SNDH archive v4.4 released – 4261 SNDH files (total 8268 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 v4.4 (1465)

source: sndh.atari.org

Gallery of the repair:

Phonola NMS 8245 (MSX 2) Repair.

Defect:

• Dirty characters/graphics.
• Floppy Drive dead.

Replaced parts:

• 1 x 41464 Video RAM (U16)
• 1 x Floppy drive belt

Other:

• Frame cartridge connector fix for a easy removal of the components under the frame.

Removing the filter capacitors that are exploded inside the Astec power supply of a Apple //e.

Gallery of the repair and cleaning:

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):

• 749 new SIDs
• 1479 fixed/better rips
• 1 repeats/bad rips eliminated
• 727 SID credit fixes
• 323 SID model/clock infos
• 19 tunes from /DEMOS/UNKNOWN/ identified
• 4 tunes from /GAMES/ identified
• 45 tunes moved out of /DEMOS/ to their composers’ directories
• 5 tunes moved out of /GAMES/ to their composers’ directories

Download:

• HVSC Update #61 (1324)
• HVSC Complete #61 (1428)

source: www.hvsc.c64.org

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

Titles:

• CubeSim64 Preview
• Battle in Space +4
• Oops! +4DH
• Battle Chess +D [EasyFlash]
• Crazy Painter +4HD
• Snakman +2D
• Purple Turtles +2HDG
• Captain Future Preview +3E
• Suicide Strike 101% +3DG
• Softporn Adventure &Sol
• Xain’D Sleena +2
• Xain’D Sleena
• Pluff +2TD
• Amity Island +3H
• A.R.C.O.S. +2 TD
• Knights & Demons +2D
• 8bit Fighters Preview
• Downfall Preview V2
• Rylan +4ED
• Aurum 100% +T
• World Boxing Champ &DGPM
• Your Father’s Nightmare +2
• Graham Gooch All Star Cricket Preview
• Single Extreme Freedom
• Your Father’s Nightmare +2M 101%

Download: All Games in One Archive (3037)

source: csdb.dk

Scene World is a C64 magazine on disk dedicated to various activities of both C64 scenes.

“Both” means, that we are supplying information and texts of both scenes; NTSC and PAL.

Download: Scene World #23 (1057)

source: sceneworld.c64files.com

The TI99 IUC makes me a Interview. Happy reading.

source: ti99iuc.it

I start to saying how much i hate repairing psu switching, one of the most boring things second only to the repair of CRT Monitor, at least for me.

However this repair was made. The failure is almost certainly caused by a copious spillage of electrolyte (conductive fluid usually formed from a salt solution or acid which is located inside of the electrolytic capacitors) and a dangerous test if the machine works again after the electrolyte was leaking over the pcb.

The moral of the story is easy to figure out, a short circuit has made several deaths, a good portion of the Primary (PWM) and Secondary.

The components that have been replaced are the following:

• 1 x Electrolytic Capacitor 3300µF 16v 105°
• 1 x Electrolytic Capacitor 1000µF 25v 105°
• 1 x Electrolytic Capacitor 2200µF 35v 105°
• 1 x Electrolytic Capacitor 1000µF 100v 105°
• 1 x Electrolytic Capacitor 330µF 160v 105°
• 1 x Electrolytic Capacitor 47µF 25v 85°
• 1 x Electrolytic Capacitor 10µF 100v 85°
• 1 x Electrolytic Capacitor 22µF 25v 85°
• 1 x Sanken Hybrid Voltage Reculator Module STR 53041
• 1 x Photocoupler TLP 541G
• 1 x Overcurrent Protection Elements ICP N10
• 1 x Transistor C1815GR
• 1 x Transistor DTC114 ESA (C114 ESA)

After 1 week i have decided to replace also all capacitors of the power supply section of the computer.

Components replaced:

• 1 x Electrolytic Capacitor 3300µF 25v 105°
• 3 x Electrolytic Capacitor 5600µF 10v 105°
• 1 x Electrolytic Capacitor 2200µF 10v 105°
• 1 x Electrolytic Capacitor 330µF 35v 105°
• 1 x Electrolytic Capacitor 1000µF 16v 105°
• 1 x Electrolytic Capacitor 470µF 25v 105°
• 1 x Electrolytic Capacitor 1µF 50v 105°

Gallery of the repair:

12►

A very nice tale of a dear friend of a day spent in my laboratory. Happy reading.

source: ti99iuc.it

SD2Snes Firmware v0.1.7 status update

Directly from the SD2Snes Homepage:

Here’s what I’ve been working on in the meantime:

• More refactorings of the menu ROM. This will facilitate further UI development (sub-menus etc.)
• NMI+IRQ hook routine – these are required for WRAM cheats and in-game reset. The latter is in working state as of now. I’d like some input on which key combinations would be desirable ;-) (some conflicts can arise with existing SNES mods, see below). There is now a dedicated memory area in FPGA block RAM mapped to $2a00-$2aff which is used for the hook routine and command exchange between a running game and the sd2snes main CPU.
• Game loading handshake between SNES menu and sd2snes CPU – this is a technical prerequisite for error handling (such as missing supplementary files, write-protected SD Card, etc.)
• LED blink codes for file system errors – e.g. in case the SRM file cannot be saved this will tell you that something’s gone wrong. Also the sd2snes will retry saving until it works so you have the chance to swap out the SD Card etc.
• “Screen saver” – the screen is darkened after some idle time to reduce wear on CRT and plasma screens.
• Memory sharing between SNES and the sd2snes CPU is greatly simplified (The FSM is reduced to only 5 states instead of 18) and timing is more relaxed. This should help with stability on a wider range of consoles.
• Fixed some compatibility issues with a number of games. (Super Play Action Football (S-RTC interference), GP1 Part II (WRAM initialization), Human Grand Prix (mapper detection bug))

To do for the upcoming release:

• Cheat management – technical prerequisites for cheats (ROM+WRAM) are met, now to code the GUI for it…
• Finish on-the-fly file browsing
• Decide on key combinations for in-game functions. (en/disable cheats, kill cheat engine, reset game, reset to menu)

About key combinations:

I wanted to use combinations that don’t interfere with my SNES IGR mod. This mod uses L+R+Select in combination with Start, A, B, X, or Y to perform different operations. In that scenario I still had the four directional buttons left to put other functions on. However :D With borti4938′s release of the feature-enriched uIGR these are now taken.

So far this is my new proposal for key combinations (UPDATED 2014-06-24):

• L+R+Select+Start = Reset game
• L+R+Select+X = Reset to sd2snes menu
• L+R+Start+B = Kill in-game routines (in case they interfere with game operation).
• L+R+Start+A = Disable cheats
• L+R+Start+Y = Enable cheats

Updated to reflect some of your suggestions. Already looks better to me. I steered clear of L+R+Start+X because it’s similar to L+R+Select+X. ;)

source: sd2snes.de

ASAP is a player of 8-bit Atari music for modern computers and mobile devices. It emulates the POKEY sound chip and the 6502 processor.

The project was initially based on the routines from the Atari800 emulator, but the current version has a completely new original emulation core.

Changelog ASAP 3.2.0 (2014-06-23):

• Reduced amplitude by half to avoid clipping on loud tunes.
• Silence detection regarded GTIA and COVOX sounds as silence.
• asapconv supports conversion to one WAV/RAW/MP3/XEX file per subsong.
• File Information window in the foobar2000 plugin.
• Updated the XBMC plugin for the new XBMC.
• OS X VLC plugin no longer requires OS X 10.8.

Android changes:

• Android 4.4 can now read the memory card.
• Switch to the next song when the current one ends.
• Playback couldn’t be resumed after a while of pause.
• Search files using on-screen keyboard.
• Removed HTTP playback.
• Files with duplicate titles were lost in the details view.

Download: ASAP v3.2.0 (1476)

source: asap.sourceforge.net

Apple IIgs ProTERM 3.1: Serial Console & Telnetting BBS.

Download: ProTERM v3.1 Intrec Software (1082)

Gallery:

This is a full replacement of the power supply of the Amiga 500 with a similar one of the last generation. This type of switching power supply fits perfectly inside the case of the original psu.

The repair will not be made because this psu is very common at very low prices, i don’t waste even a second to find the multiple faults, i prefer devote to other things less common.

Commodore Floppy Drive 1541 Motherboard #1

Defect:

• IEC bus unresponsive.

Replaced parts:

• Replaced 1 x VIA 6522 (UC3)

Commodore Floppy Drive 1541 Motherboard #2

Defect:

• IEC bus unresponsive.

Replaced parts:

• Replaced 1 x VIA 6522 (UC3)
• Replaced 1 x 7414 (UA1)
• Replaced 1 x 901229 ROM (UB4)

Removed parts:

• SpeedDos adapter with the flat cable (user port bus) cutted.
• SpeedDos ROM Adapter.

Sinclair QL #1 Repair

Defect:

• White Screen (RAM problem)

Replaced parts:

• Replaced 3 x 4264 RAM

Note:

I took the opportunity to install the Minerva Rom v1.98 to identify the faulty ram. Thanks to the Minerva ROM i have identified 2 of 3 Ram failed.

• Ram Location $1F340 (IC9)
• Ram Location $3D040 (IC10)
• Ram Location $30910 (IC16)

Sinclair QL #2 Repair

Defect:

• White Screen / Black Screen / Garbage Screen / Annoying Background Sound

Replaced parts:

• Voltage regulator (7805) fault. In input we have 9v and in output 9v instead of 5v.

Note:

Incredibly nothing is exploded ;-D