
Commodore Free Magazine
http://www.commodorefree.com/

Issue 31, June 2009

Free to download magazine
dedicated to Commodore computers
Available as PDF, HTML, TXT, SEQ
and D64 disk image

======================================

CONTENTS

* Editorial
* Readers Comments
* NEWS
  - ACID 64 Player Pro v3.00
  - The SEUCK Vault Update
  - Games that weren't: "INFECTION"
  - C16-Plus/4 BASIC programming
  - MINIMIG Firmware Update
  - 2007 CBM engineers Video
  - Commodore 64 Twitter Client
  - Commodore 64 forever
  - JiffyDOS Licensing
  - VIC 20 releases
  - C64 emulator for iPhone
  - SVS-Calc 1.0
  - LBC C64 User Group Disk Archive
  - Amiga Forever 2009
  - Commodore are Back AGAIN!
  - Updated HyperSID
  - Contiki for IDE64
* Interview with Martin Piper
* Game new review MANKY
* Interview with MANKY creator
* Interview with Rob Snyder
* Meeting Users through The Mail
* Interview with Pasi Ojala Vic Coder
* Programming: C (Part 2)
* Confessions of a BBS Sysop Addict

======================================

Editorial

Some one said better late than never,
so here we go then issue 31 of
Commodore Free magazine, I would like
to thank the people who have emailed
in encouragement and suggestions for
back problems. I should by now have
mailed a response to you, the
comments are all welcomed. I would
also like to thank

Andrew Fisher - issue 30 HTML version
Paul Davis - Technical support
Peter Badrick - Spell checking
Al Jackson - D64 disk editing

And of course
Lord Ronin for his many contributions

Without these people supporting me I
think I would have been so
overwhelmed I couldn't have continued
Commodore Free magazine.

Summer has arrived and I can confirm
that by my Computer room being too
hot to enter, this is a general test
to see if summer has arrived, I
haven't managed to enter the room for
some 3 months so it was a little moth
filled and dusty. We have fresh
tarmac outside our house as the road
and pavement have now been completely
redone thanks to the council I see my
voting has made all the difference
and the bin collection has returned
to Friday that makes it more easy for
me to remember to put the thing out
for collection. The tarmac in the
heat smells fantastic, I wonder if
anyone has tried to recreate the
smell, an urban myth suggests that
using the smell can cure colds and
flu, not sure about that but it's a
nice small on a sunny day, especially
when we have the odd shower that
increases the smell of tarmac.

This issue sees an interview with
Meeting user through the mail a club
designed for Commodore users who can
write snail mails to each other and
put them in the post box, you know
you write on a piece of paper put it
in an envelope and put a stamp on the
envelope and put it in a post box,
someone collect it from the box and
sorts al the mail out to its
destination, it can take from a few
days to several months to arrive.

Also exciting is that Cloanto have
finally released the long awaited C64
Forever, some details are in this
issue, although as I say it took me
so long to finish playing with the
release that I didn't get around to
creating a review.  I have finished a
review but will include this in next
month's issue, as it looks like I ran
out of space.

Great news is that after not checking
my inbox for 2 months It seems apart
from the usual adverts about chemical
companies I have won every major
lottery under the planet and just
need to click on the links to claim
my prize. Of course this is great
news but hey just a minute I haven't
entered any of these lotteries, ah
well it cheered me up a little
thinking what I would do with
millions of pounds.

That's it from me, I wonder if anyone
still reads editorials
Bye

Nigel
Website: www.commodorefree.com
mail address:
commodorefree@commodorefree.com

Thanks to
Peter Badrick - Spellchecking
Paul Davis - TXT and Html Creation
Al Jackson - D64 image

======================================

Readers Comments

Hi Nigel,

I have to thank you for the Forth
introduction in Issue 28.Forth is a
wonderful programming language and I
am deeply surprised that it is
available for the old commodore
computers. I would like to read more
about that in your magazine.

Thx a lot,
Fay.

COMMODORE FREE
Fay thanks yes I enjoyed the forth
programming language, it was actually
something I could follow quite well
and seemed to make sense, I have had
3 other people ask if there was a
follow up, so I wonder if this is
enough for the writer to put pen back
to paper

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

Dear Commodore Free
Great magazine I have downloaded
every issue, Thank you for the
wonderful tutorial about Forth do you
plan to continue this programming
course in future issues?
Keep up the good work
Regard Bill

COMMODORE FREE
Well the credit has to go to Paul
Davis he has now started a mini C
tutorial for Commodore Free so I
guess if he receives enough praise
and has the spare time he may look at
doing another forth tutorial

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

Dear commodore magazine
I read the forth tutorial and didn't
know that was available for the
Commodore 64 do you plan to follow up
the tutorial
Regards
Kevin Sprinter

COMMODORE FREE
Kevin thanks for the Comments see
above I must thank Paul Davis for his
tutorials and general technical
assistance with creating Commodore
Free. Who knows if they will
continue, but the feed back is
welcomed

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

Nigel
Just a note to wish you well and
congratulations on the magazine
Best regards
Sue Millington

COMMODORE FREE
Sue Thanks hey I notice no one has
complained this month, darn it what
am I doing right, ah I will bask in
the glory thanks for everyone else
who emailed but didn't want to be
named take care

======================================

NEWS

ACID 64 Player Pro v3.00 released

ACID 64 Player Pro v3.00 has been
released, containing many updates.
The new release permits the user to
search through their entire SID
collection. The user can now seek
through a SID song immediately.

Download the new version at
http://www.acid64.com

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

The SEUCK Vault Update more new games

Its back to 1990 with FIVE exclusive
new games from retro gaming fan Mat
Corne, available to download and play
for the first time ever from the
SEUCK Vault.

And we bring you some new SEUCK tips
from Richard Bayliss for enhancing
your finished game.
http://www.seuckvault.co.uk

From:  Andrew Fisher
To: commodore Free
Subject: The SEUCK Vault

For fans of The Shoot 'Em Up
Construction Kit, I run a website
called the SEUCK Vault. The aim is to
gather tips on using the Kit and to
publish games created with it.

Our latest update includes five
previously unseen games from retro
gaming fan Mat Corne, and some new
tips from Richard Bayliss on
enhancinga finished game.

The site is at www.seuckvault.co.uk

We also cover the Amigaversion, and
hope to include Atari ST content in
the near future. The archive will be
re-ogranised to make it easier to
search for a game.

And if you have any experience of
using theKit or games we can add to
the site, get in touch with
webmaster@seuckvault.co.uk

http://www.c64goldenyears.com - The
Commodore 64 Book 1982-19xx
25 years of glorious gaming

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

Games that weren't finds 'INFECTION'
- Full game

Games That Weren't has recovered the
full unreleased game called
"Infection", the game was originally
intended as a 1989 budget release by
Virgin Mastertronic. This game
eventually turned into "7Up Spot",
but the original is arguably a lot
better.
The additional bonus is the
previously unheard David Whittaker
tune on the title screen! Enjoy!

And finally, could "Starglider 2" be
the next big finding??...
http://www.gtw64.co.uk

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

C16-Plus/4 BASIC programming

On the Commodore16.com web page you
can now download 4 pdf's about
programming BASIC on the C16 and
Plus/4. The pdf's contain the
following articles:

- Slow and Fast,
- Restore key,
- Window Command,
- Screen Codes / TED Text modes,
- Default and your own Character Set,
- Escape codes,
- ROM, Kernal jump table,
- 3-plus-1 and TedMon.

Click here
http://ww.commodore16.com/index.php/co
mponent/content/article/51-hardware/25
1-commodore-plus4-and-c16-hardware-and
-advanced-basic-programming-version-10
1.html

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

MINIMIG Firmware Update

Hi,
I have just uploaded new firmware for
the Minimig. It's still work in
progress and not all intended
modifications have been already
implemented. Nevertheless it's a
small step forward. Please report any
incompatibility which you encounter.

Main features:

- a lot of changes to improve
  compatibility (included text file
  contains more detailed description)
- support for 4 (with ARM mini-board)
  or 2 floppy drives
- selectable floppy drive speed
  (double or normal)
- support for hard disk emulation
  (hardfile support) with soon to be
  released ARM mini-board
- 28 MHz CPU turbo mode (works also
  with 16 MHz 68SEC000 parts)
- fast blitter mode
- selectable PAL and NTSC mode from
  the OSD menu
- OSD menu control with Enter, Esc
  and arrow keys
- ADF files are not alphabetically
  sorted but can be selected by
  pressing a key with the first letter
  of their name
- support for 2 MB of Chip and 1.5 MB
  of Slow RAM (hardware modification
  required)
- scan-line emulation effect

Binary files can be downloaded from
here
http://minimig.googlecode.com/files/mi
nimig_build_YQ090421.zip (please read
the included manual). Sources
available from here.
http://minimig.googlecode.com/files/mi
nimig_source_YQ090421.zip

A description of how to install extra
RAM chips can be found here.
Have fun, Jakub
http://www.minimig.net/viewtopic.php?f
=5&t=95

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

2007 CBM engineers Video

-----Original Message-----
From: commodor-bounces@vcsweb.com
[mailto:commodor-bounces@vcsweb.com]
On Behalf Of rbernardo@iglou.com
Sent: 17 May 2009 09:35
To: commodor@vcsweb.com
Subject: [COMMODOR] VCF East 2007
video of Peddle, Herd, Haynie, Russell

Back in 2007 CBM engineers Bil Herd,
Dave Haynie, and Bob Russell gathered
at the Vintage Computer Festival East
4.0 in order to celebrate the 25th
anniversary of the C64.  CBM engineer
Chuck Peddle could not attend but had
a video conference with those
engineers.

Originally, Dave Haynie posted video
of that day and the conference,
divided into 4 parts, at

http://www.youtube.com/user/hazydave

For those who don't prefer the Chuck
Peddle video divided into 4 parts at
YouTube, BIOS has now posted the
entire 1 hour, 57 minute video.  Look
for "Vintage Computer Fest '07 -
Chuck Peddle, Bil Herd, Dave Haynie,
Bob Russell" at

http://blip.tv/file/2120494

Converted from the original .avi sent
by Dave Haynie,
Robert Bernardo
Fresno Commodore User Group
http://videocam.net.au/fcug
July 25-26 Commodore Vegas Expo -
http://www.portcommodore.com/commvex

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

Commodore 64 Twitter Client

Apparently there is a version of the
Twitter client available for the
Commodore 64
http://hackaday.com/2009/06/15/c64-twi
tter-client/

Here is a quote from the website

The last of the Commodore 64's
shortcomings has been addressed; it
finally has a Twitter client. [Johan
Van den Brande] wrote BREADBOX64 for
use on the C64/128. It's running on
top of the open source Contiki
operating system. The hardware is an
MMC Replay cartridge with an ethernet
adapter. If you don't have the
hardware available, you can run it
inside an emulator like VICE.
Embedded below is a C128D running the
program.

Also there is a youtube video
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8m86mm-
SMGA
I haven't had the time to verify this
but it does seem to look genuine

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

Commodore 64 forever

C64 Forever: Click to Play

When the C64 was launched in 1982 it
immediately set the standard for
8-bit home computers. Its low cost,
superior graphics, high quality sound
and a massive 64 KB of RAM positioned
it as the winner in the home computer
wars, knocking out competitors from
the likes of Atari, Texas
Instruments, Sinclair, Apple and IBM.

Selling over 30 million units and
introducing a whole generation to
computers and programming, the C64
shook up the video games industry and
sparked cultural phenomena such as
computer music and the demo scene. In
recent years the C64 has enjoyed a
spectacular revival manifesting
itself once again as a retro
computing platform.

To allow you to experience and relive
the wonders of this unique computer,
Cloanto, developers of
Commodore/Amiga software since the
1980s, has introduced C64 Forever, a
revolutionary preservation, emulation
and support package. C64 Forever
embodies an intuitive player
interface, backed by a built-in
database containing more than 5,000
C64 game entries, and advanced
support for the new RP2 format,
dubbed the "MP3 of retro gaming".

LINKS
C64 Forever Home Page
http://www.c64forever.com

Screenshots
http://www.c64forever.com/screenshots/

Photo of Boxed Version
http://www.c64forever.com/editions/plu
s-boxed/

HD Video: C64 Forever Live
Introduction
http://vimeo.com/4910924

RP2 Format Information
http://www.retroplatform.com/kb/15-122

Commodore Free
More information and a review next
month, I spent so long playing I ran
out of time to review the item.

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

JiffyDOS Licensing

Jim brain working to license Jiffydos
follow the discussion here
http://www.jbrain.com/

As announced at the C4 EXPO, I am
working with Mark Fellows (Highland
IT Solutions) to finalize a licensing
agreement for 'JiffyDOS' ROM Overlay
manufacture and distribution.  In
addition to hardware ROM enhancement
units, I will also offer image
downloads for 1541 Ultimate, C64DTV,
and emulator users, as well as an
amnesty offering for unlicensed
copies.

To minimize manual manufacturing
processes inherent in the current
EPROM-based JiffyDOS offerings, my
goal is to utilize the ROM-el
EEPROM/FLASH solution for JiffyDOS
hardware offerings.

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

VIC 20 releases

http://sleepingelephant.com/ipw-web/bu
lletin/bb/viewtopic.php?p=44123#44123
Name: Omega Fury
Author: Robert Hurst
Released: June 2, 2009
Requirements: VIC 20 with 16k memory
expansion
Description: The improvised sequel to
Bally-Midway's Omega Race. An
arcade-style space shooter making use
of the VIC Software Sprite Stack -
4th edition. Includes source and
documentation to the story line and
game instructions. The C= Easter egg
is also included.

DEMO video:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E8bkwvc
DXAc
Download the demo
http://robert.hurst-ri.us/files/omega-
fury.zip

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

C64 emulator for iPhone

A C64 emulator has been developed for
the iPhone, but unfortunately the
software has been rejected by Apple
because they say it violates the SDK
agreement
http://www.pocketgamer.co.uk/r/iPhone/
C64/news.asp?c=13974

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

SVS-Calc 1.0

SVS-Calc 1.0 a spreadsheet system for
the Plus/4 has been released.
Featuring an intuitive interface,
powerful calculation engine, graphics
generator, download it from here
http://plus4world.powweb.com/software/
SVS-Calc_1_0

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

Lower Bucks County C64 User Group
Disk Archive

B Degnan
I have started archiving and
uploading the entire collection of
diskettes from the Lower Bucks County
C64 User Group, a club based near
where MOS and Commodore once operated
in Pennsylvania.  This archive is a
glimpse into a pre-WWW electronic
community.  When I am done the entire
collection of disks, starting from
#16 (Jan 1986) through December 1991
will be available.  I have uploaded
so far the first three years.  To use
these disks, you will need a way to
download and extract D64 (C-64 disk
images).  If anyone has disks 1-15 I
would greatly appreciate D64 copies
if they're available.

Lower Bucks Computer Users Group
for Commodore 64

LUG

M000--M015 (missing)
M016--M029 1986 (there was no M021 or
it is missing)
M030--M041 1987
M042--M053 1988
M054--M065 1989
M066--M077 1990
M078--MO88 1991 (with some extra
disks)

DiskArt Images - 1987 by Those
Designers
DiskArt[x].D64 - file names based on
versions printed on disk labels

C00[x] Compute! programs pertaining
to C64
C001 - 11/85, 12/85, 1-86
C002 - 2/86, 3/86, 4/86
C003 - 5/86, 6/86, 7/86
C004 - 8/86, 9/86, 10/86
C005 - 3/85

http://vintagecomputer.net/commodore/6
4/LowerBucksUserGroup/

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

Cloanto Releases Amiga Forever 2009

July 2, 2009 - Cloanto released today
Amiga Forever 2009, the latest
version of the award-winning Amiga
preservation, emulation and support
suite for Windows and other platforms.

Amiga Forever 2009
(www.amigaforever.com) is the most
refined update ever released in the
Amiga Forever series. It again sets
new references in usability while
more than doubling the featured
content and providing easier access
to a universe of free downloads. Like
its sister product C64 Forever, Amiga
Forever 2009 introduces a synergistic
combination of the RP2 retrogaming
file format, RetroPlatform Library to
recognize content, and RP2 Manager to
export and import to and from other
file formats.

The 2009 version includes hundreds of
enhancements and was tested to comply
with "Compatible with Windows 7"
requirements. New features include
seamless, one-click integration of
the AmiKit and AmigaSYS add-ons and
new system ROMs (e.g. the 0.7
Kickstart required to run the
software used by Andy Warhol's famous
1985 Launch of Amiga demo). The Plus
Edition includes more than 100 games
and a selection from the most
beautiful demoscene productions ever
created. Tens of thousands of games,
as well as other software ranging
from the oldest to the latest Amiga
releases are only a mouse click
apart, and can run on powerful PCs
and inexpensive netbooks alike.

When both Amiga Forever and C64
Forever are installed, the players
share data and software modules with
each other, uniformly playing back
RP2 games of both 8-bit and 32-bit
platforms. The same familiar user
interface and settings are also
applied to saved states, disk write
undo, dual-monitor setups and other
advanced functionality. "The way it
brings back memories is amazing, and
it feels as if Commodore and Amiga
were united again," said Michael C.
Battilana of Cloanto.

Dave Haynie, a long-time user of
Amiga Forever and former Commodore
International chief engineer on high
end and advanced projects, added:
"The past IS the future... Amiga
Forever is the single best way to run
AmigaOS today. Your PC is the fastest
Amiga that will ever exist, and
Cloanto does a wonderful job of
packing the emulation technology,
every AmigaOS ROM and Workbench
version (most of which I've long
since lost to data rot on my floppy
collection), games, utilities, Web
tools, graphics programs, most
anything you would need, all in one
place."

Amiga Forever 2009 is available now
in three editions:

- Value Edition (downloadable
  installer for Windows systems)

- Plus Edition (downloadable CD ISO
  image with additional Windows and
  platform-neutral content)

- Premium Edition (physical Plus
  Edition CD and two DVDs, plus
  instant download of the installer
  for Windows)

The Plus Edition includes the KX
Light boot environment with barebone
PC hard disk installation and online
updates. The Premium Edition
additionally contains more than five
hours of videos.

Link to the shop
http://www.amigaforever.com/shop/
Amiga Forever website
http://www.amigaforever.com/

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

Commodore are Back AGAIN!

http://www.commodoreworld.com/
Text from the website

We're back! Commodore was a pioneer
in the computer industry bringing to
market the Commodore C64 which was
the most popular computer model of
its time. Between 1982 and 1994 17
million units of the Commodore C64
were sold.

Commodore is back and better than
ever and we've made it our business
to provide our customers with cutting
edge technology in our new mini
Netbooks. Experience the Commodore
Evolution!

Commodore's new line of netbooks are
perfect for kids, home makers,
outdoor enthusiasts, business
travelers, or any active person.

The netbook's have a lightweight &
ultra-portable design that keeps you
connected everywhere. The innovative
designs are packed with features for
functionality, wireless
communication, and multimedia
entertainment.

The Commodore netbook has a sleek &
modern look & feel and is available
in a wide range of colours.

THE COMPANY

The basis for Commodore International
Corporation was laid in 2004, when
SATXS Communications BV, a pioneer of
digital distribution and live
streaming, joined forces with
Yeahronimo NV, the first legal
download platform in the Netherlands,
to form Yeahronimo Media Ventures Inc
(YMV).  The aim of this merger was to
integrate advances in content
provision with state-of-the-art
digital distribution services.
Consumer electronics hardware was
added to this mix when YMV acquired
the worldwide rights to the Commodore
brand name, assets and patents from
Tulip Computers early in 2005.  This
move marked the official start of the
Commodore International Corporation.

The essence of the Commodore brand is
personalization.  Back in the 1970's
and 1980's Commodore was the first to
offer ordinary people computers that
they could adapt to their own
individual needs and preferences.
They could modify graphic interface,
create their own music, write their
own programs, and play the video
games they wanted whenever they
chose.  Hardware, software, and
content could be modified and managed
by the user as they wished.  This
focus on personal freedom went hand
in hand with an emphasis on
community.  Commodore's revolutionary
technology inspired users to share
their knowledge and content with
others.

Commodore International Corporation
is dedicated to building on the
strong heritage of the Commodore
brand.  As a company, our values are
those that made Commodore so
successful: User-friendliness, an
open platform, and unprecedented
opportunities for personalization.
Check out our products section to see
how the Commodore International
Corporation is translating the spirit
of Commodore for the market today and
tomorrow.

Commodore Heritage

The Commodore brand dates back to the
1950's, when Polish immigrant Jack
Tramiel started a small typewriter
manufacturing business in Toronto,
Canada.  As competition in this
market increased and consumer needs
changed, the company's focus shifted
to adding machines in 1962.  Shortly
after, they switched to electronic
calculators which were considered
revolutionary in the late 1960's.

When the computer age dawned in the
1970's, Commodore was once again on
the cutting edge.  Tramiel changed
the company name from Commodore
Business Machines to Commodore
International, Ltd., and moved
operations to the high-tech hub the
US state Pennsylvania.  Here he
employed a brilliant computer
engineer named Chuck Peddle.

Ignoring the conventional parameters
of his time, Peddle put together what
is now recognized as one of the first
consumer-ready personal computers:
the Commodore PET (Personal
Electronic Transactor).  Its release
in 1977 established Commodore as a
major name in the home computer
market.  Further innovations
followed.  In 1981 Commodore
introduced VIC-20, the first colour
computer at a consumer friendly
price.  This paved the way for the
development of the Commodore 64
personal computer in 1982.

The Commodore 64 (commonly known as
the C64) is still recognized today as
one of the best-selling computer
models.  Between 1982 and 1994 at
least 17 million units were sold.
The unique features of this PC, which
could be plugged into a television
set for video gaming, revolutionized
the concept of entertainment in the
1980's.  Versatile and affordable,
with sound and graphics capabilities
way ahead of its time, the C64
brought home computing and
personalized entertainment within the
reach of almost everyone.  Before
long enthusiast started to develop
and share C64 software and games.  A
community of Commodore fans and a
legend was born.

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

Updated HyperSID

"HyperSID is a subtractive
synthesizer with all the C64 SID chip
hardware capabilities besides many
new software based features So you
can take advantage of various
Controlling features of a VSTi and
also real analogue sound with SID
character. Real time integration
between software and hardware makes
HyperSID act like the other VST
instruments in your host application"

HyperSynth has announced that it has
updated HyperSID, and the associated
hardware unit OS, to v1.2.

OS v1.2 has been completely
redesigned and some long standing
issues have been fixed. In this
release all the processing tasks are
handled by HW unit. The big flaw in
the previous versions was the low
update rate of modulation sources but
now the HW unit is capable of filling
SID registers with update rates up to
28000 Hz.

The VSTi plug-in represents a step
forward in controlling the new LFO
and envelope modules with great
preciseness and resolution up to 14
bit for each parameter plus an ultra
fast apreggiator module to emulate
C64 like sound. Due to many requests,
HyperSynth has published "HyperSID
MIDI CC-NRPN Chart" in the website as
a document, and suggests that "it's
time for Mac users to start building
their own control surface".

Additions & Fixes:

- Added advanced LFO (freq=0.01-
  30.00Hz with 0.01Hz resolution per
  step).
- Added new filter envelope (range=
  0.001-4s with 0.001ms resolution
  per step).
- Added new envelope2 which can
  modulate Pulse Width,Pitch and LFO
  rate.
- Added ultra fast apreggiator which
  is capable to produce classic and
  SIDish arp up to 4000bpm tempo.
- Added save and restore for MIDI-out
  device.
- Added auto preset update after
  plug-in startup.
- Fixed a problem with displaying MIDI
  device names more than 26 characters
- Fixed OSC3 synchronization bug.
- Fixed a problem that was causing the
  played note to be sustained or muted
  when using pitch wheel.
- Fixed unwanted note sustain when
  switching from mono to poly mode.
- Fixed a bug in processing note off
  message with zero velocity.
- Fixed FPB button inverse function.
- Fixed transferring FPB(Link to)
  status to HW unit while sending a
  preset.
- Fixed a problem in SID oscillators
  noise waveshape that deselected
  other waveshapes.
- Fixed conflict in MIDI device which
  caused freezing in Nuendo and Cubase
- Migration from non-standard MIDI
  messages to NRPN for parameters that
  need 14bit resolution.
- Updated all parameters names to the
  new recognizable groups.
- Improved preciseness while
  responding to host automation.
- Improved frequency display for SID
  filter and PW.
- Huge GUI redesign.
- Cured keyboard problem which did not
  respond to mouse click.
- Preset manager drop down list is now
  limited to the plug-in window.
- 2x faster startup and much less CPU
  usage for plug-in.
- Redesigned factory presets.

www.hypersynth.com/hypersid.html

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

Contiki for IDE64

A more uploaded more up to date
executables from Contiki optimized
for IDE64 users has been released. It
includes email, ftp, irc, and www
clients, and a web server. Also added
is the configuration tool by Lodger.
The drive numbers are not fixed to 8
any more, and the file reading has
been optimized by using block read,
which results in 6 KB/s web serving
performance instead of 2.8 KB/s.

http://warez.ide64.org

======================================

Interview with Martin Piper
Berzerk Redux
By Andrew Fisher

http://noname.c64.org/csdb/release/?id
=80567

2009 has seen two fantastic game
releases based on early 1980s games
Fortress of Narzod was converted from
the Vectrex, and now the arcade
classic Berzerk has made the jump to
the C64. Commodore Free talks to
programmer Martin Piper.

Q. How did you become interested in
converting Berzerk to the C64?

I'm relatively old, so I can remember
the arcade machines. So when Trip6
started this thread
http://noname.c64.org/csdb/forums/?roo
mid=11&topicid=58028&showallposts=1 I
was interested to see what he had
actually got. When it turned out to
be C sources it became obvious it
wasn't really the arcade version of
Berzerk which uses Z80(ish). So I
looked for the 6502 Atari version
instead and did a really quick hack
to get it to partially run on the
C64. But the Atari code spent most of
its time in a video update loop so it
was too slow on the C64. Also the
Atari version lacked speech and game
play aspects from the arcade version
so I shelved it.

Then when nobody else came up with a
version I thought to myself that I
would quickly test out the basic
technical requirements to get a feel
for how long it would take to do a
new version. Chiefly these were:

1) Getting NMI samples working with
   the multiplexor.
2) Then seeing how many segments of
   speech could be squeezed into
   realistic memory conditions.
3) Maze generation that did not
   produce a blocked route for the
   player.
4) Pixel accurate collision detection
   or background and sprites (just
   like the arcade) using the VIC
   registers.

That went surprisingly quickly and
the game play then naturally came
along.

The polish of the game, adding
Zeldin's excellent artwork with sound
effects music and hi-score saving,
actually took longer to code than the
main game. :)

Q. Did you make use of the source
code from other machines?

In this version no, it's all coded
from scratch or using existing
libraries such as the multiplexor,
sound etc.

Q. Did you program it on a real
machine or emulator?

99% of the work used VICE because it
has a couple of my hacks (submitted
to the main tree now) to allow it to
load labels from ACME (also with some
of my hacks) and show extended
register information in the CPU
execution history. This aids
development because it lets me debug
easier than a normal C64. The Alt+W
warp speed feature in VICE also helps
improve development time because I no
longer had to wait for decompression
or loading when testing each new code
iteration. The downside of such
development is that now sometimes I
find myself pressing Alt+W when I am
web browsing or waiting for a large
C++ project compilation to finish...
:)

Only when I wanted to check
everything really works, like the
updated VIC collision register code,
did I test on a real machine. I also
tested on Hoxs64 and CCS64 just to be
sure.

Q. What other utilities did you use
to create the game?

ACME (with some label producing
hacks), my compression utility (on
codebase64), CharPad and SpritePad. I
gather Zeldin used Koala Paint.

Q. How did you transfer the speech
samples and play them in the game?

I found the samples from the old MAME
version at 22kHz 8 bit mono, down
converted them to 6kHz and then
converted them to 4 bit samples using
a quick hack custom tool.

Q. Have you played a real Berzerk
arcade machine in the past?

Yes, once or twice in the dim past.
Mostly I used MAME to check the game
play with this conversion.

Q. Will you be trying to create an
"enhanced" version as some people
have suggested?

Yes. Much better graphics are
planned. I also want to try to
improve the speech a bit more by
getting closer to the raw data using
the LPC decompression that MAME now
uses. Game play will be changed a bit
as well. With better graphics the
"bullet proof bow tie" might have to
go as there won't be a gap between
the head and shoulders for the bullet
to pass through. :( I'm half thinking
of having some boss robots every few
rooms as well, maybe locked doors
that only open after several waves of
robots are cleared, two player, etc.
We will see. :)

Q. Why did you decide to give the
bounty to pay for CSDb's hosting
costs?

I like to be able to help the
community when I can and this version
was only really a few days hacking
around on something I found
interesting. It is a welcome rest
from my normal heavy duty C++
programming. :)

Q. Are you working on any other C64
projects at the moment?

Mainly tweaking common libraries here
and there which are all available for
anyone to use
http://codebase64.org/doku.php?id=proj
ects:resurrection

I'm trying to find sources to
resurrect a couple of old projects I
was working on many years ago. But my
work disks from back then are sadly
not well documented.

Thanks to Martin for answering my
questions, and for all his coding
efforts on Berzerk.

======================================

Game new review MANKY

Review from Richard Bayliss
http://www.lemon64.com/?mainurl=http%3
A//www.lemon64.com/reviews/view.php%3F
id%3D928

Downloaded this game to check it out
and I decided to write a review for
it. First of all the game is frozen
with the Action Replay cartridge, as
it was programmed with an Action
Replay cartridge M/C monitor. It is
quite interesting that people are
actually still using machine code
monitors in Action Replay rather than
assemblers or cross-assemblers, but
that does not really matter to me. We
have a choice. Anyway, on to the
game.

First of all you are presented with a
cyan screen with large writing that
says Manky with a sprite of a gorilla
right in the centre above the name.
There are also some game options you
can choose from. You can select to
play from keyboard or joystick then
press space bar to play the game, or
just press 'I' to read the
instructions.

When I read the instructions (After
pressing 'I') the screen's colour
turns grey and with white writing.
The game instructions look extremely
untidy. To my opinion there should
have been two paragraphs. The first
paragraph should read

"Guide Manky through each level
collecting keys, eggs and grain.
Avoid chicks and other nasties and
don't fall off the platforms. Collect
all keys and six or more eggs.
To get more points, collect grain
only if Manky's skin is white."

Then a new paragraph which should
read:

"When the toilet wall is open, guide
Manky to the toilet then sit on it to
move on to the next level. You must
make it before the time runs out.
Good luck!"

After pressing the space bar to
return to the options screen, you can
go on to the game. After pressing the
keyboard or joystick option key,
which can be annoying. I would prefer
the options to be automatically
highlighted before playing the game.
Now it is on to the game.

The first game screen starts with
Manky at the bottom left of the
screen, with various ladders which
the poor chap has to climb to grab
the keys. Also in the game screen,
there are various enemies which are
trying to stop you. They are the
chicks (looks like sprites ripped
from Chuckie Egg by A&F Software) and
also bats. Looks like a fun game a
bit like Chuckie Egg (One classic
game that I really enjoyed in my
childhood memories).

When I control Manky with a joystick
in port 2, he moves left, right, up
and down okay, but when I try and
jump, using the fire button. The jump
moves are terrible. The player
appears nowhere from the top of the
screen and then lands to the ground,
which games like Chuckie Egg makes
the player jump up and down. This is
the major drawback to the game. So if
you tried to jump over obstacles, you
would find it virtually impossible to
do that. I find it impossible to go
to the toilet, due to the poor game
play implemented caused by the
jumping. Also why does Manky not fall
straight to the bottom and die?
Animation of the death (Or maybe a
white Manky with a halo floating up
the screen after falling or collision
with bad things would do the trick.)

Basically the game itself is just too
hard to play, and addictive level
would unfortunately be extremely low.
Probably one or two plays of this
game would put people off. No matter
how hard I try to complete a level
without cheating, it is literally
impossible. Even on a real Commodore
64. Therefore game over is too quick.

On the graphics front, the game looks
like a very 1984/1985 platform style
game. The chicks look as if they were
ripped from Chuckie Egg (EDITOR
COMMENT see the amendment at the end
of this text)also the design for each
level is quite interesting.
Presentation is terrible, the front
end is extremely basic, but it is
good that the player can choose from
the game options to have keyboard or
joystick control.

Sound? Well, there is not much sound,
just an annoying noise for when the
player is moving. The sounds are very
basic. I would have loved to hear in
game music, but not the basic kind.

Overall, this game is really
difficult lacking presentation,
sounds, music, and game play. The
major flaw to this title is of course
the jumping controls and the lack of
animation, like deaths, and also lack
of proper game actions. Manky feels
literally unfinished. It probably
might have been a nice game if the
jumping control was fixed. If this
game was going to released
commercially way back in 1984/1985,
software houses would say No thanks.

It would be very nice if the author
of this game, updated this production
to allow the player to jump and also
fall properly and also add a death
sequence (Manky floating up screen
like an angel) and also update the
sound effects. If he manages to
perform this task, then this game
would probably be much better to play.

AMENDMENT
I apologized to him about the Manky
review where I said that his game's
chick sprites were ripped from
Chuckie Egg. After I got a response
from him, I realized that I made a
big mistake. All work was done by
OMEGA120. He originally hand-pixelled
the sprites, before he turned it into
computer data.

Please feel free to reprint the
review if you like, but please add at
the end about my mistake (The
sprites) and also that he's working
on improving the game, including the
jump routines

Regards Richard

======================================

Interview with MANKY creator
Peter OMEGA120
http://peterscommodore64.yolasite.com/

CF. Please introduce yourself to our
readers

PC. I am Peter Courts known by my
handle as omega120

CF. Can you tell our readers about
the game MANKY what sort of game is
it

PC. The game is for the commodore 64
it's a platform game in the style of
"Chucky egg"

CF. what year was MANKY created

PC. I created the game about 6 years
ago

CF. MANKY has received some harsh
comments, does this upset you

PC. no, the more comments the better,
this helps me to improve and add to
the game

CF. You have created other games that
are on the website to download can
you tell our readers a little about
each one

PC.  Some of the games listed for
download are Moggy, Moggy 2, Mr
Wong`s Loopy Laundry ,Mr Pilic which
is still has to be finished and Manky
v2 2009 which I am currently working
on

CF. You have received some comments
about using Action Replay to code
rather than an assembler package can
you tell our readers why you use
action replay, what are the advantages

PC. This is really just a option that
I prefer using, I don't look for
advantages, its just what I am used to

CF. Was the whole of manky coded in
AR even the sprites?

PC. Yes you are correct; all sprite
data numbers were inserted
manuallyone by one in the memory bank

CF. What about 2009 MANKY v2 do you
have any date for completion or are
you just working a little on their in
your spare time

PC. Currently I have no set date, it
may be released around January 2010
but then again it could end up or
April 2020

CF. on your website
http://peterscommodore64.yolasite.com/
you teach people to code a using
action Replay, I presume other coders
have commented about this to you.

PC. Yes I guess I receive mixed
comments

CF. Do you know anyone else who uses
Action Replay to Code games or demos?

PC. No I don't

CF. Apart from Manky v2 do you have
another games planned

PC. no, nothing in the current future
is planned

CF. Have you thought about porting
MANKY to any other formats of machine

PC. yes, I actually considered
porting the game to the Commodore  +4

CF. I see you website
http://peterscommodore64.yolasite.com/
is fairly new and you have added a
forum recently, do you have other
plans for the website

PC. I am always adding and amending
to the site

CF. I also see LEMON 64 has added
MANKY to there database after user
demand does this make things more
worthwhile?

PC. I think the game was added in the
database just for a topic to joke
about

CF. Thanks for your time,

======================================

Interview with Rob Snyder
President of Meeting 64/128 Users
Through the Mail

CF.  Please introduce yourself to our
Reader

Rob Snyder Meeting Users Through The
Mail (MUTTM)
As for myself, I am 44 years old,
married, and father to my five
children. I work as a rural mail
carrier for the United States Postal
Service and live in rural Ohio in the
Midwest of the United States of
America.  I have used a commodore
computer my entire computing life
only dabbling on other platforms-- my
wife has a Mac.

CF.  What was your first encounter
with Commodore Machines?

MUTTM
My first encounter with a commodore
computer was in 1982 when my brother
Dan and I pooled our savings and
bought the $595 Commodore 64 and a
$60 datasette to enter the home
computing world. In 1992, I married,
and took a third part time job as a
bookkeeper for our parochial school.
The school also used commodore 64s
and they introduced me to the local
commodore club. After a few years,
the Commodore Computer Club of Toledo
(CCCT) made me their President and I
have been ever since. In the November
1998 issue of the CML, I received a
hello and big welcome as one of the
seven new members of MUTTM. I have
created several issues of our local
newsletter when I decided to take a
turn as guest editor of CML. I had
been editor for three issues over the
years when in the summer of 2006,
Linda Tanner, then President of
MUTTM, emailed me about taking over
the role of President. I was excited,
intimidated, proud, and honored to
guide the correspondence user group
of commodore

CF.  Can you tell our readers about
Meeting user through the Mail (MUTTM)

MUTTM
Meeting 64/128 Users Through the Mail
is a non-profit, group of commodore
users that correspond through the
mail (and email) an international
commodore users group of sorts. To
become a member, you need to fill out
an application. To get an
application, just contact the
President through email or regular
mail giving your postal address to
receive the application. The website
has the information too, but since we
are a correspondence club, we
continue to have the mail our main
submission tool. The application lets
you tell a bit about yourself, such
as address, commodore equipment,
interests and hobbies. You send the
application with the membership fee
to the club. The information is used
in your Bios which is sent to other
club members only.

CF.  What benefits does the user gain
from joining MUTTM, I know there is a
newsletter sent 6 times per year

MUTTM
I feel the main benefit of MUTTM is
the BIOS. The Bios is THE LIST of
MUTTM members. It includes names,
addresses, equipment used, interests
and other hobbies of our members.
While not compiled for mass mailings
and other solicitations, the list is
for commodore users to contact other
commodore users about computer
interests and other mutual interests
of the correspondents. Over the
years, there have been many
friendships which began from the
initial contact derived from the
Bios. As for other benefits of the
club, the Commodore MaiLink is what
many members join to receive, as it
was only available to members. This
year, we are making the newsletter
available on the internet hoping to
attract more like people to become
members. I also feel with the lack of
commodore 64/128 specific
publications, C= users are at a loss
for articles about their favourite
machine. Making CML more accessible,
I hope to fill that loss.

CF.  What is your involvement with
MUTTM, and what input do you give to
the Magazine?

MUTTM
As President, my involvement is
mostly making sure the club keeps its
focus; and keeps going. Keeping
members connected through the Bios
and CML articles is what I see as
MUTTM`s mission. Jean Nance once said
she wanted to give members everything
promised instead of promising a lot.
We promise 6 well-produced
newsletters, and a list of fellow
commodore 64/128 users. I believe
Jean also had final say into what was
left in or out of the newsletter, as
all material used to be sent to her
even after she quit editing. I don't
have that power as I don't usually
see the whole newsletter until I get
it in the mail. I believe as the 23
years the club has been around, most
members know what can and shouldn't
be in the newsletter. I hope nobody
abuses that trust. As for my other
duties, I write the Meeting News;
included in every issue which is just
were the President get to sound
Presidential. I also like to edit an
issue a year. In addition, I took on
the responsibility of Bios editor and
Treasurer as Brian Vaughan and Emil
Volcheck respectively stepped down
due to health issues. I took these
posts as the membership is not as
large and thus not as cumbersome as
in years past. I feel I can
effectively do these tasks to keep
the club going healthily. When we
found our family was due to have
another member, I did worry about
time for club activities. Even with
the busy time of membership renewals
and the birth of Luke (along with the
holidays) nearly coinciding, all seem
to have worked out. Except for
finishing this questionnaire ;)

CF.  Where do articles come from for
the magazine?

MUTTM
The club newsletter, the Commodore
MaiLink, as named by Eloise Carey,
mainly has articles from our members
and is edited by a guest editor who
(for the most part) volunteers. Most
issues are produced using only
commodore equipment. While some of
the guest editors use other equipment
to assist in the newsletter, we pride
ourselves on the best newsletter made
FROM our 64 or 128 computers.  As
Jean Nance stated in the Guidelines
For Commodore MaiLink Editors,
Members want to see what can be done
with their Commodores, not what can
be done with other computers. Today's
newsletters happen quite a bit
different than several years ago.
Then disks and printouts were sent
via regular mail. It seems today's
articles are sent via the internet as
PDF or email text. The text for the
MaiLink on Disk is mostly from email
text or OCRed into the electronic
form. Most articles still come from
MUTTM members and luckily we have a
few members who continually write
articles for the MaiLink. I
continually try to solicit more
members to contribute. Richard Savoy
is our member who prints and mails
CML for the rest of the members;
truly a large job. As I understand,
he has a couple copy machines, B&W
and colour, in which to multiply the
pages of CML. Along with stuffing
envelopes, weighing, and mailing, he
also makes available bonus disks he
has received from other clubs to
members who ask and pay for the added
postage. As for a specific process in
CML production, here goes:-

The Guest editor collects and
organizes articles, prints out needed
pages and sends them to Richard who
also collects some regularly
occurring articles. Richard copies
and mails CML. Richard also OCRs some
articles for Ken Barsky who produces
the MaiLink on Disk. While having the
text of the newsletter, the MaiLink
on Disk also contains many programs
selected by Ken. He works very hard
to also create a first class product.

CF.  You don't have internet access
at home; Does this cause you problems
with the club?

MUTTM
Not having internet access at home is
a hindrance especially since taking
over as President. Being a
correspondence club, a lot of club
business happens via the internet. I
did have access about five years ago
but gave it up for economy. Now I am
not sure I want the access with the
children getting of age. Not that the
internet is bad, just one more thing
I would have to limit; like I do with
television and candy. To use the
internet, I presently drive to the
library. Some years ago, a MUTTM
member wondered about PayPal to pay
MUTTM dues and I used my private
account to accommodate this member.
This past year I set up a new PayPal
account just for the club but had no
takers. I'm afraid the PayPal account
is not advertised yet but I hope all
who would like to use PayPal would
contact the President to get
specifics to use the service. We do
use PayPal to pay bills such as our
website expenses on Videocam.net.au.

CF.  I noticed in the history of the
club that the largest number of
members was over 300, do you think
there is still that much interest or
has the internet and the start of
free publications like "commodore
Free" limited the membership ?

MUTTM
MUTTM`s history is more detailed on
our website, but the club started in
1986 by Kirby Herazy, a high school
student. He listed the club in the
national Commodore magazines of the
time to have other commodore users
write to him. He shared his list of
about 30 Commodore pen pals with his
other C= pen pals. Jean Nance, one of
the pen pals, took over the
organization after Kirby wanted to
spend more time on other projects and
school. She made MUTTM what it is
today. She started a newsletter and
asked for dues to cover printing and
postage. After a letter appeared in
RUN magazine about the group in 1988,
a flood of inquiries and members
raised the membership to a high of
around 300 in the early 1990s. The
numbers have been declining;
presently at 49 for 2009, but still
more than when Kirby thought the club
was getting too big to handle.

CF.  How long do you think the club
and newsletter can survive?

MUTTM
As for how long MUTTM can survive, at
least as long as I do. As long as
there is one MUTTM member, I will
continue to serve that member-- to
help find other commodore 64 or 128
users to correspond with

CF.  Have you read Commodore Free
magazine, how do you feel about the
creation of a free magazine for
commodore users?

MUTTM
Having a subscription to the
Homestead List on Videocam.net.au, I
got to know about Commodore Free and
have read many issues. I enjoy the
magazine and commend you for your
effort. I only wish I had more time
to read more issues. I do not see
your publication affecting our
membership other than in the
positive, as I feel most of our
members enjoy the ease of getting
their issues through the mail.
Matter-of-fact, only one member has
expressed an interest to receive
their issue of CML via PDF email. I
see Commodore Free as keeping and
building interest in our commodore
machines and that can only be
beneficial to all commodore
enthusiasts

CF. I did think long and hard about
clubs like MUTTM and what they try to
do I felt that you were unique
because of the members BIO and I felt
creating Commodore Free would not
reduce your members list, also
Commodore Free needs to be downloaded
and manually printed to be read,
whereas MUTTM is delivered
pre-printed to the users home
address, I welcome comments and
feedback from yourself. What is the
best piece of hardware you have
(peripheral) for your Computer (it
doesn't have to be a Commodore
machine) and why

MUTTM
My best piece of commodore hardware,
apart from the 64 machine itself, is
the CMD hard drive. The speed of
loading and convenience of storage of
so many programs has spoiled me. For
two years now I have been without it
and I have been relearning the
realities of 1541 disk drive space
and wear. I still have hope to
resurrect the hard drive but it has
taught me that someday I may be
without some piece of equipment. I
need to repair some equipment,
especially drives, soon or else there
may be nobody who can fix them for me

CF.  Finally do you have any other
comments you would like to add?

MUTTM
Thank you for the opportunity to
write to you, and your readers about
myself and Meeting 64/128 Users
Through the MailMUTTM

======================================

Meeting Users through The Mail
History

This Is Who We Are:

In the May 1986 issue of Compute!'s
Gazette, the User Group listing for
the first time included The 64 User
Group of America, with Kirby Herazy
listed as the founder and president.
The members of the group (all 35 of
them!) corresponded with each other
through the mail, but there were no
regular group mailings, no newsletter
and no dues.

In 1987, the group's name was changed
to Meeting 64/128 Users Through the
Mail and Jean Nance became the
president. A membership list was
started, containing a brief biography
of each member, along with their
Commodore system components and their
computing interests. Later that year,
a bi-monthly newsletter was started
with the simple, if bland, name of
Newsletter, with Jean Nance as the
editor. Most of the articles were
(and still are) written by the group
members themselves, with occasional
items of special interest reprinted
from outside sources. There were
still no dues required for membership
in the group, so donations from the
members covered the cost of printing
and mailing Newsletter. After three
issues were published, a contest was
held to give the newsletter a more
interesting name, and from the
suggestions submitted by the group
The Commodore MaiLink was the
standout winner.

In 1988 with membership numbers and
publishing costs climbing, annual
dues of $5.00 were instituted. Since
Commodore users being such a, umm,
thrifty bunch, the membership numbers
dropped precipitously. Because good
word-of-mouth and a steady place in
the Commodore user group listings in
the popular Commodore magazines, the
group membership soon began climbing
steadily. It reached a peak of more
than 300 in the late 80s and early
90s. And as the membership grew, so
did the membership bio list. Meeting
64/128 Users Through the Mail has
always been a non-profit organization
and it relies solely on membership
dues and the occasional member
donation to continue publication.

In 1994, the combined office of Group
President/MaiLink Editor was
(deservedly) split into two distinct
offices. Frank Redmond became the new
president of Meeting 64/128 Users
Through the Mail, with Jean Nance
keeping The Commodore MaiLink
editor-in-chief position. In 1996,
Frank stepped down and Tom Adams
stepped up to become the new group
president, with Frank assuming the
vice-president's position. Long-time
members Brian Vaughan and Rolf Miller
maintained the membership records and
the group treasury, respectively.

In late 2001, Linda Tanner has
stepped into the role of President,
with Tom Adams and Frank Redmond as
Vice President. Emil Volcheck is
treasurer, David Mohr is the Managing
Editor, with Brian Vaughn as the
Bio-Editor. Our Email address editor
is Joseph Fenn and Linda also handles
the Member Resources list.

Today, Meeting 64/128 Users Through
the Mail has members in the United
States, Canada, Greece, France and
Australia. Some of our members are or
have been contributors to such
publications as RUN, Compute's
Gazette, Loadstar, Loadstar Letter
and Commodore World; others are
active contributors to the
COMP.SYS.CBM and ALT.C64 newsgroups.

The Commodore MaiLink newsletter is
18-20 pages for each issue and is
published regularly six times a year
(the odd-numbered months). Each issue
is edited by a volunteer from the
group; the articles, still with only
a few exceptions, are written and
submitted for publication by members
of the group. The membership list is
included twice yearly (in the March
and September issues) and includes a
brief biography, the address,
occupation, hobbies, the Commodore or
Commodore-compatible components
owned, and the special computing
interests of each member. It also
includes a contact list of group
members with special expertise in
software packages, programming and
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Interview with Pasi Ojala
Vic20 Coder and Demo Creator

http://www.cs.tut.fi/~albert/Pu-239/vi
cual-mmix/

Q. Please introduce yourself to our
readers

A. I'm a 39-year-old embedded
software engineer that does not shy
away from hardware either. I work in
VLSI Solution Oy (
http://www.vlsi.fi/ )developing code
among other things for audio decoder
chips and various applications using
them.

Q. How did you become interested in
the VIC-20?

A. A friend gave me a VIC20 around
1989, and I played with it a bit,
converting some C64 fonts to VIC's
16-line characters. Nothing really
became of it though, because I didn't
have time or great motivation to
really study the operation of the
chips inside the VIC20. My interest
in VIC20 sparked in 1995 when Marko
Mäkelä and Andreas Boose set out to
find out the ins and outs of the
VIC-I video chip. I had run out of
demo ideas for C64 and was no
graphician or musician so it was
natural to take a step back to VIC20,
the undiscovered demo territory.

Q. Was the Vic your first home
computer?

The first computer I played with was
a ZX-81 owned by a friend of mine. A
few years later another friend had a
VIC-20 and we created a few basic
programs with it. My first computer
was Sinclair Spectrum 48k. I created
a few BASIC games with it, using
user-definable characters and used a
lot of string operations to make the
games fast enough. At some point I
broke it by fiddling with the
expansion port. The machine visited a
repair shop but never worked very
well after that.

After a few years I bought a C64 and
a 1541 drive. I also bought a Handic
300bps / 1200/75bps modem and called
the few bulletin board systems
available in Finland at that time.
The phone bills made a stop to that
for a long time until the first BBS's
appeared in the Tampere area code.

This encouraged me to start my own
BBS Pasbox (imaginative, right?),
which ran my own software on a C64
and a 1581 disk drive. Machine
language subroutines that I wrote
made the BBS faster and better.

One of the first and nicest routines
was a TOD clock with calendar that
was automatically updated by the TOD
alarm interrupt at midnight. Leap
years were of course supported. You
could get the time and date in
human-readable form into a string
variable by giving the right SYS
command. You got for example
"21:31.35  Fri 5.1.90".

Another nice routine was a line wrap
and hyphenation routine for finish.

Fittingly to the theme, another BBS
in Tampere was run on a VIC20, also
with self-made software. We even
created a message transfer protocol
that swapped messages between our
systems. The system was called
Pet-Net and a few other systems also
joined that.

On the hardware side I created a
256kB RAMDISK that stored the
recently read messages so the 1581
drive would not need to spin up so
often. The RAMDISK hooked into the
load and save vectors so it could be
easily used from BASIC programs.

In the later years the C64 was
retired from Pasbox service and A500
took the role using a BBS software
named AXsh that looked like a Unix
shell, but with protections so that
you could not run any non-trusted
programs. I even piped Usenet
newsgroup messages from my university
account to the BBS.

Q. Have you programmed for any other
Commodore computers (Amiga included)?
If so, how does programming the VIC
compare? i.e., does a lack of
hardware sprites help or hinder

A. I never did any demo coding on the
Amiga, just "productivity" like AXsh,
stroke commodity, c1581-handler.

VIC20 demo coding compared to coding
on C64 is at its core the same thing:
to use the capabilities at your
disposal in the best possible way.
When working with Vic you are just
much more limited in every way, which
emphasizes good ideas. The lack of
sprites forces you to select ideas
that the machine's good at instead of
trying to make it do something it
does poorly.

Q. What is your favourite 8-bit demo
(excluding your own works)?

A. I'm an old-school dude and I
appreciate technical over pretty. I
really liked the Think Twice! and
similar demos that showed some
VIC-II trick for the first time or
made good use of it.  There are tons
of demos that are spectacular in
graphics and sound, and I'm quite
amazed by those as well.

Q. Can you tell our readers about
VICUAL MMIX
A. VICUAL MMIX is a nine-part demo
for the unexpanded VIC20. New parts
are loaded from disk as the demo
progresses   The demo tries to show
visually interesting effects that
have not been seen on VIC20 before.
Some of the parts are further
developed versions or different takes
on parts seen in my previous VIC20
demos.

Q. Is there anything specific behind
"this kind of demo" and "such
effects"?

This time I toned down the "use less
known VIC-I features" and "this is
impossible in 5.5kB" and went more in
the direction of keep it simple, use
interesting visual effects and
unusual colour combinations. I also
made the parts roll on much quicker
so that you would not get bored
waiting for the next part. If you
want to watch for longer and see more
pretty colours, you can run the demo
in manual mode.

Q. This Demo runs on an Unexpanded
VIC20! What was the main problem
coding the demo apart from lack of
memory?
A. Is that not enough?:-) Well, as I
said before, I'm no musician, so help
from Anders Carlsson was needed to
fill the silence with something you
would listen to wilfully.

Q. Why create such a Demo on the Vic?
is it purely because you wanted to
show the machine was capable of such
techniques?

A. It's a hobby, coding is fun. And
demo coding on VIC20 is so much
different from what programming I do
every day that it is quite relaxing
as well.

Q. Can you tell our readers about
your programming environment and the
tools used to create the demo?

A. When I started developing the demo
in 2002-ish, I used A3000 with Cygnus
Editor, dasm, SAS/C, DPaint, and my
c1581-handler to read/write c1581
disks directly on the Amiga. Some
small utilities were written for
previous VIC20 demos and this one. In
2003 I started using a FreeBSD PC, so
the development environment changed a
bit. I still use dasm, but now with
emacs, gcc, and gimp. I also made use
of Marko Mäkelä's c2nload that
connects between the PC's serial port
and VIC20's tape port.

Q. And is the source code freely
distributable?

A. The demo and source code is on the
web freely available and you can give
it to other people. It is intended
for people to learn from.

Q. Some readers wonder why
programmers spend such time working
on demos why didn't you create a game
or utility for the Vic?

A. I have thought about making a game
for VIC20, but it should not be just
any game. Some originality should be
involved, or at least something not
thought possible with a VIC20. There
are a few utilities of mine for
VIC20. Although not running on a VIC,
pucrunch supports VIC20 and is used
in my VIC20 demos. (That and the
small memory keep the loading times
short.) PuZip has a VIC20 version, so
you can make ZIP archives on your
lovely machine, although you need a
bit of expansion memory.  I have also
released a graphics converter that
creates graphics files run able on a
vic.

Q. I personally thought I had "seen
it all" I mean the vic is so limited,
although some feel the limitations
are an aid to creativity, Do you
think there is anything left to
achieve on the VIC-20 now?

A. VICUAL MMIX did not push the VIC20
much further than before, so
certainly this is not the end.

Q. Would you consider doing a
multi-part 'one-filer' which requires
a RAM expansion? Or any programming
that uses extra RAM? or do you prefer
to utilise the hardware "as is"

A. My first VIC20 demo "Vici Iterum
MM" required 16kB expansion RAM. Some
of the parts were original, some just
remakes of old but popular C64
effects. The extra RAM was mainly
used for loading the next part while
the current part was running.

There are three reasons why I
switched to using the unexpanded
machine.

1) Requiring memory expansion limits
the audience. Although VICE currently
emulates PAL VIC20 very accurately,
and NTSC VIC20 fairly accurately,
there are still people that want to
run the demos on the actual machine
for one reason or another and they
don't all have expansion memory
cartridges.

2) Expansion memory can not be used
for graphics, because VIC-I can only
see the internal RAM. This limits the
usefulness of the extra RAM.

3) All cool dudes write stuff for the
unexpanded machine :-) Making best
use of the limited memory resources
is part of the fun.

Q. What would you rate as your best
achievement in programming terms?

A. In the 8-bit-world gunzip (a GZip
and ZIP decompressor) surely loses to
puzip.

Q. can you tell our readers about any
other projects you are working on,
and also maybe some of the past works
you have created, also are these
available to download?

A. I already mentioned some. Most if
not all of my projects are available
from my web pages. You can start
browsing from
http://www.iki.fi/a1bert/Dev/ .

Q. If you could change 3 things on
the vic20 what would you change?

A. I'm only considering things that
were probably realistic back them.
Machine-level: 8kB of internal RAM
instead of 5kB. VIC-I video/sound
chip:

1) Horizontal smooth scroll -- now
horizontal positioning resolution is
one cycle, which is 4 pixels

2) 8 bits of frequency control for
sound -- now 1 bit is used for on/off
and 7 bits for frequency

3) global multicolour mode bit, so
that in hires-only mode you could
use all 16 colours as character
colours

Q. Do you program for any other
systems, 8 bit or otherwise?

A. I started my 6502 assembly
programming on the C64, but it seems
VIC20 is enough right now. At work
I'm programming our digital signal
processor VSDSP in assembly and in C.
After 11 years of assembly coding I'm
slowly becoming good at it. :-)

======================================

Alternative Programming Languages: C
Part 2
By Paul Davis

Welcome back to this brief look at
cross-development with the C
programming language. I hope you are
finding it interesting and are
inspired to learn more about this
useful language. As always, I welcome
your feedback and have now set up a
blog where you can leave comments on
any of my articles. The links for my
web site and blog can be found at the
end of this article.

Last time, I set a small challenge to
write a function that moves a sprite
to any position on the screen. How
did you do? Here is one possible
solution to that problem:

void move_sprite(int x, int y)
{
  VIC.spr0_y = y;
  if (x < 256)
  {
    VIC.spr_hi_x = 0;
    VIC.spr0_x = x;
  }
  else
  {
    VIC.spr_hi_x = 1;
    VIC.spr0_x = x - 256;
  }
}

Bonus points are awarded if you came
up with something along these lines:

void move_sprite(int x, int y)
{
  VIC.spr0_y = y;
  VIC.spr0_x = x & 255;
  VIC.spr_hi_x = x / 256;
}

Back to this issue and, as promised,
this time we are going to be creating
our very own sprite handling library.
In the process we will learn more
about how to build a C program from
several smaller components and how
these separate parts are compiled and
linked together. We will also
introduce some other tools to make
the development process a little
easier.

Getting started

We will be using a command line
environment to compile our programs,
so the first thing to do is start the
command prompt/terminal window
application for your particular
operating system. Next, we need to
make sure the environment is properly
configured. If you are running
Windows enter these commands:

  cd c:\cc65\tut
  init

The 'init.bat' script is available in
the zip file attachment for this
article on my web site. If you
previously set up the environment
permanently in System Properties you
do not need to run this script.

Linux and OSX users enter these
commands:

  cd ~/Documents/cc65
  . init.sh

Creating a header file

Before we jump in and create our
function library, let's take a step
back and see how to create and use a
header file. If you remember from
last time, header files are used to
declare the existence of various
functions, data types and constants
in the C libraries so we can use them
in our programs. There's nothing
particularly special about a header
file, it's just another plain text
file and we can easily create our own.

Many of the programs we have seen so
far contain similar code at the
start. For example we have used the
'typedef' instruction to create a
type such as 'byte' to represent an
'unsigned char'. Rather than keep
repeating this code over and over in
every program we write, we can put
the code into a header file and just
include that file in our programs.
Let's try it. Edit a new file called
'mytypes.h' (OSX users replace
'notepad' in the command below with
'edit', Linux users replace it with
your favourite text editor):

  notepad mytypes.h

Now enter (or copy and paste) the
following code into the file and save
it:

typedef unsigned char byte;
typedef unsigned int word;
typedef unsigned char bool;

#ifndef TRUE
#define TRUE 1
#define FALSE 0
#endif

As is becoming customary, I've
sneaked in some new language features
here. The first couple of typedef
lines should be familiar; they create
the new types for unsigned 8 and 16
bit values, byte and word
respectively. The third typedef is
for a Boolean (true or false) value.
The standard C language doesn't have
a dedicated Boolean type, it simply
treats any zero value as 'false' and
any non-zero value as 'true'. It's
often helpful to create such a type
to make the intent of our programs
clearer. For example, if a function
takes a 'bool' as a parameter, it's
more obvious that you should be
passing in a true or false value. If
that same function just declared its
parameter as a 'byte' it's not so
obvious. As you may have guessed, we
will be making use of this 'bool'
type in our sprite library.

The next group of lines create
constants for our new bool type, TRUE
and FALSE. But what's the deal with
the #ifndef part? This instruction is
one of several that C provides for
'conditional compilation'. The
instructions between that line and
the #endif line will only be compiled
if a certain condition is met. The
'#ifndef' instruction stands for 'if
not defined'. In other words the
whole line means 'compile the
following lines only if TRUE has not
already been defined'. Why would it
already be defined, you ask? It turns
out that making a 'bool' type and the
TRUE/FALSE constants is a fairly
common practice. It's possible that
other header files from other
libraries will have such definitions.
Since C doesn't allow constants to be
re-defined, we use #ifndef as a
precaution so that our header file
doesn't try to define the values
again if they already exist.

To test our header file we need to
create a program that uses it. Edit a
new file called 'bool.c' and enter
this program into it:

#include <stdio.h>
#include "mytypes.h"

void main(void)
{
  byte x = 123;
  word y = 12345;
  bool z = TRUE;

  printf("x = %d\n", x);
  printf("y = %d\n", y);
  printf("z = %d\n", z);
  printf("z is %s\n",
         z ? "true":"false");
}

Compile the program using the command:

  cl65 bool.c

Running the program in the VICE
emulator will print out the numeric
values of the variables along with
the true/false value of the 'z'
variable in words.

This program includes our header file
to allow it to use the new types.
Notice how, in the #include line, the
file name is contained in double
quotes rather than 'angled brackets'.
This is important. The brackets tell
C to search for the file in the
compiler's 'include' directory.
Double quotes tell C to search for
the file in the current working
directory.

Another new language feature has
crept in here. On the final printf
line, we use what is called the
'tertiary if operator' represented by
the question mark. This is a very
useful mechanism in C for performing
an 'if' without the full-blown syntax
of the 'if' statement. It has this
form:

  condition ? true_value : false_value

The part before the question mark is
a condition, something that has a
true or false result. In this
example, the variable 'z' has such a
value already so the variable itself
is the condition. After the question
mark is the value to use if the
condition was true, in this case we
use the literal string "true". The
value to use when the condition is
false is separated from the true
value by a colon. Here we just use
the literal string "false". The end
result of all this is that when the
printf function is called, the value
of the z variable is tested and if
its value is true, the string "true"
is passed as a parameter, otherwise
the string "false" is passed instead.
This is a much neater solution than
the alternatives using a standard
'if' statement, such as:

  if (z) printf("z is true\n");
  else printf("z is false\n");

or:

  char *zstr;
  if (z) zstr = "true";
  else zstr = "false";
  printf("z is %s\n", zstr);

Learning how to write and use a
header file is the first step towards
creating our function library. Next,
we need a little more understanding
of the how the compiler translates
our C source code into an executable.

The compilation process

Up until now, we've been using the
'cl65' command to compile our
programs. This is actually a
convenience command provided by the
cc65 authors to make compiling simple
programs as easy as possible. But now
it's time to learn the individual
steps in the compilation process.

To start with, let's create an
'empty' program. Create a new file
called 'sprtst.c' and enter the
following code into it:

void main(void)
{
}

Remember from the first article that
a C program must have a main
function, so this represents the
simplest possible 'program' for
testing purposes, one that does
absolutely nothing.

Now, we're not going to compile this
using the familiar cl65 command.
Instead we're going to go through the
same steps by hand that cl65 would
automatically do for us. First, we
need to compile the program source
code into assembly language using the
cc65 command as follows:

  cc65 -t c64 sprtst.c

One thing to note here is that we now
have to specify the target machine
using the '-t c64' option. The cc65
compiler works with many 6502 based
systems and needs to be told which
one we want to use. The cl65 command
automatically assumes c64 by default,
but the individual compilation
commands do not.

Once the program has compiled,
Windows users enter this command:

  dir sprtst.*

OSX and Linux users enter this
command:

  ls -l sprtst*

This command lists all files called
'sprtst' with different extensions.
You should see our 'sprtst.c' source
file and a new file created by the
cc65 command called 'sprtst.s'. This
is the result of the C code being
translated to assembly language.

The next step is to assemble this
file into machine code using the ca65
assembler. Enter the following
command:

  ca65 -t c64 sprtst.s

Enter the dir (or ls) command from
before and you will see a new file
'sprtst.o' in the list. Here's a tip
for anyone who is not familiar with
using a command line environment. You
can repeat previously typed commands
by pressing the cursor up key until
the command you want to run is shown
then pressing the return key to run
it.

The output from the assembler is not
a complete program that you can run
on the Commodore. Files with a '.o'
extension are called 'object files'
and they contain, among other things,
machine code fragments. Why create
this intermediate file? Well, it
allows a C program to be built up
from multiple components. You have
already seen that many C functions
are stored in libraries. These
libraries need to be linked together
with our own code to create the
complete executable program. The tool
used to perform this linking is,
unsurprisingly, called a linker and
is run as follows (enter this all on
one line):

  ld65 -t c64 -o sprtst c64.o
sprtst.o c64.lib

This command is more complex than the
previous ones and requires some
explanation. The '-t' option as usual
indicates we are creating a program
for the c64. The '-o' option tells
the linker the name of the output
file, that is the filename of the
finished executable program. Here we
are calling it 'sprtst'. Following
these options are the names of all
the files that are linked together to
create our program. You will
recognise 'sprtst.o' as our program,
but what are the other files?

As mentioned previously, every
program starts at the 'main'
function. This doesn't happen by
magic, there is actually a small
piece of 'startup' code that is
placed at the beginning of every
program that performs some
initialisation such as clearing
memory and then calls the 'main'
function. This 'startup code' is
contained within the file called
'c64.o' and must be the first file
listed in the link process. The last
file, c64.lib contains those standard
library functions we have been using
all this time. The code for any
functions called by our program will
be copied from this file and linked
into our program.

Run the dir (or ls) command again and
you should now see 4 files,
'sprtst.c', 'sprtst.s', 'sprtst.o'
and finally the executable file
'sprtst'. You could run this program
if you like but, as you already know,
it doesn't do anything? yet!

Okay, I can imagine you're thinking
that's a lot of effort to compile a
program that does nothing! Indeed it
is, and the cl65 command was provided
to remove the need for this effort.
But, bear in mind the goal of this
article is to create a function
library. As you may have already
surmised from what we have just done,
to create a library we need to be
able to create 'object files', and to
do that we need to use the separate
compilation commands.

No doubt the thought of repeatedly
typing all those separate commands
isn't appealing. Fear not, we are now
going to take a look at a tool that
can alleviate some of the pain. It's
called 'make'.

Makefiles

Before I can show you how 'make'
works it needs to be installed on
your computer. OSX and Linux users
are lucky enough to already have it
but Windows users will need to
install a copy. Since the other
operating systems use the gnu
implementation of 'make' we will, for
consistency, also use this on Windows.

The gnu tools are hosted on the
sourceforge web site but I'm going to
take the opportunity to introduce
another useful package called
'unixutils'. This package contains
many gnu unix tools that have been
compiled natively for Windows, that
is they don't require any other DLLs
or 'unix emulation libraries' to be
installed in order to use them. They
are older versions of the tools but
work well and are easy to install. If
you are more familiar with the gnu
tools and unix libraries for Windows,
feel free to install whatever version
of 'make' you like.

Unixutils can be found at
http://sourceforge.net/projects/unxuti
ls. Click on the big green download
link, then on the download link of
the latest entry in the list of files
that appears. Finally, click on
UnxUtils.zip to download the file.

Next, unzip this file to a temporary
directory and navigate to the
usr\local\wbin directory. In here
locate the 'make.exe' file and copy
it to your c:\cc65\bin directory.
This isn't particularly good
practice, but it's the simplest way
of getting up and running since our
environment is already set up to look
for commands in the cc65\bin
directory. If you are more
experienced with such things, you can
install the entire utils package to a
directory of your choice and add the
'bin' directory to the 'Path'
environment variable.

Now, to test that we can run the
command, enter this line:

  make

You should get an error message from
'make' saying it can't find a target
or a makefile. If you get a message
saying that 'make' is not recognised
as a command, ensure that you have
placed the make.exe file in the
c:\cc65\bin directory and try again.

Right, OSX and Linux users can join
us again now. So how can 'make' help
us to build our programs? The best
way to explain is by example. We need
to create a new file called
'makefile' (with no extension). OSX
and Linux users can just create the
file in the usual way, but if you are
using Notepad on Windows there is a
problem. If you entered the command
'notepad makefile' it would actually
create a new file called
'makefile.txt'. To get around this,
enter the command with a trailing
'dot':

  notepad makefile.

Now enter the following lines into
the makefile. Be very careful here,
the lines containing the commands
(ld65, ca65, cc65) must be indented
using the tab key, not spaces.
Unfortunately, this means cutting and
pasting this text in its entirety
will not work. You can copy a line at
a time, just remember to press tab
before each command.

sprtst: sprtst.o
    ld65 -t c64 -o sprtst c64.o
sprtst.o c64.lib

sprtst.o: sprtst.s
    ca65 -t c64 sprtst.s

sprtst.s: sprtst.c
    cc65 -t c64 sprtst.c

You will recognise these commands as
the ones we entered a short while
ago. So let's explain how this file
works.

An entry in a makefile is formatted
like this:

  target-file: dependent-files
      commands to build target-file

A line that starts with a filename
followed by a colon indicates a
'target' file, that is, a file you
want to create from some other files.
Those other files are listed after
the colon and are known as the
dependents of the target file.
Following this line is one or more
command lines, each indented by a tab
character. When run, these commands
will create the target file from its
dependents.

Looking at the makefile we have just
created, we can see that the 'sprtst'
file is dependent on the 'sprtst.o'
object file and uses the ld65 command
to build the program from this file.
The 'sprtst.o' file is, in turn,
dependent on the 'sprtst.s' file and
is created from it with the ca65
command. Finally, the 'sprtst.s' file
is dependent on the 'sprtst.c' file
and is created from it using the cc65
command.

As you can see, we have built a
'chain' of dependencies and
corresponding actions. This is
extremely useful because it allows
'make' to work out what commands need
to be run whenever changes have been
made to a particular file. Edit the
'sprtst.c' file and add an include
line to the start of it:

#include "mytypes.h"

void main(void)
{
}

This program still does nothing. I
just want to demonstrate what happens
when a change is made to a file. Save
the file and enter the make command:

  make

The make command will run through all
the dependencies and determine that
the '.c' source file has changed so
it needs to run the cc65 command to
compile it. Then, since the '.s'
assembler source has now changed, it
needs to run the ca65 command to
assemble it. Then, since the '.o'
object file has now changed it needs
to run the ld65 linker to create the
executable. The makefile has helped
us to remove some of the complexity
of using the separate compiler tools.
Now, whenever you make a change to
your program, just issue the 'make'
command and it is automatically
compiled and linked.

Makefiles have many other features
that can simplify the compilation
process even further. These features
are beyond the scope of this article.
I will leave it as an exercise for
the reader to investigate this in
more detail.

Creating the function library

Finally, we're armed with the
knowledge and tools required to
create our sprite handling function
library. So let's get started. First,
we should start from the point of
having a working program that we will
gradually change to use our library
functions. Edit the 'sprtst.c' file
and change it to the following:

#include <string.h>
#include <peekpoke.h>
#include <c64.h>
#include "mytypes.h"

#define SPRITE0_DATA 0x0340
#define SPRITE0_PTR 0x07F8

void main(void)
{
  memset((void*)SPRITE0_DATA,0xff,64);
  POKE(SPRITE0_PTR, SPRITE0_DATA/64);
  VIC.spr0_colour = COLOR_WHITE;
  VIC.spr_hi_x = 0;
  VIC.spr0_x = 100;
  VIC.spr0_y = 100;
  VIC.spr_ena = 1;
}

Compile it (using the 'make' command)
and run the 'sprtst' program in VICE
to check that it works.

Now we have a working program, we can
write and test functions in our
library one at a time by replacing
the lines in this program with calls
to the new function. This incremental
approach: write a bit, test a bit, is
a good way to build a library,
especially when you're new to this
kind of development.

It's always a good idea to start with
a little planning. We need to decide
what features we want the library to
provide for us. It's easy to get
carried away and put anything and
everything in there. Some thought at
the beginning can help to focus our
efforts.

For our example library we will keep
things simple. We want to be able to
show and hide sprites, change their
colour and move them anywhere on the
screen. We also want to be able to
use all 8 sprites, not just one. This
last requirement gives us a clue that
many of the library functions will
need to take a sprite number as a
parameter.

Okay, let's start with one of the
easier functions, the one that
enables a particular sprite and shows
it on the screen. In our test program
above we simply put the number 1 into
VIC.spr_ena, but our requirement to
use all the sprites means we need to
do more than this.

The 'sprite enable' register of the
VIC chip is actually a bit-mapping.
In other words, each bit of the
number stored there corresponds to
the setting for one sprite. Since
there are 8 sprites and 8 bits in a
byte, this fits nicely. The question
is, how do we get to a particular bit?

The C language has a convenient way
of doing this using the 'shift left'
operator. The expression '1 << n'
where 'n' is the sprite number will
generate the correct value. It's
beyond the scope of this article to
explain in detail why this is, so for
now, just take it on faith that it
works.

With this knowledge, we can now make
an attempt at a function to enable
any sprite. Create a new file called
'sprlib.c' and enter this code into
it:

#include <c64.h>
#include "sprlib.h"

void spr_show(byte spr)
{
  VIC.spr_ena |= 1 << spr;
}

We have called the function spr_show.
It's usually a good idea to prefix
the names of functions in a library
with the same few characters to
identify which library they belong to
and avoid name collisions with
functions in other libraries. Here we
are using 'spr' for our sprite
library.

The function takes a sprite number as
a parameter and uses the expression
'1 << spr' to calculate the bit value
for that sprite. It then uses the
'|=' operator to combine this bit
value with the value that is already
in the register. If we just assigned
the value with '=' it would turn off
all the other sprites except the one
we want to show. The '|' symbol is
the 'bitwise OR' operator in C.

Next, we need to provide a way for
other programs to call our function.
We do this by creating a header file
for those programs to include. Create
a new file called 'sprlib.h' and
enter these lines:

#include <c64.h>
#include "mytypes.h"

void spr_show(byte spr);

The declaration of the spr_show
function here is called a 'function
prototype'. It just lists the return
type, name and parameters of the
function. Notice that the prototype
doesn't have any code after it in
curly braces and that the line ends
with a semi-colon. Prototypes are C's
way of telling other programs that a
function exists and what its return
type and parameters are.

Next, in the 'sprtst.c' file, change
the #include "mytypes.h" line to read:

#include "sprlib.h"

and change the line that reads:

  VIC.spr_ena = 1;

to use our new function instead:

  spr_show(0);

Now we need to change our 'makefile'
to add the instructions to compile
the library. Change 'makefile' to
look like the text below. Remember to
indent the commands with a tab, not
spaces (the ld65 command should be
entered all on one line, even though
it has wrapped around in the magazine
listing):

sprtst: sprtst.o spr.lib
    ld65 -t c64 -o sprtst c64.o
sprtst.o spr.lib c64.lib

sprtst.o: sprtst.s
    ca65 -t c64 sprtst.s

sprtst.s: sprtst.c sprlib.h
    cc65 -t c64 sprtst.c

spr.lib: sprlib.o
    ar65 a spr.lib sprlib.o

sprlib.o: sprlib.s
    ca65 -t c64 sprlib.s

sprlib.s: sprlib.c sprlib.h mytypes.h
    cc65 -t c64 sprlib.c

This new makefile contains
instructions to compile the sprlib.c
file and contains a new command
'ar65' that puts object files into a
library file. Our sprite library is
called 'spr.lib'. The entry for
'sprtst' has also been changed to add
spr.lib as a dependency and as part
of the 'ld65' link instruction.

Compile these changes by running the
'make' command. If all goes well, it
should compile sprlib, create the
library and compile sprtst, linking
with the new library. Load and run
this program in VICE to check it
still works.

Next, we will create the function to
change the sprite colour. This will
need to take two parameters, the
sprite number and the colour value.
Add the following lines to the end of
'sprlib.c':

void spr_colour(byte spr, byte colour)
{
  (&VIC.spr0_colour)[spr] = colour;
}

The use of the ampersand in this
function needs some explanation. The
VIC chip registers for sprite colours
are conveniently located together in
memory. The colour for sprite 1
immediately follows that for sprite
0. We can take advantage of this
arrangement and treat those registers
like an array of bytes. The only
problem is the variable
VIC.spr0_colour is of type 'byte' so
we can't treat it directly as an
array.

In C, an 'array' type is nothing more
than a pointer to the memory address
of the first element. It follows
therefore, that if we can get the
memory address of the VIC.spr0_colour
variable then we can treat it as an
array. This is exactly what the
ampersand operator is used for here.
An ampersand returns the memory
address of the variable name that
follows it. Once we have that
address, we can simply use the
familiar square brackets as an index
into this 'array'.

As before, we need to add a function
prototype to the end of 'sprlib.h':

void spr_colour(byte spr,
                byte colour);

In the test program, 'sprtst.c', edit
the line that changes the sprite
colour to use the new function:

spr_colour(0, COLOR_WHITE);

Compile all the changes by issuing
the 'make' command and run the
program in VICE to test it still
works.

Let's keep up the momentum and create
a function to set a sprite pointer.
Enter this code into 'sprlib.c':

byte *sprite_pointers = (byte*)0x07F8;

void spr_ptr(byte spr, byte ptr)
{
  sprite_pointers[spr] = ptr;
}

For the moment, we have just
hard-coded the start address of the
sprite pointers in memory. It is
possible, and preferable, to use the
VIC registers to calculate what this
address should be. We will see how to
do this later.

Add this prototype to the 'sprlib.h'
file:

void spr_ptr(byte spr, byte ptr);

Finally, change the line in
'sprtst.c' that pokes the sprite
pointer to use the new function:

spr_ptr(0, SPRITE0_DATA / 64);

Compile with 'make' and test in VICE
as usual to check it still works. By
now you should be starting to
appreciate the benefit of the make
tool. The effort put in setting it up
at the start is now being paid back
many times over. Making a change to
the library is very simple and we
have got into a good rhythm of
editing the source files, compiling
and testing.

The function to set the sprite
pointer is okay, but it still makes
the caller calculate the pointer
value from the real address. We could
change the function, or write a new
one, that takes an address rather
than a pointer but there are times
when pointer numbers are the better
fit, animation being the prime
example. Our library would be more
useful if it provided a way to
calculate the pointer number from an
address. We could write a function to
do this but C provides another way,
macros. Enter this line into the
'sprlib.h' header file (all on one
line):

#define SPR_PTR(addr)
               (((addr) / 64) & 0xff)

In the 'sprtst.c' file change the
line that sets the pointer to this:

spr_ptr(0, SPR_PTR(SPRITE0_DATA));

We have seen the #define instruction
used to create constants before. Here
it is being used to create a macro.
To the program using it, a macro
looks just like a function. But
unlike a function, it is not called.
Instead, the macro is literally
replaced by its text value. To
demonstrate, let's see what the
compiler would do with the spr_ptr
call above.

The compiler recognises
SPR_PTR(SPRITE0_DATA) as a macro and
expands it using the text in the
original definition. The resulting
instruction would look like this:

spr_ptr(0,(((SPRITE0_DATA)/64)&0xff));

The value SPRITE0_DATA is also a
defined constant so this too will be
replaced with its literal value. The
command now looks like this:

spr_ptr(0,(((0x0340)/64) & 0xff));

The compiler is clever enough to
realise that because this expression
uses literal values it can simplify
it by calculating the result. The
command now looks like this:

spr_ptr(0, 13);

This is the major benefit of using
macros instead of functions for some
tasks. They can help to optimise the
code, especially when used with
constant expressions and values.

The last function that we need to
write to finish our test program
moves a sprite to any position on the
screen. Enter this function code into
'sprlib.c':

void spr_move(byte spr, int x, int y)
{
  byte index = 2 * spr;
  (&VIC.spr0_x)[index] = x & 0xff;
  (&VIC.spr0_y)[index] = y;
  if (x & 0x100)
    VIC.spr_hi_x |= 1 << spr;
  else VIC.spr_hi_x &= ~(1 << spr);
}

This new function is a bit more
complicated than those we have
previously written, but it uses
several of the same ideas. Part of
this complexity is caused by the
layout of the sprite position
registers in memory. Unlike the
colour registers which are
conveniently grouped together, the
position registers are grouped in
pairs: sprite0_x, sprite0_y,
sprite1_x, sprite1_y and so on. This
means that we can't use the sprite
number directly as an index to an
'array' of registers. The function
needs to multiply the sprite number
by 2 to get the array index because
there are groups of two registers per
sprite.

The spr_move function has also
introduced a couple of new operators.
The tilde character '~' is the
bitwise NOT operator in C and the
ampersand is the bitwise AND
operator. Together they are used to
turn off a particular bit in a value.
At some point in the future I'm
hoping to write an article that
describes in more detail how these
'bit manipulations' work. For the
purposes of this article however,
suffice it to say that to turn a bit
on, use an expression like this:

  variable |= 1 << bit

And to turn a bit off, use an
expression like this:

  variable &= ~(1 << bit)

We now need to add the prototype for
this function into 'sprlib.h':

void spr_move(byte spr, int x, int y);

And replace these lines in 'sprtst.c':

  VIC.spr_hi_x = 0;
  VIC.spr0_x = 100;
  VIC.spr0_y = 100;

with a call to the new function:

spr_move(0, 100, 100);

Compile these changes with 'make' and
test the program in VICE as usual.

At this point we should take the
opportunity to tidy up the test
program. There are a couple of
include files and the definition of
the sprite pointer address that are
no longer needed. Remove these lines
from 'sprtst.c':

#include <peekpoke.h>
#include <c64.h>

#define SPRITE0_PTR 0x07F8

Compile again with 'make' to check it
still compiles.

To finish, let's add a couple of new
functions. One will calculate the
address of the sprite pointers using
the VIC registers instead of
hard-coding the value into the
library. The other will allow a
sprite to be expanded. Enter this
code into 'sprlib.c':

void spr_init(void)
{
  sprite_pointers = (byte*)
    ((((CIA2.pra & 3) ^ 3) * 0x4000)
    | ((VIC.addr & 0xf0) * 0x40)
    + 0x03f8);
}

void spr_expand(byte spr,
bool expandx, bool expandy)
{
  if (expandx)
    VIC.spr_exp_x |= 1 << spr;
  else VIC.spr_exp_x &= ~(1 << spr);

  if (expandy)
    VIC.spr_exp_y |= 1 << spr;
  else VIC.spr_exp_y &= ~(1 << spr);
}

The expression in the spr_init
function isn't quite as scary as it
looks. It's basically split into two
parts, the first half works out which
VIC bank of memory is being used and
multiplies this by 0x4000 to get the
base memory address for that bank.
The second half of the expression
reads the VIC register that controls
where in memory the text screen is
located and uses that to calculate
where the sprites are within the VIC
bank. Combining the two halves of the
expression gives the actual memory
address of the sprite pointers.

Next, enter the function prototypes
into 'sprlib.h':

void spr_init(void);
void spr_expand(byte spr,
         bool expandx, bool expandy);

Now, let's do something a bit more
with our new functions and show three
sprites. Change 'sprtst.c' to look
like this:

#include <string.h>
#include "sprlib.h"

#define SPR_DATA 0x0340
#define SPR0_DATA (SPR_DATA+0x00)
#define SPR1_DATA (SPR_DATA+0x40)
#define SPR2_DATA (SPR_DATA+0x80)

void main(void)
{
  memset((void*)SPR0_DATA, 0xff, 64);
  memset((void*)SPR2_DATA, 0xcc, 64);
  memset((void*)SPR1_DATA, 0xaa, 64);

  spr_init();
  spr_ptr(0, SPR_PTR(SPR0_DATA));
  spr_ptr(1, SPR_PTR(SPR1_DATA));
  spr_ptr(2, SPR_PTR(SPR2_DATA));
  spr_colour(0, COLOR_YELLOW);
  spr_colour(1, COLOR_GREEN);
  spr_colour(2, COLOR_BLACK);
  spr_move(0, 290, 100);
  spr_move(1, 280, 110);
  spr_move(2, 270, 120);
  spr_expand(0, TRUE, FALSE);
  spr_expand(1, FALSE, TRUE);
  spr_expand(2, TRUE, TRUE);
  spr_show(0);
  spr_show(1);
  spr_show(2);
}

Compile the program with 'make' and
run it in VICE to see the results.

Over to you

In the limited space of this article
we haven't been able to create a
complete library. There are several
other functions that would be useful
additions. I will leave this as an
exercise for the reader to implement
some of these missing functions.

To get you started with some ideas,
how about writing a function to hide
a particular sprite and one to hide
all sprites? You could also try
writing a function to set the
multicolour mode of a sprite and
functions to set the corresponding
multicolour registers.

An implementation of these functions,
plus a few more, can be found in the
zip file that accompanies this
article on my website, listed below.

Final words

Last time, I mentioned that this
article would show how to implement a
function in assembly language.
Unfortunately, there wasn't enough
space to include that content here.
If there is enough demand I will
write a third part to this series
focussing on optimisation techniques
and assembly language integration.
Please write in to the magazine or
post a comment on my blog if you
would be interested in reading about
this.

All my articles and their associated
resources are now available at my web
site which can be found at
http://sites.google.com/site/develocit
y/commodore/articles.
Or leave a comment on any of the
articles at my blog which is at
http://retrodev.blogspot.com/

======================================

Confessions of a BBS Sysop Addict
Lord Ronin From Qlink

Lenard Roach of the Kansas City
Commodore group wrote an article for
my users group A.C.U.G about his BBS,
the Pulpit. 1 received and e-mail
from him asking if it would be OK to
have it printed here in Commodore
Free. Well our policy is that
anything in our cat box liner unless
otherwise stated is open for
republication in C= related places.
That though gave my mind a bit of a
thought about all that I can achieve
these days. So going over the back
issue in the stacks, I added more to
my thought. What ever happened to the
entire C= SysOps of the past? Well
maybe with Lenard's article and the
following text we may be able to hear
from more of them. At least that is
the hope.

How did I the world's most fanatical
Commodore user set into the BBS
scene? When at the start I didn't
know what a BBS was or that they even
existed, I  was also still unaware of
the differences in PC platforms
between the C= and others. Yeah I
thought that the Apple disk would run
on the C= when I started out in I993.
Actually it was an article in the
groups newsletter, more used for a
space filler on the single side that
we had for a newsletter at that time.
Telling about a BBS called the Open
Zipper Long story about getting
started made short. I had a 300 baud
modem and Star Term and an Amber
monitor I gave it a try and was in a
load of trouble at the start. Here I
am on a heretic run BBS, in PET with
no colour. On 40c when the
presentation was 80c and in Ansi I
wasn't too happy, but impressed with
the fact a computer could talk over
the phone to another. Got really
freaked out when text started to
appear on the screen. What had I done
wrong? Well nothing the SysOp broke
into chat with me. Now I didn't know
what "chat" or a "SysOp" was at that
time, Thankfully Ben the Sysop, was
once known as IceMan and ran the Ice
House BBS in the 1980s in Portland
Oregon, on a C=64. So he helped me
set things up on my and his end, I
was hooked from then on. He ran
Spitfire and in my area here in
Astoria and Clatsop county in Oregon.
That was the most popular BBS OS for
the heretic system. In a year I was
the Commodore SysOp on his board, and
in charge of the PBEM (Play By
Electronic Mail) Role Playing Games.
Later on I was the same on 6 other
boards and on two more I was the
Doorgames SysOp, They couldn't
believe that with NovaTcrm 9.5 I was
able to do Ansi editing. Later with
the 128 and Desterm I was able to
bypass the fake out 80c screen on the
64. Yeah I was really hooked,

Then I had joined Q-Link about 10
months before the end of that beloved
service for us. I Met some of the
other diehards there and learned that
most user groups had a BBS. I learned
as well that they were called night
time boards. Operating after 6 or at
night. OK I had one phone line for
the house and the shop on the same
number. I could do that and decided
that the local group needed a BBS.
They on the other hand, were not of
the same opinion. But did that stop
me.  not in the least. Of course 1
had no idea of what I was getting
into and had no instructions for a C=
board. I didn't know that the door
games where platform specific either.

What BBS OS to run? At first I tried
out  an off line one that sounded
good; Fantasy Role Playing BBS or
FRPBBS, Looked real nice in the
opening screen. As I remember it was
a colour fantasy sword. Wow I thought
here is something that I can use for
my C= interest and my RPG interest.
The idea died real soon after that
part. Only had 10 message bases for
PBEM. That was it in total. Top speed
was 1200 and I had just gotten a 240O
baud Aprotech modem, and it was
limited to PET and 40c only. Hmm that
would kill off the Amiga users in the
local group, should they ever call.
Had to have something that was C= as
base line normal and allowed Ansi and
ASCII What to try out?

Well there were some attempts at
various offerings, but they failed
mainly for lack of support for me.
The less than lamer at doing all of
this stuff. Some had a few
documentation notes that talked in
what to me was high level ML
Programming. Not something for the
Beginner at all, I think it was on
Q-Link just before the end. Some one
told me about "Color64"and where to
score it up. OK it was free and that
fit my budget real well. Grabbed it,
opened it, printed out the
documentation and started to set it
up on a 64c, 171, 1581 with a 170
clone REU. Named it the "Two Pound
Micro Skirt". Well actually I used
the British  pound symbol for the
name on the screen. Based on what 1
paid for one for my girl friend /
fiancée at the time in 1969 when I
was travelling through London. Think
I got it on Carnaby Street. Long time
ago and a lot of good British Beer at
that time. Oh she liked the skirt and
dumped me because of the war. Anyway
the board ran for about two months.
Night time 7 nights a week. I was
learning message base set up. Working
on the constant problem of space for
the U/D area and how to configure it.
as well as collecting games for the
board. At that time there were two
support boards. I logged into them,
long distance too I add. Gained some
information that helped.

However the President of the A.C.U.G.
at that time came by the shop, (where
things had been set up.) He wanted my
support to make the A.C.U.G. a multi
platform group. Opening up to Mac and
the heretic as well. He gave me a
newsletter from the Multnomah County
Computer Club. Or better known at
that time as MC-3. They had started
as a C= group and then opened up to
Amiga and the other platforms. Well
they listed their BBS. I decided to
give that a ring and see what they
had to offer.
Did that several times, in Ansi. As I
had expected it to be a heretic run
board. One night as I was on the
board. The SysOp came into chat with
me. I guess it was because of the
fact that I had sent feedback to him,
and had said things about my little
board and being in the users group.
Lo and behold, the board was running
on a C= 128! He walked me through the
steps to change my account online to
Commodore, and I adjusted my term
programme as well. Hey it looked
great. Better than that DMBBS that
RMSoftware had on line. Being the
only other one I had contacted. As I
am not certain what Approtech ran in
Rouge River Oregon. So we talked a
good thing that my daily time was
suspended for the chat. He gave me
some facts about the BBS OS and the
author's name. I was taken right off
the bat.

So I contacted the author. Dr. Midi
a.k.a. Brian Bell in Washington
State. He said I had to have a CMD HD
to make it work right. Or at the
least for a small BBS, a FD-2000.I
scored up the HD. took some time to
pay back the money. And waited for
the disks to arrive. At that time I
converted as best as possible the
Colour 64 BBs onto the HD. As I also
used it for my Geos work. I had to
make a lot of 1581 partitions for my
Geos files on the HD. Being the way
things worked before Wheels. And did
I mention that after spending $80 for
the BBS OS I waited? Like three
months, then an apology came to me.
Brian had left the envelope on a
table at his parents place and spaced
it out. Well there where the disks,
three 1581s AIR. Which seem to have
been stolen from me as of this
writing. My registration number #65
was on the labels. I was now the
proud owner of Omni-128 BBS. Many in
the states and one outside of Munich
Germany called Omni Germany. I even
called that one once. Tell you right
now that the long wait should have
been a clue. But hey I was as polite
as possibly said a novice.

Well I followed the set up as best as
possible, as I paid for a manual,
that to this day 15 or so years later
1 have not seen. I had a disk of SEQ
files that had been taken from the
SysOps message base. No help did I
get from Brian. Outside of some
connection work on setting up the
nodes for the hub. Which at that time
was either call his board Omni World
and have the entire thing automated.
Which is what I did; or send the
proper created file as an attachment
to him via email and gain the packet
in reply. If as a C= user on GEnie I
could do that sort of thing. I never
found out how. So 1 just called once
a week to the main board. Dropped off
my packet and picked up the new one.
Oh yeah it took over a year and help
from another Omni Sysop Mad Max of
the Pink Panther BBS and head of the
MH1 crew to get me to figure out how
to set up the nodes for the hub
files. In fact he came from Idaho
twice to help me. That is several
hundred miles to drive. I also was
missing files. Game files and some of
the operating files. Like the BBS
lister. Yeah I was getting the
impression that something was wrong.
Brian only told me to contact one of
the SysOps Mushashi at the Civic BBS
for the Civic users group in Calif.
on how to edit and to programme
online games. There were only 22 of
them, and most where not open to non
C= users, and many where limited as
to a baud rate to play. 98% of them I
found out later where hacks from
Color64 games.

That was the birth of the, and again
because of font differences. The two
pound 10 and 6 Vacuum Tube BBS. Named
in honour of my English mother and
the fact that I studied electronics
in the Vacuum Tube/Valve days. That
board ran until about April of
20COcc. Sure it was C= graphics,
though not exactly I must state. Took
ASCII and Ansi. Also took a couple of
other formats that I can't remember
as no one used them. And something
called SupeRcs or something like
that. Which I learned much later was
a specific to Omni term style. That
would have made the colour and
characters look better and be more
accurately represented. Oh 1
contacted The Coffee Shop and Huggy
Bear's Den in Washington state. As
they also ran Omni 128. My own
callers dropped when I didn't have
the games they wanted to play. Game
play is the most favourite thing in
my area. That and they didn't use a
C= so on Omni most of the games they
couldn't play. Save for the new
members that I had recruited for the
users group. The others never called
either board. In fact they left me
holding the bag for the group and all.

Despite the negatives that I
presented above, I had a lot of fun
with the BBS. Tried to do some
things, and fried the programme in
many of the games. Having to
reinstall from back ups. Only one guy
helped me and though he knows his
stuff. Even he admits that he
couldn't teach a bee to fly. Just
doesn't have the ability to present
the information. Found that out in
the BBS work when he tried to teach
me the basics of ML. I had callers
from around the states and Canada
call me. Some just once and others
several times.  I met them in chats
and talked about the C=. I had great
expectations that I would be able to
make the BBS into something bigger
and better. If I just knew more. OK I
didn't know of things called source
codes and all of that ML stuff. Still
don't to tell the truth. Yet I was on
the board each morning and each
evening. Adding files, keeping the
message bases going, doing my email
and doing the PBEM game turns. 1
averaged about three calls per day on
a weekly basis.

1st of January 2000. Something
happened to Omni. 1 had tried to call
the board on the first Sunday of the
month. That was my usual day for
packet transfer. No connection, I
tried the voice number and got the
same result. Tried e-mail and same
result. Big Chief in Germany had been
trying for a month to contact Brian.
Well I needed to send my packet. I
also needed help on how to fix the
dates on the files and on the message
bases. They were all buggered up. To
this day, there has been no contact
to me or as far as I have learned to
any of the Omni BBS SysOps. We were
dropped without a single word. Mad
Max sent me a file to install and how
to install it, that fixed the file
and message base area that he had
written. He also sent me a thing he
had written that did a special
events, and today in history thing,
that popped up on login for the user,
didn't work on my version of Omni. I
needed something else now.

Around the end of 1999 a guy called
Dr. Video was on line. He had been
contacting SysOps. Telling us about
this other BBS programme called
Centipede. Did some e-mails with him
about what Centipede had to offer.
Problem with this is that I had
around 5 years invested with Omni.
Not that I was all that found of
Omni. 1 just didn't know any other
form of operation. Like the code for
the up loaders comments to files on
Omni is the British pound symbol.
While it is the "@" symbol in
Centipede. Ever try renaming by hand
one at a time over 4,000 files? Not a
fun task and I never did get it all
done.

Still I grabbed Centipede and opened
it up. Printing out this strange
thing called a manual. Wow man there
really was a manual, and it started
me on my way. I had everything done
to start. Having it on a partition of
the HD that ran the Omni BBS, as it
doesn't need to be on Device 8 and
partition #1 as docs Omni. Everything
except the smegging files. I just
couldn't figure out how to make them
show up. Read the manual and tried to
do what they said. Just didn't stick
in my head the way it was written.
Till a SysOp I met on line said the
information in a different way and it
all made sense. Suddenly the couple
thousand files I had put in the
proper areas showed up. I went like a
mad man getting it ready to go on
line. Over 100 games, that I tested
out and classified. Ah I am really a
mean bugger at classifying things, I
over do it I am told. But I made the
menus and set them up. Tested them a
bit, as the guy that converted them
with the tool. Well let's say he
didn't do a full test on them. Add
here as a jump ahead, that I got
another game packet that isn't in the
DL version, from the Hub Op at the
time Dynamite. That I installed,
having about 115 games. 98% of them
playable by all platforms.

Well there came some tests. I had the
Centipede board up at pre-announced
times. Letting the regular callers
see the board. I had transferred
their account information, password,
level and login name to their number
and they took a look. All of them
said move to Centipede. So in April
2000 came the birth of The Village
BBS. Well I am a big fan of the old
T.V. show 'The Prisoner". Needed a
smaller name than I had used before.
Though there are many differences
between Centipede and Omni, and I
could spend pages explaining that
from memory. Point of it is first
that it took me time to convert my
mind. Second and more important;
Centipede is the BBS that a beginner
should use, and not Omni as I did.
Because there is a proper manual, and
there are other SysOps out there that
can and will help. As I have been
doing with one in California; also
this is the one that most people I
have heard from, use for the telnet
C= boards. Not saying that this is an
easy one to use, Just that it is
better than the Omni one that I
started with. Of course this is all
based on running the BBS on a 128. So
far the best that I have tried, seen
and heard about for the 64 is the
Color64 BBS system.

Well then for the next 5 years and a
few months. The Village ran 24/7. Had
a nice Moving star pattern screen
saver. I was again on each morning
and evening. Before going to the shop
and after returning On my days off,
something that I don't have any more.
I spent the day doing maintenance on
the board. Adding files that I had
saved along with the notes I had made
about the files in the up loader
comments. Played some of the games;
Empire ones being the most heavily
played around here. Went into the
message bases added to comments,
started new threads and at time made
new sub areas for hot topics. Even
with that, and the fact that my Geos
and Wheels for both the 128 and 64,
along with my Wave files for online
Internet stuff. All where on the same
HD. Causing me to have the board off
during my maintenance and Geos work
and online things. The Village
averaged in a week time around 5
calls a day. Not the gigantic numbers
of the 80s and early 90s. But there
were regulars that called for the
PBEM and online games. Others called
to see a real C= BBS again. I gained
many comments about that fact. Had
one guy that called from his laptop,
connected to his cell phone when he
was doing long haul driving. I
remember him stopped at Donner Pass
in the snow and calling the board.
Had an Amiga user many states away
that did the same with his A1200. I
would send every new caller a copy of
the newsletter Print at that time.
Showing them that there was an active
though ignorant group of C= and Amiga
users, started gaining long distance
members that way.

All was good for those years. 1
learned more on how to do some simple
base programming in the games.
Altering stats and print statements,
making it more and more configured to
our theme. In July of 2005 I had
ordered from Maurice some spare
screws and three power supply sockets
for my three CMD controllers. I
needed to replace the power socket as
they were malfunctioning. Having the
HD mechanism slow down and the after
stopping start again. If the socket
and cord where wiggled just right.
They arrived on 27th December 2005. I
remember that for no reasons. First
it would have been my mothers
birthday, and second the HD with all
the stuff on it, like over 5,000
files for user downloads and 2GB in
compressed files from Pink Panther
and the MHI crew that I had copied
with permission. Plus my Geos and
online stuff, and all the files for
the users group. Stopped just a few
days earlier.

Oh the parts were needed to make the
Zip drive project. I had started on
that, and with a borrowed passive
cable. Actually made around 20 zip
disks ready to be used with Mcopy to
transfer all the BBS data and the
other things to be preserved on the
Zip disks. Still have the disks, but
the cable was returned and the
project abandoned in despair. Since
obviously the parts took 6 months to
be sent and didn't make it in time to
backup the data In January 2006,
besides the very negative things my
adopted son Mark Reed did to the
users group and others. I had read on
homestead mail list that Maurice had
been able to do a data retrieval for
one of the list members. I contacted
him and he said he would look at the
Hard disk mechanism. As instructed I
posted it to him. He stated later
that one of the heads had become
stuck in an unused place. He
suspected the data to still be OK.
Ah, I still have that e-mail message.
Said the he had ordered and exact
duplicate of my mechanism and was
going to strip out the heads and then
copy the data to another HD and send
that to me. Great, I had offered my
entire savings of $300 usd for that
task. I write this in the later part
of June 2009. Still no mechanism, no
answer and in his most recent this
year postings on the homestead list,
he said he would get to it soon. You
can guess that I am not willing to
pay that sum or any sum after this
length of time. Most of that time
with no communication from him to
messages.

After waiting some months, I wanted
my BBS back on line. Over the past
couple of years, I have been helped
on this project with tips, ideas and
even hardware. Much of it coming from
a man online known as Eddie, He
gifted me with the power supply. Some
mechanisms for the controller. But
they had lovely problems like going
to sleep. Most recently we are trying
his hardware thing. That takes the
SCSI commands from the CMD controller
to the IDE thing and then to the SD
cart. As well as in reverse. Had some
problems with this, and found that
the jumpers where wrong. That was
corrected. But still no go, not on
the 2gb one that I had made, nor on
the 4gb one that he had made for me.
Guessing that in the installation of
the two boards,which was done
backwards at first. Something fried
on them. As his works well, and in
fact he runs Centipede on his SD card
on the same boards that he makes and
his board is the inner circle as well
as being telnet.

Well until I can get something
working on this end. The re-birth of
The Village BBS is stalled. But this
old BBS addict isn't down yet. Once
we get this worked out, I'll be
putting it back up as a direct dial
board run on real C= equipment. But
this time it will not share the Geos
and online tools, or the SCPU. As it
will be dedicated just for the BBS.
Will have a FD-2000 and at least one
5 1/4" disk drive. And the fanatical
C= using old RPG playing Sysop. Oh
yeah and a new pride of cats getting
on it and smegging things up like the
last group

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