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 (1251)
source: noname.c64.org
Autopsy:
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:
Changelog:
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 (1758)
source: fail.sourceforge.net
Some new games or tools (Cracked / Trained or Unrealeased) for Commodore 64 have been released from your favorites groups.
Titles:
Download: All Games in One Archive (2882)
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 (1010)
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.
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:
Changelog SD HxCFloppyEmulator v1.8.2.36 (fat) & v2.1.2.36 (slim):
Download:
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 (1607)
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:
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:
See the help for a complete list of bug fixed.
Download: CBM prg Studio v2.8.0 (1110)
source: ajordison.co.uk
I thank a friend for the donation.
Donated items:
The composite video mod for the computer Microdigital TK-83 unlike the Sinclair ZX81 it’s more easier.
You no need to install the usual transistor with 1 or 2 resistors / capacitor. The transistor is already installed on the motherboard of the Microdigital TK-83, so just pick up the video signal as described in the picture.
I remind you that the output signal will be in NTSC standard for the Microdigital TK-83 produced in Brazil (PAL-M)
Autopsy:
from Wikipedia:
The Amstrad CPC (short for Colour Personal Computer) is a series of 8-bit home computers produced by Amstrad between 1984 and 1990. It was designed to compete in the mid-1980s home computer market dominated by the Commodore 64 and the Sinclair ZX Spectrum, where it successfully established itself primarily in the United Kingdom, France, Spain, and the German-speaking parts of Europe.
The series spawned a total of six distinct models: The CPC464, CPC664, and CPC6128 were highly successful competitors in the European home computer market. The later plus models, 464plus and 6128plus, efforts to prolong the system’s lifecycle with hardware updates, were considerably less successful, as was the attempt to repackage the plus hardware into a game console as the GX4000.
The CPC models’ hardware is based on the Zilog Z80A CPU, complemented with either 64 or 128 kB of memory. Their computer-in-a-keyboard design prominently features an integrated storage device, either a compact cassette deck or 3″ floppy disk drive. The main units were only sold bundled with a colour or monochrome monitor that doubles as the main unit’s power supply. Additionally, a wide range of first and third party hardware extensions such as external disk drives, printers, and memory extensions, was available.
The CPC series was pitched against other home computers primarily used to play video games and enjoyed a strong supply of game software. The comparatively low price for a complete computer system with dedicated monitor, its high resolution monochrome text and graphic capabilities and the possibility to run CP/M software also rendered the system attractive for business users, which was reflected by a wide selection of application software.
During its lifetime, the CPC series sold approximately three million units.
Replacement/Adaptation of a power switch for Amstrad CPC 464:
source: wikipedia cpcwiki.eu
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:
Changelog SD HxCFloppyEmulator v1.8.2.30 (fat) & v2.1.2.30 (slim):
Download:
source: hxc2001.free.fr
This program works as a program launcher for Commodore machines. Even if it was originally intended for a device with sd2iec firmware, it works also with any CBM drive (without sd2iec functions of course).
It is a multi-system version derived from the discontinued sd2brwse v.0.6 by Hannu Nuotio (fork() of sdbrowse v.0.7)
The Vic-20 Mega-Cart Installer is based on sys.asm sources of mega-tools by Daniel Kahlin, sort routine by Michael Kircher.
Current supported machines:
Tested drives:
Changelog:
Download: CBM FileBrowser v1.6 (3811)
source: vic20.it/cbmfilebrowser
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