Hi There Tarragon,

 TM>   I've been playing with the C65 a bit, and can answer some of your
 TM> questions (btw I have Russells C65 here at the moment)

 Thanx.

 >>  RA>  CPU CSG65CE02, running at 3.54MHz
 >>  I take this is still a pure 8bit chip then, unlike the 6809's ???
 >>  or does it have 16bit on chip registers ? and an 8bit data bus ??
 TM> It still has 8-bit registers, though it also now has a
"Z" register.
 TM> Guessing from the new opcodes, it does have a few 16-bit functions, but
 TM> damned if I know how they work (yet).

 Hmmm It sounds like a bit of a Cross/Spin Off from 6809 then.

 I worked in 6809 many many many many years ago (dare i say it) on the
 TRS80's SORRY!!! Well it seemed like a good idea at the time. ??...(8^)

 >>  RA>  ROM 128K, including C65 mode (v10.0), C64 (v2.2) mode, & DOS
 >>  So it has some type of C64 fall back ??
 TM> Fall back? Well, it works like the 128's C64 mode, ie GO64 will get you
 TM> there, or holding down the C= when you power up. The C64 mode is
 TM> software emulated, not hardware like the 128 though, and is only about
 TM> 85% compatible.

 Hmmm thats a bummer then , have ya tried games like ELITE etc etc on it
 that should run nice and fast, well if it works at all that is.???

 >>  Did they update the hardware sprites ?? kill off multi colour and
 >> introduce a real planar system ?.. are 256 coloured sprites possible ??
 TM> Unsure of that. The sprites work the same as the VIC-II, but there
 TM> might be other features. $D02F to $D03F are still largely unknown
 TM> registers.

 Hmmm what about IRQ's then. Have ya been able to use all that extra CPU
 speed to do anything amazing as yet. ?? 
 
 >>  RA>  Audio Stereo SID chips
 >>  3 channels ?? samples ?? or just chip effects ?
 TM> 6 channels (2 SIDs), samples as on a C64, same chip effects. Same deal
 TM> though, there *might* be an update or two, but this is unlikely.

 Its a shame so much in unknown about it.

 The extra Cpu speed should make replaying samples a breeze then.

 >>  What do you have that runs on it ?? has anybody worked out the hardware
 >> registers yet ??
 TM> Well, *some* 64 software runs on it (in C64 mode). The TPUG sysop (I
 TM> forget his real name) was playing with it, and wrote a few little
 TM> test-type programs, but there's no real software. There's meant to be a
 TM> demo-disk out there somewhere, but we can't seem to find it as yet. The
 TM> Hardware registers are the same as the 64.. ie: all on $d000-$dfff. The
 TM> standard VIC chip and SID chip registers are there, and there are a lot
 TM> of extras which (with no docs) we are exploring.

 Hmmm Are these demos C='s or 3rd party guys (Scene People) or 
 (Ex Developers) ??

 >>  I know this is a rather old thred but its intresting to us so please
 >> continure if you can be bothered.
 TM> If you keep asking questions, I and Russell (and Alan Share) will be
 TM> more than happy to answer them, or talk about the 65 in general.

 HeHe, Thanx Again.

 C ya,

 Kevin Picone,
 Underware Design

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