Hack57.Run a Commodore 64

Hack 57. Run a Commodore 64

Learn what you'll need to get a real live C64 computer up and running again .

When I was in high school in the 1980s, the Commodore 64 was one of the computers to have. One friend of mine had a Commodore 64 decked out with an amazing array of music software and hardware. I'm sure my memory is exaggerating, but I swear, it looked like a huge rack of professional music equipment, and I was blown away by the sounds he was getting out of the whole package.

I was one of those Atari kids myself . I had an Atari 400 that I had upgraded to 48k (one of my few soldering projects that didn't end with me passing out from the smell of burning plastic), but I envied my C64-owning friends . Not that I wanted to give up my Atari in exchange for what they had, rather I'd have been happy with both. I finally came into a Commodore 64 a few years ago, when my stepson went off to college (he got it from his uncle) and left his behind. It still works, and many of the floppies are still in perfect shape.

There are a few ways to run a Commodore 64, and only one of them requires a real Commodore 64. I'll get to the real thing last.

5.6.1. Emulators and Things Suspected of Being Emulators

Of course, it's no secret that you can run a Commodore 64 emulator on all sorts of devices [Hack #58] , but there are a couple of hardware options available to you, and both of them were invented by the same person. Jeri Ellsworth invented the C-One, a single board computer that is not an emulator, but a reimplementation of the original C64 hardware. Because it's based on chip technology that can be reprogrammed to its very core , the C-One is known as "the reconfigurable computer," and been extended to emulate other 8-bit computersit's sort of like a hardware version of MESS [Hack #33] . You can find more information on the C-One at http://c64upgra.de/c-one/.

Jeri Ellsworth didn't stop with the C-One. Her next project was the C64 Direct-to-TV (http://www.mammothtoys.com/products.htm), which is a Commodore 64 with thirty built-in games, all packaged inside a joystick. Unlike many of the joystick games on the market, the C64 Direct-to-TV is expandable. You'll find solder points on the circuit board where you can connect a PS2 keyboard and a Commodore 64 floppy drive, turning the C64 Direct-to-TV into a nice little modern Commodore 64 clone. You can find more information about hacking a keyboard and floppy drive into the C64 Direct-to-TV at http://dtvhacking. info . The Direct-to-TV is available at http://www.qvc.com and some retail outlets. Figure 5-10 shows the Direct-to-TV.

Figure 5-10. There's a Commodore 64 packed into this little joystick

5.6.2. Set Up a Real Commodore 64

All you need to enjoy C64 retrogaming the way it was meant to be experienced is a Commodore 64, a television, and some games. If your games are on disk or cassette, you'll need a Commodore disk drive or cassette player.

If you dig your Commodore out of the attic or purchase it on eBay, you'll probably find almost everything you need. The power supply, Commodore, disk (or cassette) drive should be there, and hopefully you'll have a joystick, but you'll probably be missing the videogame signal splitter and the RCA cable to connect it to your Commodore.

Ever wonder where all those video game splitters went? Are they in the same place as all those missing socks? Many of them got borrowed for use with other systems over the years. However, the fact that many of them have adhesive on them means that they are probably still glued to whichever TV you were using them with 20 years ago.

Fortunately, video game splitters are really easy to find. RadioShack Video/Game Built-In Signal Splitter (Catalog number 15-1268) will do the trick. But don't use any old RCA cable to connect the Commodore to the splitter. Make sure you're using something with enough shielding to avoid interference. When I first set up my Commodore 64, all I had was a lightweight video cable, and the signal wasn't that great.

If you have a monitor or TV capable of taking a composite or S-Video signal, you can use the monitor port on the back of the Commodore 64 with the appropriate cable. If you don't have them, they are easy to build and require only a minimum of soldering. See http://sta.c64.org/cables.html for links to instructions on building various Commodore 64 cables.

Once you've got everything you need to set up your Commodore 64, plug everything in (connect the power last) and start it up. Figure 5-11 shows my family's Commodore 64 up and running.

When you first boot up your Commodore, you'll be greeted by the BASIC interpreter's "READY." prompt. Now that you've got your Commodore 64 up and running, you'll need to work with files. Whether you want to load a game or save a cool BASIC program you've written, you'll probably be working with a cassette or floppy drive.

Cassette drive

The cassette drive uses standard audio tapes and lays down its track as a big stream of data. Cassettes usually aren't sliced up into files the way a disk is. Most of the cassette drives you encounter on retro systems treat the tape as a forward-only stream, so there's no random access.

Figure 5-11. Still 8-bit after all these years

There's nothing keeping a programmer from storing multiple consecutive streams of data on a cassette, but in most cases, you are going to rewind the tape to the beginning, type "LOAD" on the keyboard, and wait for the C64 to ask you to "PRESS PLAY ON TAPE." You should get another prompt shortly, "FOUND PROGRAM NAME ," at which point you need to press the C= key on the keyboard to load the program. Be prepared to wait ten minutes or more for the program to load.

To save a file, use the SAVE command followed by a program name (up to 16 characters ) in quotes. You should rewind the cassette or position it to where you want to save the file first:

   SAVE "PROGRAM.BAS"   

Floppy drive

Commodore floppy drives use 5-1/4 inch floppy disks with a rudimentary file system (16-character filenames, no support for subdirectories). Most game disks are set up so that the first file on the disk is the game you want (but read the disk label for special instructions). This convention lets you use the shortcut "*" as the filename, so this command will usually load what you want (8 is the ID of the disk drive):

 LOAD "*",8 

You can load a specific file by typing its name in place of the *. To get a listing of files on the disk, use these commands:

 LOAD "$",8 LIST 

Note that LOAD will blow away any BASIC program that you have loaded, since you can only have one program loaded at a time.

To save a file, use the SAVE command:

 SAVE   "FILENAME   ",8 

You can delete a file with these cryptic commands (replace PROGRAM NAME with your filename):

 OPEN 1,8,15,"S0:   PROGRAM NAME"   CLOSE 1 

To format a floppy disk, these commands will do the trick:

 OPEN 15,8,15:PRINT# 15,"N:   DISKNAME,ID"   CLOSE 

Flash memory

Floppy disks and cassettes wear out over time, and since the drives involve plenty of moving parts , they are prone to failure as well. There are a couple of products available for using flash memory as a storage medium for your Commodore 64. Even the smallest flash memory card is huge by Commodore 64 standards (where a floppy disk holds a mere 170k per side).

MMC64

The MMC64 (http://ami.ga/) plugs into the Commodore 64's expansion slot, and supports MMC and SDIO flash memory cards formatted as FAT16. It has an integrated filesystem browser, supports D64 disk images [Hack #58] , and has an integrated SID player.

IDE64

The IDE64 (http://www.volny.cz/dundera/) also plugs into the Commodore 64 and 128 expansion slot, and not only supports flash memory (Compact Flash), but also supports hard drives up to 8GB as well as ATAPI CD-ROM drives.

In some cases, you may need to type RUN after a program loads. Otherwise, it should start itself. However, check the label on the tape, floppy, or look at any accompanying documentation for any specific instructions. There is a lot more you can do with your Commodore, such as writing your own BASIC programs, finding type-in programs on the Internet and in old magazines, and downloading software from the Internet [Hack #58] .

Brian Jepson