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Path: senator-bedfellow.mit.edu!bloom-beacon.mit.edu!news.mathworks.com!news-xfer.netaxs.com!netnews.upenn.edu!news.voicenet.com!omni1!tsrken From: tsrken@voicenet.com (tsr/hornet) Newsgroups: comp.emulators.cbm,comp.answers,news.answers Subject: COMP.EMULATORS.CBM: Emulation FAQ for Commodore 8bit Computers (4/4) Followup-To: comp.emulators.cbm Date: 5 Jan 1997 23:43:35 GMT Organization: Voicenet - Internet Access - (215)674-9290 Lines: 735 Approved: news-answers-request@MIT.EDU Message-ID: <5apeb7$ec8@news1.voicenet.com> Reply-To: tsrken@voicenet.com NNTP-Posting-Host: omni1.voicenet.com Summary: Emulation FAQ for Commodore 8bit Computers. Keywords: cbm commodore 8bit emulation faq CBM FAQ X-Newsreader: TIN [version 1.2 PL2] Xref: senator-bedfellow.mit.edu comp.emulators.cbm:16265 comp.answers:23495 news.answers:91286 Archive-name: 8bit-emulation-faq/part4 Comp-answers-archive-name: commodore/8bit-emulation-faq/part4 News-answers-archive-name: commodore/8bit-emulation-faq/part4 Comp-emulators-cbm-archive-name: 8bit-emulation-faq/part4 Posting-Frequency: twice a month (monthly to news.answers) Version: 3.5 CBM EMULATION FAQ - (Version 3.5, 4 November 1996) ================= This FAQ is usually posted twice a month on the 4th and 19th to comp.emulators.cbm. Since comp.emulators.cbm was set up to remove the emulator discussion from comp.sys.cbm, this FAQ will not be posted there. Lines preceeded by a '+' have been added or modified since the last version was posted. The FAQ is in four parts due to its size. Part 1 is general information and a list of available emulators. Part 2 is questions and answers. Part 3 is mostly data. Part 4 is basically reviews of various emulators. --------------------------------------------------------------------------- 8. Credits. ----------- If anyone has a better description for any of these emulators then send me a copy, also if you know of any other emulators or ftp sites then send me them as well so that I can update the information. Is any one out there thinking of making an emulator for a machine other than a C64. (eg C128, VIC20, Plus4, C16, PET) I will add this to the list also. Thanks to: All the emulator authors - For writing your emulator; All the utility authors - For writing your utility! :) frodo, lennon, funet, etc. - For keeping the emulators and stuff online! Jim Sloan : jsloan@u.washington.edu - For posting the rom extraction routines on comp.sys.cbm. Jouko Valta : jopi@stekt.oulu.fi - For sending me some documentation on the ATARI-ST emulator, the rom extraction routines, and comments. - For "5. Emulator File Formats" section. - For sending me the updated Kernal ROM section. - For sending me the regular updates! Jim Brain : brain@msen.com - For his comments & questions on version number. Jens-Uwe Rumstich : rumstich@informatik.hu-berlin.de - For pointing out some German ftp sites & c64alive emu. Eli Mackenzie : eli.mackenzie@fleming.edu Fredrik Ekman : D91FE@rby.hk-r.se Eric Brown : brown@sme.siemens.com - For info on Pet emulators Caronni : caronni@tik.ethz.ch - For SX-64 rom information. Per Olofsson : cl3polof@cling.gu.se - For info on A64 emulator. Marko Samuli Makela : Marko.Makela@hut.fi - For PET 64 aka 4064 aka Educator 64 kernel rom differences - For writing the C64 Kernal ROM revision section. Wolfgang Lorenz - For the program and description of emulator detection. - For answering so many questions. Paul David Doherty (h0142kdd@fx2800.rz.hu-berlin.de) - For posting the detection program and suggestions for standard file formats for the emulators. Guntram Blohm (blohm@mathematik.uni-ulm.de) - For description of the P00 file format and converting it. Kevin Brisley (kbrisley@tsegw.tse.com) - For description of the T64 file format and converting it. Michael Schwendt (3schwend@informatik.uni-hamburg.de) - For the excellant new intro to SID emulators. And extra special thanks to: Peter Weighill - stuce@csv.warwick.ac.uk - For all the hard work he put into getting this FAQ going. - For all the hard work he puts in to providing updates to the information presented here. :) =================================================================== Appendices: The things that don't really belong in the body of the faq, such as: A. Reviews: Lengthier comments about particular emulators, as they come to hand. These may, or may not, be "biased"! You are invited to add to or correct what is here. 1. PC64 2. A64 V3 3. C64S (commercial) 4. PlaySID V3.0 5. PC64 vs C64S 6. AXF-64.a16 --------------------------------------------------------------------- 1. PC64 This review was deleted at the request of the emulator author, as it contained outdated information. He has, however, provided some additional information for the Q&A section. A "new" review would be most welcome! --------------------------------------------------------------------------- 2. A64 V3. Review 1: Review by: James O. Shank Jr. HEE! v131p9t3@ubvms.cc.buffalo.edu AKA: Ninstar Cybermage I or shank@acsu.buffalo.edu Black Phoenix Rising... A or aa247@freenet.acsu.buffalo.edu as posted in comp.sys.cbm, 16 Jun 1994. I've recently had the opportunity to play around with a copy of A64 V3. I've found that alot of programs run. Not necessarily as well as on a c64, and slow, but alot more programs work than under version 2. On the other hand, some programs which worked fine under version 2 (times of lore, for example) do not work under version 3 because the graphics emulation, though faster, does not handle multiple graphics banks very well. Those of you who know alot about graphics are going "Uh-Oh" right now, but the problem doesn't seem to appear in all that many programs. One thing I've noticed is that the graphics Emulation runs a bit slower than the rest of the emulator at times, which means that if you play something very complicated, like a flight simulator, the input will be processed faster than the graphics, meaning that you can make a 90 degree angle turn between two frames. The convert software can solve alot of these problems by skipping the middle man where processing is concerned, and speeding up things by letting the Amiga do the work without the emulations help. It basically looks for the densest blocks of code and converts them into Amiga assembly language. Whenever the program tries to emulate a block that was translated, it executes the Amiga block instead. Under V2, this was a long and complicated process that most people lacked the expertise to perform, as you had to search through the assembly language yourself and tell the computer which blocks it had to convert. Under version 3, the entire process is automated, allowing you to load a memory map, tell the computer to convert it, and watch it go. I like the results I've had thus far, though I lack the memory(stock amiga 600) to do any large programs. The code files tend to be large. The sound emulation is much better. Under version 2, you needed an accelerated machine to get decent sound and often the sound was horrible anyway. Under V3, the sound is still distorted by speed at times, but the tones and sounds are mostly right on the money. If the program doesn't do a great deal of other processing, the sound is nearly perfect. Sidplayer, for example, was great, running almost up to speed with graphics and at speed without. Sidplayer can run at speed with graphics on if you boost the CIA rate, but occasionally the graphics will cause timing problems which make a note last a little too long or too short, etc. Advice: Run A64 on an accelerated machine if possible. Though it is possible to get enjoyment from games on a slower machine if you fiddle with the settings long enough and use convert, having an accelerated machine will make your life easier. If you're going to be using C64 roms and converting alot, then you may want to pick up an extra Meg of Memory. 2 Meg should be enough, though you can emulate the ram expanders if you have 3 or four 8-). (one Meg ram disk on a C64, who would have thought 8-) ). Review 2: From: korczyns@oasys.dt.navy.mil (Joseph Korczynski) Newsgroups: comp.sys.amiga.reviews Subject: REVIEW: The A64 Package, version 3.0 Date: 11 May 1994 19:29:31 GMT REVIEW The A64 Package is a hardware and software product. The hardware consists of a small box which has a male DB25 and 8 pin DIN connectors along with some special circuitry. This box connects to your parallel port and allows you to connect Commodore 8-bit serial peripherals such as the 15XX series disk drives and printers. NEVER PLUG THE INTERFACE INTO YOUR AMIGA WHILE THE AMIGA IS TURNED ON. You could damage your Amiga and peripherals by doing so. If you have an Amiga 1000 you will require an additional cable specifically made to connect A500/2000 devices to an A1000 parallel port. The hardware interface can stay plugged in at all times without interfering with any programs on your Amiga as long as they do not use the parallel port. If you want to use your parallel port with some other pieces of hardware like a printer or digitizer, you must either remove the hardware interface and install the other device or use an A-B switch box (Centronics parallel with female connectors). The software is a collection of Amiga programs which lets you access and run C64 software. The main program, A64, is the Commodore 64 emulator. The other programs allow you to transfer files between the C64 and Amiga disks (with 15XX disk drives). After you install The A64 Package and run the A64 program, you will notice that the BASIC startup screen is different from that of a real C64. This is because the Commodore 64 ROMs (two computer chips located inside a real C64 which contain the operating system) are not present in A64. The C64 ROMs are not included because they are copyrighted by Commodore. The A64 contains a complete C64 ROM emulation which allows A64 to run most C64 programs. A64 ROM emulation is very compatible with the C64 ROMs, but there may be some C64 programs that will not run because of the lack of real C64 ROMs. The A64 Package utilities includes a C64 BASIC program which can be transferred to a real C64 via a 15XX disk drive connected to the A64 hardware interface. This program when run on the C64 will dump the C64 ROMs to a file which can then be transferred back to the Amiga and used in the A64 emulation. A64 is a complete Commodore 64 emulator. Sound, graphics, BASIC and machine language are all emulated. A64 fully integrates with the Amiga by allowing you to use Amiga disk drives, hard drives, ram drives, printers and modems. A64 operates in two modes: Pause Mode and C64 Mode. When in Pause Mode, you have access to the A64 Prefs (preferences) and A64Mon (machine language monitor). The current C64 program that A64 is running will be paused. Pause Mode gives you complete access to the Amiga system, and multitasking is completely functional. The C64 Mode runs the C64 program. In C64 mode you do not have access to the Amiga system. Multitasking is not disabled, but A64 controls a majority of the Amiga system. To enter Pause mode from C64 Mode, press the two ALT keys simultaneously. A64 emulation speed will depend on the program you are running and the type of microprocessor that your Amiga uses. On 68000 based Amigas, A64 is not capable of running all programs at usable speed. Accelerated Amigas can see emulation speeds over 300%. Most games will not run over 100% no matter how fast your Amiga is. I've done most of my evaluation of A64 with public domain software. I have been able to run everything I can throw at it. I do enjoy browsing the ABCUG user group monthly C64 public domain program disk. A great deal of effort was spent trying to make the A64 as compatible as possible. The biggest problem with compatibility is related to disk I/O and custom disk drive routines. Custom disk drive routines "Fast Loaders" are extremely time critical and must run at exactly 100% speed in order to function properly. "Fast Loaders" vary from program to program. The only way to emulate "Fast Loaders" is to write a custom loader for each program which is impossible since there are hundreds of variations. A64 V3.0 supports some "Fast Loaders" using Patch Files. There are Patch Files for ISEPICed archived programs, SID/PIC V3.4, SIDPlayer, and GEOS. (GEOS is supported only on 68000 Amigas and 1541/1571 disk drives because of the time-critical nature of the GEOS operating system.) One method of speeding up A64 emulation is to convert the C64 program from 6510 opcodes to 68000 opcodes. This has the potential to double your emulation speed. This is accomplished with a utility called "CONVERT". The CONVERT utility converts C64 machine language into Amiga machine language. This conversion process eliminates a lot of work the A64 has do while running the emulation. A64Tools is the file transfer and file conversion utility. It allows you to copy, convert and print files using any combination of Amiga and C64 disk drives and printers. Text files can easily be converted between PetASCII and ASCII. Amiga drives only support PRG and SEQ files under A64 emulation. ":" and "/" are illegal characters for Amiga filenames. When A64Tools encounters on of these characters in a filename, the character will automatically be changed to a "-". As an original A64 V2.0 registered user, I am impressed with the enhanced SID chip support, increased speed and compatibility. I also welcome the addition of Patch Files for "Fast Loader" support along with support for GEOS. It was worth the $25 upgrade fee. DOCUMENTATION Documentations consists of a professionally printed softbound manual. It has an extensive index and table of contents. The manual assumes that you are familiar with the basic operation of the Amiga and the terms used to describe it. The manual also assumes you are familiar with the basic use of the Commodore 64. LIKES AND DISLIKES I like the professionally bound manual. I like the patch file support. I like the improved SID support. I dislike the software not working in native AGA graphic mode. I would like to see 1581 emulation using native Amiga disk drives. CONCLUSIONS I enjoy the ability to emulate other computers. As Newsletter Editor the ABCUG user group which supports the Amiga and Commodore 64/128 computer users, I find A64 a valuable tool for reviewing C64 public domain software and writing tutorials for the monthly newsletter. Understanding the limitations of software emulation, I give this product **** (4 out of 5 stars). COPYRIGHT NOTICE Copyright 1994 Joseph F. Korczynski. All rights reserved. --------------------------------------------------------------------------- 3. C64S commercial. Reviews by: 1. Paul David Doherty (h0142kdd@fx2800.rz.hu-berlin.de) As posted in comp.emulators.cbm,4 Jul 1994. 2. Robert Rusbasan (rrusbasa@nyx10.cs.du.edu) As posted in comp.emulators.cbm, 20 Jun 1994. Review 1. by Paul David Doherty. I have spent an hour testing software which didn't work with the 0.9x versions of C64S, and none of them works with the 1.0c demo version, so I'd say that compatibility has not improved much. There are lots of cosmetic changes, but the emulator core seems to be the same as in the 0.9 versions. Some games I have tested: - Fahrenheit 451 (with copy protection AND fastloader removed) = doesn't work - Critical Mass (adventure) = the graphics are still messed up, no matter whether I chose NTSC or PAL mode - Masquerade = still doesn't show the pictures A new feature (?) seems to be a requester "CPU JAM AT ... : PRESS ANY KEY" which pops up with some games (Mask of the Sun, Amnesia) instead of crashing the emulator. However, C64S still crashes pretty often (and this means that neither will CTRL-ALT-INS reset the emulator, nor will you be able to leave it with CTRL-PAUSE, nor will you be able to reset your PC with CTRL-ALT-DEL! The only way out is the reset button.) This never happens with MC64/C64NEU, and it's a shame that Miha wasn't able to fix it. (As a rule of thumb, whenever "DISK IO" appears in the lower right corner of the screen you can press the reset button :-) Games which crashed totally in the above described way: - Infocom games (only if you use the fastloader) - Buckaroo Banzai - Fantastic Four (if you use the fastloader) - Lane Mastodon (and the other InfoComics) To put it straight, I don't expect C64S to support fastloaders (yet), but it shouldn't crash and lock up the PC. Besides, some of the games that don't work run flawlessly on MC64 (Lane Mastodon, Fahrenheit 451), so it's not just a fast loader issue. All in all, I'm not terribly impressed. If others found significant compatibility improvements, maybe they could post their experiences. Review 2. by Robert Rusbasan. Although I have generally preferred the C64NEU emulator, I got my tax return today and thought I'd call Seattle Lab and give them a chance to talk me into getting their commercial version of C64S. I was generally pleased with what I heard. The person I talked with seemed competent enough. When I told him that I had been impressed but also frustrated by the public version of C64S that Miha had released, he assured me that they have made a *lot* of changes. He said the pre-beta releases and the commercial release were "like night and day". I told him that I couldn't get my analog joystick to work, and the keyboard joystick emulation only seems to make sense to the author since I have yet to run across anyone that likes it. He replied that the analog joystick support has been radically improved, and that you can map the joystick to any keys you want in the commercial release. He said that it supports limited disk protection schemes, and they are going to continue to work on this. I whined that I and others have been unable to get any kind of response from Miha and asked if they planned to support the product. He told me they are going to have *strong* support for it, including phone, fax, email, and an ftp site! I asked if the ftp site was up now, and he said it sure was. You can access it at as.seattlelab.wa.com (204.29.31.1). Since it is very new, you might have to use the IP address. So far they only have the docs at the ftp site, but the list of enhancements indicates that there may indeed be some merit to the "night and day" claim. In particular, the sound and timing seems to have been improved. It seems you don't have to guess at the speed anymore, since you can set it to run at the original Commodore 64 speed, as fast as possible, or at a custom speed. Version 0.9 basically just gave you the custom speed and let you try to match the C64's original speed. Unfortunately, the docs still list Miha's email addresses as the source of email support. I assume that is out of date and they will have a Seattle Lab address soon. He also told me that there *will* be a new shareware version of the product out soon, and it will be put on the ftp site. That is a very smart move, in my opinion, because currently the people who found the program floating around have no way of knowing about the commercial version at all. I decided to go for it, which got me a bit of negative news. Right now they only ship COD, which adds $5 and brings the price to $60. He told me that they'll be able to take credit card payment shortly and offered to put my name on a list and call me when they could process my order that way, but I told him to go ahead and ship it COD. If anyone wants to take the plunge now, here is the order info: Seattle Lab 214 1st St. Kirkland, WA 98033 (206) 828-9001 (Voice) (206) 828-9011 (Fax) $55.00 --------------------------------------------------------------------------- 4. PlaySID. Short: Version 3.0 of the famous SID emulator Author: rbk@ios.se (Ron Birk) Uploader: kunath@informatik.uni-muenchen.de (Peter Kunath) Type: mus/play NEW FEATURES: V3.0 (1994) * Uses PLAYSID.LIBRARY (please read separate docs) * Support of XPK Data Compression * Realtime waveform and envelope display (uses low priority task) * Shows C64 pictures (Koala, Blazing Paddles, Doodle, Adv Art Studio etc.) * TV System detection and selection * Channel on/off selection * PlaySID is now a commodity * Uses a config file for settings * Multifile selection (music and pictures) * Ability to show and hide PlaySID windows * Second PlaySID instance redirect modules to the running one * PlaySID font removed * More arexx commands * Many major bugs corrected PRODUCT INFO: This is a utility which uses the playsid.library to emulate the SID and 6510 chip. The SID chip is the component in the C64 computer that handles sound. The 6510 chip is the CPU of the C64, that means the component that actually executes all programs. Because the Amiga does not have these chips and others, you can't run C64 programs directly on Amiga. Now this utility lets you play all those C64 programs that produce sound. As you probably know, the C64 has three sound channels (the amiga has four). But this utility also allows use of the fourth channel. This channel is the product of some special programming on the C64, it isn't really a channel. The purpose of this product is to make the best conversion of C64 sound on Amiga ever possible. If you think some sound isn't correctly converted please let us know. This utility is designed to work with true multitasking, under any system version and any amiga model. It can be run from both Workbench and CLI/Shell. It should work with any other program that don't use sound or timing. If this isn't the fact please let us know. Some time ago we released a similar product called "The 100 most remembered C64 game-tunes". This product is the version 3.0 of that program. The tunes on that demonstration disk are now also available to this version. And up to date there are more than 400 tunes available. We and others are also working with more. --------------------------------------------------------------------------- 5. PC64 vs C64S. Article by Jeremy Blackman, AKA Ranma Saotome <ranma@eskimo.com> in comp.emulators.cbm, 18 Feb '95. [A quick note: Quite a bit in this review is now out of date. In particular: PC64 now -does- support .d64 files, and has for a long time, and C64S now can handle fastloaders. -tsr] Q:I am thinking about buying a C64 emulator, but I need some advice which C64 emulator to buy, the PC64 or the C64s? All the emulators on net are demos, and do not work completely, isn't that so? Or do they work just fine? I would appreciate any help. A:* Both C64S (my personal choice, cause PC64 don't support GUS for sound) and PC64 have ALMOST fully working demo versions. The limitations are that on C64S you cannot use an analog joystick until you register, you must use keyboard controls to simulate a joystick, and on PC64 you cannot use a joystick, nor can you access directly off a Commodore drive, which you can in the registered version. TO compare the two: * C64S is nice in that it supports GUS, which none of the others do (hey, PC64 person...hint hint hint <grin>). It has a fairly easy-to- understand setup and interface, and overall works fairly well. I have run across a few games that don't work on it, for example, I cannot get the T64 of "Pharoah's Curse" to run on C64S, any version, though it runs on PC64. C64S also supports .D64 disk images, which is very nice. This allows you to use games which require swapping disks, like Adventure Construction Set, the Last Ninja (hey, why does this game die after the first level?), Racing Destruction Set, etc. * PC64 has a much less intuitive interface, but many more options. I particular like the option of using some of the alternative ROM set images, such as the 64SX image and the EXOSV3 images. (I've almost got a copy of EXOSV3 hacked into C64S...<grin>...little side project. It sometimes crashes however, so I'm working on it). It however only supports Soundblaster, where C64S also supports GUS. It also refuses to acknowledge a GUS in SB mode, and also refuses to work off the SB clones (sound16a) in the other machine here. So for sound, C64S wins hands down. This emulator has shown more success in loading certain games, but due to the lack of support for .D64 type disk images, it can be a _REAL_ pain to run multidisk games, or games that require saved data disks. I current have written a program to take a .D64 and extract it into a directory so you can use the Manager for PC64 to set up subdirectories to fake the disk sides. Unfortunately, some games check the disk volume label, and PC64 automatically has the volume label be the DOS drive and path. So it cannot run some of these games. * Neither C64S nor PC64 can load Fastloader games at the present time, though there ARE programs out there to shut off Fastloader support. (I had one for use on my C64 since I had a Super Snapshot cartridge which was very much faster than any of those fastloaders, and it could conflict). Unfortunately, I have not seen any of these programs put out as D64 or T64 or P00 files. * PC64 appears to have support for cartridge images, but I'm not sure. (Could someone confirm or deny this?) If it does, it'd be nice if someone could take an image of the Super Snapshot cartridge... * It is possible to get VIC chip problems, such as flickering (try MULE, leave it on the title screen long enough and the credits begin to flicker, and Realm of Impossiblity loses the stat bar to static on rare occasions) on C64S. I have not managed to get these errors on PC64, and the video refresh is sometimes smoother. I have a 486DX2/66 before you ask, and local bus video. I am running under MSDOS, not Linux. I didn't feel like playing with Dosemu. <grin> In summary - I like C64S's simplicity of interface, and it wins by far on disk system since it supports those D64 images (though it'd be nice to have support for multiple disk drives, so you could select a disk image for drive 8, one for 9, etc...) and it wins by far on sound since it supports GUS. PC64 has more power, with the ROM set options, the Charset and Basic options (hey, I want some of those enhanced basic sets, anyone got an image?), but I have not gotten sound to work and I don't like the disk system as much, though the ability to set up multiple drives is very nice. PC64 has much more expandability, since it can use those ROM images (hey, anyone got a ROM image of the Commodore 65DX? I have the support and demo disks for it, and I'd love to play with the thing...I somehow doubt the hardware was 100% compatible, though.). C64S is the easier one to get up, running, and playing games with. So, for the moment, I leave both on. PC64 is for playing with hacking around on, and C64S is for the games. --------------------------------------------------------------------------- 6. AXF-64.a16 Here's some details on AXF-64.a16 which is a c64 emulator for the Amiga. It is from an aminet ftp site. Short: C= 64 emulator, alpha 16 Author: borgen@hstud2.cs.uit.no (Bxrge Nxst) Uploader: kjelli@stud.cs.uit.no (Kjell Irgens) Type: misc/emu WHAT: Emulator of C= 64 for Amiga computers with 68020 or higher. WHY: Because A64 (both 2.0 and 3.0) sucks IMO. And I think the Amiga deserves good emulators like the PC has. (Update: I've seen Frodo now - good try, but way slower than mine... I think I can beat it.) HOW: First you need 3 files: C64.BASIC, C64.KERNAL, C64.CHARSET. These must be exactly 8192, 8192, and 4096 bytes big. These are just dumps of real C= 64 roms. They are not included for legal reasons, but I think several other emulators actually include them. Put these files in the current directory or in the same directory you store the executable. You can now start the emulator. You can LOAD files that are in RAM: or C64: (assign it where you have you your files). The fileformat is the same as A64 uses. Disk images are not supported. The keyboard is mapped nearly 100% like a real C= 64 so the keys wont always match the Amiga keyboard. The RESTORE key is not mapped at all. The joystick port of your Amiga maps to both C= 64 joystick ports. Bank switching is supported. Hires character mode is the only mode supported. Sound isn't supported. There is no restart option, you have to quit the emulator with the ESCAPE key or left mouse button. SPEED: No. Unless you have an 040/060 that can write 7M/s to chipram. Then perhaps. Unlike many other emulators (but like Frodo!) the relative speed of the screen update and the cpu speed does not change, it will always run internally like a 1MHz PAL C= 64, and never faster than a real C= 64. (Later versions might have adjustable speeds here.) WHY SELECT AXF-64: It does a few things that A64 doesn't. It can do raster bars. It can do raster interrupts and screen changes on a per line basis. It was made with big cpus in mind. TODO: First to come is multicolour character mode. I have ideas and all, but I need to test a little to see if I can make it fast enough. AGA support. Not only align bitplanes for more DMA time under AGA, but also use other algorithms to reduce chip bus activity. Sprites. I have code and ideas for that too. Bitmap modes. All timers. I have ready code for that too. Sound. Not sure what to do with this. Perhaps kludge in something with PlaySID? Support disk images. Make different screen update modes for different configurations. New in Alpha 15: Oooops! Sorry to all who downloaded Alpha 13. It relied on my patched Kernal to sniff LOADing :(((. Fixed now, and tested with the ROM that comes with Frodo. Copperlist building logic improved. Code simplified giving smaller size and more speed (a case of blowing the 040 caches methinks). New in Alpha 16: Redid the bankswitch logic for the VIC II chip. Seems to work better now, but I still have some unresolved cases for what to do when $D000 ram is banked in. Looked at raster interrupts, and they don't look good :-(. I got it a little better, but it still needs work... Since I'm doing my military service at the moment updates may be far and few between, and I wont have any email until summer 1995. I'll snailmail new updates to a friend of mine who will upload them. -Borge Nost ======================================================================== B. Advertisements. This is a catchall place for any product out on the market which isn't an emulator or such but still has something to do with C64-emulation. The views expressed here are not necessarily the views of the FAQ author! If you have something you think could fit in here please feel free to email the FAQ maintainer. You don't have to pay anything :) -------------------------------------------- 1. The High Voltage C64 CD. Have you ever stared at all those stacks of disks you have in the corner of your bedroom, trying to figure out where that one game or demo is? Have you ever had a disk go bad on you, without any backup available? Have you ever wished you could have your whole collection in one place for a change? Well, two members of the c64 'scene' have put together a CDROM for PCs and Amigas that try to solve these problems. This disk contains a huge amount of files dating across the C64's timeline. It contains over 600mb of software stored in about 3200 .d64 files. There's a grand total of about 4400 games from 1982-1995, 7700 demos from 1985-1995, and about 700 utilities. The most recent files are dated 4/14/1995, the day the CD was mastered. There are also many tools for the Amiga and PC to manipulate the files. The CD sells for 35 British pounds (that's about $55) For ordering information email darren@talent.demon.co.uk. Also send mail to this address to find out where in the USA you can send your money, if you're afraid of sending money overseas. For a list of the files on the CD as well as a C64-executable file with more information go to the ftp-site utopia.hack.nl and go to the directory /pub/c64/C64_CD. 2. GEOS Warp GEOS Warp is a program that works exactly like GEOS 2.0 for the c64. :) It will have releases on Power Mac, PC and Unix. The Power Mac ver- sion is currently 100% complete and will be released as soon as the legal matters with GeoWorks involving the release are agreed to. For more information on the project point your WWW-browser to: http://stud1.tuwien.ac.at/~e9426444/index.html 3. Breadbox CD-ROM This is a completely legal CD-ROM containing around 1200 disk images with public-domain software and shareware for the C64 and the C128. Even around 100 D64 files for GEOS are included. You'll find games, tools, pictures, demos ... The CD-ROM contains a windows menu program too, and a lot of PC and Amiga utilities to manipulate and extract D64 files. Additionally, emulators for other 8 Bit computers are provided, i.e. Sinclair Spectrum, ZX-81, TI99/4A, Amstrad CPC, MSX, CP/M, Dragon, Atari XL ... all come with software. Last but not least I collected pictures of all these and other "orphan" computers. The CD sells for $40US (incl. air mail to anywhere) or $35US in Europe (ordinary mail). Further info at: http://www.8bit.com Order address: Matthias Matting Herzog-Ludwig-Str. 29 D-85570 Markt Schwaben Germany Email: c64cd@8bit.com ==========================================================================