You can see a demonstration of a prototype of the Mega SwinSID on YouTube. This time the original SID is replaced by a STM32 ARM Cortex M3 microcontroller. The microcontroller works at 80 MHz and it uses the integrated 12 bit DACs for stereo output. Currently it is in early stage of development and only basic SID emulation is working.

SwinSID web page

The Commodore C64 can be used to control all kinds of hardware. In this demonstration you can see that the C64 is used to control a pallet warehouse. A program written in BASIC is used to move the pallets from one place in the warehouse to another place. The movement is controlled with 3 stepper motors that can make the mechanical arm move in the X, Y and Z directions. The commands for the motors are given via 5 outputs at the user-port of the C64.

Read the article about the pallet warehouse.

Markus Gritsch wrote an alternative firmware for his HybridSID device. It can now act as a "Network SID Device" and can be used as the sound output device for ACID 64 and GoatTracker. When the HybridSID works together with ACID 64 you will have support for the RSID format and the music is played cycle exact. The HybridSID is a open source project, the schematics and firmware are available to build your own device.

Twylo told us last month that he is working on a SD card for the Commodore PET/CBM. He now has an improved proto-type. This prototype is made on a so-called breadboard with loose components and wire connection. In the near future he is going to make some prototype PCBs. You can watch the latest proto-type in a YouTube video.

Jorge Castillo gave a demonstration of his voice synthesizer, that is controlled by an Commodore C64. The synthesizer is made with PIC16F648A micro controller. It is connected to the user-port of the C64. The program XL VIP terminal is used to communicate between the C64 and the PIC controller. You can watch the demonstration video on YouTube.

Technical information PIC voice synthesizer C64.

The firmware 6d (beta) is now available for the Chameleon cartridge. Changes in this version: Turbo speed increase. Auto speed option for the turbo. Turbo slows down when access to the IEC bus - GEOS works now! 1541 emulation improved (IEC timing, VIA6522). New cartridge emulations: Mikro Assembler, StarDOS, Business Basic, S'More, Prophet-64, Capture, Mach-5, Westermann Learning, Epyx Fastload, Easy-flash and PageFox.

The KryoFlux system can now write an image back to a diskette. In a demonstration you can see that original and protected games (Xenon 2, Turrican 2 and Dragon's Lair) are written back to a diskette, and work without problems. The software for writing images is in beta stage, but will be available in the near future for Linux, Windows and Mac OS X. You can visit the KryoFlux web page for more information.

KryoFlux web page

The DiskFreezerX is a project that aims to capture bit cell exact information from floppy disk drives as a standalone device. On Lallafa's blog you can follow the project, and at the moment the hardware is working. The device is made out of several modules: Processor board with a SAM7 ARM processor. IO board with an SD card slot. Floppy adapter module. And a 256 KiB SPI memory module.

Jens Schönfeld showed a proto-type of the RR-Net MK3. This cartridge for the Commodore C64 has the following features: Ethernet (Wiznet W5100 chip with integrated TCP/IP stack), 8 kbyte ROM (Writeable with the C64), 128kbyte RAM (bank switching). The RR-Net MK3 can also be use together with the Chameleon, Retro Replay, MMC Replay and the Nordic Replay via the clock-port.

Jeri Ellsworth released a video on YouTube. In this video you can see a old project of Jeri from 2005. This project was the successor of the C64-DTV. The Amiga version needed more Flash memory, and the toy company lost interest because it would be more expensive. Later the market for this kind of toys collapsed.

For the HxC floppy emulator is new firmware available. The HxC floppy emulator is a replacement of a 3.5 inch disk-drive in for example an Amiga or a Atari ST. With this device you can connect the original floppy controller in the computer to a SD memory card or a USB port on a PC. Recent changes in the firmware: New track generator. Variable bit-rate support. Kurzweil KRZ file support. Many new file systems supported for example ADF Amiga / UAE Extended and D81 (C64+1581). SD-card settings window and much more.

Markus Gritsch has improved the firmware of his HybridSID. In this version he added level bars for the SID voices on the display. HybridSID is a hybrid SID player, built with emulated and real hardware. The CPU and CIA are emulated with a PIC32 and the sound is generated by a "real" SID chip. You can watch a demonstration on YouTube.

Alessandro Dorigatti has made a ZX Spectrum (48k PAL) core for the C-One with FPGA extender. The core supports the ULA+ 64 color mode, a Kempston joystick emulation and can load TAP files. This core requires a monitor that supports 50Hz. An English manual and a keyboard layout is included.

The (beta) firmware v6 is now available for the Chameleon cartridge. Changes in version 6: Fixed RAM mirrors for 1541 drive emulation and reading from emulated SID. Cartridge emulations: KCS power, SSv5, C64GS, Comal-80, Zaxxon, Ocean type 1, Simons Basic, Fun play, Super Games, Warp Speed, Dinamic and Magic Desk. Implemented: Disk-change (button), SDR register in CIA and IEC bus disable bit. Improved: VIC-II timing for mode bits (MCM, BMM and ECM).

Nils Eilers is working on a new storage device for Commodore CBM computers with a IEEE 488 bus. The petSD can replace the floppy or hard-disk and uses a SD memory card for the data storage. He has made a working prototype with an ATmega 1284P, IEEE 488 bus drivers, real time clock and a serial-USB-converter. At this moment the following features are working: load, save, directory, disk-status, mount a d64 image and disk changes. You can follow the progress of the petSD on the web page of Nils.

DAC (Digital Audio Concepts) has a new product available, the internal Stereo SID board for the Commodore 64 and 128. With this dual SID board you can install a second SID (6581 or 8580) inside your C64 or C128 (without soldering). You can buy a empty pcb, pcb with parts or a complete assembled version.

Jac Goudsmit has started a new hardware project. He is going to build a modern version of the Commodore CBM/PET computer. He uses a modern programmable Propeller chip in combination with a real 6502 processor on the ProPeddle circuit board. The ProPeddle circuit board is placed on a GadgetGangster Propeller Platform motherboard to complete the system. You can follow the progress of ProPeddle on the blog of Jac.

Markus Gritsch has build a hybrid between an emulated and a hardware SID Player. The CPU and CIA are emulated with a PIC32 and the sound is generated by a hardware SID chip. This HybridSID is demonstrated in a YouTube video. In the comments of the video you can find a link with detailed information about the HybridSID.

Twylo got hold of some Commodore PET computers, but without a disk-drive. He decided to make his own storage device. He build and interface between the PET and a SD memory card. You can see a small demonstration in a YouTube video.

Individual Computers released a successor to the A603 memory expansion for the Amiga 600. The specifications of the A604 are: 1 MB additional Chip RAM, Clock (with battery), Clock-port, Second clock-port for a Subway USB controller (60% faster), Expansion socket for an Indivision ECS. The A604 will be for sale in the near future at the Vesalia.de web shop.

Peter build himself a 8580 SID-player. For this project he used a AT91SAM7S256 @ 48MHz processor, 64KB RAM, 2x16 LCD display and a SD card for 35000+ PSID files. The system is build inside a Pioneer DT 555 case and can be controlled with the help of a menu. Watch the video on YouTube for more information about this project.

TobiFlexx has adapted the Minimig-core for the Chameleon cartridge. He made a video where you can see a demonstration of the Minimig on the Chameleon. The specifications of the Minimig-core can be seen with sysinfo. The Chameleon cartridge is a cartridge for the Commodore C64 but can also be used as a stand-alone device.

Manosoft made a successor to the C64SD. He replaced the processor with a Atmega 1284p which has double capacity (128 kbyte). The new version now has a pass through for the Datassette port and a revised reset circuit. You can watch the promo-video of the C64SD 2.0 Infinity on YouTube. The promo-video is in the Italian language, but has English subtitles.

BYTEMAN is experimenting with the combination of the CSG 8580 SID Soundchip from legendary computer Commodore 64 and the russian clone of the ZX Spectrum the Scorpion ZS-256. You can watch a demonstration on YouTube. He used a SID chip, standard 74xx IC's and a ported version of SIDPlayer.

The (beta) firmware v5 is now available for the Chameleon cartridge. Changes in version 5: Improvements with MMU (framebuffer and turbo). Chameleon can use the real BASIC and Kernal ROMs in the C64 in cartridge mode. FLI bug fixed. Added Stereo SID support. TOD clock fixes. Turbo has configurable speed limit. Double-buffered VGA output. Many changes to the menu.

Jens Schönfeld is working on a Internet connection for the Commodore C64. His proto-type is called "Onmyodo". The specifications at this moment are: 100MBit, TCP/IP Stack in Hardware, IRQs (low CPU usage) and a 16 kByte buffer. The Onmyodo can be "plugged" into the cartridge-port of the Commodore C64, but can also be used together with a MMC64, Retro Replay, MMC Replay and the Chameleon. You can follow the progress of this cartridge on the Forum64.de web page.

Gideon releases a firmware update for the Ultimate-II. The changes are: Audio options and Stereo SID emulation. Initial support for Domark cartridges. Improvements made in file system handling. Improvements to the cartridge logic, and reading of ISO9660 added. Gideon is also experimenting with the EM1010 USB to Ethernet module but it is not functional at the moment.

André Pfeiffer (Ratte) developed a automatic monitor switch for the Amiga computer. The switch is a "Do It Yourself" project, but there is a very good tutorial on how to assemble the monitor switch. The monitor switch can be used with the Amiga 1200, 3000 and 4000 computers with a IndivisionAGA with CybervisionPPC or BVision. For all the details you can visit the a1k.org web page.

Peter Wendrich's is working on the new Chameleon cartridge for the Commodore C64. At this moment you can download the Chameleon Beta-4 firmware from his web page. Peter also revised the programmers manual for the cartridge. This 34 page pdf manual gives you detailed information about the possibilities of the Chameleon.

Stingray is building a new cartridge for the Commodore C64 called Alien Flash Cartridge. This is a 16MB Flash cartridge with USB and an AR Freezer Cartridge mode and EasyFlash compatibility. The first batch of this cartridge are now being made and will be available in the next couple of months. You can follow the progress on the Lemon64 web page.

Crock has been working on a diagnostic system for the Commodore 16 ,116 and Plus/4 range of computers. At the moment he uses a modified game cartridge with an eprom that holds the diagnostic software. You can watch a demonstration video of the diagnostic of a Commodore Plus/4 computer.

The Natami crew is please to announce that the first NatAmi MX boards are now assembled. The NatAmi MX has the following features: Serial port, Parallel port, PS/2 keyboard, PS/2 mouse, Floppy disk, Joystick ports, Video, Audio, SyncZorro, PCI, IDE, 3.5", LAN and 512 MB RAM.

The TDC (Turbo Demo Cart) is a 2 MHz speeder for the Commodore 64. At the moment there is only a proto type but you can view two little demo's, Doom 64 and Black Hole, that are working on a 2 MHz C64. The trick is based on over-clocking the CPU and stopping the CPU when the VIC chip does its job.

The Dela IC-Tester is a cartridge for the Commodore C64. This cartridge could recognize and test 74xx TTL IC's. Michael Sachse from the cbmhardware.de web page reverse engineered the cartridge and now the schematic of the cartridge is now available for download.

ACube Systems released AmigaOS 4.1 Update 2 for the Sam460ex. The Sam460ex board is running at 1.15 Ghz and allows all Amigans to use modern graphic cards thanks to its PCI express slot. Other features include: 7 USB ports and Gigabit ethernet.

André Fachat has connected his Commodore 8296 to an ethernet, running the TCP/IP protocol. To make this possible he extended his CBM computer with a CS/A ethernet board. On the software side he ported the uIP v1.0 TCP/IP stack to the cc65 compiler, and integrated the CS8900A driver from contiki v1. For all the details you must visit the web page of André.

The chipophone is a music device developed and built by Linus Åkesson. The chipophone is build inside a electric organ. The keys and knobs are connected to an micro processor and act as a MIDI keyboard. The MIDI keyboard is connected to an ATmega88 based synthesizer. With the chipophone you can play 8-bit music like it would sound on a 8-bit game console or computer.

The AmigaWorld website presents 4 new prototypes for the Amiga. The new devices are: Clockport Duo, Clockport Quadro, Clockport Buffer and the Gayle Adapter. The Gale adapter has the following features: PCMCIA Resetfix, PCMCIA LED connection, Keyboard-reset connection and a FastATA-connection.

Chris (Lallafa) has build a new version of the dtv2ser device. With this device you can transfer data to and from the C64 DTV via a USB connection. The new version is build with the Arduino platform and needs only a very small hardware modification. You can read all the details on Lallafa's blog.

ZoomFloppy is an USB device for connecting Commodore disk drives to your PC. The ZoomFloppy is an improvement based on XU1541 from Till Harbaum. Nate Lawson and Jim Brain teamed up to produce a professional product. This controller will support IEC drives, IEEE-488 drives and a user-port connection for parallel speeder drives. At this moment the building and testing stage is under-way. You can follow the progress on Jim's blog.

KryoFlux is a USB-based floppy controller. It can be used to read a floppy, at low-level, and store the data from the disk. The features are: Low level reading. Save as raw stream, or export a specific format. The following formats are supported: Acorn Electron, Apple, Amstrad CPC, Archimedes, Atari 8-bit, Atari ST, BBC, Commodore 64, Commodore Amiga, MSX, IBM PC, PC-8801, Sam Coupe, Spectrum, E-MU Emulator II and many, many others. Parallel export support. Visit the Kryoflux web page for all the details.

MikeJ has finished the first series of his FPGAArcade Replay. The Replay is a re-configurable computer that makes it possible to emulate an game console, arcade machine or computer like the Atari ST, Amiga, Commodore 64 etc. The Replay has an ARM processor, FPGA, SD card, DVI connector, joystick, keyboard, mouse, video and audio connector. You can read more about this project on MikeJ's web page.

Individual Computers has been working on a new turbo cards for the Amiga 600 and 1200. The Internet shop Vesalia released info on these new turbo cards and the cards can now be pre-ordered. The specifications of the A1200 version (expansion slot) are: CPU 68EC030 at 28 MHz, 64 MB RAM, MapRom function and optional RTC. The specifications of the A600 version (internal installation) are: CPU 68030 at 25 MHz, 32 MB RAM and MapRom function.

Tomi Malinen made a dual SID system for the Commodore C64. You can buy the printed circuit board and assemble it yourself. Features: Small board (40mm x 50mm). 6581 or 8580. Selectable address (D400, D420, D500, DE00, DF00). You can read more about this project on the Lemon64 forum.

Manosoft released an advanced version of his C64SD v2.0. The C64SD emulates a IEC disk-drive and uses a SD memory card to store your diskette images (.d64, .d71, .d81). The advanced version has a aluminum casing to protect the electronics. The advanced has an extra IEC connector to connect external disk-drive. It is also possible to connect a second C64SD (dual mode). Visit Manosoft's web page for all the details.

Luigi Di Fraia well known for his digital replacement of the datassette (DC2N) has been working on a new project. This time he is working on a USB system for the Commodore C64. The prototype uses two devices. A cartridge to provide software and commands to operate the USB device, and a user-port device that interfaces with the USB stick. With the proto-type it is possible to transfer files at 1.2 kB/s (serial) or 9.5 kB/s parallel. You can follow the progress of USB-64 on Luigi's web page.

The Pocket 1541 is a emulator for the 1541 disk drive. Pocket 1541 uses a SD card to store your data, supported formats are: D64, M2I, PRG, D71, D81 and P00. The firmware is based on the open source SD2IEC firmware. The device has four buttons and a LCD screen that can be used to navigate to the required files on the SD card. Visit the web page for more information. (The page is in Italian which you can translate with the help of Google-Translate.)

UFE is an SD/MMC floppy drive emulator for old computers. It connects to the floppy drive port of the host computer and behaves like a real floppy drive. The UFE has Read/Write access for Commodore AMIGA, Atari ST and Amstrad CPC computers. On-board support for ADF, DSK, ST and MSA images. Can emulate two floppy drives. Video overlay user interface. Firmware update (SD Card). Visit Retromaster's weblog for all the details.

Luigi Di Fraia is working on version 3 of his DC2N. The DC2N is a digital replacement for the C2N datassette. With the DC2N you can read cassettes and transfer the data to a memory-card. It is also possible to save data from a memory-card to a datassette. The DC2N is a stand alone system, what means you can do the transfers without a computer. The newest version has USB support and uses a graphical screen to show the signal that is recorded. You can watch various videos of the DC2N on youtube.

Kisiel is working on a Action Replay Clone and it is called GeoAction. You can download all information of this cartridge including schematics, print layout and the software for the Atmel processor from Kisiel's web page.