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CubeIOS, a FAT16,32 IDE-OS ROM for the Amstrad CPC's with XMASS

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The XMASS mass storage extension card can now be used with another ROM, that is CubeIOS :

  • Detect (nearly) all Fat16+Fat32-Partitions on your CF-Card, DOM, etc. (1st Partition please). Prefered is Fat32 (should be faster with Save-Commands). You can format the media with e.g. Windows and fill it with data.
  • Partial longnames.
  • the usual RSX like |MD, |RD, |REN,....
  • |DIR + |CD accepts wildcards
  • Compatibility should be high (i hope so ;) ) - but i'm playing around with a lower-rom-patch to increase compatibility.

The ROM must be placed below AMSDOS and (if used) M4DOS, PARADOS. It's not compatible with ACMEDOS at the same time. YANCC-User should be update to the latest version.

CubeIOS for Amstrad CPC and XMASS



New v2.0.5b1 of the firmware for the wifi card M4 Board by Duke

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The M4 Board which let you add wifi on your Amstrad CPC just got another firmware v2.0.5 beta 1 :

Fix CPC+ cartridge issue with demos Eerie Forest & CRTC3 (and maybe others)



New version of the firmware for the wifi card M4 Board by Duke

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The M4 Board which let you add wifi on your Amstrad CPC just got another firmware v2.0.4 beta 10 :

WiFi: Fix WiFi connect issue after upgrade (clear some data and set proper RF cal data).
WiFi: Fix GD25Q32C ESP8266 spi flashchip to work in Quad IO mode.
DSK: Do not show files with system attribute set. (makes better catart too)
DSK: Show '*' after file with "Read Only" attribute set.
DSK: Do not reject strange sector numbers (like AMSOFT disk protection)





FPGAmstrad on MiST-board revision r005.8.15.1 by Renaud Helias (hardware Amstrad CPC emulation)

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A new version r005.8.15.1 of the Amstrad CPC core for MiST by Renaud Helias is available.

VGA counters fix... How can't I see that before ? (found while merging ZX-Uno version...).
Taken into account also in experimental r005.8.16c30 (experimental != validated)







Using wifi on Amstrad CPC with the M4 Board by Duke, video by Chinnyvision

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The M4 Board by Duke let you use wifi easily on every models of Amstrad CPC. Duke write new firmwares every time a new problem arise. And if I wasnt forgetful, I would already have one !

Today a video of Chinnyvision shows the easy use of the wifi card on Amstrad CPC.


Youtube video



Using the AMSDAP (Amstrad MSx aDAPter) with a SE-ONE on Amstrad CPC

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Another video by Prodatron showing the AMSDAP (Amstrad MSx aDAPter) which allow the use of MSX cartridges on Amstrad CPC, and in this test using a SE-ONE by TMTLOGIC which is a MP3 player a and FM receiver (radio).

Damn, my Amstrad CT-1 (a Clock/Radio module to sit underneath the CTM640 or CTM644 Amstrad CPC monitor) is now useless !


Youtube video



First video showing SymbOS on Amstrad CPC with AMSDAP + MSX Graphics9000

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Here is the first video by Prodatron showing SymbOS on Amstrad CPC with AMSDAP + MSX Graphics9000.

At 2mn45 of the video, a video is running in SymbOS. The following words are from Prodatron : 16 colour bitmaps require the double amount of data compared to a 4 colour bitmap of the same size. The blitter inside the V9990 is doing a lot of things to speed up the graphic output. But it can't help so much when just pumping bitmap data from CPU memory to the screen. A video with the same resolution will have about half the framerate in 16 colours compared to 4 colours. So video output is not the best example for demonstrating the power of the GFX9000 (aka =CPC Powergraph).


Youtube video



X-mem, Y-Mem and now the Z-Mem and D-Rom by TotO for Amstrad CPC(+)

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Before the Z-Mem by TotO, there were the X-Mem and the Y-Mem : the difference is the addressing of RAM and ROM. While the X-MEM addresses the lower ROM, ROMs 0-6 and 8-31, the Y-MEM addresses the ROMs from 32 to 63. The X-MEM allows to access 512 Kb RAM using the port &7Fxx. And the Y-MEM addresses another 512 Kb using the port &7Exx.

Using the X-MEM and the Y-MEM together you get 1 Mb of expansion RAM and 1 MB of Flash-ROM for the CPC or Plus computers.

And so the new Amstrad CPC expansion card Z-Mem get 1 Mb of RAM already (but without ROMs), useful for SymbOS users or to run the demo Bad Apple which needs as such RAM as 1 Mb ! So see this demo running with a Z-Mem and a PlayCity below.

The Z-Mem manages all PAL modes for the 464/664 and 464+ users. A switch "RAM 64K/SET" let you run like a basic 6128 ou to state the quantity of memory to use up to 1024 Kb. The Z-MEM will be sold for 29.90 € for 2x512K SRAM (other configurations to be defined later).

carte 1 Mo de RAM Z-MEM par TotO

The D-ROM (dual rom) is a 2x 256Kb flash board for 19.90 €) that allows you to handle two independants sets of ROM, boot, firmware or DOS (ROM7 compatible). The principle is the same than the ROM part of the X-Mem. The card let you boot on either of them with its own firmware and basic. A switch "ROM7 YES/NO" let users with CPC without AMSDOS (or which cant be desactivated) to install their own DOS.

512 Kb ROM expansion card : D-ROM by TotO


Youtube video



An Amstrad CPC 464 without its defective drive tape by Olivier Bruneau (2nd part)

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Here are the last 3 photos byOlivier Bruneau who had an Amstrad CPC 464 with a defective drive tape, so he removed it after seing a forum where someone had the same problem and the radical solution he used. The photos now includes a DDI3 USB Floppy Emulator by Zaxon.

Thanks to Olivier for letting me put his photo on the web site.

Amstrad CPC 464 sans lecteur de disquettes 1 sur 3 par Olivier Bruneau Amstrad CPC 464 sans lecteur de disquettes 2 sur 3 par Olivier Bruneau Amstrad CPC 464 sans lecteur de disquettes 3 sur 3 par Olivier Bruneau



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