Protovision Update October 2006

COMPETITION PRO JOYSTICK RETURNS

The COMPETITION PRO used to be the best joystick for C64 and Amiga systems. It was well-known for its extreme durability and the characteristic clicking of the microswitches.
Now it returns! Speed-Link and individual Computers re-created the joystick in its classic form. It is compatible with Commodore including C64, Amiga, Atari, Amstrad/Schneider CPC and MSX Systems.
The COMPETITION PRO is now available from the Online Shop for 13 Euros including shipping within Europe.


ADVANCED SPACE BATTLE GETS A SIZZLER IN RETRO GAMER

The latest issue Retro Gamer (issue #30) has a rather warm review of ADVANCED SPACE BATTLE (German users click here), which received a 96% overall rating and gets a Retro Gamer Sizzler! For more information about the magazine, head over to www.retrogamer.net.


STERNENKIND AND METAL DUST CLIP AT CHAOS TOTAL

WELLE: ERDBALL released their new album CHAOS TOTAL on 1st September this year. The longplayer contains the song "STERNENKIND", which is the music from the fourth level of METAL DUST with additional lyrics. Furthermore, the limited edition includes a Bonus DVD, e.g. with a METAL DUST video clip by WELLE: ERDBALL. The limited edition is already sold out in many places. The METAL DUST video clip can now be downloaded from the METAL DUST corner in the trailer section (German users click here).
Also visit the WELLE: ERDBALL homepage.


AMIGA FUTURE INTERVIEWS PROTOVISION

Protovision got interviewed by the German language magazine AMIGA FUTURE. The interview will be published in issue 63 (November/December 2006), to be released soon. The cover can already be found here.


TWO NEW CABLES AVAILABLE

There are two new cables available: 4 chinch Monitor Cable (Luminance, Chroma and 2x Audio) and Mini Din (S-Video) + 2x chinch (Audio) Cable. Photos are available in our Online Shop.


TWO NEW MMC64 PLUGINS AVAILABLE

There are two new plugins available to enhance the abilities of the MMC64 (German users click here).

The first plugin is the T64 Plugin which can mount T64 files.
The current release is V0.4.

Current limitations:
- approx. 20 files in a T64
- T64 files > 50 KB won't work
- No autostart. You must type RUN on your own
- Some games just won't work

Download: http://noname.c64.org/csdb/get...v.0.04.zip


The second plugin is more a little gimmick than a real plugin.
It's called "CHR Plugin" and can change the character set of the filebrowser.
Only works with BIOS 1.00 or higher.
If you download more fonts, just change the file extension to ".chr".

Download: http://noname.c64.org/csdb/get..._v0.01.zip
Samples: http://noname.c64.org/csdb/get...arsets.zip
More fonts: http://kofler.dot.at/c64


NETMON V0.1 FOR RR-NET

hannenz released NETMON, a cross development tool for RR-Net (German users click here) that allows full remote access from PC side of C64 memory - including REU support - and disk drives. Investigate memory as dump, petascii, disassembly, send and receive from and to mem from or to files, read disk drive directory, read and write to disk drives and so on... For Linux/Unix and Win32.
Grab it here.


UDPSLAVE FOR RR-NET

UDPSlave by MagerValp is a transfer system for RR-Net (German users click here) that's so small that you can type it in. Works with Retro Replay, MMC64, and SuperSnapshot with an RR-Net plugged in.
www.paradroid.net/udpslave


64NET/2 FOR RR-NET

With 64net it is possible to use a PC as file server for the C64. By the use of parallel link-up, high loading and saving speeds should be achieved. Due to RR-Net (German users click here), the latest expansion of 64net/2 allows conntecting several C64s to one file server. Find details, concepts and background information at www.metalvotze.de/forschung.html (German language only) and http://sourceforge.net/projects/c64net.


RETRO REPLAY CUSTOM ROM BUILDER BY FMAN UPDATED

The Custom ROM Builder tool for Retro Replay (German users click here) got updated to V1.20. You can create your own Retro Replay ROMs with it. This Amiga/PC utility creates a flash-ready ROM image with a bootmenu from programs of your choice.
V1.20 offers an updated 64-end code segment, new features and also fixes minor bugs of earlier versions.
http://noname.c64.org/csdb/release/?id=39383


PRICELIST UPDATED

There is also a new pricelist (10/06) available, you can find it here.


For those who haven't seen them yet, also check out the news items from August in the news section of our homepage.
_________________

Protovision Update December 2006

NEWCOMER NEWS

NEWCOMER by Cinematic Intuitive Dynamix got a 95% rating in issue 31 of Retro Gamer. Visit www.retrogamer.net to learn more about the Retro Gamer magazine.
Currently in development: ULTIMATE NEWCOMER with shorter decrunch times, faster disk I/O on 1541, direct support for IDE64, C128 and SuperCPU, and most importantly a bug fixed story script to make the "Long&Complex" solution accessible for those really smart players.
Further extra hardware may or may not be supported, depending on the developers´ time, resources and the availability of gametesters.
At the moment the makers are stuck with a critical bug in the re-written game engine code, and it will probably only get fixed during holiday vacations, so release date has certainly moved to sometime 2007.
The English and Hungarian scripts are complete and under testing. The German version is under translation.
For updates, register an account and subscribe for Newcomer news notification at www.newcomer.hu.


HARDWARE SECTION UPDATED

Our hardware section has been updated: New plugins for the MMC and SD card reader MMC64 were added as well as software which supports the network card RR-NET. Furthermore the breadboard 8 BIT BABY for electronic enthusiasts and the COMPETITION PRO JOYSTICK were included. www.protovision-online.de/hardw/hardwstart.htm


STILL LOOKING FOR A CHRISTMAS PRESENT?

You are still looking for a Christmas present for a computer friend, or for yourself? What could be more suitable than a brand new COMPETITION PRO JOYSTICK? Order it now at our Online Shop.

--

FURTHER NEWS ON OUR HARDWARE PRODUCTS FROM AROUND THE C64 WORLD:


NEW VERSION OF DREAMLOAD MMC64

Good news for MMC64 users: Doc Bacardi/The Dreams published a new version of his DFI Plugin, which is the MMC64 version of his multiload and save system DreamLoad. Save, scratch and scratch-save should work now.
Since this is another beta release, please remember to backup the content of your SD/MMC card! Further information, download link and the place for feedback is here: http://rrforum.ath.cx/viewtopi...;start=108


D81 WRITER PLUGIN V0.2 FOR MMC64

An updated version of D81 writer plugin for MMC64 by tnt is out: http://www.sci.fi/~tenu/c64/mmc64/d81.zip
V0.2 doesn't require burst mod (at the cost of 32 seconds per disk) but uses one if available.


IDEDOS 20061110 (0.90 PATCH 31)

A new version of idedos for IDE64 is out: idedos 20061110 (0.90 patch 31). This release adds EPCLink support, which means that now it's possible to use an ETFE or RR-Net card for highspeed transfers through the IDEDOS PCLink network drive. Reading speed reaches up to 40 kB/s (writing at 20 kB/s), which makes burning CDs for huge data transfers pointless. Unfortunately currently it's not so easy to get an ETFE card or connect RR-Net simply (RR+RR-Net+portexpander), but let's hope this will change soon
http://idedos.ide64.org


MWC V0.2ALPHA RELEASED

mwc by Jockstrap is a command-line Linux client for Graham's WarpCopy64 V0.6 server, allowing you to transfer disks from your 1541 to your Linux system through the RR-Net ethernet adapter. Download: www.sci.fi/~tenu/c64/mmc64/d81.zip


GUI4CBM4WIN UPDATED TO 0.6.0

Payton Byrd made a major bug fix to gui4cbm4win, the graphical user interface for the transfer software cbm4win. The bug fix is related to the migration to .Net. He added a few features as well.

Bug Fixes:
- Fixed problem with reading the output file when detecting drives in the Options window

New Features:
- Added CBM Drive selector to main window
- Changed from calling the WIN32 Shell api to using .Net Processes
- Capture stdout and stderr through pipe redirection instead of reading temp files in most cases.
- Added running Log panel

You can download the file at http://blog.paytonbyrd.com/?p=55


The Protovision team would like to thank you for your support in 2006. We wish you a merry and contemplative christmas.


www.protovision-online.de
_________________

Protovision Update January 2007

CBMIMAGER UPDATED

CBMImager for Windows by Uncle Tom and Doc Bacardi of The Dreams has been updated recently. This is a tool to edit disk images. D64 and DFI images are fully supported while there is read-only access to HD images.
For those who do not know: DFI is a custom disk archive format used by the DreamLoad plugin for MMC64. While a D64 is limited to 171 KB, a DFI image can be of unlimited size in theory. Furthermore the DFI format supports subdirectories.

CBMImager V0.2.1 changelog:
- Fixed a crash bug occurring when extracting files via the context-menu. (a wrong method was called)
- Added a new option "All Images" to the "Open Image" - Dialog so the user doesn't have to switch between DFI and D64 Image-Formats.
- Window-size is now preserved in a local config-file.

Downloads:
CBMImager V0.2.1
CBMImager helpfile


GUI4CBM4WIN 0.6.1 - VISTA INSTALLATION FIX

The MSI installer for GUI4CBM4WIN has been updated to comply with the security model for Windows Vista so that OpenCBM can be correctly installed as a device driver.
You may get more details and download the file at http://blog.paytonbyrd.com/?p=72.

Payton Byrd has set up a Wiki for GUI4CBM4WIN at www.paytonbyrd.com/wiki/GUI4CBM4WIN.ashx.


WARPCOPY FOR OSX

For a description on how to use j0x's linux port of WarpCopy on OSX, see here.


ARTILLERY DUEL NETWORK - FIRST INTERNET&LAN GAME FOR RR-NET/ETH64

24 years after the first Artillery Duel, the game has been ported by Schema to work over the Internet or LAN with RR-Net or ETH64!

Features:
- Two players over the Internet or LAN (turn-based)
- Chat (F7)
- Mediocre graphics
- Sound effects
- Joystick control (Port 2)

The game is still in development. Find all information about this new game here.

The latest version (v0.004) has been released with yet more improvements, such as the chat facility which had upper and lowercase lettering the wrong way around.
It has also been playtested between two real C64s (a C64c and an SX64), which both had an RR-Net adapter plugged into them.
Also, the source code for this new version is available. As far as Leif is concerned, this is public domain. Six's library is included, and is free to use and distribute.

Download

Enjoy!

Discuss the project at one of these forums:
Lemon 64 Forum
retrohackers.org Forum
Petscii Forums
Forum-64 (German)


RR-FORUM TRANSFORMS TO RETROHACKERS.ORG

One year after the launch of RR-Forum, site admin RaveGuru decided to transform it to retrohackers.org. In the future, this new site is going to have a structured news page, file section etc. Check the full story here.
And remember that links to the old RR-Forum won't work anymore, but you can make them work by replacing "http://rrforum.ath.cx" with "http://retrohackers.org/forum".


STAR COMMANDER: NEW BETA AVAILABLE, WITH OPENCBM/CBM4WIN SUPPORT

A new beta of Star Commander is out. For the change-log see below. Probably the most interesting improvement is that SC can now access cbm4win under Windows NT4/2000/XP/2003. So there is no more need for the GiveIO program or similar. Simply select
"OpenCBM" as cable type at the transfer options dialog. OpenCBM needs to be installed for this of course.

Since this is a beta release, there still might be bugs. Please send bug reports to the Star Commander Mailing List at sclist@yahoogroups.com.

As usual, the new beta is available at http://sta.c64.org/scbeta.html.

Changes in SC 0.83.21 beta since SC 0.82:
Fix: During file rename, already existing target files are now detected correctly under operating systems other than real DOS, as well.
Fix: The number of sides is not detected for disks in 1570 drives anymore.
Fix: The progress indicator counted blocks incorrectly while copying a file from a Commodore drive in normal transfer mode.
New: Introducing support for accessing Commodore drives via the OpenCBM driver (cbm4win 0.4.0 or above) under Windows NT4/2000/XP/2003 - use the "OpenCBM" value for the "Serial cable" option in the "Transfer options" configuration screen.


MMC64 UPDATES

There's another new version of DFI Plugin for MMC64 by Doc Bacardi/The Dreams. The dreamload mode, which was ruined in the last release, now works again. There were a couple of other fixes, for instance, concerning scratching (deleting) and
saving files. Get the latest version here:
Download
Changelog
Discuss/give feedback

The MP3 Plugin that enables the MP3@64 module on the MMC64 has been improved: Playback on NTSC machines now works error free.
Download


DISKIMAGERY64 0.6 RELEASED

DiskImagery64 by lallafa is a portable (Qt 4.2.x-based), open-source D64 disk image editor for Mac, Linux and Windows. It offers a nice GUI with drag-and-drop support between disk images and the local file system. Runs programs or mounts images directly in your favorite emulator.

Release 0.6 added network support: Download programs or share disk images as NetDrives with a single click to a real C64 with RR-Net and The Final Replay ROM 0.6.

Check it out: www.lallafa.de/blog


ANYTHING TO ADD?

If you have developed anything for Retro Replay/Silversurfer/RR-Net/MMC64/MP3@64 or any other device, or you found out about any software supporting the hardware distributed by us which is not yet listed at our hardware section, please tell us! Thank you!


www.protovision-online.de
_________________

Protovision Update March 2007

THE FINAL REPLAY V0.8 ROM IS OUT
TFR 0.8 for the Retro Replay cartridge is out. V0.7 had a few bugfixes and a few new features. V0.8 includes a bug fix of one of those new features.

Changelog V0.7:
- Fixed: Fast format available again.
- Fixed: Removed a possible crash in the DOS command.
- Fixed: Monitor can now save RAM below $A000-$BFFF ROM.
- Added: New BASIC command SETIP to change IP address.
- Added: New DOS"D:(header),(id)" command to change disk header.
- Added: INFO command now shows network addresses and number of rasterlines.

Changelog V0.8:
- Fixed: SETIP now also has effect on CodeNet and not only NetDrive.

Get it from The Final Replay home page.

In our hardware section you can find a neat little batch file to make sending files from PC to C64 with The Final Replay more easy.

Related links:
Forum-64
Protovision hardware section


BOMB MANIA WITH SNES PADS
Zhayl created a patch to make the game Bomb Mania work with SNES Pads.
It can be downloaded from here.

Related links:
Forum-64


ARTILLERY DUEL NETWORK 0.005 RELEASED
Version 0.005 of Artillery Duel Network for RR-Net or ETH64 has been uploaded.

Changelog:
- Now uses client/server terminology
- Awesome explosion graphics from WizardNJ
- Fixed a race condition when exchanging health packets (Leif hopes)

http://home.ica.net/~leifb/commodore/duel

Enjoy!

Related links:
Lemon 64 Forum
retrohackers.org Forum
Petscii Forums
Forum-64


SINGULAR BROWSER - WEB BROWSER FOR RR-NET AND TFE
Soci/Singular put quite some work in his nice web browser: the SINGULAR BROWSER. In a matter of days, he released v0.2, v0.3 and now v0.4 of it. Singular browser supports RR-Net and TFE (The Final Ethernet). You may adjust your IP settings using the included tool IPconfig.

Instructions for IPconfig:
1. Load IPconfig and type LIST.
2. Adjust your IP settings.
3. Type RUN to save the IPconfig-default file.

Some hints:
1. Notice: An already existing IPconfig-default file must be deleted before running IPconfig.
2. If the programm displays "Press record & play on tape" after running it, replace "Peek(186)" in line 10 by the device number you are using, e. g. 8, and try again.

Clicking links as well as entering further URLs is not yet supported in the current version of the browser.

Get it from CSDb.

Related links:
retrohackers.org Forum
Forum-64


VICE 1.21 WITH MMC64 EMULATION
The latest version of VICE (v1.21) has been released earlier this month. Visit the VICE homepage for downloads. Here you can find information on what's new in this release.
An interesting new feature is MMC64 emulation. The dump of an MMC64 BIOS is required for that. You can find such a dump at retrohackers.org Forum. Notice you will also need the image of a MMC/SD card to emulate MMC64 in VICE. To create an image of your MMC/SD Card, you can use e. g. WinImage or dd.exe.

Related links:
retrohackers.org Forum
WinImage
dd.exe

Please keep in mind that MMC64 emulation is in an early stage of development, so there are still bugs.


NETMON V0.3 FOR RR-NET
hannenz has released v0.3 of NetMon, a tool to control and monitor your C64 remotely via RR-Net. It uses UDP over IP and new features in v0.3 includes custom IP-addresses. NetMon is perfectly suited for cross developing as it gives you full access to the entire C64 RAM, including REU, and devices on the serial bus. Clients for both Windows and Linux are available.

Related links:
NetMon home page
Lemon64 Forum
Forum-64
retrohackers.org Forum


YOGIBEAR INTERVIEWED BY LOTEK64
Lotek64 invited Yogibear/Protovision, composer of the Advanced Space Battle soundtrack, for a chat. Download issue 20 of the magazine from the Lotek64 home page and enjoy the detailed interview.

Related links:
Forum-64


STEREOINSID NEWS
StereoINsid V2 by Thunder.Bird is an internal board to plug into the SID socket to obtain stereo music and sounds with extra software. It also gives old games and demos a slight stereo effect.
Required: a 2nd SID (available as StereoINsid V2s pack) and a little soldering knowledge. Compatible with all C64/C64-II/SX64/C64G... and C128D(CR) but not with the C64DTV.

Features:
- can be assembled with two different SIDs, which also offers better stereo ability
- jumpers for filters and voltages for SID 6581/8580
- filters out the VIC noise / is able to do digi with new SID
- optional stereo input (connect your radio/CD/cassette RCA level) for filtering use
- stereo headphones jack for using direct headphones or HiFi
- 2nd SID at $D420, $D500, $DE00, $DF00 or other adress around $Dxxx
- small layout for direct connection to where the original SID was
- easy to install with micro clips (no soldering required, though it is recommended)
- sounds like stereo with standard games/demos/SIDs
Extra: 2-sided 5.25" floppy disc full with stereo and 2nd SID software

StereoINsid V2(s) is about to go into production in late spring. For more information and to pre-order, write to contact@protovision-online.de.


T64 PLUGIN FOR MMC64 - SMALL UPDATE
DrCreep released a new version of his T64 Plugin for MMC64, v0.07.
The code was re-written from scratch. The new version features autostart and increased compatibility. Only really huge files will cause problems, as well as files located below $0801.
Get T64 plugin from CSDb.


PROTOVISION SPONSORED SOME PRIZES FOR THE OXYRON PARTY
The 15 Years Oxyron Party took place from 23rd to 25th February 2007 in Flensburg, Germany. To support the party and its competitions, Protovision sponsored some nice games:

Tanks 3000 + 4 Player Interface
Newcomer
Ice Guys

Party website: www.bequem-von-zuhause.de

Thanks for the nice party, mates!


CBMIMAGER V0.2.4 RELEASED
A new version of CBMImager, a D64 and DFI image editor for Windows, has been released by Uncle Tom and Doc Bacardi of The Dreams.

CBMImager V0.2.4 changelog:
- added overwrite prompt to extract file operations
- added check for illegal characters in filenames in extract file function
- added context-menu entries to change the properties of a file (file-type, scratch-protection, closed-flag)
- added capability to import and export P00-files (Pxx, Uxx, Sxx, Rxx)
- Added the ability to check for modified images, so a user can be asked to save the current image if he opens/creates a new image or exits the program.
- fixed a bug in the filesearcher where no checks were made if an image loads correctly
- fixed an issue where the user was left alone if an image can't be loaded successfully (now, an error-message is presented to the user)

Project page
Download


DISKIMAGERY64 0.7 FOR MAC, LINUX & WINDOWS
DiskImagery64 by lallafa is a portable (Qt 4.2.x-based), open-source D64 disk image editor for Mac, Linux and Windows. It offers a nice GUI with drag-and-drop support between disk images and the local file system. Runs programs or mounts images directly in your favorite emulator. RR-Net support is available and allows to transfer programs and disk images directly to your real C64.

Main Feature in 0.7: Added full WarpCopy support. Warp/slow read/write disk images directly from/to real disks. Send DOS Commands, format or verify disks.

Grab it here: www.lallafa.de/blog

Related links:
Lemon64 Forum
Forum-64


HARDWARE SECTION UPDATED
Our hardware section got updated with various software and hints concerning hardware distributed by us: 4 Player Interface, Retro Replay, MMC64 and RR-Net. More updates to come, stay tuned!


Please use the given forum links to leave feedback to those bringing us these nice productions. Thank you!


http://www.protovision-online.de
_________________

i looked thru your site and i see a few things that need to be updated... there is a new final replay rom and and a new version of artillery duel. the contiki site i dont find any info abou the contiki for the c64 anymore, the latest version you find are on csdb for download...
_________________

okay i see now the final replay link and the reason why mention of final retroplay 0.6.... its okay, i just kicked on the 0.6 while i was browsing thru your site fast... about the contiki site its a bit sad that old site aint anymore, it got alot of info for us c64 people, i hope contiki will be continued developed on for the c64, but as it is now i fear this will not happen....
_________________

Protovision Update May 2007

MMC64 UPDATES
Oliver Achten has done a lot of work on the MMC64: Since MMC and SD cards with a capacity of more than 4GB are already available, MMC64 now supports the FAT32 filesystem. This more modern filesystem also has advantages on smaller flashcards, because most C64 files are so small that FAT16 will only waste a lot of space. The new Bios also made updates on the plugins necessary, most plugins experienced a complete re-write, the old plugins will be updated shortly and can currently only be used with FAT16.
The MP3 plugin can now playback whole directories as playlists.
The new AVF plugin plays an MMC64 proprietary video format that also utilizes the MP3@64 module.
The Picture plugins have also been updated and they are available in version 1.3 here.
An example video file in AVF format is also located there. An AVF Converter for your videos is available as a betatest version.

MMC64 Bios changes from V1.04

Finally, a big update this time:
- FAT32 support!
Yes, Oliver managed to squeeze FAT32 support into the MMC64 Bios. Now you don't have to worry about cluster sizes anymore with big memory cards. Currently, cards up to 4GB are supported. Cards >4GB have yet to be released and require a change of the MMC/SD command set anyway.
- New plugin system:
FAT32 support required Oliver to rework the plugin system. When a FAT16 formatted card is used, all plugins work as
usual. Using FAT32 formatted cards, old plugins won't work anymore, only new, so called "multifat" plugins will work, which are designed to support BOTH FAT16 and FAT32. With the release of this Bios, most plugins written by Oliver are re-released in the new format.
- Fixed loading of plugins with long filenames
- Fixed support for very small cards.
- Fixed some problems with FAT buffering.
- Fixed a bug in the volume name display routine.
- Instead of showing a computed size value, the browser displays the card's model ID, which always includes the size.

Downloads
MMC64 Bios V1.10
Recovery Disk
MMC64 MP3 Plugin V0.70 (requires MP3@64)
MMC64 Picture Plugins V1.3
MMC64 AVF Plugin V0.3
AVF Testvideo
AVF Converter betatest V0.02b


MMC64 VERSIONS OF HOLLOWMAN DEMOS
Hollowman released MMC64 versions of seven of his demos. These demos will now work from MMC64 (even without Retro Replay): WWIII, 26 Kg, Horsing Around, Romeo, Axis of Evil, Axis of Evil 2006 and Axis of Evil 2007.
You only need to install the DFI Plugin. When starting, select "Dreamload" and confirm loading the boot file by pressing RETURN.

Downloads
WWIII
26 Kg
Horsing Around
Romeo
Axis of Evil
Axis of Evil 2006
Axis of Evil 2007
DFI Plugin


GUI4CBM4WIN UPDATES
Payton Byrd updated GUI4CBM4WIN, the graphical user interface for the transfer program CBM4WIN, several times. The latest version is 0.6.5. For further informationen and the download check here.


CYBERPUNX RETRO REPLAY ROM WITH CODENET SUPPORT
Jockstrap released a modified version of Cyberpunx Retro Replay cartridge ROM V3.8p. This version supports CodeNet, the network server known from The Final Replay ROM.
Download


ARTILLERY DUEL NETWORK PREVIEW V0.06
Leif Bloomquist released Preview V0.06 of the Artillery Duel Network.

Changelog:
Random wind for more challenge. The game is now fun!!
Really fixed race condition at end of turns.
Tweaked power settings.
20% damage for direct hit.
10% damage for near hit.
PAL/NTSC detection for music and timing.

Homepage
Download


SEQ PLUGIN FOR MMC64
Triad released a SEQ Plugin for the MMC64. With it you can display SEQ files, which are text files in PETSCII format.
So it's really nothing fancy, just something that had to be done.

"In game" keys:
a - abort
shift - pause
shift lock - steady pause
1-0 - speed
<- - fast forward
r - reload file (only works at the end of screen)
space - exit at end of file

iopop must thank Doc Bacardi for the MMC64 libs.
Download


SINGULAR BROWSER CUSTOM DOWNLOAD SYSTEM DOWN
Unfortunately, the Custom Download System for Singular Browser is not currently not available. However, you can find the disk only version at CSDb.


HARDWARE SECTION UPDATED
The design of our hardware section has been improved. Some new content has been added as well. Check it out!


For those who haven't seen them yet, also check out the news items from April in the news section of our homepage.
_________________

Protovision Update July 2007

RR-NET AVAILABLE AGAIN
RR-Net, the network interface card for MMC64 and Retro Replay, is again available from the Protovision Online Shop!

Online Shop
Direct link to RR-Net

Despite the rise in German value added tax, the selling price of 50 Euro has been held.

The new RR-Net is 100% software compatible, but the mechanical appearance has changed. Unlike with the old RR-Net, the socket for the network cable now faces to the right rather than upwards. This update fits perfectly with the MMC64 but with Retro Replay it results in a conflict with the buttons - it -does- fit, but it isn't very elegant.

The following image shows the collision of the LAN cable with the buttons of RR:




SINGULAR BROWSER CUSTOM DOWNLOAD SYSTEM BACK ONLINE
Singular Browser by Soci/Singular is a graphical web browser for C64/C128. If you own the network interface card RR-Net or (E)TFE, you can go online with Singular Browser on your Commodore.

The custom download system for Singular Browser was offline for a quite some time due to the server moving. Since a while it can be reached again at the usual address. Thus it is again possible to download a version fitting your hardware setup.

The disk version can still be found at CSDb.


NTSC VERSION OF TURBO ACTION ROM V1 FOR RETRO REPLAY
Last time we introduced Turbo Action ROM V1 for Retro Replay by SounDemoN. Previously, SounDemoN has spiced up the good old Action Replay ROM with an improved Turbo Assembler that runs entirely out of Retro Replay ROM and utilizes RR RAM for the source, thus leaving the entire $0801-$ffff area available for code.

SounDemoN has now released an NTSC version of the ROM.

Retrohackers.org Forum topic
Download NTSC version
Download PAL version


C64 JOYSTICK TO PLUS/4 ADAPTER
Now available in our Online Shop: C64 Joystick to Plus/4 Adapter. This adapter is for those who want to use their C64 joystick on Plus/4.

Online Shop
Direct link to C64 Joystick to Plus/4 Adapter


ULTIMATE NEWCOMER NEWS
It is time to give you all news on our progress with the project. We are glad to inform all of you uber-patient fellows about the following:

The 12th beta build of Ultimate Newcomer was deemed fit to be a Release Candidate and was assigned that status. Both main language versions and the most relevant hardware versions have been in testing for six weeks now.
Release is only a matter of months away, depending on play- and hardware compatibility test results, and things that might need further changes or fixing. We are committed to release a BUG FREE game as a fitting end to the 16 years of development of this project.

On Monday, the 2nd of July, one of our play-testers, Leon\SGR\CHR, made the first successful playthrough of the RC version, in "Solo mode".
- Only a single, harmless logic flaw was discovered during this particular playthrough.

Hardware compatibility and tech features took final shape as well. Almost every planned feature was successfully implemented:
- 1541 version: 11 disk sides, improved fastloader, data layout optimized for less disk swapping, the formerly separate Boot and Save disk sides are on the same disk side now
- 1581 version: three 3.5" DD floppy disks, loading and de-packing a complete area is 4-5 seconds
- CMD FD-2000 version: two 3.5" HD floppy disks, disk swapping is only necessary for Loading and Saving
- CMD FD-4000 version on a single 3.5" ED floppy disk
- IDE64 version: the game can work entirely from HDD or CF card, or it can work from a CD or DVD and Load/Save game positions to HDD or CF card
- An English and a Hungarian language version of all versions listed above; German language version is delayed, but hopefully it will continue in the near future
- PAL/NTSC auto-detection and support
- 6581/8580 SID chip auto-detection and support
- C128 Auto-boot support with all floppy disk versions; works both with the internal drives of C128D and C128DCr and externally attached 1541/1571/1581/CMD FD floppy drives
- C128 directly supported: de-packing is accelerated by switching the CPU to 2MHz mode while the VIC is drawing the screen borders, providing about 30% extra speed over the C64
- SuperCPU directly supported: practically INSTANT de-packing, when coupled with the IDE64 version, almost a magnitude faster disk I/O

The server for newcomer.hu is currently offline. It is currently moving to a new location and hopefully be back online soon.

The last news item is about a friend, a former project participant and colleague.
- Hereby we publicly express our wishes of ENDURING LOVE AND A LIFETIME OF HAPPINESS to Andras Lay, the coder for the original and the Enhanced Newcomer, on the occasion of his wedding in early July!


POLL: 4 PLAYER GAMES COLLECTION?
Since 1997 Protovision has been developing games for the C64. Up until today, a lot of games were released as a single offer, including many games with Protovision 4 Player Interface support. For quite a while we have been considering whether it is worth compiling a 4 player games collection to give new life into the titles with a box and cover. The following games are going to be in that box: Bomb Mania, Team Patrol, Quadris, Quadtron, Snacks 4 Snakes, Hockey Mania and Tanks 3000. It will be a nice party game collection, won't it?

However, we are not sure if there is enough interest in the older titles to make a collection like this worth releasing. That is why we would like to start a little poll to see if there is general interest in such a partybox.

The poll is taking place in the Protovision section at the Lemon64 Forum.

Lemon64 thread

Your opinion is wanted! Thank you.


HARDWARE SECTION HAS BEEN UPDATED
Our hardware section has been updated once again. We have added utilities and other software and links concerning the upgrades and add-ons that we stock such as the RR-Net, MMC64 and Retro Replay. For instance, there is now a list of software that will work directly from the MMC64, including Copycat by Fairlight, a new demo released at the recent Big Floppy People party last weekend. Enjoy!


PRICELIST UPDATED
There is also a new pricelist (07/07) available, including the new C64 Joystick to Plus/4 Adapter. As usual, you can find the pricelist here.
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Protovision Update September 2007

ADVANCED SPACE BATTLE MUSIC COLLECTION BY ROLE
Not long ago, JSL had the idea of releasing the tunes for Advanced Space Battle by Yogibear as an official music demo. And so it happened: The collection contains all eight tunes of the game Advanced Space Battle by More.Gore and Protovision in one file, along with the single files are on the disk. The whole thing was coded by NEO and Stirf, while JSL and Shake took care of the graphics. The music collection has been released under the ROLE flag at the Primary Star 2007 party which took place from 10th to 12th August 2007 in Reusel, Netherlands.

Grab the collection at CSDb and visit the games section of the Protovision homepage for details on Advanced Space Battle.

Advanced Space Battle music collection CSDb entry
Information on the game Advanced Space Battle


AVAILABILITY OF MMC64 AND RETRO REPLAY
Both the MMC64 and Retro Replay are out of stock. The manufacturer has confirmed that there will be new editions of both, but unfortunately it is still unsure when that will happen. It could be weeks or even months. More information as soon as we receive it.


1000 ORDERS SHIPPED VIA PROTOVISION ONLINE SHOP
It is time for a little anniversary: Around one month ago, on 22nd August 2007, the Protovision Online Shop reached the magic number of 1000 shipped orders!


Software news for hardware we distribute:

NEW MMC64 PLUGINS (FAST MMC64 D64 READER AND REU PLUGIN)
At last a faster and more reliable D64 reader for MMC64 has been released. Reads a disk side in about 80 seconds instead of almost 10 minutes. The archive includes versions for the C64 and C128. The C128 version is slightly faster (5 seconds). At the moment the plugin will only work with FAT16. Get it at CSDb.

CSDb entry
Download
Changelog
Lemon64 thread

hannenz has released a REU Plugin for MMC64 that can dump and restore your REU contents from or to a dump file on the SD/MMC card. Currently it works on FAT16 only. Head to the CSDb for it.

CSDb entry
Lemon64 thread

Please give the authors some feedback! Thanks!


NEW MMC64 DEMO: MAIN-#2 INVITE BY FAIRLIGHT
At Stream 2007, Fairlight released a Main-#2 invite. It was coded by Hollowman while Zabutom composed the music.
Main-#2, coupled with the Data Airlines Festival, is going to take place from 1st to 4th November 2007 at Espace Julian in Marseille, France. Check the party homepage at www.mainparty.net.
You can download the invitation demo from CSDb. An MMC64 version is avaiable as well.


0XPAINT 1.2 RELEASED
Oxidy/Fairlight released a new version of 0xPaint: version 1.2. 0xPaint (formely known as WDStudio) is a tool for creating C64 graphics under Windows. It supports RR-Net: There are options for transferring pictures to C64 or 1541 and a small CodeNet GUI.

New in v1.2:
The following features were added: undo, recent, line, continuous line, circle, different pens, fullscreen preview, integration with BMP2SpriteConverter. Several bugs have been fixed. Renamed to 0xPaint due to change of group.

For more information and download visit the 0xPaint homepage or CSDb.

0xPaint homepage
CSDb entry
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Beg Borrow or Buy an RRNet and get your C64/128 on the internet. Download Contiki.
http://www.cbm8bit.com/contiki/ it's a Web-Server, Web-Browser, IRC, Telnet, FTP, Mail, Wget and Twitter Client that work's great with the RRNet as tested on http://c64web.com

enjoy.
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HARDWARE AVAILABILITY
MMC Replay is completely sold out. It is still unsure whether there will be another batch of MMCRs. The manufacturer is currently concentrating on the new CHAMELEON cartridge.
However, a remaining stock of the Retro Replay freezer cartridge is available again (limited stock!).
The Competition Pro Joystick can be obtained again as well, either as single joystick(s), or in form of the limited Competition Pro 4 Player Bundle: 4 Competition Pro joysticks and one 4 Player Interface at a reduced price.
The ethernet card RR-Net is on stock again, too.
Did you know? RR-Net and MP3@64 also fit on the new IDE64, available from http://www.ide64.org/.
Last but not least, Cartridge Cases are also available in yellow now!


GAMES AVAILABLE AGAIN IN OUR ONLINE SHOP
Almost all titles are available again. The only exception here is Newcomer. Ultimate Newcomer (English and Hungarian version) is still under development, completion is very close! See the updated Newcomer section for more information.

Online Shop Games Category


VANDALISM NEWS #52 - THE MARKET
Issue 52 of the Australian based disk magazine VANDALISM NEWS has been released on 31st October 2009 at Syntax Party 2009.

"The Market" chapters contain information about game projects Protovision is involved in:
GRUBZ
PIECES II
TANK WARS
ULTIMATE NEWCOMER

Leech at: http://noname.c64.org/csdb/release/?id=84122.


NETBOOT65 - TFTP, TELNET, GOPHER AND HTTPD FOR THE C64
There is a new release (v1.0.25) of the increasingly inaccurately named NETBOOT65 by jonnosan, which now includes:
- NetBoot - the original "boot a c64 via tftp" cartridge image
- KipperKart - net booting, SID player, web application server and more
- KipperGo - a gopher and simple telnet (vt100 and petscii) cartridge image
- KipperTerm - telnet client (vt100 and petscii) plus XMODEM support
See http://netboot65.sourceforge.net/ for more.


GEOLINK VERSION 0.96 BETA IS OUT
ShadowM implemented IP65 (a TCP/IP stack for RR-Net) into GEOS and wrote a small chat client for it.
Look here: http://lyonlabs.org/commodore/geoLink/geoLink.html.


THE STAR COMMANDER & STAR UTILITIES UPDATED
The STAR COMMANDER and the STAR UTILITIES have both been updated to version 0.83. More information and download links can be found at the website: http://sta.c64.org/sc.html.


VICE 2.2 SUPPORTS 4 PLAYER INTERFACES
The latest version of the popular VICE emulator contains support for some 4 Player Interfaces, including the one by CGA (Classical Games) which is being distributed by Protovision.
Downloads are available from the VICE homepage: http://vice-emu.sourceforge.net/ (mind the new URL!).


COMMANDER LASERSTRAHL DOUBLE CD
Commander Laserstrahl is the name of the protagonist of Metal Dust. Some time has passed since his mission within the SuperCPU game. His new mission is to study the earthlings and to explore Planet Earth as a possible "New World". He does this in the form of a radio play in German language, produced by Welle: Erdball.
The new double CD of COMMANDER LASERSTRAHL has been released at the end of December 2009. MacGyver/Protovision speaks a little guest role in one episode.
Learn more at http://www.welle-erdball.de/commander-laserstrahl/.


HOMEPAGE
The Protovision homepage experienced some updates. Find out what is new in these sections:
Hardware section
Links section


PRICELIST UPDATED
There is also a new pricelist (01/10) available. You can find it here.
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NEW VIDEO/MONITOR CABLE (2 IN 1)
The new Video/Monitor cable (2 in 1) is now available!
Decide where you want to plug your C64 in: monitor or TV!
The cable can be ordered from our Online Shop.


GAMES AVAILABILITIES
Advanced Space Battle and the boxed version of Metal Dust are temporarily out of stock.


HARDWARE AVAILABILITIES
The Retro Replay is sold out for good. The RR-Net and MP3@64 are temporarily out of stock.


SD2BRWSE 32K AND 64K ROMS FOR MMC REPLAY/RETRO REPLAY
MisterMsk created 2 ROMs for the MMC Replay/Retro Replay. This is the sd2brwse light file browser for the uIEC and the SD2IEC drives by Hannu Nuotio. It was version 0.6 that was modified.
MisterMsk (with the help of people from Lemon64 and retrohackers.com) has added a 3 second delay to the program and changed the colors a little. He also changed it so it defaults to lower case. Finally, it defaults to the SD2IEC/uIEC being drive 8 (since most games use this by default.).
There have been two updates lately. Also, 32k and 64k images have been made into CRT files for emulators.
retrohackers.com Forum thread


NEW NETBOOT65 RELEASE
jonnosan released another version (1.0.30) of netboot65, the main change being a fix for a bug (introduced in the previous release) which stopped inbound connections working (including the web application server function in KipperKart).
Find the release here.
retrohackers.com Forum thread


WEBNOTER
WebNoter is a quick demo app jonnosan made to show off KipperKart at a local scene party this weekend. He is pretty sure this is the first C64 demo with an embedded web server
Download from CSDb.
retrohackers.com Forum thread


NEW MEMBER: THELEEN
We would like to welcome TheLeen to Protovision. She is helping out with manuals and inlays for our game releases, and has also become our Protovision mascot.


NEW PRICELIST
A new pricelist (03/10) is available at the usual location.
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PAC IT NEWS
Pac It is alive! After looong fruitless attempts it was now possible to put all parts of the Pac It Intro together. There were several space problems... In other words, a small breakthrough in the Pac It project has been achieved, and development finally continues.


PIECES II NEWS
The preview of the puzzle game Pieces II by Oxyron has already been presented at Forever 10 Party in Slovakia in 2009.

Pawel has compiled his ToDo list, which among other things includes installing a new fastloader and NTSC fixing the game. Furthermore, Timo created a really nice multicolor font. It should fit perfectly into the game start screen and replace the currently used mono-color font. Currently, Pawel is just writing a converter for it.

On protovision-previews.de the game's section is now open - with first screenshots!


MUSIC OF OUTRAGE PUBLISHED
We're still waiting for Outrage by Cosmos Designs to be completed. In the meantime, you can already listen to the game's recently published music:

Outrage (Title Music)
Outrage (In-Game Music)


HARDWARE AVAILABILITIES
RR-Net and MP3@64 are back in stock. Both items can be ordered from our Online Shop.


NEW PROTOVISION T-SHIRTS AVAILABLE
In case you need any inspiration for how to dress in this lovely warm weather, Protovision comes to your rescue. Fresh Protovision T-Shirts have arrived and can now be obtained from our Online Shop. Available sizes: M, L, XL and XXL.


JSL LEAVES PROTOVISION
We're sad to announce that JSL, our graphic artist, has decided to leave Protovision for personal reasons. We're very grateful for the great time we had together, JSL, and wish you all the best for the future!


NEWSLETTER FORM WORKING AGAIN
The form on our website to subscribe/unsubscribe to our newsletter was broken, but is working properly again now.


GEOLINK 1.01 RELEASED
geoLink - the IRC client for GEOS by ShadowM - has been updated to V1.01.

For more details including download visit http://lyonlabs.org/commodore/geoLink/geoLink.html.
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PIECES II NEWS
Oxyron has been hard-working! The following features have been implemented into Pieces II:

- Possibility of using keyboard in addition to joystick (WSAD keys + space bar). Since space bar is now emulating joystick fire button, to give up a level you must now press RUN/STOP instead of space bar.
- In the title screen, the 1x2 single color hires font has been replaced with a new 1x2 multicolor charset by Timo, see the new animated screenshot at www.protovision-previews.de.

More fixes are to come: The next task Pawel is going to work on is installing a decent IRQ loader system.


EVA-1 - ONE MORE NEWCOMER RELATED ARTWORK BY LEON
Leon has recently published another multicolor image inspired from the game Newcomer:
"Eva-1" is available at CSDb.
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PIECES II NEWS AND PREVIEW RELEASED
Here is a summary of the work Pawel has been doing on Pieces II last month:

- Now using the Covert Bitops loader system (making it compatible with most drives and NTSC)
- Fixed a bug in the preview, reported previously by JTR: "I played through all levels, entered my name into the highscore list and returned to the main menu. Now I cannot restart the game! The fire button does not seem to react anymore! I think that's a bug."
- The situation when the "hi.scores" file has been deleted from disk accidentally (or on purpose? ) has been worked on. Previously in such a situation random characters were displayed on the screen and the whole high scores file handling (loading/saving) broke. Now even if there is no such file on the disk, everything will work as it should (default hi-score data is kept in memory).
- NTSC fixing of Pieces II is almost done. Pawel has been testing the game after the changes he made to the code, and it all seems good.
- Support for alternative device numbers (removed all hard-coded references to device #8 )
- IDE64 compatibility (verified on real hardware with Pawel's own IDE64 device)
- Removed some flickering at the lower border, which appeared on a C64C and has been a little disturbing

And that is what happened this month:

- NTSC fix finalized
- Pressing space bar after entering player's name for hi-scores did not work... Now it has been fixed!
- Fixed correct message displaying of "Game Over"/"Well Done" in "The End" part
- Entering player's name for hi-score froze the game when a name was first typed, then deleted, and then confirmed by pressing the "RETURN" key - fixed!
- Removed annoying blinking in the text area of "The End" part after user entered his name for hi-scores
- Info screen and Protovision intro added
- Successfully tested on the following hardware: C64 (PAL) with 1541, Oceanic, 1581, CMD-FD, CMD-HD, 1541U, IDE64; C128D (PAL) as well as C64 (NTSC) with 1541.

The Preview has been released by now and can be downloaded from CSDb.
Playing is done with a joystick in port 2. Alternatively, control also works via keyboard (WSAD keys and space bar). If you get stuck, you can give up the current attempt by pressing RUN/STOP.
Please feel free to leave comments at the CSDb entry.
CSDb entry


GAMEPRO INTERVIEWS PROTOVISION
Issue 10/2010 of the German language consoles mag "GamePro" (will be published in early September) includes an article called "Neue Spiele auf alten Konsolen" ("New games on old consoles").
On four pages there will be an overview on games as well as three interviews, with Milo Mundt (MacGyver) of Protovision and Jason Mackenzie (Kenz) of Psytronik, among the rest.
The Cover DVD will be including a new, previously unreleased trailer for Protovision's Jump'n'Run hit "It's Magic 2", created by Oliver Förster (Poison).

You can order the magazine as a trial issue under www.gamepro.de/shop now. Note, this leads to a subscription if you do not cancel within two weeks after receipt of the trial issue.


HOMEPAGE UPDATE
After the hardware section the time has come to relaunch the games section of our homepage as well. The links have experienced some small updates, too. Check it out:

Games section
Links section


BOMB MANIA AT RETURN STALL OF GAMESCOM
Last weekend GamesCom expo has been held in Cologne, Germany, where the RETURN magazine had a stall of its own. Among other games, Bomb Mania was running there, and again it proved to be a hit!
As part of the broadcast "Neues" ("News") by the German language TV station 3sat, there is a video report entitled "Gegen den Trend" ("Against the trend") featuring an interview with sign-set (Frank Erstling) from RETURN, and besides, one sees the Return stand and also Bomb Mania for a moment.
www.3sat.de/webtv/?100822_gegentrend_nes.rm

Further impressionens:
RETURN homepage
Clip by Videofreak
Photos by Brainstorm
RETURN at GamesCom - Forum64 thread (Viewing photos requires to have an account.)

At this point, many thanks to the RETURN team!


CONTIKI V2.4 NEW RELEASE! DOWNLOAD INCLUDES BREADBOX64

The "Contiki 2.4 binary release for Retrocomputing" has been released. It is available at

http://cbm8bit.com/contiki/

and at

http://a2retrosystems.com/contiki.html

This release was built using cc65 2.13.2 from (modified) Contiki 2.4 sources. The orginal sources are available at

http://sourceforge.net/project...p/download

and the modifications at

http://cbm8bit.com/contiki/contiki-2.4-addon.zip

Contiki 1.x integrated all programs into a common GUI as windows. Very cool but very complex to write programs for. In fact there was never a Contiki 1.x GUI program which was not developed by the Contiki core team - and as the Contiki core team doesn't develop GUI programs anymore Contiki 1.x was sort of a deadend street.

So in order to ease development of 3rd-party Contiki program Oliver Schmidt modified Contiki 2.x to focus on individual standalone programs with a fullscreen GUI. This simplification significantly reduced the memory consumption thus allowing to replace custom "hacks" with generic cc65 components:
- C-library startup code
- Linker config file
- CONIO library
- Mouse driver

As a result, Contiki 2.x contains only very little assembler coding and even less target-specific assembler coding. This allowed for easy porting to targets beside the C64 namely the C128 and Apple II. Porting to other cc65 targets wasn't done due to missing Ethernet hardware.

Contiki 2.4 is the first 2.x release to contain the following programs:
- dhcp client
- web server
- web browser
- wget
- smtp client
- irc client
- Twitter client

The Twitter client called BREADBOX64 proves that the Contiki 2.x approach was actual successful as it was independently developed by the 3rd-party developer Johan Van den Brande.

Another contribution to this release worthwhile mentioning is the CBM filesystem implemented by Soci which is both very compact and includes fast IDE64 I/O support on the C64.

Ontop of lots of other improvements, especially the following issues were fixed:
- Malfunctioning DNS lookup
- Missing PETSCII conversion for the smtp credentials
- Incorrect fixing of all disk I/O to drive 8
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how exactly is contiki related to protovision if i may ask?
_________________

What exactly is the point in asking the same question twice?
_________________

whats the point in posting the same news twice ? =P
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There is a new update at Protovision. This time the headlines are:

- The Richard Joseph Tribute
- GamePro reports about homebrew developing labels, including Protovision
- It's Magic 2 Trailer
- New cable: Mini DIN (S-Video) Cable for LCD TVs now available
- Hardware Availabilities
- Protovision news as RSS Feed
- Protovision at X Party 2010
- Pricelist updated
- rr.c64.org relaunched and @H:Replay Resources,2010
- Action Replay & Clones Acid Ramtest v0.1 released
- 4 Player Interface Tester

Please find the detailed news at our homepage: www.protovision-online.com
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There is a new update at Protovision. This time the headlines are:

Protovision News:
- Ultimate Newcomer entered Independent Games Festival Competition
- Newcomer at playthisthing.com
- New Cartridge cases available
- Pricelist updated

News from the C64 scene:
- Leon's new Newcomer Picture
- CodeNet Client V0.3 out

Please find the detailed news at our homepage: www.protovision-online.com
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There is a new update at Protovision. This time the headlines are:

Protovision News:
- Jim Slim released!
- Ultimate Newcomer Status
- New Online Shop launched

News from the C64 scene:
- Vandalism News #55 - The Market
- Square Attack - 4 Players Freeware Game

Please find the detailed news at our homepage.


www.protovision-online.com
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There is a new update at Protovision. This time the headlines are:

Protovision News:
- Jim Slim in the Media
- Games Availabilities
- Pricelist updated

News from the C64 scene:
- 64netNG-0.1 available
- CodeNet Client V0.4 released

Please find the detailed news at our homepage: www.protovision-online.com
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There is a new update at Protovision. This time the headlines are:

Protovision News:
- Two Weeks of Pac It
- Newcomer Desktop Wallpaper and Tribute Image
- RR-Net MK3 Prototype

News from the C64 scene:
- Commodore Free #51 - A Protovision Issue
- Vandalism News #56 - The Mini-Market
- The RGCD Cartridge Game Development Compo and Protovision

Please find the detailed news at our homepage.
www.protovision-online.com
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