Commodore Free Magazine
www.commodorefree.com

Issue Number 2

 
 
Editor
-------
Major milestone hit, well ok version 2 
so someone must have liked the 1st 
free issue. Also the launch of the 
website www.commodorefree.com, 
and when I get some time a 
Commodore free email address.

Commodore Scene 
2006 - Commodore Scene returns but 
is cancelled after only two issues ! 
Despite a mailshot of several hundred 
known past CS subscribers, only 12 
people actually subscribed. It was 
simply not enough to justify all the 
hard work that goes into producing the 
magazine. The final issue will be 
published during August 2006. When 
the CS web server is functioning again 
I will continue to update it as and when 
I have new material to put up. I will 
continue to produce step-by-step 
guides for common and technical tasks 
(with photos) and these will be made 
available when they are complete.

Commodore Scene's message is quite 
clear, that without user's support no 
project is worth doing, even preparing 
a magazine isn't worth the effort 
without readers. 

After many emails I finally caught up 
with the new 
owner of 8 bit designs Charles 
Gutman, I asked if the 
products were still manufactured and 
purchased a 
Commodore 4-in-1 printer interface; 
(but as its name 
suggests the interface does more 4 
things in one) 
read about my findings in this issue. 

If you have any Commodore news or 
reviews please 
share your items with other users 
Thanks 
 


Regards
COMMODORE FREE 

WWW.COMMODOREFREE.COM

Nigelp2k@yahoo.co.uk

-----------------------------------------------

Index
------
Readers Comments		Page 3
News				Page 4
More news !			Page 5
Loadstar Complete		Page 8
8 bit design services		Page 9
Using A PC Drive in a 1581	Page 10
Vic 20 Multi Expander	Page 10
Turbo print news (Amiga)	page 11
System Commander AD	Page 12
8 bit Designs 4-in-1-interface	Page 13
Java for Commodore		Page 14
Contiki web browser		Page 15
Configuring Contiki		Page 16
How The internet works	Page 17
Sound Scapes			Page 18
Website Highlight		Page 24
What is an Amiga		Page 25
Tshirt printing			Page 26
Commodore in Business  	page 26

-----------------------------------------------
Readers Comments
------------------------
I must have been doing something 
right because 
people are commenting on the 
magazine! I thought 
long and hard about a readers comment 
section, in 
the end I gave in and created one! My 
reservations 
were that no one would comment, 
turns out I have 
had a couple of emails, even 
complements.

In no particular order then:

I enjoyed it, cover to cover.  And I also 
got to play 
(and beat) Raid 
on Bungeling Bay for the first time in 
20 years, thanks 
to a link in the 
zine. Keep it up!- Ken


>Commodore Free<
Ken 
Thanks for the comments :-) It does 
seem like people
have enjoyed the mag
> Hello,
> I just wanted to say Great Job on the 
Commodore 
Free magazine!
> Thank you for your time and work 
on the magazine.
> /*Raj*/

>Commodore Free<
Raj 
Thanks for replying back, of course 
comments like 
this just get me ready to release issue 2 
:-)


> Hi Nigel,
> I can't seem to download 
Commodore Free :(
>  The link has a backslash in it, which 
I think is the 
problem...
> 
> Thanks,Russell

>Commodore Free<
Russell
Hi :-)
You are the first person to report this 
problem other
Users seem ok this is the direct link 


Downloading the magazine does seem 
to be a 
problem with a version of the firefox 
web browser, I 
am new to HTML coding (as you can 
tell with the 
very basic website) and had hoped to 
create 
something viewable by everyone 
(looks like I failed, 
anyone know what the problem is? 
Could this be 
something with the slashes, it appears 
other 
browsers don't care with way round 
they are 

Bruce Thomas 
Managed to show me the error of my 
ways, THANKS 
maybe its back to the HTML books for 
me 


Hoi Nigel:
 Robert Bernardo mentioned the new 
mag in the 
Saturday night IRC and in a msg 
posted to the lists. 
I'm interested, but from what I 
understand it is pdf. 
That is a tad bit hard to handle on a 
128D. I'm the C= 
only freak. Would like to know if there 
are other ways 
to be able to read/see the mag as well 
as submit. On 
that point, well to be egotistic in 
sounding. Curently 
am the Mangaing Editor of the 
Commodore MaiLink 
for the Meeting Through The Mail 
Group. Contributor 
to the disg mag Al Jackson puts out for 
the 5C's 
group. Was doing the RPG game 
review for 
Commodore Scene, though only one 
page made it in 
the mag. NTSC English Editor and 
Retro Reviewer 
for SceneWorld disk magasine. Issues 
8- close. And 
yeah Iput out a 20 page monthly 
newsletter <booklet 
in Post Print 3.8> for my local users 
group. Right then 
enough drivel from me, thanks for the 
read.
BCNU Lord Ronin from Q-Link

>Commodore Free<

I replied personally to this and the 
email does raise 
some very good points. 

I will accept anything you are prepared 
to write, you 
can send me plain text emails or rtf 
emails or 
geowrite documents (although plain 
text emails are 
preferred)

I thought about the PDF format long 
and hard, 
originally thinking of a html only mag, 
but you can't 
read that in the bath, That was a main 
goal of mine, 
bath time reading!

I could produce a plain text version I 
suppose or even 
a postscript file to download. Most 
systems have 
some form of PDF reader that is except 
the 
Commodore 8 bit systems, would 
anyone like to write 
a PDF document reader? Would this be 
possible 

Thanks more comments next time 
----------------------------------------------

NEWS
---------
Commodore 64 
Joins The Wii Virtual Console?

 In the most recent issue of Nintendo 
Power, it has 
been reported that the Commodore 64 
will join the 
NES, SNES, Nintendo 64, Sega 
Genesis, MSX and 
Turbografx 16 as one of the available 
platforms for 
the Wii Virtual Console.

Gamasutra's re-reporting of the Virtual 
Console 
update says that no game titles are 
specified but that 
"indications" are that classic Epyx 
titles, games like 
California Games, Summer Games, 
Impossible 
Mission, and Jumpman, may make an 
appearance. 
We'll wait for an official 
announcement and keep our 
fingers crossed for a downloadable 
version of 
M.U.L.E. Michael McWhertor

Report: Commodore 64 Titles Join 
Virtual Console 
[Gamasutra                                                                                           

UPDATE: User Ferry wrote in to say 
that the 
Nintendo Power editors were 
speculating that C64 
games will hit VC Land and that a 
handful of Epix 
games were being "reworked" for the 
Wii. From his e-
mail: "A Nintendo Power editor 
merely speculated the 
announced C64 games would come to 
the Virtual 
Console, when in fact two are being 
remade for the 
PSP, DS, and Wii. To quote: 'System 3 
will release 
Impossible Mission on PSP & DS in 
January 2007, 3 
weeks later it will come to Wii, with 
California Games 
for PSP & DS in May 2007, and again 
3 weeks later it 
will come to Wii.' Hope this helps." 
Thanks for the 
info, Ferry!

Information Taken from

http://www.kotaku.com/gaming/ninten
do/commodore-
64-joins-the-wii-virtual-console-
204430.php

-----------------------------------------------

Commodore Mods 
www.bigmech.com/misc/c64mods/enc
losure.html
-----------------------------------------------

Loadstar 246
------------------
Is Now Available: goto  
www.eloadstar.com for 
details of how to order

Disk Contains :

Loadstar files
		Diskovery
		contents
		credits
		label 246
		retro phenom
		behind q link
		remember when
		new that im old
		imponderables
		space battle
		carnation poem

Graphics ware
		zeotrobe
		pathe`s train
		magic picture
		sid & Vic`s first
	
Brainware
		Suduko
		letter drop
		return of sammy

Loadstar ware
		library update

Funware
		on man
		fire bug
		illusions

Useful ware
		c64 lists

Geso Ware
		Orchid art
		Herbology

Lagniappe Ware
		Risers & slide
----------------------------------------------
Commodore Gravel 
-----------------------
downloadable entertainment on the 
move or in the 
home
 
The  new Commodore (the Mpet II 
mp3 player),now  
the new Gravel entertainment system 
seems 
altogether more in line with the 
Commodore name.
Commodore's latest baby is 
Commodore World and 
the Gravel entertainment systems. The 
Commodore 
World website promises "a large 
variety of 
entertainment content - music, videos, 
games, 
favorite radio and TV programs", 
accessed on 
demand via the Gravel devices. As yet, 
the site is 
unavailable to view, so we can't 
confirm what exactly 
is on offer.

What we can see are the Gravel 
devices. The 
Commodore Gravel In Pocket is a 
pocket-sized 
multimedia device with built-in Wi-Fi. 
It supports all 
major file formats, including MP4, 
MPEG, DivX, Xvid, 
WMV, streaming WMV, JPEG, BMP, 
GIF, along with 
MP3, WMA, WAVE music files. 
There's 1GB or 2GB 
internal flash memory, expandable by 
SD card and 
comes with the claims that it's world-
first, high-quality 
flash video device that plays full 
screen, full motion 
(24 fps) on a 2.8-inch TFT 

http://www.techdigest.tv/2006/08/ifa_2
006_commod.
html

Seems Commodore are jumping onto 
the 
bandwagon of video and music 
playback machines in 
an effort to say YEP ME too!

Would you buy such a device and 
would the 
Commodore name persuade you to 
purchase this 
device over any of the other similar 
specification 
machines?

I wish them well but it's not on my 
Christmas wish 
list.

If this interests you why not  follow the 
Commodore 
web blog
http://www.channel64.net/
-----------------------------------------------

Commodore Gaming
------------------------
Commodore Gaming B.V. is a new 
joint venture 
between Commodore International 
Corp. and The 
Content Factory B.V., based in 
Amsterdam, The 
Netherlands. Commodore Gaming is 
building on the 
strength and heritage of the 
Commodore brand to 
become a major worldwide player in 
the mobile 
games and entertainment market.

Just as Commodore pioneered the 
home computer 
market, Commodore Gaming will do 
the same in the 
mobile games market. Nowadays, 
large studios and 
publishers dominate the PC and 
console games 
market with big budget titles that are 
ambitious in 
scope, but not in creativity.  Small 
developers of 
innovative games are at a disadvantage 
when 
squared off against games that are 
flashy in 
appearance but bland in game play. 
Thankfully, 
those small developers have found a 
home on the 
mobile games platform. The relatively 
low costs of 
developing games for the mobile 
platform allows 
creative minds to produce software that 
echoes the 
instantly playable games of yesteryear, 
enhanced 
with many new ideas. Commodore 
Gaming is 
providing outlets to distribute such 
software and 
devising new ways for consumers to 
easily and 
accessibly purchase their mobile 
games, creating 
space for developers with great ideas, 
but few 
resources.

The Gaming Tower
With this in mind, Commodore 
Gaming has 
developed an innovative retail 
download platform, the 
Gaming Tower, which allows the 
downloading of 
digital entertainment and applications 
directly on to 
mobile phones via Bluetooth. The 
tower will be 
trialled in the Netherlands with a major 
game and toy 
retailer and a full commercial launch is 
planned later 
in 2006. The launch of the Commodore 
Gaming 
website will compliment and support 
the roll out of 
the Gaming Towers creating a fully 
integrated online 
and retail service.

Game reviews
In order to keep you, our customer, 
happy and 
uphold the Commodore name, we have 
devised a 
quality control system that guarantees 
a catalogue of 
only the best and most playable mobile 
games. Our 
seasoned testers play every game that 
we have on 
offer and rate it on a scale from 0 to a 
100%, with 0 
being the lowest quality and 100 the 
highest.  Any 
game that scores below 60% does not 
meet our 
standard and will not be published.  
The game 
reviews feature an overall rating, 
broken down by 
category to ensure that you are given 
the best and 
most unbiased information, when 
choosing a game to 
suit your gaming needs. What's more, 
in the near 
future you will be able to make clear 
on the site 
whether you agree with our reviews or 
not, by way of 
a user review system.

Commodore Gaming is committed to 
upholding the 
highest quality standards, whilst 
promoting games 
from small developers and opening up 
new ways for 
you to obtain mobile games.  We aim 
to be the 
premier game publisher and distributor 
by offering 
innovative connected gaming 
experiences. Mobile 
gaming is about enjoying games 
wherever you are, 
with whomever you want. Commodore 
Gaming will 
shape this reality and be your partner 
as you 
discover the joys of mobile games.    

For further inquiries please contact: 
info@commodoregaming.com

Webpage: 
http://www.commodoregaming.com/u
k-
en/Homepage.aspx 
- ---------------------------------------------

C- One
----------- 
I finally did it, I ordered a sample PCB 
of the 
FPGA extension board for the C-One. 
For the last 
six months I have been working on the 
design (not 
full-time though), and gave it the final 
few 
tweaks in the past 36 hours. The board 
is now 
ready and with some luck, it will be 
shown at 
Amiwest in Sacramento on the 21st of 
this month. 
Technical data:

- single +5V power supply, all other 
voltages are 
generated locally: 3.3V I/O and 1.2V 
core voltage

- two interfaces: C-One PCI and C-64 
cartridge slot
- 8Mbyte or 16Mbyte ram, 16 bits 
wide, SD-Ram, 
100 or 133Mhz (assembly option, no 
slot!)

- one cyclone EP2C8 FPGA: 8256 
logic elements, 
18K ram on-chip, 18 embedded 
multipliers, 2 PLLs

- 64-macrocell CPLD for initial 
configuration and 
additional IO

- 512KByte flashrom for code and 
cores
- clockport pin header (only usable 
when connected 
to C64 cartridge slot).

- optional interface: VGA-out 
(conflicts with SPDIF)

- optional interface: optical SPDIF-out 
(conflicts with 
VGA)

- assembly option: two pushbuttons

The board is absolutely crammed with 
parts, 
hardly any space left for anything. 
Routing and 
IO limits on the FPGA have reduced 
the amount of 
IOs to the C-One (through PCI) to 24 
true FPGA 
IOs and 4 input-only pins (one of them 
is 
connected to the PCI clock line). More 
PCI-IO 
lines are connected to the CPLD, so 
access to the 
flashrom and programming/(re-
)configuring the 
FPGA is possible through the PCI slot.

The C-One has an optional second PCI 
slot, and 
this is also taken into account on the 
board: One 
line that is individual to each PCI slot 
is 
routed to the CPLD, so if your board 
has a second 
PCI, you can put in two of these cards 
and 
configure both with separate cores. 
Together with 
the C64-cartridge port interface, this 
makes a 
maximum of three FPGA extenders, 
which should 
give enough FPGA space for the 
future.

The PCI slot is cut down to a 
minimum, therefore 
the extender card cannot be used in a 
normal PC. 
However, it's perfectly suited to be 
used in a 
normal C64, which is what I want to 
show at 
Amiwest. You can think of cores like 
80-character 
screen, memory expansion or even an 
REU.
 
Lots of possibilities with the large 
FPGA and the 
optional interfaces. SPDIF out and the 
embedded 
multipliers call for a DSP-like 
monster-SID. The 
VGA-out with five bits resolution per 
colour 
gives 32k colours - way more than the 
C64 ever had.

Just for a comparison: The two FPGAs 
on the C-One 
have 6720 logic elements combined 
(4992 in the 
1k100 plus 1728 in the 1k30). A single 
FPGA 
extender card already gives more than 
twice as 
much capacity, so soldering an 
additional PCI 
slot to the C-One might not be 
necessary at first 
sight. I don't know what kind of cores 
you want 
to make - to widen the limits a bit, I 
have added 
the option for up to three cards in one 
C-One system.

Price: I'm not planning to subsidise this 
card 
like I'm subsidising the C-One boards. 
The 
development, production setup and 
material cost 
per card is more than 65,- EUR each, 
so don't 
count on a price below 99,- EUR, 
calculated for 

an initial production run of 500 units. I 
hope to 
start mass-production before the end of 
the year 
- availability for Xmas is not certain.

I'll now do what Jeri never did for the 
C-One: 
Proper documentation. All pinouts and 
thoughts 
behind the wiring will be published on 
this 
mailinglist, and we can of course 
discuss 
changes, as long as you're not arguing 
wildstar-ish :-)

For all of you who like to look at tech 
stuff, 
here's a plot of the top layer of the 
board (it's a 4-
layer board):

http://c64upgra.de/top_layer.png

ciao, Jens Sch?nfeld

-----------------------------------------------

	AmigaOne News
---------------------------------
: DiscreetFX submits proposal to 
acquire Amiga Inc. 
in the next 12 months
	posted by
 DiscreetFX on 22-Oct-2006 6:26:59 
(3378 reads) 


Members of DiscreetFX sent a formel 
proposal to 
Amiga Inc. requesting formal 
validation of the 
companies value. We are hard at work 
finishing up 
our Super Size Me like movie about 
Trans Fat but the 
plan is to secure funding to purchase 
Amiga Inc. and 
all of it's IP in the next year. That is 
our next project 
after completing the film. It has been 
on the To-Do 
list for some time. 

This of course depends on if Amiga 
Inc. wants to sell 
themselves in the next year and if an 
agreed upon 
price can be negotiated. DiscreetFX 
believes there is 
tremendous value in the Amiga brand 
and Amiga OS 
4.0. The CEO of DiscreetFX stated 
"Even though we 
primarly develop our visual effects 
software on 
NewTek video editing solutions for 
Windows and 
solutions on Mac OS X the Amiga has 
always held a 
special place in my heart since I 
developed my first 
product on it. I want to help bring the 
Amiga back to 
it's former glory in new IT markets". If 
an agreement 
can be reached between Amiga Inc. 
and DiscreetFX 
the return of Amiga will be amazing.

Best regards

DiscreetFX Team

-----------------------------------------------
Other News
-------------- 

Future music
http://www.futuremusic.co.uk/page/fut
uremusic
The magazine ran a page review 
dedicate to the 
prophet 64 interface, now in the back 
pages, in a 
section about how to make your music 
stand out from 
the crowd. The magazine lists the 
Commodore 64 
and prophet 64 cartarage as a way to 
be unique in 
your music production.

VST instruments
--------------------
Of course you need a VST enabled 
application to use 
this software 

Features: 
Up to four independent SIDs can be 
emulated with a 
single SID plug-in.
 
Each SID has three independent 
oscillators and a 
fourth "Galway-noise" channel. 

Lofi, Normal and Hifi render modes. 

Chip-Model selector per chip (6581 / 
8580). 

The SID emulation has been enhanced 
so each 
oscillator can have its own volume. 

Built-in arpeggiator for each oscillator. 

Four LFOs, four envelopes and four 
"functions" for 
each oscillator. 

Programmable wavetables for each 
oscillator. 

Three play modes: Mono, Poly & 
Multi-timbral. 

Nearly every parameter can be 
modulated by MIDI or 
other internal modulators. 

Velocity sensitive Virtual-keyboard 
can be toggled 
on/off. 

Beta-tested by Chris H?lsbeck, the C-
64 SID guru. 
Very low CPU consumption.
http://www.refx.net/?page=!_quadraSI
D
-----------------------------------------------
Usb Battery
------------
Moixa are selling a rechargeable 
battery with a 
difference, the difference is that the 
battery top 
comes of to reveal a usb interface. Pop 
the battery 
into any suitable equipped machine to 
charge back 
into life. A pack of 2 AA batterys will 
retail for ?12.99 
and gives 1,300 milliaps of power, 
charging takes 
about 10 mins. More information 
available from 
www.usbcell.com the charging process 
takes 250ma 
from the host interface.

Diy Stamps
---------------
Royal mail in the U.k. 
www.royalmail.com is now 
letting its customers literally print their 
own stamps.
"Print your postage online directly 
from your PC or 
Mac. The service is free (you just pay 
the normal 
postage price), easy to use and, 
because you can 
print your postage whenever you need 
it, you'll never 
run out again. 

No need for complicated software or 
equipment - all 
you need is a computer and a printer
Print postage and an address directly 
onto labels, 
envelopes or paper Make secure 
payments online 
using your prepay account, credit card 
(or debit card 
for purchases over ?3.50)."

Of course as any one knows, only the 
IBM pc and 
Apple mac range of computers exist in 
the world. And 
so they are the only machines that you 
can print 
stamps from.

Two tier internet service
--------------------------------
The internet is swamped with Voice 
over Ip phone 
calls and bit - torrent downloads (so 
the internet 
suppliers tell us) these same ISP 
provide "unlimited 
internet access" but most have devices 
that can look 
at the internet traffic and if that traffic 
is phone calls 
or point to point file sharing they can 
make these 
requests "go to the back of the queue" 
so to speak 
and allow other traffic such as general 
browsing and 
email through, Some ISP are also 
thinking of 
dropping Voice call and Point to point 
sharing traffic 
from the network. 

"unlimited access anyone" this has 
raised calls for a 
two tier system a premium rate internet 
where we 
pay more for point to point file sharing 
traffic and 
telephony calls. Wonder how long it 
will be before 
every website has an advert we must 
watch slapped 
over the main page. Let's hope these 
are flash so our 
text browsers won't see them.
-----------------------------------------------

Argos UK 
-------------
Argos a large mail order and retail 
company in the 
U.K. are selling of the Commodore 
DTV joysticks for 
?4.99 www.argos.co.uk

Direct item link :
http://www.argos.co.uk/static/Product/
partNumber/36
917 
-----------------------------------------------

The COMPLEAT LOADSTAR 
------------------------------------ 
-- Home Tower Version --
on CD-ROM
 
The CD-ROM will AutoRun on 
Windows Includes 199 
issues of LOADSTAR and the 
following: 
64HDD

Everything you need to make an MS-
DOS 5.0 
computer into a multi-drive peripheral 
for the C-
64/128. (Requires XE1541 Cable) 
LOADSTAR Home Tower 
Installs on MS-DOS computer with 
one command. 
Start "64HDriver" browser program 
with 
LOAD"64:*",15 and RUN. Move 
between root drives, 
sub-directories, and C= disk image 
files; copy, 
scratch, rename, send DOS commands, 
much more. 

64Copy 
Great MS-DOS file management 
program that allows 
copying files from and to C= disk 
images (D64 and 
D81 files). Great hard disk 
management tool for MS-
DOS and Windows systems. 

Brain Stuff
"Bowflex for the Mind" from Barbara 
Shulak, Knees 
Calhoon, Ian Adams, and Roger 
Norton, plus Mate in 
Two puzzles, Star Search word 
puzzles, and the 
Tower Thinker collection. 15 D81 
images

Color Covers
JPG graphics of the package covers of 
early 
LOADSTAR Monthlies -- Issues 1 to 
72, LS 128 
Quarterly issues 4 to 7. 

The Compleat Bible
King James Version searchable 
electronic Bible -- 
Old and New Testaments. 

The Compleat Programmer
Two jam-packed D81 disk images full 
of tutorials 
from Basic to Advanced ML, tools, 
and 
utilities.

Music of Corky Cochran
Favorite songs and ballads for the 
SIDPlayer.

Crossword Crazy
Two D81 disk images packed with 
cruciverbalistic 
challenges.

DOS VICE
An emulator for MS-DOS PCs. Access 
and run disk 
images on your PC!

Flags and Anthems
A compleat collection of every flag 
currently waving 
and every national anthem being sung 
in the world 
today. 

Fun Stuff
Four D64 disk images (1541 size) and 
one D81 
(1581 size) with games and more. Jon 
Mattson's 
masterpieces featured.

The Compleatly Mad Gamer
Games and challenges from Johnny 
"The Mad 
Gamer" Harris on one D81 or five 
D64s. 
Knees Calhoon's Personal Utility Disk
Here are the programs used by Fender 
Tucker 
and/or his evil clone to mastermind 
LOADSTAR for 
158 Months of the Golden Age of 
Independent 
Programming. 

The Compleat Lance Thomas
Master of Artifically Intelligent board 
games, Lance's 
programs fill a D81 or four D64s. 
LOADSTAR Extras 
Five 4-sided special collections of 
software that just 
didn't fit on LOADSTAR -- Demos, 
Graphics, Songs, 
More. 
LOADSTAR Gourmet 
The ultimate cookbook on a computer.

LOADSTAR ISSUES 1 to 199
The compleat collection from 1984 to 
the end of 
2000. Each issue has at least 8 
excellent pieces of 
software -- You do the Math! 
The Historic LOADSTAR Covers
Travel through time viewing the 
graphics that 
welcomed a dozen years of 
LOADSTARites.

LOADSTAR Quarterly 128
Just for the C-128 with an 80 column 
screen. Here 
are 42 packed issues. 
The Totally Compleat Maurice Jones
The greatest collection of computer 
solitaire 
simulations ever created by one man 
and presented 
under one roof -- 113 card challenges, 
some 
impossible with real playing cards. 
Multi-Media Special
LOADSTAR puts graphics, text, and 
music together 
like no one else. 

ProseQuest 
3 Megabytes of Mega-Talent with 
words. 
Roger Unwrapped 
GEOS masterpieces from Roger 
Detaille on 8 D64s.

Serious Stuff
Best of Basics Tutorials, and the C-128 
applications 
of Lee O. Cline. 
SongSmith 
LOADSTAR's own, easy to use SID 
song writing 
system.

UpTime
Twenty-one issues of vintage 
Commodore software 
from UpTime. 
The Compleat Walt Harned 
LOADSTAR's one and only "Out-
House" artist, Walt 
reinvented the 160x200 pixel screen 
and an artistic 
medium. 

Windows VICE 1.10
The VersatIle Commodore Emulator 
for Windows -- 
one of the easiest ways to enjoy the C-
64 when 
shackled with a Pentium 500 Mhz or 
faster.


-----------------------------------------------

8 Bit Designs Product Range
------------------------------------ 
8-Bit Designs Products & Services

PRODUCTS

Power Pro 250- This handy and 
powerful device 
allows the Commodore user to 
implement the PC 
ATX Series
power supplies on their Commodore 
Computer. This 
Heavy Duty power supply will allow 
the user to use 
up to 6 separate devices 
simultaneously without 
having the bulky mess of locating and 
plugging in all 
the necessary cables. With this power 
supply, it's all 
done together in one clean, orderly, 
and powerful 
place. It can be configured for use with 
the C-64, C-
128, Amiga series, CMD Series Drives 
(CMD-HD, 
RAMLINK, FD-2000, etc.), 1581, and 
Zip/Jazz drives, 
as well as many other devices that you 
may have a 
need for that are included in your 
system. Just 
contact me with your desired needs 
and we can have 
it up and running in no time.

User Port Commander- This device 
(formally known 
as the 4-IN-1 Printer Interface) is, in 
my opinion, the 
most useful and amazing of all the 
products that we 
sell! It's compatible with GEOCable 
for use with 
GEOS/WHEELS, it has reset switches 
on it (systems 
reset for the 64, and I/O reset for the 
128), a toggle 
switch to swap modes from Geocable 
emulation to 
BASIC v7 (128 BASIC), and a power 
tap for 
powering other devices that are added 
to your 
system. SIMPLY AMAZING!

The Ultimate Gamepad- Here's an 
interesting 
concept; a Sony Playstation Gamepad 
modified for 
use with the Atari/Sega/Commodore 
64/128 systems! 
It comes in two formats; BASIC and 
PROGRAMMABLE. The "BASIC" 
gamepad is exactly 
that, Basic, featuring the directions and 
fire buttons.  
The "Programmable" gamepad brings 
in a whole new 
dimension to your gaming experience! 
Now you can 
pre-program each button to perform 
specific tasks 
according to your individual needs 
with the use of a 
basic program that's included with the 
gamepad. 
Now you can pause, enter menus, use 
spells, fire at 
the enemy, and skip levels all with the 
simple touch 
of a specific button that you have 
programmed to do 
it.  No more having to waste time and 
risk losing your 
lives by looking for a key on the 
keyboard to perform 
a function. NICE!

Serial Y-Adapter Cable- have you ever 
ran out of 
space on your serial chain? I HATE IT 
WHEN THAT 
HAPPENS! So now your worries are 
over, 
introducing our best selling product, 
The Serial Port 
Y-Adapter Cable! Simply plug it into 
one port making 
it into two! Now you can plug in both 
devices into one 
socket! COOL!

Serial Bus Reset Switch- Ever have the 
problem with 
drives or other serial devices "locking 
up" on you 
while running programs? Well now 
that's a thing of 
the past with this handy little piece of 
engineering. 
This device is nicely complemented by 
the Serial Y-
Adapter Cable. Together, they make a 
great combo 
pack!

+4 Cassette Interface- Now you can 
use your C-
64/VIC-20 Cassette recorder on your 
+4 Computer! 

C64/+4 Joystick Adapter- The fact that 
joysticks for 
the +4 are becoming rarer and rarer 
these days 
makes this interface necessary. Now 
you can use a 
regular Atari/Commodore joystick on 
your +4!

XE1541 Hybrid Cable- This handy 
cable is used 
when needing to transfer files between 
a PC and a 
Commodore Computer. It is used with 
Star 
Commander and (I THINK) another 
program 
(VICE?). I just make the cables, so 
don't hold me to 
the software specs! 

C-128 RGB Cable- Get your C-128 
80-Column 
display working once again with this 
brand new 
customized cable.

Serial Cable- Serial drive/printer 
cables available in 
custom lengths for specific needs. Just 
tell me how 
much you need and I will get you a fair 
price for it.

Serial Extension Cable- Don't you hate 
it when you 
run out of cable trying to hook up your 
new disk drive 
to your system? Well now you can 
have plenty of 
room by purchasing this "extender" 
cable! Just let me 
know how much you will need and I 
can have it made 
for you in no time. JJJJ

HD81 EXTENSION CABLE- Here's 
another 
"extender" cable for your convenience. 
If you ever 
needed more cable to hook up your 
CMD Hard Drive 
or your 1581 disk drive, now you can 
with this 
extension cable. Contact me with your 
specifications 
and we can get it for you in no time.

Universal Video Module- Have you 
ever had the 
desire to use universal A/V Cables on 
your 
Commodore, or utilize S-Video 
capabilities rather 
than running the same composite 
concept? Well now 
you can have both with this nifty A/V 
device.

Power Supply Connectors- Custom 
connectors for 
your power supply are also available 
here to suit your 
specific requirements. Contact me with 
your needs 
for more information on this service.

SERVICES
Here are a few of the services offered 
by us:

Computer and disk drive testing and 
diagnosis  (C-
128,C-64,1541,1571 ONLY)- FREE  
(Pay shipping)

Jiffy Dos Installations for computers 
and disk drives 
(C-128, C-64, 1541, 1571 ONLY)- 
($15 Per Unit)

Reset Switch installations on 
computers and disk 
Drives (C-64 & 1541)- ($15 Per Unit)

Device switch installation on 1541 disk 
drives- 
($20.00 Per Unit)

Ram Expansion testing, repairs, and 
upgrades  
(1700, 1764, 1750 ONLY)- 
Testing:($5.00); repairs 
and upgrades:($20.00 + Parts)

Software copying services (C-64 
Software)- ($1.00 
per side)

Custom cable manufacturing- ask!

For more information please contact: 
Charles J. 
Gutman Email: 
shifty_butch@hotmail.com

Website 
http://8bitprodserv.spaces.live.com 
INSTANT 1581 Disk
Multi Vic 20 Expander	 
-----------------------------------------------
by Philip Strapp
"INSTANT" 1581 Disk Drive
-------------------------------------                                      
The 1581 was designed around the 
floppy drive used 
in the Amiga computers, but the 1581 
can be 
outfitted with a standard high-density 
3.5" floppy drive 
with a minimum of effort. If you can't 
find an old 
Amiga to plunder, here's how to do it 
with an off-the-
shelf PC floppy:

1. As you connect the drive, match the 
red stripe on 
the ribbon cable  to pin 1 of the drive's 
connector. Pin 
1 may be marked by printed numbers 
on the circuit 
board, or a pin missing near one end of 
the 
connector, or a square solder pad on 
one of the end 
pins. If you can't see any markings, 
don't worry, 
plugging it in upside-down won't 
damage it. If it is 
marked but the connector won't go on,  
look at the 
key on the side of the connector. Some 
drives have 
the shell mounted upside-down, so you 
may have to 
remove the key with nippers or a file.

2. Turn the 1581 on. The drive's light 
should be off. If 
the floppy drive's light is on, the 
connector is upside-
down. Turn the 1581 off.

3. You will need to change a jumper on 
your drive. 
Write down the configuration before 
changing 
jumpers. All PC drives are factory-set 
for DS1. 
Change the jumper to select DS0. (If 
your drive's 
jumpers aren't identified, try them one 
at a time.) 
Turn the 1581 on. The floppy drive 
light should be on. 
Turn the 1581off.

4. Now for the complicated part. PCs 
use pin 34 as 
the "disk-change" signal, but the 1581 
uses pin 34 as 
a "ready" signal and uses pin 2 for the 
"disk-change" 
signal. Check your drive for a jumper 
marked RY or 
RDY. If your drive has no such 
jumper, you will have 
to modify the cable (go to step 6).

5. If your drive has a RY or RDY 
jumper and you 
don't want to modify the cable, you can 
remove the 
DC jumper and put it on RY/RDY. 
This will get the 
1581 functional, but it will not detect a 
disk change, 
so you'll have to turn the drive off and 
on again when 
you change disks. If you are satisfied 
with this mode 
of operation, go to step 7. If not, put 
the jumper back 
on DC.
    
6. Modify the ribbon cable as follows:

	with the floppy drive 
connected, write an F 
on the ribboncable near the floppy 
drive connector. 
Disconnect and remove the cable. Note 
that wire 1 
has the red stripe and wire 34 does not.

	carefully cut wires 1 and 2 at 
the floppy 
drive connector, and pull the two wires 
back to the 
middle of the cable, one at a time, OR 
split the cable 
with a knife and cut wire 2 only

	carefully cut wires 34 and 33 at 
the middle 
of the cable, andpull the two wires 
back toward the 
floppy drive connector, one at a time, 
so that they 
can easily join with wires 1 and 2, OR 
if only wire 2 
was cut, pull only wire 34 back

	connect wire 2 to wire 34 and 
insulate the 
connection

	connect wire 1 to wire 33 and 
insulate the 
connection (if applicable)

	pull wires 34 and 33 back 
toward the PC 
board connector 

	connect wire 34 to wire 33 and 
insulate the 
connection

7. If you don't care about looks, throw 
away the front 
cover and attach the LED board to the 
side of the 
case. Otherwise, you can drill and mill 
to suit before 
assembling the unit. If you want to use 
high-density 
disks in your 1581, you'll likely have 
to cove the high-
density hole with an opaque label to 
fool the drive.
If you really want to take advantage of 
JiffyDOS on 
your VIC, having a good amount of 
RAM expansion 
to allow you to run most software and 
even the ROM 
images of cartridge software now 
found at many 
places on the internet is a "must have". 
-----------------------------------------------

I make such an expander and it uses 
the latest 
surface mount technology and it can 
weigh as little as 
19 grams. But there is more, it can 
carry up to 4 
integrated ROM software of your 
choice. 

The multifunction 32k expander with a 
starting price 
of 30$. 

For that price you get an expander that 
covers blocks 
1,2,3 and 5, has a read-write/read-only 
switch and a 
hardware reset pushbutton. This, to my 
knowledge, 
allows you to run ALL ROM IMAGES 
that are 
compatible with your video standard 
(PAL or NTSC) 
except the Rabbit tape accelerator 
which runs at IO 
address ranges. 

The expander itself is compatible with 
PAL and 
NTSC VIC20, German VC20 and the 
japanese 
VIC1001. 

To this, you can add up to 4 switchable 
ROM options 
designed to go in BLK3 or BLK5. Of 
these options, 
VICMON and Programmer's Aid count 
as only one 
because they are non-overlapping and 
occupy the 
same block. Most people choose to 
have VICMON, 
Programmer's Aid and Super expander. 
However, 
you can put in there any ROM image 
of your 
choosing that will work well in BLK3 
or 5. These 
ROM options cost 5$ each. 

A 32k expander with all 4 options will 
cost 50$. 

The expander is also available as a kit 
with no ROM 
options for 22$. In this case, be warned 
that the 
product contains lead and requires the 
ability to 
solder surface mount components. The 
kit contains 
the PCB, the 32k RAM chip, the rw/ro 
switch, the 
reset pushbutton, a 74ls08 TTL SMT 
chip and one 
4.7kohm SMT resistor. NO 
INSTRUCTIONS 
PROVIDED. 

The final board looks like this: 
http://www.eskimo.com/~areed/eslapio
n/expander.jp
g 

The items will begin shipping 
AUGUST 29 2006. 
You can make your payments via 
paypal at 
eslapion@videotron.ca 

You must MAKE SURE you specify 
what 
configuration you want in the comment 
section. If you 
have any doubt that the configuration 
you want is not 
supported, ASK QUESTIONS 
BEFORE PAYING. 

Shipping cost is: 
-11$ for Canada (may vary according 
to your postal 
code) 
-7$ for u.s. (may vary according to 
your Zipcode) 
-8$ for most european countries 
Yes, I know its weird that it is made in 
Canada but it 
cost more to ship in here but that's the 
way Canada 
Post works. 
-----------------------------------------------

Thank you all for your encouragement 
and support.
Turboprint 7 now available for Amiga
New features of TurboPrint 7:
	Interface to Postscript 
interpreter "GNU 
Ghostscript" makes every printer 
Postscript 
compatible. 
	Print Postscript and PDF files 
from the 
Internet or a CD, improved quality and 
speed with 
many programs like Final Writer, 
PageStream (24 bit 
/ 16 mio. colours!), TurboCalc or 
Wordworth. 
	GNU Ghostscript and 35 fonts 
are included 
in the package. 
	New GfxText mode: Print 
scalable 
Intellifonts with any printer , print text 
on printers that 
support only graphics (e.g. Canon 
BJC7000, Epson 
StylusColor300)! 
	Zoom function in 
GraphicsPublisher: 
Magnify the page view as required, 
make precise 
alignment of pictures or work with 
smaller font sizes 
more comfortable. 
	TurboSpool printer spooler can 
now 
produce multiple copies in one go. As 
a result, output 
speed in copy mode is drastically 
improved. 
	New printer drivers 
	Lots of other improvements. 
For updates from a previous version of 
Turboprint, 
see Update information and our list of 
international 
dealers .More information on 
Turboprint is a 
complete replacement for the Amiga 
OS printer 
drivers... 
	It adds many new printer 
drivers, e.g. for 
the latest colour inkjet printers. Built in 
"intelligence" 
ensures optimum output without 
complicated setup. 
	Compatible to your existing 
Amiga 
software: "Printing as usual" - just in 
TurboPrint's 
perfect quality! 
	It comes with a 24 bit 
"printer.device" that 
improves print speed and quality. 
	Up to 16 million colours are 
reproduced 
(24bit support! ). 
	Vibrant colours & finest 
dithering: our 
"TrueMatch " colour management 
system ensures 
optimal colour reproduction. 
	Individual control of 
brightness, sharpness, 
contrast and saturation. 
...plus high-performance add-on 
software: 
	Integrated printer spooler: All 
print jobs are 
processed in the background, enabling 
you to work 
on as you print. Includes many 
convenient features 
and full control over the printing 
process. 
	Intuitive and clearly arranged 
preferences 
menu. May be hotkey activated at any 
time. 
	Includes Graphics Publisher, an 
integrated 
multi-format print and display 
software: 
	Place any number of pictures 
and text 
frames on a page, create multi-page 
documents and 
large posters - almost a DTP-package! 
	True colour display with 
CybergraphX on 
third-party graphics cards. 256-colour 
display on 
AGA Amigas, 16-colour dithering on 
OCS/ECS 
models. 
	No unnecessary proofs: 
Turboprint's 
preview function lets you control 
modifications of 
certain parameters (e.g. brightness or 
gamma) on 
screen. 
	Hard copy function allows easy 
printing of 
screens. 
	Integrated Ghostscript interface 
makes 
every printer Postscript compatible. 
	Comes with a comprehensive 
printed 
manual. 
Don't go for less! Choose the original 
TurboPrint 
Professional! 
System requirements:  Any Amiga 
computer with OS 
2.04 or higher. Hard drive is 
recommended 
(necessary for TurboSpool and 
Ghostscript). 
Here you can find more information: 
http://www.irseesoft.de/default.htm
Protovision NEWS
-----------------------------------------------

COMPETITION PRO JOYSTICK 
RETURNS
The COMPETITION PRO is now also 
available from 
the Protovision Online  Shop at 
http://www.protovision-
online.de/catalog for 13 Euros 
including shipping within Europe.

ADVANCED SPACE BATTLE 
GETS A SIZZLER
The latest issue Retro Gamer (issue 
#30) has a 
rather warm review of  ADVANCED 
SPACE 
BATTLE, which received a 96% 
overall rating and 
gets  a Retro Gamer Sizzler! For more 
information, 
head over to  
http://www.retrogamer.net .

STERNENKIND AND METAL 
DUST
WELLE:ERDBALL released their new 
album CHAOS 
TOTAL on 1st  September this year. 
The longplayer 
contains the song "STERNENKIND",  
which is the 
music from METAL DUST Level 4 
with additional 
lyrics.  Furthermore, the limited edition 
includes a 
Bonus DVD with a METAL DUST  
video clip.
Visit the WELLE:ERDBALL 
homepage at 
http://www.welle-erdball.de
-----------------------------------------------

AMIGA FUTURE INTERVIEWS 
PROTOVISION
Protovision got interviewed by the 
German language 
magazine AMIGA  FUTURE 
(http://www.amigafuture.de ). The 
interview will be 
published in  issue 63 
(November/December 2006), 
to be released soon. The cover can 
already be found 
here:http://www.amigafuture.de/forum
/album_page.p
hp?pic_id=723

For more information check our site: 
http://www.protovison-online.de 
-----------------------------------------------
 
System Commander
 

Why not roll out a copy of System 
commander to 
your company's Windows active 
directory Domain? 
Well it's a nice thought but your boss 
may not quite 
agree with you!

Active Directory is a Microsoft 
structure to apply 
settings to all machines in a company, 
also the 
Directory has the ability to install and 
remove 
software.
Utilising features of Windows 2000 
server and above.

Microsoft quote:

 "Active Directory enables centralized, 
secure 
management of an entire network, 
which might span 
a building, a city, or multiple locations 
throughout the 
world."

http://technet2.microsoft.com/Window
sServer/en/libra
ry/6f8a7c80-45fc-4916-80d9-
16e6d46241f91033.mspx?mfr=true



System Commander Active Directory 
Roll out

Requirements:
Server:- Windows 200x - Active 
Directory Domain 
controller

Clients: - Windows 2000 - XP 
Professional Clients

1) Download msi-package on 
http://www.freecommander.com

2) Place the file on a servershare, e.g. 
"\\servername\share\freeCommander 
2xxx.xx.msi"

3) Create new Group Policy Object 
(GPO)  (or use 
existent Software-GPO), e.g. 
"GPO_Software_freeCommander"

4) Open GPO 
"GPO_Software_freeCommander" and 
go to: "Computer 
Settings\Softwaresettings\" right-
click on "Softwareinstallation" -> 
"New" -> "New 
package..."
	Browse for the 
Servername+share 
("\\servername\share\freeCommander 
2xxx.xx.msi"). 
Leave all other settings default
	and click [OK]


5) Final step is to link the new GPO to 
an 
Organizational Unit (OU), where the 
computers
   objects are placed in you want to 
install 
freecommander distributed.

6) In my case, I needed to correct an 
issue with 
correct logon-settings for Software-
Distribution
in my GPO. See this Link for more 
information:

	http://support.microsoft.com/de
fault.aspx?s
cid=kb;en-us;305293&Product=winxp

or in very short:

	http://www.eventid.net/display.
asp?eventid
=101&eventno=4011&source=Applica
tion%20Manag
ement&phase=1



Germans may use the screenshots at 
the end of this 
page to correct the settings.

Users should be able to use 
freeCommander now 
even without administrative rights by 
using their own 
settings file
in 
%userprofile%\...\freecommander.ini .


Good Luck ;)
puffy64 - http://www.puffy64.de

-----------------------------------------------

Competition Pro Joystick returns

Another Retailer of the Competition 
pro

[CompJoy] $17.99 
 
 The Competition Pro has developed 
into a legend 
since its launch in the Eighties. It could 
be found in 
millions of households throughout the 
world and 
delighted its users. For anyone who 
can still call a 
fCommodore or Amiga computer his 
own, it has 
returned to repeat its triumph. 

Commodore 64, 128, SX64, Amiga 
and Atari 
Compatible

X- and Y-axis
4 Fire Buttons
Switch for deactivating the upper fire 
buttons

 http://www.c64reloaded.com/


.
-----------------------------------------------

8 bit design's Commodore 4 in 1 
interface
 
4 interfaces in 1 small box wow! How 
can anyone 
resist this item?   

This small plastic device connects to 
the Commodore 
user port and has the following 
interfaces 

	standard Parallel interface acts 
just like a 
geo cable,  

	Reset button

	Disk Reset 

I must confess 8 bit Designs took some 
time to track 
down, after Michael Hunter handed 
over to 
Diehard64, the website disappeared, 
then replaced 
by a site selling spare electronics parts 
with a small 
reference section devoted to 
commodore.

Time passed and I read some 
comments in chat 
groups about 8 bit designs and how the 
new owner 
Charles Gutman distributed a 
catalogue with any new 
purchases.

Finally emailing Robert Barnado gave 
me the email 
address of Charles and I soon had 
some questions 
formulated for him. 

I asked if Charles was still selling 8 bit 
products and if 
I could have a catalogue of products 
available. 
Charles replied back that he only sent 
out the 
catalogue with purchases, I said I 
wanted the 4 - in-1 
printer interface and after an exchange 
of cost and 
postage, I had to find some way to pay 
Charles.

Charles doesn't have a bank account so 
can't take 
transfers and cant accept paypal, in the 
end I had to 
use the Moneygram system to send 
money from the 
U.k. to America, this put extra cost on 
the product but 
as the interface was well priced I didn't 
mind to much.
 
The product was posted quickly and a 
copy of the 
current catalogue is listed in this free 
issue. Charles 
now has a website and lists products 
and prices, but 
there is no way to purchase them, you 
need to email 
Charles for postage costs and to 
confirm an order, 
not an ideal system but it does seem to 
work. 

Many people have criticised Charles 
for his lack of 
order system and back street method of 
ordering, I 
have to say my goods were in stock 
and after 
payment I had no other problems with 
the guy. After 
all he is supporting what many people 
would call a 
dead machine, and this won't make 
him rich selling 
products for a niche market.

The interface is very well made with 1 
small switch 
on the right hand side and 2 red 
buttons on the top of 
the unit, to the right is a connector 
allowing you to tap 
off 5 volts of power. 


This small device and the software 
supplied on disk 
allow the following features:

Printing from the Commodore 128 
basic (a small 
machine code utility sits in memory 
and redirects 
output thought the unit to a standard 
printer)

The interface also acts as a Geo cable 
to connect the 
Commodore to any standard pc style 
printer with a 
centronics interface (although these are 
disappearing 
in favour of the usb interface) maybe 
the device 
needs another connector for usb 
(although cables 
are available to convert usb to parallel 
or centronics 
interface this would look messy and be 
more costly. 

The small red buttons have the 
following options, one 
acts as a reset for the Commodore, the 
other is a 
serial port reset, so disk or serial 
connected printer 
can be reset rather than having to do a 
full system 
power of and back on!

The small connector on the right is for 
5 volts of 
power, I suppose if you need this you 
would 
appreciate the connector, I still haven't 
found a use 
yet for this.
Everything works flawlessly; I really 
only purchased 
the device to use as a geo cable, but the 
extra 
features did intrigue me!

My only criticism is that the points are 
not market up, 
2 buttons on the top, are not marked 
which resets the 
machine and which resets the serial 
bus, true after 
the first attempt you should then 
remember on further 
resets.

The toggle switch on the side may 
need to be set 
differently for Basic printing or Geos 
applications but 
again isn't labels as to which way this 
should be set 
and if its in the wrong position you 
need to power off 
everything change the position and re- 
power on.

The software is a freely available 
machine code 
application for basic that intercepts 
print requests and 
directs them to the device rather than 
the serial port, I 
had no problems with some 
applications I tired on the 
system. Also on the disk is a preset up 
geolaser 
patched to use the geo cable for output, 
a couple of 
Geos geo-cable printer drivers and a 
geopublaser 
precompiled application to use the geo-
cable when 
printing geo-publish applications. 

All the software works no problems, 
and I was 
printing literally within the space of 20 
mins. The 
documentation is ample and describes 
every 
conceivable setup and application for 
the hardware; I 
am glad I purchased the hardware and 
recommend it 
to anyone who wants professional 
output from basic 
and Geos. 

Although I would suggest that Charles 
create a 
website where products can be ordered 
and be more 
flexible in the way he can accept 
payments 
 
-----------------------------------------------
 
A Java Environment for the 
Commodore
 
leJOS is a compact JVM that runs on a 
32kB Hitachi 
microcontroller. The leJOS code is 
written in ANSI C 
and is very portable to other platforms, 
provided a C 
cross compiler exists for that platform. 
This makes it 
an ideal candidate to port over to the 
64kb 
Commodore 64. 

Phase One:
c64 LUnix JVM  Goal - To create a 
small-footprint 
JVM for an unexpanded Commodore 
64. 
A very basic java.lang package with 
reduced 
methods (similar to the leJOS API) 
The JVM should run from the 
command line under 
LUnix 
The API should include java.io and 
java.net, which 
will harness TCP/IP modules of LUnix 
The Java API will be a very limited 
subset of Java 2 
Standard Edition (or Micro Edition) 
Special Java packages could be 
developed for using 
sprites, the SID chip, etc... 

Phase Two:
 C=1 JVM Goal: To create a Java 2 
compliant JVM 
and API for the Commodore One  
There are two 
possibilities for this. 

1) Port the LUnix JVM from Phase 
One over to C=1 . 
add object reflection  add garbage 
collection 
expand packages to include most Java 
Standard 
Edition (J2SE) packages 
Allow the java.exe module to read in 
classes from a 
JAR file. 
OR 

2) Since there is lots of memory 
available on the 
C=1, it's possible to port a more 
advanced ANSI C 
implementation of a JVM over. Kaffe 
looks like it 
might be the best option. 

Additional Java Projects 
Once the foundation of a JVM is in 
place, additional 
projects could expand the C=1 Java 
platform. These 
are not necessarily projects I would 
want to attempt, 
but they are possibilities. 
Project A: Expand C=1 Java Tool Set 
Without a full toolset, such as Sun's 
JDK 1.4, it 
wouldn't be possible to compile 
programs on the C=1 
platform. Without this, development 
would have to 
occur on a PC and the resulting class 
files transfered 
over to the C=1. We also wouldn't be 
able to use JAR 
files without jar.exe. There are many 
tools to help 
with development, and the most 
important ones 
should be ported over. Hopefully these 
tools exist as 
open source projects somewhere on the 
Internet 
(maybe even available by Sun) so we 
can port them 
over without much hassle. 

javac.exe - byte-code compiler 
jar.exe - similar to zip 
javadoc.exe - creates API 
documentation in HTML 
format 

others... 
If you know more information about 
this, please e-
mail me. 
Project B: Wheels JVM 
add java.awt for Wheels GUI (a 
patched version of 
GEOS) 
java.io and java.net for use with 
Wheels TCP/IP 
Project C: Java Library for C=1
create Java package for Commodore 
One 
development 
packages for using sprites, SID chip, 
hi-res graphics, 
character set mapping, etc... 
Project D: Integrate JVM into web 
browsers 
A basic JVM for viewing simple 
applets 
advanced features such as sandbox 
secutiry are 
optional 
Project E: A True Java Compiler 
Something that would compile Java 
source into 
machine code would make for very 
fast code. 
Could convert the Java byte-code into 
machine code. 
Details 

Phase One 
I think the best possibility for a c64 
JVM is leJOS. 
This is a project for the Lego 
Mindstorms RCX brick. 
The entire JVM runs in only 32Kb of 
RAM, but there 
are a few standard features have been 
cut in order to 
fit this in memory: 
no object reflection 

no garbage collector (probably could 
be added for a 
c64 version) 

The API is very limited with leJOS. 
Things like 
System.out.println() will need to be 
adapted for the 
c64. If LUnix ever attempts a GUI then 
maybe even 
portions of the java.awt could be 
adapted for the c64. 
And a special API for handling sprites, 
SID sound, 
character mapping could be developed. 
Development 
of c64 Java code would occur on a PC 
using a Java 
Cross Compiler (similar to the 
development cycle for 
leJOS) since compiling source code is 
pretty memory 
intensive. In other words, no javac.exe 
for the c64. 
The ideal platform to accept command 
line 
arguments is 

LUnix . 
The leJOS code is written in ANSI C 
so it should be 
very portable. I've done some 
preliminary research 
on this and was looking for a good C 
compiler. I think 
the cc65 cross compiler looks about 
the best. It looks 
like it has a decent library just for the 
c64 from what I 
could tell. On the down side, C code 
doesn't compile 
very efficiently to the 6502/6510 chip 
for some 
reason, but still 64Kb should be fine. 

An alternate possibility is Waba, a 
JVm written in 
assembler but made to be easily 
portable to other 
systems. Unfortunately I have no 
assembler skills. 
In order for this to run under LUnix it 
needs to be 
programmed for the LUnix Kernal. 
There are two 
possibilities for this: 
Use assembly in-line with the C code 
to access the 
LUnix kernal functions. This would be 
used in 
conjunction with a 6502 C compiler, 
such as cc65 
(above). 
Jozef V. Molnar is working on a C 
compiler 
specifically for LUnix. This would be 
ideal since the 
entire code base could be written in 
ANSI C. It would 
also be awesome because then there's 
the possibility 
to port selected Unix based tools over 
to LUnix - 
provided they are small enough. 
There's a small-C compiler called 
scc6502, but it's 
not ANSI-C 
Use CA65 and LD65 (from the CC65 
package) to 
generate a .o65 file, then use the Luna 
assembler to 
generate a binary file. 
http://www.geocities.com/SiliconValle
y/Way/4588/scc
6502.html 

Alternate JVM possibilities: 
http://www.rtjcom.com/6811/general.h
tml - written in 
Assembly using a GNU Assembler. 
http://www.rtjcom.com/general.html - 
Written in C, 
compiled by various (usually GNU 
GCC) 

Phase Two 
The primary target for this port will be 
WiNGs 
(presently known as JOS). Jolse has 
created some 
amazing tools for JOS, including an 
LCC compiler 
back-end for WiNGS ( currently 
available for JOS). 

Some goals for this project inlcude: 
  Adding a java.awt for the WiNGs 
GUI 
  java.io and java.net for use with 
WiNGS TCP/IP 
modules 
Converting the entire J2SE library over 
will not be too 
hard. Once a few key classes are 
defined 
(java.net.Socket, java.lang.Math, and 
some java.awt 
classes) the rest are mostly written in 
straight Java. 
This means most code can be copied 
right from the 
Sun source code.
Information 



Taken from 
:http://www.mts.net/~kbagnall/commo
dore/java.h 
-----------------------------------------------

Contiki Web browser
 
The Contiki web browser is not only 
the world's first 
true web browser for 8-bit systems, but 
also the 
smallest browser available and sets a 
new record for 
the oldest computer ever to browse the 
world wide 
web. 

The Contiki web browser contains the 
essentials of 
what's needed to browse the web. It 
does DNS 
lookups, talks HTTP (over TCP/IP) to 
fetch web 
pages over the Internet and renders 
HTML pages 
with text, hyperlinks and forms. There 
is currently no 
support for pictures or JavaScript. 

Smallest
Regular web browsers require several 
megabytes of 
RAM and disk space. The Contiki web 
browser only 
needs a few kilobytes of RAM and no 
disk at all. With 
a code footprint of 9 kilobytes and with 
a total of only 
4 kilobytes of RAM required, it might 
very well be the 
world's smallest web browser. 

Oldest
The Contiki web browser is probably 
the first web 
browser ever to run on an over 20 
years old 
computer system - the oldest 

system that runs the Contiki web 
browser is the 1979 
Atari 800. (The Commodore 64 
from 1982 - running Contiki - was the 
previous record 
holder.) 

First
While it has been possible for some 
time to use an 8-
bit platform for web browsing, 
previous browser-type 
programs for 8-bit platforms have 
required assistance 
of special programs running on much 
more powerful 
Unix or PC servers to be able to reach 
the Internet 
and display web pages. This is how 
Cameron 
Kaiser's C64 HyperLink hyper-text 
document viewer, 
the Uzix FudeBrowZer for MSX, and 
the VIC 20 WAP 
browser work. Other browsers have 
claimed to be 
running on 8-bit platforms, while in 
reality they 
require much more powerful 16-bit 
CPUs and more 
memory than most 8-bit systems can 
handle. The 
Wave is an example of such a browser. 
The Contiki web browser does not 
need any special 
proxy programs or Unix servers. 
Instead, it connects 
directly to the Internet, downloads and 
displays web 
pages and provide a user interface, 
without extra 
software or special power-servers. It is 
therefore the 
world's first true web browser for an 8-
bit system. 
User agent string

If you see something like the following 
in your web 
server logs, you know you've had a 
visitation from the 
Contiki web browser: 

User-Agent: Contiki/1.0 (Commodore 
64; 
http://dunkels.com/adam/contiki/) 

Ideas for the future
In the current version, the main 
limiting factor is the 
memory usage. By optimizing the web 
browser code 
and introducing loadable program 
modules, more 
memory will be made available for 
feature 
enhancements. possible future features 
are: 

Buffering for faster scrolling. The 
current version of 
the Contiki browser does not buffer the 
downloaded 
web pages. Instead, it parses the 
HTML on-the-fly 
and only stores what's actually shown 
on the screen. 
This means that in order to scroll down 
a page, the 
page has to be downloaded from the 
web server 
again. By buffering a larger part of the 
web page, 
scrolling could be made radically 
faster. Adding 
support for this will be straightforward 
as the current 
architecture already is designed for this 
extension.
File and full disk downloads. Being 
able to directly 
download files from the Internet down 
to a C64 disk 
or tape would be a very nice feature to 
have. Also, 
the ability to directly download a full 
D64 image to a 
C64 disk would be a nice way to get 
new software 
and demos for the C64. Since latest 
version of cc65 
now supports file I/O, this feature 
could probably be 
quite easily added. Improved forms 
support. 
Currently, only forms with a GET 
action is supported, 
and only the input types submit, text 
and image. 

Tabbed browsing. Starting with Opera, 
and 
continuing with Mozilla and Galeon, 
many modern 
browsers have started using a feature 
known as 
tabbed browsing. With tabbed 
browsing, multiple 
browser sessions can be kept in 
parallel and 
accessed using special buttons at the 
top of the 
browser window. Adding tabbed 
browsing to the 
Contiki web browser will probably 
require a more 
sophisticated memory management on 
the Contiki 
web browser's part as well as more 
RAM, but should 
otherwise pose no fundamental 
problems. 


Viewing JPEG images. The amazing 
JPX/Juddpeg 
C64 JPEG viewer by Adrian Gonzalez 
and Steve 
Judd shows that it is possible to render 
JPEG images 
on a C64. Their code could perhaps be 
incorporated 
into the Contiki browser which would 
facilitate 
viewing inline JPEG images in the web 
pages. The 
main problems with JPEG decoding is 
that it probably 
requires a lot of CPU cycles, and might 
use too much 
memory to be possible to incorporate 
in the Contiki 
browser.

Viewing GIF images. There are several 
GIF viewers 
available for the Commodore 64, and it 
might 
similarly be possible to integrate one 
of these into the 
Contiki browser. GIF image decoding 
should be less 
CPU intensive than JPEG decoding, 
and uses less 
memory since it does not require as 
much memory 
for tables as JPEG decoding.

SID player plugin. Downloading SID 
tunes to listen to 
while browsing should be possible. By 
reserving the 
memory between $1000 and $2000, a 
lot of SID 
tunes could be used.

Flash plugin. Olivier Debon's Flash 
player is quite 
small - only about 9k when compiled 
for the x86 - so 
it just might be possible to port it to the 
C64.

Java virtual machine for running Java 
applets. While 
this idea is more far fetched than the 
above ones, it 
should be noted that Brian Bagnall 
actually is working 
on porting/implementing a Java virtual 
machine for 
the C64. 

Information taken from 
http://dunkels.com/adam/contik
 More machines are covered for 
example the 
Commodore 128 and plus 4 have 
Operating systems 
dedicated to each machine.. 
-----------------------------------------------

Contiki Broadband Internet setup On 
C= 64
 
You will need the following items 
	Contiki Operating System
	Commodore 64 
	Disk drive
	Commodore Network Interface
	Broadband connection
I am using the Retro replay adaptor but 
the principals 
are the same. My network consists on a 
broadband 
connection to which I have a Netgear 
router 
attached.  The retro replay card is 
plugged into the 
Commodore and an Ethernet cable 
then connects to 
my router. These routers are normally 
all configured 
the same way more about this later.

First to download Contiki O.S. from 
http://www.sics.se/~adam/contiki/dow
nload.html

Keys to remember because I always 
forget them 
F7 = selection downwards 
F5 = selection up
F3 = cycles windows (moves between 
windows)
F1 = Opens the menu 
Cursor keys = move left and right
Return = Activate selected item 

I am using the1.2-devel1 compiled 
version available 
as a zip file to download.

Routers
They are setup as DHCP servers 
(Dynamic Host 
Configuration  basically it assigns 
Internet addresses 
to any devices connected to itself. The 
addresses are 
normally in the range of 192.168.0..x 
where x  is an 
assignable numbers from 1 to 255

If you have a pc connected to the 
router you can 
issue a command ipconfig /all from a 
command line 

Click start then Click run thenType 
CMD
Press return then type  ipconfig /all
Press return  You get something like 
this
 
ipconfig /all
Windows IP Configuration
Ethernet adapter Local Area 
Connection:

Connection-specific DNS Suffix  . :
Description . Broadcom 57xx Gigabit 
Controller

        Physical Address. . . . 	00-12-
3F-EF-F9-8F
        Dhcp Enabled. . . . . . 	yes
        IP Address. . . . . . . . . 
	192.168.0.2
        Subnet Mask . . . . . . . 
	255.255.255.0
        Default Gateway . . . . 
	192.168.0.1
        DHCP server...........
	192.168.0.1
        DNS Servers . . . . . . . 
	194.168.8.100

Windows 95/98 machines click start 
click run and 
type winipcfg then hit return this gives 
the same info. 
Finally Unix and linux in a terminal 
window type  the 
command ifconfig /all
You should see the same info, as 
displayed above. 
From this we see our address is 
192.168.0.2 and 
DHCP SERVER is 192.168.0.1 this is 
the router!
1.	Startup the Contiki operating 
system 
2.	Press F1 to goto the 
configuration options
3.	For the Net driver enter 
rrnet.drv
4.	Press return
5.	for the IP address enter 
192.168.0.64
6.	for the Netmask enter 
255.255.0.0
7.	for the Gateway enter 
192.168.0.1
8.	for the DNS server 
194.168.8.100
9.	Press return

I find it now best to quit contiki and 
restart otherwise 
you run out of memory!I am sure there 
must be a 
better way but this works for me. You 
can experiment 
at your leisure; I am running out of 
time here.

Explanation of options 
Our Router (the connection to the 
internet) is handing 
out IP addresses in the range of 
192.168.0.X  
allowing up to 255 devices 
HOWEVER the device 
only has 4 network ports!

We need to load the driver for our 
card, in my case 
it's the rrnet.drv for the Retro replay 
network adaptor
Eth64.drv for the final Ethernet 
cartarage.

The Ip address is the address for our 
machine, as we 
are using a Commodore 64; I always 
select 64. The 
Ip address just needs to be unique on 
the network. 
Remember our Router has 192.168.0.1 
address, and 
as we can only connect 4 machines any 
thing over 
that number should be fine, and won't 
be assigned by 
the router, as we can only connect 4 
machines. Only 
change the last number though!

The network mask tells the system 
how to identify a 
client on any given network - just enter 
what the pc 
setting is - this again on these type of 
routers is 
255.255.255.0 address

The gateway is how we connect to the 
internet, the 
GATE to the internet in our case 

And the DNS server is a Domain 
Name server it 
turns the web addresses into IP 
addresses and helps 
your machine find others on the 
internet, this will vary 
as you will use the DNS server of your 
Internet 
service provider.

Of course you could press F1 select 
directory and 
browse for the "DHCP client" 
application, run the 
application then select Request address 
and press 
return. BINGO your commodore 64 
will ask for an 
address from the router and the router 
will fill in all 
the details Note down all the settings 
and then go 
back to the configuration menu and 
enter them as it 
suggests from the request. But That is 
far to easy 
and why I left it till after you had done 
everything 
manually.

Now press F1 select directory and look 
for the web 
browser start it and connect to a site 
like 
www.commodorefree.com. Looks 
good doesn't it, 
this is plain html website, with nothing 
fancy, if you go 
to other sites remember some of the 
formatting and 
options will be lost due to you using a 
text web 
browser 
Some of the other applications were 
covered in 
commodore scene with an indepth 
explanation of the 
contiki O.S contact 
www.commodorescene.org.uk for 
more information 
-----------------------------------------------
 
How the internet works 
This isn't a full step by step blow by 
blow account of 
everything on the internet and how it 
all works; it's a 
beginner guide to tie in with the 
Contiki setup.

If some of the numbers and the names 
of things 
confused you, then this may help relive 
your poor 
brain and give some explanation of 
how the whole 
system ties together. This is an internet 
primer, and if 
you need more in-depth information I 
have included 
some links for you to read at your 
leisure.

The internet started as a military 
project called ARPA 
net (Advanced Research Projects 
Agency) in the 
U.S.A in 1958. The project developed 
quickly with 
more and more systems connecting 
together.

Skipping forward to 1983 when the 
first TCP/IP Wide 
area network was developed, most 
people think of 
this as the start of the internet. the 
system developed 
with the open standard of theTCP/IP 
protocol. 
(Transmission control protocol internet 
protocol) the 
wide area network is just that an area 
of computers 
spanning a wide area.

A protocol is just a way of 
Communicating, so If I 
went to France I would need a French 
protocol 
otherwise no one would be able to 
understand me.
Around the 1990`s the first "end users" 
were able to 
connect to this system with Tim 
Berners - lee 
developing the Html standard of 
hypertext (linking 
documents together, basically early 
web browser 
software) The Internet had developed 
from a military 
only system to now encompass 
universities and 
collages. Contrary to some beliefs the 
internet isn't 
owned by anyone person or company 
(look out here 
comes Microsoft)
Each of the computers connected to the 
internet is 
what we call a Host machine. In the 
early days users 
would connect to each machine by 
typing an IP 
address. These addresses appear in the 
form 
216.27.61.137 in Decimal notation or 
11011000.00011011.00111101.100010
01 in binary 
notation. (I know the version I prefer 
to remember) 
the system is often referred to as 4 
dotted quads or 
four numbers with 8 binary locations.

If you add the binary number locations 
together you 
get 32 so the number is thought of as a 
32 bit 
numbering system. The Internet has 
run out of 
numbers to assign to machines! So 
how can new 
users access the system?
The answer lies in N.A.T. or net work 
address 
translation, The designers of the TCP 
protocol 
reserved some numbers, some are for 
experimental 
purposes others are for thing like 
broadcasting, 
(sending he same information to 
multiple users at the 
same time) of these reserved numbers 
the 
numbering system 192.168.0.X is used 
for internal 
networks or intranets. 

Normally you have some sort of 
Router that connects 
to the internet with a "live" Ip address 
and then has a 
DHCP client that Dynamically assigns 
numbers in the 
reserved range of 192.168.0.X these 
addresses cant 
access the internet directly they use a 
system called 
Network Address Translation, the 
router basically 
handles the communications and 
transforms the 
address to a live internet address. This 
system is 
used on a larger scale by some Internet 
Service 
providers to expand on the range of 
numbers. (look 
for IP version 6 that has more numbers 
to assign, 

Someone somewhere once calculated 
you could 
have 3 addresses per square inch of 
area in the 
world, I suspect he was knocked down 
by a bus. With 
IP version 6 we should last a good 
while longer with 
IP addressing. Moving back to the pre 
1983 and 
someone decided remembering IP 
addresses was 
getting difficult as more and more 
systems were 
"becoming live". So a system called 
the Host file was 
invented, this was a text file with the 
"friendly name" 
of a computer linked to an ip address 
so for example:

202.11.22.45	Kryten
221.12.34.2	R2D2
92.11.23.1		C3po
ETC

When people wanted to connect to 
kryten they just 
needed the name of the machine, the 
text file would 
be used as a lookup or phone book to 
find the IP 
address. This worked well but as more 
and more 
systems connected to the internet the 
host file 
needed updating on EVERY system 
connected to the 
internet. As you can imagine this 
became a full time 
job for some poor soul in every collage 
and university 
around the world.

The university of Wisconsins came up 
with the 
answer DNS or Domain naming 
system, and it 
worked like this: You had Top level 
domain servers 
these would know the location of 
servers hosting the 
domains .COM .ORG .NET .EDU and 
.GOV below 
these servers we have second level 
domain servers, 
these would know locations such as: 
Microsoft, 
Novell, Amiga etc you get the idea. 
Under these we 
have the service machines that know 
things like 
WWW, FTP, MAIL etc.

So how when we type 
www.commodorescene.com 
how does our web browser find the IP 
address, well 
this is the clever part, basically you 
have your 
machine with its IP address and subnet 
mask (the 
subnet mask just decides what art of 
the IP address 
is for the NETWORK and which is the 
Host section 
(your machine) it can get complex look 
in the links if 
you need to know more about 
subnetting.

The Ip address is found because we 
have the 
location of our Internet service 
providers DNS 
servers. What happens is something 
like this:

The user enters 
www.commodorescene.com into a 
browser and the browsers looks to its 
local host text 
file if it has one, if it doesn't then it 
looks for a DNS 
server on the IP address you provided, 
then the 
browser asks the DNS server for the IP 
address of  
www.commodrefree.com. 

The DNS server will have the IP 
addresses of the 
root or first level of servers, remember 
these the 
COM ORG NET EDU GOV etc the 
DNS server will 
tell the browser I don't know BUT I 
know he IP 
address of the servers looking after 
.COM domains, 
The web browser will say thanks then 
ask the root 
server with the .COM domains where 
www.commodorefree.com is, the 
server will say 
something like oh sorry not sure but I 
know a second 
level domain server that holds the 
commodrefree.com domain. 

Your browser says thanks, and then 
asks the server 
looking after the commodorefree 
domain. Where is 
www.commodorefree.com and at this 
point should 
receive the reply: the server in the 
commodorescene 
domain looking after www traffic is 
x.x.x.x. ip 
address. Your browser says thanks 
then talks to the 
server directly on the IP address asking 
for the page 
you requested!

It's a long process but a process that 
has been 
working successfully for years. Of 
course if a hacker 
took out the .COM Root servers then 
you browser 
would fail! You wouldn't get any web 
traffic unless 
you know of hand the IP address of the 
server. 

LINKS:
Subnetting 	
http://www.learntosubnet.com/
http://www.cisco.com/warp/public/701
/3.html
http://compnetworking.about.com/od/
workingwithipad
dresses/a/subnetmask.htm



LINKS:
IP addressing
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/IP_addres
s
http://www.howstuffworks.com/questi
on549.htm
http://searchwebservices.techtarget.co
m/sDefinition/0
,,sid26_gci212381,00.html
DNS
http://www.webopedia.com/TERM/D/
DNS.html
 ----------------------------------------------

Soundscapes - Journal on Media 
Culture
url: 
http://www.icce.rug.nl/~soundscapes/
VOLUME08/Lo
ops_and_bloops.shtml,
retrieved from www.soundscapes.info 
(ISSN 1567-
7745) on Monday, October 16, 2006.

	"Loops and bloops"
	Music of the Commodore 64 
games
	by Karen Collins
	 
	The Commodore 64 was the 
greatest-
selling home computer system of all 
time, and still 
draws a large crowd of retro-gamers. 
Despite its 
popularity, the music of C64 games 
has never before 
been analysed in any academic articles. 
This article 
is designed to introduce readers to the 
music of the 
C64. Discussing the technical 
constraints of C64's 
SID soundchip, Karen Collins shows 
the conventional 
ways in which the chip was used, 
compares some 
well-known, pre-composed songs 
which were 
covered on the C64 in various games 
and then 
explores approaches to interactivity 
and looping in 
Commodore games music. After 
comparing the C64 
with its contemporaries, she concludes 
that the 
Commodore's music was a 
combination of both 
technological constraint and musical 
aesthetics.
	 
	Constraints on compositions. 
According to 
the Guinness Book of Records, the 
Commodore 64 
was the best-selling home computer 
system of all 
time, selling over thirty million units in 
its production 
years from 1982 to 1993. [1] There 
were 
approximately ten thousand games 
released for the 
C64 over its decade-long reign, and 
many still remain 
popular with "retro gamers." One of 
the attractions to 
Commodore's games over those of its 
competitors 
was their unique musical aesthetic. 
With screaming 
guitar-like square wave solos, full-
length songs, 
attempts to re-create traditional "rock 
band" line-ups 
in its use of tone channels, and its 
increased use of 
percussion, Commodore music was 
like rock to 
Nintendo's heavily looped disco 
aesthetic. There are 
vast archives of Commodore games 
music available 
on the web - notably sites like HVSC, 
the "High 
Voltage SID Collection" - and fans 
debate endlessly 
the best composers and games music 
on message 
boards. "Micromusicians" still use the 
Commodore to 
compose on, and relish - rather than 
regret - the 
technological constraints it imposed on 
its 
composers.
	Technological constraints are 
nothing new 
to musical composition, although most 
discussions 
arising about the subject have centered 
on twentieth 
century concerns. Mark Katz discusses 
how the 78 
RPM record led to a standard time 
limit for pop 
songs, and how Stravinsky famously 
tailor-made 
S?r?nade en LA for the length of an 
LP; although he 
points out, however, that Stravinsky 
may have been 
shaped by "his penchant for self-
imposed limitations" 
(Katz, 2004: 3-5). Critiques of "hard" 
technological 
determinism as it relates to musical 
technologies 
have dominated the discussion (e.g. 
Taylor, 1993: 
27; Th?berge, 1997: 160; Katz, 2004), 
in favour of a 
softer approach in which the 
relationship is more of a 
negotiation. As with other recent 
approaches to 
music technology, I would argue that 
the relationship 
between technology and aesthetics is 
one of 
symbiosis rather than dominance, what 
Barry Salt 
(1985: 37) refers to as a "loose 
pressure on what is 
done, rather than a rigid constraint."
	Micromusicians tend to agree, 
and 
embrace the constraints as an 
important part of the 
creative process, as Teamtendo 
intimates: "Working 
with this limited harmonic vocabulary 
forces you to be 
creative, and there are some very 
pleasant 
discoveries along the way," [2] or, says 
Goto80, "it's 
fun working with such hardcore limits, 
forcing you to 
realize your ideas in other ways." [3] 
In order to 
explore the constraints of the C64 on 
composition, I 
first discuss the limitations of the 
sound chip, 
showing the conventional ways in 
which the chip was 
used. I follow this with a comparison 
of well-known, 
pre-composed songs which were 
covered on the C64 
in various games. I then explore 
approaches to 
interactivity and looping in 
Commodore games 
music, drawing comparisons between 
the C64 and its 
contemporaries.
	Right: Screenshot of Ghost 'n 
Goblins 
(1986); graphics: Chris Butler; 
program: Mark 
Cooksey; music: Chris Butler 
The Commodore 64 SID. The 
Commodore 64 (C64) 
was originally conceived as a games 
computer, with 
advanced - for the time - graphics and 
sound 
designed to entice consumers scared 
off by the more 
business-like PCs. Unlike most games 
machines of 
the era, the sound chip - called the 
Sound Interface 
Device or SID - was specially designed 
by 
Commodore's Bob Yannes in 1981. [4] 
A three-tone 
plus noise generator, each tone on the 
chip could be 
selected from a range of waveforms-
sawtooth, 
triangle, variable pulse (square wave), 
and noise. An 
independent ADSR amplitude 
envelope generator for 
each channel enabled the SID to more 
accurately 
imitate traditional instruments than 
other existing 
chips. The tone oscillators had a range 
of between 0 
and 3995 Hz, approximately the same 
range as a 
piano. There were two 8-bit registers 
for each 
channel controlling frequency - 
meaning 16 bits 
total, or 65536 frequency possibilities 
for each voice, 
so composers could "detune" notes if 
they wished.
	Each tone could also be 
subjected to a 
variety of effects and programmable 
filters including 
ring modulation - unheard of on other 
sound chips 
of the time. The ring modulation 
option, which 
allowed the combining of information 
from two 
channels (the triangle plus a second 
waveform), was 
used commonly for sound effects like 
bells, chimes 
and gongs. The registers designed for 
modulation, 
however, were rarely used, since 
software could 
simulate them, without sacrificing the 
triangle form, 
although "for novice programmers they 
provided a 
way to create vibrato or filter sweeps 
without having 
to write much code." [5] Nevertheless, 
this option 
made it much easier for non-
programming musicians 
to write for the C64. 
	  

	Figure 1: Ghosts 'n Goblins 
(Elite Systems, 
1985) Commodore 64
	Ghosts 'n Goblins (Elite 
Systems, 1985) is 
an appropriate illustration of the 
capabilities of the 
channel usage on the C64 in 
comparison with its 
contemporaries. Unlike the same game 
on the 
Nintendo, built on short loops, [6] the 
C64 game has 
only one song. Each channel changes 
voice 
throughout and imitates various rock 
instruments - 
such as the start of the song (shown 
above, Figure 
1), which begins with square waves 
resembling 
electric guitar/electric bass, but which 
change to a 
triangle wave with rapid pitch bends 
and a theremin-
like vibrato, extremely similar to the 
double-octave 
leaps on the theremin in Mars Attacks 
title theme 
(1997) by Danny Elfman.
	  

	Figure 2: Ghosts 'n Goblins 
(Capcom, 
1989) Nintendo NES
	The noise channel - along with 
presenting 
white noise commonly used for 
percussion or sound 
effects - could also operate as a simple 
pulse width 
modulation (PWM) sampler (by 
modulating the 
volume of a voice so fast, a 4-bit 
sampled sound is 
created). PWM was used for sampling 
and to 
simulate an LFO to the volume - 
creating a tremolo 
effect, as heard on Parallax (Ocean, 
1986). Martin 
Galway was the first to use sampled 
sounds on the 
C64, in the Arkanoid (Taito, 1987) 
theme song, as he 
explains: "I figured out how samples 
were played by 
hacking into someone else's code ... It 
was a drum 
synthesizer package called Digidrums, 
[7] ... I 
couldn't really figure out where they 
got the sample 
data, just that they were wiggling the 
volume register, 
so I tried to make up my own drum 
sample sounds in 
realtime - which is the flatulence stuff 
that shipped 
in Arkanoid." The ability to sample 
sounds led to the 
inclusion of somewhat realistic 
sounding sound 
effects in many game tunes. Turbo 
Outrun (Sega, 
1989), for instance included a 
"scratch" sound and 
voice samples, and there were many 
examples of the 
samples used for more tonal percussion 
instruments. 
Typically, however, drum sounds were 
made from a 
noise channel with a fast decay, and/or 
a square 
wave. [8] Unlike other sound chips of 
the time, the 
channels on the SID chip had the 
ability to change 
"voice," or sound wave type, at any 
point throughout 
a song, and so unlike on, for instance, 
the NES, we 
don't see a standard bass or treble 
sound, although a 
fat square wave or a saw wave seems 
to be most 
common for bass (see: Collins, 2006).
	One of the biggest 
technological problems 
for C64 composers was the SID's 
filters (low pass, 
high pass, band pass and notch), which 
would act 
differently on different versions of the 
C64 machine. 
Yannes lamented, "The filter is the 
worst part of SID 
... different lots of SID chips had 
different cut-off 
frequency characteristics. I knew it 
wouldn't work 
very well, but it was better than 
nothing and I didn't 
have time to make it better." [9] 
Attempts to 
overcome the problem vary. One 
game, Beach-Head 
2 (Access, 1985), even allowed the 
user to select the 
filter settings for the sounds, to prevent 
the 
screeching that would occasionally be 
heard with the 
wrong filter setting. Some composers 
chose not to 
use most filter settings, as Ben Daglish 
explained, "I 
tended to use "static" filters as little as 
possible for 
exactly that reason - generally, I'd use 
filter sweeps, 
which were pretty much guaranteed to 
have the 
same effect irrespective of the start/end 
frequencies." 
[10]
	The limitations of memory 
were another 
major problem for games composers, 
along with the 
fact that the music was coded in 
assembly language. 
Commodore 64 software was 
distributed on three 
kinds of media: 5.25" floppy, 
datacassette tape, and 
cartridges. The datacassettes - the most 
popular 
storage medium for games - had built-
in audio 
converters to convert the computer's 
digital 
information into analogue sound, 
though the loading 
of games on cassette was slower than it 
would be on 
floppy. The floppy disks provided a 
total storage 
capacity of 170KB, and of this, music 
was usually 
limited to between 5 and 10 KB. Rob 
Hubbard 
partially overcame the storage issue by 
arranging 
music for a game in series of modules, 
containing a 
set of songs. [11] Each module may 
contain title 
music, in-game music and game-over 
music using 
the same source code to share 
instrument tables to 
save space - that is, each different 
timbre used in 
the game was set out in a table in 
advance, and just 
called upon when needed.
	Each song typically had three 
tracks (one 
for each channel), and each track made 
up of a list of 
patterns (sequences) and the order in 
which they 
were to be played. The code then 
would refer to 
specific sections of the module to be 
called when 
necessary, reducing the need to repeat 
any coding 
that would take up valuable space. As 
on other early 
machines, looping was commonly used 
when space 
was valuable: "The [song conversion] 
was a 
nightmare since it's the tune right from 
the beginning 
of the movie [Short Circuit] with all 
the robotic short 
notes and arpeggios. The tune just built 
up so 
massive [sic!] that the poor C64 was 
short of notes 
by about 30 seconds into it, so I had to 
fudge the end 
a bit and make it repeat, basically." 
[12]
	A comparison of songs. Like 
other early 
systems, most Commodore games of 
the first few 
years had very little sound - and almost 
no 
background music. Of the "Top 100 
C64 games," [13] 
about ten percent had no background 
music at all, 
and the earliest examples of games - 
1983 to 1985 
or so - had the least amount of music. 
For instance, 
Boulder Dash (First Star Software, 
1984), Bruce Lee 
(Datasoft, 1984) and Jumpman (Epyx, 
1983), had no 
music, apart from a short intro. 
Typically, music was 
only used when gameplay did not take 
place - the 
clearest examples of this are in the 
Winter Games / 
Summer Games / California Games / 
World Games 
series (Epyx, 1985), in which there 
was simple music 
for movie scenes and introductions to 
events, but the 
music stopped as soon as the event - 
and therefore 
gameplay - was begun. 
	The Commodore 64 was the 
home system 
to use the most cover songs of pre-
composed music 
- in part because its advanced sound 
chip enabled 
more recognizable renditions, as the 
comparison with 
Beethoven on the VCS (Acid Drop) 
with the C64 Jet 
Set Willy 2 version shows (Figures 3 
and 4), although 
a few composers for the C64 favoured 
original tunes: 
"Covers, on the whole [were more 
difficult], simply 
because I was a perfectionist when it 
came to things 
like getting fast guitar solos right note-
for-note ... and 
also because of the arrangement 
challenge of fitting 
a "real world" piece of music with 
drums and bass 
and strings and everything into three 
voices." [14]
	  

	Figure 3: Acid Drop (Salu, 
1992) Atari VCS 
using Beethoven's F?r Elise
	Western classical music was 
common in 
Commodore 64 games - such as 
Chopin's Funeral 
March (Sonata no. 2 in B flat minor 
OP 35) in Zak 
McKracken (Chris Grigg, LucasArts, 
1988), Holst's 
Mars, Bringer of War and Bach's 
Prelude no 2 in C 
Minor (BWV847) in Wicked (Electric 
Dreams, 1989), 
and Rossini's William Tell Overture, 
Offenbach's 
Orpheus in the Underworld Overture, 
and Strauss' 
Blue Danube in Microprose Indoor 
Soccer (Martin 
Galway, Microprose, 1988). A 
comparison of the 
Commodore with the contemporary 
Atari VCS shows 
clearly the superiority of the C64 chip 
over that of the 
Atari, which was usually well out of 
tune (see: Collins, 
2005b). The single channel of the Atari 
compared 
with that of the C64, as well as the 
timing issues and 
tuning problems, shows a marked 
improvement in 
the C64's technology.
	  

	Figure 4: Jet Set Willy 2 
(Software 
Projects, 1985) using Beethoven's F?r 
Elise
	More interesting, perhaps, was 
the 
mingling of popular and classical 
songs in games like 
Frantic Freddie (Commercial Data 
Systems, 1983), 
which used the Sylvers' "Boogie 
Fever," several Scott 
Joplin songs, Paul Simon's 
"Kodachrome," 
Beethoven's 5th Symphony, Queen's 
"Crazy Little 
Thing Called Love" and ELO's "Don't 
Bring Me 
Down." Traditional American folk 
tunes of the 19th 
century were also very common in 
games, including 
Buffalo Bill's Wild West Show, for 
example, which 
used the "Star Spangled Banner" (Sir 
Francis Scott 
Key, lyrics, John Stafford Smith, 
music), "Yellow 
Rose Of Texas" , "William Tell 
Overture" (Rossini), 
"Shortnin' Bread" and "When The 
Chariot Comes" 
(traditional spiritual), "Yankee 
Doodle" (Richard 
Schuckburgh), "Buffalo Gals, Won't 
You Come Out 
Tonight" and "Camptown Races" and 
"Oh Susanna" 
(Stephen Foster). Many title themes 
were based on 
film music, such as International 
Karate's use of 
"Merry Christmas Mr Lawrence" 
(Ryuichi Sakamoto), 
and Super Pipeline's "Dance Of The 
Cuckoos," which 
was Marvin Hatley's title music for the 
Laurel and 
Hardy shorts, as well as Mikl???? and 
Walter 
Schumann's "Dragnet Theme" 
(programmed by Paul 
Hodgson). The game also used 
Debussy and 
Paganini (Taskset, 1983).
	It was rare to see the original 
composers 
credited in these games, and there was 
usually no 
credit given or information on 
licensing of songs for 
games at the time, although there were 
some 
exceptions, such as Devo's "Some 
Things Never 
Change," used in Neuromancer 
(Electronic Arts, 
1988) and California Games' use of the 
Kingsmen's 
"Louie Louie" (Chris Grigg, Epyx, 
1987), which both 
included a credit in the manuals. As 
Martin Galway 
commented on his use of Daglish's 
music for 
Arkanoid, "I'm glad you spotted 
"Cobra" on the 
Spectrum, whose tune I was in love 
with and HAD to 
use somewhere else...! I figured no-one 
would 
complain if I used it a year later on the 
C64." Cover 
tunes, then, seemed largely the whim 
of the games 
producers, and there was little or no 
concern for 
copyright infringements, as Martin 
Galway tells the 
story of one choice of cover tune: "I 
was still 
freelancing when I worked on that 
music first in 1984, 
and I just said to Tony Pomfret "what 
do you want for 
the music?" to which he replied "I 
want the B-side 
from the Limahl single "Neverending 
Story" I bought 
the other day."" [15] In other words, 
music was 
chosen without much consideration for 
the limitation 
of the chips or for copyright.
	Left: Screenshot of the Great 
Giana Sisters 
(1987); graphics: Manfred Trenz; 
program: Armin 
Gessert; music: Chris Huelsbeck 
Many early games which did contain 
background 
music would lack sound effects, or the 
music would 
have to stop for the effect. In fact, 
some popular 
games well into the late 1980s had 
little or no music 
at all. By the late 1980s and early 
1990s - a time 
when the 16-bit machines (Sega 
Genesis, Super 
Nintendo, etc.) began entering the 
market - games 
were increasingly more likely to have 
in-game 
background music, although some 
remained without 
- such as MYTH (1989), and First 
Samurai (1989), 
which had no game-play music on the 
C64, but did a 
year later when it was ported to the 
Super Nintendo. 
This suggests that the pressure of 
competing games 
systems on sales of games for the C64 
led to an 
attempt to adapt to the aesthetic of 
game audio 
present in other systems at the time. 
The fact that 
Nintendo NES had an - arguably - 
inferior sound 
chip, but had more gameplay music is 
most likely 
related to the storage capacity of the 
game 
cartridges. Whereas most C64 games 
averaged 
about 30KB (on cassette), 10KB (on 
cartridges) or 
60KB on a floppy (as mentioned, to a 
maximum of 
170KB on floppy before having to go 
to a multi-disc 
game), Nintendo's cartridges held up to 
512 KB, and 
with the use of memory management 
chips, some 
games could be expanded, such as 
Kirby's 
Adventure (Nintendo 1993), which 
was 768KB - 
almost four times the capacity of 
Commodore's 
games.
	Interactivity and looping on the 
Commodore. Despite memory 
constraints, there 
were certainly examples of early 
gameplay looping 
on the Commodore, such as Frogger 
(1982), which 
some people claim was the first 
Commodore game to 
use constant background music; a 
medley of 
traditional American Civil-War era 
songs. Generally 
speaking, loops on the C64 were much 
longer than 
those of the NES - but this could be 
due to the fact 
that less songs were included overall, 
whereas the 
NES was more likely to have 
consistent background 
music. Loops occurred in many 
different shapes and 
sizes, as we will see below. It is 
perhaps useful to 
bring forth Middleton's concept of 
musematic 
repetition and discursive repetition - 
the "riff" versus 
the "phrase" (Middleton, 1996). We 
see both forms of 
looping repetition occur in games 
audio, most often 
at the same time, however we also see 
a longer loop 
of the entire "song" or sequence of 
loops at a larger-
than phrase level. For clarity's sake, I 
will refer to 
these as microloops, mesoloops and 
macroloops. 
For example, a two-note bassline may 
provide a 
(musematic) microloop which repeats 
twice in a two-
bar (discursive) mesoloop, which is 
then part of a 
longer eight-bar macroloop song which 
is looped 
throughout a level of gameplay.
	Some composers were 
adventurous with 
the coding, and included random 
number generators 
into the code which would select from 
a group of loop 
options, something not seen on the 
NES. For 
instance, Times of Lore (Martin 
Galway, Microprose 
1988) used a selection of guitar solos 
that were 
randomly selected for the eleven-
minute duration of 
the song. In this way, the game's ten 
songs - over 
thirty minutes of music - could fit into 
just 923 bytes, 
and sound a lot more varied than it 
was. [16] A 
similar random generation was used in 
California 
Games (Epyx, 1987), and in Rock Star 
Ate My 
Hamster (CodeMasters, 1988), a rock 
management 
game which has the band practicing, 
with a tune 
which picks from a random 
combination of sixteen 
sequences, intentionally out of tune but 
improving as 
the band practices (Figure 5).
	  

	Figure 5: Rock Star Ate My 
Hamster 
(CodeMasters, 1988) Commodore 64
	In California Games (Chris 
Grigg, Epyx, 
1987: Figure 6), the music was similar 
to the NES 
version of the game, but it was set to 
typically stop 
during gameplay. Rather, we hear an 
intro to an 
event, and then just sound effects 
during gameplay 
- e.g. hackey sack, frisbee and skating, 
which have 
looping background music on the NES. 
A few events 
have musical loops - such as surf, 
which also has 
Jaws music when the player falls off. 
The interactive 
use of looping happens in the halfpipe 
event, in 
which an opening sequence plays for 
seven seconds, 
and then selects a random sequence to 
follow - 
from sixteen possible choices, each 
twenty-three 
seconds long - as long as the player 
stays upright 
on his/her board. If the player falls, the 
first segment 
repeats. 
	  

	Figure 6: Lazy Jones 8-bar 
track one (main 
gameplay) (Terminal Software, 1984)
	An effective example of 
looping on the C64 
is the game Lazy Jones (Terminal 
Software, 1984), 
which had 21 mesoloops, each of 
which were 
selected when the character entered or 
left one of the 
"room" levels of gameplay. There were 
18 rooms in 
total, and each room had its own 4-bar 
"song" or 
mesoloop, which actually played like a 
segment of 
one greater macroloop song (the title 
music). Even if 
the character left the room at, say, bar 
21, the rest of 
the loop would play before it would 
transition 
seamlessly into the theme song. Most 
of the loops 
worked well together, in part due to the 
ragtime-like 
microlooped basslines, the same 
timbres used, and 
the fact that the game only used two 
channels 
(Figures 6 through 9).
	  

	Figure 7: Lazy Jones 4-bar 
track two 
(Terminal Software, 1984)
	  

	Figure 8: Lazy Jones 4-bar 
track three 
(Terminal Software, 1984)
	  

	Figure 9: Lazy Jones 4-bar 
track twenty-
one (Terminal Software, 1984)
	By the late 1980s and early 
1990s, there 
were several Commodore games which 
clearly tried 
to emulate the Nintendo game style, 
such as 
Mayhem in Monsterland (Apex, 1993), 
or the Great 
Giana Sisters (Rainbow Arts, 1987), 
which was so 
similar to Super Mario Brothers that 
Nintendo 
successfully sued to have it pulled 
from stores. Each 
game contained similar loops for 
"overworlds" and 
"underworlds," and "boss" music, in 
Nintendo style, 
with longer overworld music, and short 
boss music 
loops. Great Giana Sisters, for 
instance, follows 
Nintendo's looping style with the main 
overworld 
level, and Mayhem in Monsterland has 
a short four-
bar boss music pattern (Figure 10). It is 
interesting 
that these games not only adopted 
NES-like 
gameplay and visuals, but adopted a 
distinctly NES 
style music, suggesting an associated 
well-defined 
aesthetic was involved, rather than 
technological 
constraints implied by the sound 
components.
	  

	Figure 10: Mayhem in 
Monsterland boss 
music (Apex, 1993)
	Despite Nintendo's influence, 
Commodore 
also maintained a highly unique 
aesthetic unseen on 
other games systems, which included 
incredibly long 
tracks. Tetris (Mirrorsoft, 1987), for 
instance, was 
very different than the versions 
released on the NES, 
showing this very different aesthetic 
particular to the 
C64. Not having any selectable music 
(which was an 
option on the NES), Wally Beben 
composed all 
original music - one very long (about 
26 minutes - 
13Kb) track of many segments. In 
order to save 
space (likely), certain micro and 
mesoloops of the 
track repeat: for instance the 
bass/percussion line 
that begins the song repeats just one 
bar for about 
half the track, with different melodies 
coming over top 
and being layered with various 
accompaniments. 
This accumulative form - the gradual 
building up of 
a groove by adding sequential units 
cumulatively 
(Spicer, 2004) - was closer to the 
electronic trance 
music beginning to emerge in the late 
1980s than 
any game music aesthetic of the time.
	[optional insert: Tetris SID: 
note: needs 
Sidplay or Sidamp to play]
	Right: Screenshot of Mayhem 
in 
Monsterland (1993); graphics: Steve 
Rowlands; 
program: John Rowlands; music: Steve 
Rowlands 
The C64 musical aesthetic. The 
different musical 
aesthetic of the Commodore 64, 
including the use of 
"guitar-like" sounds and more attempts 
to re-create 
traditional "rock band" line-ups in its 
use of tone 
channels, and its increased use of noise 
and PWM 
for sound effects and percussion is 
closely tied to the 
technology:
	"Well, you know, part of that 
[sound 
aesthetic] is dictated by the fact that 
you have such 
limited resources. The way that you 
have to write, in 
order to create rich textures, you have 
to write a lot of 
rhythmic kinds of stuff. ... it's easier to 
try to make it 
sound a lot fuller and like you're doing 
a lot more if 
you use much shorter, more rhythmic 
sounds." [17]
	The persistent practice of 
looping is 
particularly illustrative of the tensions 
between 
technology and aesthetic. As was seen, 
alternatives 
to the standard macro-looping practice 
of games 
music of the era were certainly 
available - and, at 
times, used, as in Tetris - although 
looping 
remained the most prominent response 
to a limited 
amount of memory. Looping, then, 
was a 
combination of both aesthetic choices 
and a pre-
determined factor led by technology. 
Even within 
games that used looping, as was seen, 
there were 
many different responses and 
approaches to looping, 
with repetition occurring in many 
different forms. As 
Katz discusses in an unrelated matter, 
"If nothing 
else, the diversity of responses to 
repeatability 
should dispel any notion of strict 
technological 
determinism, for such wildly disparate 
phonograph 
effects demonstrate that there can be 
no simple 
cause-effect relationship between 
recording 
technology and the activities of its 
users" (Katz, 2004: 
31). The Commodore 64 clearly 
offered enough 
options for composers to explore that 
its musicians 
created their own aesthetic out of the 
constraints 
imposed upon them, an aesthetic 
influenced by 
outside sources, but one which was 
also unique to 
the C64.
	
	 
	Notes
	1. The real number may rather 
be in the 20 
million range - still an impressive 
figure (Matthews, 
2003). 
	2. Katigbak, 2004. 
	3. Car, 2002. 
	4. Yannes had also helped to 
engineer 
Commodore's VIC-20, and would later 
go on to 
create the DOC chip for the 16-bit 
Apple IIGS and to 
found Ensoniq keyboards. 
	5. Yannes in Varga, 1996. 
	7. Made by Digitunes, who 
went on to 
create Protools. 
	8. See Taylor, 1993. 
	9. Yannes in Varga, 1996. 
	10. Composer Ben Daglish in 
Pouladi, 
2004. 
	11. The way songs were written 
can be 
seen by using "Ransid," a tool for 
analyzing SID 
tunes by disassembling the assembly 
code. There 
are also a few examples with 
explanation in Sid-In 
Magazine. 
	12. Composer Martin Galway 
in the Sid 
Tune Information List (STIL v3.4). 
	13. According to downloads 
from 
C64.COM. Retrieved from the internet 
on October 
14, 2005. 
	14. Composer Ben Daglish in 
Pouladi, 
2004. 
	15. Martin Galway in the Sid 
Tune 
Information List (STIL v3.4). 
	16. Martin Galway on Times of 
Lore in 
SIDfind. Retrieved from the internet 
on November 13, 
2005. 
	17. Beck, 1999. 
	 
	References
	Beck, Justin (1999), "Rob 
Hubbard 
interview for the Commodore 64 music 
radio 
programme 6581SID on KDVS." In: 
The Complete 
Works of Rob Hubbard. Retrieved 
from the internet 
on November 23, 2005. 
Car, Neil (2002), "An interview with 
Anders Carlsson 
aka GOTO80." In: remix64.com. 
Interview date: 
September 18, 2002. Retrieved from 
the internet on 
November 17, 2005. 
Collins, Karen (2005a), "From bits to 
hits: video 
games music changes its tune." In: 
Film International, 
12, 2005. 
Collins, Karen (2005b), "Minor 
seconds and the 
musical aesthetic of the Atari VCS." 
Available on: 
Karen Collins: Research and 
Publications. 
Collins, Karen (2006), "Repetitive 
refrain injury? 
Audio looping in the music of the 
Nintendo NES." 
Available on: Karen Collins: Research 
and 
Publications. 
Katigbak, Raf (2004), "Game on!" In: 
Montreal Mirror, 
20, 18 (October 21-27, 2004). 
Retrieved from the 
internet on November 14, 2005. 
Katz, Mark (2004), Capturing sound. 
How technology 
has changed music. Berkeley: 
University of California 
Press. 
Matthews, Ian (2003), "The 
Commodore 64: machine 
of destiny." In: www.commodore.ca. 
Middleton, Richard (1996), "Over and 
over: notes 
towards a politics of repetition. 
Surveying the ground, 
charting some routes." Conference 
paper for 
Grounding Music, 1996. Available on: 
Forschungszentrum Popul?re Muzik: 
Texte und 
Materialien zum Studium der 
popul?ren Musik. 
Retrieved from the internet on October 
10, 2005. 
Pouladi, Ali (2004), "An interview 
with Ben Daglish." 
In: Lemon 64. Retrieved from the 
internet on October 
14, 2005. 
Ross, Rob (2001), "Interactive music... 
er, audio." In: 
Gamasutra. Retrieved from the internet 
on 
September 2, 2005. 
Salt, Barry (1985), "The evolution of 
sound 
technology." In: Elisabeth Weis and 
John Belton 
(eds.), Film sound: theory and practice. 
New York: 
Columbia University Press. 
Spicer, Mark (2004), "(Ac)cumulative 
form in pop-
rock music." In: twentieth-century 
music, 1/1, 29-64. 
Stillar, Glenn (2005), "Loops as genre 
resources." In: 
Folia Linguistica, XXXIX, 1-2, 197-
212. 
Tagg, Philip (1994), "From refrain to 
rave: the decline 
of figure and the rise of ground." In: 
Popular Music, 
13, 2 (May 1994): 209-233. 
Taylor, Craig (1993), "Editor's Notes." 
In: Cracking, 5, 
March 7, 1993. Retrieved from the 
internet on 
October 12, 2005. 
Taylor, Timothy (2001), Strange 
sounds: music, 
technology and culture. New York: 
Routledge, 2001. 
Th?berge, Paul (1997), Any sound you 
can imagine: 
making music / consuming technology. 
London: 
Wesleyan University Press, 1997. 
Varga, Andreas (1996), "Bob Yannes 
interview." In: 
SID In-De pth Information Site. 
Retrieved from the 
internet on October 12, 2005. 


	The short sound fragments on 
this page 
are copyrighted. They are used here 
according to the 
rules of fair use and academic quoting.
	2006 (c) Soundscapes
	 
	
	

 
  
-----------------------------------------------

 Website Highlight


This time, I looked for websites with 
information for 
the Commodore 16 and Plus 4 range of 
machines. I 
did find hundreds of active sites and 
users, the list 
below is what I considered the best of 
the bunch for 
new users. 

It's a sad fact that these machines are 
often 
overlooked by most users; they are 
both very 
capable machines in their own right 
and still have 
active coders working on demo's and 
new games. So 
trying to rectify the lack of coverage 
here are a 
couple of 3 Commodore 16 and plus 
four sites to 
enjoy. 


COMMODORE 16
Commodore 16 is a nicely laid out web 
site with a 
news section, information, shop and 
disk image files 
to download. The website also has a 
active forum 
and the now standard on all web sites, 
Links to other 
Commodore related websites, both 16 
+4 and 
commodore 64 sites. On the web site 
you can 
download a version of the Gamebase 
16 collection (a 
database of Commodore 16 games 
with a nice gui 
front end for ease of use, sadly I didn't 
have time to 
look at this, maybe in a later issue)  

Oh and they also said Commodore 
Free magazine 
looked nice, so they definitely get a 
mention 

www.commodore16.com


COMMODORE PLUS/4 WORLD

Next is Commodore Plus 4 World, 
again a very well 
put together professional looking 
website. Literally 
loads of downloads here for your 
favourite machine, 
and lots of support. With Tape images 
to download 
and Cover scans of games, cheats, 
maps and tools. 
Looks like another great resource for 
plus 4 users  
http://plus4.emucamp.com/


CBM264

CBM264 has amongst other thing a 
version of the 
GEOS operating system for the Plus 4 
to download 
and try out, again a nicely laid out 
website looking 
professional and very polished.
http://www.cbm264.com/

I don't know enough about these 
machines to 
comment;
So now its your turn, write up 
something about these 
machines, the history, the utilities the 
games and the 
demo scene. Have I missed out your 
website you feel 
has something special for these range 
of machines. 
Why not tell other users why these 
machines are still 
being used.

I do however own a Commodore 16 
(but the machine 
is sadly without power supply, I have 
no idea where 
that went, possibly lost when I moved 
house) Maybe 
someone could enlighten myself and 
other readers 
more about these often overlooked 
machines.

-----------------------------------------------

What Is an Amiga 

Similar to the last issue when I asked 
what makes a 
Commodore 64 a Commodore 64, I 
thought this 
question needed asking, "What makes 
an Amiga an 
Amiga"

Now we are into very dangerous 
waters, or rather I 
am. As with all enthusiasts, someone 
judging or 
faulting their favourite system can only 
lead the writer 
getting into trouble and hate mail, 
remember these 
are only my comments and thoughts; I 
do really love 
the system. 

I don't doubt that the Amiga is an 
Amazing system, 
as I said I love the machine! And the 
Amiga's 
operating system, to my mind is superb 
I can't fault 
the hardware or the software for the 
time it was 
amazing, even now the design is good 
enough to 
give Windows a run for its money.

 "That should keep the hate mail 
down." Well maybe!

Like the last issue on what makes a 
c64 a c64 I 
question what makes an Amiga 
machine. Because 
with the introduction of the Amithlon 
operating 
system some time ago I see people 
claim they use 
100% Amiga systems but really they 
are using an 
IBM compatible pc with a linux 
configured operating 
system running Amiga O.S. So is this 
an Amiga 
system?

If I run cloanto`s Amiga emulator 
available from 
http://www.amigaforever.com/ ( a very 
useful system) 
or one of the other Amiga emulators, 
that are 
available on the internet Am I running 
an Amiga or 
just an emulation system, and is this 
the same thing 
as running a real machine? What is 
separating the 
two systems?

To my mind an Amiga was the 
hardware and the 
Operating system all in one box of 
Hardware, running 
an emulator isn't the same thing as 
running a real 
machine, you need the hardware to be 
in place for 
the full system features, also if you are 
already 
running a P.C. Operating system why 
run another 
operating system on the top?

Emulation is great and has kept many 
systems alive 
and running where users would 
otherwise have left 
the scene altogether.

My thoughts now rush to OS4 
basically this software 
will (to my knowledge) install on what 
looks like an 
IBM Risc Reference board, and is a 
customised 
version of linux with the Amiga look 
and feel Graphic 
interface.  These themes or face lifts 
are available for 
linux anyway so why run an operating 
system on top 
of an operating system?

So Is this system an Amiga or is it a 
Risc processor 
based P.C. Running a copy of Linux 
with a nice 
Amiga like front end.

What is an Amiga? Is Amiga a way of 
working, a slick 
small format operating system, and 
intuitive menu 
systems or is Amiga a Box of 
customised electronics 
and dedicated processors with an 
operating system 
to support them, collectively 

Designed to be as small a format as 
possible, and 
friendly to use 



I wonder if you could call something 
"Amiga" if that 
system hasn't been designed and 
manufactured by 
Commodore, some people think only 
Commodore 
can make an Amiga system.

I have seen some comments that if 
commodore had 
continued then the next machine would 
have used 
more standard parts, off the shelf as 
they are known. 
Something like an AMD processor and 
maybe an Ati 
graphics chip, mainly due to the 
massive 
developments of such processors, 
Commodore 
would never have been able to develop 
Its own 
processors or Graphics chips to 
compete with Amd 
and ATI or would they have 
subcontracted a custom 
design to these or similar 
manufacturers?

Should such a machine have been 
created and sold, 
would this have been named an Amiga 
or would it 
just be a P.C. clone with a different 
operating system.

Should Amiga O.S be available for 
other systems, to 
run on say Apple mac machines, would 
these be 
Amiga machines?

Apple`s new machines now use Intel 
processors and 
Ati graphics chips, are they Apple 
mac`s or are they 
just P.C`s running a customised 
version of s Unix 
operating system. Apple even have a 
piece of 
software allowing users to install 
windows XP on 
these new systems, Why would a user 
need two 
operating systems? 

Why would you run such an operating 
system on a 
Mac? Are we now moving to a 
domination of 
Microsoft and will Apple just develop 
hardware and 
drop the software? Is Apple just a P.C 
clone 
manufacturer? 

Although I have moved off topic a 
little, you get the 
idea of my argument, so what are your 
thoughts, I 
know my Amiga 4000 is an Amiga but 
is my P.C 
running Amithlon an Amiga or still a 
P.C.?

If I use my Amithlon sytem and 
produce a magazine 
has it been designed 100% on Amiga 
or is it 30% 
Amiga 30% Pc. And 40% customised 
version of 
linux. (Maybe the percentages are a 
little out but 
what have I created such a magazine 
on?)

Evolution is a fantastic phenomenon; 
some people 
will dig in their heels and always stick 
to the past. 
Everyone uses a machine for a specific 
purpose; the 
3D modeller will always want the 
latest and greatest 
machine. If he can render a scene in 10 
minutes why 
would he want to sit around waiting for 
3 days?

Some people and I suspect most users 
are now 
happy with the machines they have, 
The Amiga can 
be used for most tings these days, and 
if it Aint broke 
then don't fix it!

I just wonder about the upgraders and 
their 
comments of "the Amiga soul" is using 
emulation and 
none commodore hardware part of that 
Soul

I welcome you comments, maybe you 
will enlighten 
me, and other readers into what an 
Amiga really is. 

Enjoy using your machines though and 
promote the 
Commodore branding.

-----------------------------------------------


T-shirt Printing

Basically all you need to do is print out 
the first page 
of the magazine (the image is reversed 
for a reason 
keep reading to find out why)

You will need some special paper for 
your printer, the 
paper is available from a number of 
stores, in the 
U.k. I found some in a local TESCO 
store. But any 
main stockist of stationary should sell 
the paper, 
specially designed for printing your 
own designs out 
onto fabric, usually named: t-shirt 
transfer kit.

What you do is print out the image, 
onto the special 
paper then cut around it with scissors. 
Using a hot 
iron you turn over the image and iron it 
onto a T-shirt 
or similar fashion item, ensure both 
material and print 
transfer are fat an keep still.
 
The heat melts a plastic film on the 
paper and the 
image is "sealed" onto the fabric, 
follow the 
recommended instructions that come 
wit the paper 
though, as it varies slightly depending 
on the brand.

The image will be printed the correct 
way round, Ie a 
mirror of the print, (know you know 
why I have 
reversed it for you) when you remove 
the papers 
backing. 

Hey presto instant Commodore T-shirt

Enjoy the photo of myself with son 
enjoying our 
spectacular new fashion trend settings 
togs or not as 
the case maybe. (Fame at last)

---------------------------------
Commodore in Business

Do you run your own business or work 
for a company 
that use Commodore machines?

Maybe they are just text editors and 
DTP systems, I 
have in my travels been to many 
companies and 
spied Commodore Amiga`s being used 
for DTP and 
video work. The Amiga is still a 
capable machine for 
this work and well suited to the 
environment.

When I finally took the plunge and got 
married I 
looked for a company that still used 
Amiga`s for 
video work, the titles on the wedding 
video I received 
back were all Amiga generated, with 
fades and 
wipes. The editing was also done 
digitally by a 
couple of Amiga systems. Sadly the 
company now 
moved on to P.C. format. Mainly the 
owner said "due to speed and 
flexibility of P.C. system, 
and the need to integrate with suppliers 
and customers".

Why not plug your company and tell 
us why Commodore is the perfect 
machine for your business, maybe 
you run a club and use your system 
for the database and news letters, 
and if something has worked for 
years why change?

Doesn't matter what the system is as 
long as its Commodore. 
----------------------------------

About The World of Commodore
http://www.tpug.ca/woc/index.html
woc@tpug.ca
The Toronto PET User's Group 
(TPUG) is pleased to 
announce The World of Commodore! 
The 2006 Expo will feature...
Information about all makes of 
Commodore 
computers will be available. Events 
will focus on the 
Commodore 64/128.
  
Guest speakers, Commodore 
personalities past and 
present such as guru Jim Butterfield.
  
Demonstrations of novel hardware and 
software 
projects using Commodore equipment.
  
Hardware/software vendors 
showcasing the latest 
hardware and software available for 
Commodore 
computers, as well as classic 
accessories, applications and games!
  
Screenings of Commodore related 
videos.
  
A weekend of discussions and fun with 
the Commodore user community.
  
Raffle prizes: 
- Set of Amiga CDs, donated by FWD 
Computing. 
- Four-player joystick interface for the 
C64, donated 
by C64 Reloaded. - Four DVDs of Commodore 
commercials and 
product demos, donated by Craig 
Ernster.
- 64DTV 30-in-1 Joystick, donated by 
TPUG.- And more to be announced.

Raffle tickets will be 1 for $1 or 5 for 
$3.  You can also enter the raffle by 
email - contact TPUG  the raffle items 
you are interested in.
  
The very popular freebie table! Please 
feel free to drop off any items you no 
longer want and help yourself to some 
goodies. You never know what you'll find!
 
-------------------------------
 
THE END

World of Commodore Expo 2006

The Toronto PET Users Group, a non-
profit Commodore computer
organization run by volunteers invites 
you to World of Commodore expo!

December 2, 2006

At the Alderwood United Church
44 Delma Drive (Browns Line/Evans 
Ave.)Toronto, Ontario, Canada.

The expo runs from 10 am till 10pm.
Demonstrations will be happening 
throughout the day.

There will be vendors selling new and 
old products, demos of innovative
ideas and guest speakers revealing 
facts about days 
gone by fromCommodore and TPUG.

Admission is $10 per person, $15 per 
family of 2 or more and
FREE if you renew your membership 
with TPUG as of Oct 19, 2006!
Vendor tables are $15 for the first one 
and $10 for each additionaltable.

Accommodations at:
Motel 27/Best Value Inn Toronto (650 
Evans Ave)(416) 255-5500 
- info@motel27.com

Guestrooms are $69/night and will 
accommodate 4 people.
(Ask for group name: TPUG)
All funds are in Canadian dollars.

TPUG will set up a freebie table and 
there will also be door prizes andv
a raffle.

On Friday evening TPUG will 
welcome out of town guests at the 
church forsetup and to say hello to 
old friends. Saturday will be the 
main eventwith demos and 
discussions throughout the day.

For more information visit our web 
site, www.tpug.ca/woc.
E-mail us at info@tpug.ca with any 
questions. Please pre-register early
so TPUG can get a better idea as to 
how many are coming and their needs.

That's it for another issue 

I am always in need of reviews. Write-
ups, and or information on Commodore, 
and Commodore Computer systems.

Think your system is under-exposed 
and never receives the coverage it 
deserves? Why don't you tell us all 
about it.

Commodore Free is a Not for Profit 
publication all donations go to funding 
the Website and or future projects
 

