**************************
** Commodore Free **
**************************
Issue Number 5


Editor
------
I must admit I never know what to 
write in this section. If you are like me 
you probably haven?t even read any 
editor comments from any magazine, 
instead wanting to rush in and look at 
the contents page.

So here is some more text then no one 
will read, seriously we have some 
more reviews and interviews. The 
amazing commodore DTV hack from 
Jason Winters, who seems to be a 
reader of the magazine, great you must 
read this item if nothing else, it goes to 
show the skill from some of these 
hardware hackers.

Jasons machine says buy me and if you 
are in a position to mass produce such 
an item then do so, I would imagine 
quite a large market on such a device. I 
have been proved wrong before on 
many occasions.

Again I plee for anyone reading to 
write a page or two about a 
Commodore related item, maybe its 
about why you love Commodore or 
why you think it al went wrong for the 
company. 

Could it be that you left the 
?commodore Scene? and returned later 
to find an explosion of products and 
software had been released, with more 
hardware on offer now than ever 
before, Commodore dead, you must be 
joking mate its more alive than you 
think. 

Maybe you just have a link to a 
website with some Commodore related 
item fine sent that, and I will write 
something for you, Are you a hardware 
or software designer wishing to 
promote you wares, fine let me know, 
as ever ?Do something rather than 
nothing? 



Best regards
Commodore Free

==========
 
Contents 

Editor			Page 2
Contents			Page 2
Readers Comments		Page 3
C.C.C.C News		Page 3
News			Page 4
News 2			Page 5
News 3			Page 6
Dot-net Basic		Page 7
Hobbyist Programming	Page 7
Dir Master		Page 8
Ron Van Schaik		Page 11
Dtv Hacking		Page 13
Jason winters Interview	Page 15
Tape transfer		Page 17
Brian Bagnell Interview	Page 19
Artillery Duel		Page 21
Leif Bloomquist interview	Page 23
How 2 Quik Menu		Page 24
Dave Moorman Interview	Page 26
End 			Page 28
 
========== 

Readers Comments
-----------------------
 
Jason Winters
Hello,
Great magazine!  I just stumble upon 
your site today, I'm definitely 
bookmarking this page
Commodore Free
More nice comments I like to receive 
positive feedback, in fact any feedback 
is good.

Boris Kretzinger
Hi Nigel, just recently found your mag 
on the web, very nice one with good 
articles I have to admit.
We do a monthly c64-pdf-mag in 
German language since 05/2005, 
which is quite hard because our staff is 
not that big ... well, guess you know 
the problem, too :) So I'd like to 
suggest a cooperation: We do 
Interviews with several guys on current 
projects or news around the commie on 
a pretty regular basis. Since most 
sceners live outside Germany, I have to 
interview them in English, anyway, 
and could send you this interviews, so 
they will be released in our mag in 
German language, and in yours for the 
rest of the world :) For that, we would 
be very happy if you could send us one 
or two texts out of your coming or 
older issues every two months or so 
(and I will translate and publish them 
in our mag). Also, other articles could 
be exchanged.That's pretty much it. 
What do you think of this idea? Are 
you interested? 
Some very old interviews are to be 
found on
www.cevi-aktuell.de.vubut there are 
several newer ones I could send to you, 
latest one with aleksi eeben about his 
sid-project (emulation of sid-sound on 
vic-20 and 6 voices on c64 ...) Kind 
regards,

Commodore Free
Boris Great to here from you yes I am 
interested in articles and doing a trade, 
I replied personally with some articles 
to Boris on this email 
I also pointed out that Commodore free 
is edited and run by just myself, its 
difficult to find information for the 
magazine and every issue I plea for 
links or potential magazine material, I 
also would like to cover all 
Commodore machines but my c64 is 
now my dominant machine. 

jeff
Hello, i read your latest magazine and 
thought maybe
you could help me.  I want to buy an 
injet for my
commodore 64, but i rarely use geos.  
what is the bestinkjet for me to buy to 
use with a parallel interfaceand be able 
to print from normal commodore 
programs in native mode without geos?

Commodore Free
Jeff the only thing I have used with a 
native Commodore 64 and a standard 
printer is something like Super 
Graphix these connect to the expansion 
port of the Commodore and have 
jumpers to set various things, one is to 
convert PETSCII to ASCII 
(commodore text formatting to 
standard text ) I have used the device 
from many applications on the 
Commodore 64 and to a variety of 
printers. The printers usually have to 
support Epsom standard most do and 
have tested such a device with Hewlett 
Packard 640c 850c Laserjet 5 and 
laserjet 5si all worked without 
problems, even printing out disk 
listings. 

Anyone else like to comment?

==========

News
--------
Cincinnati Commodore Computer 
Club

From: Cincinnati Commodore 
Computer Club 
Subject: Cincinnati Commodore 
Computer Club Spring Expo 2007 
May 5&6, 2007
Date: Sun, 28 Jan 2007 10:37:13 -0500

Spring Expo 2007 Ft. Mitchell, KY 
Across the Ohio River from 
Cincinnati, OH USA General Expo 
Information C=4 is planning a super 
weekend for your expo activities! The 
Expo will be held on Saturday, May 
5th; from 9:00 am until we decide to 
call it quits on Sunday afternoon! We 
understand some of you are early 
birds; some of you are night owls. 

We will let the demo folks tell us when 
they want to present their demo! Over 
30 hours of official Commodore 
activity the entire weekend! With a 
room the size of 2352 square feet, we 
are able to have demos and shops in 
the same room, nobody will miss a 
thing. Even though the C=4 Expo is in 
Kentucky, it is just across the river 
from Cincinnati, Ohio. The C=4 expo 
will be held at the Drawbridge Inn 
located at 2477 Royal Drive in Ft. 
Mitchell, Kentucky. The Greater 
Cincinnati Airport is a short distance 
from the hotel. Airport shuttle service 
is available courtesy of the hotel. 
Demonstrations and Speakers 
Commitments from guests will be 
posted when they are confirmed: Local 
tourist sites are also nearby: 
http://www.drawbridgeinn.com/directi
ons.asp It is hoped that every 
Commodore Club can send a 
representative to experience the fun 
that expos create on a regular basis. 
The community welcomes like-minded 
hobbyists, and it is your best 
opportunity to meet folks you have yet 
to meet in person, or meet again 
friends you have met in the past. 

Spring Commodore Expo 2007 
Reservation Information We hope you 
decide to spend the entire weekend 
with us and make it a great weekend 
starting on Friday night with your 
Commodore friends who decide to 
show up early. Hotel Information The 
Drawbridge Inn is located off I-75 and 
I-71 in Ft Mitchell Kentucky. The cost 
of the single rooms in the main 
building is only $69 plus taxes. The 
hotel is setting aside 10 rooms for our 
group until April 4th. After that date, 
any remaining rooms in that block are 
released for general sale. Reservations 
will continue to be accepted for our 
group at the quoted group rate, on a 
room available basis. 

To make reservations for the C=4 
Expo: Name of the Event: Cincinnati 
Commodore EXPO Toll Free: (800) 
354-9793 In Kentucky: (800) 352-
9866 (859) 341-2800 There is an 
International Airport located nearby, 
with shuttle service provided by the 
hotel.

 Expo Pricing Door Charge: 
$10.00/person or $15.00/family Selling 
Tables: $15/ table or $35/ 3 tables (The 
hotel charges $10 in addition per table 
for power usage) Tables are 6' in 
length. All sellers and demonstrators 
need to set up before 9:00 on Saturday 
morning, the doors (for these only) will 
open at 7:00am. 

Contact Roger Hoyer by phone, email, 
or in writing.
Email: thunderbird@iglou.com C=4 
Expo c/o 31 Potowatomie Trail 
Milford, OH 45150
 
---

News 
---------
Star Commander
A new beta of Star Commander is out. 
For the changelog see below. Probably 
the most interesting improvement is 
that SC can now access cbm4win 
under Windows NT4/2000/XP/2003. 
So there is no more need for GiveIO 
and alike. Simply select "OpenCBM" 
as cable type at the transfer options 
dialog. OpenCBM needs to be installed 
for this of course.

Since this is a beta release, there still 
might be bugs. Please send bug reports 
to the Star Commander Mailing List at 
sclist@yahoogroups.com.

As usual, the new beta is available at 
http://sta.c64.org/scbeta.html.

Changes in SC 0.83.21 beta since SC 
0.82:

Fix: During file rename, already 
existing target files are now detected 
correctly under operating systems 
other than real DOS, as well.
Fix: The number of sides is not 
detected for disks in 1570 drives 
anymore.
Fix: The progress indicator counted 
blocks incorrectly while copying a file 
from a Commodore drive in normal 
transfer mode.

New: Introducing support for 
accessing Commodore drives via the 
OpenCBM driver (cbm4win 0.4.0 or 
above) under Windows 
NT4/2000/XP/2003 - use the 
"OpenCBM" value for the "Serial 
cable" option in the "Transfer options" 
configuration screen.

http://sta.c64.org/scbeta.html.

---

DiskImagery64 0.6 released 
---------------------------------
DiskImagery64 0.6 released 23:17  
DiskImagery64 is a portable (Qt 4.2.x-
based), open-source D64 disk image 
editor for Mac, Linux and Windows. It 
offers a nice GUI with drag-and-drop 
support between disk images and the 
local file system. Runs programs or 
mounts images directly in your favorite 
emulator.

Release 0.6 added network support: 
Download programs or share disk 
images as NetDrives with a single 
click to a real C64 with RRNet and 
The Final Replay ROM 0.6.Check it 
out: 

http://www.lallafa.de/blog


BalSys v3.0

BalSys v3.0 - Valentino Zenari 
released a new version of BalSys.

 BalSys is a language, and 
development system package designed 
for C= Plus/4 (or expanded C= 16). 
Based on the B.A.L. (Business 
Assembler Language), an existing 
standard for business machines, the 
environment has been improved with 
many high-level new commands and 
features. The package is a complete 
all-in-one tool: Editor / Debugger / 
Executer

http://www.cbm264.com/svs/svsindex.
html


News
----------

Win UAE Amiga Emulator
WinUAE 1.3.4 (30.12.2006)
--------------------------------
Bugs fixed:

- Improved bsdsocket emulation 
stability

- Winuaeclipboard crash fix

- Windows Vista compatibility 
problems fixed

- Filesystem flag handling on FAT 
volumes

- Page Down-key Input panel 
remapping works properly

- Sound system improved

- ECS Denise/AGA borderblank 
feature works properly

- Dualcore/SMP random freezes 
properly fixed

and more minor fixes..

Bugs introduced in 1.3.3 fixed:  
- AVIOutput out of sync fix

- CPU emulation condition code fix

- Fixed handle leak in bsdsocket and 
AHI

- Sound pitch shifting in VSync-mode 
and more..

- Catweasel MK4 mouse support

New features:
- Improved emulation of AGA sprites 
outside display window

- uaeserial.device introduced. Multi-
port serial device, unit numbers
  are directly mapped to PC serial ports 
(unit 0 = COM0, 1 = COM1 etc..)

- Improved serial port detection, virtual 
devices also supported

- Improved Catweasel MK3/4 support 
without Windows driver installed
  (requires TVicPort, 
http://www.entechtaiwan.com/dev/port
/index.shtm)

- Improved debugger features

- Sound system is not anymore 
reinitialized when losing/gaining focus

- 1M (1024KB) ROM image support

- Sound volume configuration setting 
also sets AHI audio volume
  (previously was Paula audio only)

- Custom chipset interrupt timing 
improved
And more..

http://www.winuae.net/

---

AmigaAMP
------------
a powerful realtime MPEG audio 
player for Amiga computers. It is 
based on the amp decoding engine by 
Tomislav Uzelac and can do realtime 
decoding on 50 MHz processors and 
up. AmigaAMP is a completely free 
and non-commercial project. 
Fraunhofer IIS and THOMSON 
multimedia grant a free license to use 
their MPEG Layer-3 audio 
compression technology for this kind 
of software. 
 
GadTools rules!
The player comes with a fully 
fontsensitive, style guide conformous 
Amiga GadTools user interface and 
features multithreaded non-blocking 
windows for main interface, stream 
information and playlist.    
WinAMP looks nice, too!
Too dull? Well, the same executable 
can be made look and behave like 
WinAMP just by ticking a checkbox in 
the configuration window. It can load 
all the WinAMP skins and can display 
a realtime spectrum analyzer. 
680x0 Realtime Decoding

AmigaAMP can do realtime decoding 
even on slower 680x0 processors using 
Stephane Tavenard's highly optimized 
mpega.library. On a 68040-40 you can 
play Layer3 at half the sampling rate 
and with reduced quality. Full quality 
and sampling rate can be archieved 
with a 68060-50. 
   
PowerUP and WarpUP Compatible
In addition to the 68k decoder 
AmigaAMP comes with two PPC 
native decoding engines one for 
PowerUP and one for WarpUP. Both 
engines feature high quality realtime 
decoding of Layer2 and Layer3 
streams, graphic equalizer settings and 
full visualisation.
On a PPC604e-200 you can play two 
128kbps Layer3 streams with equalizer 
switched on and crossfade between the 
two without taking much CPU load! 
The realtime analyzers will continue to 
run smoothly without any latency 
problems at all. 
  
AHI Compatible
AmigaAMP uses the widespread AHI 
Audio System at device access level. 
You can use it with any AHI 
compatible soundcard as well as with 
the original Amiga audio chipset.    

Current Features (v2.18) 
MPEG Layer-2, Layer-3, AIFF, and 
WAV playback 
MPEGit and MAS-PLAYER hardware 
accelerator 

support  Visualisation plugin system 

GadTools based font sensitive user 
interface 
Alternatively WinAMP compatible 
user interface 
Workbench application (Drop icons on 
window)
AHI device-level access (uses default 
audio mode automatically) 

PPC (PowerUP and WarpUP) support 
AmigaOS 4 support 

ID3 tag editor (artist, title, album, etc.) 
and ID3v2 

Playlists and Repeat mode 
Volume, panning and crossfading 
Editable playlists and shuffle mode 
with skin support 

Graphic equalizer 
Shoutcast/Icecast internet radio support 
Planned features MPEG decode-to-file 

---

Cottonwood BBS
--------------------
I've recently aquirerd a CMD HD-200 
hard drive (thanks, Al!), as well as a 
couple 1581's (thanks, Marco!), and 
with this, I've vastly improved the 
setup for my BBS. Until I get the 
update for AA BBS 
from its author, I'm only able to have 
one 16 MB partition of the 245 MB 
hard drive on the BBS, but even so, 
this is a VAST improvement over what 
I was running. And now, I can 
officially announce quite 
happily that I have DIVORCED my 
C=64c from the PC it was connected 
to. Everything is now 100% original!

I've updated the photo of my setup on 
the Cottonwood BBS website at 

http://hometown.aol.com/cottonwoodb
bs

Here's what the BBS is now running 
on:

1 Commodore 64c Computer
1 Commodore 1084S Monitor
2 Commodore 1541 Disk Drives
1 Commodore 1541c Disk Drive
1 FSD-2 Excellerator+ Disk Drive
2 Commodore 1581 Disk Drives
1 CMD HD-200 Hard Drive (245 MB)
1 MultiTech MultiModem224 (2400 
baud)
1 Black Rotary-Dial Desk Phone
1 All American BBS by Nick Smith

Check it out now at (951)242-3593. 
Call and experience the world's last 
remaining Commodore 64 dial-up 
BBS!

-Andrew(aka Balzabaar - SysOp)
http://hometown.aol.com/cottonwoodb
bs/

Information from the WEBSITE 
+1 (951)242-3593

Located in Moreno Valley, California, 
USA.

Operating 24 hours a day, at 
300/1200/2400 baud.
Running on a Commodore 64 with All 
American BBS
Possibly the only remaining 
Commodore dial-up BBS in the world!

For the best experience, call from a 
Commodore computer with a Color 
Graphics terminal program. To 
download CCGMS 5.5 (my personal 
favorite), 
For the best Commodore graphic 
experience on a PC, call using 
C64Term by Greg Pfountz. To 
download C64Term, 
 
NOTE: This terminal runs in DOS 
using a standard Hayes Compatible 
modem. This will not run in Windows, 
nor will it work with a "WinModem". 

For the least desirable experience, you 
can connect in ASCII mode using 
HyperTerminal in Windows. Please 
note that "modern" modems take 
longer to connect than a modem on a 
Commodore computer. Because of 
this, the BBS may not appear to be 
doing anything when you connect with 
HyperTerminal. Once you've 
connected, just press enter, and the 
BBS should "see" you. If you get 
garbled charachters, the BBS may have 
detected you as connecting at the 
wrong baud speed. In this case, just 
disconnect and try calling again. The 
default settings in HyperTerminal 
should work fine.

drewbrasil@yahoo.com.br.


Cottonwood BBS

Well... I did it...  I've toyed around in 
the past with switching to Color 64 
software on my BBS.  But, I've held 
off in hopes that the "updated version" 
of All American BBS would have 
support for my CMD hard drive.   
After much waiting, I've finally 
received that update.  However, much 
to my dismay, I discovered that it has 
full support for Lt. Kernal and ICT 
Data Chief hard drives, but NO support 
whatsoever for CMD hard drives.  
Well, that discovery spelled the end of 
my association with All American 
BBS. 

 I will still be releasing the final 
versions of AA BBS for the 64 and 
128, as well as the source code for 
each, to the Public Domain on Nick 
Smith's behalf, for anyone who is 
interested in these programs.  More to 
come on this...

So it's happened, and Cottonwood BBS 
is now running on Color 64 v7.37.  
This was the final version written by 
Greg Pfountz, Color 64's original 
author.  I've got a very basic setup 
right now, but I have *full* hard drive 
support, and all 240 MB are now 
online, with 26 directories of 
Commodore goodness.  :-)

I'll be working in the coming weeks at 
transferring much of my software 
collection to these directories, as well 
as contributions from former 
Commodore BBS SysOps that are on 
their way to me.  I'll also be adding 
some online games, and basically 
doing some general "sprucing up" of 
the BBS.

So check out Cottonwood BBS today 
at (951)242-3593, and enjoy the "new 
look".  :-)

-Andrew (aka Balzabaar)
   ___ 
  / __|__   Cottonwood BBS
 / /  |_/   +1 (951) 242-3593
 \ \__|_\   Open 24/7 at 300/1200/2400 
  \___|     
http://hometown.aol.com/cottonwoodb
bs

---

IDE 64
-------
Happy New Year from the IDE64 
staff.
Hopefully we will release IDE64 V4 
later this year!

Thanks for the patience to all who 
asked as about the IDE64 availability 
and did not get answer yet.

---

The Innercircle BBS
------------------------
After several months of preparation, 
The Innercircle BBS is online!!!  

 Telnet://innercirclebbs.com  

today!!  ANSI, C/G Mode, etc...
 
Running on 
a C= 128D, 
SCPU (20Mhz),
 RAM Link, 
CMD 4GB HD, 
115,200 baud.  
Modified Centipede BBS.
 
I've put a lot of work into this and hope 
it becomes a favorite amongst 
everyone.
 
Lots of files and message bases!!
 
Spread the word!
Thanks!
 
telnet://innercirclebbs.com

---

Retro Vision
----------------
Retro Vision 2007

International LLamasoft Jolly


Retro vision is a PRIVATE event for 
members of YAKYAK and selected 
guests from other forums.
No General Public

The event is pub based and will use 3 
areas aiming to run 20 machines at 
least 1 cab and a large projector screen.

11th -13th May 2007 
Port Mahon
St. Clements
Oxford

Friday Opening times 12 midday to 
1am
Saturday Opening times 12 midday to 
1am
Sunday 12 midday ? Handhelds only

Ticket booking 
http://www.retrovision.org.uk/

==========
 
LOADSTAR ANNOUNCES
DOTBASIC PLUS
----------------------------------

DotBASIC Plus (DB+) is a new 
software development system that 
makes  mouse controlled programming 
on the C-64 a snap -- even for those 
who only know BASIC 2.0. Over 90 
commands are available in the 
DotBASIC  Library -- from Print At to 
Multi-Select Scrolling Menus to 
worry-free bitmap  graphics and 
SIDPlayer music.

The mouse, and all the information the 
mouse can generate, is  built-in. And 
Do-Loops makes using the mouse 
extremely easy. Add pull-down  
menus, roll-over buttons, and dialog 
boxes to make your C-64 act like a 
brand new computer.

Most BASIC Enhancements require 
loading and running a system program  
which reconfigures the machine. Only 
then can you load your own program 
and use the extended commands. DB+ 
loads and runs on a default C-64.  And 
when the program is finished, a simple 
command returns all pointers  to 
BASIC 2.0.

Moreover, DB+ includes only the 
commands you need for your project.  
Like "big-time" languages, each 
command is a stand-alone 
programming  object linked to your 
DB+ code as you develop your project. 
If you want  bitmap graphics or 
SIDPlayer music, memory is 
automatically set aside. It  such are not 
necessary for your work, the memory 
is open for other  uses.

The powerful Rack command turns a 
text file, bloaded under ROM, into a  
virtual array. And .PUTSTR allows 
string data to be tucked under ROM or  
even I/O and quickly indexed for use 
in your program. Sprites are fully  
"objectified," with full control and 
reporting from one multi-function  
DB+ command.

The project-creating program, 
B.DOTBASIC, puts everything you 
will  need on your work disk using the 
name of your project -- then loads and  
runs the the "template" program. Add 
commands in the same way you 
"include" files in C or C++, linking 
them to your DB+ code with B.DEV, 
which  collects the needed program 
objects, saves the file to your work 
disk, 
then loads and runs your program.And, 
at any time, you can list all the 
commands currently available in  your 
DB+ program. Every command is 
"self-documented" with syntax 
information that's just a SYS away.

Since DB+ uses program objects, the 
list of commands in our library  (now 
at 90) is limited only by the 
imagination of ML coders. Each 
command  but be fully relocatable, but 
one object can "call" another. Several 
commands can share data. And local 
data is easy to use -- even in  
relocatable code, thanks to the DB+ 
system.

DB+ will premiere on LOADSTAR 
248 (probably available the first week  
in March), with a "beginner's library" 
of commands. In subsequent 
issues, other program objects and 
utilities will be published to give the 
full power of the C-64 to BASIC 
programmers.

Those interested can get a D81 
download of the current library and 
system from just $8 (US). PayPal to 
revdave6@aol.com, and put "DB+" in 
the description area.
Dave Moorman

==========

HOBBYIST PROGRAMMING:
THE JOY OF C-64
by Dave Moorman
-------------------------------------

For some, the C-64 is a badge of 
independence from the every new 
commercial consumer computer 
market. For others, it is a marvelous 
excursion back to a simpler time of 
computing. For me, the C-64 is my 
domain, where I can create anything I 
can imagine.

I am a hobbyist programmer and have 
been since July 3, 1979. I enjoy telling 
bits and bytes exactly what to do. And 
there is no better place 
to do it than on a C-64.

First of all, BASIC 2.0 is an easy 
language to grasp. Anyone with a mind 
for logic can make great things happen 
in BASIC. True, BASIC 2.0 lacks 
some commands that would more fully 
exploit the potential of the C-64. But 
then again, such a limitation can be 
overcome by advancing to a BASIC 
Extension (like DotBASIC Plus), or 
learning some simple POKEs, 
PEEKs, and SYSes. BASIC 2.0 does 
not trap the programmer -- it taps the 
programmer's understanding of the 
incredible resources available in the 
stock machine.

Then, one can advance into the world 
of "modules," 4-7K chunks of ML that 
put boxes on the screen, do menus, 
play music and sound effects, display 
and draw bitmap graphics, and even 
perform split-screen effects. 
LOADSTAR has published a great 
number of such toolboxes and other 
modules, and all that is needed is some 
understanding of memory management 
and a willingness to read and 
experiment.

The final frontier is machine language 
programming -- writing in DNA! The 
simplicity of the instructions forces 
very careful logic. But with ML, I have 
Absolute Power over my computer. No 
one stands between me and the 
machine! But, my experience is that 
Absolute Power comes with  Absolute 
Responsibility. When the machine 
does exactly what I told it to -- as 
opposed to what I wanted it to do -- I 
have no one to blame but myself.

And it is this essential Responsibility 
that is so needed in the world today. 
Our public schools teach the 
mechanics of keyboarding, word-
processing, spread-sheeting, and other 
"useful" tasks. And as preparation for 
work out in the real world, this is quite 
right and proper. But there is a creative 
magic in programming that seems to 
be missing in our 
kids' environment -- a lack of 
imaginative exploration and, as Bill 
Gates called it, the joy of unequivocal 
success.

For nothing one can do alone feels as 
good as grinding through dozens of 
really pissy logic problems until the 
code works exactly as desired. 
And when that happens, the 
programmer knows real JOY!

And while this is true for programming 
on any computer, the C-64 is the 
perfect place for the devoted hobbyist. 
It is big enough to do (or at 
least model) anything computational, 
yet is blessed with a tidy finitude. 
Programming on the C-64 is like 
writing a sonnet or haiku. The 
limitations demand greater skill and 
thought. And the results are, at the 
very least, loaded with the joy of 
unequivocal success!

 
==========
 
DirMaster v1.0a/Style
by The Wiz
-------------------------- 

Introduction

In the 21st century much of the 
Commodore 64 as been ported over to 
the MS-DOS and Windows world. 
Disks are represented in single files 
using D64, D71, D81 formats, among 
others. One could boot up a C64 
emulator, load a directory editor or file 
copier, and edit these disk 
representations or move/copy files 
between them. But, unfortunately, the 
Commodore 64 has many drawbacks 
that don't exist in the Windows world. 
Wouldn't it be easier to manage your 
disk collection in a windowed 
environment?

Of course, DirMaster is not the first 
Windows-based GUI tool for CBM 
disk image manipulation. But we feel it 
stands among the very best, pushing 
the capabilities again into the future 
with features like: 
full D64, D71, and D81 support! 

integrated with Explorer via file 
associations/icons 
open literally *hundreds* of images at 
the same time 
fully working drag and drop between 
disk images: 
copy or move a file from one image to 
another 
copy between different image formats 
(e.g. d64 to d81) 

move/reorder files on the same disk by 
dragging them drag and drop classic 
'separator' entries onto your disk image
 
drag files from Explorer onto disk 
images to import 
user friendly BAM view with 
track/sector view/edit; BAM view fully 
supports standard error-track 
extensions 

all the usual directory editing 
capabilities... 
most functions activated by keyboard 
equivalents, including file reordering 
and filename editing 
a multi-level undo capability 

working just fine under WINE for 
Linux/FreeBSD/Solaris freaks 
As a first version, DirMaster already 
surpasses... as a tool we aim to fully 
improve according to user feedback, 
the limits are oblivious. 
Installation

Install DirMaster using the setup.exe; 
after installation you can locate a 
DirMaster shortcut on your desktop or 
in your your "..\Program 
Files\Style\DirMaster" directory. An 
updated, improved CBM font file is 
also included in the installation and 
placed in your system fonts folder. File 
associations will be made 
automagically, mapping all .d64, .d71, 
.d81, and .seq files to DirMaster. 

Making a new disk...
Functionality: New Disks
To create new blank disks (either D64, 
D71, or D81) use the sub menu: "Disk-
>New". Keyboard equivalents are 6, 7, 
and 8 respectively. The new disk 
function only open a new disk image 
inside DirMaster itself - at this point 
the image has not been saved to disk. 

Functionality: Open/Save

To open existing disk images, use the 
"Disk->Open" menu item. 
Alternatively, drag and drop disk 
images from your file manager onto 
the DirMaster window. You can drag 
and drop multiple images of any type 
(D64, D71, D81) to open them all at 
once. You should be able to have 
literally several hundred disk images 
opened at once, although memory 
usage will rise accordingly. Finally, 
double clicking a disk image in your 
file manager should open that image in 
a new instance of DirMaster. 

As soon as you make any change to a 
disk image, the image window title bar 
will update with an asterisk to indicate 
an edited but unsaved image. You can 
save the image using either the "Disk-
>Save" or "Disk->Save As" menu 
items. 

Functionality: Directory Editing
Directory editing operates as a 
WYSIWYG mode, allowing you to 
type in a full range of CBM characters 
including special graphics symbols, 
although most unprintable control 
codes (such as color codes) wont 
actually alter the displayed the 
directory (i.e. actual colors and cursor 
movements). Use of the cursor keys 
(up/down) allows selection of different 
files in the directory listing. 

The right-click menu over the directory 
display...
Most operations regarding 
manipulation of single files can be 
found under the main "File" menu. To 
edit a filename, select "File->Rename" 
or simply press 'e' to enter edit mode 
for the currently selected file. In the 
edit mode, cursor keys (left/right) 
allow selection of individual 
characters. The 'insert' key toggles 
character over-strike or insert modes, 
and the cursor updates to reflect the 
current mode. The filename can be left 
or right aligned (using the 'l' and 'r' 
keys), centered ('c'), and expanded ('x', 
which pads the current filename with 
spaces out to 16 characters). While in 
edit mode, 'backspace' and 'delete' keys 
also operate as you would expect. 

Aside from filename editing, the file 
type may be altered using the sub 
menu "File->File Type"; valid types 
being PRG (also set with the 'p' key), 
SEQ ('s'), USR ('u'), REL ('r'), DEL 
('d') and CBM. Finally, files can be 
locked (the '<' key) and splatted ('*') 
and the file size can be altered or auto-
sized (DirMaster will trace the file 
links and set the filesize to the actual 
size, if different). 

File positions can also be altered by 
using the mouse to drag and drop file 
entries above or below other files. For 
keyboard fans, files can also be moved 
by holding the shift key down on the 
file you wish to select, and then using 
the cursor up/down keys to move that 
file. 

An entire file entry can be deleted by 
using the "File->Remove" menu item 
or by hitting 'delete'. Note: DirMaster 
will reset the BAM to reflect the 
deleted file entry, but it leaves the 
actual sector data intact! To wipe all 
free blocks on the disk, use the "Disk-
>Fill Free Sectors" item. Disk related 
data including disk name and disk id 
can also be edited by using the "Edit-
>Rename Disk" and "Edit->Edit Disk 
ID" menu items respectively. 

Please note that almost all functions 
related to file and disk editing, as well 
as exporting files, can also be accessed 
by clicking the right mouse button over 
a file entry. 

Functionality: File 
copy/move/import/export
With DirMaster, copying and moving 
files between disk images is as easy as 
dragging and dropping the file between 
any two opened images. You may 
copy/move files between different 
image types, like from a D64 to a D81. 
When a file is copied, the file is written 
to the destination disk using a standard 
sector interleave and the destination 
BAM is updated accordingly. When a 
file is moved, after the copy is written 
to the destination as described earlier, 
the source disk is updated as if the file 
had been deleted: directory entry is 
removed, BAM is updated, but file 
data remains intact. 

To export a file from a disk image to 
the host file system, use the "File-
>Export" menu item. When exporting 
a PRG file, the exported copy retains 
the two-byte load address. When 
exporting a SEQ file, the exported 
copy will be written using a PETSCII 
character set unless the "Convert to 
ASCII" checkbox in the file save 
dialog is checked, in which case, 
obviously, the file is translated into a 
standard DOS ASCII format. 

Importing a file, oddly enough, can be 
accomplished with the "File->Import" 
menu item. When importing a text file, 
check the "Convert to PETSCII" 
checkbox to perform an ASCII to 
PETSCII translation. Finally, files can 
be dragged from your file manager and 
dropped onto an open disk image in 
DirMaster. This accomplishes the same 
outcome as importing. 
Functionality: Undo
DirMaster keeps track of multiple undo 
points for each open disk image. Use 
'CTRL+z' to invoke the undo function 
(or invoke it using the "Edit->Undo" 
menu item). Since undo tracks changes 
on a per image basis, be aware than 
invoking undo immediately after a file 
move, for example, will only roll back 
the change to the current disk image. 
To fully reverse the move operation, 
you would invoke undo once each on 
both the source and destination images. 

BAM Editor from a .d64...

Functionality: BAM Editor
The DirMaster BAM editor can be 
invoked using the "View->BAM 
Editor" menu item. You may open one 
BAM editor per disk image, and you 
may have multiple BAM editors open 
at the same time. To avoid confusion, 
check the title bar of the BAM editor 
window - it will reflect the same 
filename as the disk image it 
corresponds with. Furthermore, the 
BAM editor displays the actual disk 
image name and id at the top of the 
window. 

The BAM editor displays a track/sector 
map where green represents 
unallocated sectors and red represents 
allocated sectors. Sector errors, if this 
option is enabled (see "Disk-
>Extensions->Sector Errors"), will be 
displayed as an overlayed number 
corresponding to the CBM error code 
(e.g. 23 for checksum error). The BAM 
editor will look slightly different for 
each different image type, varying by 
both the number of tracks (represented 
as rows) and sectors (represented by 
tracks). Otherwise all BAM editor 
operations work identically across 
image types. 
In the BAM editor, right clicking will 
ordinarily toggle the status of the 
sector in the BAM between allocated 
and unallocated. The exception to this 
is when the Sector Errors option is 
turned on. 

Then, right clicking brings up a context 
menu that allows you to toggle an 
individual sector as well as allow you 
to set a disk error (one of 20, 21, 22, 
23, 25, 26, 27, 29) on the selected 
sector. Note: Disk images with sector 
error information can have two 
possible formats: one in which error is 
represented as a byte whose value 
corresponds to the actual error number 
(e.g. 23) and one in which the error is 
represented by some other format 
specific code value. DirMaster will 
support reading of either version. To 
write disk images in the former mode, 
turn on the "Disk->Extensions->Write 
Error Numbers" feature. To write disk 
images in the latter mode, turn that 
feature off.

The BAM editor may also be invoked 
by using the "Edit BAM" icon in the 
toolbar immediately below the main 
menu. 

Functionality: Sector Editor
To invoke the sector editor, simply 
click a BAM entry (a green or red disk 
corresponding with a given track/row 
and sector/column). A sector editor 
opens up, which like the BAM editor 
will reflect the disk image file name in 
it's title bar. The operation of the sector 
editor is fairlystraightforwardd... use 
the cursor keys to navigate and select 
individual bytes; then change the value 
or the byte. Editing can be done on 
either the left hand side hex 
representation (which accepts valid 
hex input) or on the right hand side 
PETSCII representation, which allows 
any PETSCII value.

 Note: changes are taken immediately - 
there is no "save" option in the sector 
editor. However you may use the undo 
function to rollback multiple 
consecutive changes. 

Press the 'j' key (or 'Alt-Down') to 
follow the current sector's 'next 
track/sector' link, if it is valid; 'Ctrl-
Right'/'Page Up' and 'Ctrl-Left'/'Page 
Down' increment and decrement the 
sector; 'Ctrl-Down' and 'Ctrl-Up' 
increment and decrement the track; 
'Page Up' and 'Page Down' will move 
to the previous or next sector; finally, 
'Alt-Left' and 'Alt-Right' will swap the 
cursor between the current hex and 
PETSCII byte. 

CBM Tool...
Functionality: CBM Tool
The CBM Tool, invoked using "View-
>Show CBM Tool", displays an entire 
set of CBM characters. Use the CBM 
tool when editing a filename, disk 
name, disk id, or sector to insert/over-
strike characters: while editing, click a 
character in the CBM tool and this has 
the same effect as if you typed it using 
the keyboard. 

The CBM Tool may also be toggled 
on/off by using the "Show/Hide CBM 
Tool" icon in the toolbar immediately 
below the main menu. 
Functionality: Separator Tool

The Separator Tool, invoked using 
"View->Show Separator Tool", 
provides a collection of common 
directory file names which provide the 
typical 'separator' style directory 
entries that became so ubiquitous 
among scene releases. While the 
Separator Tool is open, you may drag 
entries from it onto disk images to 
place separators in the directory. 
You may also edit entries on the 
Separator Tool by right clicking the 
mouse over any entry. You can move 
entries up and down to reorder the list; 
you can edit individual entries in place, 
you can delete entries, and you can add 
new entries. All changes you make will 
be saved for the next time you use 
DirMaster. 

The right-click menu over the 
Separator Tool...
The Separator Tool may also be 
toggled on/off by using the 
"Show/Hide Separator Tool" icon in 
the toolbar immediately below the 
main menu. 
Functionality: Miscellaneous
SEQ files can be viewed by selecting a 
SEQ file and pressing the 'v' key, by 
selecting the "File->View File" menu 
item, or by invoking the same item 
from the right click context menu. 

On most windows including disk 
images, SEQ files, and the sector 
editor, the CBM character set case can 
be toggled using "View->Toggle Case" 
or by clicking the "Toggle Case" icon 
in the toolbar immediately below the 
main menu. 

While selecting a file on a disk image, 
press the 'j' key or select the "Jump to 
Sector" item in the right click context 
menu to immediately open the sector 
editor and jump to the first sector of 
the selected file. 

Extensions menu...
Extended track disk images can be 
loaded and saved when the "Disk-
>Extensions->Extended Tracks" 
feature is enabled. With extended 
tracks, a D64 image with tracks 36 to 
40 can be manipulated and saved. 
However, other than direct sector and 
BAM editing, the extra tracks are not 
currently supported when 
copying/writing files.
 
Credits and Contact
DirMaster was coded by The 
Wiz/Style with testing by the entire 
Style crew. Please find contact 
information on the About panel inside 
the app, or leave us feedback We 
would greatly value your input as to 
future versions of this tool - let us 
know what you want! 

http://www.style64.org/index.php?cid=
rele.dirmaster

Tried to email the website in order to 
be able to print this information but 
received no reply 

==========
 
Commodore Free Interview with
 Ron van Schaik from the Dutch 
Commodore club
---------------------------------------

>who are you and what do you do?

My name is Ron van Schaik and I am 
chairman of the Dutch Commodore 
Club
If you wanna know who I am, you can 
find a picture on the page 
 http://commodore-
gg.hobby.nl/okt2006col7.htm

I am the one who's being interviewed 
by television and this link you can  
find here: 

http://video.google.nl/videoplay?docid
=-
4814625904960876672&q=retro+com
puters

>I came across the site by accident, is 
this normally how people find your 
website?

 I don't hope so.....I lot of well known 
sites have a link to our website. Also 
for example our calendar is on the C64 
portal and the biggest Amiga sites. 
Also I post often news on the different 
news portals about what we are doing.

>HCC - Commodore GG what does 
this stand for?

HCC= Hobby Computer Club (It's the 
biggest computer club of the Benulux  
with 
170,000 members) There are a lot of 
groups in this HCC, like DOS, 
Multimedia,  Flightsimulator 
and we!!! GG stands for: Gebruikers 
Groep, this is in English: user group

>>how did the club start

Our club started in the mid eighties 
when the Commodore computers were  
like  a virus in Holland
Now we organize 6 times a year a C= 
Show in the Trefpunt, Maarssen,  
Holland.  Most C= Shows we have a 
theme, like in february Innovation. 
We  demonstrate  than the MiniMig, 
The 1541-III and the 1541 ultimate. 
Also we had  themes  like Retro Game 
and Computer Party with all other retro 
computers, Tinker  workshop, SID 
music etc. Also we participate with 
some members at other  Retro Game 
and Computer expos and we organize 
sometimes a C= Show in an  other part 
of Holland or Belgium.  You can find a 
lot of photo's about  this  on our report 
pages and for coming C= shows you 
can look at our calendar.  All this is a 
lot of work and we are now leading our 
club with around eight  guys.

>do you pay to be a member

Yes, you pay 10 euro per year. You are 
allowed than to participate  (active)  on 
our clubmeetings (it's no problem to 
come and see for the first time  for  
free). Also you can go to the HCC 
Computer Beurs (the 
biggest computer  Expo  in the 
Benelux) for half prize. We are 
participating there every year  as 
well. You can use our "helpdesk" and 
more.

>what is the clubs function

To have contact with other 
Commodore and Amiga users, 
collectors,  gamers  etcetera. To help 
each other with problems, repairs, 
programming and 
hardware. We have every C= Show a 
table with stuff for free and you can  
buy  for little prizes more usefull 
things (this is for our club)

>the clubs website has lots of 
information can you tell readers about 
what is on offer?

We started a few years ago with an 
English part because we had more and 
more  vistors from abroad on our C= 
Shows. Now we have every week new 
news,  articles, information about the 
C= computers and devices, manuals,  
scans  from magazines and books etc. 
Very interesting are for example the 
pages  about Vice, CCS64, Innovation 
and C= computers  and devices for 
foreign  visitors. We have a lot of plans 
to make our website better and better 
in the near future.

>what machines does the club support?

All Commodore and Amiga computers

>can you tell us a little of your 
personal history

I started in 1986 with a C128D (always 
in C64 mode...) and I sold it  and for  
that money (and a little bit more) I 
bought an Amiga 500. Later on I 
bought a PC (486) and in the mid 
nineties I saw on a  fleemarket a  C64 
and that was the start of a flood of C= 
computers

>>what Commodore machines do you 
own

VIC20, C16, PLUS4, 232, a lot of 
different kinds of the C64, C64SX,  
C128,  C128D, A500, A1000
1400 original C64 games, 150 original 
C16 and VIC20 games, hundreds of  
books  and magazines, all kinds of 
devices (a few boxed)

>the website has both english and Duth
primarily Dutch, are there plans to 
convert all the website to english

The website is English and Dutch.......
Mainly it will have to stay in Dutch 
because we're the only one, and that's I  
think  important for our members (800) 
But it is our plan to convert the most in 
English!

>>I see you have links to Commodore 
free magazine  that?s a good thing, do 
you have any comments on my work?

I an very pleased about your work. It's 
great that there are still guys who are 
working at the popularity 
of  Commodore !

>the links to commodore free 
magazine have generated quite a lot of 
traffic, do you think people miss 
commercial commodore magazines?

It's difficult to say because we have 
also a magazine and that was not a big 
success (as a paper magazine) Now we 
are distributing our magazine as a PDF 
file, and that's going a lot  better

>what plans does the website and club 
have?

We will try to have a leading role in 
Holland about everything what's  about  
Commodore and Amiga
Also we work hard at our innovation 
plans, a new guy is coordinating  this  
now We are very proud that our 
clubmembers have build the MiniMig, 
the 1541-III 
and the 1541 Ultimate

>commodore free has been plagued by 
copyright problems has anyone asked 
you to remove pictures or news from 
the website?

No, we had no problems about this

>how is the website funded?

With the money from our members we 
pay the club building, the website, the 
printer, viewer and all that sort of 
things. We are part from a big Dutch 
Computer Club called HCC and those 
are supporting us too.

>>thanks you for your time and efforts

Also thanks and I wish you a lot of 
success with your work! Best regards 
Ron van Schaik

On our webpage

 http://commodore-
gg.hobby.nl/persber.htm 

you can see all press reports of our 
club: newpapers, magazines and TV.

You May also interesting is a peek at 
our magazine: 

http://commodore-
gg.hobby.nl/download/IB1006.pdf

Website and further information 
available from 
http://commodore-gg.hobby.nl/

==========
 
DTV Hacking 
----------------

Here are a few pics of my own DTV 
Hummer project. I had an old PSOne 
LCD screen lying around and I thought 
I'd make a C64 laptop. Actually, it's 
more like a C64 PDA! It measures 6.5 
x 6 x 1.5 inches (15.5 x 16.5 x 4 cm) 
when closed. It can run from an AC 
wall adapter or 6 NiMH AA batteries. 

The keyboard is hacked from a 
portable folding keyboard for a 
Jornada PDA which outputs RS-232. 
I'm using a PIC 16F88 to decode the 
signals and re-encode them to PS/2 
(that was an ordeal to figure out). 

The PIC checks to see if an external 
PS/2 keyboard is connected on power 
up. If one is hooked up, it will route 
data from that instead. There is an 
internal ampilfied speaker as well as 
connections for audio and video output 
on the back. 

There's a serial connection for a disk 
drive and an SD card slot in the side 
for a 1541-III but I haven't been able to 
get that to work yet. I also have a 
connection for a userport/joystick. The 
joystick in the picture is a hacked Atari 
keychain joystick. The mini joystick 
wasn't in the original plan but after I 
accidentally discovered it on ebay, it 
seemed perfect.

Here's a how-to post regarding the 
RS232 to PS/2 keyboard hack:

http://jledger.proboards19.com/index.c
gi?board=dtvhacking&action=display
&thread=1167783024

The Micro Folding Keyboard (Model#: 
TKB420HP) made by Micro 
Innovations is a small portable 
keyboard for attaching to a Jornada 
PDA. It basically has all keys needed 
for adapting to a DTV but 
unfortunately outputs RS-232 instead 
of PS/2. The 

following information describes how 
to interface this keyboard to DTV 
Hummer and possible the rest of 
the DTV versions.

Out of the box:
Disassembling the keyboard, you?ll see 
5 labeled connections: VCC, RTS, 
RXD, DCD, and GND. VCC is +5V 
for this unit. RXD is the line on which 
data is actually sent, although the 
keyboard won?t send anything until 
RTS is pulled high.

 I do this right on the board by 
soldering a 1k resistor between the 
RTS pad and the onboard 
microcontroller?s Vcc pad (see 
picture). By doing this, you only need 
to run three wires from the keyboard 
(VCC, RXD and Ground).

As far as what mechanical 
modifications? I chose to cut away a 
lot of extra plastic from the two folding 
halves and superglue the sides 
together. This effectively created one 
solid piece. I also glued the flexi-
ribbon flat against itself to take up less 
space.

Since this keyboard outputs RS-232 
(9600 baud, 8 data bits, 1 stop bit and 
no-parity), a PIC 16F88 
microcontroller is used to convert the 
data to PS/2 for the DTV. PS/2 
keyboards use ?make? and ?break? 
codes

One or more ?make? codes is sent 
when a key is pressed and several 
?break? codes and are sent on key 
release. The Jornada keyboard kind of 
works the same way in that it uses 
make and break codes, unfortunately 
the codes are not a one for one match 
and must be re-mapped by the PIC.

On power up, the PIC will check to see 
if a regular external PS/2 is attached. If 
so, it will just go into ?repeater? mode 
and pass along any signals from the 
PS/2 keyboard to the DTV. The PIC 
adds a one second delay to get rid of 
the pesky ?V?. 

Here?s the circuit:
The diode and resistor on pin 4 are for 
in-circuit serial programming (ICSP) 
and can be left out as well as any other 
connections labeled ICSP. The 100k 
resistor on pin 11 is needed even if you 
decide not to mess with the external 
PS/2 connector, so don?t leave it out. 
The rest is fairly straight forward. 

The 100uF cap may need to be larger 
depending on your setup. 100uF 
worked initially for me until I added an 
LCD screen to my design. The power 
surge on start up was too much and the 
keyboard would not initialize properly 
until I increased it to 470uF.

For timing, the internal 8 MHz 
oscillator is used. It seems to work just 
fine.

Here?s the HEX file: 
www.picobay.com/picodore64/Jornada
KB_16F88.hex 

And the source code: 
www.picobay.com/picodore64/Jornada
KB_16F88.txt

Again, this is for a 16F88 and any $15 
JDM PIC programmer will work just 
fine. The source code is written in 
PicBasic Pro. The code could probably 
be reduced to half the size by 
constructing the send codes on the fly 
instead of hard coding them. 

The start, stop parity bit could be 
added automatically and each 
make/break code would only take up a 
byte instead of a word. But the 16F88 
has 4K of space and I wasn?t tight on 
space. Maybe as I add more features, 
I?ll recode that section. And while I?m 
at it, I?ll switch to using interrupts to 
get the data from the Jornada keyboard 
instead of just waiting for data.
Obviously this is an adapted keyboard 
and I had to switch some of the key 
assignments:

Today = ESC (RUNSTOP)
Space = INSERT
Windows key = Commodore Key
FN + Right Arrow = HOME
FN + CRTL + Right Arrow = CLR 
SCN

The 4 keys in the top left are the F1 
thru F4 keys, F5 thru F8 with the FN 
pressed.

I didn't bother to implement the 
Numlock keypad, there didn't seem to 
be much point to doing so.

Just for the heck of it I?m posting the 
PS/2 waveform of a make code for the 
?A? key. Channel 1 is the clock and 
Channel 2 is data.

This is from a real PS/2 keyboard.
Here are the specs:
Mainboard: Hummer DTV

Construction: Hobby plywood covered 
in faux 

stainless steel contact paper

Size: 6.5" x 6" x 1.5" (closed)

Power: 7.5v wall adapter or 6 
rechargable AA NiMH 
batteries

Screen: 5" LCD Keyboard: 69-key 
QWERTY Sound: 

Ampilfied 1.5" 0.4W internal speaker

Connections: power, userport/joystick, 
serial disk drive, audio/video output, 
headphone jack, external PS/2 
keyboard, SD card slot.

Addition peripherals: 1.75" x 1.5" mini 
Atari joystick.

Features:
 on screen display for volume and 
brightness control, auto sensing of 
external keyboard connection, 
programmable funtion keys, video 
selector switch.

Although I plan on posting a more 
length write-up, for now, I'll give you 
just the important details:

The LCD screen is from a PSOne. I'm 
also using on LCD's board audio amp 
to drive the speaker.

The LCD is what ultimately drove my 
power requirements. Almost the entire 
circuit for the LCD uses 5v except for 
one IC which needs between 7v and 8v 
to generate H-Sync.

The keyboard was a bitch to figure out 
and will be the subject of a post of it's 
own. It's from a Jornada foldaway 
keyboard made by Micro Innovations. 
In terms of construction, I had cut 
away a lot of extra plastic and 
superglue the two halves together 
making a single solid keyboard. 

The keyboard normally interfaces with 
a HP Jornada via a RS-232 link and 
special driver. I was able to capture all 
the output codes and program a 16F88 
PIC microcontroller to re-map and 
output with the appropriate PS/2 
protocol. On power up, the PIC checks 
if there is an extrenal keyboard 
attached. If so, it ignores data from the 
onboard keyboard.

==========
 
Interview with Piccadore 64 creator
Jason Winters
------------------------------------------ 
 
In a reverse of efforts Jason caught up 
with Commodore Free magazine, 
firstly to Commend my efforts, and 
also to tell me about his project. I then 
persuaded Jason to a small interview 
for the readers.
Here is the interview.
 

CF
please tell the readers what is a 
Picodore 64

JW
 The Picodore 64 is a custom built C64 
laptop based on the main circuit board 
from a DTV Hummer Off-Road 
Racing game (many thanks to Jeri 
Ellsworth).  The Hummer game was 
one of those joystick games that you 
connect directly to a TV.  The game 
wasn?t very good but it didn?t take 
long for the DTV hackers to discover 
its secrets.  As far as laptops go the 
Picodore is a tiny one.  It?s a little 
smaller than those portable DVD 
players.  It includes connections for a 
disk drive, external keyboard, 
audio/video output, headphones, 
joystick/userport, external power 
adapter and SD card.  Buttons below 
the LCD screen allow for brightness 
and volume adjustment.  There is even 
a speaker tucked into the enclosure.               

CS 
how did you come up with such a great 
name for the machine?
 
JW
I wanted the name to emphasize the 
smallness of it and the prefix ?pico? 
means one-trillionth.  Since I already 
own the domain ?picobay.com?, it 
seemed like an easy decision.  
?Picobay? doesn?t mean anything in 
particular.  I registered it way back in 
1996.  With the success of Ebay, I 
thought the ??bay? suffix was really 
going to catch on.  Nanotech was just 
starting to get its roots and I figured 
picotech wasn?t far behind.  I was 
wrong on both counts.  

CS
 Tell the reads a little about yourself

 JW
My father was in the mining business 
and a jack of all trades.  I learned a lot 
from watching him patch together 
broken machinery with whatever was 
on hand.  I, on the other hand, was 
always tearing things apart when I was 
a kid to see how they worked (actually 
I still do).  I loved anything related to 
computers, electronics and Lego 
blocks.  I wanted a career in robotics 
and I eventually went to school for 
mechanical engineering.  My last year 
in college, I placed in a national 
robotic design competition and I 
landed a cool job designing gizmos for 
the U.S. military and space program.  
Over the course of five years, I moved 
up in the ranks and, unfortunately, 
became less and less involved in the 
technical side of things.  Consequently, 
interfacing with the human mind and 
body was another area of interest for 
me.  So much to the bewilderment of 
my parents (and jealousy of my 
friends), I decided to quit my job and 
return to school again. I'm happy to say 
that I just received my master?s degree 
in biomedical engineering last month 
and now I'm working on my PhD.  My 
area of research involves implanting 
electrodes into the brain for both data 
acquisition and stimulation.  It's a 
dream job for a hacker since so much 
is still unknown about the central 
nervous system and how the various 
areas communicate with each other. 

CS
Please tell us about Commodore and 
yourself, what machines do you own, 
your first machine, do you still use 
Commodore Machines?
 
JW
I'm 29 years old, so I grew up during 
the middle to end of the Commodore's 
golden era.  I received a C64, which 
was my first computer, when I was 
about 12.  I loved programming and 
the Commodore was great for that.  I 
was also fascinated with controlling 
things with a 

computer.  I felt like I discovered cold 
fusion the first time I hooked up an 
LED to the userport and made it blink.  
Needless to say, it wasn't long before I 
fried the CIA chips in that first 
machine.  A few years later I got a 
C128 but I used it in 64 mode 99% of 
the time anyway.  I lost touch with the 
Commodore scene during college since 
everything seemed to be PC based in 
the world of engineering.  To tell the 
truth, I really didn't get back into 
Commodores until a few months ago 
when I was designing a custom video 
card that relied on control via RS-232 
input and output composite video.  My 
initial attempt with a microcontroller 
yielded poor results.  Then I thought 
about my old Commodore and 
wondered if I could use the VIC-II 
chip and RF modulator.  I bought a 
C64 on Ebay with the intension of 
gutting it for the components that I 
needed but once I got it in the mail and 
booted it up to that familiar blue on 
light blue screen, I didn't have the heart 
to destroy it.  During the next week I 
ordered a disk drive and the parts to 
make a XM1541 cable.  I learned 
about the DTV while researching the 
VIC-II.  It was by accident that I saw a 
DTV-Hummer game at a local Radio 
Shack.  I didn't know what I was going 
to do with it, but I knew they were 
getting scarce so I bought it on a whim.  

CS
Tell us a little more about the project, 
also how many other people would you 
estimate enjoy DTV and Hummer 
hacking?
 
JW
I can?t stress enough how this project 
is a combination of a lot of effort by 
the entire DTV hacking community.  I 
was just the first person to put it all in 
a nice little laptop-ish package.  I, too, 
would like to know how many DTV 
hackers are out there.  There are about 
ten very active members who are 
blazing the trial for the rest of us.  I 
really didn?t join the forum discussions 
until I was almost done with my 
project and I would think there are 
many others reading those message 
boards and working on their own 
projects.     

CS
I see the machine is battery powered, 
are these recyclable and is the machine 
able to run from mains power ?
 
JW
The LCD screen is very power hungry 
because of the type of backlight it uses.  
That component basically sets the 
power requirements for the entire unit.  
I knew I wanted to use rechargeable 
batteries and thankfully the discharge 
curve of NiMH AA's fit within the 
voltage requirements of the LCD.  The 
Picodore 64 can also run from an AC 
wall adapter. When the external power 
plug is inserted, the batteries are 
removed from the circuit via a 
mechanical contact switch in the 
receptacle.  I wanted to make it as 
useful as possible, but I stopped short 
of actually charging the batteries while 
they are in the unit.

CS
I have included the specifications of 
the machine at the end of this question 
and answer session but, please can you 
give us (in as much detail as possible) 
how you came to design the machine 
and the thought process, and problems 
you had along the way. 

JW
My initial tinkering with the Hummer 
involved hooking up a PS/2 keyboard, 
disk drive and fixing some problems 
with the video and audio circuits.  It 
wasn?t until I connected the video 
output to a little LCD screen that I 
decided a tiny laptop was in order.  I 
read through the entire PETSCII forum 
(THE resource for DTV hacking 
information) to make sure that this 
would be the first of its kind.  I then 
started looking for a small keyboard 
with the LCD as a guide for the 
approximate dimensions I needed.  I 
took a chance and ordered a few 
different types.  It turned out that a 
portable folding keyboard meant for a 
Jornada PDA was the perfect size and 
had all the necessary keys.  The only 
problem was that it couldn?t be directly 
connected to the DTV board because it 
didn?t use the required PS/2 protocol.  
I borrowed an oscilloscope  from my 
lab at school and used it to decode the 
signals.  Knowing very little about how 
keyboards work, it took me a few days 
to get a microcontroller to  decode the 
Jornada keyboard signals and re-
encode them to PS/2.  Figuring out the 
power circuit turned out to be easy 
since the various components used 
standard voltages.  The SD card slot 
interface was adapted from a design by 
Jan Derogee and Pyrofer.

            I started looking for a case to 
modify as soon as I got the keyboard 
working.  I found a bunch of little 
enclosures that were almost the right 
size but it would have been a lot of 
work to make it look right.  I ended up 
just making the entire case out of wood 
and superglue.  It turned out to be a 
great decision.  The materials were 
cheap and readily available.  I was able 
to build the entire thing with a minimal 
set of tools.  All I really needed was a 
saw, drill, sandpaper, dremel tool, 
micrometer and razor-knife.  Covering 
it with faux stainless steel contact 
paper worked out great and really gave 
the project a professional look.  I don?t 
think it would have received the same 
amount of attention if I left it looking 
like wood.

            The joystick was one of the last 
things I did for this project.  
Realistically I knew the Picodore 64 
was going to be primarily a machine 
for playing classic games and a full 
sized joystick wasn?t going to look 
right.  I found a miniature Atari 
keychain joystick that I managed to 
convert into a device that was 
compatible with the Commodore 
joystick port.   

CS
Would you consider selling the 
machine if someone was interested?
 
JW
I've been debating this, but yeah, I 
probably will eventually.  I've got a 
few other projects that I'd like to 
pursue and as a poor college student 
my funds are limited.

CS
do you think the machine is a 
commercially viable product for the 
Commodore community, if it could be 
mass produced?
 
JW
This particular design wouldn?t be 
great for mass production since it 
seemed to take forever to get the case 
done.  But if you?re asking me if a C64 
laptop would sell?  I would say 
?Absolutely!?  Granted, a C64 laptop 
doesn't have the market potential of a 
Sony Playstation III, but it definitely 
fills a niche.   Not only would this be a 
great creative outlet for all those young 
programmers out there, but the 
enormous library of existing software 
is a resource just waiting to be tapped 
into.  I think this would be a no-brainer 
for some company out there.  Though, 
I do have a laundry list of things I'd 
like to see on a mass produced unit.  
Some sort of memory card slot would 
be a must to get software on and off of 
it.  A million new C64 laptop owners 
scouring Ebay for 1541 drives and 
5.25? floppies isn't very realistic.  
Also, I'd like to see an enhanced 
version of BASIC and a JiffyDOS-like 
utility included.  This might be 
upsetting to the Commodore purists 
out there but my own C64 become a 
lot more entertaining once I plugged in 
a Super Expander 64 cartridge.  I think 
better access to music and graphics 
from within BASIC could be added 
without sacrificing compatibly.  And 
let?s face it, if you?re that nuts about 
the C64, you?re probably coding in 
assembly language anyway.  

CS
 what problems would mass production 
cause
 
JW
The obvious problem involves all the 
old software that was written off as 
unprofitable and abandoned by 
software companies years ago.  As 
certain titles become popular again, 
software companies may attempt to 
enforce old copyrights and cause 
trouble for sharing sites.  Hopefully, 
these companies would choose to 
develop new software instead.  The 
thought of EA Games writing new 
software for a C64 may sound far 
fetched, but mobile phone gaming has 
demonstrated that there is still money 
to be made from relatively low tech 2D 
games.  Another problem that is 
happening right now is the legal 
entanglement of the several parties 
involved in making the current batch 
of DTV gaming devices.  Each party 
owns a piece of the technology puzzle 
and I?m not sure they are all on the 
same page these days.  

CS
 do you have any other projects in the 
pipe line?
 
JW
Haha, I?m assuming you only want to 
know about the Commodore related 
projects.  I have another, larger, C64 
laptop in the works with a 3.5? floppy 
drive in it.  Although the Picodore 64 
wins the prize for being little, it?s 
really too small for coding without an 
external keyboard attached.  The 
Commodore 64 has been around so 
long that it?s difficult to come up with 
an original hack for it.  Though I do 
think my future projects will focus on 
demonstrating that there is still a place 
for this classic machine in today?s 
world of ultra-fast and ultra-complex 
computer systems.

CS
I am sure all readers, would like one of 
these, have you had many comments?
 
JW
I thought I might get some feedback, 
but I really didn?t anticipate the 
overwhelming amount of positive 
comments left on various message 
boards.  And yes, many of them do 
express the desire to own one. 

 I would build more of these but DTV 
Hummer parts are getting hard to find.  
Besides, my apartment is tiny and I 
need my kitchen table for other things 
sometimes. 

 Finally, I would like to thank all those 
who have contributed to the DTV 
hacking effort on the PETSCII forum.  
I also need to thank my girlfriend for 
not complaining during the week that I 
converted our kitchen into a workshop.  
She was more than tolerant of the layer 
of sawdust that was deposited on 
everything in our apartment and the 
frequent trips to the hardware store.  

CS
thanks for your time and efforts 
  
==========
 
Tape Transfer
---------------- 

Introduction
Almost all of the Commodore 8 bit 
computers have a Datassette 
connection. The only exceptions I can 
think of are the C64 Games System 
and it's successor the C64 DTV. The 
Datassette was a cheap alternative to 
the diskdrive and was sold by the 
millions. Most (budget) games for the 
C64 were sold on tape. 

So you have a great collection of 
original tapes or made programs 
yourself on tape and want to use them 
on an emulator. This page will describe 
how it is possible to read the tapes into 
your modern PC. You need to build (or 
buy) a interface that connects an 
original Datassette to your PC.

Specifications
This are the specifications I personally 
use to transfer my tape's. Any PC will 
do that can run MS-DOS and has 
parallel port and a floppy.

PC: Pentium III, 256 MByte, 4 GB HD
OS: MS-DOS 6.2 + Windows 2000 
SP4

Software:
MTAP + PTAP: Markus Brenner 
http://markus.brenner.de/

FinalTap: Subchrist 
http://www.coder.pwp.blueyonder.co.u
k/

Hardware:
C64S interface
1530 Datassette

Disclaimer:
Every thing you will do is on your own 
risk. I have made a great effort to get 
the info on this page right but there 
could be a mistake on this page that I 
am not aware of. If you find an error 
please let me know

The interface
First you will have to build yourself a 
C64S interface. It's not very difficult to 
build. This interface will give you a 
Datassette and a IEC (diskdrive) 
connection. You can see the 
schematics bellow.

The interface needs a regulated 
powersupply of 


exactly 5 volts DC to power the 
Datassette. There are a few ways to 
connect a power supply, choose one of 
the following.
It can be done by a external power 
adapter and a voltage regulator as is 
shown in the top left corner of the 
schematic. The external powersupply 
can be anything from about 9 volts to 
about 24 volts AC or DC. The 
regulator will make a perfect 5 VDC 
voltage.
Another way of getting the 5 VDC is 
by connecting the interface to the 
gameport of the PC this is shown at the 
top 

right corner of the schematic.

The way I did it is to make a 
connection to the PC powersupply 
directly. I did this because my PC 
didn't have a gameport. You can see 
the connection bellow. After soldering 
the wire be sure to isolate the 
connection with isolation tape.

In a PC the red wire is the 5 volt DC, 
but to be sure test the voltage. Use a 
rubber grommit where the wire leaves 
the PC housing to prevent damage to 
the wire. On the photo bellow you can 
see my first version of the C64S 
interface.

Instead of a connector were you can 
plug in a IEC cable I connected a IEC 
connector that plugs into the diskdrive 
(top). From a piece of PCB I made a 
Datassette connector. I made cuts with 
a junior saw in the copper layer. And 
made the notch in the PCB. Use a PCB 
with only copper on the top side. After 
that I soldered all the wires to the 
connectors. Put some insolation tape 
on the PCB for the Datassette were the 
wires are soldered. Don't forget the 
connection in the D25 connector 
between 2 and 15.

If you can't make the interface yourself 
take a look at the website of Markus 
Brenner. There is a link to order a 
complete interface.

The PC.
The software that is used for the 
transfer is written for MS-DOS so you 
won't need a state of the art PC to do 
this. I had an spare Pentium III 600 
MHz, a couple of 2 GB HD, a CD-
ROM and this is perfect for the job. I 
installed Windows 2000 on the second 
hardisk (D:). 

So you have access to an emulator like 
VICE os CCS64, zip, internet and 
much more. But Windows 2000 can't 
do MS-DOS. After installing 
everything I installed MS-DOS 6.2 on 
the first harddisk (C:). After doing this 
the PC will boot to MS-DOS. 

Don't panic about the Windows 2000 
part. Put in the installation CD of 
Windows 2000 and preform a repair of 
the system. When you now boot the 
PC it will ask which operating system 
to start (Double boot). Don't forget to 
format your harddisk(s) with FAT. If 
you use NTSF you can't use MS-DOS.

Go to the website of Markus Brenner 
and download MTAP (Read tape's) 
and PTAP (Write tape's) unzip the 
programs on the MS-DOS part of the 
harddisk. After this you have to get 
hold of a little program called 
CSDPMI.EXE and put this in the same 
directory as MTAP and PTAP. If you 
don't have CSDPMI.EXE try Google.

Shut down your PC and connect the 
C64S interface and a Dattassette to the 
interface. Boot the PC to MS-DOS and 
go to the directory with MTAP. Start 
the program MTAP.EXE. The program 
will list all possibilities. If you use the 
C64S interface connected to the LPT1 
port the command is very simple:

mtap.exe game.tap [ENTER]

The program will check if the interface 
is connected and ask to PRESS PLAY 
ON TAPE. If you press play on tape 
the program will record the data from 
the Datassette to a .tap file named 
game in the same directory as 
MTAP.EXE. With very big tape's such 
as 

compilations you need to increase the 
buffersize.
On the photo above you can see the 
program in action. The border of the 
screen will show lots of colors while 
recording the data. After all the data is 
recorded to the harddisk reboot the PC 
to Windows. And start your emulator 
and load the game.tap file.

On the photo's above you can see the 
emulator in action. The very cool 
wallpaper is from  Ingo Ruhnke aka 
Grumbel. 
http://pingus.seul.org/~grumbel/
The program FinalTap from Subchrist  

http://www.coder.pwp.blueyonder.co.u
k/

 software can be used to scan the 
imported .tap file. It will identify the 
speedloader and can export the 
program to a .prg file. Also it can be 
used to repair a .tap file.

If you want to write a .tap file back to a 
tape you can use the PTAP program.

For the users of the 264 series of 
Commodore computers there is a 
special interface available.


Source Taken with permission from
http://commodoregg.hobby.nl/Commo
doreHandleidingen/Pagina/INFO-
TapeTransfer-GB.htm

========== 
 
Interview with Brian Bagnall
------------------------------------
Brian Bagnall may be a name that the 
Commodore-community will 
remember: He is the author of a book 
named "The Spectacular Rise and Fall 
of Commodore", which seems pretty 
much the thing all "Commodorians" 
have waited for so long: a history of 
Commodore.
 
Question
1) Brian, this is not the first book on 
computers you wrote. Your last one is 
about "Lego Mindstorms 
programming". Well, that's quite a 
difference: from a programming book 
to a historic view of a company. Can 
you tell us when (and why) did you get 
the idea to write this book?

Brian
I first had the idea in 2002, near the 
end of my last book. I started  noticing 
there was far more Commodore 
nostalgia on the web than Apple,  
which seemed to conflict with the 
popular perception that Apple was the  
big dog back then. In the seventies, 
when the personal computer market  
kicked off, the TRS-80 (and even the 
Commodore PET) far outsold the  
Apple II, so Apple did not establish the 
personal computer market as Apple  
revisionists want you to believe.  

The thing that really got me into it  was 
realizing that Commodore sold about 
20 million C64s, yet for some  reason 
Apple receives all the credit even 
though they only sold 5  million Apple 
IIs. That just didn't make sense to me. 
Why was Commodore being  ignored? 
It wasn't until late 2003 that I really got 
into the research  and writing. Once I 
got into it, I knew there was an 
exciting story.

Question
2) It was essential for you to interview 
people who were involved in  those 
days - that's why the subtitle is "The 
Inside Story". What can the  reader 
expect as a result of this and how close 
is the result to Michael 
Tomczyk's book (referring to the time 
he covered in his book)?

Brian
People who have read through the 
chapters say the interviews give a  
deeper picture of what was going  on 
in the company. For me, the interviews  
really personalize the story. You get to 
know these people and what  they went 
through to deliver some of these 
wonderful old machines. There  were a 
lot of struggles.With due respect to 
Michael Tomczyk, this book will 
present a larger overview of 
Commodore than "The Home 
Computer Wars", which I have read.  
His book ends in early 1984 and 
mostly dealt with things at a  
managerial level. In my mind, the 
engineering story is at least as 
important as  the marketing and 
business people. Also, he didn't use 
interviews or  firsthand quotes very 
much, if at all. It was kind of 
Commodore as seen  by Michael 
Tomczyk.

Question
3) When does the book start, as your 
homepage lets us know that several 
chapters (that come to the readers mind 
first, like the Commodore typewriters 
and the calculators) were "Bonus 
Materials" not yet to be read? The 
book starts with MOS Technology, 
before Commodore purchased them.  
MOS Technology developed the 6502 
microprocessor, which revolutionized 

the personal computer industry and led 
to the Atari 2600 VCS, the Apple  II, 
the Atari 400 and 800, and of course 
Commodore's computers. The  
typewriter and calculator chapters are 
complete but I didn't get any real  
interviews for those chapters. Maybe 
after the book is out, some of  these 
people will approach me and I can land 
some interviews before I make 
them available.

Question
4) The people you interviewed are 
mainly from Commodore US, so 
would  you say that this is more or less 
the story of this part of "Commodore 
World"?

Brian
Yes. The story is told mainly from the 
real corporate headquarters? view of 
Commodore Business Machines. 
Really there was a thing called 
Commodore International Limited with 
"headquarters" in the Bahamas (a small  
rented office space with some desks), 
but that was set up for tax  purposes. 
Jack Tramiel worked at Commodore 
Business Machines in the US, and  that 
was really where the action took place 
as far as engineering the  machines and 
making decisions. 

Europe, Australia, and Japan are  
mentioned a lot throughout the book, 
since they were always central to the  
survival of Commodore, but the 
international side of Commodore is 
probably  a whole other story.

You'll read about Bob Gleadow, the 
GM of Commodore UK, Harold 
Speyer of  Commodore Germany, Kit 
Spencer, the marketing director of 
Commodore UK  who later came to the 
US, Nigel Shepherd of Commodore 
Australia, and  Tony Tokai of 
Commodore Japan, plus a few 
Japanese engineers.

Question
5) How would you, with having an 
overview of Commodore now, 
evaluate  the AMIGA-Computer? 
Premature baby, far beyond its time, a 
waste of money  or something else?

Brian
Waste of money. Just kidding! It was 
definitely far ahead of its time.  I don't 
think it was a perfect computer but it 
was revolutionary. It  was the first 
truly multimedia personal computer 
and I don't think anyone  would argue 
with that today. Unfortunately 
Commodore did not know how  to 
communicate that to their potential 
customers and the machine did not 
survive as the (then) inferior 
Macintosh did.

Question
6) Tramiel denied to get interviewed 
on Commodore - on the webpage 
commodorebook.com we can read 
"Jack has a strict no-Commodore 
interview policy." Could you dig out 
why so?

Brian
Chuck Peddle, one of the early 
Commodore engineers, says he got 
burned  by a Baron's article that was 
very harsh on him. I think he 
cooperated 
with the article and they turned around 
and demolished him. He has given 
interviews about Commodore to 
German magazines from time to time, 
though, so maybe he just doesn't trust 
the North American media.

He left on bad terms in 1984 and 
Commodore is probably not a happy 
memory for 
him or Sam Tramiel, his son. Leonard 
Tramiel seems a little more  objective 
and he sounded frustrated that his 
father would not come out and set  the 
record straight.

Question
7) Co-Editors of your book are well-
known Commodore experts like Jim 
Butterfield or Robert Bernardo. But 
had the interviewed people like 
Leonard Tramiel no interest in reading 
it before it gets released?

Brian
That's an excellent question. I thought 
long and hard about showing the  
finished chapters to Commodore 
people but decided against it. There is  
personal information about them in this 
book, and not all of it is 

flattering. I think it would take away 
from the objectiveness of the story to 
have those people involved in the 
editing process.

For example, if I showed it to Leonard, 
he would do everything in his power to 
protect  his father, even though 
Leonard seems like an honest person. I 
would have  this pressure to remove 
the best parts and it would end up 
dulling the  Commodore story rather 
than enhancing it.

Instead, I decided to pull people who 
know a lot about the Commodore  
period. Guys like Martin Goldberg 
from Classic gaming, Gareth Knight 
from 
the Amiga History Guide, Ian from 
Commdore.ca, and Jim Butterfield 
(who  was there when a lot of this stuff 
happened). 

These guys all have a  love of the 
Commodore story as you can see from 
their web sites, and they  have the 
knowledge to make sure the story is 
told accurately.

Question
8) Finally, is there a chance that this 
book will be translated into  German 
language, for example?

Brian
I think there is a very good chance. I've 
been contacted by at least  three 
German publishers so far and the book 
isn't even out yet, so I'm  going to try 
to pick the best one (which could be 
difficult considering I  know nothing 
of the German publishing industry) and 
make a deal for the  translation rights.

Thanks for the interview!

Brian
Pleasure. Great questions!

Book available from 
http://www.commodorebook.com/

==========
 
Artillery Duel 
----------------

Overview:
This is an "online" version of Artillery 
Duel  written to demonstrate the 
potential of multiplayer games over the 
Internet with the Commodore 64.  It's 
believed to be the very first Internet-
enabled game for the good old C64!  

Features:
Two players over the Internet or LAN 
(turn-based) 
Chat (F7)
Mediocre graphics 
Sound effects 
Joystick control (Port 2) 
Technical Details:
UDP-based communication (don't 
forget to forward port 3000 in your 
router/firewall) 
Written in DASM assembler 
Uses netlib64, which in turn supports 
the RR-Net or ETH64 cartridges. 

Download:
It's Beta 0.004, so contain your 
expectations.
The network configuration file follows 
the proposed standard set out by Per 
Olofsson.  Run the CONFIGURE 
program to choose your network 
settings.Please note that VICE isn't yet 
supported, as its RR-Net emulation is a 
bit buggy.

Future Plans:
Once Artillery Duel is finished, we 
plan to re-use many of the game ideas 
and protocol into a rewrite of Weather 
War, another C64/PET classic.  From 
there, a more sophisticated 
platformer/scroller shoot-em-up might 
be fun.  Eventually, we could even 
implement a server-based MMORPG, 
possibly modeled loosely on the 
Ultima series of games.

Links:
Discuss the game's development on the 
C64 

Network Game Development forum.
http://jledger.proboards19.com/index.c
gi?board=c64ngd

Look for opponents on the C64friends 
IRC chat. http://www.c64friends.com/

Games homepage. 
http://home.ica.net/~leifb/commodore/
duel/index.html

Ethernet...on the Commodore 64? 
Introduction
One of the offbeat things I?m 
interested in is the possibility of 
connecting a Commodore 64 to an 
Ethernet  network, and ultimately to 
the Internet.  Why?  Well, because it?s 
there as a fun embedded- systems type 
project.  There?s lots of untapped 
potential for online network games, 
and games were one of the C64?s 
strengths.  It also appeals to me in a 

Chindogu kind of way ? it?s un-
useless! ;-) This page is a brief 
summary of the ?state of the art? of 
Ethernet on the C64 as of November 
2006.  It only looks at ?true? Ethernet 
solutions ? other approaches such as  
dialup, PC gateways, the Lantronix 
10/100/1100 and the Palm Ethernet 
Cradle are covered in the given links.

Hardware Available now:
There are currently two commercially 
available Ethernet devices for the 
Commodore 64.  Unfortunately, they 
aren?t standalone ? they both need to 
be combined with another 
(usually expensive) cartridge to work.  
They also use different chips (see 
associated pages for details), so 
software for one isn?t necessarily 
usable on the other. 

The RR-Net.  Requires one of: Retro 
Replay, MMC64, IDE64 V4 (in 
development) or Super Snapshot V6 
(in development) because it plugs into 
the Amiga-style clock port on those 
cartridges.  Has become the defacto 
standard, as most of the software listed 
below only works with it.  Available 
from Individual Computers, 
Protovision, Vesalia, and 
C64Reloaded. 

The ETH64 ? Requires an IDE64.  
Available from the IDE64 team. 

In development:

Enhanced TFE ? Very promising 
project with adaptors for using it in 
different configurations (standalone, 
clock port, IDE64 bus).  Updated 
version of the original TFE cartridge 
prototype.  Next version may be RR-
Net compatible.  Availability 
unknown. 

 Net64 by Till Harbaum ? abandoned?  
Compatible with the original TFE.  
Compatibility with RR-Net unknown. 

Software

Contiki ? Full-blown networking 
operating system for the unexpanded 
Commodore 64.  Includes web 
browser, web server, telnet client, IRC 
client, and much more.  Drivers are 
available for any of the hardware listed 
above.  Uses the uIP stack.  Very cool! 

GuruTerm ? ?Telnet? terminal client 
for calling Commodore-oriented Telnet 
BBSes.  Not a full telnet client 
(Doesn?t support  the IAC protocol), 
but that is in the works.   Uses the uIP 
stack but only works with the RR-Net.

 Singular Browser ? Standalone Web 
browser. 
 
WarpCopy64 ? Ultra-fast file and disk 
image copier that works between the 
C64 and a Windows PC over Ethernet.  
Also RR-Net only. 
 
Libraries / Stacks

uIP ? The core of Contiki.  Written in 
C.  Not tied to any particular hardware.

netlib64 ? A very lightweight all-ML 
library.   Written in DASM assembler.  
Supports RR-Net and ETH64.

ip65 ? Written in ca65 assembler. 
Supports RR-Net only. 

VICE Support
The VICE Emulator can also emulate 
the original TFE prototype or the RR-
Net.  Setup instructions are here.  
Interestingly, VICE allows you to have 
an emulated RR-Net essentially 
connected directly to the C64, a 
configuration that cannot exist yet with 
real hardware.There is apparently a 
bug with the RR-Net emulation.  On 
the real hardware, you do not ?see? the 
Ethernet-layer packets that you send, 
whereas in VICE you do.
 
Credits
Leif Bloomquist ? Game code

Oliver VieBrooks ? Network library 
code

Thurstan Johnston ? Testing

Raik Picheta ? Music

Also thanks to Dustin Chambers, 
Robin Harbron for ideas and assistance
 
========== 
 
Interview with Leif Bloomquist
By Commodore Free 
--------------------------------------

> Please can you introduce yourself

My name's Leif Bloomquist.  I live in 
Toronto, Canada with my wife and13-
month old son.

>Please tell us a little about your job 
and hobbies

I work as a contractor to the Canadian 
Space Agency, developingsoftware 
and systems for the Phoenix Mars 
Lander project, among otherthings.
My hobbies are composing music, 
canoeing and camping.  I also playwith 
old computers sometimes too ;-)

>How did you start using Commodore 
computers

When I was 13 years old, my parents 
encouraged me to the join the 
computer club at the local library.  We 
had a TRS-80, Coco3 and VIC20 in 
the club.  The VIC20 was my favorite 
though!

>What is the worst thing in your 
opinion Commodore did

Didn't provide a sensible (or 
affordable) upgrade path from the 
C64/128.

> Why do people still use Commodre 
machines and why such a large love 
for the Commodore 64

Nostalgia, and the fact that you can 
tinker with them in ways that you can't 
with a PC.  Plus there are a lot of fun 
games for the C64, most of which have 
stood up to the test of time.

>What machines do you own currently 
and out of those machines which do 
you use

I have a modern laptop that I use for 
work and most things.  I have a C64 
with IDE64 that I use to program with, 
a VIC20 for playing games, and a PET 
8296 that my wife uses to track what's 
in our freezer.

> your main webpage 
http://home.ica.net/~leifb/commodore/ 
has some very

useful information on commodore 
machines what is the websites primary 
idea

Just to showcase various hobby 
projects I've done, hopefully others can 
learn from them too.

> I like the "The Blue Commodore 
64C" and the websites detailed 
information on how to spray your own, 
did you experience and real prolems, 
any thing our reader should watch out 
for if attempting the process himself

Yes, make sure the tape you're using to 
cover the "Commodore 64" logo when 
painting isn't too sticky.

> theme here BBS and the internet is 
this you real love for the Commodore 
machines

I just love the concept of having a C64 
hooked to the Internet.  It's so silly, and 
challenging at the same time.

> Your presentation from "World of 
Commodore 

2006" goes some detail into the 
workings of the game and how

> TCP/IP protocol works with the 
game how far is the
> game to completion

The Artillery Duel game is about 75% 
done.  I just need to add some more 
graphics (i.e. explosions) and make the 
game more fun by addingwind and 
random playing fields.  Then do lots of 
testing.

> Do you think More Commodore 
games will emerge using multiplayer 
internet access

I hope so!

>Can you take our reader though game 
development

That's a huuuuge topic, but basically 
you follow these steps:

1. Come up with the concept.

2. If you're doing something that's 
never been done before, do some tests.  
Is your idea possible?

3. Design your program's architecture 
and requirements.  How exactly should 
it work, what parts are needed, and 
how should they fit together?  How 
will the screen look?

4. Get the basic gameplay working, 
and try it out.  If necessary, go back to 
step 3 and refine your design.

5. Add graphics and documentation, 
etc.

6. Do lots of testing.

> You play down the game because of 
the Grapics I see  nothing wrong with 
them

You're the first one to comment on that 
;-)   I'm not a graphics designer so the 
graphics were left simple.  I like how 
they turned out, but they're not as slick 
as some of the newer C64 games.


Regards,
Leif
 
==========
 
How to Quik menu 
------------------------ 
How to ?Quikmenu? by Commodore 
Free
 

Loadstars quick menu system featuring 
?mini presenter? Allows users to 
quickly and easily create a disk based 
magazine or menu system to launch 
applications and text files. Ok then 
Creating ?commodore Free? issue 
number 4

Layout and art work
We need a title for the magazine this 
would be a text ?title? obviously we 
are going to use ?commodore free?, 
this can be a Doodle, Advanced art 
studio, Art studio, Loadstar SHP 
format or a Kola Picture, 
If you can draw draw a logo in 2 
colours black and white and go to the 
Everyone who can draw section.

I am assuming little drawing ability 
and we are going to use a PC to design 
our Screen. This is a 320 x 200 screen 
with the words Commodore Free. The 
conversion will create a mirror image 
of the screen and we need only draw in 
black and white 2 colour design.  Just 
create a text picture. Right artwork 
created but, this is a PC bitmap we 
need to convert the image to Doodle 
format and I have used Congo for the 
process.  Start Congo and search for 
the picture, Congo opens a familiar 
Windows browser to look for the files 

Now press the convert button (this is 
the icon of 3 floppy disks stacked on 
top of each other) This will walk 
through a Conversion process.  Select 
the output format of ?doodle 
uncompressed? Select a location to 
save the file here just to the root of 
drive c:\ Click NEXT 

You can now adjust brightness and 
Gamma correction, the screen will 
update live so you can see the effects. 
Pressing next moves you to the Dither 
settings I find here you need to go 
forward and backwards through these 
screens as changing one setting will 
affect others, so it?s a little trial and 
error I selected Everything on Zero 
except the Gamma correction of 2.55 
normally works ok .Dither percent of 
Zero and dither kind of nearest click 
Next select 2 nearest colours and then 
click Save the file will be saved in our 
case to the root of our C;\ drive 

Getting the File to Disk  
Various utilities exist for getting files 
to commodore disk images just picking 
one from random then and for no 
reason I am using Copy 64 Start the 
application press F9 to get the menu 
system 
Scroll through the list and select 
?create disk image? I am going to 
make a D81 disk So select D81 and 
press enter Give the file a name here I 
am using free4.d81 and the file will be 
created in the current directory.  Select 
the file and press enter to see the 
images contents Pressing TAB moved 
between the spit screen window 
display, now look for the Doodle 
image it should end .dd  remember we 
saved it in the 

Root of drive c:\ select the file and 
press F5 to copy it into our disk image, 
a message will appear about renaming 
or copying now the image has been 
copied to our D81 file 

GODOT
For some reason the file wont load 
properly in the quick menu so we need 
to run it through Godot, I think all 
Godot does is rename it to ddfree.dd 
I.e. prefix the file with dd otherwise 
our software cant tell 

it?s a Doodle file, anyway it gives an 
excuse to run Godot

Select LOAD as Doodle  and Select 
SAVE as Doodle 
Then click LOAD on the Right and 
search for your file from disk  Find the 
file on your disk or disk image 

Set the ?screen Controls?
HIRES 
Colours	2
Exec Area 	Clip 

Click display to look at the image, 
ensure its all ok 
Then Click anywhere to return to the 
menu Screen, now we are going to 
select a region to work on 

Image operators Click on Execute and 
the Clip works should already be 
loaded then select CLIP and draw 
around the area you want then select 
Accept to confirm this as the working 
area , redisplay then save the image 
with a new name I called mine 
free2.dd save the file uncompressed 

Everyone who can draw 
Ok doodle experts and arty types can 
stop laughing now and continue with 
the tutorial. Ok so we have a logo now 
to convert the logo to the loadstar SHP 
format for further manipulation. 

Start Qmenu application and from the 
list on the right select STB PRINT  
Run the application, Now select the 
Source disk ?where the image file is? 
and then select the Target ?where the 
file will be saved by pressing T?

Select the file free2.dd notice Godot 
added the dd prefix  once selected 
press RETURN to view the file, if it 
looks ok select C to convert the file 
and then select the output format of 
SHAPE give the file a name I am using 
?SHPfree? now Quit by pressing Q to 
return to Qmenu main screen 

Select from the menu SCRNFONT to 
convert the Screen to a font option 1 
changes disks so select the drive with 
the file to convert on it then select 
option 2 GET SHP Select Make block 
and drag around the image, you may 
need several attempts but once a block 
is drawn you see the preview if it looks 
ok then you can go on otherwise select 
make block again and continue with 
the process until you are happy.

Select Make FTS and select 128 
characters to convert, ours is a big 
logo, if you select to little fonts the 
screen wont look right as all our letters 
won?t be converted save the file and 
Exit to main menu. 

MR MICK 
Now to the screen layout start MR 
Mick application 
Select File then  DISK/DIR to select 
the drive and or directory to load the 
SHP file from  Select the file from the 
list and load the file, remember the 
image will be reversed Black is now 
white and whit black, but as we created 
a mirror image, you still with me ?

Press F4 to bring back the menu bar, 
the text will look strange cos we have 
converted it, but don?t worry, Press F3 
this will show the characters that have 
been used to convert our Screen logo 
to Text characters. Press F5 with is the 
Colour menu and will show the 
available colours and on the left a 
representation of the screen border and 
page colour, I am going for Light blue 
page and black border. Select the 
colour and move to the border or page 
and click to change Press F5 then F3 to 
return to the main menu  SAVE the 
file, we don?t wnt to be home to mr 
cockup as well as MR Mick Save the 
file as an FTS file  Press F3 then F5 
select white for the colour of our 
TEXT logo and then press F5 and F3 
now colour the Logo, play around 
reselecting colour or whatever you 
want.

Press Shift and Enter to go to Free text 
mode should be able to type now if it 
doesn?t work press F5 and F3 and you 
can select the Text click on the text 
and click where on the page you want 
it to appear.  A little tidying up and the 
footer added and we have or title 
screen, basic you can play around more 
if you like, Time is running out and we 
have lots to look at. the items on the 
footer are optional, and self 
explanatory, the page is already set 
with hotspots for the mouse so all you 
do is add the text in the rough location. 
The shortcut keys are built in the 
application 

E for exit
H for Help etc 

TEXT Processing 
We need text files, so if you are using 
some other system save the text as 
plain ASCII standard, and then import 
them to the disk image we created or 
you can enter them free hand if you 
like typing directly in to the editor, the 
editor loads plain PETAscii files. save 
the files give them names and then 
copied the plain PC text files into my 
disk image. Now start the TEXT to T 
application from our Qmenu main 
screen 

Selecting the files menu allows you to 
select the disk you use for input, the 
output files are saved to the same disk, 
ensure you have space on the disk, 
once ou have selected the right disk 
select DO IT and the application looks 
for the Text files and converts them to 
Commodore format, then renames 
them with the prefix of t. More about 
why this is later on, once the process is 
done (supercpu users hit turbo) 
otherwise go and make a cup of tea.) 
Now press SCREW it to return to the 
main menu (Dave this is shocking 
slang language >>Grin<<)

MR EDSTAR
Now select Mr edstar from the main 
Qmenu menu system this runs the text 
editor, the editor can load plain ASCII 
(pc text files and convert them on the 
fly) if you want these remember to 
save them with the t. prefix so 
editor.txt becomes just t.editor the file 
extension isn?t needed! Load the file 
and click through the menus, options 
exist for centred, indented, adding a 
new line etc. This isn?t a normal word 
processor it may take time to get used 
to it, Once all your files are edited, 
save them back with the same 
filename, or rename pc text files as 
described above,.

DISK and options
Nearly there now I suggest you make a 
copy of the Qmenu disk, once done 
remove all the text files and files 
beginning with B

Basically everything except for 

These will be needed for our disk, the 
quick.fts is our layout design screen 
this can be deleted and our splendid 
effort copied in its place, Also the 
quick list is a list of all the files on the 
disk, you can edit it by hand or do the 
lazy way delete it and once the disk is 
started it will be generated 
automatically with the correct files 
added, do this at the end though after 
adding all your files!

Now start Mr edstar and load the file 
quick.ini 
This is the screen options menu, load 
the file as a c= file and not a pc text 
file You should see these options 


Center menu 
Yep you guessed it this centers our list 
menu on screen other options are left 
and right 


Background + border
Sets screen and border colours, 
although these have been already set in 
MR MICK so are ignored for our setup 

text
Text colour 

Menu Highlight
Selects the highlight used for the menu 

frame
Sets the frame colour of the menu 

Reader text colour
Colour of the text when viewing text 
files 

RRF X coordinate + RRF Y coordinate
Co ordinates for the mini menu layout 

Menu Top
Sets the location of the menu on the 
screen 

reader background
Colour of the paper when viewing text 
files 
Play around and get a feel of the 
options does or leave them and see 
what happens. Save converted Text 
files back to your copy of the disk in 
the order you want them to appear on 
the menu, Run the disk 

Things to note are 
All text files must start with a t. prefix, 
if you have an application this needs to 
start with a B. prefix, Each Application 
needs a text file otherwise it wont 
work. Then menu system handles 
displaying text or an application with 
the mini menu, you get the 

Read the text files about how you can 
get your applications to run then quit 
back to the menu system 


Read the documentation!
 
==========

Interview with Loadstar`s Dave 
Moorman
By Commodore Free
-----------------------------------------------
--- 

Picture used with permission from 
http://www.dickestel.com/expo2005.ht
m photograph taken by Robert 
Bernardo

>Q. Please intoduce yourself to our 
Reader

A. My name is Dave Moorman. I am 
57 years old, and have been a hobbyist  
programmer since 1979. I am married, 
have one grown son, and live in  
southeastern Colorado.

>Q. Tell us a little about what you do 
for a living

A. My real vocation is an ordained 
clergy with the United Methodist  
Church. I serve three small churches, 
preaching twice every Sunday  
morning. I am theologically 
"progressive," yet revel in the power of 
the Spirit that changes lives.

>Q. For anyone who doesnt know 
what is your commitment to 
Commodore

A. My first Commodore computer was 
a C-128, bought in 1986 when I 
needed a real computer for my work. 
Thanks to a flakey power switch and a 
marvelous book (The Complete 
Commodore Inner Space Anthology by 
Karl J.H. Hildon), I "graduated" to the 
C-64 in 1988. In 1992, I saw a 
railroading game on my sister's PC and 
had to try to do something like it on the 
C-64. 

One of the greatest thrills of my life 
was getting that game -- Sea to Sea -- 
published on LOADSTAR #107. I 
wrote quite a number of other 
programs for LOADSTAR during the 
next several years, along with some 
articles.

In 1999, I discovered PC emulation, 
and suggested to Editor Fender Tucker 
that we make a LOADSTAR for PC 
people. He said "Go for it," and I did. 
During 2000, I published 
eLOADSTAR to a growing number of 
subscribers. At the end of 2000, Fender 
was ready to end the magazine at issue 
199 and move on to other things, so I 
offered to continue LOADSTAR as 
long as possible. We just shipped 
#247, and will continue through issue 
256.

>Q. What Commodore equiptment do 
you own

A. I have several C-64s and 1541s 
around the house and church. But my 
main set-up is a C-64 II, a 1541 II, and 
two CMD FD2000 drives. I am 
ashamed to admit that these are not 
even JiffyDOSed. I do most 

of my work on VICE 1.07, since it 
gives me fast access to the harddrive 
and a couple of great MS-DOS 
utilities: 64Copy and 1581Copy.

>Q. Tell our reader a little about the 
Loadstar history
>and how you came to be working on 
the magazine

A. Back in 1982, a couple in 
Shreveport, LA, decided to put 
together a disk software magazine for 
the Apple II called Softdisk. Jim and 
Judi Mangham began their enterprise 
on their dining room table, but soon 
grew to office space in downtown 
Shreveport. In 1984, the C-64 was fast 
becoming the leading home computer, 
and Softdisk, Inc., decided to branch 

in that direction. The name 
LOADSTAR is from the command to 
start the disk 

- LOAD"*",8,1.

In 1984, Fender Tucker, a guitarist for 
a bar band in New Mexico, came to 
Shreveport to become the new 
managing editor of LOADSTAR. 
Fenderbrought a unique "off-kilter" 
attitude and a quest for something he 
called (but never quite defined as) 
LOADSTAR Quality.

Two things about LOADSTAR 
impressed me from the first issue I 
every read: First, the magazine -- both 
in text and programs -- was a 
continuous environment. One of the 
Qualities of a LOADSTAR program 
was that exiting it took the user back to 
the main menu. I thought it must be 
like being on QLink, but I was wrong. 
LOADSTAR was better!

The other thing -- and this was back in 
1988-89 -- was that unlike the 
numerous paper mags, LOADSTAR 
respected the reader's intelligence. 
Many of the paper publications were 
kind of stuck at "here's how you get 
started." LOADSTAR had tutorials on 
using custom fonts, getting bitmaps to 
work, and compression algorithms. It 
also had utilities and ML toolboxes 
that openned whole new possibilities to 
programmers.

At some point, Softdisk, Inc., decided 
to discontinue the original Apple II 
Softdisk publication -- at aroundissue 
163. In a couple of years, LOADSTAR 
sailed past that milestone and became 
the longest running disk magazine in 
history.As I said, after getting Sea to 
Sea published, I became a regular 
contributor. During rough times, I 
imagined moving to Shreveport and 
sitting by Fender and Jeff Jones all day 
long whacking out code. I kind of got 
my wish, except no Fender or Jeff.

>Q. Why is loadstar to finish

A. Two factors (maybe three) caused 
us (my wife is the bookkeeper and 
"stuff it lady") to decide to bring 
LOADSTAR to an end. The first is 
that our subscription base has 
dwindled. This has always been a 
semi-commercial venture, mostly a 
source of "mad money." Putting 
together an issue takes a certain 
amount of time -- and waning 
subscriptions no longer covered the 
time spent.

The second reason is that our supply of 
new programs has dried up. We still 
get a few -- Ricky Derocher, Jane 
Voskap Jones, John Kaputa, Dennis 
Hildreth, Andrew Roberts, and a few 
others have sent material. But it is 
harder to find new software.
Finally, I will probably move in a 
couple of years. Methodist pastors 
move around a lot. It would be best to 
wind up this section of my life before 
we are sent to Last Chance, Colorado.

>Q. You have started a Secret Society 
of commodorecoders can you explain 
this

A. Back at the LUCKI Expo -- was it 
2004? -- I got talking with Bo 
Zimmerman and others, sharing secrets 
and ideas about coding. I wanted such 
discussions to continue, so I came up 
with the idea of the Secret Society. The 
idea was to stick to just programming 
on the unenhanced C-64, but both in 
BASIC and ML. About a year ago, I 
got extremely busy with my pastorate 
and lost touch with the SSOCC. I am 
glad Robin Harbron and Jeff Ledger 
have continued the discussions. I hope 
to get back to it soon.

>Q.Loadstar to me seemed all about 
getting people
quality technical information was this 
the goal

A. I hope we are! I like to offer a range 
of interactive entertainment -- games, 
puzzles, multi-media, plus tools, 
utilities, and information.

>Q.If someone wanted to start 
programming where would they start

A. With a C-64! And a book on 
BASIC 2.0. The BASIC command list 
in the user's guide would be a start. I 
would strongly suggest sitting down 
with the book and writing out a 
program with pen and paper, then 
checking it by hand. The secret to 
programming is learning to think 
exactly like the machine.

Our NICKEL GAMES CD-ROM 
includes a good beginners tutorial and 
BASIC bible (which I would like to 
publish in CommodoreFree, if you 
would be agreeable). And 
LOADSTAR's CompleatProgrammer 
has 2-1581s full of stuff -- from basic 
BASIC to courses on ML. Learning 
how to use ARRAYS is the heart of all 
programming.

>Q.Do you believe modern systems 
are too complex?

A. Right in One! I realize they must 
have such complexity because of their 
size. They need the size in order to 
handle huge amounts of data (like 
wave files, photos or movies). And 
while the internet is great, it would not 
be possible without advertising -- 
which needs photos, etc. So the 
modern home computer is way too big 
and complex for most users, 
and yet must be so in order to do what 
most users want done.

Back in 1997, I was assigned to a 
church that had a 486 PC, and had to 
spend a lot of time working on it -- 
newsletters and such. I also got on the 
internet on the PC. In fact, for a year or 
so, I barely used my 
C-64. So, even with the SuperCPU, I 
never got into GEOS or Wheels or 
Wings. I became, instead, a "cross-
platformer." PC for work. C-64 for 
fun.Today, I use PhotoDeluxe to 
massage images, then transfer them to 
the C-64 with GoDot. I also do video 
editing and CD and DVD burning on 
my Pentium 400 Mhz machine. And of 
course, newsletters and databases.

>Q. What's your favourite 
program/game from Loadstar's long 
history?

A. Recently, I have become addicted to 
Shamrock -- a solitaire by Maurice 
Jones. Blockhead's Revenge, by Kate 
and Ron Slaminko, keeps me up all 
night. Sea to Sea is still a favorite, as I 
try to get 6 trains in and out of Chicago 
without a fatal crash.I would say that 
the greatest piece of code ever 
published on LOADSTAR was/is 
Mr.Mouse, by Lee Novak. It came out 
in 1997, and made the C-64 totally 
point-and-click. Plus, it has a 
marvelous toolbox of useful 
commands such as Print At and 
Scrolling Menu.

>Q. What's your favourite bit of 
Commodore equipment?

A.The SuperCPU kicks the C-64 into 
high gear. If Maurice Randall ever gets 
mine fixed, I will be ready to go back 
to my old "brown betty."

>Q. Do you prefer using an emulator 
or the real thing?

A.I use VICE 1.07 -- which works well 
on my 400 Mhz PC very well. I like 
having the whole harddisk at my 
disposal. And, I can flip between 
64Copy (where I move files to and 
from disk images), Photo Deluxe, 
GoDot, WinZip, and VICE. I'm 
spoiled, I guess.For me, it is not the 
machine. It is the platform -- the 
memory map and ML and BASIC, the 
VIC II and SID. I have learned a lot 
about all this, and still have miles to go 
before I have fully explored this 
amazing 
computer.

>Q. Will you still be a regular 
Commodore user once
Loadstar finishes?

A.I certainly will! Until my mind fails, 
I will certainly get ideas for projects. 
And the place for me to sit down and 
make them real is the C-64. Here I am 
god (little "g") of 65536 bytes -- who 
never talk back and 
usually do what I want. And if worse 
comes to worst, I can always press 
<Alt-R>, and the machine happily says 
READY.
 
THE END  

