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A free to download Magazine dedicated to Commodore computers.<br />
<strong>Issue</strong> <strong>89</strong><br />
Interview With R.M. Smedley<br />
Vic Listing Website<br />
Interview with Sean Peck<br />
Creator of Kipperterm 128<br />
NEW CASE BY Terry Raymond<br />
INTERVIEW WITH STEVE REED FROM<br />
WWW.C64COPYPROTECTION.COM AND CLOAN NEWS-<br />
LETTERS<br />
Various Games Reviews
Editorial Page 3<br />
CONTENTS<br />
www.commodorefree.com<br />
Interview with Sean Peck Page 41<br />
Creator of Kipperterm 128<br />
General News Page 6<br />
NEW CASE BY Terry Raymond Page 44<br />
Commodore 64 News Page 11<br />
Amiga News Page 22<br />
REVIEW METEOR DEFENDER AMIGA Page 45<br />
BY Bartosz Debski for Commodore Free<br />
ABYSSONAUT COMMODORE 64 GAME REVIEW Page 46<br />
Vic 20 and Plus 4 News Page 34<br />
INTERVIEW WITH STEVE REED FROM Page 38<br />
WWW.C64COPYPROTECTION.COM<br />
AND CLOAN NEWSLETTERS<br />
INTERVIEW WITH R.M. Smedley Page 47<br />
www.vic20listings.freeolamail.com<br />
Commodore Free Game review 10x10 Page 51<br />
For the Amiga Reviewed by Bartosz Debski<br />
Xplode Man for the Plus 4 review Page 40<br />
Commodore Free Magazine Page 2
www.commodorefree.com<br />
Editorial<br />
With holidays and a death of a friend recently, things haven’t<br />
gone to well with the publication. I started work many times but<br />
didn’t seem to have the energy to finish what I was doing, and<br />
most times I sat with the majority of this time looking at a blank<br />
screen. Powered on more by determination, and some nice<br />
comments from readers, things like “when’s the next issue out”<br />
and “have I missed an issue” I decided to actually get myself motivated<br />
and produce an issue. I am way behind schedule but unfortunately<br />
real life has got in the way again.<br />
For the people concerned about the issue, don’t worry I am still<br />
working on it, it was just a lapse, and I am well under way for<br />
the next issue as some people came to my rescue and released<br />
text for me to use.<br />
So without much waffle I present the latest issue, latest in the<br />
very real sense of the word, I hope you like it and feel free to<br />
comment.<br />
Regards<br />
Nigel (editor)<br />
www.commodorefree.com<br />
Editor<br />
Nigel Parker<br />
Spell Checking<br />
Peter Badrick<br />
TXT, HTML & eBooks<br />
Paul Davis<br />
D64 Disk Image<br />
Al Jackson<br />
PDF Design<br />
Nigel Parker<br />
Contributors<br />
Website<br />
www.commodorefree.com<br />
Email Address<br />
commodorefree@commodorefree.com<br />
Submissions<br />
Articles are always wanted for the magazine. Contact us<br />
for details. We can’t pay you for your efforts but you are<br />
safe in the knowledge that you have passed on details<br />
that will interest other Commodore enthusiasts.<br />
Notices<br />
All materials in this magazine are the property of<br />
Commodore Free unless otherwise stated. All copyrights,<br />
trademarks, trade names, internet domain names or<br />
other similar rights are acknowledged. No part of this<br />
magazine may be reproduced without permission.<br />
The appearance of an advert in the magazine does not<br />
necessarily mean that the goods/services advertised are<br />
associated with or endorsed by Commodore Free<br />
Magazine.<br />
Copyright<br />
Copyright © 2015 Commodore Free Magazine<br />
All Rights Reserved.<br />
Commodore Free Magazine Page 3
www.commodorefree.com<br />
Commodore Free Magazine Page 5
www.commodorefree.com<br />
General News<br />
BBC MICRO REPAIR ENGINEERS WANTED<br />
Fancy working on the repair of the BBC micro range of machines,<br />
well if you can handle a soldering iron The National<br />
Museum of Computing (TNMOC) needs help to maintain the<br />
stock of BBC machines it uses in education programmes<br />
and exhibits and need peoples help with the exhibits maintenance<br />
and upkeep, read that as repairs<br />
Read more here<br />
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/technology-33291036<br />
Commodore Pet returns<br />
In a vain effort to cash in the old Commodore name, manufacturers<br />
seem desperate to put the commodore name onto<br />
anything, as in this case, a generic Android phone, with<br />
some old emulation software and a strange Commodore<br />
Pet name. It even looks nothing like a Commodore or a Pet.<br />
Still the specification seems good as long as the price is<br />
right it could be tempting. Although younger readers may<br />
wonder what all the fuss is about<br />
http://www.theregister.co.uk/2015/07/15/commodore_<br />
pet_returns_as_android_phablet/<br />
Amiga 500 - LEGO<br />
Fbsarts has created an amazing LEGO version of a Commodore<br />
Amiga 500 computer. This creation is created in scale,<br />
with all the keys, disk drive and ports in the right places.<br />
you can even open the top to check the motherboard.<br />
https://ideas.lego.com/projects/82519<br />
The 68000 Wars<br />
Jimmy Maher is writing a story all about the 68000 CPU, as<br />
used in the Commodore Amiga, Apple Macintosh and the<br />
Atari ST. He writes about introduction of the Amiga and the<br />
people who worked on it, including the problems and successes<br />
of the computer<br />
http://www.filfre.net/2015/03/the-68000-wars-part-1-<br />
lorraine/<br />
AmiArcadia - v23.04<br />
AmiArcadia is a emulator of early game consoles like the<br />
PHUNSY, Elektor TV Games Computer, Interton VC 4000,<br />
Emerson Arcadia 2001, Central Data 2650 and others. The<br />
emulator is available for the 68k Amiga, Amiga OS4, MorphOS<br />
and Windows.<br />
TOSEC (The Old School Emulator Center)<br />
http://amigan.1emu.net/releases/#amiarcadia<br />
TOSEC, (The Old School Emulation Center), is a group dedicated<br />
to the preservation of games and programs for home<br />
computers and console system. New to the sited are the updates<br />
of 14 new, 117 updated and 13 removed programmes.<br />
http://www.tosecdev.org/<br />
Commodore Free Magazine Page 6
www.commodorefree.com<br />
General News<br />
WIFI joystick<br />
Solo761 is working on a WIFI connected joystick.<br />
The system comprises of 2 parts with each use a AT-<br />
Mega 8 microcontroller and NR24L01 send and receive<br />
module. The receiver uses the power of the<br />
computer and the transmitter uses a USB connection<br />
for power. Solo761 says”At the moment it supports<br />
joysticks with two buttons, although DB9 connector<br />
has pin for third button I don't know if any game actually<br />
uses it...”<br />
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W-rE1DHK3Yc<br />
Turrican met twee piano's<br />
A German concert with two pianos where you could listen to the<br />
music of Chris Hülsbeck: The music played: Welcome to Turrican,<br />
Loading Screen 1, Thunder Plains, Loading Screen 2, The Great<br />
Bath, Loading Screen 3 Laser and Enemies, Loading Screen 4, Tower<br />
of Morgul, The Final Fight and Credits.<br />
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C6jcoFnerHQ<br />
You may also like<br />
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7dJrsmt9BOY<br />
Komoda & Amiga Plus #001<br />
C64 Scene for iPad 1.1<br />
Komoda & Amiga Plus is a pdf magazine in English<br />
for Commodore users. In this edition: Alter Ego, Aviator<br />
Arcade, Little Sister Sara Trilogy, The Vice Squad,<br />
X-Force Evil Wizard Wacky Waste, Arctic Shipwreck,<br />
Mr. Robot and his Robot Factory, Memento, History<br />
Line:. 1914-1918, Tetris, C64Persian, Stars and Planets<br />
a'la Commodore, Mortal Kombat, computer hardware<br />
emulation.<br />
Released by: Mr. SID<br />
http://www.twinbirds.com/c64_scene/C64_Scene.ipa<br />
http://www.twinbirds.com/c64_scene/C64Scene-1.1-source.zip<br />
This app lets you Browse and watch all C64 scene productions available<br />
on CSDB directly on your iPad.<br />
See http://csdb.dk/release/index.php?id=130115 for more details.<br />
https://dl.dropbo<br />
xusercontent.com<br />
/u/16069876/file<br />
s/KAP/K&A_Plus_<br />
01_EN.pdf<br />
Scene World Podcast <strong>Issue</strong> 7<br />
Tess & Tel: Tess Fries and Jeroen Tel<br />
Jeroen Tel is one of the most prolific and famous game music<br />
composers on the planet. With singer and dancer Tess<br />
Fries, the two are moving music forward with their new Pixel-Pop<br />
genre.<br />
http://sceneworld.org/blog/2015/05/21/podcast-episode-<br />
7-tess-and-tel-tess-fries-and-jeroen-tel/<br />
Commodore Free Magazine Page 7
www.commodorefree.com<br />
General News<br />
Return <strong>Issue</strong> 21<br />
C64Studio v4.3 released<br />
Return magazine is a German magazine featuring 8-bit computers.<br />
In this issue: 20 Years PlayStation, Dynamite Headdy<br />
(Mega Drive), Donkey Kong Junior (C64), Tim Wright (Cold<br />
Storage), AmigaOS 4.1 Final Edition, RGCD 16K (C64), Lindwendture<br />
(C64), Einhänder<br />
(PlayStation)<br />
Sys Check II (Atari XL),<br />
Tiger Heli, Gamescom<br />
2014 Remix: Fist II -<br />
The Legend Continues,<br />
Crossover:. Street Fighter<br />
II, Pixel Art: Art Design<br />
and many more,<br />
https://www.returnmagazin.de/<br />
KIM Kenner archive<br />
pdezoete@dottyflowers.com Have scanned the Dutch<br />
computer magazines KIM Kenner, Kenner 6502 and uP<br />
Kenner and made <br />
available on its<br />
web page. All the<br />
computer<br />
magazines have<br />
now been<br />
converted to PDF,<br />
and are free to<br />
download<br />
http://kimkenner.<br />
dottyflowers.com/<br />
The Games-Coffer<br />
On the "Games Coffer" web page hosts games, demos, animations,<br />
slideshows, diskette magazines, history, FAQ, emulators,<br />
reviews and advert Scans for Amiga and Commodore<br />
64 machines. New games recently added are : AmigaDOS Tutor,<br />
Catch Song, Count and Spell, Climbing Up, Personality<br />
Analysis, World History,<br />
A Matter of<br />
Time, Atomic Food<br />
Chess, Bouncer,<br />
Climbing Up, Crillion,<br />
Masquerade,<br />
Pixie Kingdom,<br />
Ramify, Jetstrike,<br />
Jetstrike AGA, Jetstrike<br />
Junior and<br />
Base Jumpers.<br />
http://www.games<br />
coffer.co.uk/<br />
C64 Studio is a machine language development<br />
environment that works with VICE. Recent changes:<br />
Alternative BG colour for the map editor, True drive<br />
adjustable Emulator option, Undo for map editor, editor<br />
charset and the sprite editor. Improvements EasyFlash<br />
creation PETSCII dialogue table, and Tiles builds.<br />
New Features:<br />
Fix: Colours on startup with new settings are now set to<br />
sensible values<br />
Fix: Replaced Scintilla in most places with a pure .NET<br />
control. A big step towards better cross platform. Also<br />
better syntax colouring<br />
Fix: !ifs inside<br />
macro<br />
definitions<br />
now work<br />
Fix: Big<br />
speed up on<br />
preparsing<br />
when<br />
opening<br />
multi file<br />
projects<br />
http://www.<br />
georgrottensteiner<br />
.de/en/index.<br />
html<br />
Retro Commodore<br />
Retro Commodore has many high quality scans. Amongst<br />
dome of the latest additions are: Computer <strong>Issue</strong> 10<br />
(Danish),Mastering the Commodore 64,Amiga Intuition Reference<br />
Manual, IC Run Oct 1987 (Danish), Amiga System<br />
Programmers Guide, Grafik og Data Commodore 64 / 128,<br />
Piccoline, Partner (Danish), Commodore 64 Disk Companion,<br />
Amiga Bogen (Danish), Brugerporten på Commodore<br />
64/128 (Danish), Amiga og PC-tilbehør '92 Katalog and<br />
Markt & Technik CP/M Software commercial (German).<br />
http://www.retro-commodore.eu/<br />
Commodore Free Magazine Page 8
www.commodorefree.com<br />
General News<br />
List of Commodore Products<br />
This is a very comprehensive list of Commodore equipment.<br />
The list was originally started by Jim Brain and is now being<br />
maintained by Bo Zimmerman. If you can add information<br />
to this list please contact Bo with your additions or amendments<br />
http://www.zimmers.net/commie/docs/cbm-products.txt<br />
Commodore: The Early Years<br />
And Commodore Amiga Years<br />
Brian's Kickstarter campaign has been a huge success so far<br />
so take a look at it and provide your support for an accomplished<br />
Commodore author by purchasing his new books at:<br />
https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/146275<strong>89</strong>59/com<br />
modore-the-amiga-years-book/<br />
Take a look at Brian's promo video for the new Amiga book:<br />
https://d2pq0u4uni88oo.cloudfront.net/projects/1875854<br />
/video-544399-h264_high.mp4<br />
Hello! I’m Brian Bagnall and I want to tell you the story of<br />
Commodore during the Amiga years. Commodore produced<br />
my favourite computers in the eighties and for years I waited<br />
for someone to write a book about those incredible times.<br />
Strangely, it seemed like publishers were only interested in<br />
talking about Apple, Microsoft and IBM. It’s time to give the<br />
Commodore Amiga some credit as the first commercially<br />
successful multimedia computer.<br />
Vasm 1.7b released<br />
Vasm is a portable and retargetable assembler to create linkable<br />
objects in various formats or absolute code. Multiple<br />
CPU-, syntax and output-modules can be selected. Many<br />
common directives/pseudo-opcodes are supported (depending<br />
on the syntax module) as well as CPU-specific extensions.<br />
The assembler supports optimizations (e.g. choosing the<br />
shortest possible branch instruction or addressing mode)<br />
and relaxations (e.g. converting a branch to an absolute<br />
jump when necessary). Most syntax modules support macros,<br />
include directives, repetitions, conditional assembly<br />
and local symbols.<br />
The following CPUs are supported: M680x0, ColdFire, 80x86,<br />
PowerPC, ARM, Jaguar RISC, Z80, C16x/ST10, 6502 and the<br />
6800.<br />
Take a journey from Amiga's beginnings in 1982 to when<br />
Commodore filed for bankruptcy in 1994. Dozens of brilliant<br />
and motivated engineers produced a computer with<br />
graphics, sound and multitasking capabilities years ahead of<br />
Apple and IBM. A lot happened in that decade, and this book<br />
will describe to you the most relevant parts in a definitive<br />
history of the Amiga story and Commodore’s final descent..."<br />
http://sun.hasenbraten.de/vasm/<br />
Commodore Free Magazine Page 9
www.commodorefree.com<br />
Commodore Free Magazine Page 10
www.commodorefree.com<br />
Commodore 64 News<br />
Last Ninja 2 - LEGO<br />
Mevlut Dinc - Interview<br />
Ozgurbarka has created the opening scene from the Commodore<br />
64 game “Last Ninja 2” in LEGO. The game was released<br />
by System 3 for a number of 8 bit systems in 1988.<br />
The game had superb game play, amazing graphics and animated<br />
characters and stunning music.<br />
https://ideas.lego.com/projects/97019<br />
The C64.com has an interview with Mevlut Dinc. Mevlut who<br />
created many games for the Commodore C64, Spectrum and<br />
Amstrad computers. The games he worked on are: Gerry the<br />
Germ, Prodigy, Big Trouble in Little China, The Last Ninja 2,<br />
Time Machine, First Samurai and the development system<br />
for the C64GS.<br />
http://www.c64.com/?type=4&id=40<br />
LEGO COMMODORE 64<br />
Made entirely out of Lego this design is in SCALE, it has everything<br />
on it (keys, led and logo), and if you open it... you<br />
can see the various chips and circuitry, as far as possible in<br />
Lego. For more information go to the website<br />
https://ideas.lego.com/projects/82511<br />
PSID64 v1.1<br />
PSID64 converts PSID files into executables, written by Roland<br />
Hermans the program allows users to play PSID files<br />
(originally used by the PlaySID program) on a real Commodore<br />
64 computer or emulator<br />
ChangeLog: update changelog for version 1.1<br />
- src/libpsid64/psid64.cpp: always initialize<br />
m_songlengths<br />
Page to prevent<br />
reusing incorrect<br />
data from<br />
previous conversion<br />
- configure.ac:<br />
Use subdir-objects<br />
option for<br />
automake<br />
http://csdb.dk/release/?id=139014<br />
NIBTools<br />
Diagnostic carts C64 / 128<br />
Pete Rittwage has released a new version of NIBTOOLS, this<br />
is a system for transfer data from original diskettes to a G64<br />
or D64 disk image formats. The images can be used with emulators<br />
or can be used to<br />
create new (real) diskettes.<br />
Changes in this version<br />
are: Update for the<br />
SRQ code. SRQ nibbling is<br />
now the default. And a<br />
verify option (-V) for read<br />
and write.<br />
http://c64preservation.com/<br />
Jani has collected<br />
loads of information<br />
and<br />
manuals about<br />
commodore 64<br />
diagnostic cartridges<br />
and<br />
placed them on a<br />
website for your<br />
perusal.<br />
http://blog.worldo<br />
fjani.com/?p=164<br />
Commodore Free Magazine Page 11
www.commodorefree.com<br />
Commodore 64 News<br />
GLINK-LT<br />
Game Corner Q1/2015<br />
GLINK-LT is a modern day clone of the Commodore VIC-<br />
1011A RS232 User port adapter it supports 2400 Baud for<br />
BASIC and 9600 Baud for Novaterm and Striketerm, the device<br />
also has a reset button.<br />
http://gglabs.us/node/530<br />
Games Corner is an English language disk magazine about<br />
new games and game cracking. In this edition are : Cracky<br />
Thoughts, Game Watchtower, Cracked Stuff and the World<br />
of first releases<br />
http://csdb.dk/<br />
release/?id=13<br />
<strong>89</strong>30<br />
C64 Fun Programming<br />
Steve Morrow has started a series of videos to teach programming<br />
in BASIC on the Commodore C64. In this videos:<br />
are the following :Variables, Strings, Calculating numbers, IF,<br />
READ, FOR/NEXT and GET.<br />
C64 - 12V DC<br />
Adrian Kurek has adapted a Commodore C64 to operate on<br />
12 VDC. Doing so makes it possible run the machine on a<br />
battery . Other modification on the machine include: SD2IEC,<br />
Mini LCD screen, stereo amplifier and speakers with SID<br />
and JiffyDOS OS<br />
https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLNMGCEkiBzqXjQ<br />
-AQoktfhLrpWAfoewbm<br />
http://wpqrek.blogspot.co.uk/2015/02/my-c64-use-12vdc-battery-power-source.html<br />
JSIDPlay2 - v3.6<br />
JSIDPlay is a Commodore C64 cycle-exact emulator optimized<br />
for sound reproduction. It is also a SID player for music<br />
collections like HVSC and CGSC. In this recently released<br />
version there<br />
have mostly<br />
been improvements<br />
for performance<br />
and<br />
some bugs have<br />
been removed.<br />
C64 PLA viewer / tester<br />
Geo Anas has developed a control system developed for the<br />
PLA in a Commodore 64. The device shows which part of<br />
the C64 is selected in real-time, PLA VIC-II (Red), 6510 I / O<br />
(Blue), CharROM (Yellow), Kernal (Green), Basic (Yellow),<br />
CasRAM, Game and ExROM (white).<br />
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Rb4airxZliY<br />
http://sourcefor<br />
ge.net/projects/<br />
jsidplay2/<br />
Commodore Free Magazine Page 12
www.commodorefree.com<br />
Commodore 64 News<br />
MG Tracker V0.71<br />
IECATA - C64<br />
The MG Tracker is a music editor that uses the Commodore<br />
Matt Gray 64 Dominator Replayer. Recent changes in the<br />
software are: New UI design Isildur / Samar !, New keyboard<br />
quick keys, dialog windows and multi-platform. The<br />
program is available<br />
for Windows, Linux<br />
and MacOS.<br />
http://csdb.dk/rele<br />
ase/index.php?id=1<br />
38493<br />
Hoxs64 v1.0.8.8<br />
David Horrocks has released an updated version of its<br />
Hoxs64 commodore 64 emulator. Recent updates include:.<br />
Improvements for the drive VIA emulation sound (Coma<br />
Land 2014 demo) and the Windows GUI<br />
Features<br />
- Cycle based CPU, CIA, VIC and SID.<br />
- 1541 Disk drive.<br />
- Tape deck.<br />
- Full screen mode.<br />
- Configurable keyboard and joystick.<br />
- TAP PRG P00 D64 G64 FDI T64<br />
file support.<br />
Edu Arana has created<br />
a IECATA interface<br />
for the Commodore<br />
C64. This interface is<br />
based on the IECATA<br />
interface developed<br />
in 2002 by Asbjørn<br />
Djupdal. The Specifications<br />
for his device<br />
are: ATA hard drives<br />
up to 128GB. Support<br />
for standard kernel<br />
commands, PRG, SEQ<br />
and sub directories<br />
Lighthammer<br />
This snapshot of an smack-a-mole arcade cabinet shows the<br />
new input device, called the "Lighthammer". This game and<br />
input device were demonstrated at the Commodore meeting<br />
in Maarssen (the Netherlands) on June 20, 2015.<br />
http://www.hoxs64.net/default.aspx<br />
Propaganda <strong>Issue</strong> 29<br />
Propaganda is an English language<br />
disk magazine for the Commodore<br />
scene. In this edition are: Latest<br />
News, tables, an interview with Jonas<br />
Hulten - Bruce Lee II, sought<br />
reactions, diverse, and the awards<br />
list.<br />
http://csdb.dk/release/?id=138340<br />
1541 - Why so complicated?<br />
Ilejs has posted on his blog an entry about the Commodore<br />
1541 disk drive. He comments that the device is slow suggesting<br />
it’s even slower than the 1540 VIC20 disk drive. He<br />
also comments about<br />
other drives and there<br />
benefits over this device<br />
https://ilesj.wordpress.<br />
com/2014/05/14/1541<br />
-why-so-complicated/<br />
http://arananet-net.kinja.com/como-construir-una-<br />
controladora-iecata-instalar-un-disc-<br />
http://www.commodorenews.com/foto/Lighthammer_Smack_a_Mole_C64_big.jpg<br />
View64 - v1.58<br />
View64 can view original C64 images without using an emulator<br />
or a real C64. The program is Open source support<br />
many commodore image formats (70+), PAL / NTSC S-Video<br />
and RGB display,<br />
Scanline, shadow<br />
mask, chroma<br />
leakage simulation,<br />
Multicolour<br />
interlace de-interlacing<br />
and has the<br />
ability to save the<br />
image as a BMP<br />
file.<br />
http://sourceforge.net/projects/view64/<br />
Commodore Free Magazine Page 13
www.commodorefree.com<br />
Commodore 64 News<br />
ACID 64 Player Pro V3.6<br />
Vandalism News issue 64<br />
Wilfred Bos released an updated version of ACID 64 Player<br />
Pro. Changes include:<br />
Support for<br />
3SID, Network SID<br />
Device and SIDBlaster<br />
USB device. Improvements<br />
for PSID,<br />
search, device selection,<br />
emulation, file<br />
indexing and other<br />
small improvements<br />
http://www.acid64.<br />
com/<br />
Gravitrix - C64<br />
A new version of the Disk magazine Vandalism news has<br />
been released, this is an English language magazine with<br />
the following content: The Charts, News, World of Demos,<br />
History of SID,<br />
SIDTracker64, Interviews:<br />
Rock, Sphinx<br />
and Hedning, Ramblings<br />
of an Madman,<br />
RGCD, Gubdata<br />
2015, Bruce Lee II,<br />
Revision 2015 and<br />
the list.<br />
http://csdb.dk/rele<br />
ase/?id=13<strong>89</strong>76<br />
Gravitrix is a game for the Commodore C64 developed by<br />
Nils Hammerich. You most combine stones of four different<br />
gravity directions to solve each of the 120 levels. But be<br />
careful with the colour changers, conveyor belts, teleporters<br />
and other hazards. You can download and try the demo version<br />
for free..<br />
GRAVITRIX features:<br />
- Hours of puzzle-solving action!<br />
- Two 5.25" floppy disks worth of artwork and music!<br />
- Password save<br />
system!<br />
- Super-fast loading<br />
(512KB cartridge<br />
version only)!<br />
- Full NTSC/PAL<br />
support!<br />
http://rgcddev.itch<br />
.io/gravitrix<br />
Kim Pong - the Fair and Democratic Tele-Football<br />
http://csdb.dk/release/?id=137655<br />
- official follow-up model of the "Pong Machine" for 1-4 players<br />
- 108 variations of difficulty (ball speed, bat speed, bad size<br />
and gaol size)<br />
and other options and effects<br />
- 2 game modes: TELE-FOOTBALL championship and goalkeeper<br />
tournament<br />
For 3-4 players you<br />
will need a "4-player<br />
interface" like<br />
this one:<br />
http://www.proto<br />
visiononline.de/shop/pr<br />
oduct_info.php?pro<br />
ducts_id=34<br />
FunkPaint 0.43b<br />
Released by: Singular<br />
FunkPaint is a multi-format editor supporting hires,<br />
multi, multicolour interlaced and DTV pictures. It<br />
runs on a Commodore 64/128 or DTV and supports<br />
various input<br />
devices and<br />
memory expansions.<br />
Simple Writer V1.1<br />
Released by: Delta Machine<br />
A Simple Noter program, the zip file contains the history as a<br />
txt file and also a document on how to create notes using<br />
the application<br />
http://csdb.dk/ge<br />
tinternalfile.php/<br />
139243/simplewriter-1.1.zip<br />
http://singularc<br />
rew.hu/funkpai<br />
nt/<br />
Commodore Free Magazine Page 14
www.commodorefree.com<br />
Commodore 64 News<br />
Bruce Lee II V1.9<br />
Released by: Jonas Hultén<br />
This update contains the following changes from the initial<br />
version.<br />
* There was a place where you could be spawning and fall to<br />
your death immediately. This has been removed.<br />
* You can skip the intro with the Commodore key to force<br />
kernal loading without seeing the entire intro.<br />
* Sprite graphics was<br />
overwritten after a<br />
first playthrough.<br />
This is no longer the<br />
case.<br />
* You can climb up<br />
from the water in the<br />
cage room.<br />
* The drive detection<br />
has been improved to<br />
fall back to kernal<br />
loading instead of failing in case an error occurred.<br />
* Bruce can no longer stand still on the edge of a travelator.<br />
In 2013, Bruno R. Marcos released a successor to the original<br />
Bruce Lee game, Bruno’s game runs on Windows and Linux<br />
but it was created to look like games for the<br />
Commodore 64 and Amstrad CPC. Last year, a port of Bruce<br />
Lee II was created for the Commodore 64. The game is finished<br />
and available as free although the game looks simplistic<br />
it (says the author) really pushes the commodore 64 to<br />
its limits in terms of graphics<br />
http://kollektivet.nu/brucelee2/<br />
http://csdb.dk/getinternalfile.php/137449/brucelee2.d64<br />
http://csdb.dk/getinternalfile.php/137452/brucelee2_ef.crt<br />
http://csdb.dk/getinternalfile.php/137451/brucelee2.d81<br />
http://csdb.dk/getinternalfile.php/137747/brucelee2.zip<br />
http://csdb.dk/getinternalfile.php/137746/brucelee2_md.crt<br />
PETSCII Editor 4.6<br />
Released by: Abyss Connection<br />
http://csdb.dk/release/?id=137650<br />
As the name would suggest it is a PETSCII art program, some<br />
suggest this is the best PETSCII program ever written although<br />
it does only run on a PAL machine that limits its usefulness,<br />
although you could run it in an emulator<br />
important improvements<br />
-ability to use up to<br />
eight full-screen PET-<br />
SCIIs<br />
-new menu system<br />
-now supports exporting<br />
sequential files for<br />
basic users.<br />
-jiffy dos support<br />
BMP2MC V2.1<br />
A bitmap to C64-multicolor converter (16 colours or 5 grey<br />
/ black and white, with export to .prg).<br />
The Output format is in standard "Koala" or ".prg" It´s<br />
possible to save the "remapped" picture as a bitmap The<br />
.prg button will export to a C64 executable file! The "split"<br />
function will split the data into three files (bitmap, charmem<br />
and colormem data) - just like in my versions before.<br />
Released by: C64 Club Berlin<br />
http://csdb.dk/getinternalfile.php/137650/BMP2MCV2_1.7z<br />
C64Warez.com<br />
Many new programs have been added as well as a facelift<br />
some of the recent additions are: Rescratch, CBM Command<br />
v2.3, C64 Colour Term v.5d, Cadgers Noter v4.3, v3.0 Meganoter,<br />
WinVICE-2.2-x86 Flyer Network Users Guide, Quick-<br />
Start Cheat Sheet, Telnet64 and Client v1.02, v1.54 I-Port, Lt.<br />
Kernal / Read, Unzip 128 & 64 v1.80, C64S Game Archiver,<br />
KCS Power Cartridge, CCS64 DOS v1.09,<br />
http://c64warez.com/<br />
Project Sidologie<br />
Project Sidologie by Marcel Donné - this luxury box set features<br />
Commodore 64 music remakes with classic JARRE and<br />
Vangelis soundscapes<br />
https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/c64audio/projectsidologie-jarre-stylecommodore-64-music-r<br />
Commodore Free Magazine Page 15
Commodore 64 News<br />
C64 Charset Minion V0.8 beta<br />
Released by: Skid Row<br />
A character set editor for windows pc`s<br />
Requirements: any Windows O/S with .NET Framework<br />
4.5 or higher installed<br />
- supports 1x1, 1x2, 2x1 and 2x2 C64 charsets<br />
- hires & multicolour<br />
- rotating & flipping a char<br />
- possibility to convert True Type Fonts (char by char)<br />
which the user has got installed on his system<br />
- no installation routine for this tool, simply delete the file<br />
when you want to get rid of it<br />
- a Linux version will be available as well once the program<br />
leaves beta status<br />
V0.8 beta<br />
- Font Converter: added the possibility to choose other font<br />
styles than regular only<br />
www.commodorefree.com<br />
- Font Converter: settings are saved after closing the converter<br />
window<br />
- toolformsize adjusted to a smaller size so user with a tiny<br />
screen should be able to properly use this tool now<br />
Bug fixes:<br />
- Fixed a bug were the colour<br />
of the 2nd multicolour<br />
($D023) wasn't properly displayed<br />
on the icon.<br />
Pixels were not affected by<br />
this bug.<br />
- Fixed a bug in the font converter<br />
when the regular<br />
style of a True Type Font<br />
wasn't available.<br />
http://csdb.dk/getinternalfi<br />
le.php/137435/C64 Charset Minion v0.8 beta.exe<br />
Station64 V2.0<br />
Released by: DJ Indikator<br />
Use a Commodore 64 as an external synth module accessed<br />
via Misi Containing over 20000 code lines of pure 6510 assembler.<br />
Tested with PASSPORT/SEQUENTAL/KERBEROS<br />
midi interfaces. You can Use the computer keys as keyboard<br />
if you don’t have a midi interface! You can play single notes<br />
(with 3 voices max poly) or play pre-programmed pieces of<br />
SID commands blocks as ARPs<br />
Main features:<br />
- 3 voice polyphony or unison for fat sounds<br />
- full 3 osc control via midi<br />
- use midi channel -> SID osc mapping for flexible control<br />
- fine tune for each osc<br />
- 2 lfo/env (4 stage) with apply to pitch/pulsewidth/filter<br />
cut<br />
- total monitoring all midi activity<br />
- advanced glide and pitchwheel control<br />
- fast on-screen help<br />
- zero latency (on real Commodore)<br />
- tested on C64 / C128 (in c64 mode)<br />
Break 64<br />
Break64 a new game for the Commodore C64, released by<br />
Wanax, of course it’s a Break out clone The game has 35 levels,<br />
and you can save the highest score, as you would expect<br />
the game supports paddles.<br />
http://csdb.dk/getinternalfile.php/138007/Break64<br />
[Wanax 2015].d64<br />
http://csdb.dk/getinternalfi<br />
le.php/138016/Break64<br />
[Wanax 2015] Dir Fix.d64<br />
- works with 8580/6581<br />
on PAL/NTSC (auto detection)<br />
machines<br />
- screen-off for more clean<br />
sound from SID<br />
- configurable with any<br />
MIDI cartridge - works<br />
with any disk drive<br />
(+some additional features<br />
for SD2IEC users)<br />
to load/save created programs banks<br />
- 16 programs (can change from external midi too)<br />
- 100% original code, without any KERNAL use<br />
- software reset to machines without reset button<br />
- nice intro with cute gradients<br />
http://csdb.dk/getinternalfile.php/139150/sta64.prg<br />
http://csdb.dk/getinternalfile.php/139151/sta64.txt<br />
http://djindikator.net/c64/sta64.txt<br />
http://djindikator.net/c64/sta64_quick.txt<br />
http://djindikator.net/c64/sta64.prg<br />
K&A plus #01 [Polish/English]<br />
Released by: Kaplus<br />
https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/16069876/files/KA<br />
P/K&A_Plus_01_EN.pdf<br />
https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com<br />
/u/16069876/files/KAP/K&A_Plus<br />
_01_PL.pdf<br />
A new English & Polish Commodore<br />
scene magazine called ‘K&A Plus’<br />
has been released. This will be a<br />
quarterly magazine and currently<br />
contains 72 pages of news, game reviews,<br />
an interview with Iranian<br />
C64 Community Contributor, and<br />
more!<br />
Commodore Free Magazine Page 16
Commodore 64 News<br />
P0 Snake [64kb cartridge]<br />
Released by: Antonio Savona<br />
http://csdb.dk/getinternalfile.php/139110/P0 Snake (C64<br />
Binaries Only).zip<br />
http://csdb.dk/getinternalfile.php/139197/P0 Snake (C64<br />
Binaries Only) - CIA FIX.zip<br />
I am not 100% convince by this release of the classic snake<br />
game, you basically you just press the fire button to make<br />
the snake change direction. Maybe I am just too old and like<br />
the original game play, the graphics make the game stand<br />
out and the sampled speech is very clear! I think old people<br />
just don’t like change<br />
www.commodorefree.com<br />
THE TEXT FILE SAYS<br />
Wind your way through 30 levels of arcade-action insanity<br />
in this specially enhanced version of the game that took the<br />
trophy in the 2014 RGCD 16KB Game Development Competition.<br />
Featuring eight additional screens, an all-new intro sequence,<br />
improved<br />
sound samples, bug fixes<br />
and other minor<br />
tweaks, RGCD is proud<br />
to present this final<br />
version of Antonio<br />
Savona's P0 SNAKE!<br />
That Weren't 64 Updated<br />
Games That Weren’t 64 is a digital preservation project and<br />
archive of unreleased/incomplete/cancelled games and<br />
prototypes for the Commodore 64 computer. Currently featuring<br />
many review entries with scans, screenshots, downloads,<br />
videos, interviews and more.<br />
9 new entries added<br />
Colorasaurus, Deadly Summer, Fall Guy V1, House of Changes,<br />
Number Stumper, Pony Express, Ronin, Show Jumping, Sqaut Bot<br />
22 updates added<br />
Bloody Kids, Catch 23, DDT: Dynamic Debugger, Fantasy,<br />
Flok, Food Feud, Gremlins, High Memory, Jet Boat Simulator,<br />
Lethal Xcess, Mindbending Aliens From Hyperspace, Nefarious,<br />
Paranoid Pete, Prototype, Samurai Dawn, Snare V1,<br />
Space Monkeys, Spirit Of Adventure, Strobe, Trigger Happy,<br />
Vitrus, Wolf<br />
http://www.gamesthatwerent.com/gtw64/<br />
Enchanted Forest – SID<br />
Samar Productions Enchanted Forest with 3 great SIDs for<br />
the Commodore C64. The code was written by Don Kichote,<br />
the music of Gaetano<br />
Chiummo, the graphical<br />
portion of Isildur<br />
and JSL, the idea and<br />
concept of Yogi Bear,<br />
the character of CRT<br />
and Ramos.<br />
http://csdb.dk/releas<br />
e/?id=137402<br />
Commodore game Break 64<br />
Released by: Wanax<br />
A breakout clone with<br />
some lovely bouncy<br />
music and great<br />
graphics, I love the<br />
scrolling backgrounds<br />
very swish!<br />
http://csdb.dk/release/?i<br />
d=138021<br />
SEUCK games competition<br />
A number of games have been released for the SEUCK 2015<br />
competition amongst them are<br />
Payback Time - Scoff - The Ocean<br />
Ninja - META14 Shamai Return of<br />
the Myths - TUFO - Naait Raaider<br />
For a list of them all and descriptions,<br />
the results of the competition and also links to download<br />
the games head to the official SEUCK 2015 competition<br />
pages listed there.<br />
http://tnd64.unikat.sk/Seuck_Compo_2015.html<br />
C64 game Outlaw<br />
Released by: Vial<br />
Not too sure about this, use a joystick in port 1 to control the left player<br />
and joystick in port 2<br />
for the right player, the<br />
graphics look very basic<br />
and there doesn’t seem to<br />
be any sound. You just<br />
try to shoot each other<br />
http://csdb.dk/getintern<br />
alfile.php/137844/Outl<br />
aw by Vial.prg<br />
Commodore Free Magazine Page 17
Commodore 64 News<br />
Bitfire 0.3<br />
Released by: Oxyron<br />
Bititfire is a fixed interleave loader system with depacker<br />
and an image writing tool. Aim was to make the loader as<br />
fast as possible while being as tiny as possible. So at some<br />
points size and speed had to be traded against each other.<br />
An own, however d64-compatible (bam copy is sufficient);<br />
file format is introduced to make the code less complex and<br />
loading faster. Also, functions that are not used regularly<br />
(like turn disk detection) are available as statically linkable<br />
functions and thus make the resident part on c64 side even<br />
www.commodorefree.com<br />
smaller. Being that tiny ($86 to $1ee bytes, depending on<br />
configuration) and still fast makes it perfect for being used<br />
in demos. The imaging-tool creates disk images with all<br />
demo files and a dirart on it. Also it is accompanied by an<br />
lz-packer based on doynamite, however smaller in code and<br />
a bit faster than that, while yielding nearly the same results<br />
The packer supports output of both, sfx as well as level<br />
packed files suitable for Bitfire (--bitfire switch)<br />
You can extract the file with 7 zip<br />
http://csdb.dk/getinternalfile.php/138351/bitfire_0.3.tar.gz<br />
The Marlo Files - Remastered Edition<br />
Released by: Binary Legends<br />
On the disk are two Sammy Marlo text adventures that were<br />
created with Jon Mattson's Questwriter. You can use a joystick<br />
in port 2, a 1351 mouse in port 1,<br />
http://csdb.dk/geti<br />
nternalfile.php/138<br />
382/rhe_marlo_file<br />
s_remastered_editi<br />
on.d64<br />
Abyssonaut - C64<br />
Abyssonaut was created by Anthony Stiller. Is a horizontal<br />
scrolling shoot 'em up in which involves rescuing endangered<br />
whales from the poachers who have been putting nets<br />
over the poor guys. There' also some nice features inside<br />
the game which involves assorted fish. There's also a big<br />
fight at the end of the game, which you'll need to play<br />
through in order to find out what the final fight is<br />
ABYSSONAUT was built in the Sideways SEUCK engine (created<br />
by Jon Wells) for the RGCD SEUCK 2015 competition<br />
run by Richard Bayliss and is Anthony`s second attempt at a<br />
game using this engine You may remember last issue I reviewed<br />
Sopwiths & Pterrordons, and although it gained a<br />
lukewarm reception, I<br />
suggested that he keep<br />
going and working, this<br />
latest release is a superb<br />
effort<br />
http://tnd64.unikat.sk/S<br />
euck_Compo_2015.html<br />
View64 V1.58<br />
Released by: Singular<br />
this Commodore 64 Tool opens and saves a vast number of<br />
C64 related picture files<br />
-Open source, mostly portable C using FLTK/SDL2/SDL1.2 GUI<br />
-Separate library for image decoding (libview64)<br />
-Supports lot of image formats (70+)<br />
-Some image formats are recognized without extensions<br />
-PAL/NTSC S-Video and RGB rendering<br />
-Scanline, shadow mask, chroma leakage simulation<br />
-Multicolour interlace de-interlacing<br />
-view64pnm for use<br />
with netpbm and dumping<br />
to bmp<br />
http://sourceforge.net/<br />
projects/view64/files/<br />
binaries/view64-<br />
1.58.zip/download<br />
Dungeon Crawl<br />
Released by: TWW<br />
Dungeon crawl, using the keys AD WS to control your man<br />
through the dungeon, you have options to Attack, or Defend<br />
and collect keys to open<br />
doors to other areas.<br />
Quite simplistic but absorbing<br />
http://csdb.dk/getintern<br />
alfile.php/138705/Dung<br />
eonCrawl.prg<br />
Commodore Free Magazine Page 18
Commodore 64 News<br />
C64 Studio 4.3<br />
Released by: Endurion<br />
C64 Studio is a Windows Forms based IDE for C64 development<br />
on a Windows system. It is specifically made for writing<br />
games and targets the hobby developer In the current<br />
incarnation C64 Studio is .NET 2.0 based and is currently<br />
only tested on Windows C64 Studio provides code editors<br />
for assembler and Basic V2. In conjunction with Vice debugging<br />
through the assembler code is available with these features:<br />
-Breakpoints<br />
-Watches<br />
-Memory View<br />
-Register View<br />
1k games<br />
Run Little Man<br />
This is a 1k game, move the joystick left or right, I am unsure<br />
what’s happening when you fire anyway avoid the sides , it’s<br />
hard because they joystick<br />
movements seem<br />
to be slow to respond,<br />
although I think this is<br />
deliberate, there is<br />
sound by means of an<br />
explosion<br />
http://csdb.dk/getinte<br />
rnalfile.php/138258/3<br />
2RUN.PRG<br />
Other recent 1k games released at Nomam 2015<br />
http://www.abbuc.de/community/forum/viewtopic.php?f=17&t=8314<br />
Additional tools exist for<br />
game specific development:<br />
-Character Set Editor<br />
-Sprite Set Editor<br />
-Graphic Screen Editor<br />
-Character Screen Editor<br />
-Map Editor<br />
Emulation specific tools are:<br />
-Media Manager (Tape and Disk)<br />
www.commodorefree.com<br />
http://www.georg-rottensteiner.de/en/index.html<br />
are (in no particular order)<br />
3peak x 10lines Released by: Brataccas<br />
http://csdb.dk/getinternalfile.php/138257/30_3PEAK.PRG<br />
Schifoan Released by: Hexworx<br />
http://csdb.dk/getinternalfile.php/138256/23SCHI.PRG<br />
Can-map Released by: e5frog<br />
http://csdb.dk/getinternalfile.php/138255/18CANMAP.PRG<br />
Pear Picker on Ice Released by: Naufr4g0<br />
http://csdb.dk/getinternalfile.php/138254/16PEAR.PRG<br />
Stay Alive Coder Unknown<br />
http://csdb.dk/getinternalfile.php/138253/14STAY.PRG<br />
C64 Reloaded<br />
Individual Computers have started delivering the C64 Reloaded.<br />
This is a brand new design of the C64 motherboard<br />
with the original chips - 6510, VIC2, SID, CIA – And as they<br />
say is fully compatible with the Commodore 64<br />
The box includes:<br />
- C64 Reloaded motherboard<br />
- CSG8701 replacement circuit (PAL, pre-installed)<br />
- Video chip 6569 or 8565<br />
- CIA chips 6526 or 6526A<br />
Fire in factory C64 housings<br />
Dallas Moore reported that the factory where the new C64c<br />
housings were being made caught fire raged. Fortunately,<br />
he reported, the moulds were not damaged, but the new<br />
transparent enclosures have been lost.<br />
https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/1670214687/origi<br />
nal-commodore-64c-computer-housing-in-newcoo/posts/1243399?ref=backer_project_update<br />
To make it a full computer, you need to add:<br />
- Processor 6510 or 8500<br />
- PLA chip 906114-01, SuperPLA or RealPLA<br />
- SID chip 6581 or 8580<br />
- case<br />
- keyboard<br />
- 12V DC power supply<br />
- metal side-bracket (if you<br />
want to use the breadboxtype<br />
case)<br />
https://icomp.de/shopicomp/en/shop/product/c<br />
64-reloaded.html<br />
Commodore Free Magazine Page 19
AMIGA FOREVER AND COMMODORE 64 FOREVER<br />
Amiga Forever<br />
http://www.amigaforever.com<br />
http://www.facebook.com/AmigaForever<br />
C64 Forever<br />
http://www.c64forever.com<br />
http://www.facebook.com/C64Forever<br />
RetroPlatform Project<br />
http://www.retroplatform.com
Commodore Amiga News<br />
DirectoryOpus 4.18.42 - AmigaOS 4<br />
There is a new version of Directory Opus, available. The<br />
Changes in this version include: Improvements for the iff<br />
definitions and Dopus_print. Added the pack pragma directives.<br />
Update the application library interface, configuration<br />
file, and history files.<br />
http://www.os4depot.net/index.php?function=showfile&file=uti<br />
lity/filetool/dopus4.lha<br />
www.commodorefree.com<br />
3D printed parts for Commodore / Amiga<br />
Tommes has started “printing” new parts for Commodore<br />
and Amiga computers using a 3D printer, you can buy the<br />
pre printed parts from the website for a very reasonable<br />
amount. A few Examples of the parts available are of the<br />
parts are: Expansion Slot Cover for the Amiga 1000, Interlock<br />
Knobs for the SX-64, Commodore Monitor 1901 cover,<br />
F-Keys for C64C, etc.<br />
http://www.shapeways.com/shops/Pixelwizard<br />
Amigatronics Podcast 2x03<br />
The Amigatronics Podcast is a Spanish pod-cast for the Amiga<br />
user. Information in this issue includes: Intro, News,<br />
Hardware: AMIGA FPGA, Software: Adpro, Games: Pinball<br />
Dreams, Fantasies and Illusions / Dynablaster, Demoscene:<br />
Amiga PPC Productions and Retro Zone: Arcades - Gauntlet<br />
/ Sly Spy<br />
https://amigatronics.wordpress.com/2015/05/29/amigatronicsthe-podcast-2x03/<br />
TAWS (The Amiga Workbench Simulation)<br />
TAWS is a JavaScript emulation of Amiga-Workbench<br />
for your web browser. Created by Michael<br />
Rupp this emulation is running Amiga Workbench<br />
4.1 Final, If you look under SYSTEM – TAWS you<br />
will find a html history information page that’s<br />
worth a read, also “future plans” makes an interesting<br />
read, I haven’t played with it much but the<br />
emulation is very fast on a modern PC, also under<br />
the PRESETS you will find various erm presets to<br />
emulate Amiga 1.X upwards<br />
http://www.taws.ch/WB.html<br />
Commodore Free Magazine Page 22
Commodore Amiga News<br />
EdiSyn v0.53- AROS<br />
EdiSyn in an editor with Tabs and Syntax highlighting (at<br />
the moment for C/C++, HTML and Pascal) for AROS, written<br />
in FreePascal with Lazarus. Base on the SynEdit Component<br />
of LCL and the ATTabs Component<br />
Features:<br />
- Highlighter, C/C++, HTML, Pascal<br />
- Tabs<br />
- Recent files, Export Text as HTML (with Properties from<br />
Highlighter)<br />
- Jump to Line<br />
- Search, Replace, Search in Files, Search in Directory, Regex<br />
- Copy, Cut, Paste<br />
- Undo, Redo<br />
- Free configurable<br />
highlighter,<br />
key<br />
binding, user<br />
commands<br />
- Output parser<br />
for GCC and<br />
Freepascal<br />
(jump to positions)<br />
http://blog.alb4<br />
2.de/edisyn/<br />
AMIcast issue 4<br />
AMIcast is an English podcast all about the world of Amiga.<br />
In issue 4 are : An Interview<br />
with Pascal Papara on AEROS<br />
and AROS - Another look at the<br />
future of the Amiga. Music:. <br />
Murdilokustra and Nobody's<br />
Home<br />
http://amicast.ppa.pl/<br />
880 Gamer issue 6<br />
This is an English pdf<br />
magazine for Amiga<br />
users. In the magazine<br />
are the following articles:<br />
News, Cover Disk,<br />
30 Years Amiga, Game<br />
On: Street Fighter II,<br />
Pang!, Super Hang On,<br />
Silkworm and Toki.<br />
Bleeding eyes: World<br />
of Commodore, Ray of<br />
Hope and Faktory.<br />
Cheats and Talk-back.<br />
http://www.users.on.net<br />
/~stanners/<br />
Help my Cat! – Amiga GAME<br />
Help My Cat! is a small<br />
puzzle platform game<br />
developed by Bugala. In<br />
the game you should try<br />
to get a cat out of a tree.<br />
The game is available<br />
for Amiga OS3 / 4,<br />
AROS, MorphOS, Windows,<br />
Mac and Linux<br />
computers.<br />
Download the game<br />
http://aminet.net/search?query=help+my+cat<br />
Currently available from Indiego! Appstore:<br />
http://aros-broadway.de/indiego//marketplace/<br />
For Amiga, Pc, Mac and Linux.<br />
www.commodorefree.com<br />
Video van Help my Cat!<br />
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PdwEtm5gLIE<br />
WinUAE Upgrade<br />
A new version of WinUAE is available. Changes in this version<br />
are: Emulation improvement for SCSI-hosts, IDE-controllers<br />
and CPU-cards. Support for, AVideo 12 / 24, HAM-E<br />
(+), DAC 18, FireCracker 24, Toccata Zorro II sound card,<br />
Nordic Power v3.2 and Pro Access v2.17. Visit the WinUAE<br />
web page for more details.<br />
http://www.winuae.net/<br />
AmigaRemix<br />
Here you listen to remixes of Amiga MODS. The following<br />
Amiga music has recently been added: Cream of the Earth<br />
(vs. Romeo Knight), Super Twintris "Those 3" Tunes Up-Mix,<br />
Risky Woods - "El Pueblo" Cover Version, Kid Gloves [ Castle<br />
] The Toe-tapper's Up-Mix, Hyperbased 2015, Lethal Xcess -<br />
Ruins of Methallycha, Einstein 2d6 - Wings of Victory<br />
(Spacetrip Mix), Total Eclipse (Main Theme Remix), MegaLo-<br />
Mania title, Agony - Loading Forest (TITAN Deep Blue Mix)<br />
and Defender Of The Crown (title).<br />
http://www.amigaremix.com/<br />
Commodore Free Magazine Page 23
Commodore Amiga News<br />
Crates! – AROS<br />
The text from the archive says<br />
Crates is a three dimensional puzzle game. It consists of missions<br />
that consist of levels. To pass a level, you must<br />
move player to the exit by interacting with the different<br />
kinds of crates in the level. Before that you must also collect<br />
all the keys and toggle all the toggles that the level might<br />
contain. Every level has a password that makes it possible<br />
to continue playing<br />
from that level whenever<br />
you want, but if<br />
you want to get your<br />
name in the hall of fame,<br />
you must play the<br />
whole mission at one<br />
go. On that case, the<br />
faster you are, the better<br />
is your position in<br />
the hall of fame.<br />
DOWNLOAD<br />
http://archives.arosexec.org/?function=showfile&file=game/puzzle/crates.i386<br />
-aros.zip<br />
HOMEPAGE<br />
http://www.octaspire.com/crates/<br />
A1200 Audio Filter<br />
RetroGameModz has made a video about the audio filter in<br />
the A1200 showing how to troubleshoot and track down the<br />
problem where the audio filter switching doesn't work as it<br />
should.<br />
HE SAYS<br />
Like all other Amiga models, the Amiga 1200 has a low-pass<br />
filter in hardware which can be found directly on the motherboard.<br />
This audio filter can be turned on and off in software.<br />
In case of the audio filter being stuck in either the ON<br />
or OFF state, how would we go ahead and troubleshoot the<br />
problem? Although not being a repair in itself, this video<br />
serves as a little troubleshooting guide on how to track<br />
down the problem in a case where the audio filter switching<br />
doesn't work as it should.<br />
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M8d_OInQkLc<br />
www.commodorefree.com<br />
Ago – AROS<br />
VoR is a quick action<br />
game where you drive a<br />
space ship and try to<br />
avoid crashing into<br />
rocks. Current information<br />
about VoR can be<br />
found on the<br />
homepage:<br />
http://jasonwoof.org/v<br />
or<br />
developed by Jason Woofenden and Josh Grams and is available<br />
for AROS, AmigaOS 4, Linux and Windows<br />
http://archives.aros-<br />
exec.org/?function=showfile&file=game/misc/vor.i386-<br />
aros.zip<br />
Amiga Future issue 114<br />
The English and German Amiga magazine Amiga Future issue<br />
114 is available.<br />
Previews:<br />
Playfield, HGui<br />
Reviews:<br />
Swamp Defense 2, Solomon's Key 2, Jet Hunt, London Rain<br />
Matrix, Pac Boy, Scorpio, Oldtimer, BetterWB, Blankers, Hollywood<br />
6.0, AmiKit 8.3.<br />
Special:<br />
WD MY Cloud Mirror, Smart Home, Classic Reflections Part<br />
21 Haage & Partner, Demoscene.<br />
Workshops:<br />
Programming AmigaOS 4 Part 12<br />
Others:<br />
Interview<br />
Cherry Darling<br />
Teil 2, Interview<br />
Alastar<br />
Murray, News,<br />
Editorial, Content,<br />
Imprint,<br />
Content Cover-<br />
CD, Letters to<br />
the editor, Preview<br />
http://www.ami<br />
gafuture.de<br />
Commodore Free Magazine Page 24
Commodore Amiga News<br />
Amiga Image Storage System" (AISS). Updated v4.19<br />
Martin Merz has released a new version of his "Amiga Image<br />
Storage System" (AISS). The Amiga Image Storage System<br />
(AISS) offers a photo-illustrative icon style for toolbar images<br />
- it approaches the realism of photography but uses the<br />
features of illustrations to convey a lot of information in a<br />
small image. AISS is an environment to store, access and<br />
maintain this toolbar images<br />
http://www.masonicons.info/index.html<br />
www.commodorefree.com<br />
The Game<br />
Developed by David Erikssonal though work started some time<br />
ago and still not completely<br />
finished although<br />
playable .<br />
Recent changes: Improvements<br />
for the title<br />
screen, sprites, the<br />
death counter and<br />
more support for the<br />
CD32.<br />
http://driar.se/thegame/<br />
EvenMore v0.86 - Amiga<br />
EvenMore is a text viewer for AmigaOS. featuring proportional<br />
font support, multi-coloured text, file conversion plugins,<br />
and more. Recent changes to the software include: For<br />
the FinalWriter/Copy-Plugin there is now support for<br />
strike-through text<br />
http://www.evenmore.co.uk/<br />
Meridian V3.11 – AmigaOS<br />
Meridian is doing exactly this! Meridian is a small commodity<br />
to create virtual hotkeys by using the mouse. You draw a<br />
symbol and Meridian<br />
is starting<br />
the requested action.<br />
Since the<br />
starting point<br />
and the direction<br />
is also important,<br />
there are countless<br />
combinations<br />
you can use<br />
http://geit.de/en<br />
g_meridian.html<br />
Calimero v0.14 - MorphOS<br />
Calimero is a powerful Desk Top Publishing program for<br />
MorphOS. You can import and export many different formats.<br />
With the program supporting multi page layouts, columns,<br />
headers, footers, separators, hyperlinks, text-warp,<br />
table of contents, background texture and more. Changes in<br />
this latest version are: Layer - system for objects. Copy / Cut<br />
objects to clipboard,<br />
paste objects from<br />
clipboard. Clone objects<br />
and two separate<br />
(context) menus<br />
in the edit mui class<br />
http://aminet.net/searc<br />
h?query=calimero<br />
Assist v2.1 - AmigaOS 4<br />
Featuring all the content<br />
from the "Get<br />
the most out of your<br />
AMIGA" PDF guide,<br />
short-cuts and links.<br />
Assist helps with<br />
downloading and unpacking<br />
of software,<br />
plays YouTube videos<br />
and it has AmiUpdate<br />
support. In this<br />
latest version are<br />
many optimisations and 5 new articles.<br />
http://www.os4depot.net/index.php?function=showfile&file=uti<br />
lity/misc/assist.lha<br />
Commodore Free Magazine Page 25
Commodore Amiga News<br />
AROS Vision 2.9.2 online<br />
New or updated<br />
Build again from scratch based on newest AROS 68<br />
Netsurf updated<br />
Free Pascal updated<br />
Theme can be changed by menu<br />
MUI classes updated<br />
Hollywood plugins updated<br />
AppStore client updated<br />
it should be faster<br />
screenblanker added<br />
In development:<br />
AROS Vision ECS (for real 68k hardware and FPGA)<br />
AROS Vision X86<br />
AROS Vision X86 is based on Windows hosted making it<br />
easy to start from Windows (without any installation). Disadvantage<br />
right now no network and sound<br />
http://www.aros-platform.de<br />
The 68000 Wars, Part 1: Lorraine<br />
www.commodorefree.com<br />
From the Article<br />
"The Amiga was the damnedest computer. A riddle wrapped<br />
in a mystery inside an enigma, then all crammed into a plastic<br />
case; that was the Amiga. I wrote a book about the thing,<br />
and I’m still not sure I can make sense of all of its complications<br />
and contradictions.<br />
The Amiga was a great computer when it made its debut in<br />
1985, better by far than anything else on the market. At its<br />
heart was the wonderchip of the era, the Motorola 68000,<br />
the same CPU found in the Apple Macintosh and the Atari ST.<br />
But what made the Amiga special was the stuff found<br />
around the 68000: three custom chips with the unforgettable<br />
names of Paula, Denise, and Agnus. Together they gave<br />
the Amiga the best graphics and sound in the industry by a<br />
veritable order of magnitude."<br />
AN ONGOING HISTORY OF COMPUTER ENTERTAINMENT<br />
BY JIMMY MAHER<br />
http://www.filfre.net/2015/03/the-68...rt-1-lorraine/<br />
AmiKit updated<br />
AmiKit is a free project that turns your computer, tablet or<br />
phone into legendary Amiga. It includes more than 350 applications.<br />
updated components in this 8.4 release.<br />
-MUI4 new pointers<br />
-WHDLoad,<br />
-System libraries.<br />
-improved Polish and Russian language support<br />
http://amikit.amiga.sk<br />
REV'n'GE! <strong>Issue</strong> 30<br />
REV'n'GE! is a PDF Fanzine that reviews, compares vintage<br />
games and multimedia software for any platform, so a various<br />
platform to read and see thanks to link to Retro Trailer.<br />
SendSpace: https://www.sendspace.com/file/7xqsuc<br />
Mega:<br />
https://mega.co.nz/#!29Mz2QoR!J4CTUH...0deVNlyYPmTy<br />
vA<br />
RetroTrailers:<br />
http://www.amigapag<br />
e.it/index.php?pl=int<br />
ro<br />
AmigaDem Mania:<br />
http://www.amigade<br />
mo.tk<br />
Video Channel:<br />
http://www.youtube.c<br />
om/user/pippos34<br />
Demo Movie:<br />
http://xoomer.virgilio.<br />
it/tuxcam/recensioni/<br />
flash1.html<br />
Retro Trailer Blog:<br />
http://www.amiga.org<br />
/forums/blog.php?u=2<br />
066<br />
Commodore Free Magazine Page 26
www.commodorefree.com<br />
Commodore Amiga News<br />
AMIStore: Workbench CANDI updated<br />
Announcement<br />
A-EON Technology Ltd is pleased to announce that Workbench<br />
CANDI has now been updated and is available to<br />
download from AMIStore App Store. This update is free of<br />
charge to all customers that have bought CANDI from AMIStore.<br />
Any new customers who want to purchase CANDI can<br />
now do so from AMIStore.<br />
A new Easter bunny theme has been created in addition to<br />
other changes required for future enhancements. The lite<br />
version of CANDI has now been replaced by a tooltype<br />
which can be used to select LOWCPU option for less capable<br />
hardware. Once again, our special thanks go to Kevin Saunders<br />
and Entwickler-X who have done some wonderful<br />
work in realising this update for A-EON.<br />
The new animated Easter theme is added to the collection of<br />
other themes already included in CANDI. Watch out for<br />
white bunnies suddenly appearing in the green grass gently<br />
blowing in the wind on your Workbench backdrop!<br />
Other updates:<br />
* Automatically switch between CANDI animations by double-clicking<br />
on a CANDI icon.<br />
* Double clicking on the same CANDI icon switches the<br />
Workbench animation off.<br />
* CANDI animation goes to sleep if the Workbench goes behind<br />
another active screen.<br />
* New tooltypes to select LOWCPU option for less capable<br />
hardware (removing the need for a LOWCPU CANDI version).<br />
* ResetWB option now works when CANDI is running.<br />
* Each CANDI can now be controlled by an external<br />
program/utility. (coming soon).<br />
http://www.a-eon.com/<br />
http://www.amistore.net/<br />
AMIStore: Warp3D Radeon HD Southern Islands<br />
New 3D Drivers for AmigaOS 4.1: Warp3D for Southern<br />
Islands Graphics Cards<br />
A-EON Technology Ltd is pleased to announce that the first<br />
release candidate of Radeon HD Southern Islands<br />
Warp3D driver is now available to purchase and download<br />
from AMIStore App Store.<br />
PDF News Release<br />
http://www.a-eon.com/PDF/News_Release_Warp3D_SI.pdf<br />
Warp3D-SI Features:<br />
-Supports larger textures (up to 16384x16384 memory permitting).<br />
- Performance is less dependent on resolution than previous<br />
drivers, including rendering at HD resolutions.<br />
- Submits vertices to the GPU via vertex buffers rather than<br />
directly in the command stream (one of the bottlenecks of<br />
the old Radeon drivers).<br />
- Uses the RadeonHD_RM.resource for VRAM allocation, providing<br />
more efficient memory management than own system.<br />
- Accumulates small vertex arrays into larger buffers to provide<br />
faster performance where lots of tiny render operations<br />
are performed<br />
- Doesn't lock the entire graphics system between<br />
3D_LockHardware() / W3D_UnlockHardware(), so an<br />
application or game crash is less likely to freeze the entire<br />
system<br />
Warp3D Radeon HD Southern Islands Requirements:<br />
An AmigaONE or AmigaOS 4.1 compatible computer with:-<br />
- AmigaOS 4.1 “Final Edition”<br />
- Radeon HD V1.4 or V2.7<br />
- MiniGL - version 2.20 or later<br />
Containing one of the following Radeon HD or Radeon<br />
Rx Southern Island graphics cards:<br />
- Radeon HD 7750-7970 series graphics card (excluding the<br />
Radeon HD 7790)<br />
- Radeon R7 250X/265 (excluding R7 250)<br />
- Radeon R9 270/270X/280/280X<br />
www.a-eon.com<br />
AMIStore: New Radeon HD v2.7 and v1.4 available<br />
A-EON Technology Ltd announced new Radeon HD v2.7 and<br />
v1.4 drivers that are available to download from AMIStore<br />
App Store Any customers who have bought the Radeon HD<br />
v2 driver previously may download the new v2.7 update for<br />
free. Any customers who have bought the Radeon HD v1<br />
driver previously may download the new v1.4 for free.<br />
A-EON Technology Ltd<br />
www.a-eon.com/radeonhd<br />
Commodore Free Magazine Page 27
Commodore Amiga News<br />
hw4cubic 6.0 now available<br />
Michael "Clyde Radcliffe" Jurisch's Hollywood add-on for Cubic<br />
IDE has been updated to support the full Hollywood 6.0<br />
command set, there have been bug fixes and also optimizations.<br />
The hw4cubic plugin uses Cubic IDE as an IDE for Hollywood.<br />
The complete Hollywood command set is imported<br />
into Cubic IDE so you'll get syntax highlighting, quick command<br />
information, hotkey links to the documentation for<br />
command under cursor, function list, direct access to the<br />
compiler, auto complete and intellisense functionality and<br />
much more.<br />
Also wordfile for the popular Windows text editor UltraEdit<br />
is available to download on the official Hollywood portal.<br />
This wordfile lets you edit Hollywood scripts on Windows<br />
using UltraEdit.<br />
All downloads are available from the official Hollywood portal.<br />
http://www.hollywood-mal.com/<br />
Acuario 2015<br />
An updated version of the Acuario<br />
screen saver is available<br />
from Morgue Soft, this<br />
version has been compiled<br />
with Hollywood 6.0. Available<br />
for MorphOS, AmigaOS4<br />
and Windows, the only Acuario<br />
with mermaids<br />
Downloadable here:<br />
www.morguesoft.eu<br />
Turrican Anthology - The complete Turrican collection<br />
available for the Amiga CD32!<br />
Earok has just announced the release of the very famous<br />
Turrican series, Turrican Anthology for the Amiga CD32.<br />
First developed for the Commodore 64 by Rainbow Arts and<br />
Factor 5 in the early 90's and ported to other systems later.<br />
Turrican and its sequels such as Turrican II is a game series<br />
that is set in the heart of millions of Retro fans across the<br />
world. They all had great shooting action, amazing game<br />
play and the most<br />
awesome of sound<br />
tracks by Chris<br />
Hülsbeck!<br />
http://www.indieret<br />
ronews.com/2015/0<br />
6/turrican-anthology-completeturrican.html<br />
www.commodorefree.com<br />
AMIcast Episode 2<br />
Second episode of AMIcast. With guest Epsilon - blogger and<br />
Amiga X1000 user, talking about projects, Amiga NG, software<br />
and emulation, also a thread about thirty years old<br />
Amiga computer.<br />
http://radzikpl.blogspot.com/2015/03...2-epsilon.html<br />
http://amicast.ppa.pl<br />
https://itunes.apple.com/de/podcast/...961455301?l=en<br />
AMIcast - Episode 3 - Petro Tyschtschenko<br />
Petro Tyschtschenko! Is interviewed in the 3rd episode. His<br />
story is always linked with Amiga and fighting for Amiga<br />
computers.<br />
http://radzikpl.blogspot.com/2015/04...henko.html?m=1<br />
http://amicast.ppa.pl<br />
AMIcast - Episode 4 - Pascal Papara<br />
Featuring Pascal Papara. Who talks about AEROS and AROS -<br />
Another look at the future of the Amiga. Also about AROS,<br />
open source solution for NG Amigas. AmiCloud, Indiecoins<br />
and Indiego - all connected with Pascal Papara. the future<br />
and development in the community and software like Hollywood.<br />
There are modules by Moby: (02) Murdilokustra; and<br />
at the end: (03) Nobody's Home from Album: Dusting off the<br />
Amiga<br />
http://radzikpl.blogspot.com/2015/05/amicast-episode-4-pascalpapara.html<br />
http://amicast.ppa.pl<br />
MultiViewerNG Released on AMIStore<br />
Announcement<br />
MultiViewerNG Released on AMIStore<br />
The ultimate Next-Generation AmigaOS file viewer<br />
A-EON Technology Ltd is pleased to announce that Multi-<br />
ViewerNG is now released and available on AMIStore App<br />
Store. It is currently priced at GBP £6, EUR 8.40, USD $9.30<br />
(excluding local taxes and transaction processing fee Multi-<br />
ViewerNG is a datatype viewer for the AmigaOS 4. It features<br />
many extra features such as:<br />
- Toolbar icons which user can hide<br />
- File list which user can hide<br />
- Tabs mode which user can switch on/off<br />
- Can run from Shell or Workbench<br />
- File and image editing hotlinks<br />
- Mark mode for copying sections of image to clipboard<br />
- Image zoom and rotate (supports mouse wheel)<br />
- Powerful ARexx interface with scripts menu<br />
- Save images in various file formats<br />
- Slideshow mode for sequentially viewing files (customisable<br />
delay)<br />
A-EON Technology Ltd<br />
www.a-eon.com<br />
http://apps.amistore.net/multiviewer/<br />
Commodore Free Magazine Page 28
www.commodorefree.com<br />
Commodore Amiga News<br />
A-EON Technology acquires DvPlayer<br />
Announcement<br />
A-EON Technology acquires DvPlayer The premier multimedia<br />
player for AmigaOS 4<br />
Cardiff 14th June 2015<br />
A-EON Technology are pleased to announce that, a year after becoming<br />
the sole distributor of DvPlayer, we have now secured<br />
the exclusive rights from its developer Stephen Fellner<br />
As part of the agreement A-EON Technology has acquired a<br />
world-wide, exclusive, perpetual and irrevocable license to develop,<br />
publish and distribute the full Dvplayer source code, binaries<br />
and plugins. A-EON has also acquired the DvPlayer web<br />
content and exclusive rights to all trade names for product marketing,<br />
promotion and branding for the AmigaOS and Amiga-related<br />
operating systems including emulation. Meanwhile<br />
Stephen Fellner will retain non-exclusive rights to elements of<br />
his original source code for potential future projects. The current<br />
version of DvPlayer runs under AmigaOS 4.1 and supports<br />
the following video formats:-<br />
MPEG-1/2 video streams<br />
MPEG-1/2 system streams<br />
MPEG audio files<br />
VideoCD and SVCD<br />
DVD Video<br />
AVI files (inc.OpenDML extens.)<br />
ASF/WMV files<br />
AIFF audio files<br />
GL Galore 1.0 released<br />
Airsoft Softwair released GL Galore, the ultimate<br />
OpenGL® scripting solution for Hollywood!<br />
GL Galore is a plugin for Hollywood that allows you to access<br />
the OpenGL(R) 1.1 command set directly from Hollywood.<br />
This makes it possible to write scripts that utilize the<br />
host system's 3D hardware to create high-performance, butter-smooth<br />
2D and 3D animation that is calculated completely<br />
in hardware by the GPU of your graphics board. This<br />
leads to a huge performance boost over the classic Hollywood<br />
graphics API which is mostly implemented in software.<br />
Especially systems with slower CPUs will benefit<br />
greatly from hardware-accelerated drawing offered by<br />
OpenGL.<br />
http://forums.hollywood-mal.com/viewtopic.php?f=19&t=1119<br />
Download<br />
http://www.hollywood-mal.com/<br />
DvPlayer also supports many audio and video codecs via<br />
avcodec.library, including MPEG Video 1/2, DivX, XVID, MJPG,<br />
Cinepak, Indeo Video, PCM, MPEG Audio (Layer1-3) and more.<br />
It uses fast direct-rendering algorithms for every possible<br />
HiColor and TrueColor display mode and separate rendering<br />
routines for half scale and 16:9 movies so that they are correctly<br />
displayed at the correct aspect ratio. DvPlayer uses a new triple<br />
buffering technique which is only available in OS4.0+. There<br />
are numerous other features including:- keyboards shortcuts, a<br />
skinnable GUI, full screen and windowed displays, Amidock support,<br />
DVD and VideoCD playback, subtitle support, support for<br />
external plugins, a visual audio scope and many, many more.<br />
DvPlayer was developed by Steven, who is himself an Amiga<br />
enthusiast, to deliver the ultimate multimedia experience for<br />
AmigaOS 4.1. Matthew Leaman, commented on the latest addition<br />
to A-EON’s growing software catalogue, “DvPlayer has always<br />
been a favourite amongst AmigaOS 4 users and we are<br />
pleased to secure it for the future”. To which Stephen Fellner<br />
added, “Amiga was the first home computer to deliver a true<br />
multimedia experience. My goal with DvPlayer was to continue<br />
that legacy. Now it's time to take it to the next level and I'm very<br />
happy to have A-EON bring new life to this project.” A beta version<br />
of DvPlayer is currently being tested which supports the<br />
Radeon HD v2 driver’s hardware accelerated video playback using<br />
the graphics card’s own GPU. DvPlayer is available from<br />
AMIStore.<br />
For more information please visit http://dvplayer.amistore.net/<br />
boldly taking DvPlayer into the future<br />
Commodore Free Magazine Page 29
www.commodorefree.com<br />
Commodore Amiga News<br />
Kickstarter launch date for<br />
Commodore: The Amiga<br />
Years announced<br />
Brian Bagnall has setup a Facebook<br />
page for his long-delayed<br />
but finally-forthcoming<br />
book "Commodore: The Amiga<br />
Years", the sequel to "Commodore:<br />
A Company On The<br />
Edge<br />
https://www.facebook.com/pag<br />
es/Commo...59<strong>89</strong>3914051909<br />
Brian has also announced the<br />
launch date for the Kickstarter campaign, and tells me there<br />
will be lots of cool backer rewards.<br />
https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/146275<strong>89</strong>59/commodorethe-amiga-years-book<br />
Hollywood Player 6.0 released<br />
Airsoft Softwair announced that Hollywood Player is now<br />
also available in version 6.0 for all platforms supported by<br />
Hollywood (AmigaOS 3, AmigaOS 4, MorphOS, WarpOS,<br />
AROS, Windows, Mac OS PPC & x86, Linux PPC & x86 &<br />
ARM). With the Player software authors can choose to distribute<br />
their programs as applets instead of stand-alone executables.<br />
In contrast to stand-alone executables, Hollywood<br />
applets are universally executable which has the advantage<br />
that you don't have to compile your programs for as much<br />
as almost a dozen of different platforms<br />
The Hollywood Player is now available for free download<br />
from the official Hollywood portal<br />
http://www.hollywood-mal.com/ for a wide range of architectures<br />
and comes with three demo applets to show its capabilities.<br />
A-EON Technology acquires TuneNet Announcement<br />
A-EON Technology Ltd is pleased to announce that it has<br />
purchased the rights to TuneNet, the multi-format Music<br />
Player and Internet Radio Streamer for AmigaOS 4 from its<br />
developer, Paul Heams.<br />
As part of the agreement A-EON has acquired the exclusive<br />
rights to the full TuneNet source code, binaries and plugins<br />
along with the worldwide exclusive rights to publish and<br />
distribute the software and its plugins.<br />
A-EON has also acquired the TuneNet web domain and<br />
exclusive rights to all trade names for product marketing,<br />
promotion and branding for the AmigaOS and Amigarelated<br />
operating systems including emulation. Meanwhile<br />
Paul Heams will retain the non-exclusive rights to the<br />
"audio re-sampling class" source code for other projects.<br />
TuneNet is a modular multi-format player which was<br />
developed from the ground up by Paul Heams in 2004. It<br />
supports a range of music formats through special plugins<br />
and includes recording and Shout/Ice-cast broadcasting. It<br />
also includes a system GUI along with a customisable<br />
miniature dock facility and XML drive skinnable interface.<br />
Over the years, TuneNet has received many notable<br />
upgrades. It was made freely available on OS4Depot and<br />
was also bundled as a third-party contribution with<br />
AmigaOS 4.1<br />
In recent years, due to changing work commitments, Paul<br />
hasn’t been able to devote time to support and update<br />
TuneNet. Rather than let his creation stagnate Paul said,<br />
“I’ve realised for quite a while that TuneNet needed a new<br />
home. I just did not have the time to give it the attention it<br />
deserved and I’m really pleased that A-EON have taken up<br />
the challenge to drive it forward”. Matthew Leaman added,<br />
“TuneNet is quality AmigaOS software and we look forward<br />
to building on Paul’s excellent legacy”.<br />
For more information please visit:<br />
www.a-eon.com<br />
www.tunenet.co.uk<br />
A bounty for our developers 2015<br />
To support the developers of non-commercial software for<br />
MorphOS having achieved a portage, developed or updated<br />
something since the beginning of the year. The bounty ended<br />
on June 30th, 2015 and will be shared equally between<br />
the developers listed below(*):<br />
- Fab (E-UAE 1.0.0 JIT)<br />
- naTmeg (AmigaMark, exFATfs)<br />
- BSzili (LÖVE, FreeCiv)<br />
- pegasossigi (ShowVector, Calimero)<br />
- OffseT (ACE)<br />
- Thomas Igracki (gTranslator, yWeather, AddShortcut)<br />
- Templario (Acuario 2015, VAMP, SirenaPlayer)<br />
- Geit (SimpleCat)<br />
- widelec (KwaKwa, jabber.module, gg.module)<br />
- Stefan Haubental (Abbaye des Morts, cabextract, Stella, amath,<br />
uBee512)<br />
- Lázár Zoltán (PDFToolKit, SQLMan)<br />
- Rob Cranley (SMBMounter, InstallerGen)<br />
- realstar (Hu-Go!, FCEU)<br />
- James Jacobs (AmiArcadia, WormWars, Saga, Africa, ReportPlus)<br />
- Guillermo Amat (toram)<br />
You can send your donation via the PayPal button available<br />
in the box "Bounty for dev" on www.warmup-asso.org website.<br />
Commodore Free Magazine Page 30
Commodore Amiga News<br />
A-EON Technology and ACube Systems<br />
strengthen strategic alliance<br />
Announcement<br />
Following a series of meetings held over three days in late<br />
April at A-EON Technology's Cardiff headquarters, the two<br />
companies agreed a joint development plan to ensure the<br />
future of Classic and Next-Generation Amiga hardware and<br />
software development. In particular they agreed a new hardware<br />
and software development roadmap which both companies<br />
will jointly fund and support. Their plans include a<br />
series of exciting new hardware and software projects starting<br />
with the Minimig Plus, an updated version of ACube System's<br />
highly successful Amiga 500 FPGA implementation,<br />
based on Dennis van Weeren original design concept.<br />
www.commodorefree.com<br />
During the summit the companies also visited Ultra Varisys,<br />
the developers behind A-EON Technology's Nemo and Cyrus<br />
64-bit PowerPC motherboards, to discuss future hardware<br />
trends and opportunities. Max Tretene, ACube's technical<br />
guru commented, "During our meetings we had very good<br />
MiniMig Plus prototype ideas about near future hardware<br />
and software development, really can't wait to realize all of<br />
them." While Enrico Vidale, ACube's business manager added,<br />
"This strategic alliance can only be good for the whole<br />
Amiga community."<br />
Meanwhile A-EON Technology's Managing Director, Matthew<br />
Leaman commented, "The combined technical and financial<br />
resources of A-EON & ACube should help secure<br />
future success." Trevor Dickinson added, "I'm more optimistic<br />
now about the future Amiga scene than I have been for a<br />
very long time. All I can say is, bring it on!"<br />
note: the full press release is available<br />
http://www.a-eon.com/PDF/News_Release_Summit.pdf<br />
A-EON Technology acquires Ringhio Messaging System<br />
Announcement<br />
As part of our strategic alliance with ACube srl we are<br />
pleased to announce that we have purchased the exclusive<br />
rights to the Ringhio messaging system from its developer<br />
Max 'm3x' Tretene.<br />
As part of the agreement Max has granted A-EON<br />
Technology a worldwide, exclusive, perpetual and<br />
irrevocable license to develop, publish and distribute<br />
Ringhio for the Classic and Next-Generation Amiga<br />
operating systems. Also included in the agreement is the<br />
exclusive ownership to all source code and binaries and the<br />
right to use the Ringhio name in all product marketing,<br />
promotion and branding of the Classic AmigaOS and Nextgeneration<br />
AmigaOS versions.<br />
Ringhio is the advanced system wide messaging and<br />
notification system developed by Max for AmigaOS 4.1.<br />
Ringhio, which has been in development since 2009, is<br />
Italian word for “growl” and in many ways it is similar to the<br />
OS X application of the same name. With the Ringhio server<br />
running, registered applications can inform the user via<br />
notifications displayed in a small pop-up box on the<br />
Workbench that a particular event has occurred.<br />
These are sometimes called Ringhio messages because the<br />
server provides means through which the messages are<br />
communicated visually (in other words, Ringhio handles the<br />
actual display of messages sent by the Application Library).<br />
The Ringhio message window is very similar to an info<br />
requester, only it does not<br />
require user interaction.<br />
The message is displayed<br />
for a short while then<br />
disappears. The short-lived<br />
pop-up notification<br />
window is displayed on the<br />
Workbench informing the<br />
user, for example, that an<br />
e-mail was received, a new<br />
tune was loaded for<br />
playback in TuneNet, or a<br />
program is being installed<br />
by AMIstore.<br />
A-EON Technology has<br />
commissioned Max to create a new AmigaOS 4.1 version to<br />
add new capabilities and features. Plans for a Classic<br />
AmigaOS version are also in the works. On finalising the<br />
agreement with A-EON Technology, Max said, “I am very<br />
excited to work with A-EON for the benefit of AmigaOS<br />
software enhancements and securing Ringhio's future<br />
development". Matthew Leaman added, “It is a pleasure to<br />
work with Max, who is a long established, experienced and<br />
respected Amiga developer. We are looking forward to the<br />
progressive new features that Ringhio will offer for all of A-<br />
EON's software catalogue”.<br />
full press release is available<br />
http://www.a-eon.com/PDF/News_Release_Ringhio.pdf<br />
Commodore Free Magazine Page 31
www.commodorefree.com<br />
Commodore Amiga News<br />
AROS Vision 2.9.3 online<br />
Major changes are that MESA/Gallium is activated by default<br />
and it uses Zune instead of MUI (MUI can be activated<br />
if necessary). MESA/Gallum needs 256 MB RAM and works<br />
with greater than 16bit colour depth although is slow.<br />
Changes:<br />
-all system files updated<br />
-Zune and MESA/Gallium activated<br />
-Netsurf updated (much faster)<br />
-Themes added<br />
-Development (GCC) updated<br />
-most files from contrib/ports (AROS) integrated<br />
-Zuneview added<br />
-FlashMandelNG added<br />
-Free Pascal updated (to 3.1)<br />
-Amiblitz updated (newest snapshot)<br />
-WHDLoad updated<br />
LoView 2.80 released<br />
LoView was an easy to use viewer designed to let the user<br />
choose what to do in a fast and comfortable way. Supports<br />
many file format(depending on DataTypes you have installed)<br />
and may save in JPG, PNG, IFF or BMP file format,<br />
so you can also delete/copy/move/ rename/save a rotated<br />
or flipped image for example or maybe only convert an image<br />
in another format you like...<br />
Here a list of changed/new features:<br />
- Fixed some really annoying bugs, Reworked Exif reading<br />
routine with support for some Pentax Makernote TAGs added<br />
some new more standard TAGs to be shown, Added a<br />
complete preferences editor with also an easy installation<br />
procedure, now the LoView menu was a system friendly<br />
menu when LoView works in windowed mode, now preferences<br />
was stored in ENVARC:LoView/ and no more in the<br />
LoView icon(the old ones can be imported from old LoView<br />
icon while installing), The SlideShow routine was now completely<br />
reworked to grant the user a full immersive new<br />
mode(now you can switch SlideShow in complete FullScreen<br />
and change also background colour if you like)so you<br />
can nicely slide your honeymoon or trips or whatever you<br />
like photos to your friends/parents with your Amiga on<br />
your home TV :), Added a NEW prefs "Load ALL" that can be<br />
selected to pass the entire file list to LoView without prescan<br />
directory for valid files in that way the image will be<br />
Download and download-condition from:<br />
http://www.aros-platform.de/downloads/Aros_Vision.zip<br />
loaded same time than with SinlgePic pref selected but you<br />
have the whole filelist available in the Jump To window to<br />
choose(wrong files will be eliminated while loading), now<br />
the Crop function doesn’t draw a fixed crop area but that<br />
can be resized<br />
clicking on the borders while using the hand-pointer, Added<br />
the new preferences NoOutpuError that skips silently unsupported<br />
files(really useful if you load huge directory with<br />
not so much supported files and use tighter the LoadALL<br />
preferences), added iconify functionality from the menu,<br />
added the ability to drag drawers over the LoView icon in<br />
AmyDock instead of only single files.<br />
*** The LoView experience was now 10/15% faster thanks<br />
to new Hollywood 6! ***<br />
http://os4depot.net/index.php?function=showfile&file=gra<br />
Ancient Amiga Running School Aircon<br />
One Ancient Commodore Amiga Runs the Heat and AC for<br />
19 Public Schools. The 30-year-old computer has been running<br />
day and night for decades. Somewhere in Grand Rapids,<br />
Michigan, there is an ancient Commodore Amiga that is hard<br />
at work. For over a quarter century it has been controlling<br />
the heat and air conditioning at 19 different schools and running<br />
nonstop. It's still kicking, for now anyway.<br />
Read more here<br />
http://www.popularmechanics.com/technology/infrastructure/a1<br />
6010/30-year-old-computer-runs-school-heat/<br />
Commodore Free Magazine Page 32
www.commodorefree.com<br />
Commodore Amiga News<br />
Amiga Mania issue 9<br />
Amiga Magazine with Lots of new stuff, interviews, tests,<br />
guides and an exclusive review of a forthcoming amazing<br />
game...<br />
They say<br />
Produced in the Hungarian language only, and will definitely<br />
remain till the 30th birthday celebration of our beloved<br />
computer family. Later on things may change, but we're on<br />
our way for the 10th release to get it in time...<br />
Warning it’s a large download some 108MB !<br />
PDF:<br />
http://amigamania.amigaspirit.hu/Ami...009_OnLine.pdf<br />
Flash:<br />
http://issuu.com/amigamania/docs/amiga_mania_09_online<br />
A small surprise as a bonus :)<br />
http://amigamania.amigaspirit.hu/Ami...09_24-25EN.pdf<br />
Amiga 30th anniversary celebration in Amsterdam<br />
Filmed at the June 27 Amiga 30th anniversary celebration in<br />
Amsterdam, the Netherlands, here are videos of the CBM engineers<br />
and others who were/are involved in the development<br />
of Amiga computers.<br />
They also talk about Commodore Business Machines back in<br />
the day, how CBM self-destructed, and more.<br />
RJ Mical introduction at Amiga30.eu<br />
http://youtu.be/VHgGdiWExUs<br />
Battilana speaks at Amiga30.eu<br />
http://youtu.be/-e_zD4MaX1s<br />
Trevor Dickinson speaks at Amiga30.eu<br />
http://youtu.be/ZlzHskPYSfM<br />
David Pleasance speaks at Amiga30.eu<br />
http://youtu.be/8GbHzRfWhDA<br />
Dave Haynie speaks at Amiga30.eu<br />
http://youtu.be/pOG1yqyOVw8<br />
Carl Sassenrath speaks at Amiga30.eu<br />
http://youtu.be/ZlPhPQxQKRc<br />
RJ Mical, Carl Sassenrath, Dave Haynie speak at Amiga30.eu<br />
http://youtu.be/fur2quOIufs<br />
Commodore Free Magazine Page 33
Commodore VIC And Plus 4 News<br />
Ohne Dich Unexpanded Vic Demo<br />
A Streaming Audio Demo from the VIC's Datasette<br />
Name: Ohne Dich<br />
Description: Music demos streaming digital audio from datasette,<br />
operable like a regular music cassette.<br />
Requirements: Unexpanded VIC-20 + datassette<br />
Lyrics, vocals & code: pixel<br />
Guitar, bass & drums: Lukas Ramolla, Berlin<br />
Download (TAP & WAV, NTSC & PAL):<br />
http://hugbox.org/pixel/external/denial/ohne_dich.zip<br />
YouTube video, thanks to Kurt Johns:<br />
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PahhRvIVdVM<br />
Source code:<br />
https://github.com/SvenMichaelKlose/nipkow/<br />
The System IIII Game Catalog 1986-1990 For the<br />
unexpanded Vic 20<br />
Name: The System IIII Game Catalog 1986-1990<br />
Author: Ghislain (Adventure World made by original System<br />
IIII member "Nanuq")<br />
Requirements: Unexpanded VIC-20. A joystick is required<br />
for the games made in 1990<br />
Download link:<br />
https://sites.google.com/site/gdbsite5000/main/SYSTEM4<br />
1986-1990.D64?attredirects=0&d=1<br />
Discuss here:: http://sleepingelephant.com/ipwweb/bulletin/bb/viewtopic.php?f=10&t=7600<br />
Ghislain Writes<br />
ADVENTURE WORLD (1986 by Nanuq): A very simple<br />
text-based RPG adventure. Included in the collection for posterity.<br />
MS. VIC-MAN (1990): There were so many VIC-MAN games<br />
out there, I figured that a 4-maze sequel inspired from the<br />
arcade should be made, so here it is.<br />
OPERATION: NATO (1990): Three simple action war<br />
games combined into one.<br />
SPACE DESTRUCTOR (1986); A one or two player<br />
shoot'em up inspired by those VIC-20 manual type-in programs<br />
that were made by Duane Later.<br />
SUMO SMASHER (1986): Should be renamed KEYBOARD<br />
SMASHER. Each player uses their respective action keys to<br />
bow at the beginning of the sumo match and then proceed<br />
to repeatedly abuse said keys to win.<br />
VIC BOXING ASSOCIATION (1986): A PETSCII version of<br />
PUNCH-OUT!! You can't just mindlessly press the punch<br />
keys to knock out your opponent here -- you have to counter<br />
their moves. If the opponent nudges slightly to the left or<br />
www.commodorefree.com<br />
Discussion & denial: http://sleepingelephant.com/ipwweb/bulletin/bb/viewtopic.php?f=1&t=7416<br />
pouet.net entry:<br />
http://www.pouet.net/prod.php?which=66244<br />
to the right, you can throw a quick punch to tag him. If the<br />
opponent telegraphs a punch by moving widely to the left or<br />
right, you should then dodge first and then hit him repeatedly<br />
with punches.<br />
VICEYE THE ARCADE GAME (1990): Think of this as a<br />
COMPUTE!'s Gazette type-in version of the Popeye arcade<br />
game. Tip: make sure that you are facing your enemy Pluto<br />
when he throws a bottle at you--only then can you punch it.<br />
The fire button does not control punching -- you can only<br />
punch when you successfully punch a bottle or move towards<br />
the cans of kale at the top of the screen.<br />
VIDEO QUEST (1986): My earliest RPG game. I also had an<br />
idea to make a sequel to this that would feature an overland<br />
map, cities, and people to talk to. The game engine wouldn't<br />
be as elaborate as Realms of Quest III & IV, but it would<br />
have really pushed the boundaries of the unexpanded VIC-<br />
20. I might make VIDEO QUEST II some day, but I need a<br />
couple of free weekends to do so.<br />
Commodore Free Magazine Page 34
Commodore VIC And Plus 4 News<br />
BORRAY GAMMON FOR THE 16k EXPANDED VIC 20<br />
Name: Boray Gammon<br />
Author: Boray<br />
Requirements: Vic-20 with 16K of expansion RAM<br />
Web Page: http://www.boray.se/commodore/gammon/<br />
Discussion: viewtopic.php?f=10&t=7497<br />
The WEBSITE says<br />
Boray Gammon<br />
In a few shameless words: The very best backgammon game<br />
for Commodore Vic-20. If you have tried the competition,<br />
you probably know what I mean ;-)<br />
Features<br />
- Plays a fairly intelligent backgammon. It's not a grandmaster,<br />
but it should be able to win single games against any<br />
player with a bit of luck.<br />
- You can play against the computer, play with a friend or let<br />
the computer play against itself.<br />
www.commodorefree.com<br />
- You can either use the internal random generator for dice,<br />
or use external ones (which is useful if you want to make it<br />
play against other programs).<br />
- Score counting<br />
- Three levels of difficulty<br />
Lack of features<br />
- No doubling cube<br />
Video:<br />
https://youtu.be/fKv3EQ86D<br />
88<br />
SHIFTED FOR THE UNXEPANDED VIC 20<br />
Name: Shifted<br />
Author: Revival Studios (http://www.revival-studios.com)<br />
On Cassette Tape and as Digital Download<br />
Requirements: Unexpanded<br />
VIC-20<br />
+ Joystick.<br />
Description: Shifted<br />
is an action puzzle<br />
game that<br />
requires quick<br />
thinking and quick<br />
responses. You<br />
have to shift columns<br />
up and down to make combinations of gems on the<br />
centre row. The higher the combination, the more points<br />
you will earn. How long can you keep shifting?<br />
http://www.revival-studios.com<br />
RUSH RELEASED FOR THE UNEXPANDED VIC 20<br />
Name: Rush<br />
Author: Revival Studios (http://www.revival-studios.com)<br />
Released: On<br />
Cassette Tape<br />
and as Digital<br />
Download<br />
Requirements:<br />
Unexpanded VIC-<br />
20 + Joystick<br />
Description:<br />
A heist has gone<br />
wrong and now<br />
you are being chased! Escape the police by running and<br />
jumping from rooftop to rooftop, while grabbing leftover<br />
cash wherever you can Now run<br />
http://www.revival-studios.com<br />
Chiptunes Volume 1 - VIC20<br />
R'zo has released Chip Tunes Volume 1 for the non-expanded<br />
VIC 20 with a SD2IEC<br />
or run under VICE emulation.<br />
You can listen to<br />
10 pieces of music:. <br />
Looper, Resurrection,<br />
Revenge, Viral, Redemption,<br />
Return, TVC, Movement,<br />
Mindstroyer and<br />
AD<br />
https://rzo.bandcamp.com/<br />
http://gator3293.hostgator.com/~sleeping/ipwweb/bulletin/bb/viewtopic.php?f=2&t=7427&p=79980<br />
YAPE v1.0.7 Released<br />
YAPE is a Windows emulator for the Commodore Plus/4<br />
and 16 range of machines.<br />
The changes in this release<br />
are<br />
- adjustable sound latency<br />
(20-200 msec)<br />
- preset window sizing shortcuts<br />
(Alt+number)<br />
- removed P4S and direct ZIP<br />
support<br />
- some fine tuning on the NT-<br />
SC hues<br />
- monitor and D-PAD bugs fixed<br />
- CRT & TED fixes<br />
http://yape.plus4.net/<br />
Commodore Free Magazine Page 35
Commodore VIC And Plus 4 News<br />
Cygnis RELEASED FOR THE UNEXPANDED VIC 20<br />
Name: Cygnis<br />
Author: Freshlamb<br />
Requirements: Unexpanded machine<br />
Description : 4 linked text adventures<br />
The website says<br />
You are in the Cygnis system, and COMMAND has missions<br />
for you. You land on each planet and receive your<br />
mission. Danger and excitement lie in the solutions to the<br />
quests on these strange far away planets. Four text adventures.<br />
There are four text adventures, each has its own objective.<br />
You move and act in this world by typing one, two word<br />
combinations. N or north will move you north if is it is possible,<br />
and works for all the directions. I or Inventory, T or<br />
Time will work for some games. Look, Use ,Go, Get are good<br />
common verbs. Many of the objects (nouns) you can interact<br />
with are easily spotted. Because they are all under 4K<br />
they will not respond to every word combination. If you<br />
press L at the beginning of one planet you will skip to the<br />
next<br />
check it out here:<br />
http://www.rufnoiz.com/Net%20Cat/a91.html<br />
discuss here: http://sleepingelephant.com/ipwweb/bulletin/bb/viewtopic.php?f=10&t=7408<br />
PET DRAW FOR THE Plus 4<br />
David Murray has released PetDraw for the plus 4 , with<br />
the software you can create drawings using the PETSCII<br />
characters and the text-mode colour. Although the program<br />
is still in development and this version is not fully<br />
functional. Load/Save routines DO work, but you cannot<br />
see what you are typing on the screen. if you blind-type<br />
and press return it will<br />
load/save to device 8. Text<br />
mode is currently broken.<br />
This is due to kernel differences<br />
between the C64 and<br />
Plus/4 and how the cursor<br />
and char-out routines work.<br />
it will require significant<br />
re-write of some sub routines<br />
to make it functional.<br />
At the moment the program has the following features:.<br />
Draw mode, pixel mode and a colour picker<br />
http://plus4world.powweb.com/software/PetDraw<br />
www.commodorefree.com<br />
ADDRESS BOOK FOR THE UNEXPANDED VIC 20<br />
Name: Address Book<br />
Author: Jeffrey Daniels<br />
Requirements: Unexpanded<br />
Vic-20, Vic Modem<br />
and tape drive<br />
optional<br />
Description: Store and<br />
organize your contacts<br />
(phone number & email<br />
address) on datassette<br />
with future cloud backup support via the Vic Modem.<br />
Sadly Jeff says he is “no longer making games” and instead<br />
focusing on productivity software, to be hones I<br />
would prefer a mix of both as his games were not only<br />
unique, playable, incredibly fast but were very addictive<br />
The website says<br />
The program is written entirely in BASIC (with optional tape<br />
drive and Vic Modem support). It allows you to store contacts<br />
(phone numbers and email addresses) on tape and access<br />
them on demand. This is a convenient way to keep all<br />
of your friend and business associate information organized.<br />
Download:http://www.sleepingelephant.com/denial/addressbook.prg<br />
Discussion: http://sleepingelephant.com/ipwweb/bulletin/bb/viewtopic.php?f=1&t=7369<br />
Looter - Plus / 4<br />
Looter is a new game for the<br />
Commodore 16 /Plus 4. This is a<br />
clone of the Commodore C64 version<br />
created by OnlineProf2010.<br />
The game consists of you collecting<br />
all the treasure and avoid the<br />
blobs and orcs. You can improve<br />
your health in the game by collecting<br />
hearts.<br />
http://plus4world.powweb.com/software/Looter<br />
Knaecketraecker – TED<br />
Knaecketraecker is a new cross-platform TEDsound tracker<br />
developed by Degauss. The options are: Multi-speed, partial<br />
or global playback. Export<br />
to .asm / .BIN / .PRG files.<br />
Load / save of separate instruments<br />
to build a sound<br />
database. Virtual 3rd voice<br />
editor and a keyboard<br />
mode for easy import of<br />
musical notes. It’s not a<br />
standalone EXE you have to<br />
install the software and<br />
seems to be just available for the windows platform<br />
http://plus4world.powweb.com/tools/Knaecketraecker<br />
Commodore Free Magazine Page 36
Commodore VIC And Plus 4 News<br />
Majesty Of Sprites - Plus/4<br />
Majesty Of Sprites is a new game for the Commodore Plus /<br />
4. The game is not completely<br />
finished but is<br />
playable. The game features<br />
multi-colour graphics<br />
software sprites and<br />
colourful backgrounds.<br />
You can play on 12 different<br />
screens that are distributed<br />
6 worlds. The<br />
game was developed by<br />
Mad, Nero, Decca and Degauss.<br />
http://plus4world.powweb.com/software/Majesty_Of_Sprites<br />
HVTC Update<br />
High Voltage TED Collection is an<br />
attempt to seek the pure TED music<br />
into any program, and take out<br />
the cleanest code which generates<br />
it, in order to have a well structured<br />
archive of re-usable TED<br />
sounds.<br />
. The available files are the original<br />
www.commodorefree.com<br />
programs that produce music using the music TED chip. At<br />
present there are 426 files in the database.<br />
http://plus4world.powweb.com/features/High_Voltage_TE<br />
D_Collection<br />
Mr. Angry Dude - Plus/4<br />
Mr. Angry Dude<br />
AKA(Mika (Misfit )has released<br />
a new platform<br />
game for the Commodore<br />
Plus / 4 In the you control<br />
Mr. Angry Dude over<br />
8 levels. The game is written<br />
in machine language<br />
and can be played on an<br />
NTSC or PAL 16 K machine.<br />
http://plus4world.powweb.com/software/Mr_Angry_Dude<br />
Commodore 16 and PLUS 4 Clubworld<br />
EMAIL ..FROM webmaster@club-info.org<br />
TO commodorefree@commodorefree.com<br />
Hello there,This relates to the Commodore 264 series, i.e.<br />
C16 - 116 - Plus/4 and its dedicated magazine "Club-Info".<br />
The long-lasting German disk magazine Club-Info now runs<br />
a website again: www.club-info.org<br />
As far as I know, Club-Info is the only Commodore related<br />
disk magazine worldwide left which is still spread on genuine<br />
5.1/4" diskettes – like all the other disk mags were distributed<br />
back in the 80s and early 90s. The German<br />
language magazine is now in its 25th year. For the time being,<br />
approx. 4 issues per year are being sent to the subscribers<br />
by "snail mail".<br />
Each issue consists of an editorial, hints & tips for software<br />
& hardware, a buy & sell corner, notifications of forthcoming<br />
retro meetings & events, a so-called "Games Guide"<br />
which contains manuals, cheats, etc. for newly published<br />
games, manuals for application software, and many other<br />
stuff. Each disk is full on both sides. The aforementioned articles<br />
are on side A, and side B consists of games, demos,<br />
hardware diagrams, applications, etc.<br />
Since quite a number of subscribers have just their little<br />
black Commodore equipment but no PC, Mac or else and, of<br />
course, no internet access, we do not run an internet forum.<br />
Botticelli Bilderdisk <strong>Issue</strong> 40<br />
Erich has recently released a<br />
new Botticelli Bilderdisk for<br />
the Commodore C16 and the<br />
Plus/4. This is a double-sided<br />
diskette filled with a mix of<br />
handmade and digitized pictures<br />
in the Botticelli format.<br />
The Magica viewer is used to<br />
display the pictures.. Just put<br />
in the disk and load it, the use<br />
Space bar to change the picture<br />
http://plus4world.powweb.com/software/Botticelli_Bilderdisk_40<br />
All communication between the subscribers and the publisher<br />
(who is Erich of the Commodore user group "Unlimited")<br />
is done by changing diskettes - like it was common 25 and<br />
more years ago.<br />
The objective of www.club-info.org is to be an archive of all<br />
Club-Info diskettes (the actual issue is No. 138, published<br />
early May 2015), and pay a tribute to all former German diskette<br />
magazines by offering them for download. After a new<br />
Club-Info issue has been sent out to the subscribers, it's<br />
available for download from www.club-info as well. As said<br />
before, Club-Info is made up in German language. So, it's<br />
mainly dedicated to Commodore C16-116-Plus/4 friends in<br />
Austria, Germany, and Switzerland - and of course to anyone<br />
on the planet who understands German.<br />
Feel free to have a look at www.club-info.org!<br />
Happy computing from<br />
Hans.<br />
I am not sure<br />
about this for a<br />
review<br />
https://www.yout<br />
ube.com/watch?v<br />
=QyJfVHiyB-o<br />
Commodore Free Magazine Page 37
INTERVIEW WITH STEVE REED FROM<br />
WWW.C64COPYPROTECTION.COM<br />
AND CLOAN NEWSLETTERS<br />
We are aware of the dancing 1541 grinding its way through<br />
another copy protection system and almost croaking into an<br />
early grave in an effort to fit the scheme and actually load<br />
the game, were these actually useful or more a hindrance to<br />
genuine users, my 1541 was in for repair more times than it<br />
was working, killed by disk copy protection schemes, and<br />
while not every game had the intention to kill your drive, it<br />
may have been to kill you in frustration with a long manual<br />
and various messages like page 5 paragraph 2 word 6<br />
where, you had to try and read the worlds smallest text<br />
printed on bright red tracing paper and type in what you<br />
though it said only to be told you were wrong and had to reload<br />
the game again.<br />
www.commodorefree.com<br />
Steve opened the interview by saying he had “started a new<br />
Parameter Master list<br />
http://www.c64copyprotection.com/steverds-parameter-list/”<br />
and was always looking for more parameters that are not in<br />
his collection, he said he recently helped Lord Crass test his<br />
Revolution-V (V-max) copier and has a number of blogs<br />
So when Commodore free caught up with Steve for a chat,<br />
what was on his mind<br />
blogs:<br />
http://www.c64copyprotection.com/<br />
http://www.stevesarcade.com/<br />
http://poisondartfrogblog.com/<br />
Q. Would you introduce yourself to<br />
our readers<br />
A. My name is Steve Reed and I go by<br />
Steverd online.<br />
Q. How did you get into computing<br />
and Commodore machines?<br />
A. Like many old time users, I got an<br />
Atari 2600 in 1980, then I sold that for a<br />
Colecovision in 1982, and then sold that<br />
for a Commodore 64 with a tape drive in<br />
1983, it was just such a cool machine<br />
back then.<br />
Q. What started your fascination<br />
with copy protection?<br />
A. I feel that I am a collector (or hoarer)<br />
inside, I just wanted all of the new<br />
games back in the 80's.<br />
I very rarely played any of the games, it<br />
was more fun to see if I could copy them,<br />
rather than to play them.<br />
I really don't think that I am an expert<br />
on the subject, just a user that's fascinated<br />
by it all.<br />
Q. Have you looked at protection on<br />
any other 8 or 16 bit system?<br />
A. Well I only focus on the Commodore<br />
64, it's what I grew up with. I did get an<br />
Amiga 500 in 1988, but there were just<br />
so many different copy protection programs<br />
for the Commodore 64, for the<br />
Amiga I used X-Copy, until the hardware<br />
copiers like Syncro Express and Super<br />
Card AMI come out.<br />
Q. So on your website, do you show<br />
users how to break the copy protection<br />
schemes, to make backup copies,<br />
or are you more really into documenting<br />
the various copy protection methods<br />
that were available?<br />
A. I do not show how to break copy protection,<br />
I started this blog at first just to<br />
document the all of the copy protection<br />
programs and their Magazine ads. It has<br />
since grown into different directions since<br />
when I started. I started a new list of<br />
C64 Parameters, which as you know usually<br />
does remove the copy protection<br />
check in the program. I am trying to document<br />
every C64 code wheel released,<br />
and The Clone Newsletters that I just<br />
added also tells persons how and what to<br />
use to copy break certain programs protections.<br />
Q. So what do you consider the websites<br />
primary function is?<br />
The main function was information and a<br />
great reference for C64 copy programs.<br />
Since I had that pretty much covered, I<br />
started expanded to include game code<br />
wheels and code sheets, which are just<br />
another type of copy protection. I know<br />
it's a pretty small group of people that<br />
might find it interesting, but as the site<br />
grows so have the number of visitors!<br />
Q. Well for user now, protecting the<br />
originals is a must, and the annoying<br />
Crack intros frustrate me, anyway<br />
What would you consider the most<br />
unusual copy protection system?<br />
A. I don't know how unusual these are<br />
but Lenslok and Dongles. I hated Dongles,<br />
you could easily lose it and the program<br />
wouldn't load. At least with code wheels,<br />
we could photo copy most of them and<br />
make a backup one.<br />
Q. So what do you consider is the<br />
worst system (i.e. most useless and<br />
easiest to break) and what would<br />
you consider the most aggravating<br />
system for the general user, who<br />
bought the game to play it but cant<br />
because of the protection, or it takes<br />
so long entering various codes etc<br />
you get fed up and load something<br />
else?<br />
A. Personally apart from the dongles, I<br />
felt almost all manual look up protection<br />
was the worst and most frustrating. It<br />
took time and then when asked to enter<br />
the "Second word, in the third line, on<br />
page 5", I mean are they counting the<br />
page title or the blank lines, etc??? I hate<br />
those. Plus my friends photo copied all of<br />
those manuals.<br />
Q. I shudder when loading disk<br />
games with the 1541 dancing and<br />
grinding all over my desk, its no won-<br />
Commodore Free Magazine Page 38
www.commodorefree.com<br />
der the device failed so many times,<br />
I wasn’t really into copying games<br />
but became interested in having a<br />
“backup” and run this rather than<br />
watching my poor 1541 grind itself<br />
into an early grave on the original,<br />
we used to have a local computer<br />
club, one member would take in a<br />
game and after the 2 hour session<br />
we usually had a cracked version to<br />
hand out to all users, I would play<br />
the game and if it was good I would<br />
buy the original, If it was rubbish it<br />
was a blank for the next meeting.<br />
A. YES, I think all of the 1541 head banging<br />
started a whole new industry of 1541<br />
drive alignment and alignment software.<br />
Q Do you think copy protection<br />
schemes actually stopped or reduced<br />
piracy?<br />
A. No, there were so many copiers out for<br />
the C64 they got really good at making<br />
copies, then when new harder protection<br />
came out like V-Max and Rapidlok, it only<br />
took a few months before a parameter<br />
would be available to copy those programs.<br />
And then came Jim Drew's SUPER<br />
CARD, and it could copy anything. So no<br />
I personally always felt that companies<br />
wasted money on any copy protection, it<br />
was only a speed bump. Most people I<br />
knew only copied the program to say<br />
they copied it, not to play it. If it was a<br />
program or something that I like I would<br />
always go buy it.<br />
Q. Some games were release without<br />
protection at all, the feeling was that<br />
someone would break it so why bother?<br />
A. Yes, people wanted to make backups<br />
of their original disk and they had a right<br />
to it, so it was great when companies did<br />
this, UNLESS that added a code wheel or<br />
manual lookup protection system.<br />
Q. So can you tell our readers about<br />
the Clone newsletter, when was it<br />
started and by whom, where and<br />
how was it circulated and why and<br />
how is it now on your website?<br />
A. I saw the Clone Newsletters in a group<br />
of disk in an auction. I had never seen<br />
them before and after search the Internet<br />
I couldn't find anything about them.<br />
SO that was pretty exciting. It was a<br />
newsletter by the company Micro-W<br />
which make the copy program called 'The<br />
Clone Machine'. It came in the mail and<br />
the first one I have is dated June 1984.<br />
The contain information on how to copy<br />
different games with the Clone Machine.<br />
Plus a few articles, letters from users,<br />
and more. They are now on my blog and<br />
available in PDF format<br />
SUPERCARD<br />
Q. What in your opinion was the<br />
most technologically advanced copying<br />
system, and how would it have<br />
been used, and what was the most<br />
basic of copy protection cracking systems,<br />
come to think of it what was<br />
the most successful?<br />
A.I still feel Jim Drew's Super card was<br />
the most advanced copier when it came<br />
out. I never talked about Isepic and Super<br />
Snapshot which was one of my favourites<br />
as well. If the program checks<br />
for protection during load and then not<br />
again then you could just snapshot the<br />
memory to disk. One of the most basic<br />
protection scheme is that some programs<br />
checked for the write protect tab, you<br />
know that little piece of black tape that<br />
should be on the original (over the notch),<br />
some originals are not even notched. BUT<br />
if the program finds its open, the load<br />
would fail.<br />
Q. Are there still games that people<br />
can’t figure out the protection<br />
scheme used or be able to remove it .<br />
A. I think was one of the hard hold outs<br />
for the C64 was Bounty Bob Strikes Bob.<br />
The experts on Lemon64 did a thorough<br />
eval of it and the Supercard Pro+ can<br />
copy it. As far as I know there is not one<br />
C64 disk that has been figured out.<br />
Q. What’s the fun in finding the protection<br />
scheme, so you find a parameter<br />
that works then what just<br />
document the procedure?<br />
A.I think it just goes back to the fun and<br />
the challenge of trying to copy the disk. I<br />
love Commodore parameters and have<br />
been trying to find ALL of the parameters<br />
released for the C64, which is why I started<br />
a new Master Parameter list.<br />
Q. What tools should a user be looking<br />
for if they become interested in<br />
this topic?<br />
A. Some basic tools are the Supercard<br />
Pro and Super Snapshot. There are<br />
cracked version of just about every C64<br />
game online, you should get a Zoomfloppy,<br />
to transfer the disk images from a PC<br />
to a 1541/1571. Or for more money get<br />
the 1541 Ultimate II cartridge.<br />
Q. Do you actually collect copy protection<br />
hardware and software?<br />
A.No not hardware, but I do have a large<br />
collection of all of the copy software (including<br />
all versions of them). You know<br />
like: Maverick, Kracker Jax, Fast Hack'em,<br />
etc, etc<br />
Q. Is there something you are specifically<br />
looking for?<br />
A.I am looking for ALL copy programs<br />
and magazine ads of the copy programs,<br />
after all that why I started this webpage.<br />
Q. How can readers help?<br />
A.Yes good question, the readers can<br />
contact me with any Copy software magazine<br />
ad that are not on my site already.<br />
Mine are mostly from USA magazines so<br />
I'm sure that I am missing some great<br />
ads from UK magazines, etc.<br />
Q. You also collect arcade machines,<br />
can you expand on that for the benefit<br />
of our readers?<br />
Well It started with me growing up in the<br />
arcades in the early 80's. Then my Donkey<br />
Kong addiction in 1982.<br />
You know when you grow up in that era;<br />
and thought the most amazing thing in<br />
the world would be to<br />
own an arcade, or even an arcade machine.<br />
So after ten years a cheap Space<br />
Invaders crossed my path and<br />
it was the start of my own personal arcade<br />
collection. I did restore a Donkey<br />
Kong shortly after that.<br />
The worse part of collecting arcade and<br />
pinball machines are that they are so<br />
heavy, every time I move one<br />
I think, why don't I collect stamps instead<br />
of arcade machines...<br />
Commodore Free<br />
I found this old How to repair your 1541<br />
disk drive tutorial on YouTube<br />
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VjBR<br />
Ds2Hl3Q<br />
Commodore Free Magazine Page 39
www.commodorefree.com<br />
Xplode Man for the Plus 4 review<br />
This game actually appeared in 2014, however I was at a<br />
friend’s house recently and saw him playing the game, after<br />
enquiring where he obtained said game, I found where to<br />
download it! Great fun! So firstly here is the link<br />
http://plus4world.powweb.com/software/Xplode_Man<br />
Title:<br />
Language:<br />
Size:<br />
Machine:<br />
Released by:<br />
Coded by:<br />
Graphics by:<br />
Music composed by:<br />
Xplode Man<br />
English<br />
64K<br />
PAL & NTSC<br />
Assassins (ASN)<br />
V., Gábor (Skoro)<br />
K., Róbert (KiCHY)<br />
P., Csaba (Csabo)<br />
Interestingly Chris Snowdon from www.commodore16 .com<br />
reviewed the game on his YouTube channel here<br />
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5M5EESojp2g<br />
And it was also reviewed in Retro Gamer,<br />
http://www.retrogamer.net/ However you will need to buy<br />
the magazine to read it! AS I haven’t read the review I<br />
thought it only right I should write my own. (no offence<br />
Chris or Retro Gamer) anyway I am sure Chris would welcome<br />
the review.<br />
Loading the game gives away its heritage; it’s a bomber<br />
clone, but a clone with a bit of a twist!<br />
The 3D Effects on the loading screen look amazing, showing<br />
For anyone who doesn’t know the plot, you have the ability<br />
to drop bombs that are on a timer and will explode, the explosion<br />
blows up things around you like the brick walls and<br />
also the other people wandering around, blow these guys up<br />
before they blow you up or more realistically bump into you<br />
as you turn into a black charred skeleton and you die!<br />
The twist here and it does add to the game, is that you have<br />
to blow up ALL of the brick walls to move onto the next level,<br />
as well as the bad guys, your also on a timer so don’t dilly<br />
dally around. Unlike other game though the screens aren’t<br />
just square, its not perfect nut very close.<br />
The game starts easy enough and has plenty of power ups to<br />
find and try out, slowly building up pace to a frantic level,<br />
(although some claim its too easy) still the animation is<br />
good colours in game really impress me, and the whole<br />
game plays very well. I think the game is only single player,<br />
more would be welcome if it were 2 players the score would<br />
score a 9 and if it supported more then …….<br />
I am not a fan of the green on green screen, it makes me feel<br />
a little sickly however the game is split into 4 zones each<br />
with its own theme and the first is jungle zone, hence the<br />
green<br />
Game Zones<br />
-Jungle Zone<br />
-Desert Zone<br />
-Factory Zone<br />
-Artic Zone<br />
the colour range of the commodore 16/plus4 with some<br />
nice scrolling banners introducing the levels<br />
The Menu music is superb lovely and bouncy, reminding me<br />
of a number of similar games, this version has a lovely warbling<br />
theme and effective drums.<br />
Anyway pressing fire invites us to enter a passcode or just<br />
press ENTER to move on to level 1<br />
Summary<br />
Solid gameplay<br />
Graphics<br />
Sounds<br />
8/10<br />
9/10 great little<br />
tunes<br />
Gameplay 8/10<br />
Overall<br />
8/10<br />
Commodore Free Magazine Page 40
www.commodorefree.com<br />
Interview with Sean Peck Creator of Kipperterm 128<br />
Do bulletin boards still exist, is there<br />
still a demand for software to connection<br />
to them, how would you find the<br />
software and why would you want to<br />
run the software on a Commodore 128<br />
instead of any of the other 8 bit machines.<br />
Q Please introduce yourself to our<br />
readers.<br />
A. I am a 43 year old software architect<br />
from Pittsburgh, Pa USA. I am married<br />
with 2 children with a third expected in<br />
August, I have been developing software<br />
professionally and as a hobbyist<br />
for close to 30 years.<br />
Q How were you first introduced to<br />
computing?<br />
I begged my parents for a Commodore<br />
64 and 1541 for Christmas back in<br />
1983 or 84 and was fortunate enough<br />
to get one. The main reason I was I interested<br />
in the c64 was for games,<br />
games played on the machine were far<br />
superior to those for the Atari 2600 I<br />
had. I really didn't have any desire to<br />
program it, but once I opened the owners<br />
manual and started to type in; and<br />
work through the various programs, I<br />
knew this was something I wanted to<br />
know more about.<br />
Q So what exactly is Kipperterm<br />
128?<br />
Kipperterm is a terminal program for<br />
the Commodore 128 it runs in 80 column<br />
mode with an RR-net compatible<br />
NIC card. Supporting PETSCII and most<br />
of the ANSI and VT100 command sets.<br />
Basically it allows you to telnet from<br />
your 128 in 80 column mode.<br />
Q so it’s a re-write of the same name<br />
program for the commodore 64 (albeit<br />
with a 128 on the end) so what<br />
is special about the 128 version?<br />
Well it did start out as a pure port yes, I<br />
just wanted to have a telnet terminal<br />
for the 128 in 80 column mode, and the<br />
codebase for Kipperterm 2 for the c64<br />
was publicly available. But I had never<br />
used Kipperterm for the c64, so as I began<br />
to port and test the software to the<br />
128 and use it, however I found that<br />
the vt100 emulation was incomplete<br />
and that the character set used by the<br />
original Kipperterm code did not support<br />
the common IBM extended sets of<br />
the 80s and 90s. so the program was<br />
limited in its usefulness, if you were to<br />
telnet to old IBM boards and try to play<br />
door games etc.<br />
So it this version supports 80 columns<br />
which the original Kipperterm did not.<br />
It supports (by reasonable translation<br />
to PETSCII) the IBM extended character<br />
set (CP431)<br />
It supports a more complete vt100 escape<br />
sequence, so it works with more<br />
BBSs etc.<br />
It has a just shy of 64k buffer<br />
It support printing screen dumps and<br />
printing of the buffer.<br />
I updated the UI as well to add some<br />
very basic windowing<br />
Obviously things like Blinking characters<br />
which are part of the VDC support-<br />
Commodore Free Magazine Page 41
www.commodorefree.com<br />
ed functionality are supported which<br />
are not supported in the original Kipperterm.<br />
Q What hardware do you need, do<br />
you have to connect a modem or<br />
does the software support Network<br />
cards, if so what network cards are<br />
supported?<br />
To run the software you would need a<br />
c128 connected to a monitor that supports<br />
its 80 column mode, and any network<br />
card that is compatible with<br />
RRNet.<br />
Q Are the plans to add more card<br />
support?<br />
Well at this point no because the RRNet<br />
seems to be the defacto standard supported<br />
model for NIC interfaces on the<br />
Commodore machine range.<br />
Q So you need a real 80 column monitor,<br />
how does 80 column mode improve<br />
the user experience, weren’t<br />
there pseudo 80 column displays<br />
created on the commodore 64?<br />
You are right yes the C64 does indeed<br />
provide 80 columns via various software<br />
tweaks, but these 80 character<br />
modes consist of characters that are 4<br />
pixels wide by 8 pixels tall, which are<br />
really 3 pixels wide by 7 pixels tall, to<br />
allow for a pixel of space between characters<br />
and are achieved by either<br />
320x200 bit map mode, or by flickering<br />
between 2 character screens every other<br />
screen draw. While these solutions<br />
do provide an 80 column experience<br />
they are less than ideal, and can be<br />
slow to render and scroll etc. A real 80<br />
column display offers far more options<br />
and speed etc. The 80 column mode of<br />
the 128 was one of the biggest noticeable<br />
improvements over the C64. It's<br />
sort of like comparing Novaterm to Desterm,<br />
both were great terminal packages<br />
back in the day but once a serious<br />
online person got their hands on Desterm<br />
and a 128 they could instantly recognize<br />
the limitations of Novaterm<br />
they had never noticed before.<br />
Q This may be a painful question but<br />
why create the software now, how<br />
much demand is there and do you<br />
keep a record of the user or downloads?<br />
Well the reason it happened now was<br />
simple, I was cruising the net one day<br />
and found the network cards had finally<br />
been created for the 64/128. I had<br />
boxed up all my old commodore equipment<br />
in 1994 or so, mainly because<br />
there was no native NIC cards. I had<br />
graduated college and began working<br />
on the Web just as the NCSA/Netscape<br />
browser was breaking the web wide<br />
open. A machine that could not connect<br />
to the Internet directly was no<br />
longer something I could focus on. So I<br />
slowly started to reacquire, through<br />
EBay all the hardware I used to own,<br />
and then some! and ordered a 64Nic+<br />
from Jim Brain and waited in anticipation<br />
for its arrival so I could finally do<br />
something I could not do before.<br />
It arrived, and I scoured the net for software<br />
to use it with, only to find nothing<br />
really existed for the 128 in native<br />
mode for it. Because nothing existed, I<br />
started to look around to see if I could<br />
find some source code for a terminal<br />
for the 64 so I could try to port it to the<br />
128.. Which lead me to Kipperterm and<br />
that is why it came out now.<br />
Q You already mentioned at lease<br />
one 80 column terminal emulation<br />
software package for the Commodore<br />
128 so why not use that?<br />
Yes there were great 80 column modem<br />
terminals back in the Day. I already<br />
mentioned Desterm as being the<br />
most well known. I personally had<br />
hacked a c128 terminal called GWTerm<br />
whose main benefit was to be able to<br />
play Global War faster back when modem<br />
speeds were slow. In fact I actually<br />
ripped some of the features I added<br />
to Kipperterm directly from recompiled<br />
source code from this old program<br />
I had written.<br />
Unfortunately though, none of these<br />
programs ever got ported to support a<br />
NIC card or TCP/IP. In fact as far as I<br />
know even today there are really only<br />
2 terminal programs that support the<br />
NIC card on the C64, one obviously being<br />
Kipperterm and the other is Guruterm.<br />
I am not aware of any others.<br />
Q. So why wasn’t the 128 version of<br />
Kipperterm released along with or<br />
after the C64 version?<br />
The 64 version was written by A gentleman<br />
from Australia named Jonno<br />
Downes, I was fortunate enough to<br />
have talked to him during the course of<br />
my porting of his original work and he<br />
was incredibly helpful in making my<br />
port a reality. I cannot say why no port<br />
to the 128 was done concurrently with<br />
the original development, but I am happy<br />
that I was able to add this to the library<br />
of software out there. The 128<br />
never got as much love as the 64, but it<br />
is a great machine, and I am hopeful<br />
more people will dedicate efforts to<br />
support it.<br />
Commodore Free Magazine Page 42
www.commodorefree.com<br />
Q. So just why was the software<br />
called Kipperterm?<br />
Furthermore ASCII only defined the<br />
first 127 characters, so various extended<br />
character sets emerged to use all 8<br />
bits or 256 characters. The most relevant<br />
to BBS users back in the day<br />
would be the IBM extended character<br />
set as it defined various graphical characters<br />
in its set to represent various<br />
things and were used highly by IBM<br />
boards. So a pet computer really has to<br />
do more than just deal with the inverted<br />
case of the characters between the<br />
1963 and 1967 standards but attempt<br />
to reasonably represent those extended<br />
IBM character set (CP431) to be useful<br />
when calling IBM BBS's.<br />
disk or disk image, contains all the information.<br />
Well Kipper BASIC is a basic for writing<br />
networking software for the C64. I assume<br />
that this is why the product was<br />
named Kipperterm originally, because<br />
it used code from this codebase, but I<br />
could be wrong. I assume Jonno could<br />
answer this more effectively than myself.<br />
I decided to call my release<br />
Kipperterm128 simply because I originally<br />
intended to do nothing more than<br />
a pure port of the existing Kipperterm.<br />
Q. Do you plan any other ports of the<br />
software to other hardware?<br />
I have a few ideas for things, some<br />
things that I am rolling around are porting<br />
warp copy to native 128 mode, and<br />
adding burst support and D71 support.<br />
Another thing is perhaps adding 80 column<br />
support to the original 64 Kipperterm.<br />
Though I doubt I will start<br />
another retro project soon.. This was a<br />
fun project to work on, but I have lots<br />
of other work and things to keep me<br />
busy at the moment.<br />
Q Apart from PETSCII what other<br />
modes does the software support,<br />
and why were there so many different<br />
standards?<br />
Well Kipperterm 128 supports 3 main<br />
character sets.. Commodore PETSCII,<br />
true ASCII and a reasonable translation<br />
of IBM extended ASCII CP431. I cannot<br />
speak fully to the topic of the PETSCII<br />
vs ASCII issue, but it does go all the<br />
way back to 1963... Pet computers<br />
based their character sets on the 1963<br />
ASCII standards and nearly every other<br />
computer build based their character<br />
sets on the 1967 ASCII standard. This is<br />
the start of the PETSCII vs ASCII differences.<br />
Q. So with all these character set support,<br />
does the software allows you to<br />
connect to a system running on a PC<br />
or Unix system?<br />
Actually, It allows you to telnet to any<br />
system at all! Unix, PC, a router, a retro<br />
machine etc. basically anything that<br />
can be telneted to, and that can negotiate<br />
a successful IAC negotiation with<br />
this, the Kipperterm client can connect<br />
or telnet to it.<br />
Q. Are there many BBS systems still<br />
available, and do they all support<br />
some sort of telnet connection nowadays<br />
rather than dialup using a modem?<br />
Yes there are a surprising number of<br />
BBS systems out there still active today.<br />
You are correct that very few support<br />
true dial up anymore. Most are telnet,<br />
only but a few do still support dial up.<br />
There is a list kept<br />
at http://www.telnetbbsguide.com<br />
Q. For our readers wishing to use<br />
the software, they may question<br />
What does the software cost?<br />
It is free! But I do welcome donations,<br />
and will ship out an actual physical<br />
disk to anyone in the U.S. Or Canada<br />
that donate $25 or more. The documentation<br />
(readme) program on the<br />
Q Do you plan any modifications to<br />
the software?<br />
At this time no, like any piece of software<br />
there are always more things I<br />
could do with it, and I may do some of<br />
them, but at this point, there are no immediate<br />
plans for further modifications<br />
of enhancements but if I do I will update<br />
the d64 file and let the community<br />
know.<br />
download<br />
http://cloud.cbm8bit.com/badco/kipp<br />
erterm128.d64<br />
http://appavenger.com/kipperterm12<br />
8.d64<br />
http://csdb.dk/getinternalfile.ph<br />
p/139337/kipperterm128.d64<br />
YouTube demo here<br />
www.youtube.com/watch?v=J4obRrYZ<br />
vLc<br />
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vMXd<br />
o9Iu6IY<br />
Commodore Free Magazine Page 43
NEW CASE BY Terry Raymond<br />
Awesome I finally did get my new 64C case.<br />
To put your old Motherboard into a new case is very simple,<br />
you might need some canned air<br />
to dust off the Motherboard. It’s Just a reverse assembly on<br />
how the old case is disassembled.<br />
www.commodorefree.com<br />
Just common sense and anybody can put these together, but<br />
I’m willing to post this info to those who may have questions<br />
to help anybody out.<br />
Have a good summer.<br />
To disassemble the NEW and OLD case halves (they snap together)<br />
use a small flat blade screwdriver carefully pry upwards<br />
and both halves should unsnap. The top half cones<br />
off but the keyboard connector has to be unplugged, (don’t<br />
pull the wires you could pull the wires out of the KB connector),<br />
use a screwdriver very carefully to pry the connector<br />
off, be careful not to scrape traces or components on the MB.<br />
Unplug the Led power indicator, the LED and wire has to be<br />
removed from old TOP case half, this just should pull out<br />
without any problem (at least on C64C cases) the older<br />
Breadbox ones I believe are probably glued in I’m not sure<br />
how to remove those.<br />
Terry Raymond<br />
Commodore free<br />
Some more notes are available here<br />
http://www.lemon64.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=42565<br />
&sid=87e0d318216e61f23c6efad291b2d54c<br />
You may also appreciate this site<br />
http://www.the-liberator.net/site-files/retrogames/hardware/index.htm<br />
Push the LED back into the NEW TOP case half.<br />
There is a bottom<br />
metal shield,<br />
clean that and<br />
put that in place,<br />
then the Motherboard<br />
etc plug<br />
the Keyboard in<br />
and the power<br />
indicator, now<br />
the keyboard can<br />
be installed, at<br />
the bottom are<br />
tabs were the<br />
bottom part of<br />
the keyboard fits<br />
into the top part<br />
has 2 screws<br />
with smaller<br />
threads, put<br />
those in but<br />
don’t over tighten.<br />
Same with all<br />
Motherboard<br />
screws remember<br />
this is plastic<br />
they can be<br />
stripped out<br />
(use a smaller<br />
screwdriver to<br />
eliminate over<br />
tightening<br />
screws)<br />
Put the included<br />
stickers on that<br />
is simple.<br />
Commodore Free Magazine Page 44
www.commodorefree.com<br />
REVIEW METEOR DEFENDER AMIGA<br />
BY Bartosz Debski for Commodore Free<br />
Title: Meteor Defender<br />
Author: Ecalius Software<br />
Released: 09 May 2015<br />
This is the first software title from Spanish Ecalius Software<br />
house. As the title may suggest, the aim of the game is<br />
to defend your city from meteors. The Player takes control<br />
of a tank that can move left or right and shoot. You have to<br />
defend a city that is protected by a shield. Meteors are constantly<br />
falling from the sky from various angles, and if they<br />
hit the shield for a long enough period, your city will be vulnerable.<br />
Just one meteor can end your game if shield has<br />
been destroyed. The Idea of the game is quite fun and the<br />
Meteors are of various sizes, but I don’t think that the size<br />
of the meteor makes a difference to the impact it inflicts.<br />
If you hit any of the meteors with just one bullet they explode,<br />
even the big ones. This does take away a lot of fun as<br />
there is no difference really on how big they are and the<br />
firepower needed to destroy one, the size is purely cosmetic.<br />
Bigger objects don’t fall quicker or breaks to smaller<br />
parts. They always explode even if collisions occur between<br />
two or more of them.<br />
the tank seems to not be affected by this. While you move<br />
meteors slow down so you can catch up with ones that can<br />
harm the city. I had to force it to lose and with falling<br />
shield power up it’s even easier to keep your city safe.<br />
Meteor Defender could be a nice arcade game but overall<br />
execution is a letdown.<br />
Game fits on one floppy and it runs also from HDD if copied.<br />
Game Download:<br />
http://eab.abime.net/showthread.php?t=78108<br />
The Graphics in the game are very simple and even back in<br />
the Amiga’s heyday would be considered retro, the same<br />
goes for sound effects. There is no music just 8bit sound<br />
effects.<br />
The Gameplay itself is a biggest problem. If you move your<br />
tank or shoot, meteors begin slowing down and screen<br />
starts flickering. This makes the game barely playable as<br />
Graphics 2/10<br />
Sounds 3/10<br />
Gameplay 2/10<br />
Overall<br />
2/10<br />
Commodore Free Magazine Page 45
www.commodorefree.com<br />
ABYSSONAUT COMMODORE 64 GAME REVIEW<br />
Game Design, Graphics and SFX by Anthony Stiller<br />
Music by Richard Bayliss (Additional support by<br />
Scarzix/Offence)<br />
SEUCK Version: Horizontal Scrolling SEUCK<br />
http://csdb.dk/getinternalfile.php/137362/ABYSSONAUT.<br />
d64<br />
http://csdb.dk/getinternalfile.php/137363/Abyssonaut.zip<br />
http://tnd64.unikat.sk/Seuck_Compo_2015.html<br />
Written by Anthony Stiller, creator of Reset Magazine's "Sopwiths<br />
and Pterradons", you may remember commodore<br />
Free reviewed this game. The idea of this game is to rescue<br />
endangered whales from the poachers who have been<br />
putting nets over them.<br />
THE STORY<br />
As a Deep Sea Reconnaissance and Rescue Operative aka<br />
ABYSSONAUT, you have volunteered to brave the crushing<br />
depths and violent creatures, free any helpless marine life<br />
you find and discover what has happened to the Crouch End<br />
Research Station. You head out at once, plunging into the<br />
ocean on your DSRRO Manta class seascooter..<br />
You control your Abyssonaut using a joystick plugged in<br />
port 2. The game scrolls from left right using the updated<br />
SEUCK engine. Pressing fire unleashes one of the high explosive-tipped<br />
harpoons currently loaded into your twin harpoon<br />
launchers. Your harpoon launchers reload after a<br />
harpoon has either exploded or reached maximum effective<br />
range. As per DSRRO safety regulations only two harpoons<br />
can be 'hot' at a time.<br />
Downloading the ZIP file gives you a D64 the PRG file and<br />
TAP file and a Word document with instructions and some<br />
hints and tips about the game<br />
The title music is most interesting, very under watery at<br />
first then bashes out into a typical SID tune, with a thrashing<br />
beat and warbling synth lines, to be honest it would have<br />
been better with just the slower under watery section, but I<br />
suppose it builds up on the tension.<br />
In game sound effects are acceptable but the animations are<br />
top rate, to think this is Anthony`s second attempt at a<br />
SEUCK game, in fact lets remove SEUCK from the comments,<br />
as many will not recognise the engine used, the game is<br />
smooth fluid has some good variations, and while not 100%<br />
original stands out well.<br />
In fact I cant only comment on the Score that looks standard<br />
for the engine, someone please write a toolkit to enhance<br />
this for SEUCK! Within the limitations it would have been<br />
nice to see some sort of bubbles and better underwater<br />
physics, parallax scrolling.<br />
However<br />
The game engine doesn’t permit this, well as of this time,<br />
(never say never) however the clever animations (especially<br />
the jellyfish) enhance the game, clever placement of<br />
sprites means the game doesn’t suffer much from the usual<br />
slowdowns plagued by many releases using this engine.<br />
Things do speed up somewhat later on.<br />
Loading the game sees a rather stark title screen<br />
The PRG file doesn’t seem to have any music but the other<br />
versions do!<br />
COLLECT THAT ON THE SHARLK to save it<br />
SUMMARY<br />
2nd game attempt! WOW Very playable and well thought<br />
out game, lovely animations, you can feel the hours that<br />
have been spent working on this.<br />
Graphics<br />
Sounds<br />
Gameplay<br />
7/10 lovely<br />
animations<br />
6/10 music is ok<br />
7/10 nothing new<br />
Overall<br />
7/10<br />
Commodore Free Magazine Page 46
www.commodorefree.com<br />
INTERVIEW WITH R.M. Smedley<br />
www.vic20listings.freeolamail.com<br />
When someone tells you they have started a website devoted<br />
to VIC20 type in listings, I bet the first thing you do is hit<br />
your head with your open palm up hand making the now<br />
famous Homer Simpson DOH sound ! It's not the first time<br />
Commodore Free have looked at one of these types of websites,<br />
however, with this one devoted entirely to the VIC 20,<br />
it's worth a look. Personally I used to love the type in listings,<br />
but like many people; I wondered if they deliberately<br />
put in errors so you bought the magazine next month...<br />
Q Can you please introduce yourself<br />
to our readers?<br />
Hi everyone!<br />
My name is R.M. Smedley, and I wrote a<br />
couple of programs in the old days.<br />
Nowadays I am studying for a PhD, and<br />
I also run the VIC-20 Listings website.<br />
Q So just what still fascinates you<br />
about the VIC then?<br />
My parents bought us a VIC-20 for<br />
Christmas in the early 1980s, when I<br />
was ten years old. It was an incredibly<br />
expensive present costing far more<br />
than the car that my father drove at the<br />
time. We could not afford to buy many<br />
games, so it came as a revelation to discover<br />
the type-in program listings that<br />
were a common feature in magazines<br />
and books. From then onwards I was a<br />
regular visitor at the local library, looking<br />
for programs that I could borrow<br />
and type in. At first I had no idea how<br />
any of these programs worked, and I<br />
struggled to type them in successfully.<br />
It was very exciting to find out what<br />
each program did, and over the years I<br />
gradually learned how to type and how<br />
to write my own programs. There was<br />
so much to learn, and I discovered<br />
some amazing programs along the<br />
way...<br />
Q Do you own any other Commodore<br />
Machines?<br />
Much later we had a Plus/4, followed<br />
by a C64 and an Amiga. They were all<br />
fantastic computers, but I have especially<br />
fond memories of the VIC-20 and<br />
those type-in programs. It was my first<br />
computer, and it completely changed<br />
my life.<br />
Q I know what you mean about being<br />
life changing, but why specifically<br />
did you start a website about VIC<br />
listings was it purely to relive the<br />
childhood books?<br />
Well several years ago I downloaded a<br />
VIC-20 emulator and wanted to play<br />
some of my favourite type-in games<br />
again. In particular I hoped to find a<br />
game called "Grave Robber" by K Dent,<br />
but I could not remember where the<br />
listing was originally published. When I<br />
searched on the Internet to see if I<br />
could download<br />
any of<br />
these programs,<br />
it<br />
came as a<br />
shock to discover<br />
that<br />
few type-in<br />
programs<br />
have been<br />
archived<br />
and there<br />
was hardly<br />
any information<br />
about them.<br />
Type-in programs are an important<br />
part of the VIC-20 heritage and they<br />
were very important to a lot of people.<br />
It got me thinking, "If only there was a<br />
website dedicated to VIC-20 listings..."<br />
Over the next couple of years I spent a<br />
lot of time searching through scanned<br />
books and magazines, and I eventually<br />
found the listing for "Grave Robber"<br />
(Popular Computing Weekly, 8-14 Mar<br />
1984) along with many, many other<br />
programs. Years later, I realised that<br />
my growing archive of type-in programs<br />
might be of interest to other people,<br />
so I created the website. I wanted<br />
to make all the programs available for<br />
download together with details of who<br />
wrote it, where the listing was published,<br />
any special requirements, and<br />
brief instructions.<br />
GRAVE ROBBER<br />
Commodore Free Magazine Page 47
www.commodorefree.com<br />
Q Where do the listings come from,<br />
are they magazines, books or a combination<br />
of both?<br />
A combination of both books and magazines.<br />
The books on my website include<br />
"More than 32 BASIC Programs for the<br />
VIC 20 Computer", "Sixty Programs for<br />
the VIC 20", "VIC Innovative Computing"<br />
and "Zap! Pow! Boom! Arcade Games<br />
for the VIC-20". The 'Sixty Programs'<br />
book is particularly well known but,<br />
despite what the title suggests, it only<br />
contains 57 programs! Most of the<br />
books are 100% complete, with every<br />
program available to download.<br />
The magazines include Big K, Commodore<br />
Horizons, Computer & Video<br />
Games, Popular Computing Weekly,<br />
Your Commodore, etc. Some of these<br />
are 100% complete, while others have<br />
missing programs that still need adding.<br />
I am always on the lookout for<br />
missing programs, so if anybody has<br />
any programs that are not on the website<br />
then please submit them.<br />
Q So most people will think magazines<br />
deliberately put errors in the<br />
listings to make you buy the next<br />
months issue to find the corrections,<br />
do you think that is true or just an<br />
urban myth?<br />
A lot of people think this, and I sometimes<br />
wonder when I see syntax errors<br />
and other problems in listings. But of<br />
the 850+ programs that I have typed in,<br />
it is surprising how few of them had<br />
corrections printed in a subsequent issue.<br />
Some programs were just better<br />
written than others.<br />
Q Are all the listings in VIC BASIC, or<br />
do you have some in machine code,<br />
with a BASIC header or loader routine<br />
that reads the code in from data<br />
statements, (wow they were a real<br />
pain to type in)?<br />
I would say that most programs are<br />
written in BASIC, although a lot of them<br />
use data statements for user-defined<br />
graphics etc. Some machine code programs<br />
are very impressive and rival<br />
commercially published games, such as<br />
"Tacco" by Richard Weisang & Frank<br />
Ammann (Happy Computer, Oct 1984)<br />
and "Scram-20" by Nalim Sharma<br />
(Your Computer, Jun 1983). In particular,<br />
"Scram-20" was later published<br />
commercially by Artic Computing.<br />
You are absolutely right though, machine<br />
code programs are among the<br />
most difficult to get working. There is<br />
nothing worse than typing in page-after-page<br />
of numbers only to find that<br />
you have made a typing mistake somewhere,<br />
or that part of the listing is<br />
blurred and some numbers are unreadable.<br />
It only takes one incorrect<br />
number to stop an entire program from<br />
working. An example of this is "Millipods"<br />
(Your Computer, Mar 1984).<br />
There are pages of machine code to<br />
type in but some of the numbers are<br />
unreadable. I have tried several times<br />
but I cannot get it working - if anybody<br />
has a working copy then please submit<br />
it.<br />
BASIC programs can also be difficult to<br />
enter if they have lots of awkward<br />
graphic characters. I remember a program<br />
called "Map" (Popular Computing<br />
Weekly, 24-30 Mar 1983) that used<br />
graphic symbols instead of numbers<br />
for the data statements, which was an<br />
innovative idea but the listing is very<br />
difficult to decipher. You look at the listing<br />
and think, "Are those vertical lines<br />
supposed to be Shift+Y, Shift+H,<br />
CBM+M, or something else?" Again, if<br />
anybody has a working version then it<br />
would be fantastic to see it.<br />
Q My mum and dad thought that the<br />
VIC; and computers in general were<br />
a fad, I used to sit on my mums typewriter<br />
and type out the listings<br />
from various magazines, entering<br />
things like HEART and CURSOR<br />
LEFT etc. for special control characters,<br />
after a few months of me constantly<br />
entering code this way and<br />
wondering what it would do, I<br />
think they knew this was no fad. It’s<br />
a long intro to the question but …<br />
Do you have any other childhood<br />
memories of the VIC you would like<br />
to share with readers?<br />
When I was ten years old and saw a<br />
machine code program for the first<br />
time, I thought it looked like an endless<br />
stream of meaningless random<br />
gibberish. This gave me the naively<br />
embarrassing idea that it might be<br />
possible to write a program simply by<br />
pressing random keys on the keyboard<br />
to produce a suitable stream of<br />
random nonsense... As you can imagine,<br />
it was about as successful as trying<br />
to write an essay by randomly bashing<br />
keys - it did not have the slightest<br />
chance of working.<br />
Around the same time, a school friend<br />
claimed that he was randomly bashing<br />
keys on his Sinclair Spectrum when he<br />
suddenly found himself connected to<br />
the local bank - an unlikely story if ever<br />
I heard one, particularly because he did<br />
not have a modem. When I asked him<br />
to show me how he did it, he was unable<br />
to replicate the feat. Strange that!<br />
All of this was before I learned how<br />
computers really work and started<br />
writing real programs.<br />
Q So the programs on your website,<br />
did you actually type out all the<br />
codes or were they sourced from<br />
elsewhere, and did you cross check<br />
them to make sure they were 100%<br />
accurate to the magazine, (apart<br />
from said errors) as many people<br />
tend to change the code as they type<br />
(I know I used to, although maybe<br />
not on purpose, more fat fingers or<br />
cross eyes)?<br />
I typed most of the programs myself.<br />
Before typing in a new program I usually<br />
check Gamebase20 and Bo Zimmerman's<br />
FTP site<br />
www.zimmers.net/anonftp/pub/cbm/<br />
vic20/ to see if anybody else has already<br />
done it, and I have found some<br />
programs that way. But it is staggering<br />
Commodore Free Magazine Page 48
www.commodorefree.com<br />
how many programs do not appear to<br />
be available from anywhere else.<br />
When entering programs I try to keep<br />
them 100% accurate to the original listing.<br />
Occasionally there is some guesswork<br />
involved with unreadable<br />
symbols, and sometimes there are typing<br />
mistakes or syntax errors that need<br />
fixing to make the program work. It<br />
takes a surprising amount of time and<br />
effort to type each program and get it<br />
running.<br />
Q Have you thought about having<br />
the code available as a listing in like<br />
pseudo VIC BASIC using something<br />
like this<br />
http://www.davidviner.com/cbmlis<br />
ter.html?name=CBM+Basic+Lister<br />
that can list the special characters,<br />
in a way viewable in a pc text editor?<br />
As it happens, I have got all the BASIC<br />
programs in that format, but I have not<br />
included those files on the website.<br />
I usually use VIC20 Prg Gen<br />
http://www.ajordison.co.uk/ for typing<br />
in programs, and I always save the<br />
source code as a TXT file that can easily<br />
be displayed in a text editor. These TXT<br />
files are useful for a number of purposes:<br />
searching to see if a new program is<br />
a modified version of something I have<br />
already typed in, seeing how a program<br />
works, and also for fixing bugs. Another<br />
valuable program that I use is BasEdit<br />
www.stojalowski.de/BasEdit/ ,<br />
which has an extremely useful syntax<br />
error checker.<br />
In principle there is nothing to stop me<br />
from putting the TXT files on the website,<br />
but it would cost money to upload<br />
them using dial-up Internet access. At<br />
the moment I think most people are only<br />
interested in the PRG files. If anybody<br />
wants to see the TXT file for a<br />
particular program then it is easy to<br />
use VIC20 Prg Gen to convert PRG files<br />
into TXT format. But you never know<br />
what might happen in the future - one<br />
day I might upload them.<br />
Computing" by Clifford Ramshaw. This<br />
was fantastic and made it possible to<br />
archive lots of programs that might not<br />
otherwise have been available. There<br />
are lots more books that must exist in<br />
people's lofts, but which have not been<br />
scanned and are impossible to find.<br />
Most of the listings are downloaded<br />
from scanned archives of books and<br />
magazines, like DLH's Commodore Archive<br />
http://www.bombjack.org/commodo<br />
re/ and Internet Archive<br />
http://archive.org/details/computerm<br />
agazines. It is always fantastic when<br />
people donate items to DLH so they can<br />
be scanned and made available to everybody.<br />
Without DLH's amazing work,<br />
archiving these VIC-20 programs<br />
would have been much more difficult.<br />
Q What's the most unusual program<br />
you have come across, and what currently<br />
do you consider the best?<br />
There are so many unusual programs<br />
on my website that it is difficult to<br />
choose just one. "Australia" by Chris<br />
Palmer (Popular Computing Weekly,<br />
13 May 1982) turns the screen font upside<br />
down, "Mystery" by Andy Horrell<br />
(Popular Computing Weekly, 7 Oct<br />
1982) is a fun little game but the listing<br />
gives no clue what it does, "Play That<br />
Boogie" by Adam Macielinski (Your<br />
Computer, Mar 1983) shows two men<br />
dancing to a tune, and "Chip Chat 1" by<br />
Eric Doyle (Your Commodore, Jun<br />
1986) demonstrates how the CPU<br />
works. There are also programs to perform<br />
various types of calculation, such<br />
as "Moles" by Sarah Cotton (Popular<br />
Computing Weekly, 13-19 Sep 1984),<br />
which calculates the number of moles<br />
in a given quantity of substance.<br />
In terms of unusual games, "Mud Bath"<br />
by K Osborne (Personal Computer<br />
Games, Apr 1984) is well worth a look.<br />
It is a surprisingly good game where<br />
you have to catch your clothes as they<br />
fall from the washing line.<br />
Q I know the number of programs is<br />
growing all the time but approximately<br />
how many programs are on<br />
your site and from how many different<br />
sources?<br />
Well At the time of this interview there<br />
are 912 programs on the website, from<br />
13 magazines and 13 books, with more<br />
programs waiting to be uploaded.<br />
Somebody recently submitted lots of<br />
programs from the German magazine<br />
Happy Computer, including the excellent<br />
game "Tacco" that I mentioned earlier,<br />
so I will add those next time I<br />
update the website.<br />
Q Do you plan to host the magazines<br />
the programs are from as well as the<br />
programs themselves?<br />
I save scanned copies of the listings,<br />
but at the moment I have no plans to<br />
put them on the website. It would be<br />
too expensive to upload them mainly<br />
as I am still using dial-up Internet access.<br />
Like with the TXT files mentioned<br />
earlier, it might happen at some future<br />
point.<br />
Q What help if any is needed to help<br />
maintain these programs?<br />
Q How do you come across the listings<br />
books and magazines, are they<br />
donated?<br />
A few years ago somebody kindly gave<br />
me several VIC-20 books, including<br />
"The Penguin Book of VIC 20 Games" by<br />
Paul Copeland and "VIC Innovative<br />
Commodore Free Magazine Page 49
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There are many things people can do to<br />
help, if they would like to get involved.<br />
1. If anybody has got working copies of<br />
programs that are not currently on the<br />
website then it would be fantastic if<br />
they could submit them.<br />
2. I have got lots of listings that need<br />
typing in. If anybody would like to have<br />
a go at typing some programs then<br />
please get in touch. I am happy to suggest<br />
programs they could enter, and I<br />
can send scanned copies of the listings.<br />
3. If anybody finds any broken links on<br />
the website, or typing errors in any of<br />
the programs, then please let me know.<br />
4. There are lots of books and magazines<br />
that have not been scanned and<br />
are not available anywhere, but which<br />
must still exist in people's lofts. Similarly,<br />
some people might have tapes or<br />
disks of programs that they typed in as<br />
a child, which perhaps they might be<br />
able to convert into a modern format<br />
like a TAP file or D64 image. It would<br />
be great if we could get things like this<br />
archived.<br />
Q What feed back have you had<br />
about the website and the programs,<br />
has anyone said “hey that was my<br />
code I donated to Xyz Magazine”?<br />
To be honest the feedback has been<br />
overwhelmingly positive and very supportive,<br />
which is fantastic.<br />
So far, I have not heard from anybody<br />
who wrote any of these programs. It<br />
would be great to hear from the original<br />
authors, if they would like to get in<br />
touch. Perhaps I could even add an 'Interviews'<br />
section to the site...<br />
Q Yes it would be nice to hear from<br />
the original creators of the programs,<br />
there motivation and what<br />
did they receive for having an article<br />
printed. Maybe they are all far too<br />
famous now! Where do you see the<br />
website in lets say 2 years time?<br />
One of the exciting things about the future<br />
is that you never know quite what<br />
will happen, or how things might develop.<br />
There are many books and magazines<br />
that are still missing from online<br />
archives, and it would be fantastic if<br />
they could be found, scanned and preserved.<br />
Q Would you consider, readers donating<br />
VIC BASIC programs to your<br />
site, or would they have to be programs<br />
from books and magazines, is<br />
it more an archiving of programs<br />
rather than just collecting VIC BASIC<br />
programs?<br />
My website is purely for type-in program<br />
listings that have already been<br />
published. One day it might expand into<br />
other programs, but at the moment<br />
there are too many type-in programs<br />
that still need to be found and archived.<br />
Interestingly, a small number of listings<br />
were published outside of books and<br />
magazines. For example, there is at<br />
least one type-in listing that was printed<br />
on the inlay of a blank computer cassette<br />
tape... Programs like these belong<br />
somewhere in my archive, but I have<br />
not yet decided where and how to include<br />
them.<br />
Q Yes I remember a program on a<br />
tape inlay card, I never tried it, very<br />
strange, Ok so far What would be<br />
your favourite program be and why?<br />
There are so many clever and inventive<br />
games that it is difficult to pick out a<br />
favourite. Some of my favourite programs<br />
include "Tacco" by Richard<br />
Weisang & Frank Ammann (Happy Computer,<br />
Oct 1984), "Grave Robber" by K<br />
Dent (Popular Computing Weekly, 8-14<br />
Mar 1984) "Nibblers" by Dave Shambrook<br />
(Your Computer, Sep 1982), and<br />
"Snake Byte" by Andrew Dilley (Your<br />
Computer, April 1983).<br />
Q Have you seen any programs from<br />
people who later became let's say<br />
“famous coders”?<br />
Oh Yes!<br />
It is always a joy to discover type-in<br />
programs written by people who subsequently<br />
became prominent figures in<br />
the industry. Their early programs are<br />
often well-written and great fun to play<br />
and it is fascinating to see how their<br />
work evolved into the later games that<br />
made them famous. Some of the programs<br />
on my website include:<br />
Shaun Southern - "Brick Blaster"<br />
(C&VG, Oct 1982) - Shaun wrote many<br />
iconic games including Tutti Frutti<br />
(C16), Trailblazer (C16 & C64) and the<br />
Lotus trilogy (Amiga).<br />
Martin Holland - "Tunnel Snatch"<br />
(C&VG, Aug 1984) and "Egg Eater" (Big<br />
K, Mar 1985) - Martin became a famous<br />
graphic artist on the C64, and tragically<br />
died in Aug 2003 aged just 35.<br />
Mike Singleton - "Crash or Crush"<br />
(C&VG, Oct 1983) - Mike wrote many<br />
famous games including Lords of Midnight<br />
(Spectrum), and sadly died of cancer<br />
in Oct 2012 aged 61.<br />
Richard Clark - "Mission X" (Commodore<br />
Horizons, Sep 1984) - Richard<br />
wrote lots of games including Gun Law<br />
(C16) and Cave Fighter (C64).<br />
There are also several other intriguing<br />
programs. For example, I wonder if<br />
"Brass Envelope" by D Whittaker (Popular<br />
Computer Weekly, 1 Jul 1982)<br />
might be written by programmer & musician<br />
David Whittaker, or if the name<br />
is just a coincidence?<br />
Q Would you consider hosting typein<br />
programs for any other machine,<br />
or do you want to keep it just for the<br />
VIC, so say maybe C64 and Plus/4<br />
programs?<br />
At the moment I am only interested in<br />
VIC-20 programs. There are so many<br />
'missing' programs that it would quickly<br />
become overwhelming to do anything<br />
else.<br />
Q Do you have any other comments<br />
you would like to add?<br />
"Don't dream it, be it." (Within reason,<br />
of course.)<br />
Commodore Free Magazine Page 50
www.commodorefree.com<br />
Commodore Free Game review 10x10 For the Amiga<br />
Reviewed by Bartosz Debski<br />
Author: Coagulus<br />
Released: 05 May 2015<br />
10x10 by Coagulus is a puzzle game which at first reminds<br />
me a good old Tetris. You play on a 10 by 10 field where<br />
you have to put blocks of various sizes to create straight<br />
lines. There is no timer, and you play only against your<br />
high scores. The game mechanics are simple yet addictive.<br />
At the start you have three blocks to put on the grid, and<br />
then three new blocks are presented. You continue until<br />
there is no way of putting new block on the playfield.<br />
There is no way of rotating the selected shape. When a vertical<br />
or horizontal line is completed it disappears and your<br />
score grows. The Game features a high score board and<br />
scores are saved.<br />
Presentation of the game is somewhat basic. A Board on a<br />
white background with all possible options buttons on the<br />
bottom right side. Your current score is presented against<br />
the high score and that is it!<br />
There is nothing wrong with this, but as this is a one screen<br />
game I would like to see some interesting backgrounds<br />
which can set the mood. There are no sound effects, and<br />
you can only switch the music on or off. The Tunes are<br />
nothing special but that said they are not bad either.<br />
Overall this is a solid puzzle game and you can’t fault simple<br />
but fun mechanics. With a better approach on visual<br />
side and some sound effects this could be a very polished<br />
production.<br />
The Game can be downloaded on one floppy, and it will also<br />
run from the HDD. High scores are saved into S folder<br />
within the game. 10x10 will run on any Amiga with 1MB of<br />
Ram and was written in Blitz Basic<br />
Game Download is available from her:<br />
http://eab.abime.net/showthread.php?t=78061<br />
Graphics 5/10<br />
Sounds 5/10 Just music<br />
Gameplay 8/10<br />
Overall<br />
6/10<br />
Commodore Free Magazine Page 51
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