I have negotiated what I think/hope/pray (pick your favorite word for 2020) will yield the production of the keycaps! The contract has been accepted and the funds have been transferred!I have selected a company that will provide the colors we need AND also use a UV printing process, providing samples look good, otherwise a pad printing process - the bottom line is that we won't have keycaps with text that will just wear off over time. Pad priting is what the C64C used, and those have held up over time. This has been my biggest concern with going with the much cheaper dye-sub process.Other good news is that it was decided that the 4 rows of smaller keycaps will be placed in one mold set, and the larger keycaps (function keys, shift keys, control, return, and space bar) will be put into another mold set. This will give me better control of the sets, with the possibility of having not only just the function keys separately available, but also the entire set of larger keys as well.I also ordered a 2nd bottom mold for each of the mold sets, with those having the stems for the Cherry Mx switches. My intention from the start of this was to make my own keyboard, and doing this I can have original keycaps that plug directly into the Cherry Mx switches without adapters. The height will be correct, and the keycaps won't wobble due to an adapter.Mold production is being started as soon as I can provide the final cad data - which currently has a problem as this factory requires quads instead of triangles. My scanner generates a triangular mesh. I attached a solid surface to the mesh, but it seems that I can't remove that mesh and keep the surface unless the scanned data is in something other than a triangular mesh format. I have reached out to Dan Tootil about this as he generated blender keycaps that are in some ways more accurate than my scans (being perfectly symetrical). I overlayed Dan's data with my scans to stretch and fix my mesh to make them a bit better. I can't get Dan's data to export as quads and imported through FUSION360, Solidworks, etc. due to some quirk with the intersecting lines. I am going to try to work with this over the next few days. The worst case scenario is that the plastic company is willing to scan the original keycaps like I did into whatever they need to generate the proper data for the shape. I will then end up having to get the scanned data back and re-apply all of the stems and support structures... which is a ton of work. So, I am hoping I can figure out some simple way to use what has already been done. If not, we are not stuck.So, we will have new keycaps in 2021! I wil also have a new keyboard and a new (licensed) C64 compatible board.
A new replacement of the MOS 6581 and 8580 SID music chip used in the Commodore C64 and C128. Real "plug & play" solution. Just insert instead of the original SID chip into the socket and its done. Accurate sound, significantly lower noise level and less interference from the power supply than the original SID. Automatic recognition of 6581/8580 mode. You can change it anytime by using simple configuration utility to change the SID type, tune the audio filters and test your ARMSID. Lower power consumption than the original. Easy firmware update from the C64/C128 app.
Description:Note: This is the beta version of the upcoming ATX64. Therefore there might still be bugs, which is always to be expected. Only those should order the beta version who definitely want to get the first version/prototype and enjoy experimenting.Description:The ATX64 board measures 24.5mm x 24.5mm and fits into an ATX Micro case. The special feature of this new C64 are the 4 card slots, which are an elegant way to upgrade the C64 quickly and easily, as well as create new cards for it yourself.One example is the 8x soundcard with 8 ARMSIDs. If all 4 slots are occupied with soundcards, you get an additional 96 voices on top of the 2 internal SIDs, and thus an unprecedented freedom to compose music for the C64.It is also possible to plug in an internal Pi1541 Zero.On the rear panel there is space for pluggable connectors/ports. So far there are 3 plug-in boards for the rear, which can be stacked on top of each other:- Video/Audio/Serial- Joystick ports/keyboard (with PS/2 and Bluetooth option)- Userport/TapeportAn Expansion Port Adapter with multiple ports for switching will follow. Also a "Joystick Ports/Keyboard" plug-in version with joystick port switch. The beta package includes the ATX64 board and the 3 rear boards.
SID 8580 vs. ArmSID vs. SwinSID Ultimate vs. SwinSID Nano - Audio ExamplesComparativa entre estos chips emuladores/sustituos del SID.http://kompjut0r.blogspot.com/2018/04/sid-8580-vs-armsid-vs-swinsid-ultimate_12.html