Commodore 64 Final Cartridge III+

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Final Cartridge III Logo

A long time ago I ordered some PCB's for a Final Cartridge III+ Replica to build myself.
And now last week the last missing parts have finally been delivered to actually be able to build it.
The FCIII+ has quite a few ICs, so a lot of soldering legs, but it went quite quickly and without any problems.
After putting the first prototype through its paces, I am extremely satisfied with the functionality, so I built a number of these Final Cartridge III Replicas and added them to the range.

The cartridges are known as The FCIII+, and are available in two PCB colors (Red and Blue)
and in two versions (with a 64 KB or 512KB ROM).

To activate the Final cartridge III+:
    • Give the Command Desktop from the Prompt
    • Turn on the C64 and press RUN/STOP
    • Reset the C64 and press RUN/STOP 

To deactivate the Final Cartridge III:
      • Give the command Kill at the prompt
      • Issue the command SYS64738 at the prompt
      • From the Freezer Menu, select Final Kill

Final Cartridge iii+ PCB in Red

Final Cartridge III+ PCB in Blue

Features in Basic :

All the additional features of the Final Cartridge III+ are available when it is active.

Overview of the function keys in BASIC :

 

  • F1  Execute of the BASIC-command LIST
  • F2  Calls the built in Assembler Monitor (MONITOR)
  • F3  Execute the BASIC command RUN
  • F4  Restore a BASIC program after a NEW or software reset (OLD)
  • F5  Load program from disc (DLOAD)
  • F6  Save program to disc (DSAVE)
  • F7  Show disc directory without loss of the program (DOS"$)
  • F8  Send Disc command (DOS)

Overview of Additional BASIC Features :

  • Scroll function (down and up) within a BASIC-listing
  • Printer-Interface, i.e. usage of Centronics printer under BASIC V2
  • Hardcopy with the key combination <CTRL>+<RETURN>
  • 30 additional BASIC-commands (* Commands have been expanded):
    • APPEND, ARRAY, AUTO, BAR, DAPPEND, DEL, DESKTOP, DLOAD, DOS", DOS"$, DSAVE, DUMP, DVERIFY, FIND, HELP, KILL, LIST *, MEM, MON, MREAD, MWRITE, OLD, OPEN *, ORDER, PACK, PDIR, PLIST, RENUM, TRACE, TYPE, UNPACK

The graphic environment of the Final cartridge III+ can be controlled via joystick and mouse, but can also be operated via the keyboard.

Joystick : Both joystick ports are supported
Keyboard : <F1>,<F3>,<F5>,<F7> for direction C= to select.

The V2.0 menus of the FCIII+ replicas (below) are more extensive than the original FCIII menu (above).

Price of the C64 Final Cartridge III+ (64 KB version) is 17.50 Euro, the 256 KB version is 22.50 Euro

For an extensive explanation (English) I would like to refer you to the C64 Wiki

Final Cartridge III+ Screenshot

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