************************************* Commodore Free Magazine http://www.commodorefree.com/ ************************************* Issue 44, September 2010 Free to download magazine dedicated to Commodore computers Available as PDF, HTML, TXT, SEQ and D64 disk image ===================================== ************************************* CONTENTS ************************************* * Editorial * NEWS - ACE Commander 128 RC - Vandalism News #53 Released - Shredz64 Updated, PSX64 Available - Pocket 1541 - Contiki Download Page - Aladdin 4D & ARES Partnership - A Conversation With Chuck Peddle, Bil Herd, Jeri Ellsworth - IceFileSystem 1.13 For MorphOS - AmiUpdate 2 - CommodoreServer.com - Maziacs on the Plus/4 - VIC20 New Game: Pillow Fight - UWOL Quest For Money - SCACOM Issue 18/19 Released - BOH Update13 Released - PyGame Ported To AmigaOS 4 - Commodore Computer Club Update - Games That Wern't Update - C128 System Information 7.2 - RETURN - 8 bit magazine issue 4 - 64HDD Celebrates 10 Years - ART Episode 45 - TGA: The Great Adventure - Plus4 Club Info 118 Released - Morph Game - Enhanced Music Player For iPad - Two sd2iec Releases - CBM-Command Version 1.5 Released - SEUCK Vault Update - Diskmag "Hugi" Issue 36 - Ultimate Pack 1.6.0 For MorphOS - Blu Manager V0.5 Released - TargetD64 V0.4.0 Released - MiniGame Compo 2010 - Commodore Announces Exclusive Worldwide Licensing Rights - LOADSTAR Compleat * Interview With Payton Byrd * Writing CBM-Command * CBM-Command * Interview With Michael * Will You Still Love Me Will You Still Need Me When I'm 64 ===================================== ************************************* EDITORIAL ************************************* I AM THE COMMANDER This issue sees an interview with Payton Byrd creator of Cbm-Command, if you have seen Norton commander ® then you will get the idea of the application. Basically it's a File or menu application for viewing, copying, renaming, moving files. The application features a split screen so you can have for example disk 8 on the left and disk 10 on the right and copy files to and fro from one disk to another, very smart and a great project. This software actually runs on the Commodore 128, 64 and there is even a lite version for the vic20. It totally amazes me that we have so much creativity within the Commodore community, and such great ideas. This particular piece of software as you will have seen in the news section of Commodore Free is very regularly updated and enhanced, also it's a project in need of volunteers to help optimise the code and make improvements. FILED AWAY WITH C64 ARCHIVIN In this issue we also have an interview with Michael creator of C64 ARCHIVIN archiving software for your commodore 64 files, all packaged up in one handy graphical front end, slick and easy to use, again a neat solution to a very common project. NOSTALGIC I recently had a visitor who was wowing at some fancy graphical pc game, I pointed out that with unlimited processing and graphical power that "anything" should be possible. I suppose with the right machine (once technology catches up) we will be producing "Toy Story" follow-ups on our desktops maybe even during lunch hour, and rendering the results in real time. With the 8-bit and even 16-bit machines the hardware is more or less fixed, ok you can add a replacement processor in the case of the Amiga or a SCPU for the Commodore 64 or other hardware accelerator; but the whole point is these are fixed hardware devices. So if you wanted a demo to run faster you would have to turn to tuning your program; or rewriting it in a more efficient manor. Heck you may even think it's not possible with the hardware and scrap the project (although I suppose this should have been worked out before you started coding the application). So when I loaded some amazing Commodore 64 demos they were lost on him; as he said the pictures were grainy and small and limited in colours, I on the other hand sat for some time totally amazed someone could actually produce something 1. So beautiful 2. So efficient 3. Work at all! My friend never had an 8-bit or 16-bit system; instead he went into computing late and just started on the PC route. In the interview with www.commodroeserver.com it was pointed out that these users had missed out on something. I am glad I can appreciate the skill of Demo coding and games designers and realise this is an art form in the same sense as a painter would use canvas and oils to replicate what he saw in real life. The next demos you see think to yourself. - How is this possible on such a machine? - How did they get that effect to work so fast? - How did they manage to cram so much code into so small a memory footprint? - How beautiful this actually is OVER AND OUT That's me out of space, and I am sure you'd rather stop the waffle and get on with the magazine. I sincerely hope I stirred up something deep within you, if not then I feel sorry that you are missing out on such beauty. Regards Nigel (Editor) www.commodorefree.com ===================================== ************************************* NEWS ************************************* ************************************* ACE COMMANDER 128 RC ************************************* MICOSOFT has released a test version of a commodore 128 file commander style application, to download the application visit http://noname.c64.org/csdb/getinterna lfile.php/91625/acecom128.rar http://noname.c64.org/csdb/release/?i d=93983 ------------------------------------- ************************************* VANDALISM NEWS #53 RELEASED ************************************* After a long delay the 53rd edition of Vandalism News strikes the scene. Three disk sides of text, exclusive music and a disk cover by Zapotek. What are you waiting for? http://noname.c64.org/csdb/release/in dex.php?id=93907 ------------------------------------- ************************************* SHREDZ64 UPDATED, PSX64 AVAILABLE ************************************* Toni Westbrook has been busy updating the C64 program, Shredz64, and building the accompanying adapter, PSX64. With Shredz64 and PSX64, you can connect a Guitar Hero guitar controller to the C64 and play the SID music that comes with the software. For Shredz64, new songs in NTSC and PAL have been added to the original line-up of SID tunes, the new tunes being Bombo, Stairway Intro, and Still Alive. For the PSX64 adapter, Toni is producing them again. Send him an e-mail, and he will build one for you. Also, new firmware for the PSX64 makes the device more efficient and bug-free. Go to http://www.toniwestbrook.com or to http://www.synthdreams.com OVERVIEW Shredz64 is a modern day game for the Commodore 64 that makes use of the Playstation guitar controller hooked through the PSX64 interface. Its design is modelled against the popular "Guitar Hero" series, geared toward the ability to play along to your favourite C64 music on the guitar. Correctly played notes increase your score and applause meter, while incorrectly played notes decrease your applause meter. If the crowd stops applauding, you're out! Additionally, Shredz64 features the "shredocity" meter that allows for extra points when you're doing an awesome job shredding to your favourite chiptune. With Shredz64, the fun doesn't stop when you've mastered all the included songs. You can add your favourite SID files to the game and record your own custom notes, or download songs other people have created - Shredz64 keeps rocking nonstop. ------------------------------------- ************************************* POCKET 1541 ************************************* Pocket 1541 is a disk emulator using an SD card and supporting the following formats: D64, M2I, PRG, D71, D81 and P00 the firmware is based on the open source SD2IEC the device features an LCV for navigation of the disk images for more information visit the ITALIAN SITE http://www.rgmelsat.com/display_lcd/d isplay.htm Here is a Google translate of the information text in the website Italian to English translation EMULATOR DISK DRIVE FOR 1541 COMMODORE 64 BASED ON OPEN SOURCE SD2IEC FIRMWARE POWER: 9-12V 0.1A (centre positive) not included. MICROPROCESSOR: 8 MHz clock. NEED FOR EXTERNAL SECURE DIGITAL MEMORY: TESTED WITH SD 256MB, 512MB, 1GB, 2GB. THE POCKET1541 DO NOT HAVE INTERNAL MEMORY SUPPORT (0 BYTE) NOT SUBJECT TO THE FAIR CONSUMPTION TAX. Supported file formats:. D64 / M2I (reading and writing). PRG. D71. D81. P00. KERNAL TESTED WITH ORIGINAL WITH THE JIFFYDOS, Exos / TORNADO DOS CARTRIDGE TURBODISK, FCIII. POCKET1541 SUPPORTS THE SWITCH FROM DISK 1-2 MENU 'BUTTON UP-DOWN OPTION Weighs 200 Grams. Native support for subdirectories with commands CMD. TYPE OPEN 1,8,15, "CD: NOME.D64" CLOSE1. Follows the command LOAD "$", 8. LOAD "NOMEFILE.PRG, 8.1 for uploading files. PRG. TESTED WITH C64 AND VIC20 C128.COMPONENTI ROHS compliant. ALL COMPONENTS OF THE KIT IS UNDER EC ------------------------------------- ************************************* CONTIKI DOWNLOAD PAGE ************************************* CONTIKI V2.4 C64web have made a web page; where you can download a disk image with the latest version of the Contiki OS. On the webpage you can fill in you internet configuration and choose which Ethernet card you are using, and then download the relevant precompiled version. Contiki v2.4 contains the following programs: dhcp client, web server, web browser, wget, smtp client, irc client and a Twitter client http://cbm8bit.com/contiki/ ------------------------------------- ************************************* ALADDIN 4D & ARES COMPUTER PARTNERSHIP ************************************* For the first time get Aladdin 4D 5.x integrated at a special price when you buy an ARES One Chicago, IL / Duisburg, Germany August 28, 2010 DiscreetFX, a Visual Effects powerhouse in creative software and content creation enabling products, and ARES Computer, a market leader in AROS system integration, today announces a partnership to include 3D animation / rendering / effects tools with each ARES One computer sold. Bringing hobbyist animation, rendering and particle effects creation software to new AROS computer graphics professionals. Now enjoy the speed and native hardware support for AROS on an ARES ONE and great creative software to make you more productive using AROS. The ARES ONE also comes with other exciting software including Amiga Forever 2009 OEM, Cinnamon Writer, Art Effect, AMC and Frying Pan. Aladdin 4D 5.x is an optional Instant Download when you buy an ARES ONE. Price is an attractive discounted price since it is being purchased as part of a system solution. Bonus objects, textures and effects are also included as part of the ID. Aladdin 4D 5.x operating system integration is also available as an option for MorphOS & Amiga OS 4.x if those developers choose to partner with DiscreetFX. Purchase an ARES ONE & Aladdin 4D 5.x together and get lighting fast 3D renders and animations. The ARES ONE is only sold through Vesalia Online http://www.vesalia.de/e_aresone2010.h tm http://www.vesalia.de/e_aresone.htm ABOUT DISCREETFX Want to see DiscreetFX's effects software in action? Turn on your television, we have been creating visual effects software products for editors and creative professionals for over 15 years. DiscreetFX creates Real-time transitions and effects seen on over 100 television programs including Blind Date, 5th Wheel, Shipmates and many more! You can also see DiscreetFX software used on the following networks HBO, Showtime, Discovery Channel, PBS, Fox and more! DiscreetFX is privately owned visual effects startup and based in Chicago, Illinois. For more information, please visit: www.discreetfx.com . ABOUT ARES COMPUTER ARES Computer (owner Pascal Papara) started in 2009 to bring AROS enthusiast and newbies a powerful but inexpensive, fully AROS-compatible System. The result was the AresOne and his now available successor (www.vesalia.de). With Broadway, AMC, the ultimate MediaCenter for all three Amiga-like Systems (AmigaOS/AROS and MorphOS) and the coming app-browser(working title), we are aiming also to non- amigans. Our long time target is to get back a healthy and commercial interesting Amiga eco system. ------------------------------------- ************************************* A CONVERSATION WITH CHUCK PEDDLE, BIL HERD, JERI ELLSWORTH ************************************* To: Commodore Free From: RobertB Subject: A Conversation with Chuck Peddle, Bil Herd, Jeri Ellsworth After much time rendering, editing, and re-rendering these babies, I have the first batch of videos available from the Commodore Vegas Expo v6 2010. These videos focus on the presentations done by Commodore and Amiga presenters at the show. Here is each video's subject matter and how to get to them -- CommodoreServer.com, V-1541, Comet64 Internet Modem by Greg Alekel http://blip.tv/file/4038591 Portland Commodore User Group - PDXCUG by Greg Alekel http://blip.tv/file/4042778 Enhanced Music Player for the iPad by Keith Henrickson http://blip.tv/file/4042847 Commodore Programming Resources by Larry Anderson http://blip.tv/file/4042913 Disabling the NMI by Steve Davison http://blip.tv/file/4042940 While we await second batch of CommVEx 2010 videos, here's part 1 of a video from CommVEx 2009. CBM engineer Chuck Peddle, CBM engineer Bil Herd, and engineer Jeri Ellsworth video-conferenced into CommVEx and had discussion of the early days at Commodore Business Machines. Not to be confused with an earlier Chuck Peddle interview from the Vintage Computer Festival East, this new talk sheds more light on Peddle, Jack Tramiel, and the PET and VIC-20 computers. To see the one-hour video, go to http://blip.tv/file/4055830 Parts 2 and 3 will be uploaded in the future. Thanks to BIOS for uploading, Robert Bernardo Fresno Commodore User Group http://videocam.net.au/fcug COMMODORE FREE I am sure I have posted this news before still for the benefit of people who missed out here it is again ------------------------------------- ************************************* ICEFILESYSTEM 1.13 RELEASED FOR MORPHOS ************************************* DESIGN GOALS AND PRIORITIES 64bit disk file system supporting a high number of useful features, by a design prioritised like following: 1-Reliability 2-Scalability 3-Efficiency 4-Speed FEATURES * 64bit file/partition/extent sizes (actually very close to 2^63 bytes). No self imposed fragmentation of large files unless there is not enough contiguous space available. * All metadata on disk is check summed. This means any errors on disk will be detected a lot quicker. * Meta level journaling. Journaling makes operations to disk atomic. * Hard links (directory and file), soft links, notification, examine all, record locking, file comments. Fully supported. * Supports almost any 2^x media sector sizes. File system layout on disk is not dependant on a specific underlying sector size. File system may however place data on disk so that it is optimal for the sector size used. * File system does not get slower for larger partitions (scales very well), or when heavily fragmented. * No limit in # of files/dirs in partition/dirs. * Handles removable media. * Supports optional recycle dir. * Supports automatically truncated log files and optional file system log file. * Wastes only 128k (and pre-allocates another 128k for meta space) for file system administration data, regardless of partition size. * Dynamic handling of cache memory. Memory is given back (progressively) to system when not used. TECHNICAL * Extent based space and file data layout. * Main space allocator is based on the TLSF algorithm, adapted for on-disk storage. * All metadata except extent headers are located in special extents called pools and use a local bitmap to keep track of free meta space. Metadata is very compact. * Entry lookup in directories uses one or more hash tables depending on need. This gives the effect of a variable hash table ranging from 124 to 3472 buckets. * Implementation uses two level caching (sector + metadata). * Implementation supports pre-allocation to minimize fragmentation (and increase speed) when several files are concurrently written to. PLATFORMS SUPPORTED * MorphOS (2.x for best performance) http://blubbedev.net/icefs/ ------------------------------------- ************************************* AMIUPDATE 2 ************************************* In celebration of the 25th birthday of the Amiga computer, amiupdate.net is pleased to announce the immediate release of AmiUpdate version 2.0. To support this new version, we have also given the website a facelift and significantly updated the contents. You can download this version from the Downloads section. There have been lots of changes to AmiUpdate in this version. Most notably is the addition of the Preferences editor, and the scheduled scan feature. More details about the new features have been added to the Description section of this website. With the release of the translation files, we are now pleased to announce that the following languages are supported by catalogues which can be downloaded from here. Finnish French German Italian Spanish One other notable change is the removal of the AmigaGuide? documentation. All documentation is now web-based from this website. We apologise for this, and the fact that it makes localised documentation impossible, but it certainly helps us keep the documentation more up-to-date, and saves the extra overhead of maintaining various documents. Version 2.2 now brings back the AmigaOS 4.0 compatibility. Extensive testing has been done to ensure this version will work to allow users of older versions of AmigaOS 4 to enjoy easy updating of their systems. Many thanks go to Chris Dallimore and Darren Eveland for their help with testing 2.2. http://codebench.co.uk/AU_LiveSite/ ------------------------------------- ************************************* COMMODORESERVER.COM ************************************* CommodoreServer is the service that your Commodore computer has been missing for the last three decades! With many online resources and activities available, CommodoreServer provides a friendly, social community for Commodore enthusiasts. It serves as a centralized location for managing your D64 files, blogging about Commodore-related topics, posting new software releases and provides a place for Internet-based software and games. CommodoreServer provides information and other programming resources for developing Internet-based software for Commodore computers. With several Internet adapters on the market, it is easy to see the need to develop new applications and games that utilize this technology. Since there are very few software titles available today, CommodoreServer strives to be a one-stop-shopping resource for finding and developing Internet software for all Commodore computers (like an app store). Some of the many features and benefits of CommodoreServer.com: * Upload/download D64 files * Download games or other files directly from a Commodore computer * Release and publish new software in the Public Directory (members can view/download directly from their Commodore computers) * Share disks with friends * Manage and access D64 files from a Web browser (or Commodore computer) * Maintain history of disks with snapshots, preserving older versions * Open disk contents in a Web browser to view BASIC programs or ML disassembly * Download individual PRG or other files from a D64 without having to download the whole D64 * Download a "BASIC LOADER" for machine language programs * View files as a HEX dump * View disk sector data in a HEX dump * Create newly-formatted disks with a click * Community blogging for Commodore-related topics * A complete resource for programming Internet software * Sell software or hardware For more information, visit http://www.commodoreserver.com COMET64 INTERNET MODEM The Comet64 Internet Modem is an RS-232 device that hooks up to the user port on a Commodore 64, Commodore 128, Vic-20 or SX-64 computer. It is a serial-to-ethernet (S2E) board that translates RS-232 data to high-level Internet protocols. Using the Comet64, you can write or use software to access just about any modern Internet protocol, such as SMTP, FTP, HTTP, Gopher and more. The Comet64 comes with a disk containing the V-1541 software, which allows users to connect seamlessly to CommodoreServer.com and access and view disks in the Public Directory or in the user's private account. Using V-1541, users can view disks, list directory contents, SAVE programs and download games or other files using standard LOAD and SAVE operations. By default, the Comet64 is configured to interact and connect to CommodoreServer.com so that users can easily access any of the activities available there. Although it is pre-configured, programmers can send commands via software to change the configuration of the device and connect to other Internet servers and ports, allowing greater flexibility for new Internet-based software. The Comet64 Internet modem allows programmers to develop new software with ease, focusing more on high-level data rather than the underlying complexities of TCP/IP. It has built-in support for DHCP, PPPoE, DNS, baud rate, parity/data bits/stop bits, flow control, and a few additional configuration parameters that allow it to be used as a client or server (configuration is limited to a single connection, so it is not practical to run as an Internet server). Baud rates supported are 1200, 2400, 4800, 9600, 19.2K, 38.4K, 57.6K, 115.2K, and 230.4K, although speeds are limited to the physical conditions of the Commodore computer that it is connected to. The Comet64 has two configuration options: 1) Internet Modem only and 2) Internet Modem + RS-232 port. The RS-232 port can be used to connect to any other RS-232C-capable device, such as a PC, printer or telephone modem, using a standard DB9 RS-232 cable. Users have the ability to switch between Internet modem and the RS-232 port. For purchasing information, visit http://www.commodoreserver.com/produc ts ------------------------------------- ************************************* MAZIACS ON THE PLUS/4 ************************************* New release Maziacs for the 64k 264 series of Commodore machines. This game is a conversion of the Spectrum game by Don Priestley below is some furtherer information from the PLUS4 world website. Title: Maziacs Category: Game/Maze Release Date: 2010-08-22 Language: English Size: 64K Machine: PAL Only Code Type: Machine code Distribution: Freeware GameEndingType: Has an end, game ends Released by: Assassins (ASN) Converted by: K., Róbert (KiCHY) Notes: Original program by Don Priestley on Sinclair ZX Spectrum. http://plus4world.powweb.com/software /Maziacs ------------------------------------- ************************************* VIC20 NEW GAME: PILLOW FIGHT ************************************* Jeff Daniels released a new VIC20 game, Pillow Fight, (shelved for some time) which can be played on a unexpanded Vic and features multichannel sound. Remember Pro Wrestling? Manoeuvre the protagonist by "bouncing off the ropes" and changing directions during travel to collect all the round objects. The trick is you can only collect them when the colour is right. Avoid the sharp objects. There are 12 levels, each with a time limit to complete. Bonus objects will send you to bonus levels or allow you to skip levels. http://sleepingelephant.com/denial/pi llow.zip ------------------------------------- ************************************* COMMODRE 64 GAME UWOL QUEST FOR MONEY ************************************* The Mojon Twins have released a new game converted from the Spectrum, called UWOL, Quest for money. In The game you try to steal as many coins as possible. Uwol won't want to end his mission until he collects a minimum of 255 of those. The manor rooms are arranged like a pyramid, starting from the very top. After you clean a room of coins you will be given the chance to choose which path (left or right) to take. You select a path walking over one of the arrows which appear and pressing DOWN. If you get to the bottom of the pyramid and you haven't gathered enough coins you get back to top and start over. This time, you should choose another path 'cause the already visited rooms will be empty. Use the pyramid map to know which rooms are visited and which aren't. UWOL has great graphics and a nice SID tune. http://noname.c64.org/csdb/release/do wnload.php?id=117505 ------------------------------------- ************************************* SCACOM (GERMAN) ISSUE 18/19 RELEASED ************************************* Scacom-Aktuell is a German Commodore Magazine, and has just released a new issue. The magazine is available in PDF and JPG-format on the website of Scacom-Aktuell. In this magazine you can find: Commodore Meeting 2010 AmigaONE X1000 Amiga 3000T Commodore prototypes Trash Design etc. http://scacom.bplaced.net/scacomakt/A usgaben/SCACOM_Aktuell_Ausgabe_18.pdf ------------------------------------- ************************************* BOH UPDATE13 RELEASED ************************************* For both those who are having a great gaming time now and those who will back at their computers after the summer, here is one more massive update that takes BOH to yet another level. More specifically, this update: * adds world standings: the game can send automatically the local records to a global server that keeps the real-time standings of all the players in the world who make use of this new feature; * adds a new tile kind: the message point, i.e. a location that reveals a message (a hint, a riddle, a part of story, etc.); * uses the messages points to make many missions more intriguing and to improve the tutorial missions (which have also been slightly modified for greater effectiveness); * adds the theme "pyramid"; * adds 5 new missions; * adds the possibility of specifying a success epilogue and a failure epilogue for each phase; * reworks automappers: the more powerful one now covers the same area of the other one, but provides also an alternative rendering mode whereby the map reflects faithfully the actual colours of the tiles; * makes movements of enemies clearer; * allows the RM to open locked passages and exits only when facing them; * removes sidestepping; * makes [SPACE] the default automapper key; * makes the alignment of menu texts definable by the theme designer; * improves a few strings in some translations; * improves and updates the manuals; * applies various other changes. The update can be downloaded for free from the DOWNLOADS page of the official website. he demos have been updated to reflect the changes. ABOUT BOH BOH is a unique retro-flavoured puzzle-riddled maze game spiced up with thrilling action. You move in claustrophobic, mysterious, dangerous battlefields searching for the Evil Masters, who throw countless enemies at you until you discover and face them in the final battle. Although your quests are made slightly less hard by the power-ups scattered all around, carrying out the missions demands lots of concentration and quick reflexes. With BOH the fun never ends: new missions can be added anytime and you can even create your own! And, as if that was not enough, you can also customize entirely its audio-visual aspect! BOH has been created with lots of passion and care to offer, with its old-school style, a fascinatingly different video gaming experience. Website: http://www.bohthegame.com Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/pages/BOH/995 98418583 Twitter: http://twitter.com/bohthegame ------------------------------------- ************************************* PYGAME PORTED TO AMIGAOS 4 ************************************* After one late evening and half a day it's done! PyGame is ported to AmigaOS4. This opens up the doors for a flood of new game/demo/app ports. The first decent game that is ported is called Mobius Skies - a very nice horizontal shmup. Download PyGame here! Download Mobius Skies http://www.os4depot.net/index.php?fu. ..obiusskies.lha The shared object of SDL, SDL_Mixerl, SDL_Image etc are needed, they are all available on os4depot. Have fun! Spot ------------------------------------- ************************************* COMMODORE COMPUTER CLUB UPDATE ************************************* www.CommodoreComputerClub.co.uk COMMODORE FREE Although this is an internal club memorandum I thought it may be useful to read, esspecially after such a after a quiet period. The membership has been simplified to make it easier for the club administration. The internal memo reads as follows:We will no longer be taking six-month or one-year memberships effective immediately. If you want in, it has to be a life membership from now on I'm afraid. That means anyone who has paid for their membership so far will pay the balance should they want to remain as members of the club. For instance,£27 will be payable for those who paid up for six months already and £25 for those who paid up for a year. You'll have until the end of the year to sort this out, and you may now pay via PayPal if you want to. So, for those who want to continue to be a member of the club (and you're not already a life member), then please fill in an online form available through the site to check that we have all of your details. We'll ask for the balance via your preferred method. If anyone has changed of address, email or whatever and is a life member, then the new membership form will allow you to update your details without being invoiced. The future? I am currently discussing with members and the operations manager at the National Museum of Computing at Bletchley Park to arrange the club's next meeet within the next six months or so if people are interested? The benefits with Bletchley is that we can use one of the rooms (at a cost, still to be discussed) and passers by might call in to see what we're up to. As most people had a Commodore or Sinclair in the 1980s, this might increase the club's profile somewhat. On the agenda: Allan is going to experiment with a SVGA adapter for the RGBI output on the 128; he has a good enough(if you don't mind waiting for it to warm up) prototype that does SVideo, so hopefully he can just plug in the daughter board into the SVGA adapter and it'll work. Allan will announce rough prices. He also has some Palm Cradles that he can convert to use with the SwiftLink/Turbo232 if people are interested - just nudge Allan about this one via our forums or Google Group. Many thanks for your continued interest and patience. Regards, Shaun_B CCC (UK) Secretary" ------------------------------------- ************************************* GAMES THAT WERN'T UPDATE ************************************* Nobby the Aardvark, X-Fighter CD32 Lone Wolf: the Mirror of Death Amiga Games That Weren't hast three games in this updates: NOBBY THE AARDVARK is a famous C64 game that was in development for the Amiga. Sadly, the Amiga was about half complete and was affected by Thalamus' liquidation. aGTW speaks to developers Jonathan Temples and Ashley Hogg. http://agtw.abime.net/games/view/nobb ytheaardvark Genesis Software / Thalamus - 1992 Status: Development incomplete - four playable levels X-FIGHTER CD32 GTW talks to the elusive Kwok Man about his game X-Fighter CD32. X-Fighter was the commercial successor to PD game Mad Fighters II, was due to be published by Thalion and was reviewed by a number of Amiga magazines before it mysteriously disappeared. http://agtw.abime.net/games/view/xfig hter X-FIGHTER CD32 Kwok Man / Thalion - 1995 Status: Game completed but unpublished LONE WOLF: THE MIRROR OF DEATH Finally, we query Ian Upton, the designer of Lone Wolf: the Mirror of Death. This action/platform game was based on a popular series of game books and was released on a number of 8-bit platforms. Although advertised for the Amiga, Atari ST and DOS, only the PC saw a release. http://agtw.abime.net/games/view/lone wolfmirrorofdeath LONE WOLF: THE MIRROR OF DEATH Audiogenic - ? Status: Unknown ------------------------------------- ************************************* C128 SYSTEM INFORMATION 7.2 RELEASED ************************************* http://noname.c64.org/csdb/getinterna lfile.php/90889/sysinfo72.prg MIRKOSOFT has released a Commodore 128 information tool to display what hardware is attached to your Commodore 128, the software can also detect the drives attached to the machine as well as the Ram and if a SCPU is installed ------------------------------------- ************************************* RETURN - 8 BIT MAGAZINE ISSUE 4 ************************************* http://www.return-magazin.de/ Issue 4 of the German language RETURN has "returned" back in its printed format Contents: * Power Play - 8-bit with development contract * Clive Sinclair: inventor and visionary * Review: Pitfall II * Interview with Keith Robinson * Crossover: Dig Dug * Bandai Playdia * "Dunkle Katakomben" (Dark Catacombs) Adventure for C64 * Sega: 8 Bit Accessories (2) * Mercenary - Open World game of the 80ies * Fail Safe for Atari 7800 * Interview with Kultboy.com http://www.return-magazin.de/ ------------------------------------- ************************************* 64HDD CELEBRATES 10 YEARS ************************************* From: 64HDD Registrations To: 64HDD Registrations Subject: 64HDD Celebrates 10years 64HDD has reached the 10year milestone - thanks to those who have supported over the years! The freeware version can be downloaded; professional users can reply to this email with their serial number. The emulator core has been standardised across all versions. This upgrade has been worked on for so so long I forget what refinements have been added (not all in the freeware or CD versions)... main ones: * lower memory usage - helps with people installing memory resident drivers * vga switch for making use of a larger GUI screen * AR6 switch for setting action replay tolerant mode * ezvic switch sets directories to display in ~20column format * T1541 and F1541 commands are now configured to external BAT files. This frees up some code space, but as Star Commander now can be run in command mode it means you can configure that program to do your transfers and the job gets done faster than 64HDD used to do it. You need to use the SC beta 0.83xxx version or better though. * disk-flipping has been improved. There is an auto-disk-flip mode (makes similarly named files a disk-set) or manually using the XS: command (the XS: command is used by SD2IEC, so I just called it the same name for the command) * a lot of extra keys are defined which allow you to better configure 64HDD Pro whilst its running. The Help [H} screen shows these. * PS printer engine added - text output can now be distilled to PS or printed to a PS printer * some fixes for DriveGhost users * 64HDD Pro CDROM updated and is bootable The user manual has been re-worked; new quick start sections and its split into two: a "user manual" and a "command reference guide". Check out the 64HDD website here: www.64hdd.com ------------------------------------- ************************************* ART EPISODE 45 DOUBLE RAINBOWS AND KITTENS ************************************* Amiga Podcast http://www.amigaz.org/2010/08/08/art- episode-45-double-rainbows-and-kitten s/ Hosts: Rich Lawrence, Sean Fitzgerald. Guest Host: Jerry Withers * Fortis v1.1 for Morphos out :encore-games.com. * Cheap Chinese Boing Ball keyboards and mice for fun and profits! * 25 Years Amiga rather broad topic. * 10 Years Morphos. * Audio Evolution for Aros released. Morphos is just a powermac g4 away. * Fairly recent flurry of game ports: Ginana Returns, Sqrxz, Gish all quality! * Open Office lite/kids edition development via Hyperion for OS4. * amiwest plug around the corner. Rich going? ------------------------------------- ************************************* TGA: THE GREAT ADVENTURE ************************************* The Great Adventure is a conversion by Orion70 from the Commodore 64 version of a classic Italian multiple-choice text RPG written by Alessandro Castellari in 1983. The VIC20 TGA version contains not only the original quest but is expanded with both hi-res and multi-colour screens. The player can choose of 4 different missions from your homebase: the Inn. You can also choose to use the map. The map screen comes in handy since every mission has is it's own locations accompanied with relevant cut scenes graphics. http://sites.google.com/a/vic20.it/fi les/index/orion70/TGA_v2.zip ------------------------------------- ************************************* PLUS4 CLUB INFO 118 RELEASED ************************************* The fourth Club Info issue of 2010, the most popular C264 series disk-magazine, is now available to download Erich/Ultd packed the two disk sides with a lot of goodies. On side a the German language articles contain reviews and tips for some of the latest programs. On side b you can find articles and recently released programs (e.g. .among these are: Kalah, Number Inversion, Solitario and Rechnerei 004.), jokes and a lot of other information. Download It From here. http://plus4world.powweb.com/dl/mags/ club_info/club_info_118.zip ------------------------------------- ************************************* COMMODORE 64 MORPH GAME ************************************* Commodore Free A nice version of a logic solving and frustratingly addictive game has been released for the Commodore 64 here is what the author wrote about the program Hi guys, I have released a C64 puzzle game called MORPH. It is a conversion of the Amiga puzzle game Polymorph. Check it out! http://noname.c64.org/csdb/release/?i d=93187 Th3_MAD_Sc1ent1st! ------------------------------------- ************************************* ENHANCED MUSIC PLAYER FOR IPAD ************************************* ------ Original Message From: Keith Henrickson Date: Wed, August 4, 2010 11:25 am Enhanced Music Player for iPad now available! Those of you at Commvex saw a pre-release demo of this! The Compute's Gazette Sid Collection can now be played back on the iPad! This is a different collection than the HVSC, and also has songs supporting Stereo Sid and lyrics. Unfortunately, it's not there for the iPhone/iPod Touch yet. Have to see if I can't bring the CPU usage down. Enhanced Music Player is now live on the App Store http://itunes.apple.com/app/enhanced- music-player/id381985743?mt=8 ------------------------------------- ************************************* TWO SD2IEC RELEASES ************************************* Subject: sd2iec 0.9.3 and 0.10.0pre1 Hi! Two sd2iec releases - one stable, one experimental: VERSION 0.9.3: * Bugfix: Extension hiding works again with names >12 characters * Bugfix: Increase data hold time during standard TALK (fixes hang in Knights'n'Grail when using the standard serial protocol) * Testing aid: card detect-to-LED function (hold down PREV button during powerup to use, uIEC/SD will show the state of the card detect switch on its activity LED; others will show that on the dirty LED and the write protect switch on the busy LED, exit with NEXT button or power-cycle) VERSION 0.10.0PRE1: As my requests for disk images from original GEOS disks weren't as successful as I hoped[1] I'll just push testing duties to the users. * GEOS 2.0 support (d64/d71/d81 images only) 1.3 probably works, 1.2 certainly doesn't, 1.5 not tested, Gateway might work, Wheels won't. Don't try to switch the disk image type on the fly, the C64 won't know about it and may ruin your disk image. No cracked versions supported, but disks built with geoMakeBoot are ok. No idea about Maverick-built ones, when I tried it in VICE Maverick crashed to a blue READY screen. DNP will not work. The CMD manuals I've seen specifically mention that only 1581 partitions are supported in GEOS and nobody has pointed me to a software yet that would change that. * File-based M-R emulation Basically a way to redirect M-R calls in the rom area to a file on card so some drive detection routines will work. The one in GEOS reads quite a lot of data this way, do use this feature when using GEOS or you may run into lots of detection problems (e.g. depending on the version of Configure sd2iec gets detected as a 1541 or 1581, which will cause trouble when booting from a D64 file). To use this, put a copy of the rom(s) on the card and set its name as current rom file with "XR:filename". Paths not supported, the file will be searched for in the current directory of the current partition, then the root of that partition, then the root of the first partition. If it's missing or the feature is disabled ("XR") the internal table will be used. Beware: If a rom file is used, the Action Replay 6 will enable its unsupported fastloader. Dreamload will not be detected by sd2iec if you're using a rom other than the 1541 one. * Removed "oldnkc" configuration I assume that nobody out there has upgraded the old, ATmega32-based board to an ATmega644 because I heard no complaints when I stopped providing binaries for it some time ago. If you've got a version of GEOS 2.0 that you're sure is not cracked[2] and that won't work with sd2iec, send me a D64 of the disk. Download at http://www.sd2iec.de as usual. -ik [1] Peter Rittwage and Bo Zimmerman were very helpful, but I'm still looking for GeoRAM/BBGRam-compatible versions. [2] There are way too many different cracks out there to support them all. ------------------------------------- ************************************* CBM-COMMAND VERSION 1.5 RELEASED ************************************* http://cbmcommand.codeplex.com RELEASE VERSION 1.5 - STABLE This version encompasses many enhancements and improvements of existing functionality, as well as inclusion of new target platforms (VIC 20, Plus 4) and features (D81 support, Configuration Colour Picker). NEW FEATURES * (ALL) New colour picker for the configuration program * (64, 128, PLUS 4) 1581 Disk Image (D81) Support * Added support for Commodore Plus 4 computer * 32K Expanded VIC-20 now supported CHANGES * (ALL) Removed CTRL key from hot keys that previously required it. Hot keys the use the C= key still require it. * (ALL) If you have 1 or more files selected (highlighted) and choose delete, all selected files will be deleted. If you do not have any files selected (highlighted) then only the file that the selector is pointing to will be deleted. * (ALL) When you rename a file the textbox is pre-populated with the name of the old file. * (VIC 20, Plus 4) Configuration files are enabled and working correctly * (ALL) Changed the UI for file transfers to use a new progress bar to give feedback on the copy operation. * (64, 128, Plus 4) Changed the UI for disk image creation/writing to use a new progress bar to give feedback on the image operation. * (VIC20) Refactored many of the screens to better fit the 22x23 layout. * (VIC20) Filename shortening removed and the file type moved to the left of the directory display * (PLUS4) Created colour scheme to match the environment * (VIC20) Panels are not displayed side by side, only one panel is displayed at a time. * (VIC20) D64 support is removed, the RAM was needed elsewhere. * (ALL) The screen has been made more scalable. KNOWN ISSUES * None ------------------------------------- ************************************* SEUCK VAULT UPDATE ************************************* Time to open the Vault doors once again for more Shoot 'Em Up Construction Kit games. We have a new batch of C64 games, taking our grand total to over 200. NEW THIS MONTH: * Frank Gasking's workdisks, including a clever end sequence created with the Kit * Kill Hill tape version with new loading screen by Richard Bayliss * Car Wars and its sequel * Two new games from Bamse (Sonny Top) For Amiga users, we now have 40 different games. And we plan to bring the Atari ST version onto the site in the near future too. http://www.seuckvault.co.uk ------------------------------------- ************************************* DISKMAG "HUGI" ISSUE 36, FOR AMIGAOS4 HAS BEEN RELEASED ************************************* The well-known and 14 years exciting diskmag HUGI is out for AmigaOS4 !! For now we released the most recent issue of Hugi: #36, which was initially released at the BreakPoint 2010 party in April for windows, and now, for the 25 years Amiga celebration we released an AmigaOS4 version ! The diskmag is based on the well-known engine called Panorama, done by Chris Dragan (initially for PC users), and later, with help of Ransom from IRIS was updated by SDL part , which makes it possible to port it to AmigaOS4 (and not only) as well. This issue can be a bit slow on week machines, because of the 1024x768 true-colour mode and many different features and effects (which are fully done by only the CPU for now, so, better cpu = better speed). But you always can disable effects from the starting menu, and set your WB to 16bit mode for gain more speed for if necessary. But I am pretty sure, many of you will be happy to read such a modern diskmag, which full of features (such as a integrated musicdisk part and great Amiga related articles) on AmigaOS4, even, if for some of you it will be not very fast. Engine of course can still have some little bugs and problems, and if you will found any - contact me, and i will fix it for the next issues. The first issues of HUGI were more or less PC centric, but the latest ones start to be more and more cross platform, and Hugi#36 which we released now, is half based on Amiga-related topics. Since issue #32 Magic of Nah-Kolor (the old and well-known Amiga group) is the co-editor of Hugi, and that can explain more Amiga-related context. In brief, if you want to start by the Amiga-related articles, we advise the following ones: * Amiga Scene: Jump into the hole (my article about the current situation with aos4/mos/aros) * BreakPoint 2009 - From a Breakpoint TV point of view (about Amiga releases mostly) * The Vague - Amiga Diskmag on stage - Part 3 (my article about our warp3d diskmag) * Mad Wizards - looking back with Azzaro (about Elude as well) * Muffler: from Amiga musician to top DJ Producer (yeah, we all remember Muffler !) Many articles are not related to any platform, but about everything in demo scene in general, so Hugi#36 will be interesting to read all the way. Have fan, enjoy, and wait for other Hugi issues which will be released on Amiga AOS4 as well ! (Do not forget to switch music tracks by 1-8 keys , or use the music-menu. Music-disk part in that issue are awesome and professional). Download it from scene.org HERE http://scene.org/file.php?file=/mags/ hugi/hugi36_aos4.lha&fileinfo (77 mb). Also you can see HUGI36 on AOS4 in action on Amiga25years celebration party in Holand on YouTube here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VkRGB4 XxGIc part1 and http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MpPM_c PIIXk part2. More information at http://hugi.scene.org PS. if you have any problems with diskmag engine, write me at kas1e@yandex.ru Also if you have interest to support Hugi on by Amiga (aos3/aos4/mos/aros/general ones) articles, you can contact Magic of Nah-Kolor at magic_nah@hotmail.com or also contact me and I will help you the best I can. ------------------------------------- ************************************* BETA RELEASE OF ULTIMATE PACK 1.6.0 (FOR MORPHOS 2.5) ************************************* The French website www.meta-morphos.org is released a beta version of Ultimate pack 1.6.0 for MorphOS 2.5. The pack will allow you to quickly and effortlessly obtain a more complete MorphOS environment. Included are: * Mail, * chat, * calendar, * address book, * music and video players, * drawing software, * photo organizer, * E-UAE integration * and much more. The icons directory, wallpapers and MIME types have been contributed by Patbest. This pack is not an official MorphOS update but a community-driven add-on. For installation, simply unzip the archive on a clean installation of MorphOS 2.5. Cautionary users should remember to create a backup of your old system. Important notice: The default language is French. Please remember to choose your preferred language after the installation. also Pack Games and Pack Emulators (PowerSDL v14.0 is required). ------------------------------------- ************************************* BLU MANAGER V0.5 RELEASED ************************************* Blu manager is a database program for your blu ray collection. It has its own (and small atm) online database. Requires Wget in C dir and online connection CHANGES: * The delete button could be activated if one just opened the about window and closed again. Has been removed for now. * Added print button. Let's you print the list on paper. * Downloads the database.txt on startup. Before it was never updated. * Fixed some typos in the database. * Changed to listbrowser in about window. * Added more space to the first column(number). http://os4depot.net/index.php?functio n=showfile&file=office/database/blu_m anager.lha ------------------------------------- ************************************* TARGETD64 V0.4.0 RELEASED ************************************* http://home.arcor.de/karlheinz.langgu th/targetd64/index.html The basic idea behind TargetD64 is to shift as much processing as possible from the user to the computer before a particular program (or a group of programs) is executed by an emulator. After you have downloaded a program from the internet you usually find that this program is treated by archivers and often by more than one archiver. Well known examples should be the .lnx.gz or .d64.zip format. Normally you are going through a process of de-archiving which needs user interaction (e.g. calling unzip or launching up WinZip and so on). TargetD64 takes away all this work from the user. TargetD64 recognizes the archive format(s) and de-archives recursively. TargetD64 will finally produce D64 archives which are passed to an emulator. Supported archive formats are zip, gz, lha, lnx, ark, [1-4]!, d64, x64, t64, p00. If a file can not be matched to one of these formats it is treated as a raw C64 (PRG) file. Introduction: http://home.arcor.de/karlheinz.langgu th/targetd64/index.html Changelog: http://home.arcor.de/karlheinz.langgu th/targetd64/td64tracker.html Download: http://home.arcor.de/karlheinz.langgu th/targetd64/td64download.html ------------------------------------- ************************************* MINIGAME COMPO 2010 ************************************* INTRO: Due to the missing of the official MiniGame Compo website I started this site. I find it important to keep the MiniGame Compo alive although the compo of last year only had a few voters. I value the development of games and the fun to it more important than the voting at the end, although I will try to eliminate abuse voting. All voted games must have a comment WHY you value the game that score. I will check if this is a value comment by comparing other comments and my own comment on the game. If the comment is too different from other voters I will skip the score. The compo will be in the same categories as last year 1K, 2K and 4K but ONLY for 8 bit computers!!!!! The last day for submission of each compo will be: 1K : 31 August 2010 2K : 31 October 2010 4K : 30 November 2010 Voting can be done in the month following closure. All entries can be sent to DR_BEEP2000@OOHAY.DE and will be published here (SPAM prevent: Type OOHAY backwards for the right address). The games must be sent as a ZIP-file containing the game in a format that most emulators can handle and may not be larger than the maximum value for the compo it is for, I.e. a C64 game must be a 1K PRG-file and not a complete DSK-file with a small part of the DSK the program I must introduce this rule since I will not be able to determine if the program uses more of the DSK-file than the reserved amount of space for the game. All other minimal filesizes as in previous compo's count.(Fill ROM-files with 0 for Atari 2600, ZX Spectrum + 25bytes for header data etc.. etc..) Dr Beep. http://minigamecompo2010.00freehost.c om/ ------------------------------------- ************************************* COMMODORE ANNOUNCES EXCLUSIVE WORLDWIDE LICENSING RIGHTS ************************************* COMPANIES INK DEAL TO PRODUCE NEW LINE OF ALL-IN-ONE KEYBOARD COMPUTERS FT. LAUDERDALE, FL and OLDENZAAL, THE NETHERLANDS, August 25, 2010 Commodore USA, LLC and Commodore Licensing B.V., a wholly owned subsidiary of Asiarim Corp (OTCQB: "ARMC"), today announced their licensing agreement whereby Commodore USA, LLC will produce a full line of new Commodore branded "AIO" (All In One) keyboard computers, under an exclusive worldwide license granted by Commodore Licensing B.V. for this newly revitalized computer category. Mr. Barry Altman, President and CEO of Commodore USA, LLC states "We are ecstatic to be partnering with Commodore Licensing B.V. in this new, exciting product launch. The legacy of the Commodore C64, which sold over 30 million units, making it the best selling computer of all time, and our reintroduction of this legendary form factor, combined with the world's most recognizable consumer electronics brand, is a once in a lifetime opportunity. We look forward to bringing these new products to market, and welcoming a whole new generation of computer users to the Commodore experience". In response to an overwhelming demand from former Commodore users worldwide, Commodore USA's CTO Leo Nigro announced today that their new Commodore PC64 will be available for purchase this holiday season. Featuring an exact replica of the original beige chassis Commodore C64, this new addition to our line-up will include an Intel Atom 525 CPU with NVIDIA Ion2 graphics, 4GB DDR3 memory, 1TB Hdd, HDMI, DVD/CD optical drive (Blu-ray optional), dual-link DVI, six USB ports, integrated 802.11n WiFi, bluetooth and a 6-in-1 media card reader. With the recent introduction of their flagship Phoenix model, Commodore USA has once again catapulted the Commodore namesake to the forefront of consumer electronics brand recognition. Other Commodore keyboard computers include the Amigo, a basic entry level computer featuring a system on chip configuration, and the Invictus, featuring a small portable form factor with an embedded LCD screen display. ABOUT COMMODORE LICENSING B.V.: Commodore Licensing B.V., a wholly-owned subsidiary of Asiarim Corporation (OTCQB: "ARMC"), is the licensor of the trademark Commodore, and grants other parties licenses in connection with specific products or services. Asiarim Corporation is also investing in companies engaged in, or related to, the development, sales and distribution of computer, mobile and multi-media products marketed under the brand name Commodore. ABOUT COMMODORE USA, LLC: Commodore USA, LLC designs, produces and markets a series of all-in-one Commodore branded keyboard computers, and other unique form factor computers and consumer electronics. Barry S. Altman is the President and CEO of Commodore USA, LLC, based in Fort Lauderdale, Florida. Spanning a 25 year career in the bleeding-edge electronics and satellite/space telecommunications industry, Mr. Altman founded and served as CEO & President of Cabletech Satellite Systems, Inc. U.S. Cable Technology, Inc., The Cabletech Satellite Network and United Broadcasting Co. This group of companies built NOC's (Network Operation Centres) for cable television programmers, and cable television head ends for cable companies throughout the United States, They designed and constructed the satellite uplink network operation centres for such companies as Viacom International, Warner Amex, Viacom and MTV Networks. They directed and produced the domestic satellite telemetry downlink for the Live Aid concert for MTV, which was at that time the largest world wide deployment of a live satellite television broadcast. Cabletech has manufactured, designed and installed systems for Grumman Aerospace, The United Nations, government and private industry, and over 45,000 TVRO C& Ku band satellite systems for businesses and consumers nationwide. Cabletech was a developmental partner with General Motors & Hughes Communications in the small aperture DBS system that later became DirecTV. ------------------------------------- ************************************* LOADSTAR COMPLEAT ************************************* LOADSTAR was one of the very first disk-magazines ever published. In 1982 Jim Mangham got the idea of a monthly magazine on disk filled with programs, graphics and text that people would run on their computer. In 1984 the first issue of LOADSTAR, a magazine for the Commodore 64/128 computer was launched and over the next 15 years and 199 issues, a LOT of stuff was published on these disk magazines. Now, every bit of it has been converted to fit on one CD that you can run on your PC -- and there's still room on the CD for more old LOADSTAR things like music, JPGs of the colour covers of the issues, and much, much more. Here's some of what you'll get on the CD: * All 199 issues of LOADSTAR in .d64 and .d81 format * All 42 issues of LOADSTAR 128 in .d64 format * .TXT files of all of the text on the issues for fast searching on your PC * All 21 issues of UpTime (a rival disk magazine that LOADSTAR soundly defeated and bought) * JPGs of all of the colour covers of the issues when LOADSTAR was sold in stores * PDFs of all 73 issues of The LOADSTAR Letter, Jeff Jones' excellent newsletter companion to LOADSTAR * MP3s of selected Knees Calhoon songs * .d64 files of every LOADSTAR product published separately from the monthly issues: the Complete Bible, the Complete Programmer, all five LOADSTAR Extras, Barbara Schulak's puzzles, etc. * All of Dave Marquis' SID and MIDI music * All of Walt Harned's artwork -- Walt is the most prolific artist ever for the Commodore computer * and whatever else I could find from the historic LOADSTAR archives. US Only - $24 plus $3 S&H Outside the US - $24 plus $6 S&H http://www.ramblehouse.com/loadstarco mpleat.htm ===================================== ************************************* INTERVIEW WITH PAYTON BYRD Author of CBM-Command ************************************* http://cbmcommand.codeplex.com/ Please introduce yourself to our readers Hi my name is Payton Byrd. I live in Clarksville, Tennessee, USA and have been programming for the last 27 years! What do you do for a living I'm a software development professional specializing in large systems. I do both development and architecture. I've been doing this for 15 years now and in a lot of ways it still feels like yesterday that I got started. So How did your computing love start then When I was 12 my family went to a Montgomery Wards department store to do Christmas shopping. While in the electronics section I encountered a very cool display featuring a VIC-20 and the Introducing Your Commodore VIC 20 manual. I stood there and read the whole manual and typed in every example while my family did their Christmas shopping. I was hooked. My uncle was sent to find me in the store and when he found me and I told him I'd been there the whole time he told my Grandmother that I needed a computer more than he did. He gave me his VIC-20 with 8K RAM expansion and a datasette during spring break of that next year and it changed my life forever. Do you still own real Commodore machines then Oh yes! I've got several. I have a couple of non-functional VIC's, a 64C, several flat 128's in various states of (dis)repair, and an Amiga 500. I've got every kind of drive you can think of except a 1540. Apart from "CBM-Command" that I would like to talk about later; have you realised any other Commodore related software Yes, in 2005 I took over the maintenance of GUI4CBM4WIN from Wolfgang Moser and converted it to .Net. You can still download the most recent version from 2007 on my blog at http://blog.paytonbyrd.com/?p=98 so go get it! OK so back to "CBM-Command"; can you tell our readers what is it? CBM-Command is a disk manager for the Commodore 64, Commodore 128, Commodore VIC-20 and Commodore Plus/4 computers. It is written in the vein of Norton Commander or Midnight Commander, but is much simpler due to the target platforms. Both the C128 and C64 have their own native version of the application Where did you get the idea for "CBM-Command" I was trying to utilize my uIEC and just got frustrated. JiffyDOS and its wedge are great, but they just don't have any ease of use. Actually, the only reliable way I had found to copy files to/from an uIEC was using the JiffyDOS wedge. I decided that needed to change. What hardware combinations can the software be used on It works on both real machines and WinVICE. And So far I have tested it with the following hardware: * Flat Commodore 128 w/Jiffy DOS * Commodore 1571 w/Jiffy DOS * Commodore 1581 w/Jiffy DOS * uIEC/SD * Commodore 64 (stock) * Commodore 1541 (stock) * Commodore 1541 w/Jiffy DOS * Blue Chip 128 Disk Drive Additional testing has been performed under VICE using the following file systems: * IDE64 Native File system * Vice File System * Vice Virtual Drive (not TDE) * 1541 TDE * 1581 TDE * 1551 TDE * Commodore Plus 4 Emulation * Commodore VIC 20 Emulation * Commodore 64 Emulation * Commodore 128 Emulation In addition to these you should be able to use any device that uses standard kernel routines. How can our readers download the software The preferred method is to download it from the project website at http://cbmcommand.codeplex.com on CodePlex. Are you still looking for Helpers with the project, what sort of help do you need I'm always looking for testers, documentation writers and such. But right now I need someone who can help convert the shared UI portion of CBM-Command into pure assembler to reduce the size of the executable. I don't have those skills (CBM-Command is written in C) and would be very grateful for such help. How "finished" is the current version The current version as of this interview is Version 1.6. I consider it very complete. There are always little things you think about adding, but for now I don't have any major plans. Do you have plans to implement more features, will you ever get to a stage where you feel the software "is" complete Right now, unless I find someone to help reduce the size of the executable, it's very complete. This is a big application and there simply isn't much room left to add more code. What do you feel is more important "more Features" or "more stability" Stability, by a long shot. There's been a lot of great testing by a lot of people, but as we all know software is never bug free. Has the stability of the project ever been an issue That's a very interesting question. I wrote a document (http://cbmcommand.codeplex.com/relea ses/view/48963 ) and its reprinted in this issue of Commodore Free; the document details what it was like to write CBM-Command. The project definitely had its rocky moments, but the community gave me a lot of support and that support helped to see the project be finished. What is the project written in I know you mentioned c language for The project is written in C using the cc65 tools. There are a few other smaller technologies used, and even a dabblings of assembler, but the majority of the code is C. As stated earlier, I'd love to get more of it migrated to assembler, but more for space savings over performance. Do you have any other projects your working on Yes, First and foremost is the Apple II version called A2 Command. I'm working with Oliver Schmidt on doing the port to the Apple II. I don't think this would have been possible if I had written the application in anything other than C using cc65. Also I've been kicking around a couple of new ideas. The first is a dungeon crawler RPG, but I don't know when I'll get time to write that one. The other is a program to help manage applications on large storage devices. Whereas CBM-Command is all about file management, this app would be all about Application management. You can read more at http://www.paytonbyrd.com/wiki/CBM_Ap ps.ashx which details my current development plans. Thanks for taking the time to talk to Commodore Free magazine Nigel, I want to thank you for your hard work on Commodore Free magazine and it's been a pleasure to answer your questions! Geeez its me that should be thanking you ===================================== ************************************* WRITING CBM-COMMAND An Adventure in Social Collaboration ************************************* Things got started in April 2010 as I sat bored and contemplative. I was surrounded by all this old and cool equipment which I was doing practically nothing with. What could I do? I got these machines because I love programming for them. I decided to write some software. I wanted to give back to the community, something that people would use and appreciate, but I wasn't sure what to write. I started playing around with the uIEC devices I had bought from Jim Brain. One thing became abundantly clear to me: there was no good way to manage this thing. The old software that worked with the CMD HD series didn't work well with the uIEC as there were minor incompatibilities. Since the uIEC supports JiffyDOS, and I have JiffyDOS, I decided to give the built in JD file copier a shot. It works, but it's clunky and the routine for using it is less than ergonomic. I then began playing around with managing files directly on the SD card with 64Copy. While this works just fine, it felt like cheating, plus 64Copy doesn't do file transfers to real CBM devices. Star Commander does, but you have to use it from DOS. OpenCBM does but you have to have a parallel port and the computer I was using OpenCBM on just died and its replacement has no parallel port. I was sunk when it came to using PC's with my CBM drives. I decided to do something about it. I decided to use 64Copy as my model for how the program would work. My first whack at the problem was doing a quick prototype in BASIC on the C= 128. Although I could have written the whole thing on that platform, I knew it wasn't scalable past the 128. I rather quickly abandoned the BASIC prototype and decided on writing the software in C using cc65. I had previously dabbled in cc65 and found it to be very powerful, and also very intimidating. To get the most out of it you need to have some secondary tools such as GNU Make. While not absolutely necessary, using GNU Make makes life a lot easier. I even contemplated writing custom NAnt tasks for cc65, but decided that since the cc65 community uses GNU Make, I'd learn to use GNU Make to fit in. This was my first attempt at social collaboration with the project, and it started a firestorm on the cc65 mailing list. As a n00b to real cc65 development, and a complete neophyte to GNU Make, I posed a lot of questions that were met with equal parts helpfulness and a healthy dose of "Oh god, another n00b". Although nobody came out and used such terms, it was hard not to get that sensation. One positive person stood out, Oliver Schmidt. He was greatly helpful and it was my questions about a standard makefile for using cc65 that started a mini-revolution that led to us preparing some changes to cc65 that led to a truly universal makefile. Besides the cc65 mailing list, the other major tool for overcoming my makefile n00bness was Managing Projects with GNU Make. This book was essential in learning enough about GNU Make to even have a chance of starting an intelligent discussion on the cc65 mailing list. Today I have a very clean and robust makefile for the project that has made a MAJOR difference in the ease of development for the project. The next major decision was about development environment. Should I use GNU/Linux; should I use Windows? Should I use a text editor; should I use an IDE? What IDE should I use, Visual Studio or Eclipse? In the end I decided to go with what I know best: Visual Studio on Windows. I chose Visual Studio 2010 because the machine I'm programming on isn't high powered (just a 1.47 GHz AMD Athlon X2) and VS 2010 uses WPF instead of GDI to render it's UI, which puts the processing power for displaying the IDE in the hands of the video system instead of the CPU, which has the benefit of freeing up CPU for background processing which makes VS 2010 much faster than previous versions. Fortunately, VS has kept its C roots and allows for C/C++ projects that are makefile based. This was a HUGE help as I was able to simply configure custom targets that use the makefile I had built and all worked well. By this time I was approaching late April, and I was ready to write code. The normal paradigm for Norton Commander and its clones is to have both hotkeys and drop down menus. I started out by working on the UI. Once I got the UI nailed down I could easily add the functionality. I built a menuing system and released it as a preview. Appropriately, people were sceptical that anything would come from it, but I did get a lot of positiveif guardedfeedback when I described the goals of the project. Being a professional software developer I've grown accustomed to some basic tools: source control, issue tracking, wiki documentation and release management. I immediately decided to use CodePlex as it provides all of these tools in a cohesive environment. I know CodePlex isn't the sexiest choice in the community because it's run by Microsoft, but this was a decision that I found easy because CodePlex's source control integrates directly in Visual Studio 2010. This proved to be a lifesaver as I had a hardware failure during development at a point where I would have lost a lot of work if not for my habit of frequently checking in source code as I get a feature working. Another major win with using CodePlex was that I was able to immediately publish a feature set and documentation about the project. I firmly believe that this level of professionalism and dedication built trust in the Commodore community that I wasn't yet another vapour-ware maestro. People actually asked me questions about features, offered advice, and even criticism. As all this was going on, I continued to add more and more code to the framework and soon I was displaying a directory on the screen. This was HUGE. First, it helped me to know I could use the cc65 tools to do the heavy lifting of the application, and second it showed people I was serious. I released another preview, got more feedback and felt somewhat gratified that I was doing something good and useful. During this phase of the project I started running into issues with the code. Coming from a managed framework world where the code runs on big servers with lots of memory, I was in the habit of populating large structures and working from them for speed and ease of coding. This is not a good idea when the systems you are targeting have as little as 32K of RAM. On top of being on a wild goose chase, I had a major memory leak in my code that took me weeks to track down and resolve. In the end, resolving the memory leak led to the overall solution for displaying large directories of files. Another thing to come from working in such tight memory was the realization that the drop down menus were too costly and had to go. Over the course of May 2010 things really began shaping up. I had added support for copying batches of files, deleting a single file and renaming a file. Both panels could be displayed simultaneously and operate independently of each other, but things just felt incomplete. One feature that was never in the initial scope of the project was disk image support, and another feature that was out of scope was text file viewing. Being a professional developer, I really wanted to stick to my original scope, but enough people were asking for disk image support that I decided to give it a try and implement it. Fortunately, most of the disk logic was similar to that of the file copying code, so it was actually rather easy to implement. It did bloat the code a bit and I was forever refactoring code to regain a few hundred bytes here, a couple hundred bytes there. Initially, the help information was going to be hard-coded to the app, but now there was no room for it. I replaced it with a message to go to the documentation page on CodePlex, but people didn't like that solution. Eventually I realized the only workable solution was to display the help from a text file. This meant generating a text file reader, of course and since I was targeting both the 128 in 80 columns and the 64 in 40 columns, the text file reader needed to be smart and wrap text based on the size of the screen. This would eventually become even more important as I moved towards VIC 20 support later in the project. About 2 weeks into public preview releases of the project I started getting suggestions that I should attend C4 in Cincinnati during the last weekend in May. I was approaching feature-completeness at that point and was ready to publish the release candidate for version 1.0. I figured if I could get a stable and functional 1.0 by the Wednesday before C4 that I'd attend. As the days went on with the release candidate, I received lots of feedback and few bug reports. I put together version 1.0 on May 25 and made 22 floppy disks to take with me to C4. C4 was a wonderful experience. I got to meet a lot of people in the community and even do a demo of the project. I worked with Six to start working on a PET port of the project (which nearly worked) and generally it was a big success. I gave out about 15 disks of the project and even helped a couple of folks solve problems using the project. It was at this time that I knew I had created something good and it was something to be proud of. Right after C4 my children came to live with me for the summer. My time to work on the project was suddenly gone, but I was still getting feedback, still monitoring the downloads and still thinking of ways to improve the project for the next major version. In July I started carving out some time to work on the project and incorporate some of the feedback. A couple of things on my to do list was VIC 20 support and PET support. The VIC 20 was a bit of work as much of the UI had to be refactored, but of all segments of the C= community, it has been most well received in the VIC 20 world. After going through the code for VIC 20 support it was obvious that adding support for the Plus 4 was a no brainer so I did that in a couple of hours. As I added support for the VIC and Plus 4, I started getting new perspectives on things to improve about the project. As the community of potential users grew, so did the opportunities to improve the project to the benefit of all users. As I write this the project is approaching its next major milestone: version 1.5. There are a lot of new features, UI changes and general ergonomic improvements; and almost all of them were requests from the community. I believe that aggressively engaging the community early in the project, and giving them a real voice in the project has led to a much better product. Even though development of the project never would have finished without support and participation of the community, it also was never finished because of negative feedback that I was "doing it all wrong". For many programmers in the Commodore community, you keep your code close to the vest, you don't show it to anybody, and you bang away on it for eight months before showing it to a single other soul. I DON'T AND CANNOT WORK THAT WAY. I would get fired in a heartbeat for trying that in the real world. Why shouldn't a Commodore project use the same iterative development lifecycle that I use in my day job? I stuck to my guns, provide frequent releases, and ENCOURAGE people to read the code and provide help. At this point I need to thank Greg King for his code contributions to the project. Greg helped clean up a lot of the keyboard handling code and also provided assembler code to store the screen under the kernel ROM and retrieve it from there. This saved nearly 2k of runtime RAM and was a big part of the success of adding additional features over the last couple of weeks. Finally, I want to thank the entire Commodore community from all of the supporters to all of the detractors. I needed every bit of feedback that I received to make CBM-Command the project that it is today. ===================================== ************************************* CBM-COMMAND ************************************* WHAT IS IT: CBM-Command is a tool for many Commodore machines that helps to easily manage files by using an interface in the Norton Commander style. It uses 2 panels (except for the Vic-20 Version) and buttons along with short keys that help to perform various tasks like Rename, Copy, Delete, make a dir (when available) and also manage disk D64/D81 images (except for the Vic-20 Version). Versions (Supported machines): * C64 - This is the basic version and only includes support for 40 column display. It's filename is cbmcommand.c64. * C128 - This is the advanced version and supports only the 80 column display. The C128 version automatically uses the 2mhz system speed of the C128 computer which allows for faster operations. The C128 version's filename is cbmcommand.c128. * VIC-20 - This is the "lite" version and only includes support for 22 column display. It's filename is cbmcommand.vic20. * Plus 4 - This is nearly identical to the C64 version except is allows use of the full 121 colour palette of the Plus 4 computer. It's filename is cbmcommand.plus4 HOW DOES IT WORK: LOAD"*",8 or LOAD"LOADCBMCMD",8 where 8 is the drive where file resides (do not use the ,1 suffix) This command just load the first file "LOADCBMCMD" and detects the current machine then loads the proper program for the recognized machine. CUSTOMIZE: You may customize the interface of the program by using the proper config program for the target system, for example to customize the C128 version load and run the file "CBMCMDCONFIG.C128" while for the plus4 run the file "CBMCMDCONFIG.PLUS4". You may select default drives for Left/Right Panels and colours for Background, Menu, File names etc etc. INTERFACE: The program uses two panels (left and right) each with an own drive that displays the content of the directory, by using cursors key (left/right) you may swap between panels while by using (up/down) you move inside the directory, the space key selects/unselects items in case you want perform a task to multiple files, example copy 3 files from a drive to another drive with just one step. In the bottom there are buttons that you may select by using Function Keys, they perform the main tasks, DELETE, RENAME, COPY etc. DRIVES: CBM-Command uses two panels to display contents of one or two drives at a time. Each drive panel has an associated menu depending on whether it is the left panel or right panel. The drive panels may be refreshed by selecting the Re-read option from the appropriate menu. Directory panels are the primary focus of CBM-Command. There are two directory panels, one for the left drive and one for the right drive. To use a drive panel, you must first select a drive using the Left or Right menus' Drive... option for the corresponding panel, or using the D (left panel) and C=-D (right panel) hot keys. You can navigate between the panels using the left and right cursor keys. You may also toggle panels on and off using the T hot key. Directory panels can be refreshed, which means that the directory is re-read from the drive. This is done by using the E (left panel) and C=-E (right panel) hot keys. KEYBOARD SHORTCUTS: For some "advanced" tasks or simply as alternative for common tasks you may use some Keyboard Shorcuts. Function Key(s) - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - Re-Read E (Left) Directory C=E (Right) - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - Select D (Left) Drive C=D (Right) - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - Toggle T Panels On/Off - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - Help F1 - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - Quit F2 - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - GO64 (C128 Only) G - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - Make Directory F7 - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - Enter SHIFT-PLUS Directory/ Disk Image - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - Exit SHIFT-MINUS Directory/ Disk Image - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - Copy File(s) F5 - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - Rename File F6 - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - Delete File(s) F8 - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - Tag a file SPACE - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - Tag All A - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - Tag None S - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - Navigate Up/Down within a Cursor panel - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - Page Up PLUS - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - Page Down MINUS - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - Top of ^ Directory UP ARROW - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - Bottom of SHIFT-^ Directory UP ARROW - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - Navigate Left/Right Between Cursor panels - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - Write SHIFT-SPACE D64/D81 to Disk - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - Write Disk X to D64/D81 ===================================== ************************************* INTERVIEW WITH MICHAEL Creator Of C64 Archiv ************************************* http://www.purmike.de/documents/c64ar chiv_en.html Please introduce yourself to our Readers Hello, my name is Michael, I'm 38 years old and I live in the south of Germany with my wife and my two children. Whenever I have some spare time, which is rare, I like to program, to play chess or to do some (endurance) sports. Can you tell our readers a little about your computing history and the machines you owned In 1985, at the age of 13 I saw the first C64 and was immediately enthusiastic about it. So I decided to save up enough money to buy one, I finally got one at Christmas with the monetary help of my parents. After creating small basic games I started to program in Assembler where, for example, I built a sprite editor and projects like an text adventure or a macro assembler. Although I bought a C128 in 1988 I lost interest in programming soon due to other hobbies and activities. I didn't get re-involved in computers until 1997. I Bet with a friend who is able to program the best Connect Four Program (I actually won 7:3), I started to program again, especially 'puzzling and riddling games'. You might have a look in the download-section of my homepage, (http://purmike.de/documents/download s_en.html ), where you can find besides Connect Four also MasterMind and 8 queens puzzle. Meanwhile I have been working part-time for a software programming company, which writes software quality assurance programs (for industrial companies), I have worked there for about 10 years. Do you still own any Real Commodore hardware? I still have my first C64 and a Floppy 1541, but unfortunately I don't use the hardware any more. To my big surprise both gadgets worked smoothly three years ago. (that was the last time I tested them). Can you tell our readers about The C64-Archive software and what it does? The C64-Archiv is a small file manager to keep track of all your C64 files. It automatically scans your hard disc for C64 related files and stores the information in a database. So it is possible to search quickly and easily for a file and start them in different emulators, or in other tools. In addition; it is also possible to download games or to look for information through the Gamebase interface. Why did you create the software? After I had transferred my discs to the PC (about 100), I wanted to get a fast survey of my collection on the one hand, and on the other hand to be able to start the different programs easily in an emulator. So I began to search the internet for a program to manage my files and I was very surprised that there weren't any suitable programs to manage the discs available. So I decided to write the C64-Archiv. Originally, I just wanted to write a program to administer my D64-files. But in order to be able to register most of the games and the tool-files as well, I decided to include further file formats. The idea of a Gamebase interface, used to simultaneously show more than 30 information about a game in a list, also evolved out of the necessity to show more than two information like the Gamebase frontend does. What are the differences between the GAMEBASE and C64-Archiv? Can both versions be run together via the same front end? Gamebase is a great tool with which one can collect as much information about a game as possible. The "GEMUS script" also offers a variety of possibilities to influence the start of an emulator. However, you have to add one file by one to the database manually. The C64-Archiv automatically scans your whole collection and stores all files from an D64-image and from other common files in a database. The rate is about 10.000 D64-files or 100.000 PRG-files in about 3 ½ minutes (tested on a pc with a Core2Duo 2,66Mhz). Thus then obtains a complete survey of one's collection within a few minutes of the first installation, and then you are able to search for any file with the 'quicksearch' button very quickly. Then the program can be started via an already existing profile in the most popular emulators. There are also profiles like 'only to attach an image', which offers you various possibilities how to use the disc in the emulator. The C64-Archiv is also able to open a Gamebase database, which can display almost all information (there are more than 30 fields) in a list. Existing entries can't indeed be changed and new ones can't be created. How easy is the software to use, and is it possible to search for a disk image and also search inside a disk image for a specific file. lets say I was looking for tetris.prg if I searched for this would I get a list of disk images or files located into disk images The C64-Archiv is very easy to use, because the program needs only a few settings to work. Also after the initial installation a wizard helps you to gather all necessary settings. The GUI resembles the well known Windows explorer and even looks like it. If you have one main folder which contains all of your C64 files you only have to select this folder and the C64-Archiv scans this folder for all C64 files. To search for a specific file you can enter only a part of the name in the ?quicksearch" field and the C64-Archiv displays all related C64-files in the list. For example, if you open the 'file'-view all 'disc-images', which somehow include a C64-file with the term sought after, are marked with a plus in the file directory tree. In order to search for several details at the same time, there is a Filter menu with which you can generate a search request, which can be shown under an arbitrary name in the main window. The Software features a database to hold the contents of the files is this an open or proprietary format Not really, The C64-Archiv uses a standard Access database format. If there is Gamebase64 why would people want to use C64-Archiv? As I mentioned above the Gamebase64 is a powerful tool to build primarily themed databases and to gather a lot of information for each file. But it definitely requires some time to import each file. If you only want to keep a quick overview of your own C64 files it's easier to use the C64-Archiv, where the program collects the possible file data for you. Additionally, there is the possibility to download Gamebase games with two clicks and to start them immediately. What File formats does the software support The Software supports the most common file formats for the C64: D64, D71, TAP, T64, PRG, P00. It also stores session files from VICE (VSF) and CCS (C64). Because there is often additional information on files you can also store files with the extension TXT, NFO or DIZ (in the latest version PDF files, too). The C64-Archiv also optionally browses compressed files (ZIP,7Z and CAB). Future versions will include further file formats (G64, RAR, etc.). What emulators is the software compatible with You can run all emulators which can be started by the command line. For the most common emulators VICE, CCS64, HOXS64 and EMU64 the C64-Archiv is preconfigured. The standard emulator can either be chosen with the 'start-wizard' when first starting the C64-Archiv or can be changed via the menu "Option" any time. A variable number of emulators can be deposited, which can be used and arbitrarily chosen when starting C64-programs. What Operating system does the host machine have to be running The C64-Archiv requires a Microsoft window operating system (2000 or later). Have you thought about a server type plugin so the files could be run on a real Commodore 64 from the PC using some sort of serial / Transfer cable from the Pc to the Commodore 64 That's a very nice idea, but until you mentioned it; I have never thought about this. Maybe I can take up the idea some time and think about how to program it. Can files be extracted from disk image, and viewed edited on the pc then saved back to the image, if not do you consider this a useful feature to add, maybe a gfx viewer and text viewer Yes, this would be a very useful feature, but I am not familiar with the tools in this area. It isn't possible to edit a disk image with the C64-Archiv at the moment. But it's very easy to integrate external tools e.g. 64Copy, D64Lister or DirMaster. These programs can also be started via the ?command line" and thus can be deposited like an emulator in theC64-Archiv. Are there any other features you would like to add to the software and is the project still a working project? I am trying to keep on developing the C64-Archiv constantly, where at the next up-coming updates won't bring about any great changes. I intend to create a completely new GUI and a new display of the 'file-explorer'. Additionally, I intend to implement a tool to export files to a Gamebase database and to be able to work on them afterwards. What have users comments been about the software, and is the software Freeware Up to now there hadn't been so much feedback, apparently because the software is not that well-known (there are about 40 downloads a month on average). The feedback I have received though were all quite positive or included suggestions for improvement. Some comments were * "It is exactly what I was looking for, as all other solutions seem a bit complicated to install" * "It's great! Now I can see all my music scripts from 1986 to now as one big picture! " Do you plan to create any other Commodore related software? I think the C64-Archiv will be the only project. Do you have any comments you would like to add Thanks for your great magazine. It's very nice to see that the C64 is still alive. ===================================== ************************************* WILL YOU STILL LOVE ME WILL YOU STILL NEED ME WHEN I'M 64 By Commodore Free ************************************* WHAT HAPPENS TO COMMODORE AS WE GROW OLD? I have contacted a number of Commodore users; now classed as ex- commodore users! Why Ex users? Well they are all now winding down there Commodore operations and equipment collections, and maybe just keeping one of each item. In some cases however the users were selling everything off on eBay to the highest bidders, or giving the machines away. Heck I even found one user (who recently passed away) whose wife was so fed up with all the "old junk", and possibly the memories; she just took it to a local landfill site and disposed of it in a hole to slowly degrade and fill the land with toxic chemicals. LET'S FACE IT; TIMES CHANGE; PEOPLE CHANGE; Gone are our schooldays and endless time for playing, we are all growing older; there is nothing we can do about it; sadly we have to accept the fact. we meet companions, get married have children and then before you know what has happened; you don't have time to even turn on your machine, let alone find out why the disk drive doesn't load games anymore. For many users this is a sad fact of life. I know that I am guilty of the usual excuse "getting caught up in every day life" changing the light bulbs, putting out the bins, decorating, cleaning; by the time the day is over from work, I don't usually have time to sit down; let alone go and check out my Commodore. I do now however dedicate 1 day to the machine, although I confess to using emulation at least 3 times per week. I know its not perfect but it means I can use my machine at lunch times during the working week. FAMILY LIFE IS KILLING COMMODORE Finding time for a hobby is at the moment difficult for me, I know other users are in the same situation. I do have spare time but like most users, Commodore isn't my only hobby. How do you juggle all the things you want to do into the small amount of time that a 24 hour day holds. Also we must remember to take out 9 hours for work and then there is sleeping on average about 8 hours per night; although for me with a bad back at the moment its more like 3 hours sleep a week. I WISH I HAD AN ANSWER The only ray of light for me is as my son grows older he may become interested in computers; and look back into how computing history started. He will be informed about the innovations Commodore made from myself and I will explain how history has shrugged some of the Commodore creations, I know some people think that a certain company invented the idea of having a central machine for playing DVD's and computing (sounds to me like the cdtv commodore created and Amiga 500 with cd player housed in a family friendly rack to sit under the tv, many people have forgotten Commodore had this vision, of course it doesn't end with just one machine , this was an example of how history is distorted.) My son will be told that there is more to computing than Intel and Microsoft yes and even Apple. Hopefully he will want to learn about loading and playing "classic" games and about the various Computer hardware; and interfacing machines together (all the fun parts of computing), my son loves the DTV; and has been able for some time to plug it all into the tv turn it on and select a racing car game as he calls it; and plays the game for quite some time bashing into the other cars and walls. TIME MANAGEMENT The boffins will tell you to manage your time more efficiently, so you write down everything you actually want to do and plan the week around these things, Day 1 playing with son till he goes to bed then Commodore for 1 hour Day 2 playing with son till he goes to bed, odd jobs and washing Etc MACHINE DEATH I suppose there will come a time when our machine just become to old, the components will disintegrate and the whole machine will be unusable. I have 2 machines boxed as new waiting for my son to be of an age where he can appreciate them, once that happens I hope they still power on! They are kept in vacuum sealed and at a constant temperature, as much really as I can do. I hope when he grows old he can pass the machines on to his son, and explain the joy about what Commodore gave to me and hopefully will give to him. We have emulation but nothing is a good as holding the real thing. Lets hope the younger generation take the machines to there hearts, lets hope clubs can recruit younger members, lets hope the memories last forever and don't fad into a foggy history that's re-written by Microsoft and apple. (iphone shouldn't it be an ear phone?) =====================================