JohnnyRockets Posted July 6, 2012 Share Posted July 6, 2012 It looks like the Multiple Classic Computer now supports: Atari 2600 C64 Amiga Apple II And soon... Spectrum? Anybody have any new information or reviews? JR Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
OldSchoolRetroGamer Posted July 6, 2012 Share Posted July 6, 2012 I would think the most update info would be from here? http://mcc-home.com/ Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JohnnyRockets Posted July 6, 2012 Author Share Posted July 6, 2012 Yeah, I guess I'm looking for someone that maybe owns one and would chime in.... JR Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jkonstan Posted July 6, 2012 Share Posted July 6, 2012 I have one these MCCs (VGA version) for development and retro game playing (C64 etc ..). I started some development on it and had to put the project/port on hold when new job and family illness came up. The micro SD card slot is a bit tricky to use with the micro sd cards; consequently, the unit would have been better if it had used a full size SD card socket. For the price, it is a good unit. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JohnnyRockets Posted July 6, 2012 Author Share Posted July 6, 2012 jkonstan, That was my main question... Could someone develop on it? Is the development process similar to using VICE? Or other emulators? Any pitfalls to developing on/for it? I am REALLY thinking of buying one of these, cause it just looks like a fun, fun toy! AND I need to get myself something for FINALLY finishing college! Just curious, what part of MI are you from? JR Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+Gemintronic Posted July 6, 2012 Share Posted July 6, 2012 (edited) A search on this forum would find a few topics on this. I had one of these as well and sold it off after a week of testing. In my experience even the basic C64 functionality was broken. Merely having the keyboard and mouse plugged in would alter the stability. All the rest of the engines were alpha quality at best. The SD card slot eats cards. A couple of times it almost permanently stuck the card in there. THIS is the device to get: http://www.vesalia.de/e_chameleon.htm Edited July 6, 2012 by theloon Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JohnnyRockets Posted July 6, 2012 Author Share Posted July 6, 2012 A search on this forum would find a few topics on this. I had one of these as well and sold it off after a week of testing. In my experience even the basic C64 functionality was broken. Merely having the keyboard and mouse plugged in would alter the stability. All the rest of the engines were alpha quality at best. The SD card slot eats cards. A couple of times it almost permanently stuck the card in there. THIS is the device to get: http://www.vesalia.de/e_chameleon.htm The problem I'm seeing is that everyone's "mileage" seems to vary wildly! jkonstan above likes it pretty well it seems, so hmmmm.... Not sure which way I'll go. Does the Chameleon do similar things? Does it do C64/Amiga/Atari emulation, etc? It is about $100 more. Looks cool though! JR Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+Gemintronic Posted July 6, 2012 Share Posted July 6, 2012 (edited) Speccy/Amiga/C64 it does. Opinions vary but I'm telling you from hands-on experience and decades of experience in the IT field. Just trying to save you some frustration mate. More info: http://www.syntiac.com/chameleon.html The MCC doesn't always allow just dumping ROM or disk images onto the SD. Sometimes it requires you to manually edit an index file. Also, not every engine has read AND write ability. Meaning, no save games. The Chameleon 64 can be a stand-alone unit or plug into your C64 giving it access to your VGA monitor, PS/2 keyboard and mouse. Oh, and it accelerates your C64 as well! Edited July 6, 2012 by theloon Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JohnnyRockets Posted July 6, 2012 Author Share Posted July 6, 2012 Speccy/Amiga/C64 it does. Opinions vary but I'm telling you from hands-on experience and decades of experience in the IT field. Just trying to save you some frustration mate. More info: http://www.syntiac.com/chameleon.html The MCC doesn't always allow just dumping ROM or disk images onto the SD. Sometimes it requires you to manually edit an index file. Also, not every engine has read AND write ability. Meaning, no save games. The Chameleon 64 can be a stand-alone unit or plug into your C64 giving it access to your VGA monitor, PS/2 keyboard and mouse. Oh, and it accelerates your C64 as well! Thanks! Okay, well, I'm gonna check that Chameleon out! Seems a little hard to get.... were you able to snag one? I'll have to save my pennies it looks like! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jkonstan Posted July 6, 2012 Share Posted July 6, 2012 Editing the configuration files via an excel utility is easy enough for MCC-216 use. MCC-216 main development mode is for the FPGA in Verilog or VHDL, and it is not an Open source project as Minimig currently is. You have to sign up to be a developer in order to get access to enough documentation in order to do any development for it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TMR Posted July 6, 2012 Share Posted July 6, 2012 Okay, well, I'm gonna check that Chameleon out! Seems a little hard to get.... were you able to snag one? I'll have to save my pennies it looks like! It's just a matter of finding a more local supplier, mine came from AmigaKit in the UK (i met a few of their folks at the Replay expo in Blackpool last November, they were set up opposite my stand) and, apart from when i had a few recent cartridge games to review last month, it's lived in the cartridge port of my workhorse C64C. i've not used an MCC-216 but i've heard the cores aren't anywhere near accurate enough to be considered trustworthy for code testing; the C64 can be a little quirky in certain situations[1] and if those aren't emulated properly your "working" code might die on it's arse on a real machine. The Chameleon piggybacks the C64 and uses the VIC-II on the composite output, so whilst the VGA display might do something "odd" the composite should still be a good guide for anything bar some of the most hardcore demo routines. [1] A simple example that should work on all emulators but illustrates that quirkiness is to write some code that waits for scanline $f9 and writes $14 to $d011, then waits for $fc and writes $1b to $d011 - the upper and lower borders will be disabled, a repeated byte will fill the extra space (the last byte of the video bank, so the default is $3fff) and sprites in that space become visible. The C64DTV hardware doesn't display the repeated byte. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
yell0w_lantern Posted July 6, 2012 Share Posted July 6, 2012 Editing the configuration files via an excel utility is easy enough for MCC-216 use. MCC-216 main development mode is for the FPGA in Verilog or VHDL, and it is not an Open source project as Minimig currently is. You have to sign up to be a developer in order to get access to enough documentation in order to do any development for it. Never got that Ini files to work reliably. Then one of the updates broke the user menu for me. The system has potential but no system has been satisfactorily developed. C64 is the most complete but still has problems. You can't use paddles for anything. I still have my MCC in the hopes the cores may get completed some day. It has definitely inspired me to seek out original hardware again. If you don't want to go cheaper than chameleon and aren't interested in the multiple computer expansion you could try a C64 with a UIEC/SD. Some stuff won't work because it is not cycle accurate. http://store.go4retro.com/products/uIEC_SD.html Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jkonstan Posted July 6, 2012 Share Posted July 6, 2012 The config files work ok although there are issues sometimes. I use the C64 core the most. Some games just do not work on C64 core while others do (such as C64 Zaxxon & C64 Zepplin). MCC-216 is not perfect; however, for the price, it is OK. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Like us on Facebook
Follow us on Twitter
AtariAge on Instagram
Watch us on YouTube
Chat on Discord
Recommended Posts
Join the conversation
You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.
Note: Your post will require moderator approval before it will be visible.