Garak

Neither do I. I was just having some fun with your comment. I wouldn't hurt the two 800XL computers I have, I intend to use them next to my Commodores when I get things more situated with room to do so. I completely agree with this. That's the good part of discussions like these. True... but that's usually the C64 palette being used in a non-thought out way. A lot of games (especially newer ones) and many Scene productions use the palette in quite a non-cartoonish way. My other point from a previous post was that the myth still seems to be spread that Commodore engineers borrowed lots of ideas from the Atari chipset for the VIC-II. However, the VIC-II was a natural step up of the VIC-I in the VIC-20. Garak

Don't worry, I have some perfectly good and working 800XLs which I can do the same to. Garak I am in the recycling business as an aspect of my company, I have smashed hundreds. I like to use a sledge. Oh well. It's not like there aren't any Atari getting recycled elsewhere you know. Garak

Not this again. Sorry, but they already had the original VIC I to look at for improvement. Don't worry, I have some perfectly good and working 800XLs which I can do the same to. Garak

I believe Jens Schoenfeld of Individual Computers was manufacturing new ones. Even in various colors IIRC. Don't know if he still is or not. Garak

The flickering was probably due to timing issues depending on if you were running NTSC Ballblazer on PAL C64 or PAL Ballblazer on NTSC C64. Garak

I believe the forum is setup quite nicely as it is now. You mean commercial games you can buy in a store from the current Atari name owners? That can easily be discussed in "Modern Gaming". Homebrew games for older systems? Those can be discussed in "Homebrew Discussion" forum. "Modern Gaming" forum. In any of the forums for one of the systems in a system x vs. system y discussion or even "Classic Gaming General" forum. Do you mean independently made hardware for older systems? The "Hardware" forum is a good place for that. If you mean new Atari systems like the Flashback. Those can be discussed in "Atari Flashback Consoles" sub-forum of "Dedicated Systems" forum. Wouldn't be too hard to find those topics in my opinion. Also, moderators will move things to their appropriate places if so needed. Garak

A little clarification on the "The Commodore 64 Scene Database" (CSDB) site. It is not a catch-all site or database for everything and anything Commodore. It is a C64 Scene site that collects information of only C64 Scene history, members, and releases. Garak

It's been a fairly well known bit of information in the Commodore newsgroups like comp.sys.cbm (from where that "article" was taken from) and various C64 related web forums for years. Yes and still relevant. That's because it's a possible problem that one should be aware of. Here? More recent info? This is an Atari forum you know not a Commodore one. More recent info about what anyway? It you want to be certain nothing can be damaged then stick a few diodes in, if not don't. Garak

Ordinary? Perhaps. Overall though I'm just plain simple Garak. What I do know is that I have some pants to alter for a customer. Now, if you'll excuse me... my shop awaits.

Yes, however, any Sega (Master System or Genesis) controller can possibly damage the CIA chip which handles the keyboard and joystick port processing on a C64 and a C128. The fix to make Sega controllers safer would be to put diodes on all directional and fire button lines. More info on why the damage can occur and the fix can be found at the Commodore Knowledge Base article here. Garak

Oop, got carried away and failed to mention that drive hardware will work on the VIC-20. The other hardware listed (like ethernet) are most likely C64 specific and won't work on a VIC-20. Garak

Beside the MMC2IE, there are quite a few drive devices that exist. A thread at Lemon64 has been started to list all new hardware ranging from drives to ethernet hardware. Be aware that the list was just started recently and is not nearly complete yet. You can find it here. Other ways are using a cable and software like 64HDD or VC1541 (sorry no link for this). Also, a great VIC-20 site is the "Denial" site I linked to in an above post. Garak

That's probably not going to change since the VIC-20 was capable of so many different memory configurations based on the amount of ram expansion/size of cart was attached. Like Random Terrain I haven't found it too difficult to use either. VICE is the only one, PC wise. VICE is the only up-to-date (and still updated) PC VIC-20 emulator[1]. All the other PC VIC-20 emulators out there have long ceased being worked on and aren't nearly as accurate. Hopefully, gklinger will see this thread as he's more current on the VIC-20 part of the Commodore world then I am. Also, it wouldn't hurt to go to Denial which is an active VIC-20 site with forum. Garak [1] Power 20 for the Mac is still being updated and should be accurate. However, even though I haven't used it, the memory configuring is probably similar to the other emulators you've found.

We try, believe me, we try. I don't think it was something they thought of as they were designing the C64. I think it was just an un-thought of side effect of designing the keyboard matrix (which was brought over from the VIC-20) together with the decision to use the one of two CIA's for inputs. It definitely wasn't intentional as the keys that "map" to both of the joystick directionals and fire buttons don't make a whole lot of sense. Garak

What Mayhem and Random Terrain were kind of hinting at is you probably have the joystick in the wrong port (ie. port #1). The majority of all C64 games (I'd guess around 98%) all use joystick port #2 for games. Try connecting your joystick to port #2 and I'll bet you be able to play the game. Why port #2? The same CIA that handles keyboard input also handles joystick input. It's just easier from a coding perspective to use port #2 since it is less tied to important keys on the keyboard. If you were coding a game that uses the keyboard and uses port #1 I believe[1] you'd have to: turn off the keyboard - then check the joystick; turn on the keyboard check for presses - ignore joystick port #1; repeat. Port #2 "maps" to unimportant keys so it's less of a pain to deal with. Garak [1] All from what I remember since I haven't coded C64 specific stuff for a very long time. Someone like TMR or Macbeth who are members here could be more specific.

Not for those of us who frequent a certain other forum. Garak

Heh, thanks. For being another BBS'er so do you. Of course. I'd use my C64 for that but I've haven't things setup right now. Used to use it occasionally in the early 90's. Had a terminal program that could do a 'pseudo' 80 columns on screen. Actually was quite readable on the tv. The program could be set for ANSI and iirc had a PC ASCII (with the extended graphic chars) font. I currently use my PC and SyncTerm. I should try that. I believe SyncTerm supports ATASCII so I'm half way there already. Glad the BBS days haven't ended. I'm glad to see all the Atari, Commodore, and PC boards up currently. Garak (Former co-sysop of a Pittsburgh based PC BBS in the mid-90's)

Ah, yes, Legend of the Red Dragon... also: Usurper, Arrowbridge, Yankee Trader, Tradewars, Barren Realms Elite and too many other great games to mention. Obviously another vote here for BBS gaming. The only online gaming I find worthwhile. Garak

At the very least: "Hard 'n Heavy". Garak

"Omega Race" and "Qix". Garak

Not really, below is a small sampling of either forum, download, or both in one sites off the top of my head: Any Commodore 8-bit: PETSCII Forums http://www.commodore.ca comp.sys.cbm (Usenet) comp.emulators.cbm (Usenet) alt.c64 (Usenet) C64: Lemon64 Gamebase64 VIC 20: Denial Gamebase Vic 20 C16/Plus 4: Plus/4 World Commodore 16 Amiga: Lemon Amiga http://amiga.org C128: Commodore 128 Alive The CD32 info would most likely be found in the Amiga sites. Not an Amiga person myself so my knowledge of those things are limited. Oh, we had a gaming platform or two see The Secret Weapons of Commodore site.

For the sake of completeness, the Commodore 65 had a 3.5" drive built-in. Garak

No, it's ISO/ANSI. I don't think K&R syntax would work in CC65. I also, like TMR, second using the Slang language.

Is it "anal" to insist on something being correctly used? If someone went around saying 2+2 was 18 would it be "anal" to correct that person or would it be the right thing to do? I guess by how you stated the above that the Atari community isn't "anal". Therefore, I assume then that if someone went into the 2600 forum and kept referring to the 2600 as the 7800 absolutely no one would correct that person? The other reason is what Mayhem posted about the various formats. Garak