September 1999 archives



09/27/99

The Sentry page has moved, get here the last version of this Sentinel clone for win9x (1.08).

Another conversions coming : Watman, a batman clone for PC, and also Head over Heels



09/26/99

New link added, go to La Pagina de Amstrad CPC/CPC+/PCW, a spanish site with emulators, more than 100 games, CPC+ games, etc...



09/23/99

New version of Caprice32 out, get it only if you have a SB clone and have problems with sound.



09/22/99

My god, they did it ! Madram and Roudoudou have a modified Amstrad CPC 464 which works under water, see photos below.

The keyboard was first supposed to communicate with the monitor via infrared, but water made it impossible. It's finally a ultra-short radio waves system which is used. Electricity is provided by a small fusion reactor which use hydrogen from water after its separation from the oxygen atoms.

Another problem appeared for viewing correctly the monitor under water : all was fuzzy. So they modified the CRTC to let it manufacturing fuzzy screens. So a fuzzy monitor in a cloudy/muddy environment means a perfect viewing.

But there is still a problem with plasma demos : it gives a straight screen.

First Roudoudou :

Roudoudou in blue water playing with a CPC 464

Then Madram:

Madram in blue water playing with a CPC 464



09/21/99

Thanks to Jan Deppisch, a new link added, go to Zilog where you will find the announce of the eZ80 :

The eZ80 Internet Engine is a new line of embedded microprocessor (MPU) solutions, which was built on the companys renowned Z80, one of the world's best-selling 8-bit microprocessors. The eZ80 is a high-performance synthesizable core that delivers embedded access to the Internet and a clear migration path for existing Z80-based customers.

Building on the Z80s legacy, ZiLOG reengineered its popular Z80 core with embedded Internet and DSP capabilities, among other enhancements, to meet customers’ rising performance needs. The company will license its new eZ80 core, beginning in November 1999, to unify the highly fragmented Z80 market under a new "ZiLOG Certified" eZ80 industry standard.

According to Will Strauss, president of market research firm Forward Concepts (Tempe, Ariz.), "The new ZiLOG has shown real innovation in designing the eZ80. It enhances the value of the extensive installed Z80 base by providing a step-jump increase in performance for OEMs, enabling them to expand on their existing Z80 expertise for new product designs. What’s more, the eZ80 provides extensive new features which makes it a natural for next-decade Internet appliances.



09/20/99

New files coming from Bollaware (there are now zipped DSK, not only .SPA and .DM1 files) :



09/19/99

Site update at AMSTRAD CPC: EMULATION FOR BEGINNERS, a spanish/english site :

New sections of hardware projects (with new diagrams of classic CPC-PC cable an d joystick CPC in PC cable), a page to thing about characteristic of the ideal CPC emulator (to share ideas between users and emulation CPC programmers), new links with language flags, new buttons, skin for Winamp, etc...

New link added, go to DirectPad Pro, a site about hardware/software interface that allows Windows 95 and 98 to utilize PlayStation, Saturn, Atari, Genesis, Jaguar, SNES, and other kinds of console joysticks and keypads on PCs. All of the interfaces require minimal wiring and operate through a free parallel port. Any Windows DirectX compatible game can use these interfaces automatically.

Get the latest version of DirectPad Pro (v5.0).

CPC/IP v0.06 is out, with the commands ping and telnet. You can also get it at the CPC/IP homepage.



09/13/99

New link added, go to Instructions manuals (U.K.) if you are interested in buying a CPC manual.


09/12/99

There are two coming meetings, one in Germany and one in France. First the one in France :

Croco Chanel n°1, the 29, 30 and 31th october 1999 at Catenoy (Oise, that's about 60 Km at the north of Paris). Price is 50 F/day.

For more informations write to candymt@club-internet.fr (Candy/Mortel) or use 3614 CNX and write to Candy.

Then the second meeting in Germany :

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

           CCS-Base --- F.A.M.O.U.S. --- SCUG - Der Computerclub

                              present
                 _  __ ____  _____  ___________   ____ _  __
                | |/ //_  / / __/ |/ /_  __/ _ \ /  _/| |/ /
                |   /  / /_/ _//    / / / / _, /_/ /  |   /
               /   |  /___/___/_/|_/ /_/ /_/ |_/___/ /   |
              /_/|_|       T R E F F E N  ' 9 9     /_/|_|

                  The party against the mainstream...

Systems:       8-Bitter, e.g.. C64, CP/M, CPC, Joyce, MSX,
                              TI 99/4A, ZX 81, ZX Spectrum ...
               Amiga, Apple, Atari, BeOS, Linux, NeXT, OS/2
               Archimedes/RiscPC
               ... bring everything with you what´s good and exotic!

When?:         Friday, 22nd October 1999 (we will start at 3 p.m.)
               to Sunday, 24th October 1999

Where?:           Mehrzweckhalle in Seeshaupt, Oberbayern (TVL: That´s near
Munich!)

for questions:           Robert Sterff         Stephan Sommer
                                   Bahnhofstrasse 14     Am Ock 1
                                   82402 Seeshaupt       82418 Murnau
                                   Tel. 0 88 01 / 26 15  Tel. 0 88 41 / 31
54
                                   xzentrix@ccs.stoeni.de
                                   http://www.sfearcreations.net/xzentrix
where to sleep: sleeping bag at meeting place or hotel

Costs:        15 DM, optional plus hotel (TVL: if you need one :-((()

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

- bring your 8-Bitter, Amiga, Archimedes or something else with you!

- PC will have to stay OUT! (TVL: I think you could get an special
permission from Stephan Sommer, if you are an emulator only user like me)

- you can sell at the XzentriX flea market for free

- don´t forget your sleeping bag if you want to sleep at the party. Showers
are available.

- you´ll get breakfast. Shops, Pizzeria and Restaurant are only a few
minutes away.

- Drinks at lowest price.

- Seeshaupt has a railway station. If we know when you will arrive we will
pick you up!
---------------------------------------------------------------------

How you will find the party:

- leave Autobahn at exit Seeshaupt
- drive to Seeshaupt
- 5-6 km after the  Autobahn exit in the village Seeshaupt turn left
(direction Penzberg)
- turn right at next street (direction: Bahnhof (railway station))
- turn right after the football field
- drive straight on and you will see the Mehrzweckhalle (meeting place)

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

I take part at XzentriX Treffen '99
(22nd to 24th October 99)

Name: _______________________________________________________________

Adress: __________________________________________________________

Phone: ____________________________________________________________

Email: ______________________________________________________________

I will sleep: [ ] at the meeting place
               [ ] hotel single room
               [ ] hotel half double room
               [ ] I will organize that myself.

I will arrive: [ ] Friday, 22nd October
                 [ ] Saturday, 23rd October

I need space for __ machines.

Date, signature: ________________________________________________

(send per post or via E-Mail)

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


09/09/99

New site added, go to Roudoudou where you will be able to see some meetings pictures, and if you have a good heart, pictures of Roudoudou himself...



09/06/99

New file added, get :

And more Cobra Soft games which are now freeware :



09/02/99

New link added, go to Kangaroo Musique where you will find all Kangaroo music as soundtrakker files and MP3. You will also find Soundtrakker and ST-Compiler.

Here is a message from Kevin Thacker, if you can help him, write in comp.sys.amstrad.8bit :

I am working on two new demos, both for CPC+.

The first demo shows all 4096 colours, it has a scroller made from hardware sprites... and there will be more. (full-screen distort maybe...)

The second demo is a new idea, based on a demo I saw on the Atari ST by "Tex". The demo used overscan, and had many different effects. The difference with this demo, was that some of these effects were not visible, to see them you had to scroll the screen up and down. It was very clever.

In my demo, for the CPC+, you can see lots of splits and lots of effects. Not all are visible. You can scroll the splits up and down to reveal other splits with other effects.

It is possible to produce this demo on the CPC, but it is more difficult without the extra hardware of the CPC+.

The problem is that I need some graphics for these demos to make them look good, can somebody help me ?

I've got other good ideas for CPC+ demo techniques, which I plan to write when I have some time.

Do many people in the scene have CPC+ machines ?

If not, don't panic because these demos will work on my emulator (Arnold). I am working on a new and faster version of my emulator.

New files added, get MegaBlasters, an excellent arcade game for Amstrad CPC by Odiesoft featuring a bomberman clone, now freeware, in 1994, 4 .DSK, and NC100em v1.1 by Russell Marks, an Amstrad NC100 emulator for Linux (svgalib, X, tty). It supports both the ROM software and a free CP/M-like replacement OS `ZCN', tar.gz inside.

New link added, go to Gameprot, a compiled HTML help file containing a collection of articles related to game pokes and protections systems on Amstrad CPC.


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