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






SugarDS v0.8, an Amstrad CPC emulator for Nintendo DS and DSi

-

SugarDS v0.8 is an Amstrad CPC emulator for Nintendo DS and DSi by Nige Rideout (github). It features :

  • Emulates CPC 464 (64K) and CPC 6128 (128K)
  • Loads .SNA and .DSK files up to 1024K total length (single and double sided)
  • Plus2CPC Cartridge Support to load .CPR files up to 512K
  • Dandanator Cartridge Support - banking only (no EEPROM writes)
  • Emulates CRTC Type 3 roughly - with provisions to handle split screen, rupture, smooth vertical scroll and a reasonable facsimile of smooth horizontal scroll
  • Full button mapping - supporting all 3 possible joystick buttons of the Amstrad as well as mapping buttons to keyboard keys
  • Save / Load state so you can pick up where you left off





A new version of Martine by Impact is available (v0.41) yesterday

-

Martine v0.41.4 is a command line interface utility written by Impact for Linux, MacOS X and windows with the following features :

  • conversion d'images JPG et PNG vers Amstrad CPC(+) au format fenêtré, normal (les deux peuvent être compressés) ou overscan (sans compression possible)
  • nouveau mode tile map qui permets d'analyser une image d'un niveau de jeu et de créer des fichiers .IMP et .TIL utilisable avec le nouvel utilitaire de tile d'Impact
  • création d'un .DSK ou .SNA si besoin, avec ou sans en-tête AMSDOS
  • direct transfer if you have a wifi M4 Card

The files generated (.win, .scr, .ink) are compatible with OCP Art Studio and Impdraw V2 i2.



CPCemu v3.0.2, an Amstrad CPC emulator by Rainer Loritz for iOS and iPadOS

-

The version 3.0.2 of CPCEMU for iOS and iPadOS is available, an emulator also available for Windows, Android and MacOS (a bit later for Linux.

This new version can be downloaded on the author's web site.



FutureTex, a text editor for Amstrad CPC and the FutureOS operating system

-

FutureTex by Gunhed is a text editor running on Amstrad CPC with the FutureOS operating system by the same author. It can use mode 1 or better mode 2 for its 80 columns, for more features see CPCWiki. It is available as a floppy disk image and also as two ROMs since two days.



An internal 1024 Kb RAM expansion for Amstrad CPC 6128 by Eto : iRAM/1088

-

After the iRAM/640, an internal 512 Kb RAM expansion for Amtrad CPC 6128 (available on Ebay by a validated vendor), Eto was working on a 1024 Kb version (with two 512 Kb memory chips) and he just posted a link to a vendor of this 1024 Kb version on Ebay, which still needs of course no soldering at all : remove the Z80, insert the expansion in the CPU socket ! Of you course if you use a DIY kit, you will have to solder the components.

You can read the genesis of the iRAM/640 expansion in this CPCWiki's thread.



Recalbox RGB DUAL 2, using an emulator with a CRT monitor

-

You have 48 hours left to get your copy of the Recalbox RGB DUAL 2 which is a Raspberry PI hat for using a CRT monitor with Recalbox's lots of emulators.



PunyInform v5.13.3 by Fredrik Ramsberg and Johan Berntsson to write text adventure games

-

PunyInform v5.13.3 by Fredrik Ramsberg and Johan Berntsson is a library written in Inform 6 to create adventure game (pure text, no graphic support contrary to DAAD) using the Z-machine virtual machine which will run on 8bit computers (or more recent computers too). PunyInform has a parser, knowing of common verbs and a framework to write adventure games.

PunyInform is based on the Inform 6 library written by Graham Nelson. Its goal is to make easily adventure games in Inform 6, with a manual describing the differences between the official library and PunyInform..

Games using PunyInform can be compiled in z3, z5 and z8 format (z3 being the best format for 8bit computers, other formats have more features). Compared to the Inform 6 library, it means that there is no support for the Glulx virtual machine but z3 format is important as Inform 6 doesnt support it.

To compile games written with PunyInform, you should use the Inform 6 compiler maintained by David Kinder. Binaries are available on if-archive. PunyInform needs Inform v6.35 (or more).

They are tutorials to write adventure game with PunyInform (end of the page) and all the documentation including a 8 page cheat sheet (quick reference)..

To try your game after compilation, you can use WinFrotz by David Kinder, to create map easily you can use Trizbort.

And finally, to create an Amstrad CPC and PCW disk image, you will have to use the Puddle BuildTools which works under linux, windows 1x with WSL2 or MacOS with Intel processor and OrbStack.