Category: Commodore 128
This is my 10th, and presumably final RetroChallenge update: tomorrow is the end of the contest. Most people would say “Hey, you were crazy to set that goal in the first place, let alone start with only a day left.” Ah, what do they know? I just a game design, and write some code. Sure, I only started learning assembly…
I do not remember how I debugged BASIC programs back in the 80s. To be honest, I do not even want to remember. I’m sure it was convoluted, ugly, and painful. You know what’s really nice? Modern development environments where you can step through your program, statement by statement, watch the variables change, maybe even change some yourself as you go,…
Last weekend we finished the PCB layout and sent it out for manufacturing. The PCB is 83x58mm and fits into a standard Commodore cartridge case. All the ICs are through holes except the DRAM chips. If everything goes well I will receive the boards sometimes next week, just in time for a final blog entry. PLD Code As mentioned in…
If you are following along from the last update, you now have assembled the pieces you need to start programming in 650x Assembly language. Since my RetroChallenge is focused on the Commodore CBM II (“B Series”) machines, I am going to be showing how to set a development environment for that machine. But the same environment will work just as…
Robert Bernardo is a very known figure in the American Commdore scene, being the head of the “Fresno Commodore User Group”, we have been in touch with him since we started with Scene World 18 years ago – time to talk to him and hear about his side of our Commodore User World and Sphere! Enjoy listening to his experiences!…
A reminder to the hoards of fans who have been following along with bated breath each day for updates on this project: my goal for this, my first RetroChallenge, is to get a CBM 710 into working state. My super ambitious goal would be to also write an assembly language program and get it running on the CBM 710. My…
RC 2017/10 was my first retrochallenge. I reverse engineered the Berkely Softworks georam for Commodore 64/128 computers, published the design files and built a clone. For RC2018/04 I’d like to pick up where I left off and design a 4MB version of the ram expansion. The Berkeley Softworks geroam is a 512K memory expansion for the Commodore 64/128 originally designed…
Magic Blocks is a new game for the Commodore Plus/4 (also C16 with 64Kb) and the Commodore 128 where you play Archimedes, a sorcerer that needs to learn how to use the Magic Blocks to move around the mazes and find his way out. Each of the 16 levels has different levels of difficulty with a different structure. In some rooms,…
You know those jokes that begin “You might be a redneck if you”? Here’s a Jack Tramiel version: “You might be in Commodore marketing if your boss told you to sell more CPUs, so you had the engineers cram 2-3 in every computer.” Thanks folks, I’ll be here all week… Despite some confusing early names, the Commodore B-series is not, in…
Dracula’s Castle is a new platform game for the Commodore 64. Released by MP Software, the game is based/ported on an old BASIC game, released in 1985. Although the graphics are mostly the same, the MP Software’s version is coded in assembler. The premise is simple: the hero has to collect the crucifixes and the key in order to open…
