Turbo Chameleon 64 is an extremely user-friendly cartridge that can be used without opening the computer. It is just plugged to the expansion port of the C64.

The Turbo Chameleon 64 cartridge can also be operated as a stand-alone unit (since it’s basically an FPGA computer like the C-One or the Minimig in a C64 cartridge case), replacing the computer, the floppy drive and the heavy power supply.

When used as a stand-alone unit, a USB power adapter or active USB hub can be used as a power source.

Changelog:

• New VGA controller with new modes and VIC-II sync.
• Tripple buffering mode added for properly displaying IFLI pictures.
• Scale-2x video scaling algorithm added.
• Scanline emulation added.
• In cartridge mode real CIAs registers and interrupts are used (allows use of a modem).
• In cartridge mode real VIC-II registers and interrupts are used (allows use of a lightpen).
• Fixed I/O assignments for FPGA (lower power use).
• Lowlevel SD-card functions now use multiple block reads if possible, which increases linear reading speed by about 40 to 50% (most noticeable on large files, such as REU images)
• BUGFIX: fixed error handling and timeouts of the IEC routines, which makes all related operations more robust.
• BUGFIX: added missing timeouts to SD-card functions.
• Joystick port 1 now also works for navigating the menus.
• BUGFIX: on some C64s pressing shift would result in phantom keypresses (F1/F2) under some conditions.
• NEW: various new VGA modes and other options for the new VGA controller (see manual)
• Improved loading speed of file inside T64 images.
• Improved keyboard handling to make the browser a bit snappier.
• BUGFIX: the size of the character ROM saved by the ROM saver was incorrect.
• BUGFIX: .wav player stops at the end of the file and does not continue playing garbage.
• BUGFIX: files bigger than 2k are displayed correctly by the .txt viewer.
• BUGFIX: when copying files out of a t64 image the resulting file was missing the last two bytes and/or the last block was missing completely.
• BUGFIX: filecopy from/to a IEC device did incorrectly abort after 1 block.
• BUGFIX: filecopy filename character set conversion was broken.
• BUGFIX: AR/RR ROM was not correctly disabled when autostarting programs from the filebrowser with AR/RR enabled as default cartridge.
• NEW: added DOS wedge command (see manual)
• NEW: added load and save commands (see manual)

Download: Chameleon 64 beta firmware 8b (1562)

source: beta.icomp.de

Micro SwinSID (SwinSID88) is a hardware replacement for legendary SID sound chip which was placed in every Commodore C64 computer and other devices.

Firmware update (20120524):

• This version has only one improvement: fixed audio muting emulation.

Download: Nano/Micro SwinSID - Firmware update (20120524) (1980)

source: forum64.de

Turbo Chameleon 64 is an extremely user-friendly cartridge that can be used without opening the computer. It is just plugged to the expansion port of the C64.

The Turbo Chameleon 64 cartridge can also be operated as a stand-alone unit (since it’s basically an FPGA computer like the C-One or the Minimig in a C64 cartridge case), replacing the computer, the floppy drive and the heavy power supply.

When used as a stand-alone unit, a USB power adapter or active USB hub can be used as a power source.

Changelog:

• fixed REU, transfer length register is 1 after a transfer completes.
• fixed REU 512K wrap around.
• fixed cache controller preventing corruption when accessing 0x1FFFF0000 – 0x1FFFFFFFF
• faster SDRAM controller. More memory bandwidth for turbo.
• added slowdown modes to the Turbo settings. Offering CPU speeds of 25%, 50%, 75% and 100%.
• added native updater program (see manual) to update the fpga core without an usb connection.
• make menu item active when pressing a hotkey, so it is selected when going back to the respective menu.
• correctly mute/unmute second sid in menu freezer.
• clockport- and rr-net- items in options menu are correctly disabled if either is not available.
• if found, load and run update.prg from sd card (chameleon updater)
• if “boot from sd card” is enabled, load boot.prg from sd card (regular c64 boot program)
• improved navigation in one panel mode, cursor right enters subdir/image and cursor left goes one level up.
• improved quickfind, just type a filename quickly to jump to it.
• mount menu is skipped if there would only be one active item.
• when returning to the menu from the sid player by pressing left/menu button it will go directly to the filebrowser.
• added gfx viewer for various multi-color and hires formats.(see manual)
• added wav player (see manual)
• added filecopy (F5 in two panel mode, see manual)
• set $030c-$030e to 0 before starting prgs, increases compatibility with certain packers.
• .sid files which actually contain a basic program can now be run correctly.
• re-read destination panel after copying image.

Download: Chameleon Beta-7b release (1599)

source: beta.icomp.de

The 8bit computers multiscene party reports. See also the Forver 8bit party homepage for more informations and download.

Download:

• Zx spectrum entries (1526)
• Commodore 64 entries (1499)
• Atari entries (1477)
• Amstrad cpc entries (1432)

source: forever.zeroteam.sk

Autopsy:

123►

from Wikipedia:

The Commodore PET (Personal Electronic Transactor) was a home/personal computer produced from 1977 by Commodore International. A top-seller in the Canadian and United States educational markets, it was Commodore’s first full-featured computer, and formed the basis for their entire 8-bit product line.

The PET 2001 was announced at the Winter CES in January 1977 and the first 100 units were shipped later that year in October. However, the PET was back-ordered for months and to ease deliveries, early in 1978 Commodore decided to cancel the 4 kB version.

Although the machine was fairly successful, there were frequent complaints about the tiny calculator-like keyboard, often referred to as a “chiclet keyboard” because the keys resembled the gum candy. This was addressed in upgraded “dash N” and “dash B” versions of the 2001, which put the cassette tape recorder outside the case, and included a much larger keyboard with a full stroke motion. Internally a newer motherboard was used, along with an upgrade from static RAM to dynamic RAM and 8, 16, or 32 KB, known as the 2001-N-8, 2001-N-16 or 2001-N-32, respectively.

Sales of the newer machines were strong, and Commodore then introduced the models to Europe. The result was the CBM 3000 series (‘CBM’ standing for Commodore Business Machines), which included the 3008, 3016 and 3032 models. Like the 2001-N-8, the 3008 was quickly dropped.

The final version of what could be thought of as the “classic” PET was the PET 4000 series. This was essentially the later model 2000 series, but with a larger black-and-green monitor and a newer version of Commodore’s BASIC programming language.

Commodore tried to update the PET line with a new redesign called the CBM-II series (also known as the B series). These were not as successful and were ultimately abandoned. However, due to demand, the original PET machines were revived and the CBM-II case style was retained. These were known as the SK’s (due to the separated keyboard). They also had a swivel monitor. Originally, standard 8032 boards were retrofitted into these cases. Later the SK models got a new mainboard that already included the 64 kB extension directly on the board and were sold as 8296 or, with a built-in 8250 dual disk drive, as 8296-D.

source: wikipedia

Autopsy:

12►

from Wikipedia:

The Commodore PET (Personal Electronic Transactor) was a home/personal computer produced from 1977 by Commodore International. A top-seller in the Canadian and United States educational markets, it was Commodore’s first full-featured computer, and formed the basis for their entire 8-bit product line.

The PET 2001 was announced at the Winter CES in January 1977 and the first 100 units were shipped later that year in October. However, the PET was back-ordered for months and to ease deliveries, early in 1978 Commodore decided to cancel the 4 kB version.

Although the machine was fairly successful, there were frequent complaints about the tiny calculator-like keyboard, often referred to as a “chiclet keyboard” because the keys resembled the gum candy. This was addressed in upgraded “dash N” and “dash B” versions of the 2001, which put the cassette tape recorder outside the case, and included a much larger keyboard with a full stroke motion. Internally a newer motherboard was used, along with an upgrade from static RAM to dynamic RAM and 8, 16, or 32 KB, known as the 2001-N-8, 2001-N-16 or 2001-N-32, respectively.

Sales of the newer machines were strong, and Commodore then introduced the models to Europe. The result was the CBM 3000 series (‘CBM’ standing for Commodore Business Machines), which included the 3008, 3016 and 3032 models. Like the 2001-N-8, the 3008 was quickly dropped.

The final version of what could be thought of as the “classic” PET was the PET 4000 series. This was essentially the later model 2000 series, but with a larger black-and-green monitor and a newer version of Commodore’s BASIC programming language.

source: wikipedia

Turbo Chameleon 64 is an extremely user-friendly cartridge that can be used without opening the computer. It is just plugged to the expansion port of the C64.

The Turbo Chameleon 64 cartridge can also be operated as a stand-alone unit (since it’s basically an FPGA computer like the C-One or the Minimig in a C64 cartridge case), replacing the computer, the floppy drive and the heavy power supply.

When used as a stand-alone unit, a USB power adapter or active USB hub can be used as a power source.

Changelog:

Differences from Beta-6f to Beta-6g:

• Implemented bit-fade in SID when no waveform is selected.
• Implemented bit-fade in SID when reading write-only registers.
• Added bits to detect in menu when disk-images need update after write actions by the emulated drives.
• Implemented “door” on emulated drive, when open drive will read dummy bytes.
• Fixed CPU instruction timing bugs discovered when comparing emulated 6510 against real 6510.
• CPU irq/nmi timing fixes.
• Implemented bit-fade on I/O port of emulated 6510.
• Fixed SID stereo mapping for D500 and D700.
• Four timers added at addresses D0AA to D0AD for menu (it can’t use CIA timers when freezing).

Download: Firmware Chameleon Beta 6g (1432)

source: syntiac.com

This is a new ZoomFloppy package v2.0 that include a new release of OpenCBM and the ZoomFloppy Firmware v0.7.

Here are the changes in the v2.0 version:

• Many improvements and bugfixes.
• Add support for IEEE-488 drives. Implemented by Thomas Winkler.
• Add experimental support for 1571 serial nibbling via the SRQ protocol. Now you don’t need a parallel cable with a 1571. Implemented by Arnd Menge.
• Add support for low-level drive analysis with a 1541 index-hole sensor. This works only on drives with a parallel port and nibtools.
• Bugfix: cbmcopy -r or cbmread now no longer hangs at the end of a transfer.
• Bugfix: don’t reset the bus twice if previous command was interrupted and this command is “cbmctrl reset”.
• Bugfix: increase reset time to 100 ms to be sure all drives are reset.
• Linux build fix for more modern kernels.

Download: OpenCBM (Win) + ZoomFloppy firmware v0.7 (1658)

Download: ZoomFloppy Manual v2.0 (1915)

source: google groups sourceforge.net tommy winkler homepage retro innovations

Turbo Chameleon 64 is an extremely user-friendly cartridge that can be used without opening the computer. It is just plugged to the expansion port of the C64.

The Turbo Chameleon 64 cartridge can also be operated as a stand-alone unit (since it’s basically an FPGA computer like the C-One or the Minimig in a C64 cartridge case), replacing the computer, the floppy drive and the heavy power supply.

When used as a stand-alone unit, a USB power adapter or active USB hub can be used as a power source.

Changelog:

Differences from Beta-6c to Beta-6d:

• Cartridge emulations.
• Turbo speed increase: Eliminated one clock cycle from critical path.
• Turbo speed increase: Writes to memory concurrent with next instruction fetch.
• Turbo speed increase: MMU caches last used CPU slot.

Download: Firmware Chameleon Beta 6d (1443)

source: syntiac.com

Autopsy:

12►

This printer was surely an inexpensive ploy on consumers. Out of the box, you got a slow dot-matrix printer that did not have true decenders, and did not have the standard tractor-feed mechanism for using the printer paper of its day.

For an additional price, you could get: a ROM with true-decenders and the tractor-feed mechanism.

Download: Commodore MPS 803 Users Guide (3075)

source: zimmers.net

Autopsy:

12►

The MPS 1270 was the first ink jet printer Commodore released, as part of its MPS series. The MPS 1270A had both a Centronics port and a serial bus port. This allowed it to be used by a Commodore computer ( C64 , C128 , etc.) as well as a PC or Amiga.

Note:

• HP 51604A Ink Cartridge are compatible with this printer.
• The power connector have the TIP Negative and the outer Positive (9v 1A)

Download: Dip Switches MPS 1270 (2399)

Turbo Chameleon 64 is an extremely user-friendly cartridge that can be used without opening the computer. It is just plugged to the expansion port of the C64.

The Turbo Chameleon 64 cartridge can also be operated as a stand-alone unit (since it’s basically an FPGA computer like the C-One or the Minimig in a C64 cartridge case), replacing the computer, the floppy drive and the heavy power supply.

When used as a stand-alone unit, a USB power adapter or active USB hub can be used as a power source.

Changelog:

Differences from Beta-5b to Beta-6:

• Fixed RAM mirrors for 1541 drive emulation.
• Fixed reading from emulated SID.
• New cartridge emulations.
• Disk track lengths set to 6256, 6672, 7144 or 7696 bytes.
• Implemented disk-change with button.
• Input latch emulation in VIA emulation.
• Implemented SDR register in CIA.
• Implemented real IEC bus disable bit.
• VIC-II timing fixed for mode bits (MCM, BMM and ECM)

Differences from Beta-6 to Beta-6b:

• 1541 emulation: fixed IEC timing. All known speedloader problems are gone now.
• 1541 emulation: VIA6522 timer fixes.
• 1541 emulation: VIA6522 register r/w fixes.
• New cartridge emulations.

Differences from Beta-6b to Beta-6c:

• Auto speed option for turbo feature. Slows down on IEC bus accesses.
• PS/2 Page up/Page down alias for F1, F7. Easier navigation in the File-Browser.

Download: Turbo Chameleon 64 beta firmware v6c (1439)

source: syntiac.com

Autopsy:

Note: This is my first printer.

from c64-wiki.com:

The Commodore MPS 801 was a Matrix-Printer (Stylus-Printer) from Commodore released in the year 1984. MPS stands for Matrix Printer System, an invention from Commodore.

The Commodore MPS-801 was one of the first Printers offered by Commodore for its home computers. The printer used fan-fold paper via a paper tractor. The print resolution was a 6×7 Matrix at 10 chars/inch. The printing speed was about 50 chars per second.

Because of its 7-pin print head, character descenders couldn’t be created with the MPS 801. This was later made possible through some software tricks. The printer only supports unidirectional printing (i.e. it is only printing when the print head moves from left to right). On the way back to the left, the print head was inactive, which made the printer very slow, compared to later models. The interface to the computer was a serial IEEE-488, the serial bus for the C64.

The printer was not developed and produced by Commodore. The MPS-801 was produced by the Japanese company Seikosha, a subsidiary of the clock manufacturer Seiko (the same model there was named Seikosha GP 500 VC). At that time, Seikosha was one of the largest printer manufacturers in the world and was also manufacturing printers for Atari, such as the Atari 1029 printer.

Apart from the complete ASCII-charset the 801 could also print all Commodore graphic characters and reverse characters were possible. In addition to text and special glyphs the printer was capable of printing graphics.

For manual paper-handling there was a mechanical handwheel on the right side of the printer. Additionally a membrane key was provided for incremental linefeed.

source: c64-wiki.com

Two Commodore 64 added to my collection. The external case was bit dirty, it took me a couple of hours for a good cleaning but now the two C64 are like new.

The support of the IEEE-488 protocol (thanks to Tommy Winkler) is officially part of OpenCBM distibution.

You can find newest source code for ZoomFloppy in the Opencbm GIT repository.

Software revision v0.6 for IEEE-488 support:

• Device detection for 3040, 4040, 8050, 8250, SFD-1001 (as 8250).
• CBMCTRL.
• CBMCOPY.
• D64COPY for 4040 (thanks to TNT) and 2031.
• D82COPY for 8050, 8250 and SFD-1001.

Firmware revision v0.07 for IEEE-488 support:

• 0.7 (2011/5/10) – Add IEEE-488 support (thanks to Tommy Winkler).

source: sourceforge.net tommy winkler homepage retro innovations