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

*************************************
COMMODORE TEST
*************************************

Think you're a Commodore Geek and
know all? Then test yourself to see
if you know everything about the
legendary computer brand.

www.richardlagendijk.nl/cpp/home/inde
x/-/en

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

*************************************
RIP RALPH BAER
Father of the Games Console Dies
Aged 92
*************************************

RIP Ralph Baer: the Father of the
games console dies aged 92. The world
would have looked very different
without him and his work.

For more information, check out the
article from The Register.

The site and article states:

"Few modern gamers know of Baer, but
all owe him a debt of gratitude for
ushering in the first generation of
home systems in the 1970s and helping
to inspire the arcade and home
console explosions in subsequent
decades.

Baer in the early 1970s built the
Magnavox Odyssey, considered to be
the first commercial home games
console, and would later create the
wildly popular 1980s memory game
Simon."

www.theregister.co.uk/2014/12/08/firi
ng_up_a_console_for_gaming_session_to
night_take_a_moment_for_ralph_baer/

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

*************************************
VU-SETTE
*************************************

Jani was making backups of old
turbo-tapes to disk and noticed that
the quality was very poor on some
tapes. He had a LOAD-IT datasette
with a signal meter. Problem with it
was that you could turn the knob
(head alignment) 45 degrees and still
have same two (lousy) bars on the
meter. There was a need for something
more accurate when adjusting the
alignment to get the best signal
while reading the tapes.

His solution was to implement an
analogue VU-Meter to show the signal
strength.

blog.worldofjani.com/?p=1127

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

*************************************
ASM80 / IDE WEBSITE
*************************************

Martin Maly has created an online
development website/ tool for retro
computers.

The features are: Code editor,
Simulated workspace for your files,
Compiling engines for 8080/8085, Z80,
6502, 6800 and 6809 CPU. Embedded
emulators for all these CPUs and
emulators for PMI-80, PMD-85, JPR-1,
ZX Spectrum, KIM-1 and the Grant
Searle Single Board computers.

www.asm80.com/

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

*************************************
GEEKTUNES FOR ANDROID
*************************************

GeekTunes is a great music player
with safety in mind. It has been
designed for use in the car with big,
easy-to-use buttons, so you can keep
your hands on the wheel more while
driving.

The Android version will play MP3
files wherever you put/find them on
your phone or tablet, iOS version
will play tunes in your iPhone/iPod
media library. In addition it will
play...

* Amiga MOD files
* New MOD files such as .IT .XM and
.S3M files
* C64 SID files (Android version now
only - Apple will no longer allow
SID emulation)
* Internet radio streams
* OctaMED modules
* Future Composer modules
* TFMX modules

The iOS app supports remote control -
great for a true hands-free
experience.

The app also comes with advanced
features for searching for tunes and
a super easy drill-down feature which
will allow you to navigate to your
favourite artist or album using big
safe buttons with ease.

The app also supports playlists which
you can create yourself, and
randomisation of playlists. Internet
radio support will also allow you to
mark which tunes you like and you can
email yourself a list of your
favourite tunes whenever you want to.

Upload files onto the iOS app using
iTunes or FTP client software, or
copy them anywhere onto your Android
device and then scan for them.

Many more features, and many more to
come!

sites.google.com/site/geektunes2/home

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

*************************************
MASTERTRONIC CHRONICLES
*************************************

Mastertronic Chronicles is a blog
about the witch finder Mastertronic
games for the Commodore C64. The most
recent reviews are: Kentilla (1986),
Fist II: The Legend Continues (1989),
Kickstart 2 (1987), Hacker II: The
Doomsday Papers (1989), Kane 2
(1988), Dan Dare II (1989) Spacewalk
(1984) and UCM: Ultimate Combat
Mission (1988)

retrounlim.com/mastertronic/

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

*************************************
RICARDO PUERTO INTERVIEW
*************************************

The website Codetapper has an
interview with Ricardo Puerto who
programmed the Amiga game Risky Woods
for Dinamic back in 1992. From a
technical viewpoint, the game is
fondly remembered for the amazing
sprite trick that was used to create
a smooth scrolling 16 colour parallax
layer behind the action. Probably the
first commercial Amiga game to use
this particular technique...

www.codetapper.com/amiga/interviews/r
icardo-puerto/

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

*************************************
THE SPECTRUM IS RE-RELEASED
*************************************

Sir Clive Sinclair has launched a new
crowdfunding project to fund the
Sinclair Spectrum Vega. It is 32
years after the first ZX Spectrum
rolled out. However, rather than this
being a new platform it is simply a
retro-gaming computer system which
runs and is preloaded with 1,000
classic Spectrum games. It also seems
to be lacking in the keyboard
department by quite an alarming
amount.

hexus.net/tech/news/systems/77853-sin
clair-spectrum-vega-revealed-sir-cliv
e-sinclair/

=====================================

*************************************
C64 NEWS
*************************************

*************************************
CC65 OPTIMIZATIONS
*************************************

Email:
From: Joseph Rose
To: commodorefree
Subject: Cc65 Optimizations

Hi! Joseph Rose, a.k.a. Harry Potter,
again. I am asking you to advertise
my cc65 optimizations for me. They
are at sourceforge.net/projects/cc65e
xtra/files.

Thank you.

COMMODORE FREE: Job done!

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

*************************************
C64 ENDINGS WEBSITE UPDATED
*************************************

Want to see how that game you played
for years ends? Then you need the web
page c64endings.co.uk, which has some
new game endings of Commodore C64
games. The new ones are: Autotest
(Daisy Soft / Byte Back), Arachne
(Tony Espeset) Black Night (Accola)
Bionic Commando (US) (Capcom), Blood
Brothers (Gremlin Graphics), Better
Dead Than Alien (Electra Software ),
Bell Ringer 3 (G. Straume, S.
Connolly) Bushido (Firebird), BAT
(Ubisoft) and Moving Target (Players
Premier).

www.c64endings.co.uk/

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

*************************************
HONEY BEE - REDUX
*************************************

This is the 16KB cartridge version of
the game Honey Bee. In this arcade
adventure you are the Honey Bee, and
you have to fly to 16 different areas
to collect pollen. The game was
developed by Richard Bayliss, with
graphics from Wayne Womersley
(Sprites), and Steven Day (Graphic)
and Richard Bayliss (Character) and
the music is by Joachim Wijnhoven

tnd64.unikat.sk/h.html

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

*************************************
KICK ASSEMBLER V3.36
*************************************

Kick Assembler has received another
update. Recent changes are:
Additional config files are now
possible. Improvements for the "=="
and "! =" Operators with Boolean
values. Import Enhancements for
binary and text files. Added: Addall,
uget the "+ =" and "- =" operators.

www.theweb.dk/KickAssembler/Main.php

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

*************************************
PAPER PLANE
*************************************

Roy Fielding has created a new game
for the Commodore C64.

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