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Forum Index : Microcontroller and PC projects : A Commodore 64 on the Colour Maximite 2
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| matherp Guru  Joined: 11/12/2012 Location: United KingdomPosts: 12152 |
A new program in the RC3 programs zip. It needs firmware 7.00.00RC3 or later, and no firmware update. https://github.com/UKTailwind/CMM2V1.5/releases/tag/v7.00.00RC3 Getting started Download CMM2_Programs_7.00.00RC3.zip again, as the c64 folder is new. Copy that folder to A:/c64, then: CHDIR "A:/c64" RUN "c64.app" After a five second start screen you have a C64 at its READY. prompt. The ROMs are built into the program, so there is nothing else to install. What it does It is frank-c64, rh1tech's port of Christian Bauer's Frodo emulator to the RP2350, with a new front end for the CMM2. • A PAL C64 at its own 50 frames a second. On a G2 it leaves about three quarters of the processor spare. • The picture is in MODE 7: the C64's whole screen and some of its border. A frame goes to the screen during the display's blanking, so you never see one half drawn. • The SID's sound comes out of the CMM2's audio output. • A 1541 disk drive reads .d64, .g64 and .d81 disk images. Programs (.prg) and cartridges (.crt) load too. • Two joysticks from USB gamepads, and a 1351 mouse from a USB mouse. Loading a program Put any disk image, program or cartridge you have the right to use in A:/c64. The emulator shows the folder you started it from as /c64. Press F10, choose a file with the arrow keys and press Enter. Then: • Load (Run) runs a program or a cartridge. For a disk image, it puts the disk in drive 8 and loads its first program with LOAD"*",8,1. Type RUN when READY. appears. • Mount (Insert) puts a disk in drive 8 and goes back to BASIC. The C64's own commands then work as usual: LOAD"$",8 and LIST show what is on it, and LOAD"NAME",8 then RUN runs a program. Typing on it What is printed on the key is what you get. The emulator follows your OPTION USBKEYBOARD setting, so a symbol is where your own keyboard has it and not where the C64 had it. Shift with a letter gives the C64's graphics characters, as on the real machine. The C64 has keys of its own for a few characters: ^ gives its up arrow, _ its left arrow, and \ or £ its pound sign. Esc RUN/STOP Left Ctrl, Tab CTRL Left Alt the Commodore key Home CLR/HOME Insert INST Backspace DEL Caps Lock SHIFT LOCK Arrow keys the cursor keys The keys F1 to F8 the C64's F1 to F8 F9 swap the joystick ports F10 disks, programs and cartridges F11 RESTORE Ctrl+Alt+Del reset the C64 Ctrl+Alt+End back to MMBasic Ctrl-C does not end the program, as Ctrl is the C64's CTRL here. Use Ctrl+Alt+End. Joysticks and the mouse • The first USB gamepad is joystick port 2, where most games look, and the second is port 1. F9 swaps them. • The d-pad or the left stick steers, and any of the four face buttons fires. A DualShock 3 needs its PS button pressed once before it sends anything. • The arrow keys are joystick port 2 as well, with the right Ctrl or right Alt as fire. • A USB mouse is a Commodore 1351 mouse in port 1, for GEOS and other programs written for one. The left button is fire and the right button is up. Fixed on the way frank-c64 crashed on the CMM2 as soon as a disk was mounted: one file was built with a different layout of its settings from all the others. That is fixed, along with + and - being swapped, the left arrow key deleting instead of moving the cursor, the second fire buttons and the quiet sound. Known problems • Tapes (.tap, .t64) are listed in the F10 menu but cannot be loaded. • Paddles are not supported. • The left and right edges of the border are not shown, nor a little at the top and bottom. What has and has not been tried Tried on a G2: BASIC, the USB keyboard, loading a program from the F10 menu, mounting a disk image and loading from it, the SID's sound, a DualShock 3 and a DualShock 4 as the two joysticks, and a USB mouse. Not tried yet: a G1, saving to a disk image, cartridges, .g64 and .d81 images, and GEOS. Please report what you find. Licences The emulator is under the GNU GPL version 2 or later. Its source is github.com/rh1tech/frank-c64, with the CMM2's changes in apps/c64 of the firmware's repository. The C64's ROMs are built into the program, as they are in other C64 emulators. They are not under the GPL. |
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Grogster Admin Group  Joined: 31/12/2012 Location: New ZealandPosts: 10094 |
Now do the Atari 8-bit!!!!   I have all my old disks saved as .ATR images, and used to use a full-size DOS-only PC(I think it was an old 486!) to run the ATARI 800 emulator software. Source code available on Github via the DOWNLOAD page on that site. I have the Atari ROM files from another emulator package I got years ago. Perhaps that can be ported to the CMM2? I'd love to be able to play my old Atari games collections again... We could even perhaps have a CMM2 with custom front/rear panels, and could be used to emulate several different retro home computers. C64, I believe that BBC BASIC has already been emulated, Sinclair ZX81 I think has been emulated for the CMM2, now if we can get the Atari 8-bit.... ....as if you don't already have enough to do, but perhaps you can MORE-OR-LESS just import the Atari800 source code now, on the latest CMM2 firmware..... Smoke makes things work. When the smoke gets out, it stops! |
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| Grogster Admin Group Joined: 31/12/2012 Location: New ZealandPosts: 10094 |
All of these .ATR images waiting for you, Peter, and that is JUST the games.....  Smoke makes things work. When the smoke gets out, it stops! |
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Mixtel90 Guru Joined: 05/10/2019 Location: United KingdomPosts: 9319 |
Maybe we need a CMM2 emulator for the CMM2? ;) [Rant] The Commodore 64 was the only computer I've ever owned that I was very happy to finally sell on (without a profit) to someone else. I'll be honest, I thought it was a horrible machine with probably the worst keyboard, display and version of BASIC that I'd ever used. True, the demos and games were really impressive but, for me at least, it was a disaster. As for a floppy drive that needed its own processor and was accessed (slowly) over a serial interface, what were they thinking of? [/Rant] Mick Zilog Inside! nascom.info for Nascom & Gemini |
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Volhout Guru Joined: 05/03/2018 Location: NetherlandsPosts: 6245 |
Mick, I owned a C64 for 2 months, then sold it on. Mainly because every time I made a basic program, showed it, everybody knew a nicer program that did exactly what I made, plus much more, and much nicer. I never had any satisfaction from it. (and my school results dropped significantly during these 2 months). Volhout P.S. The guy I sold the C64 to did fail his exams at school that year. I passed. PicomiteVGA PETSCII ROBOTS |
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Martin H. Guru Joined: 04/06/2022 Location: GermanyPosts: 1576 |
My first encounter with computers was actually the PET, but it would have cost several months’ salary and was therefore far too expensive. When the VIC20 came out, also the ZX81 was released at the same time. I chose the ZX because I found the display on the VIC20 dreadful. When choosing between the C64 and the ZX Spectrum, it was the BASIC on the Spectrum that I liked better. Besides,I was chronically short on money at the time. And the Commodore machines were always more expensive. A lot of my friends had a C64 back then, but they just used it as a better game console; they didn't know anything about programming. Even though I like games, that wasn't what I wanted from the computer. Edited 2026-11-09 20:23 by Martin H. 'no comment |
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| Mixtel90 Guru Joined: 05/10/2019 Location: United KingdomPosts: 9319 |
I was friends with a Commodore dealer and saw a lot of PETs, VIC20s and C64s etc. Including their insides. :) Agreed, the VIC20 was even more horrible than the C64. I went the ZX way too as at least Sinclair BASIC actually supported the hardware without hundreds of undocumented POKE commands. I also had some experience of the Z80 by then so it was more natural to me, as well as being a lot cheaper. The Commodore stuff was nicely built, I'll give it that. Mick Zilog Inside! nascom.info for Nascom & Gemini |
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