C64 Emulator - CCS64, a dream come true!

So, I’ve had the old Commodore 64, disk drive, printer, joy sticks and a whole whack of games sitting in a box. One day about 10 years ago after moving to a new place, I had re opened the box and was sifting through it thinking to myself; it sure would be fun to get this machine working again. I did some searches on the internet on how to fix it, sell it for parts or port the games. All the searches were an interesting read but I came across something more curious-- a program which was a Commodore 64… could it be possible?

It was and still is! You can obtain the emulator from: http://www.ccs64.com. It was made by Mr. Per Hakan Sundell and had been revised and upgraded multiple times since his first release in 1995. Every revision seems to make things run smoother and he had added more features which I have yet to use.

I’ve been using the Commodore 64 now for a few years as an emulator. I find it works just the same including the signature wait time to load a program. The emulator has some enhancements to speed things up but the load time is still slow. I figure it is that realistic charm that we miss.

When you run the emulator it turns on exactly like how you would see the original Commodore 64 work. The real difference is a menu appears at the top of the window. From the menu you have different options. The nice thing about this program is that is is easy to use and you can read the manual too.

Okay this is great, we have an emulator but where are the games? Well, in my searches I also came upon a great resource for that: http://c64.com. A site just filled with games and dedicated to the preservation of the cause. I now have most of my collection back. The files used by the emulator are tiny, formatted as (*.D64) and you can also obtain cartridge images too (*.CRT).

Each file is technically an image of a floppy. In the emulator, select from the menu drop down options or the options found with F9 what your drive 8 is (you have drives 8,9,10 and 11 available) and select the disk file that you will use. Once the image is selected, the emulator will remember what disk is ‘in the drive’! At this point you can choose to load the game here or return to the main screen and manually do it – remember those old LOAD commands?

You’re probably going to want to configure a joystick or key set before you load anything up. This is done again through the menus or F9, options then input. When loading up different games it’s nice to know that ALT-F10 will switch the control from one port to the other on the fly. I haven’t used the 2-player mode so I have no idea what that looks like but I do use both the keyboard and the joystick depending on the games. As for the speacial C= keys, you will have to learn where they are. For example ESC is the RUN/STOP.

I have to say that the program-emulator is easy to use and easy to navigate in. Some menus will show extended features and settings. I was able to run through the system and make it play a game without referring to the manual but it is a good reference. There are all kinds of features and settings, if the games run fine I wouldn’t bother messing around.

Obviously this program emulates the Commodore but it does have some limitations being a virtual machine. Do experiment with it and see what can be done. Currently, I’m trying to figure out if I can run a virtual 1200bps modem in a terminal program or a BBS… Stay Tuned. Working with this apparent old technology is more of a hobby then anything else and its fun.

There are plenty of forums and other sites dedicated to the running and modification of this emulator and even attachments to port games. If you haven’t already dabbled with the emulator I implore you to do so, help keep the Commodore 64 alive!

Movie Review -Pirates of Silicone Valley (1999)

Have you ever wanted to know more about Apple or Microsoft? I have the perfect solution for you!

So, during the late 1970’s Commodore may have been responsible for the mass distribution of a home computer system that was affordable; computers for the masses not the classes. Apple and Microsoft were in their infancy while IBM was only involved in large mainframe business computers. A TV movie was made with their story of entering the home computer market called “The Pirates of Silicon Valley” (1999)

It’s pretty hard to summarize the movie because it’s more of a documentary than a movie with a plot but I will go over some key points.

The movie explores Bill Gates and the motivation behind creating MSDOS. It all started with an article in the 1976 Popular Electronics showing an Altair 8800 by MITS which was showcased. Bill Gates and Paul Allen had already dabbled with programming (BASIC) and came up with the idea to make an operation system interpreter for it. They spent multiple hours designing software for it and came up with Altair BASIC and presented it to the company. Bill Gates and Paul Allen set up the company for which is known as MICROSOFT and was successful in a contract with MITS.

In 1980 IBM contacted Microsoft to ask for an operating system which was to be installed on a personal computer 8086 series processor. Prior to that IBM only had business type computers in racks and terminal connections, nothing like what we have today. It was IBM’s attempt to launch into the home computer market. It was then that the deal was made. Instead of charging a one time licence to use MSDOS, Microsoft would charge royalties. It was a move that would make Microsoft the kingpin in the IBM / IBM clone market. A hard lesson was learned when BASIC was sold as a one time fee to Commodore.

While Bill and Paul were busy creating Altair Basic, the makers of Apple Computers; Steve Jobs and Steve Wozniak were hard at work creating their first version of the Apple computer. They had presented the computer at their Homebrew Club and started getting orders for it. The buzz had gotten out and within a few months, investor Mike Markkula paid them a visit and sold the two Steves on the idea of an incorporated business partnership. The Apple I was primitive but a newly enhanced version of it dubbed Apple II was launched in 1977. What was not explored is how the Apple I was made. Did you know that they used a MOS Technology CPU 6502 (the same chip used in the Commodore 64, Atari 2600 and even in future Apple models). As a side note: MOS Technologies was acquired by Commodore around late 1976.

There was also a relationship between Apple and Microsoft. In 1977, Apple needed an interpreter for their computers and had contacted Microsoft for a licence to BASIC. In the film it shows Bill Gates being snubbed by Steve Jobs at the consumer electronics show when he tried to speak to him. At that point Apple was big and had a crowd around their booth. Bill was at the show with MITS. * What was odd is that Commodore was no where to be found, not even a shot of a booth, YET they had released the PET computer in the same year and Radio Shack also released the TRS-80. Together, the three of them would become known as ‘the trinity’. They would rule the computer market for the next few years.

In the film, Apple and Microsoft had a bit of a falling out sometime in the early 1980’s. Ever since then, Steve Jobs had been bent on destroying Microsoft. It all started when Steve Jobs had invited Bill Gates to view the next generation computer with a graphical user interface. Bill was to aid Steve in development but later accused Bill of taking the concept of the GUI (graphics user interface) and copying it. Well, Bill did take certain aspects of it and was supposed to help Apple in development but instead created Microsoft Windows which he tried to sell to IBM. I don’t know how accurate the film is to real historical events but if it is any indication of how things went down, it's definitely a prime example of how much of a shrewd businessman Bill Gates is. The funny thing is the movie shows Steve Jobs was invited to Xerox to see their copier stuff, strange it was a graphical interface used on the copiers. This led to Steve adapting a GUI feel in the Apple Lisa.

The movie progresses and shows how both heavyweights gain an upper hand and how they deal with their competition. I really do recommend seeing this documentary style movie. It’s an inside look at the industry without being ‘dry’ and boring. It’s just amazing to see how things have played out and progressed to what they are now.

Book Review- Commodore: A company on the Edge

It is with great pleasure that I present my book review; “Commodore: A Company on the Edge” by Brian Bagnall. I waited almost 2 years for this book to come out! This appears to be the 2nd printing which had also been revised.

This book reads very well. It traces the history of the company and explores the beginnings of a computer empire. I really enjoyed reading it, as a long time fan, this is definitely a must have. Commodore is one of the first companies to market a computer to be used in business and later for home use.

This book gives your first hand accounts of the activities of the company and even gives you an inside look into the heads of key personnel who had been interviewed. With every turn of the page, I began to appreciate even more what Commodore did for us all.

You know that they were the first ones to sell 1 million units of personal computers. They gave us a computer with colour, sound and the ability to telecommunicate. Commodore was also one of the only companies at the time that could design and make their own processors.

If something is to be said about the journey, it was a bumpy road. When I was done the book I was mad. Mad because Commodore was truly on the edge of becoming a microcomputer superpower and they lost it all. The issues really stemmed down to mismanagement, misappropriation of funds, greed, pride, misinformed decisions and questionable business practices in short a mess of inexperience.

It wasn’t all bad because Commodore did achieve a strong hold in the market beating out Apple, IBM and Radio Shack. As such, they were able to lay the foundation to what we know to be the computer industry today. Commodore had fantastic success in a nonexistent personal computer market and can be contributed as a pioneer. The question I have is why are they not recognized for their contribution?

There is definitely a lot to this book and too much detail to get into but I hope you will decide to pick it up and read it, you will not be disappointed. So much so that I feel inspired to re live the Commodore days and keep the memories alive.

My Commodore 64

I grew up during the 1980’s and have fond memories of the Commodore 64. I still remember when my Dad purchased it from our local Kmart back in 1984 and brought it home. It was almost like getting a puppy. While most kids enjoyed playing with Transformers, Hot Wheels or GI Joe, I was playing with my computer. I did have those other toys of course but the computer was my favorite.

Some of the first games I had were in the form of cartridges; Gorf, Lazerus and Math Tumblers. Armed with two joysticks and a tape drive I remember spending a lot time with it. The tape drive didn’t last long, too slow to operate and so it was returned for a disk drive.

As time went on, the popularity of the computer found its way into schools. What was nice is my school offered summer classes in learning the Commodore 64. So in the summer of 1986 I enrolled. They were teaching basic programming and LOGO. I also met other kids who had the same computer. With every year that passed I became friends with more and more users and even traded games.

While school projects became involved, the computer proved to be helpful with the use of a word processor called “Paperclip 64”. The program was as barebones as you can get by today’s standards but was a means to making my essay presentable. Although the idea of a home computer had been around for a bit now, only a handful of classmates had access to one to use for their projects.

The real fun came in 1989 with the purchase of a 1200bps modem. I was now able to access bulletin board systems (BBS) via telephone lines. This was a whole new world and allowed me to meet up with other users situated within our ‘local’ calling area which was typically the whole city and part other cities. I even became involved in a user group. In retrospect I was apart of something big and the very early days of the information age to come.

The computer was pretty reliable over the years. The power supply had to be replaced once and disk drive had to be fixed but around 1993 for unknown reasons my Commodore 64 and the disk drive stopped working. While it could have been replaced, the market was clear that it was time to move on to another system which had greater capabilities.

The fun and memories will never be replaced and I owe thanks to Commodore for making it possible for a child to grow up being able to interact with a computer. It set the stage for the years to come. When I realized that Nintendo Game System was an option around the same time I had asked my Dad why he didn’t get that. His reply was that it was only a game system and he wanted me to learn on as well.

I still have the computer, drive, printer and all the games in a box and although they are not as cuddly as a cherished teddy I just don’t want to part with it… yet. So instead I will memorize it through my blog.

I got thinking one day what ever happened to Commodore and why don’t they exist today? I did some searching and found a book titled “Commodore: A Company on the Edge” by Brian Bagnall.

This explains everything and I’ll be giving you all a review on it. Stay tuned.

Introduction to the Commodore 64

Hi,

Welcome to my blog. If you haven’t already figured out, the main focus will be primarily the Commodore 64 but will also feature computer related topics and discussion.

It’s quite possible you may not have heard of what the Commodore 64 computer is, so let’s begin there.

The Commodore 64 was released August 1982 by Commodore Business Machines (CBM). The computer is self contained within a plastic case with a built in keyboard. It uses an external power supply pack. The computer also has an output for which a monitor or TV would be hooked up. Two joystick ports are located on the right hand side and on the back you will find a cartridge/user slot. Also located on the back are two DIN plug serial ports for connecting of disk drives, tape drives or a printer.

The on-board memory was only 64K but the graphics and sound that would emanate from the machine were amazing. The video display is a 320X200 with 16 colours. Processing all that is a MOS Technology 6510/6502 chip set running 8 bits clocked at 1.023 MHZ. The computer came preloaded with BASIC care of our good friend Bill Gates of Microsoft.

When flipped on, you are shown a soothing two-tone blue screen flicker on and greet you. The system is ready to be instructed and you knew it.

At this point you could insert a disk into an external drive and load up the program of your choice simply by typing in a few commands (similar to DOS). If you wanted to use the cartridge or user port, locate the big slot on the back and insert the cartridge, making sure the power switch is off first.

The Commodore 64 was very versatile and easy to use. The instruction hand book was a good reference. If you wanted to learn more, books would be available at the library for loan. Some weekends were spent just typing out programs and then debugging only to find that for some reason it still didn’t work.

When the computer came out swinging, the price to purchase was about $595 US. The machine was actually a successor to the VIC-20 (which looked much the same but with less memory). The Commodore 64 was available for a period of 12 years with production ending in April 1994 but not before it had a face lift in 1986 with a fresh new look.

Commodore had made a name for it’s self over the years and it’s amazing how a typewriter company turned to calculators and then later with the acquisition of MOS Technologies they were able to make a mark in the computer industry.

Commodore continued to provide products after the C64 including C128 and the Amiga line but Commodore could not keep up with technological changes that IBM PC & Apple had now dictated. As such consumer demand shifted and Commodore had lost market share therefore contributing to the end of the Commodore Empire.

Stay tuned for my story….