News about Amstrad CPC, PCW, Notepad NC100 NC150 NC200, PDA600 and also Amstrad PC







Amstrad CPC CRTC Compendium v1.8 by Longshot (May 2024) and his blog

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Longshot has released version 1.8 of the Amstrad CPC CRTC Compendium (8th May 2024) which is a documentation about the CRTC 6845 (and some others circuits). Note that the CRTC is a generic component used in several computers including the IBM PC.

It is possible to check if an emulator is good with the SHAKER tests by Longshot. SHAKER is a program designed to run on CPC machines produced by AMSTRAD in the 80s-90s. The objective of this program is to carry out extensive tests on the video circuits of this machine. These video circuits are the GATE ARRAY and the CRTC 6845. AMSTRAD produced several series of GATE ARRAY and used CRTC models produced by different manufacturers (HITACHI, MOTOROLA, UMC, AMSTRAD). This has been causing compatibility problems on operations that exceed the functional specifications of these circuits. The identified CRTCs are numbered from 0 to 4.

And last, if you like reading, don't hesitate to go check Longshot's blog.



dMagnetic v0.37, a Magnetic Scrolls emulator by Dettus for various BSD and Linux distributions

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dMagnetic v0.37 by Dettus is available since May 2023 for several versions of Unix (BSD, Ubuntu, Debian, Gentoo) with ANSI drawing in a terminal. This utility lets you play adventure games by Magnetic Scrolls.

The emulator is using the original files of the games for Amstrad CPC, C64, msdos, windows (1991 compilation), .MAG et .GFX files on the magnetic scrolls memorial.



The Key, a point and click adventure game using the Paket engine available the 27th April 2024

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The Key is a point and click Amstrad CPC graphical adventure game using the Paket engine discovered in 2019 in this video of the demo game Escape the ROM created by Jordi Sureda (graphics) and Santi Ontañón (code). The game is available in spanish and english on their web site



Space Debris ported on Amstrad CPC by BSC

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space_debris.mod in a well known musical file for PC, to be read with Mod Master for example.

BSC did port Space Debris on Amstrad CPC and it's simply wonderful ! Well in fact this video is one year old, too bad I missed it before.

You can check his Soundcloud page.





Microweb v2.0, a web navigator pour msdos et 808x (+) by James Howard

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MicroWeb v2.0 par James Howardest un navigateur web pour processeur Intel 8088 (et +), CGA, EGA, VGA ou Hercules, interface réseau ou port série et driver EtherSLIP), souris recommandée non nécessaire, 640 Ko de mémoire recommandé, EMS/XMS non nécessaire (mais permets de charger des plages plus importantes en taille). Cette nouvelle version apporte les fonctionnalités suivantes :

  • Support for more video modes, including monochrome and colour modes (including Amstrad PC 1512 in 16 colors mode)
  • GIF images are now loaded
  • PNG and JPEG dimensions are loaded but not the content
  • Improved font rendering and better Unicode support for accented characters
  • More HTML tag support including tables and forms
  • Can now leverage EMS memory (if available) for larger pages and images



Amspirit v1.0 RC1, an Amstrad CPC emulator by Dmanu78

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A new version of Amspirit, an Amstrad CPC emulator by Dmanu78 is available on its own web site now for windows. There is a 32 and 64bit version.

This version features :

  • IPF and HFE file formats are now supported
  • Binary files (with AMSDOS header) can be loaded into ram by dragging them onto emulator's window
  • More and better command line options. Common file formats are automatically detected
  • Improved UX and interface
  • Extended RAM support, up to 4 Mb
  • And as always, some bug fixes, including a major AY emulation fix, FDC timings adjustments, and a better handling of a couple of Z80 opcodes

The next major version will feature CPC+ and GX4000 emulation.

The thread on CPCWiki is here.



Pirate ship drawing on Amstrad CPC by Colin Thomson

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The latest Amstrad CPC artwork by Colin Thomson is a pirate ship. You can also see his two others Amstrad CPC drawing :