I have just uploaded a new core with experimental CDTV remote control support to http://beta.icomp.de . Joystick directions are a bit messed up, but I'll try to fix that later today.

One development target is to use the C64's joystick ports for the Minimig core.

Trying to keep things on-topic, I'm answering a quesiton from a different thread here:

mistermsk wrote:

Just another question about the Chameleon. Are you the same person/group that did the MMC Replay? I have 3 MMC Replays and love them. Was wondering if it operated the same with Flashing the ROMs also the MMC extensions (i.e.: MOD Player support)?

Chameleon has a full emulation of the MMC64 included. Note that it's MMC64, not MMC Replay. However, that's probably not what you want to use, because the Chameleon menu system is far more sophisticated than MMC Replay.

You have freezers included as well - not just Retro Replay, but also FC3 and Expert cart.

And yes, Chameleon, MMC64 and MMC Replay all come from Individual Computers - www.icomp.de

Jens

Running http://c64web.com from the Chameleon 64/RRNet for 48 hours.

With Turbo on i can't load a disk image so it's running on 1Mhz.

It's in C64 mode not stand alone as the Ethernet will not work without the C64 connected, No Ethernet LEDs will light, Does the Chameleon 64 require 9vac to run the RR-Net. ?

enjoy.
Shane.
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How is the Chameleon at running games with turbo mode? Compatible with most of them? Run faster and smoother like SCPU? Or do they run too fast? What about text adventures -- do they redraw the screen rapidly?

I've had an idea re. real joysticks and two joysticks for the Chameleon. Remember the CDTV CD1200 games brick? I had one on my CDTV many years ago and it allowed you to use two normal 9-pin joysticks over IR. Did it output different IR codes to the remote control?

Removed the post as it shouldn't be in a thread about the facts promoting the excellent cart.

well go to yahoo forumes sign up with your problems they will help you out

i have chameleon i run all no problem sounds like you slagging it off when its a very good cartridge.

people will take what your saying seriously saying things like that.

ggizmotigger

It would be nice if someone developed a replacement of the VIC 2 chip, perhaps something similar to what they have done on Atari 800 with that new VDP with hardware sprites etc. The question is how difficult it is to replace them then... it's probably easier to build a whole C-64 in a single chip rather than a butchery of this kind.

I don't see much sence outputting 15 kHz graphics at VGA - why would anybody stare at all those blocks at 31 kHz when you can hook up a nice low res CRT to enjoy the full authenticity of the C-64 video modes...

Slowly getting the hang of the cart. Idiot user error means I was causing it to not work.

I've got my chameleon in the mail

Plugged it into my SX64 and the core loads, but after that... nothing on the small screen
I hold down the freeze button for the menu, and it gets stuck saying "please wait", and nothing happens.

I reflash the Chameleon with the latest v5 core, and we are in business

Even with the copy C64 Roms function set to ON, my SX64 is experiencing no problems at all. (this is GOOD)

I went as far as starting up the SX in Jiffy DOS mode, and then flipping the switch off. It still remembered the JiffyDOS ROM! (but would mean that the 1541 drive would be non-cooperative. No biggie)

Tried to load Zork from the SD card, and it bombed out while my SX64 drive spun around endlessly, looking for the data (it's on the SD card). So obviously there needs to be a way to swap drive numbers between drive 8 and the SD device. If there IS somehow a way of doing this already, I am none the wiser.

Checked out my System Info menu. Vic-II sync status is good.
The system time looks a little funny however. the date is apparently 2/0/2045, and I don't think that's even possible Also, there's no way to set the clock yet (as far as I can tell anyway)

Also, how do I open the cart if I were to put an RR-net-like device on the clockport? (or replace the battery for that matter)

I have just uploaded the new Beta-6 core to http://beta.icomp.de

LOTS of changes in this core. New cartridges supported (just select the .crt file in file browser):

- Simon's Basic
- Ocean carts
- Funplay
- Supergames
- C64GS carts (GS stands for "game system" - the system 3 carts)
- warpspeed
- dinamic
- zaxxon
- magic desk
- Super Snapshot V5 (including freezer functions)
- Comal 80
- KCS Power cartridge

The core update includes:

VIC emulation:
- timing fixed for mode bits (MCM, BMM and ECM) - delay was not correct.

CIA emulation:
- Implemented SDR register as R/W scratchpad register (was empty before)
- Implemented real IEC bus disable bit (disables write accesses to physical CIA address $dd00)

C64 bus emulation:
- Fixed reading from emulated SID
- cartridge emulations added:
KCS power, SSv5, C64GS, Comal-80, Zaxxon, Ocean type 1,
Simons Basic, Fun play, Super Games, Warp Speed,
Dinamic and Magic Desk.

1541 drive emulation:
- Fixed RAM mirrors for 1541 drive emulation
- Disk track lengths set to 6256, 6672, 7144 or 7696 bytes
- Implemented disk-change with button
- Input latch emulation in VIA emulation

The 1541 drive emulation is working *much* better than before, but it's still not perfect. Especially the fastloader of Action/Retro Replay is still giving us a hard time. You might wonder why the track length numbers are chosen to be those specific numbers - the answer is simple: Numbers should be multiples of 8 in order to line up nicely with the SD-Ram burst function. In reality, rotation speed variation will be much higher than these few extra bytes, so we're still much more accurate than any drive mechanics can be.

The "disk change with button" lets you mount more than just one d64 file - these will be kept in up to four "slots" per drive and you can cycle through these slots by pushing the leftmost blue button. This will let you change/flip the disk without having to go into the menu.

The "input latch emulation" is something that we've investigated thoroughly this past weekend: It's the exact time within a cycle where the data from the port pins is sampled and passed to the CPU on a read cycle. With this new research result, we've corrected the VIA emulation and will do the same for the CIA emulation in one of the next updates.

The new beta-6 update archive also contains all versions of ChaCo (the Chameleon Control software for PCs) that we're currently maintaining:

- Win32 (GUI and commandline version)
- Linux32 (GUI and commandline version)
- Linux64 (GUI and commandline version)

Lots of code cleanup and resolving threading trouble has been done to the GUI version, so if you've had trouble with the GUI version(s) before, this new version is surely worth a try. Any and all feedback about the new GUI versions is appreciated - positive and negative. Please don't hold back with postings to the Yahoo group!

Last not least, please take the time to read all the documentation that's included in the update archive. If you're not a programmer, you can skip on the programmer's manual, but please give the menu-readme some time. It's much more than just a readme - more like a user's manual at this point. Although most of the menu items (especially the option items) are self-explanatory, the readme gives valuable hints for keyboard shortcuts.

Jens

Is there a possibility to connect the Chameleon to the cassette port to load TAPs?
_________________

We're planning to emulate tapes, but loading from a physical tape is not possible. The tape port is disabled when Chameleon is inserted.

Jens

Peter has found the IEC-timing bug today, which solves the fastloader problems that we've had with the 1541 emulation. Our internal version works with many demos now and doesn't show the loading trouble that the Retro Replay/Action Replay fastloader had up until beta-6 (the current betaversion). This internal version must currently switch off the IEC connector on the Chameleon cartridge, so operation with a physical drive is not possible at the moment.

Peter needs to apply the newly found timing to that physical IEC as well, which will take some time. At the very least, we can release a core in 1-2 days that also lets you switch off the external IEC and take advantage of a near-100% floppy emulation.

This new core also includes support for two new cartridges: StarDOS and Micro Assembler. Further, I have finished reverse-engineering the "Pagefox" cartridge (thanks to the help of Forum64-user "Delphin64"), which will be verified in VICE before we'll move it into Chameleon.

Jens

This was a team effort - Tobias and Peter deserve the credit for actually *implementing* it. I'm just the messenger here.

Jens

Success on reverse-engineering the Pagefox cartridge! Those of you who have access to the VICE SVN can now check out the source and build a version with Pagefox cartridge emulation.

I've also had a short phonecall with the owner of the copyrights, and he confirmed that he's fine with emulation and distributing the files. I'm awaiting written confirmation before I'll publish the crt file.

Pagefox cartridge emulation is now on the todo-list for Chameleon.

I am now looking for a Kingsoft Business Basic cartridge for reverse-engineering. If anyone can help, please contact me. I need the cart here, but I will return it in fully working condition.

Jens

Looks like Jim Butterfield had one and donated it to these guys.

The Personal Computer Museum
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Did some digging yesterday and today: I found the former owner of Kingsoft, he lives about half an hour away. He gave me a contact within Electronic Arts, who was working for Kingsoft back in the days. Electronic Arts has bought Kingsoft in 1995, which is why a few employees also changed over.

Both guys could not help me with a sample of the "Business Basic" cartridge, but the EA guy promised to call a few people who he had been working with 16 years ago.

I just got off the phone with Forum64 user "cbm-warrior" who has two of those cartridges. He's fine with me taking one of them apart for reverse-engineering. I'll keep you posted about the results.

Jens

Hi,

I have just uploaded Beta-6b to the beta site http://beta.icomp.de

Major updates include:

- greatly improved IEC timing (fixes all known speedloader problems)
- VIA6522 timers fixed for 1541 emulation
- VIA6522 register r/w fixes
- new cartridge: StarDOS
- new cartridge: Mikro Assembler

Other updated files:

- Chameleon programmer's manual
- added textfile with a list of known bugs
- menu usermanual updated

The menu/filebrowser now also has a SID player. The archive also contains ChaCo (commandline and GUI versions) that haven't been updated.

have fun,
Jens

Nice work Jens, Peter, Tobias and anyone else involved.


Side-topic

Now, just need to seek out a dead SX-64. I would be primarily interested in the shell, good SX-64 keyboard, and few of the internal parts such as the disk drive and maybe a few other parts like the cartridge interface connector. This way, I would replace the CRT with an LCD module that supports the VGA/SVGA video modes and possibly TV input (saw one somewhere from a manufacturer). I would not want to hack apart a perfectly good SX-64. That might be a little too tabboo !!

If anyone has one that meets such conditions then I'd be interested - just PM me. It is something I look to hook the Chameleon to it.