    *************************
     Commodore Free Magazine
    *************************

   http://www.commodorefree.com/

    Issue 32, July/August 2009

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

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

CONTENTS

* Editorial
* WANTED Can you help
* NEWS
  - Games That Weren't updated
  - Spot the Commodore
  - NETsurf
  - Amiga Forever 2009 released
  - Modding the COLORS in JiffyDOS
  - Wiz Console emulator
  - Knight 'n' Grail available
  - Commodore 16 High score challenge
  - Paul "Dunric" Panks Passed away
  - Paul Allen Panks Homepage
* Interview with Vanessa Ezekowitz
* C64 Forever
* Doing Postscript output from Geos
* Postscript Output From Geos

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

             *********
             Editorial
             *********

My young son has gone mad about the
"Banana splits"; If your reading this
and remember the Splits from the 70`s
then you may find it strange that a 3
year old wants to go and see them.
Bearing in my son has never actually
seen a single show staring the Banana
splits, but the only thing he has is
a cuddly toy we won in one of these
coin operated arm grabbing machines.
You know the one where it's
impossible to actually win anything
as the grabbers are so polished and
the toys so heavy that the items just
slip out before you get the item any
ware near the win box.

Well it seems my wife has a built in
ability to spot arcade machines that
you could be able to win items from.
She will look at the machine, and if
the toy is on the top and clear from
obstructions and the grab arms get a
clear erm "grab" at the item then she
can win it. We came away from holiday
with about 15 toys in our suitcases;
some were as big as my child! How
with the weight she managed to get
the toy is beyond my belief.

Anyway back to the "splits" well as I
say my son has a banana split toy,
after playing with the toy he asked,
if he could watch them on TV. I
explained they were on in the 70`s
and to my knowledge no cable channel
in the UK has replayed the series. I
think there were around 36 episodes
but as a child it seemed more like an
infinite number. My Son said please
"please" daddy, PLEASE then he asked
me to sing the banana splits song; I
remembered the song although not word
perfect, he wanted this song sung at
night for 2 weeks before he would
go-to sleep.

Finally after I became so fed up with
the pestering I found a MP3 of the
original song, the Dickies released a
"punk" version that was much faster
than the TV show and I believe they
sang both versions, (I have the
yellow vinyl Dickies version in the
attic on a 45, although no one knows
what a 45 or single is now) I paid
for the mp3 download of the TV series
it lasts about one and a half minutes
and copied it to a CD ROM to play in
the Hi-Fi I also went on YouTube for
the Banana splits and googled Banana
Splits. It seemed that the video's
were released but not the DVDs for
some reason, they held it back. Now
finally the Banana splits are to be
released on DVD series 1 in October I
have pre ordered but for the moment I
sit with my son watching what we can
of the show on YouTube

If you Google enough you will find a
site called the banana splits and
there is a DVD with all 36 episodes
pirated from the video in all the
fuzzy video glory, I would of course
warn anyone away from supporting
pirate software and advise you to
wait for the original and far
superior release on DVD in
September/October I have pre-ordered
this with Amazon

So; you may well be thinking "what
has this got to do with Commodore"
Well to be absolutely honest;
"Nothing at all"

This month after much demand I have
reprinted the Geos postscript article
that appeared in one of the early
issues of Commodore free issue 2 I
think, and as it was penned by my
god-self I think its an absolutely
excellent article and ties in with
Lord Ronin and his Postscript
printing experiments.

Remember if you attempt to use
postscript machines use the LW or
Apple laser writer fonts as the
Commodore bitmapped fonts will just
print out jagged and look awful

I checked the issue for mistakes and
didn't find any so added some at
random to keep the usual Commodore
Free standard of editorial-ship (erm
not sure that's a word) in place to
maintain usual standards

Thanks
Nigel
www.commodorefree.com

Paul Badrick - Spell checking
Paul Davis - Conversion of text and
Html versions
Al Jackson - D64 Disk image

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

       *******************
       WANTED Can you help
       *******************

"I have been looking around for my
all-time favorite assembler for the
C64 called the "C64 Assembler" by
Panther Computer Corporation. I can
find photos of the cover of the
manual, but I cannot find either the
manual or the software anywhere on
the Internet. I have a specific
project in mind (and it is related to
the article I'm writing). If you
could help me locate a copy of this
assembler (the manual isn't
absolutely necessary), I would
greatly appreciate it and be forever
in your debt. (Since I am currently
unemployed, I can't afford to pay for
it, so I must ask someone who has it
to share their copy of it with me.
The only problem is finding a copy of
it.)"

Arvid Hand
C64 Assembler by "panther Computer
Corporation"

COMMODORE FREE
If you can help locate the software
either the original Disk or a Disk
image please can you send me a copy
so I may forward the item to the
reader you may email me at
commodorefree@commodorefree.com
Thank you

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

****
NEWS
****

*************************************
     Games That Weren't updated
*************************************

Games that weren't has uncovered some
more gems, question is how many games
weren't there then?

* Two new unseen findings, including
  a Mastertronic title ... 'Dr Bazair
  '92' (Preview) and 'Tidemarsh'(Full
  game)
* Two new entries and downloads for
  an Alligata and Firebird release ..
  'Dartz', 'Proteus'
* Confirmation that 'Mission Shark'
  is a zeppelin title + added details
* Small updates to 'Battletoads',
  'Gods' and 'Zone of Darkness'

http://www.gtw64.co.uk/

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

*************************************
        Spot the Commodore.
*************************************

You are watching TV, and you spot a
Commodore computer. In this article
you can see these pictures. You can
also read some background information
about the TV-series, movie,
music-video, arcade-game etc

This is a Fairly extensive website of
Commodore computers on Television,
with information and pictures.
http://www.richardlagendijk.nl/cip/
article/index/spot_the_commodore/en

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

*************************************
               NETsurf
*************************************

NetSurf is an open source web browser
for AmigaOS 3 and other platforms.

Minimum requirements:

* AmigaOS 3.x
* Ixemul 61.1 (included)
* P96 / CGX
* usergroup.library in AmiTCP:Libs
from AmiTCP package

Features missing but planned for the
next release:

* Bug fixes
* Polish fonts in freetype version
* Downloading

http://aminet.net/package/comm/www/
netsurf-m68k

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

*************************************
 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 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 retro-gaming
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 demo-scene 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.

http://www.amigaforever.com/shop/
http://www.amigaforever.com/

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

*************************************
 Modding the COLORS in JiffyDOS v6.01
*************************************

Commodore Free
I found this very nice website, there
is some general information and links
take a look
http://www.n2dvm.com/info.html

Taken from the site
I couldn't find the contact details
but here is an interesting article
about changing the jiffy dos colours
I have DONE this already so I KNOW it
works as long as you do EXACTLY what
I tell you to.

First off, Here is the table for the
HEX Codes for each colour:

HEX / Colour
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
00 = black
01 = white
02 = red
03 = cyan
04 = purple
05 = green
06 = blue
07 = yellow
08 = orange
09 = brown
0A = pink
0B = grey1
0C = grey2
0D = light green
0E = light blue
0F = grey3

NOTE: Those are ZEROS and not O's.

To change Background & Border
colours: Search for "0E0601020304" (2
Times),
One is in the CBM Kernel and the
other is in the JiffyDOS Kernel.
"0E" is the Border Colour and "06" is
the Background colour.

To change the Text Colour, search for
"8C02A907" (2 Times).
The 07 is what you want to change.

Hope you find this information of
use, I used the file below to figure
this out. Figured it would be easier
for others to follow the instructions
above than to try and figure out
where everything is.

ENJOY!!!
http://www.n2dvm.com/mod-jd.html

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

*************************************
       Wiz Console emulator
*************************************

Never heard of the console its an
open source format with various
emulators including Amiga Atari and
The Commodore 64, nice looking unit
from the picture. Maybe if you own
one you could do a review.

http://dl.openhandhelds.org/cgi-bin/
wiz.cgi?0,0,0,0,72
http://dl.openhandhelds.org/

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

*************************************
     Knight 'n' Grail available
*************************************

The epic arcade adventure 'Knight 'n'
Grail' is finally complete and on
sale now from Psytronik Software. The
game is available on disk only in
Premium, Budget and Digital flavours.
All pre-orders are currently being
posted as we speak.

This is one of the best games for a
while on the C64, featuring some
fantastic gameplay, a very large game
map, neat touches throughout,
excellent visuals and music
throughout. It's been heavily play
tested to ensure that players get a
fantastic experience - and that they
will. As well as getting a top notch
game, you have the option to get the
game as a professionally produced
disk release (Premium / budget) to
play on a real C64, or you can
purchase just a digital copy to play
on any C64 emulator.

For more details about the game,
visit: http://www.psytronik.com
For ordering details, visit:
http://www.binaryzone.org/retrostore/

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

*************************************
  Commodore 16 High score challenge
*************************************

The Commodore 16 team have a new
feature on there website.  It has
been running in the background on the
forums for a while, but is proving to
be a real hit with members.   The
idea is simple, you just post your
high scores for your favourite games,
and everyone has the opportunity to
beat you.  Just for fun of course.

We have 14 games currently in the
challenge, but if you want to add
one, please feel free to do so.

The Rules
The rules are simple. Well just four
of them really:

1. No Cheating
2. Screen shot of your score to be
   displayed
3. Can be any C16/Plus4 game, whether
   homebrew or commercial.
4. Most important, don't take it
   seriously and have fun

The link is here
http://www.commodore16.com/index.php/
highscore.html

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

*************************************
    Paul Allen Panks ("Dunric") 
            Passed away
*************************************

Panks, Paul Allen
The life of Paul Allen Panks
literally came full circle when he
passed away unexpectedly July 5, 2009
two days before his 33rd birthday. He
was born three months prematurely at
St. Joseph's Hospital in Phoenix on
July 7, 1976, where he spent four
months in the Neonatal Intensive Care
Unit. It was this fighting spirit
that endeared him to us from the
start, and helped him with the
challenges he would face in his later
years. Growing up Paul spent hours
drawing, writing & creating computer
adventure games, hobbies he enjoyed
all of his life. He graduated from
Chaparral High School in 1995 and
earned a BS degree in Sociology from
Northern Arizona University. Paul was
preceded in death by grandparents
Allen and Lois Panks, and Jim and Ann
Williams. He is survived by his
parents Gary and Judy, brother Brian,
Aunt Jan McLaughlin (Jim), cousins
Ryan McLaughlin (Sharon), Tim
McLaughlin (Leann), Ethan and Mia
McLaughlin, and the Loeffler family.
He is also survived by Aunts Shirley
Przylucki (Chet), Sally Higdon (Don),
and many other loving family members
and friends. A celebration of Paul's
life will be held 4:00 P.M.
Wednesday, July 15, at Shadow Rock
United Church of Christ, 12861 N. 8th
Avenue, Phoenix. In lieu of flowers,
the family suggests donations in
Paul's memory to: The Marc Center
East Village, 924 N. Country Club
Drive, Mesa Arizona 85201, Attention:
Cheryl Anderson. Life will never be
the same without Paul, who left us
way too soon. Arrangements by
Messinger Indian School Mortuary

http://www.legacy.com/obituaries/azce
ntral/obituary.aspx?n=paul-allen-
panks&pid=129569950

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

*************************************
     Paul Allen Panks Homepage
*************************************

Commodore Free
I copied this text without permission
However under the circumstances I
didn't really want to upset anyone by
contacting them.
The Website can be viewed here
http://ppanks76.tripod.com/

"Welcome to my homepage. This page
has evolved over the years to become
more simplified and easier to use. I
have on this page several interests
of mine, including programming,
personal hobbies (computers, reading,
sports, etc.) and other interests. If
you have any questions, please e-mail
me at: l u m b e r j a c k s 7 6 @ l
y c o s . c o m. For my most current
thoughts and happenings, check out my
Windows Live space: Paul's Space

Computers

My interest in computers goes way
back -- back to the 1980's and the
famous Commodore 64/128 line of home
computers. I first became interested
in computing in 1983, when my uncle
brought home a Commodore 64. Way
ahead of it's time, the 64 had a 320
x 200 resolution display, with 16
colours, 8 individual sprites and a
built-in speech synthesizer providing
up to 3 voices. Printing was done
with the Panasonic KX-1080i printer.
We had a lot of fun on the Commodore,
spending countless hours playing
video games, programming, writing --
and printing -- documents (via a word
processor), and even typing in
program listings from
Commodore-specific computer magazines
(e.g. Compute!'s Gazette, Run, Ahoy!,
etc.).

Sooner or later, though, we all moved
on to the IBM PC-line of computers.
My first IBM PC-clone was a Packard
Bell Legend 10CD in 1994. It had a
486 processor, 4 MB of RAM, a 340 MB
hard disk drive, a 2X CD-ROM drive, a
2400 baud data/fax modem and a host
of multimedia CDs, including the New
Grolier Encyclopedia and Microsoft
Works (which incorporated a Microsoft
Word-compatible word processor and
spreadsheet).

The 486 wasn't fast enough to run
Windows 95, but we installed it on
the system anyway. It took forever to
boot up. That was okay, though,
because we spent most of our time in
MS-DOS mode playing the latest
computer games. One of the games I
played religiously was X-Wing, a game
taking part in the Star Wars
universe.  There was also a
reverse-roll version which allowed
the player to play as a Tie Fighter
pilot. The graphics were truly
amazing for the time and the missions
were well thought out.

I also used the 486 to Telnet (via
PRO COMM PLUS for Windows) to various
online MUDs -- Multi-User Dungeons.
These were multi-player online
adventure games similar to Dungeons &
Dragons, both in scope and design.
One in particular was enjoyed for
several years -- LustyMUD (and no,
despite the rough sounding name, it
was really a family MUD taking place
on two continents, Melchior and
Stormhaven). My screen name on that
game was dunric, which I originally
picked up as a nickname after playing
the old NES game The Immortal by Will
Wright and Electronic Arts (EA).

I discovered USENET newsgroups around
that same time and read up on various
game cheats for the Atari and
Commodore, including a way to
(finally!) win Raiders of the Lost
Ark. I had been at that game for over
a decade without finding a solution,
and the newsgroup
rec.games.video.classic provided one
for me (solution: use the parachute,
shovel and medallion, making sure to
land on the tree branch with the
parachute). There were also
newsgroups devoted to the Commodore
(comp.sys.cbm) and the regular Sony
Playstation (rec.games.video.sony).

After the 486 finally gave up the
ghost, I upgraded in 1997 to a
Hewlett Packard Pavilion 7360 PC,
which had 32 MB of RAM, a 200mhz
Pentium processor with MMX
technology, a 3.8 GB hard disk drive,
a 33.6 kbps Plug-N-Play modem and a
16X CD-ROM drive. The computer served
me well throughout college until I
upgraded to an e-Machines i400 with
32MB, a 400mhz processor and Windows
98 (in 1999).

With the new Hewlett Packard came an
opportunity to finally get on the
World Wide Web (WWW), and we did so
by signing up for a Microsoft Network
(MSN) internet account. While the
host software wasn't the greatest,
the cool "Darth Vader" look of the
included MSN 2.0 browser and the
associated "ding" sound whenever a
certain amount of time passed online
more than made up for it. Plus, you
could also check your email by merely
clicking on a link from the desktop,
a handy feature for the time.

I created homepages at Geocities,
Fortunecity and Tripod before finally
settling on Geocities in 1999. I was
also heavily involved in the QBasic
programming community during that
time, producing games with tile-based
sprite graphics and some text
adventures as well (many of my
adventure games can still be found
over at the Interactive Fiction
Archive -- www.ifarchive.org).

Today I am happy to report that I
have since built two computers from
scratch, including a 64-bit processor
computer courtesy of Fry's
Electronics. Although I am at present
using a borrowed computer from my
parents, I hope to get the 64-bit
computer out of storage and insert a
(working) video card. My hard disk
drive and CD-ROM are also woefully
out-of-date, and when I get enough
money to put towards a brand new
computer, you can bet I'll upgrade
the system to something faster and
more elegant. I am also working on
getting my system Microsoft Windows
Vista ready (requires at least 1 GB
of RAM to run smoothly).

Programming

I have been programming on computers
since I learned to type (about 1983
or so). Many of my early programs
were quite simple and even laughable
-- but they were indeed building
blocks to improved programs and games
later on down the road. One of my
earliest programs on the Commodore
was a text adventure named Enchanter:
Westfront to Apse. 'Westfront', as I
called it, evolved from a fairly
spartan dozen or so rooms to a
mammoth text adventure spanning over
80 rooms. The game was set in Norway
and included a mythological Smurf
Village. I incorporated several towns
and villages into the game, including
Oslo, Trondheim, Stavanger and
Bergen. Additionally, I added a Flora
Island just off the coast of Norway
(complete with a functional
lighthouse for incoming vessels).

The game included a sprite title --
WESTFRONT -- as well as a 3-D fractal
map of the surrounding countryside
(actually just 8 sprites joined
together). Finally, I added a
scrolling, WINDOWed text display and
function keys for easier movement.
All in all, the game occupied 206
blocks on disk, leaving approximately
7,000 bytes free (the game was
written for the Commodore 128's
40-column mode). Although I lost the
original version of this game some
time ago -- due to the notorious
SAVE-WITH-REPLACE bug -- I rewrote
much of it from an earlier version
that I found lying around. The result
was a game very similar to the
original version, albeit without some
of the original rooms (Smurf Village
was replaced with a 'golden elf'
village), commands (a few misc.
commands were removed) and a slightly
different fighting engine (more
balanced than the original).

More on the Story of Westfront to
Apse - read about my long lost game,
'Westfront'.
Another retrospective piece on
Westfront to Apse - more on
'Westfront'.
The Temple of Westfront - my thoughts
and remembrances about 'Westfront'.
The Unabridged Story of Westfront
(updated December 1, 2007) - link
says it all.

Text Documents

In addition to programming, I am also
a prolific writer. I enjoy writing
and have even written a couple of
books. For now, though, I will
include here some of the more
interesting documents that I have
written which have yet to be
published. Feel free to download them
and check them out. The documents
range from unusual dreams that I have
had to a short story called 'The
Golden Cat."

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

*************************************
   Interview with Vanessa Ezekowitz
    Creator of  the Commodore 128 
           Sound studio
*************************************

Sound studio 128 version 3.8
http://noname.c64.org/csdb/release/?
id=16382

Vanessa Ezekowitz webpage
http://starbase.globalpc.net/~vanessa
/index.html

> COMMODORE FREE
> Please introduce yourself to our
readers

Hi all, I'm Vanessa Ezekowitz.   I'm
35, living with my husband Abe in
Joplin, Missouri, and have been
nosing around the C64 scene for about
23 years now.

> CF. Can you tell us a little
history about yourself and your
computing hobby

Early on, I had a propensity for
tearing apart my toys (permanently
breaking about half of them in the
process!), just to see what makes
them work. My first computer was
actually a Timex Sinclair 1000, on
which I learned the basics of BASIC,
so to speak.  I typed in programs
from the manuals, hacked around a bit
trying to learn, and otherwise just
kind of tinkered.  I even picked up a
16K RAM expander for it at one point.
I used it for one or two years, until
Christmas 1986, when I received a
Commodore 64 as a gift.  I took the
C64 up to my bedroom and hooked it up
to a TV.  I realized immediately that
she'd made a good decision, and with
her standing there, I tossed the
TS1000 aside onto the bed; mom wasn't
too pleased with what I said about it
*smile*.  From then on, I spent the
majority of my time parked in front
of that C64, either typing in
programs from magazines, learning to
code, playing games, or trying to
learn how to interface it to the
outside world.  It also served me
well in school for reports and the
like.  I learned to code and hack
around with the hardware because I
wanted to do something productive,
something others might find useful
some day.

Today, I spend most of my time
reading, just trying to learn about
general things (especially the
sciences, and in particular,
astronomy and a touch of quantum
physics), and plenty of quality time
with my husband.

> CF. Are you still actively using
Commodore machines?

I do still hack around on my hardware
now and then, but I'm not as active
as I once was.

> CF. Please explain the function of
Sound studio

Originally, it was supposed to
strictly be a RIFF/Wave player, since
that file format was so popular in
the PC world at the time.  In fact, I
had originally called it "Waveplay
128".  As I worked on it, I added
playback for Commodore RAW files, and
changed the name.  I also added a
recording option, based on a gadget I
called "8BSS", itself based on
Russell Prater's "digi0820.sfx"
instructions.   The program operates
in a sort of GUI, formed entirely by
a custom character set, and can be
controlled with a joystick, mouse, or
keyboard.

Normally, you just instruct the
program to load a file, after which a
few pieces of information about the
file would be displayed.  You could
then play it as-is or re-save it as a
.RAW file.  Among the information
displayed is the sample rate, which
the program would let you alter.  It
was easy to, for example, record
something and then play it back at
twice the recorded speed, for
chipmunk-like sounds. It only handles
the 8-bit format of RIFF/Wave, but
adding a 16-bit option wouldn't be
very hard.

> CF. Sound studio was released as a
128 only program, was there ever a 64
version planned?

Not exactly...  There were already a
few programs for the C64 and 128 that
could do the job, but I felt, at the
time, that they lacked the "polish"
that a good program should have.  REU
support was somewhat lacking -
nothing I had found could handle very
large files, as I recall, so I
started on something to fill the gap.

Since my assembly skills were a
little weak, and the C128's BASIC
seemed to be powerful enough to do
the job, I decided to let BASIC
handle the UI and most everything
that wasn't speed critical, and wrote
the re-player routine in machine code.

Incidentally, it's also the C128's
BASIC that set the program's limit to
1MB of storage, since the STASH and
FETCH commands could only accept an
REU "bank" value of less than 16.

> CF. I know the software supports 2
Sid chips is this just for stereo
playback?

Yep, that's it.

> CF. Maybe for the none techy's can
you explain how a Commodore machine
can replay wav files, and also what
wav files are

To explain this, I'll need to include
a little audio theory:  Everyone
knows that a sound wave consists of
vibrations in the air.  When those
vibrations strike a microphone, the
receiver it is connected to sees a
small voltage that varies rapidly
with the sound wave, usually at
thousands of variations per second.

On virtually every such receiver,
there is another connection that can
send what goes through it to another
device, such as a tape recorder or an
audio sampling device, called a
digitizer.  When instructed to do so
by the controller or user, the
digitizer will start making tens of
thousands of measurements per second
of the varying voltage coming off the
receiver's output, and translate each
measurement into a binary value,
called a sample, that is then sent to
the computer.

A RIFF/Wave file is simply a short
header followed by a long train of
those samples.

In the simplest case, a C64 or 128
need only read the 44 byte header and
store it somewhere.  Then, just go
into a loop, reading sample bytes and
dividing them by 16.  Store each
result in memory, and keep looping
until the file runs out.   Then, to
play the sound back, simply start
stuffing the converted samples into
the SID volume register at regular
intervals. Some details aside, that's
all there is to it, and that's just
what Sound Studio does.

There are higher quality digital
audio methods possible, but I only
knew about the volume register back
then.

> Cf. Can you remember some of the
Programming hurdles you had to jump
to enable WAV file playback

The biggest problem I had was
learning machine code well enough to
get the re-player itself done.  I had
never before attempted any real
machine code, and had to do so
through the C128's built-in machine
code monitor.  Writing short bits of
code with the monitor isn't too hard,
but anything more than a hundred
lines or so starts to get a little
complicated even today.  I didn't
understand, at the time, just how to
use an assembler, or even what the
difference was between that and the
monitor I was using.

The second problem was getting the
whole program to run fast enough.
For example, the part of the BASIC
code that draws the buttons and base
UI seemed a little slow.  Similarly,
the sample player, while fairly
trivial, wasn't as fast as it could
be at first.  I was dead set on
making sure the program could play
back a 44.1 kHz file at full speed,
so I tried to do whatever I could to
trim cycles from the playback loop.

As I recall, I was never able to get
the code to run smoothly enough at
the higher sample rates, because I
couldn't seem to get the idea out of
my head that the REU needed to
transfer bytes in large chunks in
order to be efficient enough (at the
time, I was using an 8K transfer
buffer).  I did some experiments
streaming a byte at a time for
maximum smoothness, with the intent
of rewriting the player routine in a
future release.  I don't think I ever
put that code in, as my initial
experiments were only able to muster
about 64 kB/sec, and I needed a
little over 88 kB/sec.

> CF. What is the current status of
the software, I believe the software
was sold as shareware is this still
true and if so where would our reader
send the money to?

Originally it was shareware, yes.
Today, the program is public domain.

> CF. The software utilises 80 column
mode is this just for aesthetics of
screen design?

I had three reasons actually.  One,
80 column mode looks better than 40
column mode for this sort of thing.
Two, I can use 2 MHz mode without
having to argue with the VIC-II.
Three, there just didn't seem to be a
lot of 80 column software out there,
and I felt I should add to that
library if I could.

> CF. Does the software support other
hardware like the CMD line of
products?

I wrote Sound Studio before I got my
hands on any CMD gear, but it works
fine on the CMD HD.  By extension, it
should work on the FD 2000/4000, in
addition to the usual Commodore 15xx
drives.  CMD's 17xx REU clones work
for memory just like the originals.
The SID Symphony cartridge should
also work for stereo output, though
I've never tried one myself (I've
always used an internal stereo SID
hack).

The RAMLink is a special case. It can
act as a normal storage device like
it does with many other programs, so
you can load files from it, but the
memory therein can't be used as
expansion RAM, simply because I wrote
the program before I got a RAMLink.
I.e. the program isn't aware of the
existence of a RAMLink, much less
whether one is present.

Now, the Super CPU is a trip --  it's
been a while since I last tested to
see what would happen, but I seem to
recall that it technically does run.
It doesn't crash, that is to say, but
it also doesn't know anything about
the SuperCPU, so it doesn't know how
to adjust its timers to compensate.
Sound files will play about an order
of magnitude faster and higher
pitched than they should -- talk
about a chipmunk effect!

> CF. Also is the product now
effectively dead or do you plan any
updates?
And Have you created any other
software for Commodore machines?

I can answer these two together - the
program isn't dead, but the update I
have planned for it is still a long
way off.   I'm working off and on, on
an update for an Amiga MOD player I
wrote back in 1999 or so, and my
intention is to include the ability
to play a number of sample formats,
including RIFF/Wave, as well as
modules.  In essence, I want to
combine Sound Studio with the MOD
player, and release the result as a
new program.

The updated program is intended to
look and operate just like XMMS, a
now outdated media player for
Linux/Unix systems. I still like how
it works and what it looks like, so I
plan to stick to that. I haven't
figured out yet how I will handle the
record function, maybe just a menu
item that calls forth a simple "Sound
Recorder" dialog.

I have also written a handful of
other programs, such as an unreleased
animation player based on the Ohio
Art "Etch-a-Sketch Animator" toy. I
have an update in the works for this,
which I will release. There's also a
VDC demo of sorts that puts text on
the bitmap (with full
background/foreground colour control,
flashing text, etc., which I
originally targeted at terminal
programs that do ANSI emulation), an
80 column sector editor modelled on
the one found in the
Maverick/Renegade disk utility
package, and a few small programs for
my own use.

One project I am particularly proud
of was a Connectix QuickCam interface
and demo/driver program (which I had
a lot of help with).

I also experimented with MP3 playback
via an external board, but my initial
efforts did not meet with success. I
still want to revisit this, as others
have made some  progress in this
regard.

Most of my efforts today are aimed at
the C64 first, with the C128 firmly
in mind.  I try to make my code able
to run on both machines, with as
little platform-specific code as
possible (i.e. just enough code to
account for 2 MHz mode, 80 column
screen, etc).

> CF. Do you still follow the
Commodore scene?

I do to an extent, yes.  One of the
most recent things that really caught
my eye was the Vicious SID demo --
the authors of that program
discovered a new way to make sampled
music, and I am very interested in
learning the details of it. As their
re-player routine pretty much blows
my previous efforts out of the water,
I'd like to see if it is possible to
put their method to use in the future.

> CF. Have you any other comments you
would like to add

I've never been too sure how much
demand there is for the sort of stuff
I do on the C64 and 128, and I've
actually seen some comments here and
there in other venues that basically
say that I'm wasting my time
(comments which I generally
disregard, of course).  It is nice to
know that there is still interest.  I
hope to be able to continue to
contribute well into the future.

> CF. Feel free to add any technical
documents or coding slices you feel
would benefit the readers we cater
for beginners to advanced machine
code programmers

Due to the nature of the stuff I do,
I can't really think of anything that
would be short and still be useful to
your readers, but I can say that that
which I have already released is good
fodder for review and commentary. I
invite your readers, and anyone else
interested, to look through my code,
comment on it, re-write it, use some
of it in another program, etc.
Whatever software license might seem
to be in place for any given program
(i.e. shareware), I hereby rescind,
as all of my software is public
domain now.

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

*************************************
            C64 Forever
     Reviewed by Commodore Free
*************************************

After the hugely successful Amiga
forever, Cloanto have finally
released a "C64 forever" and as you
can guess this title is amid at the
world's best selling computer the
Commodore 64.

What is C64 FOREVER?
C64 forever is emulation software
designed to run on the Microsoft
Windows platform.  Upon running the
software you are presented with a
neat little menu system

Where you can

- Play the emulation from the disk so
  you don't need to install anything
- Run the installer and install the
  software to your machine
- Look at the documentation
- Browse the disk
- Or visit two website
    - C64 Forever homepage
    - Retroplatform Home Page

We start as all eager beavers by
running the software or "playing from
the Medium"
Once the software initialises you are
presented with the main screen

The main screen show 4 tabs across
the top with the options of

Games
Demoscene
Applications
Gallery

The default state is Games, scrolling
down the list of games shows a small
screen shot of the game and the stats
are updated for each game with
publisher, game name, year and genre
so sports shoot-em up etc scroll down
the list to find the game you want to
run and click the big > this starts
an emulator with the application
running

When running there are a number of
option on the right hand side

1 x will set the screen to the
standard Commodore size (small)
2 x will set the screen to 2 times
the Commodore screen size
And the arrow star shape toggles full
screen to return back from full
screen hold ESC key, in full screen
mode I lost the left and right
borders of the Commodore screen.
The last icon a camera takes a
snapshot or picture of the running
Commodore Screen

Closing the screen gives a small menu
to save the current state, Remember
the choice and don't show this menu
option again

Looking at the help file all
copyright holder are mentioned as can
be expected from Cloanto all the
files are licensed to use, rather
disappointing is the use of Cracked
versions of the software, with the
crackers intros where you see a mini
demo then usually have to press space
key to continue. Maybe the originals
should have been used and just the
copy protection removed. (of course
these are my personal thoughts)

The main player looks well and
suitability styled with various
information and a screen shot of the
game more about this later

I couldn't find any Llamasoft or Jeff
Minter games as these are not listed
in the menu and from Jeff issuing a
no copyright hassles are stated if
you distribute or copy any of his
older games, this seems odd. Jeff
minter and Llamasoft are one of my
hero's I find this a little
disappointing. I will also comment
here that I feel TMR (Jason Kelk`s)
(COSINE) games would have been
welcome too because of the
playability aspect, but you could go
on an on, what about xyz adding games
is however easy and will be explained
later in this review)

The next tab along Is Demoscene,
again a list of demos to select and
run with information about the date
and Demo coders

Moving to the next tab is
Applications; this is just a front
end to run the various emulators for
example to run a Commodore 64
emulator or vic20 emulator or pet
emulator etc.

The Final tab is entitled gallery,
here are PDF versions of the Computer
magazine from 1982 covering the
Commodore 64 a picture in JPEG
version of the Commodore 64 the old
breadbox version in a stylised pose
the Commodore 64 SID Patent
documentation and finally an MPEG
version of the tool box audio tape
about Commodore that was presented
with some compilation boxes
"congratulations you are now the
owner of the worlds most popular home
computer" it starts

I am sure Cloanto could have bundled
more photos and information about
Commodore and the Commodore 64. Maybe
part of the Amiga forever series of
videos could have been bundled with
this like the Jay miner interview and
inside Commodore for user who haven't
seen or purchased the Amiga forever
version. Also the death bed vigil and
David Hyne interviews. Although Die
hard Commodore users will have seen
these the more casual user will not.

Options exist to import to and from
the Native rp2 format if converting
to RP2 format and you drag the file
to the menu you receive the following
information dialogue

Creating a file for conversion to rp2
format involves the following process
Making a folder with the relevant
details for example Arkanoid would be

Arkanoid - Revenge of Doh (Imagine,
1988, C64)

The folder would then contain 3 or
more depending on how many disk
images were needed files
The D64
arkanoidrevenge.D64

the PNG preview picture
rp2-preview.png

and a text file or html file with the
help text inside
rp2-help-en.txt

Arkanoid for example contains the
following text

"Inspired by one of the most famous
arcade games in history. Use the
paddle and the bouncing ball to
destroy the walls and collect bonuses
At the crack intro screen press the
spacebar to continue. Then press H or
T to enable High Score saver or
Trainer. The game is
joystick-controlled."

There are two versions available of
c64 Forever a plus version
downloadable and on CD and also an
Express version, these are
purchasable straight from the Cloanto
website.

From the manual
"Manual Playback of RP2 and other
Media Image Files
C64 Forever includes support for RP2
(from RetroPlatform Player), which is
a file format designed to "wrap" all
disk and other media images that may
be part of an application into a
single ready-to-run archive. RP2
files are already compressed, and may
contain multiple media images, so it
is not necessary to further store
them into ZIP archives for storage or
distribution.
When C64 Forever is installed on
Windows, it becomes possible to
double-click RP2 and other popular
disk and tape file images (e.g. a
downloaded game on one or more .d64,
.t64, etc. files) to play the
content. After the Manual Playback
Options dialog appears you can
drag-and-drop additional disks, and
rearrange them if necessary.
For additional information, please
refer to:
RP2 File Format Information
http://www.retroplatform.com/kb
/15-122

Commodore Free:
The emulation seems to be a
customised version of VICE
Running version 2.1.1
Looking on the CD in the private
\windows folder shows a vice folder
From the main screen selecting help
about- plug-in reveals
Viceplugin.dll version 2.0.3.0

Again from the Help File
"Top Benefits
C64 Forever shares the same
RetroPlatform family player, database
and content management components as
the very successful Amiga Forever
series. As such, it also embodies
more than 12 years of experience and
refinements and a tradition of
innovation and long-term continuity
and support.

Compared to other solutions for
different systems, C64 Forever stands
out for features which include the
following:

Smooth setup: it takes only a few
mouse clicks to install and run (no
additional downloads required)

Intuitive, simple and refined user
interface, in which player, content,
database and search are seamlessly
integrated (not a "front end" that
launches an external emulator)

Built-in RetroPlatform Library
database featuring thousands of
titles, with online updates

As some projects kept adding options
year after year, C64 Forever strived
to keep options to a minimum, as
RetroPlatform components take
sophisticated decisions behind the
scenes

If you know how to use Amiga Forever
you are instantly familiar with C64
Forever, and vice versa

Support for revolutionary RP2 format
(one click to play, one file per
title, no need to zip or unzip games
or manage multiple disk images, etc.)

Support and recognition of other
popular disk, tape, cartridge and
save state formats, with options to
identify un-catalogued similar
variants (not a simple "checksum"
approach)

Built-in search-as-you-type for
installed content and custom
one-click internet search for games
and demo scene productions

Tested on Windows 7 (bothx86 and x64)

Features of C64 Forever include:

* Emulation of C64 hardware (allows
  you to run C64 software on your PC)
* Additional emulation of related
  systems: PET 2001, CBM 3032, CBM
  4032, CBM 8032, VIC 20, CBM 610,
  C16, Plus/4 and C128
* More than 200 pre-installed games
  and demo scene productions
* One-click play support for
  thousands of downloadable C64 and
  other 8-bit games, demos and
  applications
* Retro Platform Library includes
  title and configuration data for
  more than 5,000 C64 games, with
  online updates
* RP2 Manager to convert between RP2
  and other popular formats (D64, T64
  etc.)
* Preconfigured and enhanced VICE
  emulation engine with auto-updates
* Special features and gallery of
  items of historical interest

Commodore Free
A nice approach to the Commodore
Emulation scene, the new file format
is interesting especially for
transportation however you would need
to convert the file back to native
d64 format to enable you to play the
games on a real machine.

The vice emulation seemed to be very
stable for me during testing even
with the "unstable" version of the
software, I would have liked to see
more files included in the version
and maybe a walkthrough to convert
the file to the new format For new to
emulation users this could be a
welcome purchase but to old time
Commodore users who will already own
a copy of vice then I feel there is
little to entice you to part with
your hard earned cash. I feel the
product will sell to the more casual
users and if more games are available
for free or small charge download
then the product could do well.

As expected it's a slick presentation
from Cloanto, however I don't feel
the same energy went into this
product as did the Amiga forever
version. Of course Hardcore Commodore
users will stick to using the real
machine rather than Emulation that
never works as well as the real
machine. "

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

*************************************
  Doing Postscript output from Geos
    Lord Ronin from Q-Link
*************************************

Actually this isn't 100% Geos or
Commodore. More like 99.99%
originally this was planned to be
sent to Nigel after I sent a long
lamer beginner's look over the Geos
manual series. Good news, some pipe
smoking long haired, bearded hippy
freak broke one of the basic rules. I
didn't back things up! Meaning that I
have to do it over again. At least
this time I can take a few JPEGs of
screen shots with an old camera that
saves the image to disk. Which is
what prompted me to do this one. OK
one of the things for this one. Now
there should be an image installed,
the choice was either the top hat
wearing freak with the pipe or the
Constable for the A.C.U.G. #447. The
cat won out, she has claws! Those
reading this on the fantastic .D64
file that Al Jackson of 5C's makes,

(EDITOR AL many thanks for the work
with the D64 image)

like my users group, won't be able to
sec that image of the black cat
posing for her snap. Not too worry
she won't be upset, though there is
some way to make the JPEG show on the
disk; this was done by a long
distance member for us once. I don't
know how, and it would cat up too
much space for Commodore Free.

(EDITOR Juddpeg can display JPEG
images on the C64 you can download it
from here
http://www.ffd2.com/fridge/JPEG/)

Let's cover the title; no it isn't a
misprint or fanciful dreams on my
part, You can actually and really
make a file that can be converted to
a PDF on the C=. Got a long story so
pour yourself one, and light up,
this may make it easier to read my
dream.

The story goes like this; I knew that
we could get postscript files that
would and could be opened in
postprint in Geos. I did that with a
file Maurice sent me and other post
print users. I wondered how to make
one and send it to another types of
PC platform, other than Geos on the
C=. My adopted son Lord Alberonn
a.k.a. sho-vah now <132S blocks of
rant deleted for content was going to
do the experiment with me on his
Amiga, but seems to not have had the
right programmes installed. A local
member said he would help with the
test, and that never came about. My
son who gifted me with the camera
mentioned above said he would give it
a try* but hey, he got married and a
new job. The old man sort of got
pushed to the back burner. Well he
did give me his Commodore stuff, long
distance member said he would help
too; And yeah destined/weirdwolf/#8
did help me. Now then that paragraph
covers about 9 years of events! So
this has been a bit of a time in
becoming a reality.

OK the steps are this way.

I write the drivel that I put out
here in GeoWrite, I use Times Roman
from Dale Sidbottoms laser lovers
disk, I understand is still
available. That is the easy part; as
that font is set to work with
postscript things. Some of the normal
GeoFonts are not recognized by post
print or are a bit too jaggy. I have
tried some of the LQ fonts, and they
arc a bit smoother. Though I am not
using the Perfect Print programme any
more. So then lets say that I have a
bunch of drenn written and am ready
to do the next step.

That is put the GeoWrite file into
PostPrint. I use the B3.8 one for
most things. But I have the B4 one,
which is fine it even has some nice
additives and cuts of about 4 lines
at the top of a GeoPaint image even
on the HP printer that I am using.
Which is a lower model than what I
understand Maurice was using.
Embarrassing story on this part; Sec
there arc no-docs that I have ever
seen for the use of Post Print, my
thanks go to Sunfish from COPS mail
list. He told mc how to use an
imported font, which is what I do for
the print edition of the newsletter.
I would never have figured that out,
nor how to convert a pfb postscript
font to the needed pfa for post
print. He sent me to a site and I
grabbed the programme that works on a
128. Currently on that hard drive
with Maurice awaiting repair.

OK back on track. I had found the
pull down options in post print for
installing the information. GcoPub*
GcoWrite* Complaint. pegs. Those are
the first four that can be done with
hot keys, the C= and one of the
numbers 1-4. Now 5 and 6 are also
listed, but the way they are listed
is obscure to my literal mind. I
didn't understand what they meant. So
for about 9 years, 1 never messed
with them.

Instead I just put in the pages one
by one, like the 20 page newsletter.
Make a page, and then press C= and 2
for GeoWrite. Select the page number,
press return, then a mouse click.
Followed at times by sizing the page
of text to the size of the postprint
page. I feel like the south end of a
north bound mule. when I discovered
that C= and 6 will put in the entire
document. C= and does the same for a
GcoPub document. Lets just say that I
use that method now and my work load
is a lot smaller in my Desk Top
Publishing duties.

Well that is good so far; I could
then print it out for some one to
read assuming there arc any that hard
up for reading material. Ah but for
the print edition of the newsletter,
That isn't going to happen! I now
exit the layout and go to the print
icon, There I select the print job.
First thing I do is send via GeoCable
the font I want. BTW it is called
Village Plain, the font from the
Prisoner TV show of the 60s. That is
I25kb. What it is in normal blocks I
don't remember. Oh I am looking to
replace a font. LowWeRegular if any
one has a copy. Anyway after that is
sent to the printer. Next is to make
a disk file. That is done by
selecting the output in the print
options* Here instead of selecting
GeoCable or the other to printer
stuff. I select disk file. That will
send the output to the RAM in the
SCPU.

Now there are a collection of option
screens, like where is it going and
the name that I want to give that
file. The main one is the setting
file, here I can select to send it as
a GeoWrite, or something for Linux,
Amiga and Mac Or for the heretic
system. Tell you right now that in my
experiments; all but the heretic
format for the disk file will fit on
a 3 1/2" floppy. Heretic one was too
bloated, though it was the same file.

For the print work that I do; I make
the GeoWrite disk file, followed by
going into GeoWrite.,Where I go to
page #10. Again thanks to Sunfish for
that information. Where I just
substitute/Times-Bold with
/VillagcPlain, then out of that and
back to print options; Where it is
just a simple change of direction for
the output from disk file to GeoCable
right to my laser printer. In a few
minutes out comes the booklet edition
of the users group newsletter, or
what ever I am printing at the time.

Ground work laid for the next part;
which is that postscript to PDF
thing, take pretty much all the steps
above, Save for the font change. I
haven't figured that out yet. Change
the output option to disk file; but
at this point, I select the Linux
option. In a short spate of time,
There is a file in the RAM that is in
Linux style and in postscript. Of
course I can't read the smegger on my
Commodore system. If I put it on a
disk, how could the Linux system read
it? Here we have the use of another
Geos tool. GcoDos, and that is a
powerful tool, that I am still
learning about. Grabbed it to do just
one thing; copy files from heretic
formatted disks to the Commodore,
Docs require the FD-2000 for that
work. Also it will not only read a
heretic formatted disk, but will
format them as well. OK then I fire
up GcoDos, I wish it would tell me
that I need to switch to 40c. But it
doesn't, and the first few times I
thought something was wrong. Anyway I
make the copy from the RAM to the
heretic formatted disk. This is where
the problem with the heretic OS being
bloated happened on a test. Next is
take the disk out of the drive, tell
it to go back to desktop, yeah 8 out
of 10 times it locks up and 1 have to
reset the 128. Disk in pocket and
taken to the little cheap Linux
system.

Most readers know that I don't know a
lot about PCs, even the sacred and
most holy Commodore. Tell you about
Role Playing Games for hours. But
very* lame at best on computers. So
this part is going to be a bit
convoluted in explanation. The file
that I make goes into the drive on
the Linux system; I copy it over and
(here is the front page as an Icon.
My first tests where bad for many
reasons; One was that I still had
bold face on for the document, as
that is needed for the print one for
spacing of the replacement font. As a
postscript file or a PDF it looks
like bold on a quad print printer
that was stuck. Took me many attempts
to find out the problem, I also had a
problem with sending the file to
people. Linux users could see it but
not other PC platforms. Oh and the
biggest problem was that there may
have been 20 pages, but only the
first one would show up in any reader

OK our long distance member that was
helping mc out. Had an idea. Convert
the file to PDF, more people could
see that on different computer
platforms. Right and this is done how

So he told me about something called
"imagemagick" I found it, downloaded
it, and after he told me how to use
it. The file came out as a PDF And by
some miracle that I don't understand,
all the pages could be seen. Well
there was still the too black of the
test part, but hey I got that fixed
and it came out in a form that people
could read.

So then the next part; Creating the
newsletter for those long distance
members that wanted it in electronic
format. Or as we termed it the
CyberSpace edition. Not hard to do at
all, In fact for several months we
have been sending CommodoreFree the
CyberSpace issues. Ah but there have
been some comments about how to make
it better, like installing some
JPEGs. Yes postprint will let you
install them, So would make a page of
colour images and try to plant text
in the right places. As it is
installed in the layout part of
postprint. Hey you can install a
border and how thick and how far away
it will be around the image. I think
that one can also adjust the levels
of colour etc, As I tried that out
and well; came up with some ugly
results. No documentation like I said
earlier. Well I sent a test to Nigel
at Commodore Free. Asking if it was a
good way to send submissions, he said
it looked OK as it seemed to be
bitmapped. I sort of got lost at that
point. Said I was a lamer. (EDITOR
the text in the postscript file seems
to be a picture rather than text so
this whole part of the document had
to be OCR`d Optical Character
Recognition to use the text in the
magazine, normal text is usually
selectable or saveable in a PDF
however these files appear to have
the text as pictures, this means the
quality is less sharp, I am working
to find out why this is the case it
could be the software that converts
the PS file to PDF)

Well recently I scored up a copy of
GcoPub. Replacing the one that
corrupted on mc. Been experimenting
with it in adding colour into the
pages, and then installing JPEGs in
the text areas. As this is written
that is still a project that needs
more training on my part. But sample
CyberSpace issues have gone out. Mind
you a 45kb or 1902 block post script
file with 4 JPEGs and some colour
added. Becomes 5.2mb when converted
to a PDF Don't ask, I haven't a clue
as to why.)

Now you may think that I sat down and
scrawled this out in one sitting. Be
almost right, does seem to read that
way doesn't it?  Ah but I have
dabbled in other things as well.
Recently received some of that
feedback I had asked for on the
sample issues. Complaints on some of
the colour choices, I mean in what
was the box colour and what was the
text colour. I can't see them till
the issue is converted as the text
and box patterns use the 32 fill
patterns to represent the colours,
it's hard to see if they are clashing
till the work is finished. The other
thing is that in one report the
colours mentioned by the submitter,
didn't match what I saw on the copy
on my screen. This is a new thing to
me and I have not got the theory at
this time.

Using Bruce Thomas's tutorial, or
really bits and pieces, I learned how
to make some circles and elongate
them for a sort of Egyptian
Cartouche. Still needs practice with
the size and with the colour choices,
I learned how to make a shadowed box,
and install text in it for the page.
Much more of course for me to learn
to present the layout right as 1
stumble along for the newsletter.

Problem here is that I have so many
ideas flooding in my mind. Well OK I
admit, what is left of my mind.
Monographs on different things for
the C=. Which I will probably torment
Nigel with and you the readers as
well. But not all the colour stuff,
just the text with attached images
for the work. CDs of C= things in
monographs with all this colour and
JPEG stuff. Now that is something
that can come about. Like for our
yearly MossyCon CD. OK many readers
are waiting for it from me. Yeah that
CD fanzine idea. Having the
adventures and articles in colour for
the Role Playing Games, but hey done
on the Commodore, in Geos with
GeoPub, PostPrint and GcoDos.

I Just convert that postscript file
to PDF on the Linux system. Seems so
logical in retrospect that I wonder
why others haven't done the same? Or
if they have, why I haven't heard
about it yet? Then I look at the lack
of information presented to us. I
mean there arc no documents that I
know of for postprint. COPS mailing
list has been very silent over the
past few months. How to find out the
information on that Linux tool, let
alone the fact that it existed is
also past me. And no "google" is not
my friend. I don't speak it's
language. OK I don't speak search
engine language at all.

So wrapping this up on page #4 in
GeoWrite. We can make PDF files
99.99% on the Commodore. 0.01% on
another PC platform. Allowing us to
make and share with non C= users our
work and interests. We can add colour
to the document and add JPEGs. You
can also add GIF and EPS
(encapsulated post script) images as
well. Just takes some practice to
gain the experience for a pretty
document, something that I lack at
this time. Still it blows the minds
of other PC users than C=. When they
sec the output! That is worth all the
hours I spent making the first colour
with JPEGs issue of our newsletter.
Also learned from T&E. Oh in parting,
since you are seeing this. Just have
to tell you that I wrote this in
GeoWrite (as if you hadn't guessed
already) Ran it through postprint and
added the kitty picture at the
bottom. Converted it to PDF all as
described in the preceding pages. In
case the image fails to come out,
I'll attach it as well to the email
that I will send to Nigel. Fingers,
toes and eyes crossed that this works
for CommodoreFree.

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

*************************************
Postscript Output From Geos
*************************************

Originally printed in one of the
early issue of Commodore free but
reprinted here due to requests about
Postscript printing

Clear professional printed output is
a requirement for any computer
systems; especially one Supporting a
word processor. There is a way using
just the standard version 2 of the
Commodore Geos operating system to
print to any Postscript laser
printers, the process has been
available for some time, but the cost
of a postscript printer may have
deterred some people from trying.

Quickly looking on eBay, many of
these postscript printers are being
disposed of very cheaply by there
owners, eager to upgrade to the
latest standard, or better models. If
you are looking for a printer ensure
its not a winprinter and works from
dos and Linux Expect to pay anything
from a few pounds to £50 I managed to
save an old LaserJet 4v PS (PS
standing for postscript) and all it
cost me was a car drive to collect.
(this must be the only stroke of luck
I ever had) remember some models
needed and extra Postscript
interpreter to work and are sold as
compatible you need to check it Will
print postscript output and the
cartridge is installed, otherwise you
could be looking at more expense.

POSTSCRIPT PRINTERS
Of course if you don't want to go to
the expense of buying a postscript
printer we can use the one connected
to your P.C. any printer will work
with this method. True the process is
a little more complicated and needs a
copy of the Geos postscript file
(created in the DISK section) copying
to a "foreign" computer platform.
Once copied to the foreign platform
we can then print the file using
whatever printer we have, postscript
or none postscript, inkjet, laser
almost anything..

GEOS
If you don't have a copy of Geos
already you need to buy or even
download the free Geos version files
from  www.cmdrkey.com, this version
cant use any of the commercial add on
software but does allow the use of
public domain applications and has a
built in word processor. At the time
of writing the full download link was
http://cmdrkey.com/cbm/geos
/geos1.html
select the version best for you, both
the 128 and 64 Versions can be
downloaded as individual parts or
disk images in d64 or d81 disk
formats. For the tutorial I have
downloaded the full version as a 1581
disk image.

Once the files are downloaded use
whatever method you are comfortable
with to extract the D64 or d81 image
to floppy disk or disks (depending on
the version selected). While we are
in the download mode I suggest you
should also head over to
http://members.shaw.ca/cue64/ and
download "Jim Collette GEOS software"
this has been given out as Public
Domain, and again at the time of
writing the direct link was
http://members.shaw.ca/cue64/collutil
html you should find two disk images,
while the software is free I suggest
downloading both files, again they
will need extracting from d64 images
to real disks. Of course you can use
these on an emulator if required but
nothing is as good as real hardware.

SETTING UP
Using Geos is quite painful with 1
disk drive so my system has 2 drives
connected, although It's possible to
run from 1 disk I would suggest a
minimum specification be 2 disks. If
you are out shopping a mouse would
also be an advantage, although Geos
will work with a joystick, but you
may find most of the time you will be
pulling out your hair out trying to
navigate with a joystick.

So here is my suggested minimum setup
Drive 1 1581 Drive (or 1541)
Drive 2 1541 Drive
Mouse 1 commodore mouse

First thing is to load Geos and set
the relevant preferences, so tell the
system you have a mouse and what size
and number of disk drives you will be
working with. This isn't a Geos
tutorial but C= + I (commodore key
and I ) will bring up the input
preferences use the cursors to move
around and return to OK. You also
need to look in the Configure and
select the number and type of drive,
ensure you save the settings.

You can purchase a Geo cable from
www.cmdrkey.com directly. (of course
good luck as Maurice is Years behind
with orders)On the Geos disks are
some fonts named LW_fontname these
need to be used in place of the
standard GEOS fonts as they are apple
laserwriter fonts (scalable fonts
built into all postscript printers,
these will produce the crisp output
we need) The other (none LW) fonts
are bitmaps see the diagrams below
the fonts supplies with Geos are
LW_roma
LW_cal
LW_greek
LW_Barrows.

The BSW font below is a bitmap notice
how blocky this is compared to the
other postscript fonts .

The Lw fonts are substituted for the
printers own internal scalable
postscript fonts.

Some more LW fonts are downloadable
from
http://www.zimmers.net/anonftp/pub
/cbm/geos/graphics/fonts/postscript
/index.
html
Also I found some from here
http://cmdrkey.com/cbm/genie/
GEOSFonts Listing.html find the files
named 13369 and 13368

Geos also contains some LW fonts, but
remember only the first 8 fonts are
available so you will need to
rearrange or delete some of the
bitmap fonts for Geos to be able to
use the LW fonts. Most magazines just
use 4 fonts for the entire
publication so I will go out on a
limb and suggest 4 fonts is enough
for anyone, remember you can use
bold, italic, outlined and underline
sub and superscript to enhance the
document as well as font sizes. Using
too many font variations make a
publication look tired and amateurish

PATCHING
This procedure will outline how to
patch GEOS so you can create
postscript file to transfer them to
another system and print files from
the "foreign" system. Also how to
Patch geos to print directly using a
Geo cable. Are we sitting
comfortably; good then we can begin!

Start Geos, now from the disk B of
our collete utilities you need to run
the file "ps.patch (disk)" as shown
below, If using the Geocable you need
to run the PS_PATCH (GC) the process
is more or less identical for both of
the versions.

The application will then start to
run and display a splash screen

Once the utility has initialised
itself (here we are using the print
to disk PS.Patch (disk) )you need to
go to the patch menu and click to
drag down the menu.

This gives 2 options one is to patch
Geo publisher printer output and the
other is for Geolaser, as we are
using the Free download of Geos we
cant use Geo-publish so we must use
the Geo-laser option, this will allow
printing to a postscript file from
the standard Geos applications, the
postscript file will be saved on the
disk from where the original document
is loaded, so ensure you have a disk
with enough room.

Select the Disk where the Geos system
files are to patch

The system will run and after a few
seconds, you should see the complete
dialogue box Appear. Now we just need
to test the patch to ensure
everything worked OK

One thing for the disk version is
that we need to download a copy of
Ghostscript (or similar) to allow
viewing of postscript files check out
the link. Versions of Ghostscript are
available for a Variety of machines
Apple-mac, Amiga, Linux, os2 and
Windows pc amongst others. Ensure you
download a copy of Ghost View this is
needed to view the files on screen,
and makes the process easier
http://www.cs.wisc.edu/~ghost/ once
downloaded read the Documentation and
get to know the programme.

I am working on a Windows PC so I
would do the following after the
installation of ghostscript and
ghostview

Testing Geolaser patch disk output
Start the Geowrite application and
write something inspirational to
print out

Save the text and close GEOwrite we
don't print from this we have to use
Geolaser, Run GEOlaser application it
will initialise and provide us with
an options box

Don't change the settings as we are
printing to a file and not a Serial
printer so they don't make any
difference. Then click OK

Work begins formatting the original
document to a postscript file, this
is quite a lengthy process even for a
few lines of text, if your working on
something a page in length I suggest
making a good cup of strong tea and
maybe a short-ish book or magazine.

The postscript printed files now need
Extracting from commodore disks to a
pc compatible format so use whatever
process you are comfortable with to
do this procedure.

Start the Ghostview application and
drag the geos postscript file onto
the ghostview screen as shown below a
preview will appear of the text

From the File menu you can even
convert the file to a PDF for
distribution on the internet. Of
course clicking File and print will
print the Text to your PC`s attached
printer, whatever make or model you
have, that is of course assuming you
have installed the required printer
driver for the model.

GEO CABLE
Of course you will need a special
cable for this option called a Geo
cable they are available from Maurice
Randel www.cmdrkey.com, the cable
connects the Commodore 64 to any
standard Centronics printer
interface. The process is simpler as
your file will be sent directly to
the printer as a postscript document.
The printers processor will interpret
the commands and format the page,
then print out a sharp quality
document direct to your postscript
connected printer that could have
been produced from any machine.

Another other useful website
Foreign characters output from Geos
http://web.mit.edu/randy/www/antigrav
/laserpatch.html

Writer Commodore Free
Written originally for Commodore
Scene magazine (c)2006 (updated 2009)

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