Category Archives: c64

Building a Replica Final Cartridge III

Posted on May 20, 2017 by Fernando Gomes

The Commodore 64 was the computer of the 8-bit era, and remains the highest selling computer of all time. In addition to disk and tape drives, it also had a cartridge interface. A popular extension cartridge was the Final Cartridge III, which offered a variety of disk utilities and a GUI. [Greisi] was in possession of a no longer functional cartridge, and decided to reverse engineer the device.

[Greisi] started by desoldering all the ICs and mapping out a schematic for the board. The design centers around common parts for the era, such as a UV-erasable EPROM and some 74-series …read more

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Posted in c64, classic hacks, commodore 64, Computer Hacks, final cartridge, final cartridge 3, final cartridge III, retro | Leave a comment

C64 Keyboard Emulation Over Serial

Posted on January 14, 2017 by Fernando Gomes

There’s a lot of reasons you might want to emulate the keyboard on your Commodore 64. The ravages of time and dust may have put the original keyboard out of order, or perhaps you need to type in a long program and don’t fancy pecking away with the less-than-stellar feedback of the standard keys. [podstawek] has come up with the solution: a Commodore 64 keyboard emulator that works over serial.

It’s a simple concept, but one that works well. A Python script accepts incoming keypresses or pre-typed text, then converts them into a 6-bit binary code, which is sent to …read more

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Posted in arduino, c64, classic hacks, commodore 64, Computer Hacks, keyboard, mt8808, python, serial | Leave a comment

Atari Now Runs Java, Thankfully Doesn’t Require Constant Updates

Posted on January 3, 2017 by Fernando Gomes

Java Grinder is a tool that compiles Java programs to run on platforms like microcontrollers and consoles, by outputting native assembly code and using APIs to work with custom hardware like bespoke graphics and sound chips. Amongst other hardware, Java Grinder supports the Commodore 64, which uses a variant of the 6502 CPU. [Michael Kohn] realized the Atari 2600 shares this processor, and figured he’d get started on making Java Grinder work with the Atari by expanding on the C64 work done by [Joe Davisson]. Together, they brought Java to the Atari 2600 and made a game along the way. …read more

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Posted in atari, atari 2600, c64, classic hacks, code, commodore 64, java, java grinder, JIT | Leave a comment