he device maybe a
YouTube video or similar showing the machine?

Yes, I have four working versions of TDC, one is TDC-F (Spartan2 on board) and three TDC-L (XC95144 on board). The first one I’ve used for testing and programming lots of modules as colour changer, display list, DMA, bresman line drawing etc. I've uploaded many movies of demos through the Internet but nothing on YouTube. For example here http://www.megaupload.com/?d=3JNQTZJG

Q. Have you had much feedback and pre orders?

I’ve received feedback from polish c64 demo scene freaks; I think this is all the feed back I have received at the moment. I do however have a few pre-orders. Hardware tweaking on Commodore systems is not popular as is on ATARI machines.

Q. Will the Turbocard have an on/off switch for compatibility?

No, but TDC have three pre-set on board from slow, medium to fast which you
can use with turbo switch mode. The difference between these settings are compatibility; for example FAST mode is made for normal speed disk access, medium and slow are made for turbo access.

Q. Can I speed up some programs like GEOS? (I am thinking here about the
screen updates) will a driver be created or needed?

I think a special driver is not needed, although I haven’t tried GEOS with the
board.

Q. The SCPU (SuperCPU) device can be flicked on and off during various operations will this device be the same IE allowing certain parts of the program to be "speeded up" while other parts run at normal speed without blowing up the commodore 64?

In turboswitch mode speeding up routines is done automatic. For example if CPU is doing FLI routine TDC slows down, if the machines is de-crunching or vector parts calculation TDC can speed up the CPU.

Q. What about demos with music! will they still play the music at normal speed/time or will the whole machine have to be speeded up something like hitting the turbo button on an emulator like vice for example?

SID and VIC on TDC board are still running at 1MHz speed, There are no
problems with sound or the screen display; even when you use turbo mode for music or demos. Also there is No flicker on the c128 and no sound juddering etc.

Q. What about other programs that have 'slow' display ? like some of the early 3d games?

No problem in turbo switch mode.

Q. And of course will it work with things like the various Doom clones MOOD etc?

Yes it’s the same program as other doom parts from C64 demos.

Q. Any compatibility issues with JiffyDOS, SD2iec 1541-Ultimate , or other cartridges like action relay etc.?

I’ve not tested 1541U because I don’t have this card; However I’ve tested TDC
with older cards like Black Box Action Replay, Geo Action. I think TDC is compatible with SD2IEC and JiffyDos.

Q. I know there are 2 versions 2Mhz and 4Mhz, why not just one version that is switchable to with the positions Off/2/4 wouldn’t this simplify the design/production?

The CPU in C64 was designed to run at 3MHz clock, 4MHZ mode is possible with $01 register problem. Access to the internal register is too slow, so you can’t change banks in 4Mhz mode, you have to do it before you switch 4Mhz mode
on. Because of this you can’t use turbo switch mode with a speed of 4Mhz.

Q. Will this be a hand soldered project or commercially manufactured device?

Hand soldered with hot air. It’s only few cards.

Q. Will the device be DIY hobbyist creatable, by this I mean will you give all the schematics and information needed for someone to hand build one?

No, it won’t be open project in this point of time. You can ask me about it later though;)

Q. You have said the device will retail for around 50 Euros is this now the final price?

For Amibayers I’ve set this price as maximum; So it is 50EUR plus some extra costs for shipping. I’ll try to sell this device on eBay (one piece) and allegro (one piece) for advertising and see how it goes.

Q. How will our reader be able to obtain the device?

I think best place at the moment is Amibay.

Q. are you working with any coders to create demos and or games specifically for the device?

At beginning I’ve asked Fenek/Arise and Data/Tropyx for beta testing, both are
coders; but Fenek recently left c64 scene. I’ve asked Mr. Wegi for help, but he said that he had to move from Poland and he had no time (Silesia Party 5 is coming). Now I only have one beta tester. So I expect I will only receive programs from him.

Q. How big a market do you see for the device?

I think is not big, c64 users are not open for modding; but I’m going to make 10-20 devices. It’s not a large amount but I have to judge the market.

Q. Will you be looking at any updates to the device or maybe to produce a
SCPU clone?

Hm, I’ve lost lots of money in all my projects, so for now it’s enough for me
to have the device working and in a saleable format. However a SCPU clone could be made in TDC-F so everything is possible, who knows :)

Q. do you have any other projects you are currently working on at the moment?

Yes, It’s secret but some people are dreaming about it ;)

Q. Do you have any final comments you would like to add?

I’m proud that Commodore Free Magazine wants to make an interview with me. Thanks guys for your attention, all the best. If you want to meet me or watch my toys live, please visit Silesia Party 5 in Poland (21-23 October 2011) contact persons from UK are Booker and Conrad (CSDB).


***********************************
Diamond hunt 2 for the unexpanded Vic 20
reviewed by Commodore Free
************************************

SYNOPSIS: “grab the diamonds and escape through the tunnel; avoid the monsters
who are out to get you; use your caltrops to stop a monster in their tracks; beware the skull and bones .; one touch will kill you; “

The loading screen is impressive, and you can’t help but love the Vic it’s a
special machine and often underrated by many users. Ahem rant over I will continue. So with the loading over we have a brief instruction screen and are asked to press fire to start the game. Pressing the fire button then leads us into the game.

We start; unsurprisingly at level 1, I always find this is a good place to start a game! Just for completeness then; the idea of the game, in case you didn’t get it from the brief instructions is to collect these items a white arrow with 3 dots on top. Avoid these guys (they change shape randomly per level but are always blue), And don’t walk into these (yellow skulls)

And navigate to the exit hole that looks like this (a black hole shape)

Of course if you’re reading the text version of the magazine these images won’t be helpful, sorry but the text descriptions may be useful. Moving around
the game is a very jerky affair, our man has the option to drop some “gunk” to
stop the baddies following him, (although you have a limited amount of said gunk so use it wisely) but the movements of the man and the baddies are so jerky and very surreal. If you blink to hard they have moved from one side of the screen to the next (well maybe a slight exaggeration there).

Apparently this game is a “learning” e
--- CrashWrite 2.0
* Origin: --:)---- Dragon's Lair BBS ---(:-- (39:901/281)