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    A Hobbyist's Guide to THEC64 Mini
    A Hobbyist's Guide to THEC64 Mini
    A Hobbyist's Guide to THEC64 Mini
    Ebook344 pages1 hour

    A Hobbyist's Guide to THEC64 Mini

    By Holger Weßling

    ()

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    About this ebook

    If you own a C64 and tinkered with it, you will definitely enjoy this book.
    I have collected a large collection of tips and tricks, hardware, useful software and many other interesting internet links for the Mini.
    Retro Games has answered my every question and covered every topic. As a result, a lot of official answers went into this book.
    The software solutions I present here will make it easier to use and extend the Mini with a variety of new games compared to the possibilities you have using the original menu. I mention some tools and tricks that make loading new games from an USB stick much easier and I will show you how you can use all your games from almost all Commodore file formats on the Mini.
    I found and interviewed dedicated users who took the Mini apart and analyzed the hardware. What gave birth from tinkering with the hardware is the information from which you now can benefit. For example, you can learn about the joystick and USB compatibilities, why delays can occur between a joystick action and the screen display and what you can do about it.
    Slightly more complex changes of the system are also possible e.g. you can change the music menu, which seems dull at first, but is technically somehow more difficult to implement than you might think.
    I do hope that you will find a lot of suggestions to revive or deepen your love for the C64 in this book and that you will have a lot of fun playing and experimenting with it.
    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherAcorn Books
    Release dateNov 28, 2018
    ISBN9781789820201
    A Hobbyist's Guide to THEC64 Mini

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      Book preview

      A Hobbyist's Guide to THEC64 Mini - Holger Weßling

      a hobbyist's Guide to THEC64 Mini

      Holger Weßling

      Published by

      Acorn Books

      an imprint of

      Andrews UK Limited

      www.andrewsuk.com

      Copyright © 2018 Holger Weßling

      The right of Holger Weßling to be identified as the author of this work has been asserted by them in accordance with the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1998. All rights reserved. No reproduction, copy or transmission of this publication may be made without express prior written permission. No paragraph of this publication may be reproduced, copied or transmitted except with express prior written permission or in accordance with the provisions of the Copyright Act 1956 (as amended). Any person who commits any unauthorized act in relation to this publication may be liable to criminal prosecution and civil claims for damage.

      Any opinions expressed herein are those of the author and do not necessarily represent those of Andrews UK Limited.

      See chapter 17 Legal code for further legal information.

      Introduction

      If you own a C64 and tinkered with it, you will definitely enjoy this book.

      I have collected a large collection of tips and tricks, hardware, useful software and many other interesting internet links for the Mini.

      Retro Games has answered my every question and covered every topic. As a result, a lot of official answers went into this book.

      The software solutions I present here will make it easier to use and extend the Mini with a variety of new games compared to the possibilities you have using the original menu. I mention some tools and tricks that make loading new games from an USB stick much easier and I will show you how you can use all your games from almost all Commodore file formats on the Mini.

      I found and interviewed dedicated users who took the Mini apart and analyzed the hardware. What gave birth from tinkering with the hardware is the information from which you now can benefit. For example, you can learn about the joystick and USB compatibilities, why delays can occur between a joystick action and the screen display and what you can do about it.

      Slightly more complex changes of the system are also possible e.g. you can change the music menu, which seems dull at first, but is technically somehow more difficult to implement than you might think.

      I do hope that you will find a lot of suggestions to revive or deepen your love for the C64 in this book and that you will have a lot of fun playing and experimenting with it.

      1 Retro Games announcements

      October 2018

      On the USA Amazon site we are pleased to say on its day of release THEC64 mini has rocketed to the number one position in the category they placed it in for the whole of the USA! Massive thanks to everyone who has supported us by purchasing it, we hope you all enjoy it and we do appreciate your support, thank you

      17 August 2018

      It’s been a good, productive summer here at Retro Games Ltd.

      Now that the dust has settled from getting the US firmware release of THEC64 Mini out of the door, we've been spending some time on new firmware features for all regional models, most excitingly an easy-to-use disk management menu. The underlying technology has been completed, and we're now working on the user interface.

      The screenshots here show an earlier version of the user interface to give you a taste of where it's heading. The second screenshot shows a new disk access icon which, when selected, reveals the disk menu shown in the third screenshot. Essentially this allows users to browse disk images on USB memory sticks, inserting a disk image or inserting and auto-running a disk image with optionally enabled fast-loading.

      Once all of the testing is concluded here, these new features will be made available to all existing THEC64 owners via the official website.

      23 July 2018

      Retro Games Ltd. and Solutions 2 GO announced today that the THEC64® Mini is coming to North American retail stores on October 9, 2018. THEC64® Mini, a 50% replica of the of the world’s bestselling home computer that launched in 1982, comes pre-loaded with 64 classic games and THEC64® Joystick. Originally designed with fans of the original machine in mind, THEC64® Mini is also attractive to kids and families thanks to its simple plug and play action. Aspiring gamers of yesteryear can revisit the past and program their own games - just add a keyboard, and THEC64® Mini becomes a fully functional home computer complete with C64 BASIC.

      THEC64® Mini is available now for pre-order now at retailers across North America.

      We are delighted to be able to bring back some of the most loved retro games ever, on one of the most successful formats of all time, said Paul Andrews, Retro Games’ Managing Director. The North American release of THEC64® mini is a reimagining of the classic C64 computer and one of a series of products we have on the way.

      Check out the new trailer HERE: youtu.be/zs2W_-R75Dk

      July 2018

      THEC64 Mini targets the general public and is deliberately very simple to use with very few options, and expects no knowledge or technical experience. We appreciate that it is also loved by active C64 enthusiasts who wish to have the advanced features they are used to using.

      We would therefore like THEC64 to provide additional features for advanced users. However, because they are not the main users of the THEC64, we have to be very careful to balance additional features against the needs of the general public so that we do not compromise THEC64’s ease of use.

      Now that people are using the THEC64 we are considering the feedback, and building things into our development plan, but any changes must fit into our existing tight development schedule, so we are looking at new features when we can as time permits.

      Advanced users have asked for additional program loading features, so this is something we are currently looking at. At this stage we cannot give a timeline on this feature because the team is focusing on the US release.

      6 July 2018

      We are pleased to confirm one of the great new games coming your way in due course, for you to be able to add for free, to your THEC64 via a pending firmware update will be...

      Galencia - Galencia is a retro inspired shoot ‘em up, described by various reviewers as –

      smooth slick and totally addictive. A sure fire sizzler in my book - JR

      the most polished C64 release I have seen in 2017. Strongly recommended

      the best ‘galaga’ game I have seen on the C64, it is absolutely fantastic - Sprite Castle

      Here is an online video of the game action –

      https://youtu.be/oA5Hwr6SFJg

      Full details of the final version heading your way will be posted very soon, but for now, here are some of the details of the games current version.

      50 Action Packed Levels

      Asteroid Fields

      Challenging Stages

      Boss Battles

      Ebb and Flow difficulty curve

      Siren enemy with Tractor beam for Double Ship Action

      Introduction, Launch and Completion sequences

      6 Brand new SID tunes, unique to this project

      This game will be added to a pending firmware release for all owners to update their machine, and in the process add this game to their THEC64 console! Full details soon.

      29 June 2018

      Just a small update this week, as we have been hard at work on getting the ‘mystery games’ ready to give to you guys. We are working on the best way to add them into one of the pending firmware updates heading your way as soon as we can. We want to allow even a casual user the opportunity to add the bonus free games to their THEC64 mini consoles easily and quickly. Hence we are looking at the best way to add them by incorporating them into a firmware update, (which will of course also have other improvements added into that firmware update as well).

      In other small ongoing news, work and testing is still moving forward on future regional releases, future hardware releases, and future software and firmware releases in general, so have no fear we are hard at work here! This is an ongoing project/company we are not going anywhere, and have an ongoing internal program planned.

      Again, see you all next week, and let’s see what we can hopefully reveal in more detail by then!

      22 June 2018

      Tomorrow is the ‘Celebration of the life of Rick Dickinson’ ceremony, and so today, as our own small tribute to one of the nicest humans we have ever met, someone who created some of the most iconic designs of our lifetime, and someone we are proud to have called a friend, we present a few images he created and then shared with us back in 2016.

      Rick shared these images with us privately, as having worked with him in the past, and being massive fans of his work, and also having the privilege to share some social time with him, he created these initial concept renders, and sent them to us. For multiple reasons, we decided it was inappropriate to work with Rick on what would in time become THEC64 range, and even though we did not contract/pay Rick to do any work on the range, and we never actually used any of his designs or concepts, nothing could stop him from creating, and nothing could stop him from teasing us with these concepts on his take, on what would become in due course THEC64.

      We would like to

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