Commodore.news

SID 6581 on a Papilio FPGA board | On this YouTube video you can see a Papilio FPGA board with a SID 6581 VHDL core (no filters) acting as a networked SID device. The program ACID 64 is used to send the SID data to a network device. Then a program from Markus Gritsch sends this network data to the FPGA via the serial port. The FPGA has a RS232 UART for receiving and sending the data, a 16KB FIFO buffer for storing the data and a emulated SID chip for playing the audio.

DC2N 4 | Luigi Di Fraia made a video about a new proto-type of his DC2N. The DC2N is a device that reads data from a Datassette and sends it to a PC. The latest, and final version, the DC2N 4 is controlled from the PC or Mac and will not have a local display anymore. The controls, reading of the data and a firmware update is done via the (mini) USB connection.

Ultimate v2.3 firmware | There is now new firmware available for the Ultimate II. Changes in this version: The REU emulation and SX-64 cartridge slot timing have been improved. And many more small changes and improvements. The (pre-)order form has been reopened with adjusted mail rates and different mail options.

SUX 6400 | The Sound Ultimate Expander 6400 audio digitizer and its accompanying Digimaster 64 software were released on July 24, 2011 at the Commodore Vegas Expo v7. With this cartridge you can digitize audio into your Commodore C64. The cartridge is available and will cost $25 including a cartridge case.

Mega SwinSID | You can see a demonstration of a prototype of the Mega SwinSID on YouTube. This time the original SID is replaced by a STM32 ARM Cortex M3 microcontroller. The microcontroller works at 80 MHz and it uses the integrated 12 bit DACs for stereo output. Currently it is in early stage of development and only basic SID emulation is working.

Commodore C64 controlling a pallet warehouse | The Commodore C64 can be used to control all kinds of hardware. In this demonstration you can see that the C64 is used to control a pallet warehouse. A program written in BASIC is used to move the pallets from one place in the warehouse to another place. The movement is controlled with 3 stepper motors that can make the mechanical arm move in the X, Y and Z directions. The commands for the motors are given via 5 outputs at the user-port of the C64.

HybridSID - Network SID Device | Markus Gritsch wrote an alternative firmware for his HybridSID device. It can now act as a Network SID Device and can be used as the sound output device for ACID 64 and GoatTracker. When the HybridSID works together with ACID 64 you will have support for the RSID format and the music is played cycle exact. The HybridSID is a open source project, the schematics and firmware are available to build your own device.

PET/CBM - SD | Twylo told us last month that he is working on a SD card for the Commodore PET/CBM. He now has an improved proto-type. This prototype is made on a so-called breadboard with loose components and wire connection. In the near future he is going to make some prototype PCBs. You can watch the latest proto-type in a YouTube video.

PIC voice synthesizer C64 | Jorge Castillo gave a demonstration of his voice synthesizer, that is controlled by an Commodore C64. The synthesizer is made with PIC16F648A micro controller. It is connected to the user-port of the C64. The program XL VIP terminal is used to communicate between the C64 and the PIC controller. You can watch the demonstration video on YouTube.

Chameleon beta-6d firmware | The firmware 6d (beta) is now available for the Chameleon cartridge. Changes in this version: Turbo speed increase. Auto speed option for the turbo. Turbo slows down when access to the IEC bus - GEOS works now! 1541 emulation improved (IEC timing, VIA6522). New cartridge emulations: Mikro Assembler, StarDOS, Business Basic, S'More, Prophet-64, Capture, Mach-5, Westermann Learning, Epyx Fastload, Easy-flash and PageFox.

KryoFlux IPF write support | The KryoFlux system can now write an image back to a diskette. In a demonstration you can see that original and protected games (Xenon 2, Turrican 2 and Dragon's Lair) are written back to a diskette, and work without problems. The software for writing images is in beta stage, but will be available in the near future for Linux, Windows and Mac OS X. You can visit the KryoFlux web page for more information.

DiskFreezerX | The DiskFreezerX is a project that aims to capture bit cell exact information from floppy disk drives as a standalone device. On Lallafa's blog you can follow the project, and at the moment the hardware is working. The device is made out of several modules: Processor board with a SAM7 ARM processor. IO board with an SD card slot. Floppy adapter module. And a 256 KiB SPI memory module.

RR-Net MK3 | Jens Schönfeld showed a proto-type of the RR-Net MK3. This cartridge for the Commodore C64 has the following features: Ethernet (Wiznet W5100 chip with integrated TCP/IP stack), 8 kbyte ROM (Writeable with the C64), 128kbyte RAM (bank switching). The RR-Net MK3 can also be use together with the Chameleon, Retro Replay, MMC Replay and the Nordic Replay via the clock-port.

The Amiga on a Chip Project | Jeri Ellsworth released a video on YouTube. In this video you can see a old project of Jeri from 2005. This project was the successor of the C64-DTV. The Amiga version needed more Flash memory, and the toy company lost interest because it would be more expensive. Later the market for this kind of toys collapsed.

HxC floppy emulator | For the HxC floppy emulator is new firmware available. The HxC floppy emulator is a replacement of a 3.5 inch disk-drive in for example an Amiga or a Atari ST. With this device you can connect the original floppy controller in the computer to a SD memory card or a USB port on a PC. Recent changes in the firmware: New track generator. Variable bit-rate support. Kurzweil KRZ file support. Many new file systems supported for example ADF Amiga / UAE Extended and D81 (C64+1581). SD-card settings window and much more.

HybridSID | Markus Gritsch has improved the firmware of his HybridSID. In this version he added level bars for the SID voices on the display. HybridSID is a hybrid SID player, built with emulated and real hardware. The CPU and CIA are emulated with a PIC32 and the sound is generated by a real SID chip. You can watch a demonstration on YouTube.

C-One - ZX Spectrum | Alessandro Dorigatti has made a ZX Spectrum (48k PAL) core for the C-One with FPGA extender. The core supports the ULA+ 64 color mode, a Kempston joystick emulation and can load TAP files. This core requires a monitor that supports 50Hz. An English manual and a keyboard layout is included.

Chameleon beta-6 firmware | The (beta) firmware v6 is now available for the Chameleon cartridge. Changes in version 6: Fixed RAM mirrors for 1541 drive emulation and reading from emulated SID. Cartridge emulations: KCS power, SSv5, C64GS, Comal-80, Zaxxon, Ocean type 1, Simons Basic, Fun play, Super Games, Warp Speed, Dinamic and Magic Desk. Implemented: Disk-change (button), SDR register in CIA and IEC bus disable bit. Improved: VIC-II timing for mode bits (MCM, BMM and ECM).

petSD | Nils Eilers is working on a new storage device for Commodore CBM computers with a IEEE 488 bus. The petSD can replace the floppy or hard-disk and uses a SD memory card for the data storage. He has made a working prototype with an ATmega 1284P, IEEE 488 bus drivers, real time clock and a serial-USB-converter. At this moment the following features are working: load, save, directory, disk-status, mount a d64 image and disk changes. You can follow the progress of the petSD on the web page of Nils.

Stereo SID | DAC (Digital Audio Concepts) has a new product available, the internal Stereo SID board for the Commodore 64 and 128. With this dual SID board you can install a second SID (6581 or 8580) inside your C64 or C128 (without soldering). You can buy a empty pcb, pcb with parts or a complete assembled version.

ProPeddle | Jac Goudsmit has started a new hardware project. He is going to build a modern version of the Commodore CBM/PET computer. He uses a modern programmable Propeller chip in combination with a real 6502 processor on the ProPeddle circuit board. The ProPeddle circuit board is placed on a GadgetGangster Propeller Platform motherboard to complete the system. You can follow the progress of ProPeddle on the blog of Jac.

HybridSID | Markus Gritsch has build a hybrid between an emulated and a hardware SID Player. The CPU and CIA are emulated with a PIC32 and the sound is generated by a hardware SID chip. This HybridSID is demonstrated in a YouTube video. In the comments of the video you can find a link with detailed information about the HybridSID.

IEEE-488 Interface Experimentation | Twylo got hold of some Commodore PET computers, but without a disk-drive. He decided to make his own storage device. He build and interface between the PET and a SD memory card. You can see a small demonstration in a YouTube video.

A604 Memory expansion | Individual Computers released a successor to the A603 memory expansion for the Amiga 600. The specifications of the A604 are: 1 MB additional Chip RAM, Clock (with battery), Clock-port, Second clock-port for a Subway USB controller (60% faster), Expansion socket for an Indivision ECS. The A604 will be for sale in the near future at the Vesalia.de web shop.

8580 SID-player | Peter build himself a 8580 SID-player. For this project he used a AT91SAM7S256 @ 48MHz processor, 64KB RAM, 2x16 LCD display and a SD card for 35000+ PSID files. The system is build inside a Pioneer DT 555 case and can be controlled with the help of a menu. Watch the video on YouTube for more information about this project.

Minimig on a Chameleon | TobiFlexx has adapted the Minimig-core for the Chameleon cartridge. He made a video where you can see a demonstration of the Minimig on the Chameleon. The specifications of the Minimig-core can be seen with sysinfo. The Chameleon cartridge is a cartridge for the Commodore C64 but can also be used as a stand-alone device.

C64SD 2.0 Infinity | Manosoft made a successor to the C64SD. He replaced the processor with a Atmega 1284p which has double capacity (128 kbyte). The new version now has a pass through for the Datassette port and a revised reset circuit. You can watch the promo-video of the C64SD 2.0 Infinity on YouTube. The promo-video is in the Italian language, but has English subtitles.

SID chip in a Scorpion ZS-256 | BYTEMAN is experimenting with the combination of the CSG 8580 SID Soundchip from legendary computer Commodore 64 and the russian clone of the ZX Spectrum the Scorpion ZS-256. You can watch a demonstration on YouTube. He used a SID chip, standard 74xx IC's and a ported version of SIDPlayer.

Chameleon beta-5 firmware | The (beta) firmware v5 is now available for the Chameleon cartridge. Changes in version 5: Improvements with MMU (framebuffer and turbo). Chameleon can use the real BASIC and Kernal ROMs in the C64 in cartridge mode. FLI bug fixed. Added Stereo SID support. TOD clock fixes. Turbo has configurable speed limit. Double-buffered VGA output. Many changes to the menu.

Onmyodo | Jens Schönfeld is working on a Internet connection for the Commodore C64. His proto-type is called Onmyodo. The specifications at this moment are: 100MBit, TCP/IP Stack in Hardware, IRQs (low CPU usage) and a 16 kByte buffer. The Onmyodo can be plugged into the cartridge-port of the Commodore C64, but can also be used together with a MMC64, Retro Replay, MMC Replay and the Chameleon. You can follow the progress of this cartridge on the Forum64.de web page.

1541 Ultimate-II V2.1 Firmware | Gideon releases a firmware update for the Ultimate-II. The changes are: Audio options and Stereo SID emulation. Initial support for Domark cartridges. Improvements made in file system handling. Improvements to the cartridge logic, and reading of ISO9660 added. Gideon is also experimenting with the EM1010 USB to Ethernet module but it is not functional at the moment.

Automatic monitor switch for Amiga | André Pfeiffer (Ratte) developed a automatic monitor switch for the Amiga computer. The switch is a Do It Yourself project, but there is a very good tutorial on how to assemble the monitor switch. The monitor switch can be used with the Amiga 1200, 3000 and 4000 computers with a IndivisionAGA with CybervisionPPC or BVision. For all the details you can visit the a1k.org web page.

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