..
     ***************************     
     * Commodore Free Magazine *     
     *   Issue 29 April 2009   *     
     ***************************     

  Commodore Magazine dedicated to 
      all Commodore Computers

Available as 
TEXT PDF SEQ D64 and PDF

www.commodorefree.com

EDITOR

After the Forth issue (last month) I 
thought we would return back to a 
mixed bag of articles and........
Hey you at the back; stop falling 
asleep I said "we are returning to a 
mixed bag of articles!"  

This month sees the end of our"in the
beginning series"  so with a tear we 
say goodbye to Lord Ronin and thank 
him for his interesting and often 
enlightening look at the Commodore 
user manual. 

I seem to have fallen into my own 
trap and have created a Commodore 64 
magazine rather than a Commodore 
magazine, My Amigas` have laid 
turned off for to many years now, 
finding space and time to house and 
even power them is just impossible at
the moment.I regret I havent followed
the Amiga scene for some time, I am 
an absolute fan of the Classic Amiga 
but cant say the newer versions have 
excited me. It seems to me anyway, 
the spark has died and the newer 
systems are: just another box running
a customised Linux installation. Am I
wrong is the Amiga going to be "the" 
next OS. 

I paid for the Amiga OS 4 discounts 
and after many years I have received 
only a rather large oversized t-shirt
that looks like a tent on me! BUT No
coupon to upgrade to os4 as promised.
So maybe I shouldnt ever pay up front
I will stick with OS 3.5 (if I ever 
turn the machines on) I always wanted
an Amiga A3000 (to my mind the best 
designed Amiga) but never found one 
for sale,well technically never found
anyone who would part with one. I 
worked for Silica for a number of 
years who were the U.K. importer of 
Commodore products, although the head
office and test centre had a number 
of A3000`s listed as "stock"they were
all classed as spares only and would 
not sell them because none were in a 
working state. So after a long search
I had to purchase an A4000 and that 
was a big disappointment, maybe I 
should have just purchased a 1200 
with an accelerator card.

Well they are my 
thoughts, is the Amiga still a strong
system?

Readers 
------------
A couple of reader have sent in 
articles and I`m reading through them
for inclusion. I would like to say 
thanks for your time penning these 
and they "will be included" where 
space allows. We have more "readers 
code" (common stop playing games and 
start learning, OK I have had enough 
of your comments you with the long 
hair and red t-shirt please report to
the principals office) I received a 
short story from Leon roach Called 
"In the Pulpit", I urge you to read 
it as its a highly amusing story
 about his BBS.

Also at this very moment, the 
Commodore Free disk magazine version
is being updated and improved "how 
can you improve the best magazine 
ever" ehhhh errrmmm oh thanks for the
nice comments you with the long hair 
and t-shirt please re enter the room!
I am not sure its the best magazine, 
although some readers have emailed me
to say so! but its definitely 
evolving into something, for people 
looking at purchasing DOTNET+ the 
Commodore Free Disk magazine was 
created using this very application. 

So this should give you an idea of 
the power, the rough version was 
producedin just a few days! 

TV and Easter
-------------------
I can't leave you without a comment 
about this, 

"I just couldn't let it lie" 

Well the Easter weekend should have 
been a sci-fi geek-fest at least in 
the U.K. with the Doctor Who Easter 
special and Red Dwarf Easter special 
a 3 day special "one off" although 
there is now hints of a series 10 but
no film, apparently in the U.K. Dave 
TV who funded the episodes graced the
highest ever viewer figures from the 
3 episodes. Doctor Who had a strange 
Deja-vu Feeling about the story line,
like a number of the other "newer 
story lines" and as is the custom 
stole some ideas from other sci-fi 
shows, but it was a good episode and 
very enjoyable viewing. 

Red Dwarf (back to earth)on the other
hand was absolutely awful and should 
never have seen the light of day, I 
presume Dug Naylor was convinced by 
the cash hand out to start writing 
but the spark was gone. In fact the 
spark was so far gone it had left in 
a taxi 10 years ago and died was 
buried and then dug up only to find 
it had transported to a parallel 
planet just before mankind had 
stepped foot on the earth and 
suggested there may be a problem, and
coined the term "credit crunch" I 
can't say there was anything in any 
of the episodes worthy of a mention, 
and why the long pauses between 
sentences like waiting for the TV 
audience (that wasnt there) to find 
something amusing (that wasnt there) 
HOWEVER so popular has been the 3 day
special Dave T.V. (in the U.K.) are 
running the series from start to end,
and of course the Easter 3 day 
special every day (multiple times) 
Maybe I was expecting to much, I 
heard a rumour the last episode would
have no special effects,no props just
pure acting, I am sorry this never 
happened because this would have been
superb! All the main actors were and 
are excellent (in previous versions) 
or should that be previous lives.

Windows
--------------
I spent 3 days working to remove a 
virus from a laptop,(no big deal)well
the problem seemed to be the virus 
had affected every single file on the
machine even a format of the disk 
left traces of the infection, a 
secured delete utility of the hard 
disk didnt remove the beast! and in 
the end I had to revert to an older 
BIOS level then reinstall Windows.Add
to that the manufacturers website 
listed the wrong drivers that wouldnt
install on the version of windows 
stated and you end up with almost 3 
days of frustration, the machine 
itself was slow and so even quick 
formatting took ages. After the 
machine was returned to its rightful 
owner I went upstairs turned on my 
C64 and it said READY.  
As it always does, I loaded an 
application from disk and thought "I 
have learned an important lesson 
here" 

Now if I find out what the lesson was
I am sure I would be a far better man
than I am now.

Here we go then with another packed 
issue

Regards
Nigel

www.commodorefree.com
www.commodorecomputerclub.co.uk

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


NEWS

 
*************************************
*  NEW CLASSIC COMPUTERS WEB FORUM  *
*************************************

Paul Quirk has created a new web 
forum for users of classic computers.
Go to http://retro-link.com to seethe
opening message or to http://retro-
link.com/smf/ to browse.  To sign up 
to the forum just send an e-mail to 
paul@retro-link.com

According to Paul, Retro-link.com 
will be different. 
This is what he says 
--

"There will be a new site for 
enthusiasts of retro computers, with 
plenty of emphasis on the Vic 20. It 
will include other retro computer 
systems, as demand warrants.That site
will be called retro-link.The domain,
which has been registered, is at 
retro-link.com. I intend to have it 
ready and open to the public this 
weekend.

The theme will be a mature, friendly,
harassment-free place where people 
can contribute as much or as little 
as they wish. It will be a positive 
place where people can post questions
that have been asked a hundred times 
without being insulted for doing so.
It will be less of a repository of 
information, and more of a social 
place to gather and discuss; as such,
it's not intended to compete with 
sites like Denial or Lemon,but rather
complement them."

The forum seems to be all-
encompassing in its eight categories

- General, 
- 8-bit Commodores, 
- Amiga, 
- Atari, 
- Apple, 
- Tandy/TRS-80, 
- Vintage PC, 
- Others.

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

*************************************
*       UIEC FIRMWARE UPDATE        *
*************************************


From Jim brain
I have placed the formal 0.8.0 
firmware release on jbrain.com for 
the 2.0 uIEC/IDE+CF, 2.3 uIEC/IDE+CF,
all uIEC/CF units and all uIEC/SD 
units.  Here are the relevant links:

uIEC/CF, uIEC/IDE+CF v2.0 HW, 
uIEC/IDE v2.3 HW: 

http://www.jbrain.com/pub/cbm/hw/uI
EC/uIEC-firmware-0.8.0.bin

uIEC/SD HW           

http://www.jbrain.com/pub/cbm/hw/uI
EC/uIEC3-firmware-0.8.0.bin

To use, place the appropriate file in
the root directory of the primary 
drive(on uIEC/IDE, it will be the IDE
master drive), and reboot your unit.

v 0.8.0 supports the following 
enhancements:

- direct sector access of the real 
  storage device
- ignore DEL files in file_open
- drive mapper
- EXOS V3 fastloader support
- Implement Dreamload emulation
- RTC support
- Multi-file scratch
- Copy command
- Large buffer support
- Final Cartridge 3 freeze file 
  fastloader support
- D71/D81 disk image support
- parse FSINFO sector for faster 
  FAT32 free space calculation
- partial REL file support
- SD support for uIEC/IDE+CF

I encourage folks to upgrade their 
units to 0.8.0 as soon as possible.  
Many uIEC/SD and recent uIEC/IDE 
users have 0.8.0PRE1 on their units, 
but that is an interim release and 
should be replaced with this bug 
fixed release. 

The C128 autoboot bug has also been 
fixed,though it was not an issue with
the code.  I accidentally left some 
debugging turned on in the firmware, 
and the timing issues caused the bug.

Jim Brain, Brain Innovations 

----------

  
*************************************
*   C64NIC Available to Pre-order   *
*************************************


From: Snogpitch
To: homestead@videocam.net.au
Subject: [Homestead] C64NIC+ Pre-
orders now open!

For those that know, what this is 
about, send in your pre-orders now! 
For those that do not,check it out:
The C64NIC+ is a Retro Replay/TFE 
compatible ethernet cartridge.  This 
was a culmination of effort of Jim 
Brain, CCCC, Eric Pratt and even 
some ideas from Bil Herd! Jim has 
spent a great deal of time engineer-
ing a new, low cost ethernet solution
and the Cincinnati Commodore Computer
Club is now accepting pre-orders.
There are also some surprises on the 
board, so check out this thread over 
at retro-hackers:

http://retrohackers.com/forum/viewtop
ic.php?f=5&t=210&st=0&sk=t&sd=a
&start=240

To preorder at the special price of 
$50, send paypal to: 
cmdreclub@iglou.com 
Be sure to mention c64nic in the 
subject Expected ship time is end of 
May.  You may pick them up in person 
and save on shipping at the C4 Expo!

US shipping: $5
Canada: $10

other countries:  send inquiries with
your full address to 
cbmusers@yahoo.com and I will send 
you a quote! Thanks! David Witmer  
Cincinnati Commodore Computer Club 
President Webpage 
http://www.geocities.com/c64-128-
amiga

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

************************************
*             CCEMU:                *
* C65 Emulator for the Commodore 64 *
*     APRIL 1st (2009 Release)      *
*************************************

 Based on the previous work done for 
the CCEMU project, announced 
annually, this is a preliminary 
release of the Commodore 65 emulator 
for the Commodore 64. Using the 
Incredible KIMplement's 
http://www.floodgap.com/retrobits/ki
m-1/emu.html 6502-on-6502 
emulation, modified for the 4510, and
patching the C64's BASIC ROMs, this 
allows an emulation of the C65 to be 
performed on the 64 at a reasonable 
subset of the 65's actual speed. Many
features of the VIC-III are supported
and users of Stereo SID cartridges 
can enjoy stereo sound as implemented

Please note that this emulator is 
incomplete. The following issues are 
known: 

- Incorrect colour palette. Not all 
  VIC-III features are operational. 
- Resolution is halved. 
- Most BASIC 10.0 commands generate 
  UNIMPLEMENTED errors. Part of the 
  BASIC 7.0 code has been copied and 
  patched into the 64's ROM-under-RAM
  at the cost of reducing free memory
- 64 mode is not available from 
  within the emulator. 
- All keyboards treated as English. 
- REU support is incomplete and most 
  expansion RAM will not be seen. 
- 1565 emulation by the 1541 is 
  limited to high-level commands only

The emulator was linked with the lb 
toolkit and crunched, and should run 
on most emulators as well as all 
native PAL and NTSC Commodore 64s.  
Download from c65emu.prg (6K) 
from here 
www.floodgap.com/ccemu/c65emu.prg

Commodore FREE : = this was of course
another April fool, but you guess 
that running a PRG would not be able 
to emulate a Commodore 65 didnt you?!

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

*************************************
*      Dotbasic PROGRAMMING         *
*        LANGUAGE RELESED           *
*************************************

------- Original Message ------------
From: Dave Moorman
Date: Tue, March 17, 2009 5:29 pm
-------------------------------------
Finally, DotBASIC Plus is ready for 
distribution!We have a web site where
the manual and D81s can be downloaded
for just $10. A CD-ROM and a colour 
printed manual are also available...

LOADSTAR is pleased to offer the 
ultimate software development package
for the Commodore 64: DotBASIC Plus. 
DB+ provides the means to create 
sophisticated modern-looking programs
in BASIC and is at the same time 
perfect for the programming novice.

Included with DotBASIC Plus is a 80-
page reference guide. The guide 
includes detailed DotCommand descrip-
tions, as well as an extensive series
of tutorials, screenshots, reference 
charts and a complete index.

Features:
-Over 100 new DotCommands added 
 to BASIC, including a powerful do 
 loop,commands for stashing/restoring
 memory, playing SID music, and 
 displaying custom character sets, 
 sprites, and hi-res graphics.

-Programs written with DotBASIC 
 Plus automatic support for mouse in 
 port 1 and a joystick in port 2.

-Easily create windows, drop-down 
 menus, even scrolling menus and text
 boxes.

-Easily extendable. New DotCommands 
 can easily be created and added to 
 the DotBASIC library. The manual 
 includes a chapter on this.

-DB+ includes a suite of impressive 
 design tools to help you create 
 custom screens, sprites, and text 
 files.

DotBASIC Plus is very affordable and 
can be purchased at

http://8bitcentral.com/dotbasic

On the website, you can learn more 
about DB+, see screenshots, download 
sample DB+ programs, and read an 
excerpt from the manual. A forum has 
also been created where DotBASIC 
users (and the merely curious)can ask
questions, read tutorials, and 
download updates.

We all know that the C-64 is the 
ultimate hobbyist computer. At 
LOADSTAR, we believe that DotBASIC 
Plus is the ultimate hobbyist 
computer language. Join us at 
http://8bitcentral.com/dotbasic and 
make the power and sophistication of 
DotBASIC Plus your own. 

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


         ******************         
         * Cottonwood BBS *         
         ******************         


I'm happy to announce that Borderline
BBS is now running on a CMD hard 
drive instead of the 1581 and seven 
1571s that it's been running on for 
some time now. This means that the 
file transfer section is vastly
bigger now, with plenty of room for 
additional files to be added. It also
means that I'll probably be saving a 
bit on my electricity bill. ;)

Check out the "new and improved" 
Borderline BBS by calling 
+1(951)242-3593. For more 
information, visit the 
Cottonwood/Borderline website at 
http://cottonwood.servebbs.com

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

  
*************************************
*   Hive Publishing GOLDEN YEARS    *
*************************************


Just to let you know that the third 
book in the Golden Years series is 
due to come out soon.

Jerry Ellis' The 8-Bit Book 1981-199x
follows on from The ZX Spectrum 
Book 1982-199x and The Commodore 
64 Book 1982-199x, and covers over 
200 of the best games for the a range
of 8-bit systems.  Once again, the 
book printing is financed on the 
goodwill of the community, and so I'd
really appreciate it if you'd go to 
the website to take a look :)

http://hiivebooks.com/bookdetails.asp
x?ISBN=9780977998326

There is a sample chapter online to 
take a look at which you can get by 
clicking on the cover. Thanks for 
taking a look, and my apologies 
(again) for the email intrusion. I'd 
be happy to receive any feedback (and
even happier to get your pre-order!) 

Please forward to any friends you 
think may be interested in this book.
I rely on word-of-mouth to make these
books possible!

Andrew Rollings (Hiive Books)

Information from the WEBSITE Jerry 
Ellis' The 8-Bit Book 1981 to 199x 
covers over two hundred of the best 
computer games of the 8-bit era.

The 8-Bit Book 1981 to 199x 
completes the 8-bit home computer 
trilogy of the acclaimed Golden Years
series, covering over two hundred of 
the most influential, inspiring and 
downright interesting computer games 
of the 8-bit era.Computer and video 
games aficionado Jerry Ellis casts a 
nostalgic look back at over two 
hundred of the titles which 
helped to define the golden age of 8-
bit computer gaming. As well as an 
essential selection of Spectrum and 
Commodore 64 games not featured in 
either of the first two books, The 
8-Bit Book 1981 to 199x investigates 
some of the landmark BBC Micro, Apple
II, Atari 400/800,Oric 1/Atmos,Dragon
32, TRS-80, VIC-20, ZX81, Amstrad CPC
Commodore 128, Acorn Electron, 
Commodore 16/Plus/4, TI99/4A and MSX 
efforts which provided players with 
the prehistory of todays global 
gaming industry.Individual chapters 
focus on every 
year from 1981 to 1989, while a final
chapter covering the early ‘90s pays 
tribute to some of the 8-bit games 
that simply refused to accept that 
their humble host machines time in 
the sun was at an end. Though the 
main thrustof each chapter is a page 
by page analysis of many of the most 
memorable titles of the age, an 
introductory overview of each years 
most pivotal events and developments 
is also included, as is a foreword 
from an influential figure synonymous
with the 8-bit computer gaming 
industry (the identity of whom will 
be revealed shortly before the books 
publication).Each of the two hundred 
and thirty 
games covered is given a full page 
review, accompanied by a selection of
screen shots and the games original 
cover artwork.Though the final listof
entries is still to be decided upon, 
titles already guaranteed to feature 
include such indisputable classics as
3D Monster Maze, Miner 2049er, 
Twin Kingdom Valley, Bomberman, 
Robotron 2084, Elite, The Perils of 
Willy, Repton, Theatre Europe, 
Vampire Killer, Turbo Esprit, Metal 
Gear, Exile, Snatcher, Prince of
Persia and Final Fantasy. As with the
first two books in the series, a 
fascinating assortment of less 
familiar titles have also been chosen
by the author, all of which hold a 
unique place in the history of 8-bit
gaming and have their own curious 
stories to tell.

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

      ************************      
      * Loadstar's  DOTBASIC *      
      ************************ 
      
http://8bitcentral.com/dotbasic/

WHAT IS IT  
If you are interested in BASIC 
programming for the C-64, then you 
have probably used a BASIC Extension 
at some point.Most of us are familiar
with Commodore's Simon's' BASIC 
cartridge.Unfortunately,most of these
extensions aren't very useful.Simon's
BASIC, for example,has a pretty lousy
set of commands. Many of them are 
basically (pun) useless. It's also a 
very confusing set of commands -- 
there are no consistent conventions 
used, making it necessary to 
constantly refer to the manual.

Further, a program written with 
Simon's' BASIC can only be run on a 
C-64 with a Simon's' BASIC cartridge.
Pretty limiting.

DotBASIC Plus is similar to other 
extensions in one way: you get a lot 
of new commands (or DotCommands, of 
course) -- over 100 so far. But thats
where the similarities end.

THE DOTCOMMANDS
100 new commands, with more being 
added all the time.  DotCommands all 
use a consistent, easy to remember 
syntax: .command,parameters

So, the DotCommand that draws a box 
on the screen is .BOX, the DotCommand
that creates a scrolling menu is 
.SCMENU, and so on.  All the new 
commands work just like regular BASIC
commands.  .

MODERN GUI WITH COMPLETE MOUSE 
/ JOYSTICK SUPPORT
With DB+ you can create modern 
looking programs with just afew lines
of code.  Your programs can have 
mouse support, complete with a great 
looking 'arrow pointer', drop down 
menus, file requestors and more. Goto
the DOWNLOAD section of 
http://8bitcentral.com/dotbasic/ 
to get some DotBASIC games and other 
programs to try out.  You can "break"
out of most of them by hitting 
RUN/STOP and LIST them.  You'll be 
amazed at how much can be done with 
so little code.

TRANSPORTABLE
Your programs will run on any C-64.  
Although everyone should own DB+, of 
course, you don't need to do anything
special to run a program written in 
DotBASIC.

DOTBASIC PLUS IS ALWAYS GROWING
With DotBASIC, you include the Dot
Commands you need by creating REM 
statements at the top of your program
If your program will use the commands
.SPRITE, .SID, .MENU, and .STASH, for
example, you would add a line like 
this:

11 REM.SPRITE,.SID,.MENU,.STASH

As you are coding, you can include 
new DotCommands as you need them by 
simply amending your REM statements.

This method has two big advantages.  
First, it makes your programs smaller
Why waste all that RAM for 100 
commands if you only need 5?  More 
importantly, it means that new 
DotCommands can easily be added to 
your library.  When new updates are 
released, simply add the new files to
your Library Disk and start using the
new DotCommands.

WHAT DO I GET FOR MY MONEY
DotBASIC Plus is two D81 disk images.
The Library Disk contains all the 
DotCommands (so far).The Utility Disk
is full of tools,including a screen 
and font design program, a sprite 
editor, and more. You also get an 80 
page manual. The manual has a 
professional look, with detailed 
reference charts, tutorials, 
screenshots and a complete index.  

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

            ************            
            * geoGlyph *            
            ************  
            
Newsgroups: comp.sys.cbm
From: "Sean Huxter

Subject: Teaser: geoGlyph
Still a long way to go, but this is a
glimpse of my latest project so far: 
http://www.huxter.org/c64/geos/geogl
yph/geoGlyph-video-6.gif 

Sean. 
http://www.huxter.org/c64/geos/geos.
htm

The game will be for the C64 and 
C128 running under GEOS. I'm 
coding it using the VICE emulator, 
and have not yet run it on my real 
128, but this is generally not a 
problem. (Though I did have some 
weirdness when coding a random number
tester -it behaved completely 
differently on my real 128 than in 
VICE.) 

But since I'm using the regular GEOS 
getRandom routine to generate 
random numbers, it should be fine. 
My random tester worked fine when 
using GEOS's routine, but was very 
different when I tried polling the 
sound chip to get random numbers. 
Anyway, I'm now at what I 
affectionately call the 90/90 stage. 
You know, when 90% of the work is 
done and all that's left to do is the
other 90%. . If anyone wants to check
out my previous GEOS games, you 
can find them here: 
http://www.huxter.org/c64/c64.htm 
Just click on the GEOS screen. There 
are downloadable .d64 and .d81 files 
for your convenience. Sean

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

     **************************     
     * BLOK copy DTV released *     
     **************************  

Another year(!),another release from 
Cosine.yes, it really has been an age
and a half since our last product and
theres just a hint of irony in the 
air as well because the latest 
release, Blok Copy DTV, is the same 
game as the last one! Well okay, not 
entirely the same because,although it
plays pretty much identically to the 
original Commodore PET version, this 
port sports some shiny new 8 bits per
pixel graphics and has a superb SID 
soundtrack by veteran C64 musician 
Sean "Odie" Connolly rather than the 
beeper tune that was cobbled together
for the PET.

Blok Copy can be downloaded from the 
Cosine website http://cosine.org.uk/ 
or all good scene databases!

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

*************************************
* Outro 2 "THE END OF THE BEGINNING"*
*************************************
       
I know I said I would go through 
keyboard cleaning here,  I just had 
to put that sub header up there,since
this is the last bit in this series 
and you are now at the Beginning of 
your new C= life.

Sentimentality out of the way, 

cleaning the KEYBOARD. 
remember DO NOT use the commercial 
aerosol cans, this is 
because you run a very high risk of 
gumming up your keyboard for good. 
Radio Shack had to replace a 64c for 
me! their keyboard cleaner thing 
gummed up the board to uselessness.

swabs and alcohol. 
Remember those tips about alcohol 
and swabs? Well here we will use 
alcohol and swabs again. Around here 
there is the pipe ash and tobacco.Add
onto that one. Both the 7 cats and I 
are shedding from time to time. This 
stuff collects in the keyboard. 
Magically it appears to drift around 
and into the keys.OK I know about the
dust being magnetically charged and 
all that stuff from college. Just 
thought the military of the world 
would love the accuracy of the pipe 
ash and cat fur that drops onto the 
keyboard.

So what do we do?First is the outside
That can be cleaned with the alcohol 
and the swabs. Normal grease and 
grime in the air and what comes off 
our hands. Easy clean up. AH!!It is a
real good idea to do this with the 
power off, even unplugged for some 
of us. This can be done for the cover
or said differently the case of the 
C=. Also you can do this for the keys
themselves. Honestly on this 128D 
keyboard. Most of the number keys on 
the top row, the + key, \ key and the
clear home key are so dirty that I 
can't read them. Might help me in 
touch typing?

IF keys need to be pressed hard and
or rocked to make the character show 
up on the screen then its a 95% 
chance you have crud under the keys. 
Now first off is the fact that the 
stuff falls in-between the keys. You 
won't see it all the time when dreck 
falls in the areas between the keys. 
Cleaning this is in two stages. 

1. removal of the keys. 
Power OFF Now then I just need one 
of my Girl Friends and her fem long 
nails. She was great at being able to
slip and slide the stuff out of the 
slots between the keys. Since she is 
gone, I  have to use other things. 
Matchbook covers will work, so will 
3x5 biz cards and  even the sleeve 
from a disk works. You need something
semi strong yet soft thing that will 
fit between the keys. What is done is
a gentle sort of "sweep" action, 
ensuring you go between all the keys.
Personally I go from right to left 
and top row to bottom.That is because
I am left handed and it is easier to 
go top to bottom for me.Rarely do I 
go in an up and down manner. Unless I
see that is the way it is needed to 
remove a specific bit of "dirt". Go 
slow and soft when you do this method

2. Next is the hard part. 
You may decide to leave this to 
someone else! Because you must remove
the keys. I can't do this without 
breaking them! So take that as a 
warning. My hands are that bad, so is
my frustration level. On the flip 
side, One of my local U.G. members 
can pop them off with ease. Guess who
is in charge of doing keyboards 
around here? 

That key is on a spindle made out of 
plastic.Has a proper name that I dont
know. Under the key and around the 
spindle is a spring. Press the key 
and it goes down making the contact 
and the spring sends it back up again
Crud under that and there isn't a 
contact made. Need cleaning and it is
a task that I don't do myself. You 
need to carefully lift up the 
individual keys. They are pressure 
fit on the spindle. Remove it and the
spring. Then clean out the area with 
anything from the dry swab, into a 
soft little paint brush. I do worry 
here about magnetism, but I also over
worry about things. At times we have 
had to use a wet with alcohol swab to
remove grime. For the  beginner, this
is really something that I suggest 
you have help with, either if a face 
to face type or in-depth instructions
from some C= user online. Before you
start this project!

There is much more to say on the C=.I
have written for different C= 
publications for years, and given 
lectures about this PC. Never enough 
time and space to say enough about 
this multi talented PC. Let me end 
this way. 

In 1993ce I was a computer phobic. 
Got the C=64 and now at the end of 
2007ce. I use the C= PC every day for
almost every computer application. 
Have three of them set up for use. I 
also Use the gifted Linux system from
time to time for internet areas that 
discriminate on the C=. Love my C= PC
and am not getting rid of it. 
Understand that I entered this 
platform after the big hey days of 
the 80s. I am like you a new user to
the C= PC. Now go and have fun with 
your C=.

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

 
*************************************
*  Business Calculator Description. *
*          The Masterpiece!         *
*************************************


Databases and Spreadsheets are great.
if you can spare half your life to 
learn them, then spend the other half
Wrestling with cells and complicated 
Mathematical formulas etc.  Business 
Calculator (Biz Calc.  from now on) 
attempts to take all that trauma and 
hassle away and let the user get 
straight into it.

Originally started out of a personal 
annoyance that shops less and less 
include VAT in the price.  (Does any-
one out there share this? I resent it
being rubbish at Maths; and quite 
slow! as yet another deception based 
on greed in my view.  But what can I 
do about it!)  Anyway, the program 
grew into helping some-one with their
small business -so I don't hate 
commerce completely..?

TUTORIAL
It has become rather larger than 
simply working out how much the 
blood suckers will take.  For those 
without a business, it may better to 
find VAT Calculator, the prequel to 
this program.  All the features are 
here, but the inclusions for business
may make it more complicated to 
understand.  So here's a How To... of
all the business features.  ...Simply
read the listing from 1500 !
    
Perhaps I haven't explained key press
2 properly.  Though a bit of trial 
and error rehearsal will see most 
pick it up quickly.  While one 

"1" counts up a list of expenses.  

"2" allows the user to Add to the 
takings, or change it altogether.
There isn't a list for income as I 
did not see a need. This is printed 
as positives to add before taking 
from takings. (see!  Not at all 
complicated -"pff !")  The total is 
listed on the main menu as "Total 
Expense:"  (Sorry, if that's somewhat
dull or predictable.)  
    
"4", you will notice only the top 
figures are changed.  In case a quick
reference is needed to a possible 
purchase, but the program needs 
keeping in tact. Although it also 
affects both percentage / takings 
listings. (possibly a bug. Or down to
the fact I wrote this blindly for a 
friend who I haven't seen in a long 
time, I hope that my efforts would be
of some use to him....Clearly not, as
he still isn't speaking!)
   
"0" resets expense list. And I've got
to say, in looking at it again The 
"To Tax Man/persons" only looks 
anywhere near right when there are no
expenses to work out!  We may look at
this in the program description that 
follows. And may arrive at a solution
such as changing to "Total Outgoing",
or adding this, and working out what 
Tax is actually paid.

Looking at the program.
------------------------------
My first lesson in debugging or 
describing to others what things do, 
was to make a note at the time of the
variables.  As now when I look some 
weeks later it's like trying to get 
sense out of a politician!  At this 
point I will be nothing short of 
amazed if I remember everything. And 
will have to look deeper into the
code than I wanted to. This is more 
time consuming,and I have the washing
up to do yet!

Here's what I do know:
------------------------------
Line 10 Always title your program in 
the first line of your code.  
The easiest way to know what it is.

Line 20 I wanted background colour 
white, and the ink to be mostly black
(reminds me of a song I sang at 
school) People were saying they were 
having trouble reading the other 
colours. The border on the other hand
is reserved for something quite 
special which I will come to in due 
course. The border is set this way as
the best choice only minor trouble 
being there seems no way to get the 
original border colour. Ah! well. If 
you know of a way, please let me know

Line 30  Clear memory of all prior 
memory, but keeping the program.- ML 
is Maximum Limit for list. Tinker 
with this if you need to.

- XP is short for "expense" -(haha!  
Nothing like Windows then eh!)  It 
allows for a listing related to ML.
It is also possible to type in a list
of Income if needed for TaxMan/Person
etc.

- VA is VAT or Value Added Tax.  
(nice to assume "Value" anyway..This 
is set to the current rate.  Can be 
changed either by altering the figure
here, and saving.  Or during the 
program which can also be saved.

- T is Takings.  Presetting an amount
is useful.  It not only saves awkward
bugs.  It allows for examples to show
the program is working.

- XP$ is linked to xp in that it is 
the string corresponding to the 
number

- c% is the colour for the menu later
You will see in line 20 the command 
...Color4,6. Border colour of 6.Which
could have been done quite 
differently so that if a change were 
needed only one line would need 
changing.  Try moving "CLR" to the 
start of 20,put "C%=6" straight after
it, followed` by the colours.  And 
change the colour 4, to c%.  Then if 
you want to start with a new border 
colour you only need to change the 
c%=..Within the legal range 1-16 (off
the top of my head) This is so it 
doesn't look funny when you go to the
border changing menu.

Line 40 Set maximum volume.

Line 50 Saves time retyping a 
commonly used string.

Line 60 SCNCLR: A way of clearing 
the screen.  Simply means 
"ScreenClear".  Like PRINT"{ctrl & 
home}";  On some models of 8 bit 
computers it was or IS simply CLS.  
And is the one of few of the  
compatibility problems I can think 
users may face when typing in any of 
my programs in this series. I haven't
used POKES & PEEKS which would 
be another problem as they have 
meanings individual to the machines. 
And VOL is a POKE statement on the 
c64 (line40)

Line 70-90 establishes with user what
the current percentage is.

Line 100 type your own Total here.  
Or the price of something you wish to
buy when the sales berk, sorry"clerk"
is being coy with the true cost to 
your livelihood.

Line 110-120 prints info. for sake of
speed.

Line 130 does percentage calculation 
(Yawn!)

Line 140-160 As 110-120

Line 170 Share the variable in order 
to do something else with it later.  
(This was easy to remember: As to eat
you must have something left over 
after TAX -good Luck!  And, like 
sharing a meal.  Empty = (time for) 
Tee!)  

Line 180 Make sure user has read 
info.  And is happy to go on.

Line 190 Needed as a point of 
reference,so that if anything needs 
to be added there is an extra '10' in
the process. The other reason is that
REM statements mark out a new section
better than leaving it to PRINT,which
could be anything.

Line 200-210 Clear Screen and print 
Title Business Calc  (bc$), and Main 
Menu.

Line 220 Debugging, deciding best 
order.If you find the others linked 
to this statement, you can experiment
and see what they do. (remove REM 
to try)

Line 230-260 Printing the menu, and 
calculates   This takes some 
understanding.  ...Good Luck!
...OK.  

- VA = Percent, originally stood for 
VAT.
- T, as it says is Takings:  T-X: 

- X being the result of the formula 
you make the bare figure actually work
out as a percentage sum. Thus instead
of deducting 17.5 from the current 
takings.  X permeates this to the 
appropriate percentage first.  
Otherwise the answer is completely 
different.

- Y relates to the other part of the 
screen.  As covered above.

Line 280 resets a variable to be used
to avoid even more embarrassment 
than not knowing what I'm doing.

Line 290-310 Uses the above variable 
in a for/next loop...for something or
other... (see 330)  XP stands for 
Expense.  The little goes through the
list of expenses to total them.

Line 320-360 Self Explanatory

Line 370-380 Why MU???  I can't 
remember.  But this is where the TAX 
is deducted as whole outgoings.

Line 390 Another GOTO statement 
cancelled out by the preceding REM 
command.

Line 400 Tells the computer if it has
gone above the on/off limit to reset 
to off and follow line by line.

Line 410 If H% (meaning whether to 
hide or not the instructions that may
make the program hard to read.  If H%
is on (1) assume the user knows these
things.

Line 420-500 Self Explanatory

Line 510 The extra command, this 
works anyway, see 620.  A Question 
you may be asking is Why hide it?  
Especially as 2 or so arrow up 
presses at the end of the line just 
before the inverted commas will serve
to keep the page intact. The Answer. 
Yes. But it would impede on expanding
elsewhere.  It is aesthetic therefore
less important.  Just saves the user 
typing in the command of the colour 
they prefer.  Having said that this 
isn't impossible as the program can 
currently be read, though I did try 
to get a compiler.  No reply though. 
Also, it would be easier another way.
Try reprogramming to keep on the 
main menu, but cycle the colours one 
way by pressing c. or as you like 
with the arrow keys. It can easily be
done. A Gosub statement with a return
A few REMs and Ouila!

Lines - Upto590 instructions already 
covered.

Line 590 "Q" always have an escape 
route!

Line 600 For Instructions. err..press
"I" key"

Line 610-620 covered above. Hide, 
Colour.

Line 630 In case of faulty or erratic
pressing of keys.  Now You wouldn't 
do that would you???

Line 650 menu for key 1 (skip the 
waffle)

Line 710 get a busier expense.

Line 720 put expense into next 
available slot.

Line 730 why is that reading to total
expense equals total expense "minus" 
expense? ...I hate Maths!!!  ...Ah! 
well, it seems to work.

Line 740 again skip rubbish if Hide 
is on. OK.

Line 770 wait for key presses listed 
if hide is off, as it is by default.

NOTE: Still can't get past line 730. 
For experimental purposes, and 
perhaps due to the fact I've been 
doing this so long that time to wash 
up has come round again!  I have this
zany idea to change the minus "-" to 
a plus "+" to see what happens.  But 
you'll have to find this out for 
yourselves...or 1 million in gold 
bullion should do nicely! -not at all
overpriced!  (... ??? Did I just 
write how to find out?  ..."tut!")

Line 780-790 allows further additions
if maximum Limit is not reached.  Try
adding an "=",next to the "<" in 780.
(an oversight)This will make full use
of the dimensioned array (AKA. 
"slots") available.

Line 800-810 sends people away (with 
smacked handies) if they reach the 
limit.  There's room in memory to 
expand Max Limit (ML) if required. 
Up to 1280 seems self explanatory 
enough.  Except for 1030-1130 which 
is special  The FOR... at 1060 starts
the list.

Line 1070 looks to see whether a key 
has been pressed as this will be 
stored in the relevant memory 
location.

Line 1080 If it has a P then it 
carries out this instruction, and 
everything else is Halted!  Until it 
has another P.  And the program is 
returned here from the similar sub at
2330.

1090 If there's nothing in the slot 
we go back to the main menu.  
(this will only happen if slot 0 has 
nothing in it.  As ML expands with 
the user input.

Line 1100 otherwise Print what's 
there.

Line 1110 continues with the next on 
the list.

Line 1120-1130 And on to the main 
sub for awaiting another key press.

Line 1140 tells us this is the 
editing tool.  So in Menu "3", the 
user pressed E.  (that might be worth
noting.)

Line 1160 get out clause, if all else
fails.  (Like Government funding 
doesn't come through or whatever.)

Line 1190 If nn is greater than ml.  
Denotes that ML is the marker as to 
where the last filled slot is.  So 
currently if 56 was typed in, the 
program would think what is going on 
here?  And send the user back to 
retype a "legal" or usable number.  
Otherwise we may proceed provide 
we didn't mess about with the minus 
symbol.

Line 1200 prints a reminder to reduce
occurrence of error.

Line 1220 checks there's something to
change or make reference to.

Line 1230 Waits for key press

Line 1240-1270 Self explanatory, or 
explained previously.

Line 1280-1300 gets new number.

Line1310 puts new number in to 
replace old.  ("New lamps for old" 
seems fitting somehow.)

Line 1320 if Hide is on.  Computer 
makes a sound to inform user this has
been carried out, and is about ready 
to proceed.

Line 1330 perhaps, there should be a 
yes or no option here.  It is more 
complicated to put in than first 
glance would indicate.

TRY:
	1471 geta$;ifa$=""then1471
	1472 ifa$<>"n"thenpp=1  :goto 
980
Add at  1015 ifpp=1thenpp=0: goto 
480

AND THERE WE HAVE AN 
INSTANCE, A CLEAR EXAMPLE 
OF HOW CODE TURNS INTO 
SPAGHETTI.  And Bolognese to it!At 
this stage it would be hard to get 
round this, short of a re-write (good
luck with that one!), even than a 
jumbled up mess can still occur.  
Particularly if you suffer from Ideas
aplenty (sense? err none. In my case)
The other way you'll notice at 970 it
also says what 1470 reprints. This is
an attempt at memory jogging without 
the need to go into it again.  Which 
shouldn't be necessary with a few 
dummy runs.  And in Yape The plus4 
emulator which this was programmed 
in. You can open a second instance of
the same program for reference if you
get stuck.

Line 1490 If you press to quit it 
will go here and END.This seemed like
a good place to mark the program out 
from additional extras.

Line 2320 End of Instructions.  
("feuwpf!")

Line 2300-2400 where program comes 
to in above menu. Why here?  Well, it
comes here in multiple parts of the 
program. So it was best to have it in
one place.

Line 2410-2590  My favourite idea of 
all time.  A simple but very pleasing
idea.  That if some-one has to work 
late,or for long hours.They can alter
what they have to look at.

TIP:
-----
You could set an automatic option 
using ti$, where if set to on the 
border changes automatically, even at
random.  Reset ti$ and have instances
of checking throughout the program.

Firstly, it is important to note that
while many of the commands look the 
same.(geta$, ifa$..,etc.) they do not
have to be placed the same way.  Here
you'll notice line2480 Geta$ Not 
"geta$:ifa$=""then2480" this blocks 
the program from moving until a key 
is pressed,however we let it continue
in a loop. (In all truth I was trying
to put it more firmly into mind here 
that this can be done.  As every book
I seem to have read seems to only 
cover one way)

Line 1030-1130  The use of this is 
better emphasised with the Pause 
button, key press in the above menu. 
But it is more complicated as to how 
that is derived being in two places. 
And as it is only needed with the 
listing of expenses. Look at the list
generator to see how this works.  
We've covered similar with AATimer 
in the addition of an option in the 
main menu.  (I'm glad I could share 
this, as when it came to me I was 
overjoyed.  Feeling I'd arrived -
somewhere- as an amateur 
programmer) Rest is self explanatory.
Best Wishes
(c)  John Fielden 2008

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

     ***************************    
     * Listing of: BizCalc.prg *    
     *************************** 

10 
REM*BUSINESSCALCULATOR* 
20 COLOR0,2:COLOR4,6 
30 
CLR:ML=55:DIMXP(ML):VA=17.5:
T=100:DIMXP$(ML):C%=6 
40 VOL8 
50 
AK$=CHR$(18)+"ANYKEYTOCON
TINUE"+CHR$(146) 
60 
SCNCLR:BC$="*VATEXPENSEBU
SINESSCALCULATOR*" 
70 
PRINT"IFVAT=";VA;"%ORWASSE
TPREVIOUSLYTHENJUSTPRESSR
ETURN" 
80 
PRINT"OTHERWISETYPEYOURO
WN-" 
90 INPUT"PERCENTAGE";VA 
100 INPUT"ORIG.TAKINGS";T 
110 
PRINT:PRINT"ORIG.AMOUNT:";T 
120 
PRINT"VATAT";VA;"%.IFTOTAL";
T*VA/100 
130 X=T*VA/100 
140 PRINT"TOTALLEFT:";T-X 
150 PRINT"TOTALIFADDED:";T+X 
160 PRINTAK$ 
170 MT=T 
180 GETA$:IFA$=""THEN180 
190 REM***MAINMENU*** 
200 SCNCLR:PRINTBC$ 
210 
PRINT"MAINMENU":PRINT"{A3}{
A3}{A3}{A3}{A3}{A3}{A3}{A3}" 
220 REMGOSUB180 
230 PRINT"PERCENTAGE:";VA 
240 PRINT"ORIG.TAKINGS:";T 
250 PRINT"LESS%(VAT?):";T-X 
260 
PRINT"ADDING%(VAT?):";T+X 
270 Y=MT*VA/100 
280 TE=0 
290 FORJ=0TOML 
300 TE=TE+XP(J) 
310 NEXTJ 
320 
PRINT"{down}INCLUDINGANYA
DDEDTAKINGS:";MT 
330 PRINT"TOTALEXPENSE:";TE 
340 PRINT"LASTEXPENSE:";E 
350 
PRINT"TAKINGSLESSEXPENSE:";
MT-TE 
360 
PRINT"REMAINDERLESS'%'ORV
AT:";MT-TE-Y 
370 MU=MT-TE-Y 
380 PRINT"TOTAXMAN:";MT-MU 
390 REMGOTO230 
400 IFH%>1THENH%=0 
410 IFH%=1THEN530 
420 PRINT:PRINT"1-
TAKEANEXPENSE" 
430 PRINT"2-
ADDTOTAKINGSORCHANGEAM
OUNT" 
440 PRINT"3-
GENERATEFULLLISTFORPRINTI
NG" 
450 PRINT"4-
CHANGENUMBER&%FORORIG.T
AKINGS" 
460 PRINT"0-
ANOTHERAMOUNT(RESETSALL)
" 
470 PRINT 
480 PRINT"Q=QUIT" 
490 PRINT"I=INSTRUCTIONS" 
500 PRINT"H=HIDE/SHOWNOTES" 
510 
REMPRINT"C=TOCYCLEBORDER
COLOURS{up}" 
520 REMRETURN 
530 GETA$:IFA$=""THEN530 
540 IFA$="1"THEN650 
550 IFA$="2"THEN820 
560 IFA$="3"THEN920 
570 IFA$="4"THEN60 
580 IFA$="0"THEN10 
590 IFA$="Q"THEN1490 
600 IFA$="I"THEN1500 
610 
IFA$="H"THENH%=H%+1:GOTO2
00 
620 IFA$="C"THEN2410 
630 GOTO530 
640 REM*********** 
650 REM*1EXPENSE* 
660 REM*********** 
670 IFH%=1THEN710 
680 
PRINT"NOTE:AFTERKEYINGINE
XPENSEANDPRESSINGRETURN" 
690 
PRINT"PRESSANYKEYFORMAIN
MENU" 
700 
PRINT"ORPRESS[SPACEBAR]TOI
NPUTANOTHER.":PRINT 
710 INPUT"EXPENSECOST";E 
720 XP(K)=E:K=K+1 
730 TE=TE-E 
740 IFH%=1THEN770 
750 
REMPRINT"TAKINGSLESSEXPEN
SE=";T 
760 
PRINT"AWAITINGKEYPRESS.SEE
ABOVE." 
770 GETA$:IFA$=""THEN770 
780 IFA$=""ANDK<MLTHEN710 
790 
IFA$=""ANDK>MLTHENPRINT"S
ORRY,MAXIMUMLIMITEXCEEDE
D!" 
800 
IFA$=""ANDK>MLTHENFORJ=1T
O450:NEXTJ 
810 GOTO200 
820 REM*2VAT* 
830 
PRINT"'A'DDOR'C'HANGEADDED
TAKINGS?" 
840 GETA$:IFA$=""THEN840 
850 IFA$="A"THEN880 
860 IFA$="C"THEN900 
870 GOTO840 
880 INPUT"ADDITION";A 
890 MT=MT+A:GOTO200 
900 
INPUT"NEWADDEDTAKINGS";M
T 
910 GOTO200 
920 REM********************* 
930 REM*EXPENCELIST**"3"* 
940 REM********************* 
950 
SCNCLR:PRINT"{black}BIZCALC":
PRINT 
960 IFH%=1THEN1020 
970 PRINT"REMEMBERKEYS:-" 
980 
PRINT:PRINT"{black}'[SPACE]'TO
GENERATELIST" 
990 
PRINT"{black}'E'TOEDITLIST&NA
MEEXPENSES" 
1000 
PRINT"'R'RETURNTOMAINMENU
" 
1010 PRINT"'Q'TOQUIT" 
1020 GOTO2330 
1030 
REM*GENERATELISTOFEXPENS
ES&ALLOWAREFERENCEFORIT* 
1040 PRINT"{down}{down}{down}" 
1050 
PRINT"REMAININGAMOUNT";M
T 
1060 FORJ=0TOML 
1070 GETA$ 
1080 
IFA$="P"THENP%=1:GOSUB2330 
1090 IFXP(J)=0THEN1120 
1100 
PRINT"{lred}";J;"{orange}";XP(J);X
P$(J) 
1110 NEXTJ 
1120 
PRINT"{black}":PRINT"ENDOFLIS
T" 
1130 GOTO2330 
1140 REM*EDITINGTOOL* 
1150 
PRINT:PRINT"ENTERNUMBER(IN
{lred}GREEN{black})TOEDIT" 
1160 
PRINT"TYPE'9999'TOCANCEL" 
1170 INPUT"NUMBER";NN 
1180 IFNN=9999THEN200 
1190 IFNN<0ORNN>MLTHEN1170 
1200 PRINTNN,XP(NN),XP$(NN) 
1210 
IFXP(NN)<0.01THENPRINT"THER
EISNOTHINGINTHISCELL!":GOT
O1140 
1220 
PRINT"CHANGE'A'MOUNTOR'R'E
FERENCE?" 
1230 GETA$:IFA$=""THEN1230 
1240 IFA$="A"THEN1280 
1250 IFA$="R"THEN1350 
1260 IFA$=CHR$(13)THEN200 
1270 GOTO1230 
1280 REM*AMOUNT* 
1290 PRINT"FROM";XP(NN);"TO"; 
1300 INPUTXP(NN) 
1310 E=XP(NN) 
1320 
IFH%=1THENSOUND1,500,50:GOT
O1340 
1330 PRINT"REMEMBERKEYS!" 
1340 GOTO2330 
1350 
REM*CHANGEORADDAREFEREN
CE* 
1360 IFH%=1THEN1390 
1370 
PRINT"YOUMAYTYPEUPTO30CH
ARACTERS" 
1380 
PRINT"TOCANCELCLEARSPACE
&PRESSRETURN" 
1390 PRINT"FROM";XP$(NN);"TO" 
1400 INPUT"REF:";XP$(NN) 
1410 XP$(NN)=LEFT$(XP$(NN),30) 
1420 
PRINTNN;XP(NN);XP$(NN):PRINT
"CORRECTY/N?" 
1430 GETA$:IFA$=""THEN1430 
1440 IFA$="N"THEN1350 
1450 IFA$<>"Y"THEN1430 
1460 
IFH%=1THENSOUND1,500,50:GOT
O1480 
1470 PRINT"REMEMBERKEYS!" 
1480 GOTO2330 
1490 END 
1500 REM**INSTRUCTIONS*** 
1510 
SCNCLR:PRINT"BIZCALC":PRINT 
1520 
PRINT"THISISFORTHELAYPERSO
NWHOFINDS" 
1530 
PRINT"SHOP'SHIDINGOFVATAHI
NDRANCE." 
1540 
PRINT"THEPERCENTAGECANBE
CHANGED":PRINT"TOANYAMOU
NT" 
1550 
PRINT"THISFEATUREWASADDE
DFORTHEBUSINESS" 
1560 PRINT"PERSON.WHOFINDS" 
1570 
PRINT"DATABASESANDSPREAD
SHEETSUNECESSARILY" 
1580 
PRINT"COMPLEX.ANDLENGTHY
TOSETUP.":PRINT"ANDMAINTAI
NETC." 
1590 
PRINT:PRINT"THISHELPSKEEPPR
OGRAMUPTODATE." 
1600 
PRINT"ALSO,IFYOUAREGOODAT
PROGRAMMING" 
1610 PRINT"TRYLIST-50" 
1620 
PRINT"ANDVA=VAT.ML=MAXIM
UMLIST" 
1630 
PRINT"THECURRENTVATSHOW
NISMERELYA":PRINT"PRINTSTA
TEMENT." 
1640 
PRINT"THUSEASYTOCHANGE." 
1650 PRINT"{down}";AK$ 
1660 GETA$:IFA$=""THEN1660 
1670 
SCNCLR:PRINT"BIZCALC":PRINT 
1680 
PRINT:PRINT"FUNCTIONSFROMT
HEMAINMENU:":PRINT 
1690 PRINT"'0'-
ANOTHERAMOUNT":PRINT"THIS
CLEARSTHEMEMORYANDSTAR
TSAGAIN" 
1700 
PRINT"ONLYPRESSIFCERTAINY
OUAREREADYTOMOVEONTONE
XTTASK":PRINT 
1710 PRINT"'1'-
TAKEANEXPENSE":PRINT"THISL
ETSYOUDEDUCTEXPENSESAND" 
1720 
PRINT"BUILDSALISTTOMEMORY
":PRINT"WHEREZEROWASLOST,
PLEASESKIP.":PRINT 
1730 PRINT"'2'-
ADDTOTAKINGSORCHANGEAM
OUNT" 
1740 
PRINT"USEFULIFCOMINGINFRO
MMULTIPLE":PRINT"SOURCESO
RATINTERVALS.":PRINT 
1750 PRINTAK$ 
1760 GETA$:IFA$=""THEN1760 
1770 
SCNCLR:PRINT"BIZCALC":PRINT 
1780 PRINT"'3'-
GENERATEFULLLISTFORPRINTI
NG":PRINT"ASTHENAMESUGGES
TS." 
1790 
PRINT"HERE,YOUCANSEEYOUR
LISTONSCREEN," 
1800 
PRINT"ANDUSINGTHEEDITINGF
ACILITIESOF":PRINT"YAPE.":PRI
NT 
1810 
PRINT"PRESSRIGHTMOUSEBUTT
ONTOBRINGUP" 
1820 
PRINT"SUBMENU.SELECTCOPY.
THENUSING" 
1830 
PRINT"ATEXTEDITOR.(IUSEWOR
DPAD)." 
1840 
PRINT"YOUCANPASTEINTOEDIT
ORANDPRINT":PRINT 
1850 
PRINT"NOTE:THISMAYREQUIRE
SLIGHT" 
1860 
PRINT"ADJUSTMENTS.MAINLYT
OTABSAND" 
1870 
PRINT"SPACING.":PRINT"YOUMA
YALSOWISHTOADDYOUROWN":
PRINT"SYMBOLS." 
1880 
PRINT"THEDOLLAR'$'ISALLICAN
FINDON" 
1890 
PRINT"YAPETHECOMMODORE16
+4EMULATOR" 
1900 PRINT:PRINTAK$ 
1910 GETA$:IFA$=""THEN1910 
1920 
SCNCLR:PRINT"BIZCALC":PRINT 
1930 
PRINT"IFYOURLISTRUNSOVERT
HESCREENSIZE":PRINT 
1940 
PRINT"YOUCANPRESS'PGDN'OR
GOTOYAPE-MENU" 
1950 
PRINT"MACHINE,PAUSE:THISWI
LLPAUSE" 
1960 
PRINT"THESCREEN.FORYOUTOU
SETHECOPY":PRINT"&PASTEFU
NCTION" 
1970 
PRINT"ALTERNATIVELY,PRESS'P
'(IFAVAILABLE)" 
1980 
PRINT:PRINT"THELEFT(CTRL)KE
YSLOWSSCROLLING!" 
1990 
PRINT"THE(CTRL)KEYMIMICKST
HEOLDCOMMODORE(C=)KEY" 
2000 
PRINT"ANDWHEREWOULDWEBE
WITHOUTTHAT?" 
2010 
PRINT"HOLDDOWN(CTRL)TOSL
OWDOWNSCROLLSPEED" 
2020 
PRINT:PRINT"YOUCANALSOEDI
TYOURLIST." 
2030 
PRINT"ANDGIVEEACHEXPENSE
AREFERENCE." 
2040 
PRINT"THISISEXPLAINED.(FROM
MAINMENU:PRESS'3',THEN'E')" 
2050 PRINT:PRINTAK$ 
2060 GETA$:IFA$=""THEN2060 
2070 
SCNCLR:PRINT"BIZCALC":PRINT 
2080 
PRINT"IFPAUSINGLIST(3):'P'TOU
N/PAUSE" 
2090 
PRINT"'E'TOEDIT":PRINT"[SPACE
]TOGENERATELISTFROMSTART" 
2100 
PRINT"'Q'TOQUIT":PRINT"'R'TOR
ETURNTOMAINMENU" 
2110 PRINT"-------------------------
------------" 
2120 
PRINT"OTHERMAINMENUKEYS:-
":PRINT 
2130 PRINT"'H'-
HIDE/SHOWMENUNOTES":PRINT
"USEFULFORCOPYINGANDPASTI
NG" 
2140 PRINT"'C'-
CYCLEBORDERCOLOURS":PRINT
"AVERYNICEASTHETICFEATURE
" 
2150 
PRINT"NOTLISTED,BUTEXISTSF
ROMMAINMENU." 
2160 PRINT"'4'-
CHANGEORIG.TAKINGS":PRINT"
ALSOCHANGESADDEDTAKINGS
LIST" 
2170 
PRINT"BUTLEAVESEXPENSESIN
TACT." 
2180 
PRINT"ALLOWSPERCENTAGETO
BECHANGED." 
2190 PRINT:PRINTAK$ 
2200 GETA$:IFA$=""THEN2200 
2210 
SCNCLR:PRINT"BIZCALC":PRINT 
2220 
PRINT"(C)JOHNA.FIELDEN(2009)"
:PRINT 
2230 
PRINT"EVERYPOSSIBLEEFFORT
HASBEENMADETO" 
2240 
PRINT"TESTTHATBIZCALC/VAT
CALCISFULLY":PRINT"WORKIN
G.NOWARRANTYIMPLIEDOR" 
2250 PRINT"OTHERWISE.":PRINT 
2260 
PRINT"IFYOUHAVEIDEASTHAT
MAYSPEEDUP&" 
2270 
PRINT"IMPROVETHERUNNINGO
FYOURBUSINESS" 
2280 
PRINT"WHYNOTSENDANEMAILT
O:":PRINT"dazeleeper(at)aol.com" 
2290 
PRINT"{down}ENDOFINSTRUCTI
ONS" 
2300 PRINTAK$ 
2310 GETA$:IFA$=""THEN2310 
2320 GOTO200 
2330 GETA$:IFA$=""THEN2330 
2340 
IFP%=0THENIFA$=""THEN2330 
2350 
IFA$="R"THENP%=0:GOTO200 
2360 
IFA$="P"ANDP%=1THENP%=0:RE
TURN 
2370 IFA$="E"THEN1140 
2380 IFA$="Q"THEN1490 
2390 
IFA$=""THENP%=0:GOTO1030 
2400 
IFP%=0THEN2330:ELSERETURN 
2410 
REM*COLORBORDERCHOOSER* 
2420 SCNCLR:PRINTBC$:PRINT 
2430 
PRINT"COLORBORDERCHOOSER
":PRINT 
2440 PRINT:PRINT"'R'-
RETURNTOMAINMENU" 
2450 
PRINT"USE^UPARROW":PRINT"O
RDOWNARROW" 
2460 
PRINT"CYCLEALLAVAILABLEB
ORDERCOLOURS." 
2470 
PRINT"{home}{down}{down}{down
}{down}{down}{down}{down}{dow
n}{down}{down}{left}{left}{left}{le
ft}{left}";C% 
2480 GETA$ 
2490 IFA$="{up}"THENC%=C%+1 
2500 IFA$="{down}"THENC%=C%-
1 
2510 IFA$="R"THEN200 
2520 IFA$=CHR$(27)THENA$="" 
2530 
IFA$<CHR$(17)THENA$="":ELSEI
FA$>CHR$(17)ANDA$<CHR$(145)
THENA$="" 
2540 IFA$>CHR$(145)THENA$="" 
2550 IFC%<1THENC%=16 
2560 IFC%>16THENC%=1 
2570 COLOR4,C% 
2580 IFA$=""THEN2480 
2590 GOTO2470 

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

 
*************************************
*  Readers Information for the C16  *
*************************************

A tip for any-one keen on the art.On 
loading the emulator,drag in this 
file (alter as required and save for 
future use) type RUN, keys will be 
changed. You can then type NEW and 
bring in the program you are working 
on, or start your new prog. Hard to 
find codes have been added in the 
listing, like the code for black 
typing.Happy Prog'ing


10 REM 
**************************       
20 REM *KEY #2* *FOR 
COMMODORE16*       
25 REM *------------------------*    
30 REM *PROGRAMMED IN  
YAPE     *       
35 REM *------------------------*    
40 REM *EDITED BY JOHN 
FIELDEN  *       
50 REM 
**************************       
60 PRINT"°":REM CHR$(144);           
70 PRINT"³":REM CHR$(147)            
80 KEY 1,"GRAPHIC"                   
90 KEY 2,"AUTO10"+CHR$(13)           
100 KEY 3,"THEN"+CHR$(144)           
110 KEY 4,"SCNCLR"+CHR$(13)          
120 KEY 5,"AUTOOFF"+CHR$(13)         
130 KEY 6,"RUN"+CHR$(13)             
140 KEY 7,"LIST"+CHR$(13)            
150 KEY 8,"HELP"+CHR$(13)            
1000 LIST                            
                                     
READY.    


                              
keylister  *key3*

63550 REM *KEY LISTER*               
63551 REM * (C) JOHN A. 
FIELDEN 2008 *  
63552 REM * GIFTWARE / 
SHAREWARE  *     
63553 REM *  IF YOU LIKE THE 
PROGRAM *  
63554 REM * CONTACT: 
DAZELEEPER(AT)AOL.COM 
*PLEASE STATE THE PROG. YOU 
HAVE  *  
63555 SCNCLR:PRINT"  KEY
LISTER":PRINT"  EEE EEEEEE"          
63556 KEY 1,"LIST-150"               
63557 KEY 2,"LIST151-
250"+CHR$(13)      
63558 KEY 3,"LIST251-
350"+CHR$(13)      
63559 KEY 4,"LIST351-
450"+CHR$(13)      
63560 KEY 5,"LIST451-
550"+CHR$(13)      
63561 KEY 6,"LIST551-
650"+CHR$(13)      
63562 KEY 7,"LIST651-
750"+CHR$(13)      
63563 KEY 8,"LIST751-
850"+CHR$(13)      
63564 REM  KEY 1,"LIST851-
950"+CHR$(13) 
63565 REM  KEY 2,"LIST951-
1050"+CHR$(13)
63566 REM  KEY 3,"LIST1051-
1150"+CHR$(13)                       
63998 KEY                           
63999 REM *IT GOES TO HERE: 
LAST LINE*                           

READY.

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

 
*************************************
*  Interview with Spiro Trikaliotis *
*       Part of the Vice Team       *
************************************

COMMODRE FREE
Please introduce yourself to our 
readers 

SPIRO TRIKALIOTIS
My name is Spiro Trikaliotis. From my
name, it is clear that I am of Greek 
descendants; however, I was born in 
1973 in Germany, where I still live.I
studied computer science and received
my diploma in 2000. From 1996 until 
currently, I have been researching in
the area of wireless networks with 
different research institutes and the
University of Magdeburg. I am curr-
ently working at the ifak, a research
institute where I can work on 
national and international projects.

Since 2006, I am married to my wife 
Sandra. We have no children yet, 
although we expect some change here 
soon.

I started working with electronics 
sometime before 1983. I played with a
electronics construction kit from my 
brother.Late 1983, my father bought a
computer - he started with a Laser 
VZ200,but he returned it in favour of
a C64. That's where it all started. I
soon began to play with BASIC, and 
then I learned Assembler and also 
PASCAL.

In 1989, I received a new computer. 
Although I favoured an Amiga, I 
received a PC which seemed at the 
time to be the better choice for the 
future. Somehow unfortunately, this 
proved right. Thus, starting with MS-
DOS 3.2, later Windows 2.03 and later
versions, and OS/2, I progressed 
through the different operating 
systems.

In 1999, I came back to the 
Commodore when I realised there 
were still many people who use them 
at least some of the time. I searched
for an emulator and found several of 
them, among them VICE. Because of 
some annoyances in WinVICE, I 
contacted the VICE mailing list, and 
before long, I was part of the VICE 
team. However, I must admit that 
most of the VICE core was already 
built up, so, my involvement in these
parts is rather small.

Currently, I am using Windows and 
Linux almost equally. In 2000, I 
started porting Michael Klein's 
cbm4linux to Windows. I had a 
working version the same year, but I 
could not release it because I had a 
licensing problem: cbm4win 0.1 (not 
to be mistaken for 0.1.0, which was 
released some years later), as I 
called it at that time, was built 
using Microsoft's DDK sources. 
cbm4linux, on the other side, was GPL
So, I had a license conflict. The net
result for me was that I left cbm4win
in the state and I could not release 
it. Years later, I rewrote cbm4win 
completely, making sure I do not use
any source from Microsoft, so I could
GPL the complete sources. In the 
meantime, I rejoined both cbm4linux 
and cbm4win, forming OpenCBM. In fact
Im mainly responsible for both ports 
of the project.

CF-  How are you still involved with 
Commodore machines?

I still own my first C64 from 1983 
and my first 1541 drive from 1984.The
C64 has been repaired one time, 
because a joystick which was 
connected by a pal broke the CIA 
chip, but other that that, both 
machines are in pristine condition.In
the meantime, I bought some more 
devices: I have a C128, a C128D, and,
of course, some devices to be able to
test OpenCBM: Two 1571, another 
1541, a 1541-II, I had two 1581, but 
only one of them is still with me.I 
got a 8250LP device, which I used 
together with an IEC2IEEE device to 
try and find a problem with 
OpenCBM and the IEC2IEEE. Oh, 
and I have a Plus/4.

Of all of these devices, the C128D, a
1581, a 1571 and the 1541-II are 
currently on my desktop.

CF- Vice; can you explain this to our
readers who may not have heard about 
the software 

VICE is a Commodore emulator. That 
is, it is software which will let you
run programs for your old Commodore 
machines for your current hardware. 
In fact, it tries to mimic the behav-
iour of the old machines as best as 
possible. Currently, VICE emulates 
the C64, the C128, the VIC20, the 
Plus/4, the PET machines as well as 
the CBM2 machines (a.k.a. 
CBM6xx/7xx). VICE also contains 
some tools like PETCAT and C1541; 
the latter is a tool to handle disk 
images. However, many people 
consider c1541 rather cryptic, as it 
has to be used from the command line.

Additionally, there were some people 
who built an DTV emulator on top of 
VICE; the project was called 
VICEplus. However, in the next 
version of VICE, that project will be
reintegrated into VICE. Note that 
VICE mainly focuses on the old 
Commodore 8 bit machines; thus, an 
Amiga emulator is not likely to 
appear anytime.

Among the big variety of machines 
VICE emulates, it also runs on many 
different platforms. Among them are 
Windows (95, 98, Me, NT4, 2000, 
XP, Vista), Linux, xBSD and many 
other unixoid variants, MacOS X, 
Acorn RISC OS, QNX, OS/2, 
different AmigaOS types, GP2X, 
SkyOS, Minux 3.x and Atari Mint. 
There are also some "unofficial"ports
(that is, not from us) on other 
platforms.

That state of the different emulated 
machines as well as the state of the 
different platforms VICE runs on 
differs, however. The C64 emulator is
most probably the most mature one, 
and the Windows and the Unix ports 
are most probably the most feature-
rich ones.

CF- You are listed as one of the Vice
contributors can you tell our reader 
the extent to your involvement with 
the project?

As I already told above, I have been 
involved with VICE since 1999. I 
started contributing to the UI of the
(Win)VICE monitor. Since then, I 
have been doing different things. I 
mainly worked on the GUI of 
WinVICE. Additionally, I have 
written the "The Final Ethernet"(TFE)
/ RRnet network emulation of VICE, I 
have considerably reworked the RAM 
Extension Unit (REU) emulation of 
VICE with the help of the 
investigations done by Wolfgang 
Moser. Other than that, I believe it 
was mainly some small changes, 
especially after specific bug reports
from users.

So, in this sense, there is nothing I
am specifically responsible for.

Since March of 2008, I am one of the 
two maintainers of VICE. That is, we 
try to make sure VICE keeps up with 
the high quality, or even improves it
Time will tell if we can fulfil this 
position.

 CF- Will Accelerators be 
implemented into the software like 
TurboMaster (4Mhz), Flash8 (8Mhz) 
or SuperCPU (20Mhz)?

This question is hard to answer.First
of all:If someone implements it in a 
sane way,I do not have any objections
to adding such a feature. Among other
criteria, here, a sane implementation
is an implementation which does not 
break other features or slow down the
emulation considerably.

However, the problem is: For such an 
addition,someone has to take the time
to do it. In order to perform this 
coding, one has to know the hardware 
involved from the inside out. While 
TurboMaster or Flash8 might be 
possible and considered rather easy 
to implement,I doubt this is the case
with the SuperCPU, which even relies 
on some ASIC. Thus, the behaviour of 
that IC has to be reverse-engineered 
a tedious process.

Also note that I do not own any of 
these devices, nor do I know anyone 
who does own them. I cannot speak 
about the other VICE team members, 
but I doubt there are many who own 
such devices. So, unless someone gave
us the necessary information, it is 
unlikely the implementation will be 
done. Additionally, in most cases 
when we code something, it is because
we have a personal interest in doing 
so. Remember, it is our spare time, 
our hobby. Thus, it is unlikely 
anyone will start such a project.

Of course, remember, VICE is open 
source: Anyone is free to implement 
the changes. Personally, I would be 
glad if anyone comes up with an 
implementation of his personal and 
most favourite gadget, and I would 
work together with him in order to 
get it included into VICE in a "sane"
way - as described above.

CF- Can you tell our readers what may
be implemented in the next version?

Well, at a foremost, 2.1 will 
integrate the DTV implementation of 
VICEplus. However, version 2.0 has 
not been out very long now. We will 
see what will be there when 2.1 comes
out.

Q. How accurate as a whole is the 
software?

It depends. ;) At first, we must 
distinguish between the different 
emulators. I believe the C64 emulator
is at a rather accurate level - of 
course, it is still not complete. In 
fact, there are some problems which 
would require large rewrites of big 
code parts in order to be fixed.

The other emulators are not as 
accurate as the C64. The C128 might 
be almost similar,at least for the 64
mode part of it.

However, I see two problems here: At 
first,I think most of the current 
VICE members have grown with the C64 
or the C128, and we know them from 
the inside out. This is not true for 
the other machines, thus,it is harder
to make a good emulation. I, for 
example, only own a C64 and a C128. 
I do own a Plus/4, but I almost never
use it. So, how should I improve the 
PET or the CBM2 emulation? The 
second problem is that many people 
recognise problems, but they do not 
tell us. How are we supposed to fix 
problems we do not even know about?

Thus, if anyone has interest in 
working on these emulations,feel free
to contact us.As a spare time project,
we appreciate every help we can get.

CF- How can readers help with the 
project?

Of course, the best contributions are
patches: Patches which correct 
incorrect behaviour, or patches,which
add functionality. We recognise that 
not everyone has the ability or has 
the time to write code.Thus,there are
other possibilities, too: Among them,
I think "technical information" is 
the most important thing:Tell us what
is wrong, i.e., filing bug reports.If
you have any technical information 
not known to date (service manuals, 
results of own experiments) - tell us
Do you have some demo, some test 
program which behave differently on 
the real thing and on the emulator: 
Tell us.

Of course,there are also other parts 
of VICE which might need some help. 
For example, the documentation is not
the best part of the emulator.Thus,if
anyone has skills in technical 
writings, he might help us a lot,too.
 
CF- Do you feel emulation plays an 
important part in the survival of old
machines?

Indeed, I believe so.Despite the fact
that there are still many machines 
available - especially many C64s, one
has to remember that the machines 
will not last forever.Thus, emulation
will be the way to get the informa-
tion and the "feel" of these old 
machines to the future.

Note, however, that emulation is not 
restricted to software emulators like
VICE: devices like the DTV or the 
Commodore One are also emulators, 
and they have the same - or, at least
similar - intentions as we do.

CF- "Can you explain OpenCBM to 
our readers?"]

OpenCBM started out as cbm4linux 
which was written by Michael Klein; I
believe he started the project in 
1999. It was his approach to connect 
CBM serial devices (floppy drives, 
printers) to the PC on Linux machines
in "the same way" like, for example 
it is possible using Star Commander 
by Joe Forster. In fact, Joe helped 
Michael with technical information, 
as far as I know.

Of course, "in the same way" is not 
completely correct: cbm4linux did not
- and does not - have any fancy GUI. 
However, Michael could not just port 
over the transfer routines of the 
Star Commander to Linux.The reason is
simple: When Commodore invented 
the serial IEC protocol used for the 
bus,it did not have in mind that some
day, computers will be multi-tasking 
and doing many things 
simultaneously. Thus, they invented a
synchronous protocol; that is, 
whenever a transfer is to take place,
both sides have to use a rather 
strict timing. Before Michael's work,
it was believed that a multi-tasking 
machine like a PC running Linux will 
not be able to hold that timing. The 
Star Commander does not have that 
problem, as DOS is not multi-tasking.

Michael found out that he can,in fact
disable multi-tasking for short 
periods of time on Linux. There is 
only one operation that is critical: 
In some cases, the receiver of a 
transmission can delay transmission 
for an arbitrary time.It is ready to 
receive, it gives a signal which has 
to be answered within 200 us, or the 
transmission will fail.Now, 200 us is
very tight on a multi-tasking machine
Michael found out that he can use an 
interrupt for this if he exchanges
two pins on the then-famous XE1541 
cable: The XM1541 cable was born. 
(There is an intermediate cable 
version available, but this is not 
important here.)

That's why even now, OpenCBM is 
not able to use the XE1541 cable nor 
the X1541 cable.

Now, given the good work from 
Michael,it was relatively easy to 
port over cbm4linux to Windows, 
resulting in cbm4win.Version 0.1.0 of
cbm4win was already functional in 
2000 on Windows NT 4.0, but, as 
explained above, for legal reasons, I
could not release it. The date must 
have been 2003 or 2004 when I 
rewrote cbm4win a second time, and 
when I released it to the public. In 
that time, I received so much help 
from Michael as well as Joe, and also
from thorough testing from Wolfgang 
Moser.

In the mean time, cbm4linux and 
cbm4win diverted in the sources; thus
it was hard to keep them consistent 
whenever a bug was found. Thus, 
Michael and I decided to rejoin both 
projects, and the result is OpenCBM. 
It comes in two flavours, 
OpenCBM/Linux (formerly 
cbm4linux) and OpenCBM/Windows 
(formerly cbm4win); however, the 
sources are the same, except for the 
platform specific parts.

Q.how it is OpenCBM utilised?

OpenCBM itself can be used in two 
different ways: At first,there is the
command line, where you have to run 
the various commands OpenCBM includes
I like to work this way, but many 
people dislike it. However,as OpenCBM
also has a programming API, implem-
ented by a DLL (Windows) or a shared 
library (Linux), it would be easy to 
built a GUI around it. However, it 
seems almost no one has done this. 
There is, however, a GUI for Windows 
available, called gui4cbm4win. It has
been written by Leif Bloomquist, and 
now been taken over by Payton Byrd. 
It is a Visual Basic application 
which directly calls the OpenCBM 
commands on the command line. Thus, 
in my view, it is no clean solution -
but, one must admit, it was never 
meant to be one.

To overcome this limitation, as most 
Windows users need some UI, I wrote 
a Virtual Device Driver for 
OpenCBM. This way, any DOS 
program which runs on Windows NT 
4.0, 2000, XP or Vista can use the 
OpenCBM API. DOS program? Yes, 
DOS program, as there is one program 
available which has a UI that many 
people are familiar with: The Star 
Commander. Joe, its author, added the
possibility to use that API, thus, 
OpenCBM + Star Commander are a 
good team on Windows now.

However, with Windows XP and 
Vista in 64 bit versions, there are 
some problems: First, both do not run
DOS programs any more; secondly, 
on Vista 64 bit, OpenCBM does not 
load any more because it is not 
signed. If anyone has the ability for
me to sign it (with a VeriSign 
signature or similar), feel free to 
contact me. I do not feel I should 
spend $400 per year just to be 
"allowed" to run my driver on Windows
64 bit.

Q. Does our reader need any other 
hardware for use with OpenCBM?

Yes, indeed. The easiest solution 
needs your computer to be equipped 
with a parallel port. Note that it 
must be a native one: Parallel ports 
on PCI or PCI Express cards will most
likely not work; at least, I do not 
know any that actually work. All ISA 
cards I know do work,and PCMCIA cards
might work, depending upon how they 
are internally organised.

If you have a parallel port, OpenCBM 
needs either an XM1541 or an 
XA1541 cable. Instructions on 
building these can be found on Joe's 
site: http://sta.c64.org/xm1541.html 
for the XM1541, and 
http://sta.c64.org/xa1541.html for 
the XA1541. Additionally, if you want
to be able to do fast transfer, you 
might want to additionally use an 
XP1541 cable 
(http://sta.c64.org/xp1541.html). 
Note that the XP1541 cable alone is 
not enough; it must be used in 
conjunction with one of the other two
cables.

If your computer does not have a 
parallel port - many modern machines 
fall into this category -, there is 
another solution: The XU1541 cable 
(http://www.trikaliotis.net/xu1541). 
It connects your drive to the USB bus
instead of to the parallel port. This
cable was originally designed by Till
Harbaum, but he lost interest in it. 
Currently, OpenCBM development 
versions support this cable, but the 
latest release does not. If anyone 
builds such a cable, it would be best
if he contact me so I can tell what 
the current status is.

Note, however, that the XU1541 cable 
does not convert your Commodore 
drive into some memory that can be 
used directly from Windows; you still
have to use OpenCBM in order to 
access it.

Additionally note that besides their 
names; all the cables (i.e., XM1541, 
XA1541, XU1541) can be used for all 
IEC devices, not only for the 1541.In
fact, in conjunction with an IEC2IEEE
device, I use them also to connect a 
8250LP drive (from the PET era, with 
an IEEE bus) to my PC.

This is not true for the XP1541.This 
is only available for the 1541 and 
the 1571; additionally,it cannot be 
used with the XU1541.

Q. Is OpenCBM free to download and 
use?

Yes. OpenCBM is GPLv2 
(http://www.gnu.org/licenses/gpl-
2.0.html), exactly like VICE. You get
even the source code, and you are 
allowed to modify them. But, if you 
give away binary versions, you must 
take care - read the license before 
doing this!

Q. What was the decision to produce 
free software, why didn't you charge 
for the software?

In both projects, OpenCBM and 
VICE, I had no choice, even if I 
wanted: Both were already GPL, thus, 
I had to use that. However,if I would
have to program everything from 
scratch, I believe I would not charge
for it, anyway. Even if I wanted to:
To market is so small, who should buy
anything?

However, I made an interesting 
observation: Since I started with 
OpenCBM, I have been given the one 
or the other thing I needed. For 
example, when I started on OpenCBM, I
needed some more cables, as I had 
only one variant. Joe Forster send me
all required cables for free no 
postage, no nothing.

Then, at some time later, Andreas 
Senk contacted me because he had 
built an IEC2IEEE, a device designed 
by Jochen Adler, but it did not work 
with OpenCBM. After some research, 
I found I couldnt debug this without 
actually owning such a device. 
Andreas sent me his device,so I could
do the tests - and I found a rather 
severe timing bug in OpenCBM. 
When I wanted to return the device to
him, he told me I could keep it,as he
already had built a new one - again, 
for free.

 I already received some small parts 
for my Plus/4 for free when I needed 
it.I got it with the words: "You have
given so much time for OpenCBM, 
now, I give you a little bit back." 
These are fine moments.

CF- Do you still feel there is 
commercial value in  8-bit machines, 
for example if a new 8bit system was 
released do you think anyone would 
purchase such a system?

Other than for nostalgic reasons:No,I
don't think many people would buy 
them. I believe even the DTV was 
mostly bought by people who already 
owned a C64.

look at the Commodore One: Even 
considering the fact that the 
marketing was not very good in my 
opinion, it was not a success. I 
cannot believe how many people will 
buy something like this. In fact, I 
doubt I would buy such a machine 
myself. It has no practical value. 
It's the same as with the Commodore 
65. It might be nice from the 
technical point of view, thinking 
about the time frame when it was made
but the lack of software is a big 
problem.

Q. If Commodore were still around 
today what do you think they would 
be making?

I never was good in these "what-if" 
questions, so I would rather not say 
anything on that subject.In fact,when
I came back to the Commodore scene 
in 1999, I did not even know that 
Commodore had filed for bankruptcy 
some years before.

Q. Are you working on any other 
projects you would like to talk about

Oh,I could tell you, but then I would
have to kill you - nah, just kidding.

Taking my limited time at the moment 
- which especially you must recognise
because it took you almost a year to 
do this interview I think I should 
not announce anything as long as I am
not totally sure that it will event-
ually become true. The only project 
which is "almost done" is the integr-
ation of the XU1541 into OpenCBM. In 
order to integrate the XU1541,OpenCBM
was extended in a way that it 
supports plugins now. There is 
currently a plugin for the XA1541 and
the XM1541 cables, and another plugin
for the XU1541 cable. If there will 
be new cables in the future (firewire
anyone? ;)), it would be a matter of 
writing a plugin only.

 I would like to greet all the people
out there who read this and did not 
fall to sleep until now, and I 
especially thank you, Nigel, for the
opportunity to speak up here,and your
patience for me not answering in time

If anyone wants to contact me, my 
contact details can be found at 
http://www.trikaliotis.net/ (no fixed
mail address,as I occasionally change
them due to SPAM reasons.)

COMMODORE FREE Comments
Spiro Trikaliotis How can we thank 
you enough for all the time you spend
on these free projects, thank you for
your time and answering my 
questions.

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

*************************************
* The Complete History of Lemmings  *
*   By Mike Dailly (revision: 8)    *
*      Copyright Mike Dailly        *
*************************************

Lemmings started life as a simple 
animation back in August 1989 when 
DMA Design had just moved into 
their first office (which only cons-
isted of 2 small rooms), and were 
beginning a new game called Walker 
(based on the walker that was used in
Blood Money). 


Scott Johnson (author of Hired Guns 
on the Amiga)had just been hired as a
freelance artist after being rescued 
from a 2 week stretch behind the 
counter at McDonalds, and assigned 
the task of creating the graphics for
Walker. After building the walkers 
head, he set about drawing little men
for the walker to shoot at in a 16 by
16 pixel box. 

I however maintained that they could 
be done in less; 8 by 8 - or so I 
thought. One lunchtime I borrowed 
someone's Amiga (probably Gary's, 
although it might have been a spare),
and set about trying to prove him 
wrong.

The resulting image which only took 
an hour or so to make, I created the 
men, the gun, and the 10 ton weight. 
Once everyone had seen it they had a 
good old laugh, Gary Timmons added 
the mouth, the clapping hand and the 
rotating thing - and everyone had 
another chuckle.

Gary also made significant 
improvements to the character, and 
you can see Gary's almost complete 
lemming, just right of the chewing 
mouth. My one, is a bit "stiff", 
while Gary's is clearly the one that 
was used in the game.

It was actually Russell Ka (author of
PC lemmings), that first laughed 
"There's a game in that!" rather than
Dave Jones he's also the one that did
the first demo which was shown to 
Psygnosis in late September of 1989 
at the PCW show. It was also Russell 
that coined the phrase "Lemmings" 
when talking about these little guys.
The demo itself came about for a 
couple of reasons; first I had just 
done the animation,and Russell was 
keen to use the little guys in 
something, but the second reason is 
probably the more interesting. 

Russell and Dave were having a 
discussion about weapons in Blood 
Money, and Dave was thinking of 
adding "salamander" style missiles 
that followed the landscape, but 
didn't really know how best to impl-
ement it. Russell however,had figured
out a way, and used the Lemmings to 
demonstrate it.Dave decided against 
it though, and added the bombs that 
are in there today. 

There's been much debate over the 
choice of colours as well, but the 
colours were selected, not because 
they were the easiest to choose, but 
because of the PC EGA palette. With 
the limited choice,it was decided the
green hair was nicer than blue, and 
with that, the final Lemming was 
born. I was actually the next person 
to code up a demo on the Commodore 
64, but I only got so far as having a
single Lemming walking over the 
landscape before Dave put me onto 
another project.

Dave was now at a lose end after just
losing the race to build the first 
Amiga Action Replay cartridge, and so
decided he now had time to start 
another game, and finally picked 
Lemmings - which is probably the 
best decision he ever made. 

After coding the defender style 
explosion, Brian Watson (who wrote 
most of the Atari ST version - I 
started it... he did most of it), 
almost fell backwards off his chair 
laughing!

Gary did all the animations,and Scott
drew all the background. This was 
mainly because Gary insisted that he 
couldn't draw backgrounds, so Scott 
produced the first earth and rock 
style, and Dave decided to let him do
them all. Gary meanwhile, set about 
creating the animations the game 
needed. 

PART 2
------

The level editor was built around the
Deluxe Paint interface; a program 
everyone at DMA was very familiar 
with. It was incredibly easy to use, 
and being built directly into the 
game it allowed for a very quick turn
around on level creation. Gary,myself
and Scot were the ones that did the 
bulk of the levels, But Dave did 
manage to sneak a couple in as well; 
although it was probably because he 
told us too and we couldn't really 
argue with him.

Having said that,it did take him ages
to get any that were even worth while
considering! He used to try and beat 
us, and after proudly stabbing a 
finger at the screen and saying 
"There! Beat that!", we'd calmly 
point out a totally new way of 
getting around all his traps, and 
doing it in a much simpler method. 
"Oh...", he'd mutter, and 
scramble off to try and fix it. 

Of course, this was the beauty of 
Lemmings; there were so many ways 
of completing a level. I can't 
remember if anyone else managed to 
get levels into the final game, Steve
tried hard - since there was money to
be had! But just couldn't get to 
grips with it. 

We all actually had great fun doing 
levels,and were always trying to beat
each other by doing the most fiendish
design we could. This never happened 
of course, and by the end of 
Lemmings we were all so good at the 
game, it would only be a matter of 
seconds before we figured out how to 
complete a new level. 

 
We did manage to fox Psygnosis now 
and then, and I can lay claim that it
took John White an hour to figure out
"Its hero time". When ever Psygnosis 
did some testing, we'd get back a fax
with the level name, time taken to 
complete, and some comments and a 
difficulty rating. These were usually
around 3-6 minutes, and some general 
comments on how they found it. 

Every now and again though, the fax 
would be covered in scribbles with 
the time and comment's crossed out 
again and again; this is what we were
striving for while we were designing 
the levels, and it gave us all a warm
fuzzy feeling inside.

You could always tell the levels Gary
did, as they were very "minimal", a 
few blocks and that was about it. My 
own (and Scott's to some degree) 
tended to look like pictures, or at 
the very least pretty. Scott's levels
tended to be packed together better 
than mine, but I liked drawing huge 
levels; "Hunt the Nessy" and "The 
Steel Mines of Kessel" were mine for 
example. 

I also loved making the user do 
multiple things at once. "The Fast 
Food Kitchen" was one of mine, and 
required the player to jump back and 
forth to complete the level. 

After I created the "The Art Gallery"
Dave did in fact tell Gary to go and 
make them a bit more pretty, as he 
could now see what was possible, and 
couldn't imagine people  paying for 
bland looking levels, and 3 blocks on
screen was just that.So Gary went off
and put lots of fluff around the
edges to make them more appealing,but
nothing that interfered with the 
playing of his level.

You can see examples of this in 
levels like "Lemmingology" , "We all 
fall down" and "All or Nothing". All 
of these have very simple play areas,
while the surrounding detail is 
meaning-less to the level itself.
Still, it didn't stop Gary from 
producing some great levels.

I also liked to give small clue's in 
the name ( "It's Hero Time" referring
to a single Lemming going 'over the
top' as it were), while Gary used to
try and make clever references to 
things ("I have a cunning plan" - 
Black Adder), where as Scott just 
tended to make up nice sounding names
Of course we all did a bit of every-
thing, my "The Island of the Wicker 
people" being a reference to a line 
from Batman.

PART 3
-------

I was also the one responsible for 
creating all the "custom" levels for 
the game. We picked games that used 
the Amiga's dual-playfield system as 
they only used 16 colours, this ruled
out games like Blood Money which was 
a full 32 colours. We did a test with
a Menace level since we already had 
all the graphics to that, and once we
saw how this looked, we went hunting 
for others. 

We were then lucky enough to get 
some graphics from Psygnosis and 
Reflections for Beast, Beast II and 
Awesome which then made up the rest 
of these levels. The special levels 
were very basic, as they couldn't 
have traps of any kind (due partly to
the change in colour palette), which 
meant I had to try and make hard 
levels using only the skills and 
backgrounds only; never an easy thing
to do.

The problem was now that we had all 
these really hard levels, but no easy
ones. So, Gary then set about making 
simple ones; either by making easier 
versions of hard ones, or brand new 
levels. Levels like "Just Dig" 
(Lemmings level 1) were example of 
the new, simple levels. Designed to 
ease the player in,.these levels were
so simple, that some under 5's 
managed to play the first few levels 
unaided.

This I believe is where many games 
fall down today, they don't spend the
time making a good learning curve.Its
also one of the reasons why I think 
the game did so well, everyone could 
do at least a few levels. 

I've since met many people that were 
around 6 or 7 years old at the time, 
who have told me they used to play it
There have been very few games with 
such a cross section of players;Mario
games are the only other ones I can 
think of since not even the Sonic 
games are played by such a wide cross
section of ages.

The music and particularly the sound 
effects have to get a mention, so 
crucial to were they to the game Both
were created by Brian Johnson(Scott's
younger brother), and the reason the 
tunes were, well - basic,was to avoid
any copyright problems. 

This was around the time when games 
first started to worry about such 
things, where as before they would 
have just happily ripped them off,but
not now. This is why we were stuck 
with such timeless classics as "How 
much was that doggie in the window?"
etc. However,I do seem to recall that
Gary Timmons did the intro music, for
some reason. 

The sound effects were superb 
however and deserve a special 
mention, since the game wouldn't have
been the same without them. Scott's 
mum I believe was the first voice of 
the lemmings.

The other great thing with the orig-
inal lemmings was the 2 player option
This came about because of games 
like Populous and Stunt Car Racer. 
These were the games we were 
playing in the office at the time,and
they were the first to use Null-Modem
cables for multi-player action. 

We tried this as well, and I actually
coded up a Null-Modem cable routine 
up, and even got a mouse moving 
around on Dave's machine, being 
controlled by me on mine. However, 
since the Amiga could have 2 mice 
plugged in, Dave decided to go with 
the split screen option instead. 

This was a great addition, and one 
I've been very sorry not to see again 
since. The PC has problems control-
ling more than once mouse, so it was 
dropped from that version, but the 
Atari ST version did managed to
 retain it.

PART 4
----------

When the arcade machine was being 
written, the CEO of Data East 
apparently wouldn't start a meeting 
without challenging the person to a 2
player version of lemmings (according
to Dave that is).  

I've never been quite sure why no one
has ever done a proper multi player 
Lemmings game since, and these days 
with and internet connection,it would
be a great game to play.

The arcade version is also where the 
fast forward of Lemmings 2 came 
from, once we saw it in the Arcade 
version, we realised we just had to 
have it. It's now very hard to play 
the original Lemmings without the 
fast forward.

The arcade version was controlled 
with the joystick or a trackball and 
was still in the very early stages 
when it was cancelled.I still have 
the original prototype here, rescued 
from the skip when DMA moved from 
Dundee to Edinburgh. 

Another little known fact, was that 
Psygnosis also did a book of solut-
ions, written by Mark Tsai (current 
owner of Lemmings.com), and A.J. 
Aranyosi, it included 16 new levels 
from the "oh no, More lemmings" 
level set.This book is now well out 
of print, but is ISBN:1-55958-188-3 
in case you want to look for it.

It was printed in black and white 
pages, and gave detailed descriptions
on how to complete each level from 
Lemmings and the new bonus levels.

The Lemmings front end was also 
going to look very different initi-
ally. We came up with the idea of 
lemmings holding up cards, like in 
stadiums to spell stuff out.The rest 
of the lemmings were going to be 
doing lots of other funny animations.

So I set about doing this. I had a 
screen full of lemmings,all animating
differently, and some holding up 
cards. This was neat, but confusing..
so it was eventually dropped.

The official drawings were done by 
Gary, however they were done well 
after the game was underway. They 
had to be drawn since Psygnosis kept 
asking us what they really looked 
like for boxes and adverts and we 
couldn't tell them. So Gary knocked 
up these sketches to give them the 
basic idea.

We also received various comments 
back from the public, one of which 
sent our eyes rolling! The level 666 
was received very badly in places, 
since many thought this was a direct 
effort to put the devil over as being
"cool" or whatever. 

However, it all started out as me 
trying to get a level full of "fives"
but while I could get 55 of eachskill
5min, 55 seconds for the timer,I 
couldn't get 55% of lemmings to save;
only 66% (it has since been pointed 
out that if I'd change the number of 
lemmings, I could have easily gotten 
55%). So it changed to 6. Then since 
it was in the hell level, I though of
666. 

I never thought it would cause quite 
the stir it did, although I still say
you're helping them escaping from 
hell it to a far better land! 

PART 5
--------

The number of people that claim to 
have been involved in the original 
Lemmings, is huge. The actual 
number isn't.

The main folk were Dave Jones 
(Amiga), Russell Kay (PC), Gary 
Timmons (Animations), Scott 
Johnston(Backgrounds), Me (Mike 
Dailly), Brian Watson(ST), Brian 
Johnson (Music+SFX) and Steve 
Hammond (PC EGA/CGA Graphics 
conversion).  Tim Write (I think he 
did the music player), Tony Williams 
(PC Music), oh and Scott's mum 
(Lemmings Voice)! 

If I've missed anyone and you think 
you know some one else who should 
be on this list, then please let me 
know - but I reserve the right to 
laugh at you.

This list obviously doesn't include 
any Psygnosis staff, since during the
first lemmings game, they only really
gave feedback, and tested - although 
John Whyte's level feedback was exce-
llent. He used to draw up a lovely 
grid with level names and then rated 
them and gave some comments back.

And so there we have it - the full 
story of Lemmings. I'm sure that this
will be added to as the others read 
it and remember little stories of 
their own, or correct some small 
points listed here, but this is 
pretty close.

Hope you enjoyed it!

COMMODORE FREE
This information is Copyright to Mike
Dailly Please contact Mike directly 
for permission to reprint or use any
of this information 
 
-------------------------------------

*************************************
*     RETROVISION 2009 REVIEW -     *
*       BEER, GAMES AND CURRY!      *
*************************************

Despite the Ice and Snow, Retrovision
2009 (and the 14th Retrovision to be 
held) was yet another great event, 
with three days of retro gaming 
goodness at The Folly Bridge Inn Pub
(also famous for its Mixed Grill) in
Oxford, England.

Despite the poor weather having 
prevented some people from 
attending, many people still managed 
to get to Oxford, including people 
from Scotland, Finland and as far 
away as Los Angeles in America.

Highlights of the event included what
we believe to be the European Debut 
of Shredz64. Shrez64 is a great 
“Guitar Hero” style game created by 
Toni Westbrook for the Commodore 
64 (Although we had it running on a 
Commodore 128D). The game uses 
the PSX64 Interface, also created by 
Toni, which allows you to hook a PS2 
Wired Guitar Hero Controller up to 
your C64.

Other Commodore Highlights 
included a Commodore 116 (Modified 
to use 64k of Memory and play 
Commodore Plus 4 Games), an 
original C64 and a Vic 20 which were 
all left running various classic 
games over the weekend (all loaded 
from a 1541-III). Many other retro 
systems were also present from an 
Atari 2600 to the Amstrad CPC 464.

Moving away from the retro systems 
and to more modern systems the event
also had a new game running on the 
Japanese Nintendo Wii called “Lets 
Tap”, where the Wiimote is placed on
a cardboard box and your character is
controlled by tapping and hitting the
box to get from one side of the 
screen to the other while avoiding 
the obstacles.This game has only been
released in Japan so far,but should 
be released in Europe later this year
and is definitely one to look out for
! There was also an OCZ Nia Neural 
Impulse Actuator for the PC running 
on the Saturday, where people could 
see if they could control the built 
in test Pong game using their mind, 
rather than conventional controllers.

Both Friday and Saturday evenings 
saw a retro-raffle with many exciting
prizes from headphones to key ring 
light sabres, games and retro gaming 
systems, with Xbox360 Rock Band 
following the raffle and turned up to
the max, while quieter games of the 
card game Monty Python Fluxx were 
occurring in the bar area downstairs.

Saturday evening also saw another 
reformation of the Commodore 64 
Band SID80s (Now known as 6502 
Reloaded) with composer and 
musician and creator of many great 
C64 SID Tunes Ben Daglish, Game 
designer and Musician and founder 
director of Sensible Software Jon 
Hare and finally Games Programmer of 
many great games Jeremy Longley. 
The band played a 1 hour acoustic set
of many classic C64 tunes including 
Paper Boy with Arcade Classics, 
Deflektor and Spellbound.

Sunday was the chill out day for many
people, starting with traditional 
mountains of Sunday Roast Lunch 
being served downstairs at the Folly 
Bridge Inn, while upstairs multi 
player games were running on the big 
screen projector including 10 Player 
Saturn Bomberman and 4 Player Mashed 
on the PS2. For those of us who were 
left, a Curry Bus had been booked to 
us to Jamals Indian Restaurant for a 
rather nice Indian meal, before 
heading back on the bus to the Folly 
Bridge for a last bit of Singstar on 
the PS3.

For me it is not just the retro 
gaming which made this a great event,
but the atmosphere of the event 
(which was limited to 80 people) and 
the people who attended the event, 
with many people having also attended
previous Retrovision Events and ret-
urning for more. I cant wait until 
next year for the next one!

Tickets are now available for 
Retrovision 2010 which will be held 
on the 29th 31st January 2010. The 
price of a 3 day ticket is £20 each, 
with 5% of Retrovision profits going 
directly to the Richard Joseph Cancer
Charity Fund 
(http://www.justgiving.com/jonhare). 
It will also once again be held at 
the Folly Bridge Inn Pub in Oxford 
and readers of Commodore Free are 
welcome to attend, although tickets 
are limited so we recommend they are 
purchased early. Tickets and more 
information can be found here: 
http://www.retrovision.org.uk/rv2009/
index.htm

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

*************************************
*  THE RISE AND FALL OF THE PULPIT  *
*        by Lenard R. Roach         *
*************************************

It was a dank and clammy night.  The 
wind wafted through the trees, 
obliterating any light being made by 
the moon.  I stood in the empty alley
behind the 7-11 awaiting him.  He was
late.I should of known better than to
trust him,but he was the only one who
had the goods.  Sure, I could have 
gone out of town and picked it up,but
I was already running late.A trip out
of town would require a special 
explanation to the wife, and I have 
lied to her enough.  After this last 
pick up, I would be done.  I 'm 
calling it quits.  I 'm getting too 
old and the people I have been 
dealing with are becoming too 
dangerous.

Just as I was ready to give up, get 
back into my  `85 Chevette, and leave
I heard him.  Who couldn't `t hear 
him?  His old  `76 Toyota Corolla 
with the bad muffler bearing and 
squeaky shocks could be heard from a 
quarter mile away.  As he approached,
the alley cats scrambled for cover. I
should have done the same, but this 
meeting was too important, and I 
needed his special brand of 
merchandise.

His one headlight remained on high 
beam as he stopped just behind my car
and his vehicle sputtered to a stop.I
could barely see the driver,but I 
knew it had to be him.  The moan of a
rusty car door opening, the crunch of
gravel under foot, and the rhythmic 
footfalls told me that he was appro-
aching.  He stopped just in front of
his headlight, the light silhouetting
his frame.  His appearance was that 
of nothing I have ever seen.  

He was a ball.  That `s right.Nothing
more than a ball,perfectly round 
hairy ball of what? My contact looked
like a five foot tribble as he slowly
approached me.

Captain L? he asked in a gruff voice.
The same.   I tried looking past the 
fuzz, but to my amazement I didn't `t
find anything tangible that was 
holding this hairball up.  Am I 
addressing The Great Hairy One? 

At your service,  he replied.
Do you have the stuff?  I asked 
directly.
Do you have the payment? 
I patted my left jacket pocket.I have
it here. 
Let `s see it. 
First let me see the merchandise. 
Don `t you trust me? 
I trust everyone.  It `s the devil 
inside them I don `t trust. 
Do you think I 'm the devil? 
I looked intently at him.  I don `t 
know what to think.  Nonetheless, the
merchandise, please. 
The Great Hairy One grunted. I think 
it was a laugh,but from the creature 
I could not tell. He stepped to the 
rear of his Toyota and somehow opened
the trunk.

Come and see,  he beckoned.

I stepped out of the headlight beam 
and crossed to the back of his Toyota
my body tense and ready for anything.
This unknown creature could do 
anything and without me knowing 
where any hands, feet, or weapons 
would hide I didn 't want to take any
chances. I stood at the back of the 
car for a few minutes, waiting for my
eyes to adjust to the little lighting
that was there, but once they did, I
could not believe what I was looking 
at …

There before me was all that I was 
looking for Commodore drives, 
keyboards, REUs, modems, the whole 
lot.I brought extra in case there was
something else that you wanted, The 
Great Hairy One said. I started to 
rummage through the plethora of 
Commodore computer equipment 
when something grabbed my arm and 
pulled me back.  I looked at The 
Great Hairy One.  He was standing 
close. Tsk, tsk,  he said gruffly.  
You've seen that I deliver, now how 
about you? 

I reached into my left jacket pocket 
and pulled out a flat,plastic, square
package. Something from under the 
fuzz pulled it out of my hand and the
package was instantly consumed by 
the hair.  He began to giggle; at 
least I think it was a giggle. At any
rate, I think he was happy with what 
I brought in exchange for the 
Commodore merchandise.
Weird Al `s Even Worse ` album on 
CD, he said, just what I asked for, 
and new, too. I got it fresh off of 
Amazon.  I never opened it. I brought
it immediately out here to you.  
You've done well.  There was a lilt 
in his voice.  Please feel free to 
take all that you need. Do you want 
something extra for the other 
Commodore stuff? 

 I already have all I wanted, The 
Great Hairy One said as the sound of 
the first track began to play from 
underneath all the hair.  I quickly 
rummaged through the computer 
equipment, grabbed an extra 1581 
drive, an REU, and some DSDD 3.5 
disks and made my way back to my 
Chevette.  After loading these items 
in the car, I got in, started the 
vehicle and left.  All the while The 
Great Hairy One was dancing away 
around the alley

Thus was the beginning of the work 
which was soon to become the 
greatest and yet short lived bulletin
board system ever to run on a 
Commodore 64 the Pulpit BBS.

Well, this may not be exactly how 
this all began in fact, this is only 
partly true all right, I lied out my 
teeth!  You want the truth?  Fine,
I`ll give it to you, but I must warn 
you, it `s not anywhere as exciting 
or mysterious as the previously 
written pages.

It began in the summer of 1994. I was
calling so many local BBS ` from my 
Commodore and even though all these 
boards were great,there really didn't
seem to be anything out there for 
anyone of faith to call that was 
Commodore based.  I have seen how 
some of these boards were set up from
my calling in and the jealously began
to rage in my breast.  I know I could
do something better with my C64 
system, but I had neither practical 
experience nor the software to make 
it all possible.  On a perchance 
posting on the KBPD  Commodore board,
I read from its SysOp, Sgt. Butch,  
that he was planning to shut down his
board in favour of going to the IBM 
format and was looking for someone 
to purchase his Commodore 
equipment and subsequent files which 
made up the KBPD.   I instantly 
jumped at this opportunity and after 
several hours on my knees begging 
my beautiful and understanding wife 
Alana to allow this purchase to take 
place, we were on our way to Belton, 
Missouri, with money in hand and her 
father `s pick up to get this large 
amount of Commodore merchandise.  
The deal was struck, and within about
an hour `s time we had all of Sgt. 
Butch `s  Commodore computers, 
drives, and disks loaded in the Dodge
Ram and we headed back to Kansas 
City, Kansas.

It `s your stuff, dear, Alana said 
sternly as we pulled up in front of 
the house. You drag it into the house
and put it away.  I want nothing more
to do with it. 

Like a child in a candy store,I began
the joyous task of unloading the pick
up and putting all that Commodore 
equipment in its proper place.  As I
dragged all this out of the vehicle,I
examined each piece carefully, 
deciding what could go into storage 
in the basement and what went 
immediately into the computer room 
for set up to my soon to exist BBS.  
As I worked a thought occurred to me:
What was I going to call my new 
BBS?  Sure, it was going to be set up
as a Christian BBS, but it needed a 
catchy name something that would 
grab a user `s attention and make him
keep coming back for more.  Should it
be called The Church, The Steeple, 
The Way, The Door, or The 
Outhouse?   I finally had to begin to
analyse what it was I was going to 
dobring the gospel of Jesus Christ to
many wayward Commodore users 
throughout the greater Kansas City 
area and beyond.  Therefore, by the 
time everything had a place the name 
was chosen.  Where else does one hear
about the Word but from the pulpit?  
So by set up time, the new BBS was 
going to be named The Pulpit.  

Now, what software was I going to 
use?  I had Sgt. Butch `s  C*Base 3.0
disk, but with working offline with 
the confusing and often frustrating 
C*Base 2.0, I wasn't ready to tackle 
its upgraded cousin.  I went through 
the disk files and found several BBS 
packages to work with. After calling 
several friends, I asked them to call
in to my house line with their 
Commodores and go through each 
BBS package I uploaded and give me 
their opinion of each.  One by one, 
packages like Ivory and other 
programs, both familiar and 
unfamiliar, were eliminated. Finally,
the argument was inevitable. I had to
learn to use C*Base 3.0, the best BBS
package for the Commodore 64 of the 
day.

I dialled into The Temple of Doom 
BBS and asked its SysOp, Indiana 
Jones, who was running C*Base 3.0, 
for a crash course in how to set up 
and operate the software. He was very
cordial and helped me in ways I 
couldn't imagine. It took a couple of
weeks, but I got all the files ready
and each disk drive set up to receive
messages in accordance to the 
functioning of C*Base.

The day came.  I posted on all the 
BBS ` I was a member of to let users 
know that The Pulpit BBS was online 
and ready to help in any spiritual 
needs out there in cyberspace. At 
first the calls came rushing in, so 
much so that we put in a second phone
line to handle the flow of messages 
and questions.  Then the BBS went 
from part time to a full 24/7 running
time.  At first it seemed that The 
Pulpit was going to be a big success 
and everything was going to be fine.
What could possible go wrong? Plenty

I'm sure those who ran BBS ` in the 
past have had their share of rascals 
that would log in and start harassing
the users. The Pulpit had its problem
child.  A Ku Klux Klan member who 
liked to call in at 3:00 am while 
drunk and send hate messages to 
everyone on the board began causing 
stuff among members.  Distress posts 
went out to me and I tried to quell 
those who were distressed by letting 
them know that The Pulpit, like a 
church, was open to all those who are
in need.  It was apparent that this 
person was in need and I didn't want 
to shut him out of the church because
he had a problem. That would not show
him the help he seemed to need.  
However, I would talk with him and 
see what could be done.  Our conver-
sation was brief in the message base,
but the user agreed to back off and 
not do thatagain.  A week went by and
everything was fine. Then a post came
to me saying he was getting sexually 
rude with one of the women members 
of the BBS.  I went into the private 
message base of The Pulpit and read 
what was sent to one of the women.  
Nothing shocking in my opinion, but 
still I would investigate further.The
problem  user again agreed to back 
off.

Keeping this person as a user on The
Pulpit and not just kicking him out 
like other users insisted I should do
began to draw off members to the 
BBS.  Calls became more infrequent 
to the base.I would check on some of 
the other BBS where I knew some of 
these users frequented and they all 
basically said that if youre going to
keep that person  around on The 
Pulpit, then they were not going to 
call in any more.  I finally demoted 
this user `s access rating to the 
lowest possible, leaving him a 
private message explaining what I had
done and why.  A heated message came 
back from him and he no more called 
The Pulpit. I posted on the other BBS
` that the problem was permanently 
solved, but the damage was already 
done.  If this was how I was going to
conduct my church, then they wanted 
no part of it. Calls came almost to a
crawling halt.  The Pulpit was dying.

To add insult to injury, one summer 
day in July 1995, I got a knock on my
living room door while I was working 
on some upload files to The Pulpit. I
got up and answered the door. Before 
me stood a uniformed member of the 
Kansas City, Kansas Police 
Department and a worker from the 
Board of Public Utilities.The officer
spoke first.

Are you Lenard Roach? 
I am, I answered.  Is there something
wrong? 
May we come in? 

Surely, I said.
I stepped away from the door and 
allowed the officer and BPU worker 
into the house.  The officer stood in
front of me while the worker 
immediately went about the house 
checking in each room.  He entered 
the basement where I stored all of 
the Commodore overflow.

What is this all about, officer?  I 
asked.  At first I thought that maybe
my dog bit a BPU worker while they 
were out to read the meter and they 
were searching for the dog, but the 
officer`s words brought me to a total
loss.

Mr. Roach, are you aware that you are
using a lot of energy at this resid-
ence?   No.  Now I thought someone 
tapped into my power again, but the 
officer continued to speak.
Mr. Roach, we have reason to believe 
that something illegal is happening 
in this house. 
My jaw dropped. Like what?  I asked.
You tell me. 
I have no idea.  I pointed to the 
basement.  What does something 
illegal have to do with the BPU? 

Mr. Roach,  the officer began, 
whenever the Board of Public Utili-
ties detects a spike in energy use, 
they call us to come out with them to
examine the premises in case they 
find any illegal activity. With their
diligence we have shut down many 
operations here in the area. 

What kind of illegal operations might
I ask? Portable pot farms. 

I drew a breath in amazement.  Are 
you trying to say that I have been 
growing marijuana here and the BPU 
can detect that?How is that possible?

Portable pot farms require a lot of 
sunlight in order to make them work. 
This sunlight can be artificially 
created with sunlamps put in a damp 
spot like a basement or crawl space 
where marijuana can grow and thrive. 
Sunlamps need a lot of electricity to
work.This excess energy use causes a 
spike in the customer`s electricity 
bill, drawing suspicion that the 
resident may be doing something 
illegal.  When that happens, they 
call us and we come out with the BPU 
to investigate. 

So you think I'm growing pot, right? 
Again, you tell me. 

The BPU worker came up from the 
basement and crossed the kitchen into
the dining room where the officer and
I were. I didn't find anything here
that looks like they had any sunlamp
hooked up to anything in the basement
or crawl space. The officer looked 
square at me. Can you explain the 
spike in energy use in your home, Mr.
Roach? 
I turned to the BPU worker.  May I 
ask when your department detected 
the so called energy spike `in my 
bill? About six months ago, he 
answered. That `s about the same time
I set up this.   I led the men to the
computer 
area where I was working earlier on 
The Pulpit.  I pointed at the 
Commodore 64.  I have been running 
an online BBS that is like an elec-
tric church.Would you like to see how
it works? 

That `s not necessary,the officer 
said.  The BPU worker got on his 
hands and knees and looked at all the
power bricks that went to the 
keyboard and various drives of the 
unit.  After a few seconds of exami-
nation,he arose and faced the officer

This has to be it, he said.  These 
components are each pulling a 
significant amount of power. Put them
all together and you have an good 
power drain. I smiled at them both.  
Really, I was trying to keep a civil 
tongue in my mouth by not shouting 
Retards!  Directly to their faces.

The officer sighed and hung his head 
for a moment.  He looked up at me 
and also smiled. We `re sorry to have
bothered you, Mr. Roach.  Please 
understand that this is all a routine
Please accept our apologies.  You 
have a nice day.We `ll see ourselves 
out. 

After the officer and BPU worker left
I sat down in the computer chair and 
faced the Commodore 64; a rude user, 
no callers, and now this.I looked up 
at the ceiling to address God.  I'm 
sorry, sir,I said, This just isn `t 
worth it.  I hopped online and posted
at several different boards that The 
Pulpit was going to close its doors 
by the end of next week.  Thanks for 
everyone `s support in this endeavour
but I feel it necessary that due to 
circumstances this ministry should 
shut down. I got some congratulations
for a job well done, and some sorry 
to see it leave messages on the other
boards,but nothing came to The Pulpit
`s boards directly.By the end of the 
week, I pulled the plug on what once 
started as a great idea.

Six months passed…

Lenard, what are you going to do with
all this Commodore junk?  Alana 
asked in January of 1996.  If you `re
not going to do that computer thing 
that you were so hopped up to do last
year, then do something with all this
stuff. 

She was right.  All I was using my 
Commodore for now was writing, 
BBS calling, and the occasional game
play.  I needed to clear some of this
equipment out of the office and put 
it somewhere other than the basement,
where the load of Sgt. Butch `s  
Commodore machines and disks still 
remained.  My glory days of making 
my Commodore out to be something 
were all gone.  As a matter of fact, 
with the introduction of this thing 
they were calling the internet, BBS 
were shutting down by the dozens.
There really wasn't much thinking 
about what should be done.  The 
Commodore was still great, but there 
can still be too much of a good thing
This was it.  I stepped over to the 
phone and made a call…

It was a clear and cold night.  I 
awaited by my Chevette for his arri-
val behind the 7-11. I didn't have to
wait long to hear the familiar sput-
tering of the Toyota.  Behind me he 
parked and got out.The five foot fuzz
ball that was The Great Hairy One 
stepped out of his vehicle and 
approached me.

Your post said this was something 
worth my time,he said in his gravelly
voice.  What have you got? 

I opened the hatchback of the 
Chevette and showed him the plethora 
of Commodore hardware, disks and 
magazines I loaded up before the trip
He examined the merchandise 
carefully.

I remember a post you made to The 
Temple of Doom ` BBS some time 
back saying that you would love to 
have gotten your hands on whatever 
Sgt. Butch ` had hidden in his garage
that he wouldn't sell to you. He sold
it all to me and here it is. 

If he had eyes, I think they would 
have brightened by then. You`re 
kidding?  he asked me.  This is Sgt. 
Butch `s Commodore stash? I nodded.He
literally jumped into the tail of the
car and started digging through the 
material like a ravenous beast.  I 
stepped back to stay away from any 
flying debris as he pushed away 
hardware and software to find the 
bits he always wanted.  His fur, like
tentacles, was holding several pieces
of software and equipment in the air.

This is glorious, he said.  I heard 
rumour that he had this stuff, but I 
could never see it for myself.Some of
this stuff will give me a pretty 
penny on the open market. How much to
you want for the lot? 
Nothing, It `s all yours. 
The material he was holding fell to 
the ground. I think he was staring at
me in disbelief.
I can `t do that, Captain, he said.It
wouldn't be right.  I've got to give 
you something for a haul like this. 
You `d be doing me a favour by just 
taking it off my hands,  I said. Its 
starting to clutter up the basement 
anyway.  You `d be making the wife 
and I very happy if you would take it
     
The Great Hairy One took a step 
forward.  Captain, I'm really sorry 
about what happened to The Pulpit. It
`s a great loss to the BBS community.
You know I enjoyed visiting your 
board, but that `s no reason to be 
giving all this stuff away.Please let
me give you something for it. 
Like what? 
From under a tuft offuzz came a crisp
$50 bill.Take it, he said.  Consider 
it a final donation to a once worthy 
ministry. I hesitated for a moment 
then I reached out and took the money
and stared at it.  Already The Great 
Hairy One was loading all the equip-
ment into his Toyota. In mere moments
the Chevette was empty and his car 
was full.I climbed into the Chevette
and awaited The Great Hairy One to 
pull out so I could leave but instead
he met me at the driver `s door.
   
Captain, he said, thanks for 
everything. 
I reached out and petted his massive 
hair.  Thank you. 
What will you do now? 
Don't you worry, I said as I started 
the engine, I'm not out of the 
Commodore business yet.  I've got one
program published and I'm working on
another.  A sequel, who knows?  Maybe
I `ll write a book about working on 
the Commodore.I don `t think anyone`s
ever done that. Give me a copy. 
Better than that, I `ll let you pro-
ofread it and I `ll put whatever 
comments you have about it on the 
back of the book. Done. 
With that, The Great Hairy One got 
into his vehicle, backed out,and left
leaving me to ponder my Commodore 
future …

ROACH,The Rise and Fall of The Pulpit

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

*************************************
*          MossyCon5 report         *
*     By Lord Ronin from Q-Link     *
*************************************

The day started off vile. Woke up at 
9am, those that know me, understand 
that `s about 4 hours too early for 
this creature of the night. To make 
matters worse, that despicable sun 
god drove away our local rain god. 
Leaving hot burning solar radiation 
to pour on my poor Nosferatu skin. 
Plus the sky was an unnatural colour
Twas blue and not slate gray as is 
our custom. Knew the day was going to
be bad.

 Save that the kitties where friendly
#30, did spend all night up on the 
computer so I could be awakened at 
the proper time. I Even had that big 
coffee cup ready with wake up juice. 
Most of the things for the con had 
been loaded (as was I)last night into
the jeep. Sadly #30 was too tired to
attend the event, and crashed shortly
after the borrowed jeep pulled out 
for the con.

 I arrived there a little after 10am,
at the Moose Lodge #408, here in 
Astoria. Some "guys" where outside 
having a smoke break {delete 664 
blocks of rant about discrimination 
and oppression of smokers}. Filled my
pipe and looked around for our 
contact man. Found him (it is his 
jeep I borrowed anyway) and set to 
work on the start of the day. While 
talking with him. Robert Bernardo 
pulled up with his large car. That 
even squinting across the street. I 
could see he had it full of wonderful
C= things.

 Rather than take the interior twisty
steps to the lower level. My plan was
to take the straight steps along side
of the building to the lower level. 
Had our man Karl Konka (Moose contact
(clear the way and the door for us. 
Making it a lot easier to move things
from street level to the event room. 
Karl did that and in some manner 
received permission to have the 
connecting gate to the lumber yard 
opened. That made life a lot easier 
for Robert.Rather than traipse across
a street and down the long flight of 
ancient concrete steps that have an 
unsecured handrail.Robert was able to
park right at the gate and tote those
wonderful (yeah he did escape with 
them) Commodore items from the car 
about 15' into the big room.

 This year I was a bit more prepared 
for the event site. I Dug out my old 
dealer table cloths from my days at 
the sci-fi conventions. Long imperial
emerald green one for Roberts tables 
and a red one for my smaller set up.I
had a strip box and extension cord 
this time as well, plus a few extra 
power cords and serial cables.

 Insert at this point that; I took 
some photos and in a bit these will 
be sent to our webmaster Balzabaar 
with annotations. Robert took photos 
as well, and Matt shot some pictures 
of us, and for us. There is also some
raw video footage that will be made
into DVD and for the website.At least
that is my current understanding.

 I did have to make a fast trip to 
the shop, facing the A500 kitty. Who 
thought I am supposed to spend the 
day with her, and not at the con. As 
Robert needed a 40/80 monitor. 
Brought back the 1084s that will be 
for the new BBS. That was connected 
to a flat 128.Ah but more on that one
in a bit.

 Took time to set things up,but after
the lay out of things, where I shot 
most of my photos. We started off 
with Robert explaining his items. Was
not a great day for him. Starting off
was the monitor from his school. 
Would not accept the Amiga One at 
all. Ignored its existence, killing 
the demo of the OS 4.1 on the Amiga 
system. We did see the disk and 
booklet for OS 4.1. Robert did expl-
ain about the specific power pc theme
board that is in his unit. That it 
isn't around any more but there is 
another one for a very high price in 
Euros.

 Not doing this in the precise order 
of presentations, because some caught
my attention more than others,as well
as my understanding. 128mega chip 
IIRC the name correctly is a story in
and of itself. That is a bit farther 
in the time line. A SID type of chip,
that was not demoed because of time 
and the sad fact that at the last 
moment Steve Jones was taken ill 
after a trip to Puerto Rico.There was
in that vein also a moog device that
works with the C=. Robert didn't know
how to operate it and there wasn't 
time to look into the manual and try
to understand. As it was a part of 
Steve's projected demo. Two types of 
the uIEC  device where on the table 
and that is what I wanted to see the
most at that time. But that demo for
that was later in the day. A 2040 
dual PET drive that was on it's way 
to Ray Carlsen for repairs sat on the
table. I had not seen one of those 
before today.

 An item that was on the table with 
Roberts presentation was the "tough 
book" from Matt. Now to me it seems 
to be the beginning of a lap top 
Commodore 64. Using a small LCD 
screen from a DVD player and the 
64DTV chip from one of those 
hummer toys. Matt gave a run down 
of the current state of the little C=
Along with his plans for the future 
operation.Which will use one of those
SD things for a disk drive. Yeah that
is one of the things that I am dro-
oling about. On the video he had the 
unit opened up and explained the 
internals of his creation. Because of
space, well it is small man real 
small, I wasn't able to take a shot 
of the insides.

 Then it was time for the fat freak 
in the top hat to show off his items.
Well for almost the entire 6+ hours 
of the con. The small amount of atte-
ndees where being tormented by S.I.D.
music. Brought along my last working 
SX-64. Finished on Saturday the last 
parts of a double sided 1541 of music
All from Q-Link. One side has 
selections I grabbed from a 19mb 
zipped file that was sent to me a 
long ago,but until I gained the Linux
system was too big to download to the
Commodore. Now I was able to open 
it up and look at all the directories
of the S.I.D. artists. Making selec-
tions of over 55 songs to put on the 
disk. Those were put on side #1 with 
the Stereo SID player V10.3. Along 
with the 1541 and the 1581 booter. 
Side #2 had a collection of songs 
that I had downloaded when Q-Link was
still up. Playing both sides that 
bugger ran till a little after 4pm.

 Passed those out to the attendees 
and I spoke on my other give out.The
MossyCon5 CD. About how it was 
constructed, using 98% and more 
Commodore. In fact it was the Linux 
that made the CDs. All the other work
was done on the Commodore. Geos 
and GeoDos with post print 3.8 were 
my primary tools for the writing 
stuff and file transfer. So I could 
convert the post script files made in
post print into pdf files for the CD.
That last part was done on the Linux 
system with the burning of the CDs. 
Except for some jpeg of scans and of 
photos I shot, the rest was done on
the C=. At least what we did. A few 
files were found on line and placed 
on the CD as well. Have a few orig-
inals left after the con

  I Showed a few familiar things,like
the atari joysticks;these are useless
if you are left handed. Then my fave 
the Quickshot,  a recently acquired 
Okimate-10 thermal printer with disk 
and a still sealed black ribbon in 
the box. A sealed Geos 2.0 with Geo-
Write 2.1, some verbatim 10 count 
disk boxes still sealed.Couple of odd
modems, A us robotics password 2400 
and a odd ball 1200. Both had been 
used in the past at the Pink Panther 
BBS and gifted to us my Mad Max of 
that BBS and MHI. And good news 
gang! No one asked me this year about
the dice RPGs.

 Then we went back to some of 
Roberts more detailed demos. First up
was that new 128 mega byte chip. 
Here we had the second round of 
computers fighting Robert. You see, 
he had brought several flat 128 units
These were to be tested and if 
needed/possible repaired by Ray. Ah 
the fun we had at this time. First 
one that Robert opened up had some 
wild chip placement. A C=64 factory 
Jiffy DOs chip. But the 128 one was 
ah, not that way we suspect. There 
was a chip in the empty socket that 
was unlabelled. Just had a black tape
over the window. Bit scary when in 
slot next to it, there was the 
servant chip, we suspect and it was 
wired to the Jiffy Dos chip. Let us 
just say that Robert will be doing 
some editing of that part of the 
video. Because the system failed to 
work.

 Bang, another one 128 flat was 
brought forth. Ah good news, this one
had torque screws and we didn't have 
the proper driver for it. OK another 
flat 128 was brought out of that car,
which magically holds so much C= 
stuff.
Well the case was stock Phillips 
screws. But the metal sheathing was .
right you got it torque screws. A 
little bit of improper tool use and 
it did open up.

 Now we have round three of the 
Computer Wars against Robert. The 
demo didn't work at all! Well though 
I can drag this out a bit more, I 
won't do that. Robert tried and 
fought and ... Well it turned out 
that the first one of the new 128 
mega byte chip units, was bad. The 
second one that he brought fresh out
of the bag, worked the first time. I 
am not certain of this unit for 
my work. There are three screens of 
options on the menu. This is recorded
on the video. Many bits of Maverick, 
and we did fire up the main screen 
for that in 64 mode. Tried out my old
friend ZED. He showed a word 
processor that I had not seen before.
On menu 3 there is Leader Board 
Golf, a form of solitaire that I had 
not seen before and at least one 
other game. Many of the options I do 
not know, but my memory does have it 
that one of the first options on the 
first menu is the Servant option.

 Honestly that ate up time till about
3:45 when we were asked by a Moose 
man how long we would be staying. 
My watch is busted so I had no idea 
of the time. This sort of forced a 
fast run of the other items. But 
there were exclusions.

 I very much wanted to see this uIEC 
device in action. I have been hearing 
about it, just never even with some 
pictures. Its difficult to get the 
device into my mind as to what it 
will do for me as a hard core daily 
C= user. OK now I know that it uses 
.D64 files, but it will also use reg-
ular ones as well. My opinion of this
device has changed. Out of the two, I
am not leaning to the Jim Brain one. 
No offence meant to Jim. The option 
that I saw for disk changing on the 
other unit makes that one more in 
line for the heavy use that I have 
for the uIEC thing. As I do a lot of 
disk changes, like playing games that
are multi disk. But yeah I want one 
of these now for myself. Having seen 
what it does and had hands on work 
with them.

 Well this is long and doesn't cover 
all in detail for what we did today 
at MossyCon5. Small as it may be with
several people having to cancel at 
the last minute. We had a good and C=
informative time. In fact we may be 
able to use the same location for 
next year and MossyCon6. Yeah I have 
some plans for that already. So till 
next time gang. Make mine 
Commodore.

Now for dinner a double shot and bed 
 
BCNU
Lord Ronin from Q-Link
------------------------------------

AMENDMENT
Lord Ronin from Q-Link wrote:

> changed. Out of the two, I am not 
leaning to the Jim Brain one. No 
> offence meant to Jim. The option 
that I saw for disk changing on the 
> other unit makes that one more in 
line for the heavy use that I have 
> for the uIEC thing. As I do a lot 
of disk changes, like playing games 
> that are multi disk. But yeah I 
want one of these now for myself. 
> Having seen

The other board is a NKC Electronics 
SD2IEC: 
http://www.nkcelectronics.com/sd2iec
-boar2.html ($44.99).  I can't 
personally speak to the board, as I 
do not own one, but I am sure it's a 
fine unit.  It also is a bit cheaper 
than the uIEC ($50.00).  However, I 
think it's important to note that the
demo showed the NKC SD2IEC *AND* the 
SD2IEC daughtercard 
(http://www.nkcelectronics.com/sd2ie
c-daughter-boar2.html).  That is a 
$14.99 option that provides IEC 
connectors and disk swap buttons.  I 
also think the daughtercard is a kit 
and must be assembled for that price 
(it might be available pre-assembled 
at an additional cost)

Both SD2IEC and uIEC units provide 
disk swap functionality (they share 
the same DOS code, so they share the 
same functionality). Thus, you are 
free to install switches on the uIEC
for disk swap support.

However, because the uIEC cabling is 
manually intensive, I am readying a 
similar daughtercard for the uIEC. It
provides disk swap switches as well. 
I'll probably initially offer it for 
free, and then later split it out as 
a $10.00 option, much like NKC. 


Jim Brain
-------------------------------------
-------------------------------------
END............