartridge ROM/BIN files. Thanks Magician
- Display error message if there are problems communicating with the cartridge. Thanks Lamerhouse
Note that only generic C64/C128 cartridges are supported as ROM/BIN files. Other cartridge types must be loaded as a CRT file.
Download:
source: github.com/KimJorgensen/KungFuFlash
Hi everyone,
I wanted to try this nice SID Player by Edu Arana with a very nice design.
Edu Arana used Bakisha opensource code for the SID (only Psid) player, the code also has my own little implementation for the Vu-Meter with three LEDs (thanks Edu for the note printed on the PCB).
I know the Bakisha SID Player fairly well, below you will find several Links of my blog where there are some experiments and implementations i did years ago.
I’m not going to dwell too much on the loyalty of this SID Player, which as i said i know well, all in all it works but we are far away light years from perfection, at least as i understand it, in fact i started another project that you all probably know: The Return of the Hybrid SID Player which in addition to an ‘almost’ perfect CPU emulation including Illegal Opcodes and uses the “Original” or “Clone” SIDs for playing music tracks and other nice and useful features.
The ‘plus’ version of the Edu SID Player differs from the previous one for the implementation of the bluetooth module which however is not supplied.
As you can see from the photos and video i have installed the BlueTooth module and the Battery to make it totally portable, the battery recharge is via USB like a mobile phone.
UPDATE:
I wrote this update because some things i wrote bothered someone.
With the phrase “I’m not going to dwell … it works well but …” i just wanted to say that the emulation of the SID, let’s talk about EMULATION, is not perfect, i’m a purist of SID songs, so for me a SID music plays perfectly only and only using the original chip, however for the price this player is sold it is perfect and also very nice!
Anyway you are always welcome to break my balls, i will always answer you.
Gallery:
Video:
Link:
- Arananet RetroProducts:
- Bluetooth Module:
- Lithium Polymer battery 3.7v:
- Bakisha STM32 Sid Player:
- STM32F40x SID Player by Bakisha with LCD and ARMSID:
- STM32F407VET6 (168Mhz Arm MCUs) SID Player by Bakisha:
- STM32F401CCU6 (Arm Cortex MCUs) SID Player by Bakisha:
- The return of the Hybrid Sid Player:
Finally a useful object that works very well and i have tried many.
This mini vacuum cleaner (4hapa) that uses a BRUSHLESS motor (be careful when choosing which model to buy) besides the “vacuum cleaner” mode it also has the “blower” mode and i assure you that it BLOWS and quite a lot (two selectable speeds).
So finally i can finally say goodbye to compressed air spray!!!
The package includes over 4 spare filters (washable), various adapters, the USB battery charger (5v to 9v) and a bag.
The only negative note; Yes! it makes some noise! i’ll get a reason.
Video:
source: aliexpress.com
Observing these two displays at first glance there are no big differences are noticed.
Wrong! the Display where you reads V2.0 (updated version of the previous one), also works perfectly if inserted very close to the PCB of a Switching Power Supply, the other one instead at Random resets and displaying 888 just move it 10 CM away from the Switching Power Supply PCB and it works perfectly.
I wanted to share this news because i’m not the only one with this bizarre problem.
Gallery:
A new version of the firmware for the Ultimate-64 (U64/U64E) / U2 / U2+ / U2+L by Gideon is released.
This release has again some significant changes for the firmware upgrade. Please read the manual before installing 3.10i.
Background:
If you would take some time to check the commit history of the repository at GitHub, you may find over 500 commits since the last released version, 3.10a. This is a lotttt more than it usually takes to release a next firmware version. The version is still 3.10, so there are not many functional changes. Yet, files have been touched, updated, or just made compatible with the new Ultimate-II+L hardware. It was more difficult than expected to get the Lattice FPGA to work correctly and keep compatibility with the existing hardware platforms.
On top of the new introduction of the Ultimate-II+L, there is still a need to support the “good old” 1541 Ultimate-II (or simply: U2). There have always been issues with the Microblaze processor and the compiler from Xilinx. Every version of the Xilinx compiler had different bugs that caused the Microblaze based firmware to be broken in one way or another.
Since the U2+L runs well on the Risc-V, it was decided to upgrade the CPU inside of the U2 and ditch the Microblaze forever. Unfortunately, the CPU that was chosen to run inside of the U2+L did not fit in the same space as the Microblaze clone, so I decided to write my own Risc-V compatible CPU. This is the CPU that will be used from now on in the 1541 Ultimate-II.
General Fixes:
- [Important] Fixed ExFAT filesystems with 128kB clusters (Fixes failing D64 mounts from some ExFAT thumbdrives)
- [Facebook Discussion] EasyFlash save function now saves all chip chunks to support incomplete CRT files
- [Issue-271] GEORAM at boot (MarkusC64)
- [Issue-279] Support for 2 MHz operation for any cartridge, including EasyFlash
- [Issue-246] Fixed: Virtual Printer crashes when file cannot be created.
- [Issue-234] Deleting last item in directory makes selection invisible
- [Issue-236] Confirmation modal asking a question only gives ‘OK’ instead of ‘Yes/No’.
- [Issue-R17] Added mapping of ESC key to RUN/STOP.
- [Facebook Request] Added: Leave menu on mount (can be selected per drive)
- [Facebook Bug Report]: Fixed starting Kingsoft Business Basic cartridge
- [Facebook Bug Report]: Allow Maverick (and others?) to write wrong sector headers on MFM tracks.
- [Facebook Bug Report]: Unable to select GeoRAM. Is now a mode of the RAM Expansion Unit.
- [Facebook Bug Report]: Fixed color palette not loaded at boot (U64 only).
- [Facebook Bug Report]: Fixed USB sticks not recognized
- [Messenger Report]: Improvements to palette file read. Rejects faulty files. Fixes hang-up
- [Messenger Report]: Fixes ‘Create DNP’ when run from Telnet. Turned out to be a stack overflow.
- [Email Discussion]: Adds EEPROM segment to GMOD2 when it is missing in the CRT file
U64 core fixes:
- Multicolor graphics side border bug (core version V1.41 => V1.42)
Modem fixes:
- ACIA NMI pulse extension to extend over bad line. This allows the 6502 to see it always.
- Performance optimization ACIA / Modem
- Allow spaces after ATDT command.
- Minor fixes in the modem emulation layer from Scott Hutter (xlar54)
Cartridge Support:
- [Issue-314] Added support for Blackbox V9.
- Additional C128 cartridge variant that allows banking and offers some RAM (U2/U2+/U2+L only).
Additions:
- Firmware target added: Ultimate-II+L; the Lattice version!
- System Information page (F4) now shows elaborate version info.
- GEOS support functions from MarkusC64
Download:
source: ultimate64.com github.com facebook
A new version of the firmware for the Ultimate-64 (U64/U64E) / U2 / U2+ / U2+L by Gideon is released.
This release has again some significant changes for the firmware upgrade. Please read the manual before installing 3.10i.
Background:
If you would take some time to check the commit history of the repository at GitHub, you may find over 500 commits since the last released version, 3.10a. This is a lotttt more than it usually takes to release a next firmware version. The version is still 3.10, so there are not many functional changes. Yet, files have been touched, updated, or just made compatible with the new Ultimate-II+L hardware. It was more difficult than expected to get the Lattice FPGA to work correctly and keep compatibility with the existing hardware platforms.
On top of the new introduction of the Ultimate-II+L, there is still a need to support the “good old” 1541 Ultimate-II (or simply: U2). There have always been issues with the Microblaze processor and the compiler from Xilinx. Every version of the Xilinx compiler had different bugs that caused the Microblaze based firmware to be broken in one way or another.
Since the U2+L runs well on the Risc-V, it was decided to upgrade the CPU inside of the U2 and ditch the Microblaze forever. Unfortunately, the CPU that was chosen to run inside of the U2+L did not fit in the same space as the Microblaze clone, so I decided to write my own Risc-V compatible CPU. This is the CPU that will be used from now on in the 1541 Ultimate-II.
General Fixes:
- [Important] Fixed ExFAT filesystems with 128kB clusters (Fixes failing D64 mounts from some ExFAT thumbdrives)
- [Facebook Discussion] EasyFlash save function now saves all chip chunks to support incomplete CRT files
- [Issue-271] GEORAM at boot (MarkusC64)
- [Issue-279] Support for 2 MHz operation for any cartridge, including EasyFlash
- [Issue-246] Fixed: Virtual Printer crashes when file cannot be created.
- [Issue-234] Deleting last item in directory makes selection invisible
- [Issue-236] Confirmation modal asking a question only gives ‘OK’ instead of ‘Yes/No’.
- [Issue-R17] Added mapping of ESC key to RUN/STOP.
- [Facebook Request] Added: Leave menu on mount (can be selected per drive)
- [Facebook Bug Report]: Fixed starting Kingsoft Business Basic cartridge
- [Facebook Bug Report]: Allow Maverick (and others?) to write wrong sector headers on MFM tracks.
- [Facebook Bug Report]: Unable to select GeoRAM. Is now a mode of the RAM Expansion Unit.
- [Facebook Bug Report]: Fixed color palette not loaded at boot (U64 only).
- [Facebook Bug Report]: Fixed USB sticks not recognized
- [Messenger Report]: Improvements to palette file read. Rejects faulty files. Fixes hang-up
- [Messenger Report]: Fixes ‘Create DNP’ when run from Telnet. Turned out to be a stack overflow.
- [Email Discussion]: Adds EEPROM segment to GMOD2 when it is missing in the CRT file
U64 core fixes:
- Multicolor graphics side border bug (core version V1.41 => V1.42)
Modem fixes:
- ACIA NMI pulse extension to extend over bad line. This allows the 6502 to see it always.
- Performance optimization ACIA / Modem
- Allow spaces after ATDT command.
- Minor fixes in the modem emulation layer from Scott Hutter (xlar54)
Cartridge Support:
- [Issue-314] Added support for Blackbox V9.
- Additional C128 cartridge variant that allows banking and offers some RAM (U2/U2+/U2+L only).
Additions:
- Firmware target added: Ultimate-II+L; the Lattice version!
- System Information page (F4) now shows elaborate version info.
- GEOS support functions from MarkusC64
Download:
* Temporarily revoked due to one report of bricked unit.
source: ultimate64.com github.com facebook
This is the official demo party results & Downloads from X-2023. See also the CSDB X2023 section for more informations.
C64 Demo:
- 1 – Next Level by Performers
- 2 – Mojo by Bonzai, Pretzel Logic
- 3 – Wonderland XIV by Censor Design
- 4 – No Bounds by Genesis Project
- 5 – Multiverse by Nah-Kolor
- 6 – Hiraeth by Xenon
- 7 – Hues by Fairlight
- 8 – Kinetics by Triad
- 9 – White Lines by Plush
- 10 – Event Zero Trailer by Lethargy
- 11 – Operation Eindhoven by Resource, The Dreams
- 12 – Deep Space 64 by Abyss Connection
- 13 – We Love PETSCII by Low Spirit, Nordischsound
- 14 – Staying Alive by Youth
- 15 – Cosmodrome Teaser by Gorbat Soft
- 16 – Onslaught On Tour by Onslaught
- 18 – Partyhol by Silicon Limited
- 19 – 4kefrenzy by Onslaught
- 20 – Nous Etions La by Fantastic 4 Cracking Group
- 21 – 2 Broke Gurlz by Chocotrophy
- 22 – Spray Paint by 8 Bits High
- 23 – X-Copy – The Intro by Hoaxers
- 24 – Tears in Runes by Macx, Martinland
C64 4K Intro:
- 1 – Boo! by Reflex
- 2 – The end is 2023 by Cycleburner
- 3 – Phuture by Arise
- 4 – Raster Fun X2023 4kb Intro by TREX
C64 Music:
- 1 – Pixelated Neon Nights by LMan
- 2 – Arrive by psych858o
- 3 – Sledgejammer by Jammer
- 4 – Levitating by Juzdie
- 5 – Cold Fusion by Vincenzo
- 6 – Ballad for Jeff by Shogoon
- 7 – Pops! by Magnar Harestad
- 8 – Don’t Hassel De Hoof by Toggle
- 9 – Good Old Times by Nordischsound
- 10 – Platform Hopping by Lft
- 11 – Brothers in Oscillators by Mibri
- 12 – On Borrowed Wings by Stinsen
- 13 – Mooj Joom by The Syndrom
- 14 – SID85
- 15 – Yesteryears by Apollyon
- 16 – Sheds on a Sea-Girt Isle by Linus
- 17 – Chord Explorer by MCH
- 18 – Lookback by Warlord
- 19 – Rumblr by OMP
- 20 – Disc Drive Dancing Delight by Qdor/Fegolhuzz
- 21 – The World is Burning by Spider Jerusalem
- 22 – X2023 by Sad
- 23 – Electric Doobeedoo by Warp 8
- 24 – Light from Above by SIDWAVE
- 25 – They Call It Scene Funk by Uneksija
- 26 – Yildizlarin Cennet by SoNiC
- 27 – Hanka Salmi by Moraff
- 28 – Disco n’ Derlando by Hairdog
- 29 – X-istence by NecroPolo
- 30 – Ye Olde Forest by Røly
- 31 – Teeth2grind by Picrard
C64 Graphics:
- 1 – The Man of Many Hours by Duce
- 2 – Broken by Electric
- 3 – Love Reyn by Facet
- 4 – Summertime Snack by The Sarge
- 5 – Sol Invictus by Talent
- 6 – Dopamine Girl by Sulevi
- 7 – The Lookout by LMan
- 8 – Someren är Kort by Apollyon
- 9 – Me Love you Longtime by Der Piipo
- 10 – Stargazing by Leon
- 11 – Splash! by Mikael
- 12 – A Bright Future by Nith
- 13 – Staredown by Archmage
- 14 – Sore Loser by Hani
- 15 – Seven Ghosts of Rämenevaletto by ibux
- 16 – Looking for X by Sebaloz/Katon
- 17 – Spitfire by Boo
- 18 – Tapedrive by BlackWine
- 19 – Nice Guy by Hairdog
- 20 – Catrina by Nanzee
- 21 – Trash by Goerp
- 22 – Party Animal X2023 by Exile
Mixed Graphics:
- 1 – Faun by Extend
- 2 – Wise & Fat by Atlantis, Pretzel Logic
- 3 – Skully and His Pal by Censor Design
- 4 – Best Buddy by Atlantis
- 5 – Flat Floater by Artline Designs
- 6 – Alpha-Mecha by Triad
- 7 – Fresh Horses by Mayday!
- 8 – WTF Am I Looking at Here? by Mayday!
- 9 – Oblivion Grounds by Bago Zonde
- 10 – Irony by Amid
- 11 – Popeyed Mystery by Nah-Kolor
- 12 – 2 my pal eddie by Chocotrophy
- 13 – X-filés by Extend
- 14 – Smoke by Extend
- 15 – Sharing is Caring by Terwiz
- 16 – Céparfé! by D-Faktory
- 17 – Granny by Padua
- 18 – Mari by Cult
Productions released outside compos:
Flappy Trappy + by Genesis Project/Triad (Crack)
Flying Saucers Extended +3D by Excess (Crack)
Hans Kloss +5DTF [jewel] by Demonix/Excess (Crack)
Limbo Rolling Boulder Preview by Excess (Crack)
Limbo Rotten Branch Preview by Excess (Crack)
No Bounds Diskcover (Disk Cover)
No-Skip Mix (2022 Edition) by Mayday! (Music Collection)
Retro Debugger V0.64.64 (Other Platform Tool)
rremix (Other Platform Tool)
Download: X-2023 Full Party Stuff (721)
source: csdb.dk
I have also bought a LED spectrum analyzer, very nice and impressive but certainly not suitable for professional use, but who cares!
The technical features are many and not very intuitive to be changed with just two buttons on the back.
However, I’ll summarize them very briefly:
- Automatic detection of Microphone or Audio Input (Jack 3.5).
- Ability to disable the clock.
- 12 display modes.
- 7 color modes.
- 84 display effects can be combined.
- 8 brightness modes.
- Clock adjustment.
- 4 time display modes.
- Alarm clock function.
- Custom RGB colors.
- USB 5v power supply.
Below are some photos of the inside.
The reset button is very curious can cannot be reached from the outside (missing the hole) and also a Micro USB connector unusable from the outside of the case.
I attach the datasheets of the integrated circuits that are used and the manual in English language that was sent to me via email, the one available by scanning the QR Code of the product is only Chinese :-D
Gallery:
Download:
source: aliexpress.com
Testing OSSC through the component Video of the TI-99/4A
The ODV-II although it is placed above the OSSC is not used, i could not remove it because it is attached with bioadhesive :D
Gallery:
Below are my presets in binary format of the OSSC with firmware v0.90.
- 0: Amiga RGB
- 1: Amiga Overscan RGB
- 2: Commodore 64 Svideo through ODV-II
- 3: SupaBoy RGB
- 4: TI-99 YPbPr
- 5: Apple II+ Composite through ODV-II
Download: OSSC Binary Presets (258)
The C64-Archiv is an easy to use file manager for C64-files.
Changelog Version 4.4 (06.05.2023):
- New: ARC, SDA and SFX files are supported. Please click here for more information. Many thanks to Elwix/Style
- New: The DENISE emulator is supported by default
- New: Update of parameters to HOXS64 V.1.1.2.3 and VICE 3.7
- New: Faster import of LNX files
- New: Option: Reminder to compress database
- New: Option: File check based on upper and lower case letters
- New: After changing a file name, an already existing file can be overwritten
- New: Layout and list structure improvements
- New: “New files” are now selectable in the search area and are marked red in the lists
- New: Italian language file. Many thanks to xAD/Nightfall
- New: Polish language file. Many thanks to K. Lotko
- New: Spanish language file. Many thanks to Juan from Lemon64 forum
- Fixed: Improved support for partxx.rar files
- Fixed: After marking a list entry as favorite, it was not always displayed correctly
- Fixed: Problems with LNX or Z64 files at startup
- Fixed: Packed LHA and TAR.GZ files were not always recognized
- Fixed: Starting programs in LHA files
- Fixed: Crash when unpacking a GZ file if a file has no extension
- Fixed: Several problems with P00 files
- Fixed: Error reading empty ZIP files
Download: C64-Archiv v4.4 (440)
source: purmike.de
Apple ][ EuroPlus Repair.
Defects:
- Black screen.
- Power light off.
- Keyboard does not work.
Repair:
About the black screen it was enough to press all the IC in their seat, i have removed some and cleaned the IC's socket and the IC's pins.
The Power light off, the 5v micro bulb was faulty, replaced.
The keyboard had several problems;
The keyboard connector (socket) located on the computer motherboard side was faulty and consequently are missing the -12v for the keyboard encoder PCB.
The 3 TTL chips had been replaced on the keyboard encoder PCB but 2 x 74LS04 are erroneously soldered instead of 2 x 74LS00, the third TTL was correct but not working. Replaced all.
Now everything works reasonably well, unfortunately the bad keyboard has some problems, the internal slats are warped and tend out of their seat, as a result some keys do not work correctly.
I have tried to fix and clean, but the situation hasn't improved much.
Gallery of the repair:
Still in beta stage but interesting this software written by SLC that allows you to write and read C64 file formats (D64/G64) using a regular 360k Floppy Drive with the Greaseweazle interface.
To understand how this program works, you should first read the README found in the program archive.
I tried it personally and it works quite well, the only problem is the double sided management of Floppy Disks for Commodore 64, i don’t want to dwell too much on this question but in other words the Floppy Drive PCs do not allow you to turn the floppy disk to use also the other side of the Floppy Disk, the optical sensor is present only on the left side of the reader (the Floppy Drive of the Commodore 64 does not have this sensor).
There are MODs to get around this annoying problem, mods that are not exactly immediate and not for all Floppy Drive.
So let’s say it outspoken, if you want to read and write Floppy Disks for Commodore 64 what i recommend is the software OPENCBM + Hardware XUM (ZoomFloppy) or similar and a native Commodore 64 (1541/1541-II) drive. :-D … and everything is great.
Download: Disc Disk Revolution 64 v0.99B3
This is the official demo party results from BCC #17. See also the CSDB BCC #17 section for more informations and download.
C64 Demo:
- 1 – Strange New World by Delysid
- 2 – Battle Stations by Hokuto Force
C64 Music:
- 1 – Tales From The Crib by Toggle
- 2 – We’re all Hardcore Supermensch by Røly
- Lángoló Delfineken Lovagolunk át a Boldogság Kráterein by dalezy
- 4 – Saudade No. 3 by Mibri
- 5 – Undecided by Spider Jerusalem
- 6 – Evening Primrose Oil by GI-Joe
- 7 – Atlantis Rising by Nordischsound
- 8 – Midnight Strobes in the Sky by Xiny6581
- 9 – Trapped! by Proton
- Summer Sunday by DJ Space
- 11 – Let The Bass Rule by PowerTrace
C64 Graphics:
- 1 – Hokuto Fox by Fabs
- 2 – Wartime by Grass
- 3 – Sparkle Tail by Fabs
- 4 – Galaga Alien by Slaxx
- 5 – ChatBot by Slaxx
WiLD Demo:
- 1 – Lotus SID Cover by Excess
- 2 – Grimassenschneider by Prof. Pi^2
C64 Fast Intro:
- 1 – Shake Memories by Hokuto Force
- 2 – Opticalcraptro4k by Excess
- 3 – Shadow-Intro by Genesis Project
- 4 – Lotus Radio by Excess
- 5 – Große Kunst by Hotstuffaz
Mixed Graphics:
- 1 – The White Dragon by Atlantis
- 2 – Petsciing Mantis by Hokuto Force
- 3 – Begin Your Journey by Hokuto Force
Mixed Music:
- 1 – Drunken Sailor by Mayday!
- 2 – Another One Bites The Dust by Finnish Gold
- 3 – Inside by Triad
- 4 – Wildberry Lillet by Excess
- 5 – Love Profusion (C64 Gone Wild) by Hokuto Force
- 6 – You’re Doing Well by Hokuto Force
- 7 – Child in Time (Dub Purple Remix) by Atlantis
- 8 – Never get Outta da Car by Hokuto Force
- 9 – Blazing the C16 Trail by Padua
- Call of Magic by Manganoid
Download: BCC #17 Full Party Stuff (437)
source: csdb.dk
After the usual boring PSU recap i have decided to add two displays to monitoring the main voltages (+5,+12) and the amperage.
The amperage displayed with the blue LEDs in the left display is the sum of all the voltages (+5,+12,-12).
I have also added three ventilation holes, i didn’t want to use any fans, i already have enough fans in the lab that are quite annoying.
Gallery:
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