Hey peepz.

Some time ago I ordered an ATI Radeon 9200 (256MB RAM) in order to give it a test on the GREX :)
Yep I know that official CGX drivers don't exist for GREX but no worries... Ratte has something up his sleeve :)

So... the main problem with the Radeon is that it requires also a 3.3V line to operate which the Amiga PSU doesn't deliver.
Every problem though has it's solution so there are a couple of ways to bypass this:

Putting an ATX Power Supply into the Amiga, and then feeding Radeon with the 3.3V line from the ATX PSU that Amiga doesn't use.
Using an LM1084 3.3 regulator that you can feed with a max voltage of 27V as input (5V from Amiga are just fine to produce less heat) and ouput the required 3.3V.

Read more...

Jack Tramiel, one of the PC industry’s major pioneers, has died. He was born in 1928 and, after surviving imprisonment in Auschwitz and another concentration camp during World War II, first established the Commodore name in business in 1953. His most successful endeavor, and one of the most successful in the history of computing, was the legendary Commodore 64, one of the very first computers built, as Tramiel would later put it, “for the masses, not the classes.” He was 83.

The legacy of Commodore lives on to this day, mainly in how this breakthrough device popularized the idea of a home computer. The C64, introduced in 1982, will certainly be remembered fondly by many readers of this website, as well as the Vic-20 and other less iconic devices. After he left Commodore, Tramiel purchased Atari in 1984, though its most influential devices were already behind it. Commodore, too, would go on to smaller successes like the Amiga series.

There will soon surely be more comprehensive and relevant examinations of Tramiel’s life and work, but for now let it suffice that the man was critically important in the history of personal computing, and in a great part shaped its present and future. He is survived by his wife and three sons, and of course the indelible mark he left on the industry.

With the CT60 the Falcon has become the fastest Atari available, at least when it comes to computation speed. One area where it still lacks greatly is Graphics. The SuperVidel project tries to remedy this.

Background

Just think about it; the falcon already has good sound abilities, which it has always had, and the CT60 brings it up to a good speed level. The most limiting factor for graphics intensive applications now will be writing to the STRAM to update the screen. If you do some calculations on the available bandwidth of the STRAM, a refresh rate of about 30fps is all that even the CT60 will be able to achieve. These calculations are made from assumptions of a 320x240x16bit screen, an available memory bandwidth of 5.5MB/s for the STRAM, and that the CPU performs updates of the whole screen continously from FastRAM to STRAM.
This is where our project comes in. We're designing a Videl-replacement graphics card, which will connect to the CT60 bus slot. The card aims to be 100% compatible with the old Videl chip at the register level.

http://nature.atari.org/

In-action game video of a port made with Pac-Man emulator developed by Simon Owen, working on a Sinclair ZX Spectrum +2A, using the ROMs from the original arcade in its Midway version. This video is for educational purpose and see how this program works on a real machine.

The game works like the original arcade machine with some limits, as screen resolution and attribute clashes with colors.

Sorry for the flickering on the TV, but I cannot do nothing about it.

Pac-Man emulator is owned to Simon Owen.
Pac-Man trademark is owned to Namco / Midway .

Starts right after you got your memory back in your previous adventure. That scroll you found turned out to be a music score containing the beats of what seemed to be a brief melody. The dim light in the hall didn't let you see which melody was it; so you lighted up a candle and held it near the scroll. In an instant some characters appeared on the back side of it. They made you remember who you really were.

FS-UAE is a multi-platform Amiga emulator based on UAE/WinUAE, specially made for playing diskette and CD-ROM games. The emulator can be controlled with a gamepad using a on-screen GUI. This emulator has many default settings making it easier to use. FS-UAE can be used on a Linux, Windows or Mac OS X computer.

http://fengestad.no/fs-uae/

cc65 is a complete cross development package for 65(C)02 systems, including a powerful macro assembler, a C compiler, linker, librarian and several other tools. It is based on a C compiler that was originally adapted for the Atari 8bit computers by John R. Dunning. The original C compiler is a Small C descendant but has several extensions, and some of the limits of the original Small C compiler are gone. The original copyright allows free redistribution including sources, even if it would not qualify as Open Source Software according to the Open Source Definition.

The original Atari compiler is available from http://www.umich.edu/~archive/atari/8bit/Languages/Cc65/. The complete package consists of the compiler, an assembler, a librarian, a linker, and a C library for the Atari. There are some packages on the net that claim to be adapted as a crosscompiler for DOS or Unix, but was not able to get them working correctly.

Because I wanted a C compiler for my CBM machines, I took the Atari compiler and started a rewrite. Until today, I have rewritten large parts of the compiler, all of the library, completely replaced the assembler, the linker and the librarian, and added a frontend to simplify use. All changes have been done with portability in mind, so porting to new 6502 architectures should be quite easy.

http://www.cc65.org/

On the Sam's Commodore Site you can find a collection of .crt files. The data in these files are games that are converted to be used in a cartridge. On the web page you can also find information on how to burn a EPROM and a schematic for building your own cartridge. A few examples of the .crt files are: Bruce Lee, Boulderdash, Super Zaxxon, Beach Head, Ghostbusters, Ghost 'n Goblins, Gryzor and many others.

http://www.siemappelman.nl/download.html

jAMOS is a cross platform, Java-based reimplementation of François Lionet's AMOS BASIC on the Amiga.

• BASIC-like interpreter based on MequaScript
• AMAL interpreter from jAMAL written in Java
• Script editor utilising Java Swing
• AMAL-to-Java code translator and compiler
• Source is buildable in Eclipse and NetBeans IDE out of the box
• Runnable from a single JAR file
• Reimplemented AMAL Environment Generator
• Rudimentary Amiga-style screen and scrolling engine
• Integrated AMOS sprite bank viewer (AbkViewer)
• From MequaScript: Supports both BASIC-style and C-style syntax (in progress)
• From MequaScript: Multiple jAMOS programs can be run concurrently
• From MequaScript: The beginnings of simple object orientation
• From MequaScript: Supports dynamic types similar to JavaScript

http://sourceforge.net/projects/javaamos/

You can give here your opinion about the best AmigaOS 68k, AmigaOS 4.x, MorphOS and AROS game of the year 2011. Freeware games can be found on Aminet, OS4Depot, archives.aros-exec.org/ and/or MorphZone or with a search on Google. Not finished games, interpreted games, and games that have been nominated in previous years can't enter the competition.

Please do not vote several times or vote for your own game.

Top 3 games of each systems (AmigaOS 68k, AmigaOS 4.x, MorphOS et AROS) will be revealed Saturday, February 4, 2012.

http://obligement.free.fr/hitparade/award2011.php

X-BENCH can be used to replace the Workbench when you only want to load games with WHDLoad. You can use X-BENCH with all Amiga's OCS or AGA and with 68000 to 68060 CPU's. Changes in this version: New music from Curt Cool. New "Floppy look" loader. Fading, unfading and colour effect added. And the program code is optimised (smaller and faster).

What's new ?

- Curt Cool as joined the team as musician so there's 3 new cool songs from Curt Cool (Menu, launcher and setup).
- Can now use manual/script launch list as like as whdload/exe.
- New "Floppy look" loader when launching a game/tool.
- The suffixe .slave or .exe in now blanqued in the list launcher.
- Fadding/Unfadding effect added.
- Sliding color effect added on the main menu text.
- Code optimised (Faster and smaller)
- Resolved some bugs.

http://xbench.online.fr/index.html

Night Raid is a game that should have been published in the Ahoy! Magazine in February 1989. But the magazine ended in January 1989. Now the diskette of the February issue is found and the game is available. Night Raid is a fast paced action game where you must defend a military base against enemy warships.

Download:

http://noname.c64.org/csdb/getinternalfile.php/102100/Night_Raid_D_GP.zip

Blast Off and Strike!

Vintage gamers, near 25 years after its arcade release, Easter Egg is proud to announce to you that R-Type is finally back for your Amstrad / Schneider CPC 128K. Yes, CPC like Colour Personal Computer, no more like Crappy Port Compomise... So, don’t miss your last chance to blast off and strike the evil Bydo empire!
READY

Game Features

Colourful Stages

R-Type display 16 colours sprites and maps, converted from the arcade graphics. Move your R-9 spacecraft through improved stages with starfields, animated background, parallax scrollings and more.
Now fast and fully animated.

Vibrant Music and Effects

Choose from three audio modes for playing R-Type.
«music» for listening the hi-fi arcade soundtrack port, «effects» to enjoy the full 3 channels sound effects with external stereo speakers and «mixed» for a better experience. Last but not least, a «sound test» is waiting you... What else?

Arcade and Casual Modes

The original arcade spirit is back on this 128K version.
Choose how many «lives» and «continues» will be used to play. Each cleared stage displays its score at end to follow your progress. R-Type support 2 fire buttons for a true arcade experience. (alternative keyboard layouts for all CPC)

A special mode is available for casual gamers. Learn «how to play», select the start «stage», chose to «keep» weapons and «rebirth» where you die. Tips will help you to defeat boss aliens.

CAT’Rank

Without running the game, you can check the ranking from the BASIC by typing CAT or |DIR. The 10 best scores are saved to the floppy disk, so your name will remain in the universe forever.

http://www.rtype.fr/Game_Features.html

BB4CPC (shorthand for "Bubble Bobble for CPC") is a retro remake of "Bubble Bobble", Taito's unforgettable 1986 arcade game hit, for the Amstrad CPC 8-bit home computer series. It was developed with the purpose of running on any CPC machine, regardless of RAM size or CRTC model, while staying as faithful to the original game as it could be done in 48 kB of code and data.

BB4CPC was developed by César Nicolás González, "CNGSOFT". BB4CPC is freeware; it is provided "as is" with no warranty. Being a fan work, the copyright of the original arcade game belongs to Taito; I just hold rights over this remake.

http://cngsoft.no-ip.org/cng_bb4cpc.htm

Gaming Tetralogies - The Sonic The Hedgehog Series
■ Apple II Incider- Adventuring With Ultima (And Gauntlet)
■ Commodore Du Jour - H.E.R.O.
■ MAME Reviews - Splat!
■ Dual Perspective - Ninja Gaiden III: The Ancient Ship Of Doom
■ The Pixelated Mage - Alcahest
■ Standalone Spew - Grab-'Em-Quick Alert: MAME, DOS, Other iPhone Retro Apps
■ + More!

http://www.retrogamingtimes.com/

Return magazine is a German print magazine about the 8-bit computers from A like Atari to Z like the ZX Spectrum. In this edition: Prince of Persia for C64, Forbidden Forest, Commodore 16, Rambo Grafix Compo, Joust, Joy and Mouse adapter for Atariport, NEC Super Grafx, Alien Crush for PC Engine, Virtual world: Alternate Reality, Epoch / Yenos Super Cassette Vision, The MSX standard (Part 2), Sega Power Strike 2, News, calendar and events.

http://www.return-magazin.de/

Full title    [MOD] Clopit!
Year of release    2011
Publisher    BaSe1 PrOdUcTiOnZ (USA)
Author(s)    the DrUnKeN mAsTeR
Original game    Jet Set Willy (Software Projects Ltd)
Machine type    ZX Spectrum 128K
Number of players    1
Controls    Keyboard
Type    Arcade: Platform
Message language    English
Publication    Freeware
Availability    Available

http://www.worldofspectrum.org/infoseekid.cgi?id=0027215

Jason Tinkler's Out-Space was originally written during the 1990s and polished for release on the Oldschool Gaming stand at Replay last weekend. This new C64 game is a gallery shooter where weird and wonderful enemies arrive on screen in waves to be despatched by the player's craft at the bottom of the play area. Although we were only running a final beta on the stand it proved popular and at one point we even had the legendary Jeff Minter popping by and having a quick blast! Pop over to the CSDb for the game.

Goal of the project is a replica of the Prototpye-floppy Commodore 1565 for the C65. If production is not too expansive, a real piece of it will be created.

The technology of 1565 is not known exactly, but it's just a small, simple PCB board inside. There are not many C65 produced and only late models (Rev 5 with 8 pin 1565 floppy-port and late version of FDC F011 Floppy Disk Controller chip) could access the drive. The original 1565 would be drive #9 and is only compatible with C65 computers.

Similar because of the 3,5" disk drive would be the 1581. It was mass produced, but it's rare also. The PCB board of 1581 is a lot bigger then 1565 and the case would be a little too small. As the floppy disk drive is mounted directly on the bottom case part of the 1565, there would be no place to put the 1581 PCB. Maybe the use of a re-design and a (thinner) PC-compatible disk drive would be possible.

It may be possible to built-in a external Amiga disk drive.

Also it would be possible for own projects, a case for 1541U, an USB-Floppy drive or card reader.

http://scacom.bplaced.net/Collection/p1565en.php

In this English D64 magazine the following items: Charts, Headline News, Mini market, Opinion poll, World of Demos, Opinion poll, Hardware corner, Interview with STE and the List.