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Michael Steil

NES and SNES Controllers on a 6502 (like the C64)

2019-08-122019-08-11 by Michael Steil

NES and SNES controllers support 8 to 12 buttons with only three data pins (plus VCC/GND). Let’s attach them to a C64 – or any 6502-based system! read more

Categories 6502, C64, Commodore, GitHub11 Comments

The Apollo Guidance Computer [video + slides]

2019-08-04 by Michael Steil

I re-did an updated version of my part of the Ultimate Apollo Guidance Computer Talk at VCF West 2019. read more

Categories Archeology, PresentationLeave a comment

Visualizing Commodore 1541 Disk Contents – Part 2: Errors

2019-05-29 by Michael Steil

We have previously visualized the physical layout of C64/1541 disks. In order to understand the encoding and potential read errors, it is more useful to visualize the disks sector-by-sector. read more

Categories Archeology, Commodore, Floppy Disks5 Comments

Commodore “Video Supergame 64” Bundle

2019-05-28 by Michael Steil

The “Video Supergame 64” is a Commodore 64 bundled with a joystick and three games on a cartridge, sold mainly in Germany in 1988/1989. Here are some pictures. read more

Categories C64, Commodore, Teardown5 Comments

Dumping Commodore 64/1541 Disks with Errors

2019-05-27 by Michael Steil

Many old Commodore 64/1541 disks have read errors, but this doesn’t mean the data isn’t recoverable – with the right nibtools settings and some cleaning. read more

Categories C64, Commodore, Floppy Disks5 Comments

Commodore “Magic Voice” Cartridge for C64

2019-05-262019-05-26 by Michael Steil

“Magic Voice” is an expansion cartridge for the Commodore 64 that can speak 235 predefined words. Here are some pictures. read more

Categories C64, Commodore, TeardownLeave a comment

Falk Rehwagen, TopDesk and GEOS

2019-05-25 by Michael Steil

Here are some of Falk Rehwagen’s thoughts on his involvement with GEOS and TopDesk. read more

Categories C128, C64, Commodore, GEOSLeave a comment

TopDesk 1.3 GEOS64/128 Original Source

2019-05-252019-05-24 by Michael Steil

Thanks to Falk Rehwagen and Jürgen Heinisch, the original source of the TopDesk file manager for the GEOS operating system of C64/C128 is available. read more

Categories C128, C64, Commodore, GEOS3 Comments

Tynemouth Minstrel ZX80 Clone Kit

2019-05-23 by Michael Steil

I have previously shown an unassembled Sinclair ZX81 Kit that could be bought in the early 80s. Today, it is possible to buy a clone of the ZX80 from Tynemouth Software. Here are some pictures. read more

Categories Hardware, Teardown2 Comments

Converting a Commodore 1541 or 1570 Drive into a 1551

2019-05-222019-05-22 by Michael Steil

The 1551 is the weird outlier in the family of Commodore disk drives: It is the only drive using the “TCBM” bus instead of Serial or IEEE-488. And what’s even weirder? 1541 and 1570 drives converted into 1551s! read more

Categories Commodore, Floppy Disks, Hardware, TED4 Comments

More Original Commodore Source Code

2019-05-21 by Michael Steil

There have been a few new interesting additions to the Commodore Source Code repository, including: read more

Categories 6502, Archeology, Commodore, Commodore Peripheral Bus, Floppy Disks, GitHubLeave a comment

Commodore Peripheral Bus: Part 5: TCBM

2019-05-202019-05-20 by Michael Steil

In the series about the variants of the Commodore Peripheral Bus family, this article covers the lowest two layers (electrical and byte transfer) of the “TCBM” bus as found on the TED series computers: the C16, C116 and the Plus/4. read more

Categories Commodore, Commodore Peripheral Bus, Floppy Disks, TED3 Comments

Run CP/M on your C64 – using Emulation!

2019-05-19 by Michael Steil

In this episode of computer archeology, we deconstruct a very interesting case of borrowing code from multiple places – but first try this D64 disk image with any Commodore 64 emulator or a real C64: read more

Categories Archeology, C64, Commodore, Operating Systems1 Comment

C64 CP/M Cartridge

2019-05-18 by Michael Steil

The cartridge that makes a C64 a “dual processor” computer: Commodore’s CP/M cartridge for C64 contains a Z80 CPU and comes with version 2.2 of the CP/M operating system. Here are some pictures. read more

Categories C64, Commodore, Teardown13 Comments

Commodore Bildschirmtext II Decoder Cartridge

2019-05-17 by Michael Steil

Here are some pictures of the outside and the inside of a Commodore Bildschirmtext II Decoder Cartridge for the C64 – a 6800-based computer connected to the expansion port! read more

Categories Bildschirmtext, C64, Commodore15 Comments

Sinclair ZX81 Kit

2019-05-16 by Michael Steil

Here are hi-res photos of an unassembled Sinclair ZX81 kit, with German assembly instructions. read more

Categories Hardware, TeardownLeave a comment

Blue Chip BCD/5.25 Disk Drive

2019-05-15 by Michael Steil

After previously dissecting the firmware of alternate C64 disk drives, let’s now look at the hardware of one: This is the Blue Chip BCD/5.25. read more

Categories Commodore, Floppy Disks, Teardown4 Comments

Recovering Files from Broken Amiga OFS Disks

2019-05-14 by Michael Steil

extract-adf is a tool for recovering files from broken Amiga OFS filesystem images. It can reconstruct directory hierarchies even for files that don’t have directory entries. read more

Categories Amiga, Archeology, Floppy Disks2 Comments

The Commodore IEEE-488 Cartridge for C64

2019-05-262019-05-13 by Michael Steil

Commodore 64 disk drives were usually connected through the slow serial bus. This article shows some hi-res photos of the Commodore “IEEE-488 cartridge”, which made the faster PET drives available for the C64. read more

Categories C64, Commodore, Commodore Peripheral Bus, Floppy Disks, PET, Teardown4 Comments

Final Cartridge III with GEOS

2019-05-12 by Michael Steil

The Final Cartridge III is great: It comes with a disk speeder, BASIC extensions, an excellent monitor – and an impressive, but ultimately useless GUI, because there are practically no applications for it. Let’s replace the FC3 GUI with GEOS! read more

Categories C64, Commodore, Final Cartridge III, GEOS, GitHub4 Comments
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