Hi everyone,

maybe not everyone got the good news, but we're starting to deliver! I'm about to drive to Vesalia with a car full of Chameleons, and they'll ship out tomorrow.

- VGA output works
- MMC64 emulation works
- retro replay emulation works
- mono SID emulation works without filters
- 16MB REU works, can even be filled through USB (for example with BluREU)
- USB debugging works: peek/poke the C64 memory while it's running from a PC in realtime!
- Infrared receiver for CDTV remote control works (for joystick and partly keyboard)
- PS/2 keyboard works
- PS/2 mouse works as 1351 proportional mouse
- standalone mode works
- cartridge mode on C64 works
- basic floppy emulation can be switched on with a few POKEs
- other freezers can be switched on with a few POKEs: FC3, Expert cart
- public schematics for other FPGA core authors

still in beta mode, but even if you buy at this early stage, you'll be able to update the cart to "final version" without special equipment - only a PC required.

The cart comes with the custom breakout cable and a mini-USB cable. Check the Vesalia site or the Yahoo group for more info!

Jens

it all sounds really nice fair play, but the price is what puts me and i bet a lot of others off.

What most people are looking for is a cheap and easy way of using the d64 and other files into the c64.

I am still looking at getting a cable and using my old pc as a server for it because this option is too expensive for me.

I am seriously interested in one and will probably buy it after I get some feedback from customers. I am so happy to hear it is finally shipping after so much anticipation!!

So would it be technically possible to write a SuperCPU emulation for the chameleon or is that out of the question? Like it or not, there IS a codebase for the SuperCPU (Metal Dust has been mentioned) and this would turn a lot of people on to the Chameleon.

How fast is the Turbo mode now? Do you have videos of Mercenary, Castle Master ... you know what I mean. All those 3d games that are basically unplayable on a stock C64.

And I guess emulating other 8 bit computers would be possible? Basically turning the chameleon into an MCC-216?

Paid for mine today, being in Australia i hope to get it by the end of next week.

I'd support a bounty on a SCPU core if one is started.
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Didn't we have the SCPU discussion a while back? It's not on the list, and without a true killer application, it probably will never get any higher than "oh, the only true fast accel there ever was for the C64".

Chameleon will introduce a totally new type of accelerator, because our turbo mode will not be based on the 65816 processor, but a true 6502 with all illegal opcodes. There is no need to learn a new assembly or get used to a new memory layout, because REU and geoRAM are known-good, easy to program and most important: There is existing software for them. Note that turbo mode is currently not enabled and we don't have any performance numbers yet.

It'll be easier to talk to the programmer of Metal Dust to make a port for Chameleon, rather than spending months on an SCPU emulation that would hardly be used for anything else. Besides, for cycle-exact 65816 emulation at 20MHz, we'd have to switch off the VGA output. Not exactly the smartest thing to do for a cart that has VGA as it's main feature

Admiral Commodore: I wouldn't speak of "turning into MCC-216", as that would mean cutting away some features (downgrading: fewer interfaces, less memory, slower memory). However, as Chameleon comes from the makers of the C-One, which came long before the MCC, the answer is clear: Yes, other cores are supported. There are 16 slots on the onboard flash that let you store cores, roms and other data that belong to a specific mode of operation. Only one of those slots is used at the moment (the second slot is programmed with a hardware-selftest core).

We are supporting core developers with open schematics, core development documentation and we can always answer questions on the Chameleon Yahoo list. The FPGA on Chameleon is HUGE - I'm expecting that just about any open core will fit in there, and with the abundance of interfaces on Chameleon, core developers are likely to add support for things like Infrared, USB debugging (or general USB connection to a PC), stereo audio or optional networking. We're currently talking to a number of FPGA developers, but I don't want to promise anything unless we have solid results.

Jens

The Killer OS for the SCPU is http://nacu.ca/sites/wings/ WINGS.

One day my SCPU will fail with age and i would like to keep using WINGS without spending $1000+ to get another. VGA is a great feature however not the reason I'm buying it nor is the faint fadeing hope of a SCPU core.

MetalDust ported to the Chameleon I'd buy that for a Dollar


Keep up the great work Wiesel.
Shane.
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Hi Jens,

If i have understood properly, this is the final 'hardware' version of the Chameleon, in fact this will be the only version and any update will be done with firmware updates... is this true?

Now that this is done, any time schedule for the Indivision AGA Mk2?

Thanks,
later,
dabone

I have a Indivision AGA in my A4000D great product and work as described.
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dabone:
Chameleon is far from "being done" - it's in beta state, and I have no plans of giving you false hope that Indivision AGA MK2 is coming out too soon. Besides, there's always Nequester that I could spend more time on - this retro stuff is merely a "very intensive hobby". Well, at least one that I take very seriously

I have uploaded the RC2 core to the beta site yesterday. It fixes:

- Assy 250407 boards (15kHz screen displayed flickering characters) - fixed
- SX64 (15kHz screen displayed flickering characters) - fixed
- NTSC boards fixed
- PS/2 keyboard had trouble when holding down a key upon startup - fixed

I also thought I'd do some quick measurements on the C128, and we've lost a good five hours with it. It seems like the Ultimax mode of the C128's C64-mode is not 100% compatible with a real C64: We cannot pump the VIC data from an external source, but that's mandatory for the way Chameleon works. The only workaround would be to write all VIC data into the slow C128 memory with our external CPU, but that would practically mean a new product. Possible, yes, but far from desirable.

I may make some more detailed measurements somtime this week, but C128 support becomes less and less likely (not that I ever made anyone think that it may ever work). No matter how hard others may try, the C64 remains the world's best computer

Jens

I have just uploaded the beta-3 core and the latest ChaCo to http://beta.icomp.de

In the archive, you'll find the latest version of ChaCo, the Beta3 core and the ROMsthat go with the core. This version of ChaCo fixes a minor USB lib communication issue. To run ChaCo on a Windows machine, please make sure to be logged in as "Administrator".

Power up Chameleon either in stand-alone mode or with a C64.

If powered from a C64, then DO NOT CONNECT THE USB CONNECTOR OF THE BREAKOUT CABLE. The USB connector on the Breakout cable may only be connected if Chameleon is in standalone mode. Note that the USB on the breakout cable is a power-only connection.

Use the mini-USB connection to make a data connection to the PC, then launch ChaCo, which should display "Found Chameleon on USB bus". If it doesn't, then please check the USB data connection - make sure that power is applied to Chameleon and that your USB port supports full-speed USB devices (problems have been reported with USB3.0 ports).

To install the Beta-3 update, please follow these steps:

1. select slot 0 (no change required)
2. tick the box "Flash additional Rom"
3. click on "Flash rbf/Rom"
4. select file "chameleon_v5_beta3.rbf" in the first file requester
5. select file "chameleon_roms.bin" in the second file requester

If you have a monitor connected to Chameleon, it will turn to a black screen now. The flash slot is erased (takes about 5-7 seconds) and flashing is started. The flash process takes about 80 seconds, and progress is displayed in the progress bar above the "Start from selected slot" button.

After the "Flashing complete" message, you can press the "Start from selected slot" button. Chameleon will now start with the new core.

The Beta-3 core starts faster. MUCH FASTER. You may not even see the startup screen, because your monitor may not sync fast enough to the picture. If your monitor shows the picture, you will notice the "Beta-3" in the top right corner. The increased OS loading speed is achieved by using the Chameleon's REU to load the code from onboard flash to memory: Load time is under one second now.

Further changes are:

- Clockport is now available with RetroReplay active (RR-net works without POKEs)
- New software reset command 166 (A6h) at 53502 (D0FEh)
This command exits Chameleon configuration mode before reset
- Core loads ROMs correctly when flashed to slot 1
- C64 screen shifted slightly to the left to correct the right border size
- Fixed an obscure NTSC timing bug
- Bootrom checks USB communication. Possible results:
"OK is valid"
"UNKNOWN check USB micro!"
- Offset of the ROMs in flash is displayed.
- VIC-II synchronization improved. Faster "lock"
- Bootrom waits for proper lock, prevents color-ram write errors in boot message.
- In NTSC mode unused VGA screen space is black and not yellow.
- Upper right displays BETA-3 to identify core version.

Have fun,
Peter & Jens

Can I update the Chameleon without have it connected to a 64 and a monitor?
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Must I first connect the 2 USB to the PC and then execute CHACO?
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Read yesterday's post, and you have the answer.

Jens

When will the final release of Chameleon ready? I want to nuy directly one of these. THis thingy is really powerfull and combined with a 1541 ultimate II brings the C64 to a higher level.

I'd be interested to hear how the VGA output looks. I use my 64 on an PC LCD screen for space reasons, and the S-Video to VGA adaptor I have is crapola, even if its approaching $300 Aussie dollars this thing is cheaper than an decent LCD TV with a VGA input.
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A Youtube video of the Chameleon has now been released:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SuZgVgL1494