Commodore.news

C64 RAM Tester cartridge | GI-Joe made an cartridge that can test the RAM inside the C64. This cartridge can test the RAM chips without the use of the Kernal ROM, Basic ROM, CIA1/2 and the SID. For the cartridge he uses an old game cartridge. You must replace the game ROM with an EPROM with the firmware for the RAM tester.

Commodore Amiga A500 repair | GadgetUK164 made a video about the repair of a Amiga A500. The Amiga had multiple faults: Corrosion from coffee, damaged Fat Agnus socket, dirty disk drive, and faulty RAM. He also talks about the upgraded 8372A, and a switch for switching between 512KByte and 1MByte of Chip RAM.

Universal power supply C64, VIC-20, Plus/4 and C128 | Ray Carlsen has developed a universal power supply for the Commodore C64, VIC-20, Plus/4 and C128 computers. Features: Input 120V, 60Hz or 220V, 50 Hz. Output: 5VDC - 5A, 9VAC - 1A. Built in Computer Saver. The whole system is built inside a sturdy metal casing.

Kerberos - C64 MIDI Interface | This project is about a MIDI interface in the form of a cartridge to fit the C64 expansion port. Features: Connecting MIDI devices such as keyboard and synthesizers. File transfers PC / Mac. Internal flash memory chip with a menu system, for saving your own programs and games.

HandyPNP | Lovablechevy made the HandyPNP. The Handy Plug n Play is a system with an 3,5 screen, controls, batteries and a universal connector. In this connector you can plug a cartridge which contains a complete game system. The system supports the C64 DTV and many other game systems.

Commodore 64 - Internet | Dan Wood made a YouTube video on how to connect a 1980's Commodore 64 8-bit computer to the Internet, BBS, IRC, WWW and Warpcopy. For his system he uses the 64NIC+ cartridge and the Contiki Software.

Core System C64 | Codefactory is dreaming about a successor of the C64. He made a 3D drawing of his successor of the Commodore C64 with the help of drawing program Blender. His wish list for the next generation home computer is: Simplified and transparent technology, easy to understand hardware, transparent architecture, easy to program and a graphic mode of 640 x 400, 24 bit colour or 1280 x 800, 16 bit colour.

Lunchbeat | Lunchbeat is a simple groove-machine with 8 step sequencer and four 1bit sounds. With this device with an Atmel Atmega328p microprocessor (16 MHz) you can make your own Commodore SID or Atari retro music. The functions are: Start/Stop, Setup, Edit, Sound Buttons and Mod Pots to tweak sound parameters in real time.

Commodore V364 | Rob Clarke has made a video of the Commodore V364 motherboard. The V364 is a extreme rare Commodore and there maybe only 3 or 4 of them in the world. The motherboard was not functional but after replacing a few components it is working again.

Power switch replacement Commodore 1084 | Carsten Jensen made an article about the replacement of the power switch in a Commodore 1084 or 1081 monitor. Cartsen had a replacement switch available, but it was not exactly the same as the original. But with a small alteration he could successfully repair the monitor.

C64p | The C64p is a laptop version of the C64DTV. The system is built inside a donor laptop. The features are: new 7 TFT screen, SD2IEC, keyboard interface and 3 custom PCB's for charging the battery, audio amplifier, joystick and mouse. The production is very limited, visit the web page for more details.

RadeonHD driver - AmigaOS 4 | A-EON technology has released the official RadeonHD driver for AmigaOS. Features: Radeon X1300 - Radeon HD 7000. 2D graphics acceleration. Supports output via VGA, DVI and HDMI. Available for all AmigaONE, AmigaOS next-generation machines and compatible models.

C64 Reloaded | Jens from Individual Computer has made new a Commodore C64 motherboard. The C64 Reloaded will fit in all original C64 cases. The power supply will be a standard 12 VDC adapter, the video signal will be S-video, but you need to supply the CPU, VIC and the SID yourself. The price will be 149,90 Euro.

Minimig case | Thomas Koch made a prototype for a Minimig case last year. It is now possible to print the case with a 3D printer. After printing it may be necessary to make some small modification to fit the LEDs and if you want to hide the small lines from the printing process you can apply a coat of paint.

Sovox Datassette emulator | Sovox has made a Datassette emulator for the Commodore C64, that is based on a mp3 player. The mp3 player can be connected to a real Datassette for recording a .tap file and to a real Commodore C64 to replay the .tap file.

RS-232 - C64 | On the blog from biosrhythm you can see how to build a RS-232 interface for your Commodore C64. The C64 doesn’t have a standard RS-232 serial port. But is has a user port with RS-232 at TTL levels. With a simple RS232 module you can make a real RS-232 port with the necessary -15 Volt and +15 Volt levels.

SD-BOX Cartridge v1.09 | The SD-BOX is a cartridge for the Commodore C64 with an SD card interface. The cartridge has many functions for the disk drive and the Datassette. Recent updates: Support for the Micrus Copy program. HEX preview of the tape buffer and protection removal program. Improvements for the tape load and verify functions, and the manual is updated.

Hardware (FPGA) retro computer emulation | Grant Searle has made a web page where you can find information on how to emulate old computers. The computer is assembled with a low-cost FPGA board and a few external components. You can add a keyboard, video or VGA, serial interface, external SRAM and a SD card interface. At this moment there is support for the 6502, Z80 and the 6809.

Cortex Floppy Emulator - Amiga | For the PC it is possible to replace the old disk drive with an emulator that uses a USB memory stick. Sadly this doesn't work for the Amiga, because the Amiga uses it's own format for diskettes. But now you can replace the firmware of the disk drive emulator and use it on the Amiga.

GPS View - C64 | Timo Voutilainen started a new project. He connected a GPS device to the Commodore C64. If you want to built your own C64 navigation system you will need the following components: CRIUS NEO-6 GPS v3.0 + I2C-GPS NAV -combo, 3.3V USB FTDI cable, Arduino IDE 1.05 and a user-port connector.

Cassiopei | Jan Derogee released new firmware for the Cassiopei. Changes in this version: More control over TAP files when the Cassiopei is connected to the PC. Added joystick functionality to the menu program of the VIC20, C64 and C16. Improved functionality regarding the PET-30XX series and support for the PET/CBM-8000 series. Jan is also working on support for the CBM-4000, C128 and the CBM-2001.

USB joystick adapter | Sidchip made a adapter that allows connecting two joysticks to USB. The features are: Two digital joysticks simultaneously, Supports for paddles on port 1, Compatible with Windows, Linux and Mac. The device is built with an PIC18F14K50 micro controller, the schematics, PCB layout and firmware are available.

VIC-20 flash memory expansion | Petri Häkkinen is developing a flash memory expansion for the Commodore VIC-20. At this moment he has a working prototype. He uses a 256K x 8 flash memory chip, three 74HC541 8-bit tri-state buffers and an ATMega32A micro controller. You can follow the progress of this project on Petri's blog.

C64FC | Stian Søreng is developing a Flash cartridge for the Commodore C64. After a few problems Stian has now a working cartridge. The AVR microprocessor can now write the cartridge image to the RAM and the Commodore C64 can read the RAM. The next step is to write the firmware.

Vampire 600 | Mfilos tested the new Vampire 600 FPGA accelerator for the Amiga 600. The Vampire 600 is developed by Majsta and has recently become available. On mfilos blog you can read about installing and configuring the new accelerator.

HerMIDI / SID-Wizard | HerMIDI is a MIDI interface for the Commodore 64 made by Hermit. The devices has only a few components and you can built it yourself. The schematics, firmware and PCB are available. The device works together with the SID-Wizard program.
Hermit also released a update for SID-Wizard. Changes in this version: MIDI-in, 2SID (stereo), 324 new instruments, new Bare player, Sound-FX support, and much more.

C64 Power adaptor | MAD Scientist made a new power adaptor for the Commodore C64. He uses a standard power supply from the PC with a Molex connector that has 5 VDC and 12 VDC. His adaptor makes 9 VAC from the 12 VDC and together with the 5 VDC it is connected to the Commodore C64. You can follow the progress on the Forum64.de web page.

Reproduction of the SX64 parts | Erwin van Betten has successfully reproduced the handlebar caps and the keyboard clips for the Commodore SX-64. Erwin uses an CAD program to design the parts and a 3D printer to make the parts. The parts are printed with an LulzBot TAZ 3D printer equipped with a Budaschnozzle 2.0 w / 0.35mm nozzle.

Chameleon 64 - 8i | An new core is available for the Chameleon. Changes in this core: Multimode resonance filters for the SID emulation and 6581 / 8580 selection. Improved CPU IO registers access at address 0 and 1. Improvements for the file browser and better support for Easyflash ROMs.

Arcade Evolution Joystick | The company AmigaKit has a new joystick for sale. The features are: Micro switches for two fire buttons and the four directions. Metal shaft and base plate. The dimensions are 20 x 20.5 x 5 cm, the front lip is curved for additional comfort and the cable has D-Sub 9-pin connector.

TurboFlyer 530 | Elbox Computer will release the TurboFlyer 530 in the next year. The TurboFlyer 530 is a new 68030-based accelerator with integrated FastATA CF/SATA controller for Amiga 500/500+ and A2000 computers. Features: 68030 processor (with MMU) @ 40MHz, 16MB fast 32-bit DRAM. Visit the Elbox web page for more details.

ACA500 | The ACA500 turbo card from Individual Computers will be available at the end of this year. The ACA is connected to the expansion port of the Amiga 500. The features of the new product are: 68EC000-10 CPU @ 14 MHz, 2 MB RAM, two CF-card connectors, compatible with internal memory expansions, expansion port, clock port, Kickstart 1.3 and 3.1 ROMs and the ACA500 is WHDload compatible.

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