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Posts Tagged ‘commodore’

C64 / 1541 / C16 Datassette found in the trash

May 29th, 2011 2 comments

I have found a Commodore 64 / 1541 Floppy Drive and a C16 Datassette in the trash.

The Floppy Drive was very dirty but in good working state, while the Commodore 64 was faulty (black  screen with tiny raster effect). I have replaced the video chip (MOS 6569) and is back to run better than never.

Turbo Chameleon 64 beta firmware v5b released

May 13th, 2011 No comments

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:

Beta-5 to Beta-5a:

  • Fix crash when turbo limit is set in menu without activating turbo. (or when disabling active turbo with button while a limit is set)
  • Fix D030 mirror of the turbo bit emulating C128 2Mhz mode with Chameleon turbo.

Beta-5a to Beta-5b:

  • Eliminate spurious resets by masking reset line in standalone mode.
  • Fix keyboard matrix so joysticks are properly emulated (IR, numpad) in standalone mode.
  • Block normal button functions in menu mode (only exception is reboot by pressing 0.7s on right button)

source: syntiac.com

Categories: Firmware, News & Rumors, Today

Turbo Chameleon 64 beta firmware v5 released

April 25th, 2011 No comments

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:

  • Framebuffer writes now use MMU.
  • Framebuffer writes can be switched off (buffer can be used by software)
  • Cartridge buttons emulated on PS/2 keyboard (F11,F12 and PrintScreen)
  • Chameleon can use real BASIC and Kernal ROMs in machine in cartridge mode.
  • Emulated IEC bus can be disconnected from C64 (Chameleon is drive emu)
  • FLI bug fixed.
  • Added Stereo SID support.
  • Turbo feature added.
  • Relative CPU speed displayed in VGA debug bar.

source: syntiac.com

Categories: Firmware, News & Rumors, Today

Commodore 64 IRQ Bicolor LED

March 4th, 2011 4 comments

This is a very old project published in a Dutch magazine to capture the state of the IRQ for Commodore 64 (vic-20) with a LED. After many years i have decided to make it.

On the photo you can see the project and the right connections on the cartridge port.

Components:

  • 1 x IC 74LS04.
  • 1 x Bicolor LED.
  • 2 x 330 ohm resistors.
  • Tiny wires.

How it work?

When the CPU generates an IRQ the green LED lights up, otherwise is red, if the irq is turned on and off quickly the led is orange.

 

Micro SwinSID – Firmware update by Swinkels

February 27th, 2011 No comments

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 (27022011):

  • This new firmware brings 6581 filter emulation by connecting B0 AVR pin to ground (on the Photo).
  • Filter distrortions are still not emulated, only filter cutoff is affected.

source: forum64.de

Categories: Firmware, News & Rumors, Today

Micro ZoomFloppy

February 17th, 2011 No comments

Micro ZoomFloppy is a reduced version of the ZoomFloppy interface.

The interface Micro ZoomFloppy will sit in the 6522 IC socket of the Commodore Floppy Drive and provides the complete ZoomFloppy functionality.  The only external connection is a USB connector.

source: go4retro.com

Categories: Hardware, News & Rumors, Today

Micro SwinSID – Firmware update & AVR ISP Adapter

January 20th, 2011 2 comments

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

On the Photo you can see the AVR ISP homebrew Adapter for programming the firmware.

Firmware update (10012011):

  • Much improved ADSR envelope fading based on a real SID counter design.
  • More soft filter.

Hardware tip:

To increase audio quality and volume level replace R4 (2k2) resistor with 1K. This will boost volume by about 50%

source: forum64.de

Categories: Firmware, News & Rumors, Today

Commodore USA shows his baby, The Commodore 64 clone

December 26th, 2010 No comments

Commodore 64 it’s back… and better than ever! The new C64 is a modern functional PC as close to the original in design as humanly possible.

It houses a modern mini-ITX PC motherboard featuring a Dual Core 525 Atom processor and the latest Nvidia Ion2 graphics chipset. It comes in the original taupe brown/beige color, with other colors to follow.

source: commodoreusa.net

Commodore 64 The Final Enhancement

December 16th, 2010 5 comments

Finally i had time to finish the enhancements of my Commodore 64, below a brief description of what you see in the photos.

Enhancements description:

  • 1541-III bulk version.
  • Reset Switch.
  • Multi Kernel with Atmel flash rom.
  • Multi Kernel Switch.
  • Eprom homebrew PLA.
  • Cartridge ON/OFF Switch.
  • DualSID with separate output (6581 / 8580)
  • 2 x Fan Cooling.
  • Fan Cooling Switch.
  • Bright Blu Power LED.
  • 1541 Ultimate REV1 with v2.0 Firmware.

ZoomFloppy: Commodore floppy drive Interface

December 15th, 2010 No comments

ZoomFloppy is an USB device for connecting Commodore disk drives to your PC.

The ZoomFloppy is an improvement based on XU1541 from Till Harbaum. Nate Lawson and Jim Brain teamed up to produce a professional product.

This controller will support IEC drives, IEEE-488 drives and a user-port connection for parallel speeder drives.

source: jbrain.com commodore-gg.hobby.nl

Categories: Hardware, News & Rumors, Today

A working Commodore 64 under water

December 10th, 2010 No comments

The team from dienstagstreff.de has demonstrated a Commodore C64 on the “Hobby und Elektronik 2010” in Stuttgart.

Demonstrating a C64 is not so special but this time the C64 was under water! They submersed a C64 circuit-board in water, connected it to a power supply and a monitor and the C64 work without problems for 1 hour.

source: youtube.com commodore-gg.hobby.nl

Commodore 64 (WG 149763) & (UK B1611244)

December 8th, 2010 No comments
Commodore 64 (WG 149763) & (UK B1611244)

Autopsy:

Today i picked up two Commodore 64, both are in poor condition and Broken.

The first one with the chip SID 6581 can play a garbled sound and the closing hooks broken, the other one with the chip PLA 906114, 7406, CIA 6526 dead. I made some cleaning and repaired the problems.

DualSID by Tomi Malinen Assembling and Testing

November 28th, 2010 3 comments

DualSID Assembling and Testing

DualSID KIT by Tomi Malinen:

DualSID is a device which allows you to plug in two different SID models to your Commodore 64.

You can set the second SID‘s address to five different memory locations. For more information and price visit the Tomi Malinen homepage

Download: DualSID V3 PCB Scan (459)

C64 Game: Nanako in Classic Japanese Monster Castle

November 20th, 2010 No comments

Wood, the Portuguese developer who ported the Speccie game ‘Uwol: Quest for Money’ to the C64 is almost done with his conversion of the rather obscure title, Nanako in Classic Japanese Monster Castle.

In this game you control Nanako, the game consists of 25 levels, you have to climb one level to another level in the castle and offcourse, there are some baddies.

Let me spare you the details of the background story, but Nanako … looks like a very original platform game.

source: noname.c64.org mojontwins.com

ZTerm v0.6 for Commodore 64

November 14th, 2010 No comments

ZTerm64 is a color graphics terminal for Commodore 64.

ZTerm 64 Features:

  • FAST! ZTerm64 is written in 100% Assembly Language Approx 40 blocks long
  • Swiftlink/Turbo232/Link232 Support. Auto detects presence of one of these cartridges and selects the proper serial driver. If no cartridge is detected it uses the stock userport function up to 2400 baud.
  • CCGMS Clone I made it look and work very similar to the CCGMS terminal program which is probably one of the most popular terminal programs ever for the C64
  • Punter / Multi-Punter transfer protocols. Yes, these will work across a TCP/IP Connection.
  • XModem / YModem coming soon
  • Source Code is available. It is in 64TASS cross assembler format.

source: zlink64.us