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Commodore Free Magazine
http://www.commodorefree.com/
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Issue 51, May/June 2011

Free to download magazine dedicated to Commodore computers Available as
PDF, HTML, TXT, SEQ, D64 disk image and now as ePUB and MOBI e-book

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CONTENTS
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* Editorial
* Readers Comments
* NEWS
- AresOne Price Reduction
- Snapshoter updated to v1.4.9b
- New Commodore 64
- CBM264.com
- XSane 0.998 for AmiCygnix
- Yes VIC Can
- Protovision Release Jim Slim
- 64Copy Updated To 4.43
- 'Escape' Full Game Found By GTW
- Commodore News
- Amiga Immortal Audio CD
- IceFileSystem 2.4 Released
- 1541U-II Update 2.1
- New Masonicons
- Amiga Automatic Monitor Switch
- TOSEC Updated
- C&A Games 3 Released
- spellchecker.library v1.0
* Stroke World Review
* Cascade Review
* It’s Magic 1 Review
* It’s Magic 2 Review
* Bomb Mania Review
* Ice Guys Review
* Metal Dust Review
* Jim Slim Review
* Interview With The Protovision Team
* Protovision Website

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EDITORIAL
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Hi and welcome back to another issue of Commodore Free magazine, I have been shortening the title to C= Free in correspondence, mainly as it's less to
spell incorrectly and saves me slightly from RSA, I also think it looks like
of cool C=Free, Hmm maybe not then.

This issue has the usual assortment of random news; but to coincide with the recent PROTOVISON release I have dedicated most (well; all) of the magazine
to PROTOVISION. With an interview and a look at, and reviews of some of the many Protovision games available. I know it may not be to everyone's taste;
but I felt after everything the company had done for the Commodore scene it
was a worthy gesture. Of course Amiga users and 264, Pet users will feel alienated, maybe I could dedicate later magazines to something relevant to these users

SO IN THE ISSUE YOU WILL FIND

An interview with PROTOVISION and a review of their latest game "Jim slim,"
the game is also in the news section and there is an advert in the PDF
version of the magazine. By the time you have finished reading the magazine
you should be pretty much up to speed with what Protovision can supply. You
may even feel all PROTOVISIONED out! as they have made some truly great
games and still continue to support the Commodore 64.

READERS COMMENTS

Wow we got some! And it seems we have a couple of eBook readers, one of whom reads the issue in the bath on his eBook! Nice, thankfully he didn't send in
a picture of himself sat in the bath with the loofah out but decided just to send a picture of his eBook reader and the Commodore Free title page on
screen, hurray its working then!

Someone else suggested the eBook version was better for his eyes, although wished to remain anonymous (that's fine glad to help, erm with the eyes that is)

That's all for a short editorial

Let me know what you thought about the issue

Regards
Nigel
www.commodorefree.com

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READERS COMMENTS
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To: Commodore Free
From: A Reader
Subject: Commodore Free EBOOK

Hello Commodore Free

Thanks for continuing to publish the magazine on a monthly basis. I have just down loaded the ePUB version of the Commodore Free magazine! my eyes love
you!! ahahah I am suffering to read on the computer screen I prefer the contrast of my eBook.. now the Commodore Free there!! and its a very clean
text format! **LOVELY** ahah, I think I will try to convert it as audio book! ;-}

take care,

User preferred to remain anonymous

COMMODORE FREE: Glad you liked the eBook, I have had one other person mention they prefer this version to read on the move as it was formatting better than
a PDF on their device, as ever comments suggestions are always welcome, feel free to get in touch and if you want to be anonymous then that's no problem.

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

WOW and just like buses - erm except they come in 3`s here is another reader comment

To: Commodore Free
Sender: Francisco
Subject: Readers Comments

Hi. I have some issues for you :-)

- You are publishing the magazine in eBook format and you commented in the issue 48 that you think that maybe nobody is reading the magazine using this format. I have read the last issue (number 49) in an eBook :-) I have
attached a picture of it (and yes, I also read it in the bath :-))

COMMODORE FREE: Glad the eBook version is working, and I am glad you can read it in the bath as this was the goal originally for the creation of commodore free, please don't sue me if you drop the device in the bath though

- I have read the book "On the edge: the spectacular rise and fall of Commodore" and the book "Commodore: a company on the edge" has just been published. Do you have a copy of it? Have you read it? Do you think it is
worth it?

COMMODORE FREE: OK first book I have purchased and read and yes it was worth the asking price the second book I have purchased; but haven't found time to read so cant comment ..

- I have in the queue the article about the commodore TAP format. I am sorry about it. I hope I could send you some day :-S

COMMODORE FREE: I eagerly await the article and will gladly publish it in Commodore Free

- The project called C2N-II was finished some time ago (it is like the DC2N) and now is going to be enhanced in order to support other tape formats for
ZX Spectrum and Amstrad computers (TZX and CDT formats). If you want you can use the next text as a new for your magazine:

COMMODORE FREE: Thanks you for the information

THE C2N-II DATASSETE

The C2N-II Datassete was the M.S. Thesis of the student Pablo Tomás Campos Valladares in order to obtain the grade of Telecommunications with the speciality on Electronic Systems. This project was directed by the professor Francisco Javier González Cañete in the University of Málaga (Spain).

The objective of this project was to develop a hardware device in order to replace the C2N Datassete of the Commodore computers. This hardware is able
to play the TAP image format (this format is a dump of the original
cassettes). As this is a digital format, no error should occur during the
load of the software (as it can occur with the cassettes). The TAP images are stored in USB Drives and the C2N-II lets you to select the file and play it.

The C2N-II has the next functionalities:

* Playback of Commodore TAP image files.

* Compatible with the Commodore VIC 20, C64, C128, C16/116 and Plus/4 models

* Compatible with PAL and NTSC systems (only PAL has been tested)

* Compatible with the TAP versions 0, 1 and 2

* Rewind and forward the playback

* One tape position can be stored. This position can be restored using one button. This functionality is useful when multi-load games request to set counter to zero and to rewind to this position to load again the first stage
of the game.

* The files are stored in an USB Memory

* Navigation through the files and directories using the buttons.

You can see videos demonstrating the C2N-II:

- C2N-II loading Sanxion in a Commodore 128: www.youtube.com/watch?v=8bBIBqXgmM4

- C2N-II loading Evil Dead in a Commodore 128. This game has the fastest
loader ever created for the Commodore 64:
www.youtube.com/watch?v=bypV8f0pWfg

- C2N-II loading Frogger in a Commodore VIC-20: www.youtube.com/watch?v=TQ8OTmYZiTU

- C2N-II loading Saboteur in a Commodore Plus4: www.youtube.com/watch?v=5lgCf8Qovb8

You can also visit the home page of C2N-II at:
http://pc23te.dte.uma.es/C2N-II/

And nothing more. Only give you the congratulations for your great magazine.

Cheers. Francisco

*************************************
NEWS
*************************************
ARESONE PRICE REDUCTION
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The AresOne is now available for ~235€! And I am talking about the full pack which includes:

* AresOne with 2.8GHZ AMD Sempron (expendable via configurator)

* 2GB DDR3 RAM (expandable via configurator)

* 500GB SATA HD (expandable)

* Broadway including FULL Version of AMC the Amiga Media Center

* Or IcAROS desktop

* Windows, Linux are optional... Linux is a free Option (installing costs nothing).

The AresOne comes with AmigaForever 2009 OEM and A-live X which includes a FryingPan key and CinnamonWriter for AROS. You can also buy the Kit for ~199.99€ including the software.

Visit www.vesalia.de

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SNAPSHOTER UPDATED TO V1.4.9B
*************************************

New version of snapshoter is out, a lot of improvements in this version

* Store unlimited clipboards.

* Add watermarks to your pictures.

* Post-it function.

* Compatible with Dropbox.

* Auto store text in clipboard.

* Capture pictures, or full desktop.

* Capture images with timer.

* Image compose mode.

* Scale, rotate, put border, change contrast, add transparency, use text or arrows in the collage mode.

* Infinite layers to play with your images in real time.

* Save the collage as JPG image.

* Languages English, Català, Spanish Turkish Italian and French.

* Drag n drop picture files to the clipboard bar.

* Paint, compose, create, and a lot more...

Download your version

CHANGELOG:

* Fixed bug in copyclipboard routine.

* Added Cecilia FX icons.

* Added new powerful image composer

* Gradients, solids, outlines, primitives, text or arrows, easy intuitive and fast environment

* a lot of changes more.

* Swap layers Up and down, keep ratios, browse layers, auto import to collage mode directly clicking over the snapshoter bar, crop and cut images over the compositions and paste again, funny gradient paint effect.....

* Versions for AmigaOS 3 AmigaOS4 MorphOS Aros and Windows

Download: www.xabierpayet.com

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NEW COMMODORE 64
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A look at the manufacturing process for the case of the NEW commodore 64 this is a pc in an adapted commodore 64 case, I am not sure about the sale
potential of such an item, the pc is designed to be upgraded and this machine can't really be upgraded, apparently the case has been modified from the original c64 making it taller to fit in the motherboard and other components
so it's going to be difficult to type on. Still I suppose it's a novelty item.

See the video on YouTube here

www.youtube.com/watch?v=CcCnZc_i63c


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CBM264.COM
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commodore16.com (Administrator) reports

The website CBM264.com is back. From this site you can legally download GEOS for the C16/Plus4.

A huge thank you to James for bringing his fabulous site back from the grave.

http://www.cbm264.com/


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XSANE 0.998 FOR AMICYGNIX RELEASED
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Now available on OS4-depot: The AmiCygnix version of the scanner driver software XSane 0.998. It includes the Sane backends version 1.0.22.

This release supports only scanners with USB connector or with network interface.

FEATURES OF XSANE:

* Display an image in a viewer.

* Saves images in these picture
formats:
- JPEG
- PDF
- PNG
- PNM
- PS
- TIFF

* Convert images into ASCII text using the OCR software "gocr". The program gocr V0.49 is included in this package.

* Do a photocopy - send a scanned image to the printer.

* Create multipage documents (PDF, PS, TIFF).

* Send a fax - needs an external command like "sendfax".

* Send a scanned image by e-mail.

* Colour management (CMS).

* Batch processing.

* Can be used as a gimp plug-in.

* And much more...

For more information have a look at the included README file and the XSane homepage.

Download: http://os4depot.net/index.php?function=showfile&file=driver/misc/xsane.lha

Homepages: http://www.xsane.org, http://www.sane-project.org


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YES VIC CAN
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Author: tokra (graphics mode), Mike (converter)
Released: Apr 24, 2011
Requirements: VIC-20 (PAL) with 16K
RAM expansion (24K for Basic
Extension, 32K for SJLOAD)
Description: Demo for new graphics mode explained in a yet to come post in
the "New Frontiers in VIC Hires" series.

Screenshot:

Download (with source): http://www.tokra.de/vic/yesviccan/yes_vic_can-release-withsource.zip

Pout.net-Link (with video file): http://www.pouet.net/prod.php?which=56893

Got 5th place (out of eight) at the Revision Party 2011


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PROTOVISION RELEASE JIM SLIM
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Protovision presents their latest C64 game: "The Adventures of Jim Slim in Dragonland" (aka "Jim Slim").

As ball Jim it is up to you to retrieve a stolen skull and to save the lovely Candy. This is being done by fighting your way through the colourful mazes.
You can move by rolling and jumping the latter supported by trampoline in
some places, and later through a tube system or even via teleport. Difficulty increases bit by bit with the levels: You need to find matching keys to
unlock doors, and to get rid of some opponents with a shot collected earlier. And of course the clock is ticking all the while. A saveable high score list and password system round off this title.

Check out the Jim Slim trailer by Poison:

www.youtube.com/watch?v=k28WMcmaNjo

More information is available here:

http://www.protovision-online.com/games/jimslim.htm

Get your own impression of Jim Slim by trail playing the two demo levels!

The full game including box and printed manual is now available via the Protovision Online Shop: http://www.protovision-online.de/catalog/


*************************************
64COPY UPDATED TO 4.43
*************************************

http://ist.uwaterloo.ca/~schepers/DOWNLOAD/64CP444.ZIP

64COPY is an all-in-one file converter and DOS maintenance package. Its intended use is to convert the various files that exist for the C64 emulators. Files like D64, D71, D81, D80, D82, DNP, D2M, T64, X64, LNX, ARK, ARC, SDA, LBR, SPY, CPK and all the ZipCodes (Diskpacked, Sixpacked and Filepacked) can be converted to whatever format you need for your favourite emulator, or for use on the real C64. You still need to get whatever emulator package you want in order to use the files you have as 64COPY does not provide any emulator functionality, nor does it communicate with any Commodore disk drive.

* Changes to the Disassembler

* Discovered several nasty bugs in the GCR conversion routines

* Fixed some small bugs in ZipCode/D64 conversion, specifically in the
ZipCode code portion.

* Changes to the ROM/EPROM conversion

* Added EPROM (ASCII) format conversion to the Alt-F10 menu. This function converts the common ASCII formats such as Intel Intellec 8, Motorola Exormax and Hexadecimal ASCII back to binary. The source ASCII file type is usually auto-detected correctly.

* Some LNX files weren't recognized because their signature was shorter than expected. I've changed the way LNX signatures are parsed to recognize shorter or longer ones. I've also changed the signature that 64Copy creates LNX files with, removing the version number and making it more generic.

* Fixed a small bug in my CheckXXX code dealing with logging. A string
variable was defined too small and could be populated with a very large
string causing memory corruption and making the logging fail (among other weirdness). The function to show the log failure was also somewhat broken as the long filename log file would be trimmed down to 20 characters but the display window would be 76 characters wide.

* CheckZipCode6 has been enhanced to report if sectors were not seen or if sectors were seen multiple times on a decoded track. Sometimes sectors can be duplicated, resulting in some sectors being duplicated and some missing.
Also illegal sector values are now reported.

* D81 subdirectory headers were being created with improper padding
characters ($00) instead of $A0.

* The File Info (Ctrl-N) for MP3 files didn't take into account a ID3 V2 TAG header. It is now detected and skipped. Now, the proper MP3 info is displayed for files with a V3 ID3 V2 header. The info box also shows if either a V1.x and/or a V2.x tag exists.

To download a copy head here

http://ist.uwaterloo.ca/~schepers/DOWNLOAD/64CP444.ZIP


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'ESCAPE' FULL GAME FOUND BY GTW WEBSITE
***************************************

199? Timsoft

Credits

Code - Rafal Javor Jaworski
Music - Sebastian Moog Bachlinski
Graphics - Jetan, Rafal Comankh Kwasny

A big thanks to Witold Bryndza who gave us the heads up about this long lost Timsoft which recently had an article published with a download link at C&A Fan. This was a game developed by a team called Artcore for Timsoft.

This is a neat little flick screen platformer with some colourful graphics which sees you having to find around 13 special squares across the map to progress further, whilst avoiding a series of enemies such as bats, snakes
and giant snails.

It seems this was another Timsoft title that was caught up in the demise of
the C64 and hence never got a full release until now. Its unsure why it has taken so long to surface, but we are glad it now has.

Overall it's not the most spectacular game we have played, and it can get a little boring and samey to play, but it is rare to find an unreleased title
in such a complete state, and this is a good example to digitally preserve
and share with others.

Rafal Kwasny has been in touch and will hopefully be shedding some more light on their game (as well as other Artcore titles) very soon...

Go check it out and watch this space for more details...

Frank.

(Additional source credits - Witold Bryndza, Rafal Kwasny)

http://www.gtw64.co.uk/Pages/e/Review_Escape.php


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COMMODORE NEWS
*************************************

RELEC society in partnership with website
http://www.meta-morphos.org organizes a competition open to all programmers
on the planet.

A development machine for MorphOS is to win: it's a EFIKA 5200B "DELUXE EDITION", a unique prototype proposed by RELEC. The list of elements is given later in this article.

Developers will send their proposal of project (which must operate at least
on MorphOS and AmigaOS 4.x) by mail before May 31, 2011 at the following
email address: papiosaur2 [at] hotmail.fr.

The list of all projects will be posted June 1 at the site meta-morphos.org

Voting will be by mail to the same address before 1 July.

The voting results will be posted on the website from 1 July.

The development machine will be presented at the Alchemy 2011 (France) and it will be up when the project is finalized. In case of withdrawal or no results available after 2 months it will send the machine to the developer of the project ranked second, etc. ...

If the winner needs to develop this machine, it will be sent after 1 July.

--- GoldED+/LNX 1.1.5
* Origin: Dragon's Lair: telnet: bbs.vk3heg.net Port: 2323 (3:633/280)