Update: 20220514 – Vic Graf cartridge and more
Manual : https://archive.org/details/VIC_Graf_1982_Commodore/page/n11/mode/2up
I’ve got a load of cartridges, some of them i tested:
As posted before ( https://www.henriaanstoot.nl/2022/04/09/c64-plus-drive-running-again/ ) i’ve got a little gadget which emulates a C64 diskdrive.
I’ve been using this for a while now, and i’m really impressed by it. It just connects to the Serial Din of your C64, draws power from the Cassette port. … And even looks like a mini drive!
I’ve been converting Disks to images as well as runnig previously converted D64 images on a real C64 again.
Also the internet provides loads of images to run again.
Converting and running:
There is a disk selector and run program you can use. (See below)
Also you can use the buttons for disk swap/change.
One from my collection: A training kit for learning to write machine language.
Update: 20220514 – Save and Load a program
Update: 20220829 – Mad-1 computer runaway movie
A little example, life programming a little machine code.
ORG 1800
0E 80 ; LD C,0
21 C0 00 ; LD HL,00C0
CD E4 05 ; CALL 0X05E4
0E 01 ; LD C,0
21 00 01 ; LD HL,0100
CD E4 05 ; CALL 0X05E4
C3 00 18 ; JMP 0X1800Found this cameo in the movie “Runaway”
Using a tape and COMX-35 cassette player, i can store and retreive programs
Above i mentioned a Runaway Cameo .. well there is a MAD-1 system cameo also. (Which also i in my collection)
Part 1 of my 680x computer.
Running a little program to read dipswitches and displaying them using leds.
0000 CE 8020 ; LDX #$8020
0003 6A 01 ; DEC 1,X
0005 86 04 ; LDA A A
0007 A7 02 ; STA A 2,X
0009 A7 03 ; STA A 3,X
000B A6 00 ; LDA A 0,X
000D A7 01 ; STA A 1,X
000F 20 FA ; BRADesign of sound chip intergration
I found a cassette tape yesterday. I was really curious .. dont remember making this.
Connected a tape drive to my C64 and tried to get the damn thing to read the tape.
Got stuck on READY’s with no programs. Being a little rusty into using C64 i tried:
Maybe there was a turbo loader used?
Maybe my tape unit wasn’t aligned?
Tried multiple tape units, couldnt find a Tape Head Alignment Program like:
So i used another method to see if data was recoverable.
Using UberCassette or AudioTap
Above are two examples with uses recorded wave files and calculations to generate the original written bits!
Recorded the tape to mono wav file using a generic linux recording application.
ubercassette taperecording.wav mytape.tap For my amiga i started to build a floppy disk reader/writer using a arduino.
I found a superb project by rob smith.
It uses only a arduino pro and a FTDI USB to serial breakout board, to raw read and write disks.
I wanted to convert my own created amiga disks to PC image to use in a emulator like vice.
http://amiga.robsmithdev.co.uk/instructions/promini
I’m not going to copy his website, with all instructions. Only my personal experiences.
Starting with … don’t use a IDE cable, and start soldering .. it is a diskdrive cable .. connector doesn’t fit! ..
Getting components and flashing arduino … no brainer
Got a working amiga again. \o/ woot
Needed to replace Paula chip, cleaning and some TLC.
Scart cable i’ve got is one without the resistors, so my monitor isn’t detecting the signal.
Using a A520 modulator works. At least RF, don’t know why RCA/composite video isn’t working.
Even a memory expansion and second drive (5.24 inch) are working.
To do:
Disks to convert:
Got another one running today also:
A long time ago i took a book about doing funny stuff in dos, and wrote own additions in the sidelines of the book. Or used the empty pages.
It contains jokes using autoexec.bat and config.sys. Additions by me are most of the time things you could do with debug.com, a little program which existed on any pc at that time.
A little program which created static on a CGA or Hercules monitor. Yes, that long ago. CGA provided 16 colors in 80×25 or 40×25 text modes, but only four colors at 320×200 resolution and two colors at 640×200. Hercules was only monochrome and a max resolution of 720×348. It was on a hercules card i made my first copperbar. ( Before the effect was named copperbar ). Due to difference in timing on every machine, you had to get the copperbar timing right by using two keys i’d assigned the timing to.
MOV AL,00 # Fill AL register with 0
MOV DX,0x03D8 (cga) 03B8 (herc)# DX with address
OUT DX,AL # Set address with AL
MOV AL,[0101] # Reg AL with contents
INC AL # Increment AL
MOV [0101],AL # Address fill with AL
JMP 100 # Jump to startThe opcodes for the program :
b0 00
66 ba d8 03
ee
a0 41 00 00 00
fe c0
a2 41 00 00 00
e9 60 00 00 00Sometimes i put these little programs in autoexec.bat, so at next restart of the pc, it would do something weird. My little BOFH jokes. Friends and computerstores where not safe.
Another example:
Two drives in a PC ? (Wie A: zegt moet ook B: zeggen)
Use with care, below will f*ck up your drives. (And makes a lot of noise while doing so.)
MOV DX,0x03F2
MOV AL,71
OUT DX,AL
MOV AL,74
OUT DX,AL
JMP 100( https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Floppy-disk_controller )
20220502: Fixed another C64, PIA (Peripheral Interface Adapter) was dead, luckily i’ve got several spare-part c64’s. So that was a easy fix.
20220504: Got my sd2iec adaptor in, see bottom of this page.
Drive is a 1541model 2
De wires are going to the DOUT pins of the memory chips. Showing activity using leds. Sometimes i monitored CS .. also informative.
SD2IES Cardreader
Little small funky gadget, it replaces a 1541 Floppy drive with a SDCard reader where you can store a lot of floppydisk images on.
More on this later.
NOTE : Doesn’t work together with my KCS Power cartridge.
I’ve tested two cartridges.
Final cartridge III fastload test on a program did ~3 seconds. ( Normal load time ~17 seconds. ) KCS powercartridge didn’t work. Tip: press `runstop` when using FC3 while turning on to get into basic not the desktop.
Don’t get me wrong, its a wonderful tool.
In the past i created a lot of websites. From scratch. I wanted to learn html and using databases. Sites got bigger and bigger, most of them personal interest. But there where several work and music band related websites.
Besides that my pipetunesearch pet project, which lasted 20 years. This one started as ‘how to create a php website with a database backend’
So why hating wordpress? It’s all being done for you, but i want do it yourself and learn from it.
I’ve made several sites with their own CMS. No way secure, but secure by obsurity, whereas wordpress sites a being hacked with zeroday exploits using bots. No-one WANTED, even to hack mine.
I started with SSI (server site includes), php3, cgi scripts in bash/perl/c etcetera. I loved (and still do) interactive websites, connection to a backend, reacting on user input. Sometimes while doing so, creating a thing before it was a thing.
For my webcam, which wasn’t anything more dan a video capturing card, with a simple composite little B/W camera. This camera was mounted on some big steppermotors, and held in place by a chunk of metal, machined by a friend of mine.
I learned to make streaming webcams by generating a progressive jpg being created by a cgi script. Controlling the movement was done by .. by anything which i needed to get things working. I think i where several binaries written in C and glued together with perl or bash. Pushing the little control buttons always send the user to the next page. Reloading and restarting the webcam stream.
Then i found the 402 no content header, sending this to the browser kept it from progressing to the next page.
Loads of problems to overcome, but learned a lot!
Sometimes you have to choose.
DIY or NOT. Flacky or proven to work for many, made by many.