r it not being a
Commodore(TM) machine, that's totally true -- we aren't Commodore!

However, we are making a computer that we believe captures the spirit of
what made the C64 and C65 fun and interesting -- a capable yet limited
machine, that gives you full access to the hardware, and inspires fun and exploration and stretching of limits (think for example how you can display
a 4,096 colour 1920x1200 pixel image on using a video chip that can only
see 128KB of RAM -- that's less than one bit for every two pixels).

Q. I can feel from you that it's a well loved project, and as you say the spirit of Old 8 bit commodore machines is there. On the website the
machine looks to be running a core of the Commodore 65, I presume it's
heavily modified, Will other operating systems run on this device, or is
the plan just to implement a supped up Commodore 65?

We will offer a simple hypervisor operating system initially, that will
behave like a freeze cartridge on steroids. So apart from that, it does currently feel like a C65 that has been taking banned substances for some
time. The horrible internal drive routines could hardly load 1KB/sec on a
real C65. You wouldn't believe if I told you just what it does each time
you read a byte. The MEGA65 loads between 20x and 80x faster just using
those standard DOS routines.

Q. Sounds exciting but will the machine run existing Commodore 64
software; and if so what is the compatibility with such software?

It can already run some C64 software. Our plan is full compatibility with
the C64's specifications, and then as we are able, to add support for undocumented functionality so that, for example, many demos can run. Thus
we expect somewhere between the C65's C64 compatibility, and complete C64 compatibility.

This raises an interesting point, which is that the real C65 was much less
C64 compatible than was perhaps hoped. This might have been one of the
reasons the C65 was cancelled, although it had other Fatal Flaws that we
have tried to address.

The main problem was that its CPU didn't mimic the read-modify-write instruction behaviour of the C64's 6510 CPU. This means that while the instruction INC $D019 will clear a raster interrupt on the C64, it doesn't
on the C65. This little bug stops perhaps 50% of all C64 games from
running on a stock C65.

Also, the C65's CPU has all the undocumented opcodes assigned to new instructions. This will present a problem to any C64 game or demo that
uses undocumented opcodes. The MEGA65 will work around this by emulating a 1MHz 6510 when required. This is possible because of how fast the MEGA65's
CPU is at 48MHz.

- - - - - - - - - -

Q. Sounds good, so the FPGA cores the machine runs on, they are readily available, but have you tweaked them or are they completely re-written from scratch?

With the exception of the SIDs, I have implemented it all from scratch.

- - - - - - - - - -

Q. We talk about FPGA but can you briefly explain FPGA for the benefit of
our readers who may not be aware of the technology?

FPGAs are basically "programmable chips". They let you design new chips without having to have a few million dollars on hand to build each new prototype. They are what make projects like this and the Chameleon64
possible.

- - - - - - - - - -

Q. your website is currently asking for Donations of $5 USD to register interest and obtain the latest cores, what other benefits will the user who donates receive?

Right now, the core (FPGA program) is the main benefit, along with the warm feeling of knowing that you will be supporting our ongoing development,
which as you can probably guess costs much more than that. I am sure we
will have other benefits later on. One idea we are exploring is that
people who give more than some minimum amount will be recognised in an
honour roll on the machine in some way. We are open to other people's suggestions on this point.

But stepping back a little, we have taken this approach because we want the MEGA65 design to be completely open, so that anyone can build them (or
improve on them). Aside from my philosophical view that sharing is the foundation and driver of civil society and progress, even if it diminishes individual return, this also means that the MEGA65 can outlive ourselves
and our project.

- - - - - - - - - -

Q. How does our reader purchase the hardware and of course how much does
the hardware cost?

Google for "Nexys4 FPGA board", but make sure you get the DDR version. It seems that almost all suppliers are out of stock until late May. If you
have an academic email address, you can get the board for US$160, otherwise
it is US$320. We know this is fairly expensive, but history shows that
these boards decrease in cost over time, and the Nexys4 board is the first
FPGA board with the necessary functionality and a big and fast-enough FPGA
to implement the MEGA65.

- - - - - - - - - -

Q. Do you have a planned schedule for releasing Cores for the machine,
will other machines be implemented?

We are busy working on the main MEGA65 core for now, and have no current
plans for other cores, although others are welcome to create them. For us, they simply aren't a priority right now.

- - - - - - - - - -

Q. So you have the hardware and downloaded cores how do you get these onto
the machine and can you explain basically how you would use the machine to
for example load a prg file or D64?

We have put a video up on m-e-g-a.org www.m-e-g-a.org/ that explains how to
get started. Note that right now it only supports .D81 files, as there is
no 1541 emulation just yet. At its simplest, you just turn it on, and use
LOAD as you would on a C64 or C65 to load a file from the default disk
image.

- - - - - - - - - -

Q. Who tests the Cores and ... Do you need helpers / Volunteers and for
what areas are you in need of help?

Currently myself and the folks at m-e-g-a.org are the only testers, along
with an engineering project student at my University. We could benefit
from other testers who are willing to perform systematic testing, and
provide us with actionable bug reports.

We could also really do with the assistance of anyone with VHDL skills to
help find and fix bugs in the core while we focus on implementing missing functionality.

- - - - - - - - - -

Q. I see the machine uses SOFT SIDS (i.e. none physical SID chips) did
you consider a modification, maybe to use real SID chips on the device, or
was it more, the hardware is standard and it's the easiest option to
implement?

We are planning to have two physical sockets in which to place SIDs on the
PCB.

- - - - - - - - - -

Q. That would be great as nothing beats a physical SID chip , I have to
ask; "what is your favourite computer of all time" and "what is your
favourite 8 bit machine" assuming they are not the same device?

The C65 is still my favourite, being fun to use, as well as a bit of a unicorn's horn. A big goal of this project is to share that fun by
creating instructions to assemble your own unicorn's horn from common house-hold ingredients.

- - - - - - - - - -

Q. Nice answer! So Do you have any further hardware devices or software planned in the near future?

I always have crazy projects on the boil, but this and the Serval Project (servalproject.org) keep me busy enough for now.

- - - - - - - - - -

Q. finally is there a question I should have asked you but didn't?

I think that covers it for now, Thanks Paul.

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

MEGA65 FACTS

For those interested in details, here are some current technical
specifications of the MEGA65. These details are subject to change as we progress through the project.

CPU: 48MHz GS4510 single-core, in-order, no-branch-prediction, no-cache, single-scalar, no-fpu, no-smd, no-HCF, non-pipelined, enhanced 4502 8-bit processor, with 32-bit ZP indirect and 32-bit far-JSR/JMP/RTS operations, 28-bit address space, fast hypervisor traps, virtual memory, IO
virtualisation (coming soon).

Speed: Synthmark64 score: 44.5x (C64 = 1x). Bouldermark score: 29,970
(C64 = 313).

DMA: C65 DMAgic compatible DMA controller. Fills at 48MB/sec, copies at 24MB/sec, swaps at 12MB/sec.

Video Controller: VIC-IV advanced rasterised video controller, like the
VIC-II and VIC-III no framebuffer. Native resolution 1920x1200 (192MHz
pixel clock). Supports all documented VIC-II modes (hi-res, multi-colour
mode, extended-background-colour mode, sprites) and VIC-III modes
(bitplanes are in the process of adding). Independent horizontal and
vertical hardware scaling allows text and graphics resolutions as high as 1920x1200 and as low as 60x38. Separate 256-colour palettes for sprites, bitplanes and character graphics, allowing up to 1,024 colours on screen without changing the palette in real-time. VGA output 12-bit (4,096
colours). The planned DVI/HDMI output will support 23-bit colour (8.3
million colours). Text mode extensions including proportional width characters, super-extended background colour mode, as well as the standard VIC-III extended attributes.

Sound: Dual soft-SIDs + dual 8-bit DACs.

RAM: 128KB RAM visible to VIC-IV, 32KB colour RAM visible to VIC-IV, 128KB ROM/RAM. 128MB of (extended) DDR2 RAM being worked on to be made
accessible.

Media: D81 disk images from SD card (native VFAT32 file system support
coming soon). Real 3.5" floppy drive support planned. Standard loading
speed without fast loader ~20KB second. Loading speed direct from SD card
300 - 3000KB/second (1200 - 12000 blocks per second), depending on SD card.

Outputs: Joystick ports 1 and 2 (9-Pin Atari Standard), VGA, 10/100mbit Ethernet, Mono Audio (Stereo soon), USB, Micro USB. Planned: HDMI,
analogue video, extension port, maybe external floppy.

Inputs: USB (supports PC keyboards and KeyRah II), Micro USB, Ethernet,
Micro SD slot, and coming soon: 3D accelerometer, on-board microphone and thermometer.

Operating System: MEGA-OS all-in-one hypervisor and compact operating
system, including integrated freezer and task switcher, VFAT32 file system driver and inter-process communications.

Form factor: C65-like all-in-one. A laptop form is planned for a future release. Full-height 19" rack option extra.

Supported FGPAs: Nexys4DDR (and soon) Nexys4PSRAM. These boards include a Xilinx Artix7 100T FPGA, which is a high-performance FPGA, much faster and larger than the Spartan FPGAs used in other retro computing projects. Unfortunately the old Spartan FPGA boards cannot run the MEGA65 core.

Development options: Right now: Use Ophis with the -4 option to target
the 4502 CPU. The etherload utility can be used to push compiled programs
to the MEGA65 practically instantly to make for a convenient cross-platform development environment. For the future: MEGA-OS will support
interprocess communications, making it possible to write assemblers and compilers that assemble directly into a separate process, and then launches that process when it is ready. Thus it becomes possible to use the MEGA65
as an 8-bit development platform for 8-bit software (or to run a
cross-compiler for Linux or Windows if you wish to be really strange).

Milestones: Reached: the computer is fully operational as a stand alone machine. We are now adding bitplanes, extended Hypervisor and more DOS.

ETA: The MEGA65 computer is expected to be ready for sale in 03/2016.
However you can always start playing with and programming MEGA65 software
on a NEXYS4 DDR board with the latest bitstream Download



*************************************
REVIEW: BOXING
For the PET
By Commodore Free
*************************************

From Retro Revival Studios

HOW TO PLAY

Press left and right (o and p) to move your boxer and up and down (q and a)
to change your blocking. Press fire (e or i) to punch.

* Runs on all Commodore PET models (except 2001)

* Available on Tape and as Digital Download

* Large range of offense and defence moves

* Flickerfree gameplay

* Sound support

Boxing on the Commodore PET can this be true, who would attempt such a mad
game on such limited hardware, however on saying that the game not only
looks good it plays really well. To my knowledge the Boxing game hasn't
been released by revival studios on any other format (at this point) so
it's a bit like a PET exclusive, I love how the revival studios folds on
screen then peels apart this is very classy.

SO HOW DOES THE GAME PLAY ON THE PET?

Well really well actually I was surprised, its in a pseudo 3d environment
and looks like its set outside in the street with street lights and
buildings in the background, (well it looks like that to my eyes) the two boxers look identical, although you are on the left and the computer plays
on the right, It would have been nice if at least on opponent had different graphics somehow or maybe different shaded shorts on. However you won't
get lost in a 3d environment so... It appears to be single player which
limits the fun a little but you do have to work out a strategy to guard or attack and the action is smooth and surprisingly fast.

Sound wise we hear the odd bleep as you try to knock each others blocks off with wild punches and try to stay above the belt. The controls work well
and the game is well executed.

SCORES

Gameplay: 7/10
Sound: 7/10
bleep
Graphics: 7/10
pseudo 3D
Overall: 7/10

SUMMARY

Nice implementation very creative and playable, if it were 2 player then
the score would have been more towards 8/10

www.revival-studios.com

Price: 9,95 euro (Cassette Tape) / 3,95 (Digital Download)

If you buy the tape version, you will of course get the digital download
for free.



*************************************
REVIEW: SOPWITHS AND PTERRORDONS
By Commodore Free
*************************************

Text from the website

This simple, single-level Shoot'Em Up Construction Kit (SEUCK) game was a project I assigned myself to celebrate August, the unofficial C64 month. I didn't hit my deadline (Ed: we ain't complaining).

This is my first completed SEUCK game. My only other attempt was a long,
long time ago (I tried to get a bubble to float gracefully across the
screen, couldn't get it to look any way decent, and gave up).

There's no back-story to Sopwiths and Pterrordons. I just thought of two things that would be cool - my love of World War I and World War II planes,
and who doesn't like dinosaurs? They seemed like a great mix (and from feedback I've received, other people feel the same). Feel free to make up
your own backstory. Make sure the pilot is dashing, handsome and says,
"Tally ho!" and "Chocks away!" an awful lot.

Special thanks to Andrew Fisher, David Rayfield and Cameron Davis for their valued advice, support and feedback.

The author has more information on his website

www.ausretrogamer.com/c64-shmuptember-action

Commodore Free

I reviewed this game mainly as the author claims its his first real attempt
at a SEUCK game, as such it shows good potential, not only is it fast, its extremely smooth, something that some of the SEUCK games lack due to people thinking they have to put everything on screen at once, with clever
programming and in the right environment, very credible games can be
created as this version shows.

A minimal title screen doesn't show much but using a joystick and hitting
the fire button takes you into the action

True its nothing earth shattering as the game starts you control a plane
moving over a scrolling landscape

You can move forwards back and left and right and shoot things, some clever placement of enemies and crafty programming movements means items come from
the screen sides and behind you, it has all the elements of a credible
game, it plays well, with some random sound effects, although they don't
really suit the action and it could do with a nice music track to
com

--- MBSE BBS v1.0.4 (GNU/Linux-i386)
* Origin: Dragon's Lair ---:- bbs.vk3heg.net -:--- (39:901/280)