Fyrri Posted February 2, 2011 Share Posted February 2, 2011 I got it awhile ago, and am finally getting a datasette for it. I heard that the datasette could be used to play back-up cassettes, but it didn't really tell me how to go about it. Does anyone know how, or know where to find a detailed guide? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GroovyBee Posted February 2, 2011 Share Posted February 2, 2011 Welcome to AA! Are you in Denial? Plenty of information there. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mirage Posted February 2, 2011 Share Posted February 2, 2011 Here is the user's manual. But the short instructions are: Type LOAD and hit enter/return. Then press PLAY on the tape unit. When it finds a file, it will tell you it's loading. It's normal for the screen to go blank while the tape is running. Have fun. cassette.pdf Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Fyrri Posted February 2, 2011 Author Share Posted February 2, 2011 (edited) Here is the user's manual. But the short instructions are: Type LOAD and hit enter/return. Then press PLAY on the tape unit. When it finds a file, it will tell you it's loading. It's normal for the screen to go blank while the tape is running. Have fun. cassette.pdf Thanks! I've been lurking for a long time, and finally decided to register. I should have worded the question differently... I'd like to know how to back up the *.TAP files onto a cassette for use in my VIC. Edited February 2, 2011 by Fyrri Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mirage Posted February 2, 2011 Share Posted February 2, 2011 OH, LOL that's entirely different. I'm sure the guys at Denial could help you with that if no one here can. I've never had any reason to do that. Welcome though, stick around and hang out. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
98PaceCar Posted February 2, 2011 Share Posted February 2, 2011 If you are copying an actual tape, I think you can do it in a normal dual deck cassette player. Not sure how to do a rom file to tape though. You should also look into the Megacart. Has pretty much all of the cart games, a bunch off utilities, and a number of converted tape games on it. I've never felt the need to venture past this since I got it. A lot of great games to play! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mirage Posted February 2, 2011 Share Posted February 2, 2011 If you are copying an actual tape, I think you can do it in a normal dual deck cassette player. Not sure how to do a rom file to tape though. You should also look into the Megacart. Has pretty much all of the cart games, a bunch off utilities, and a number of converted tape games on it. I've never felt the need to venture past this since I got it. A lot of great games to play! Yeah, I agree with this. I have the MegaCart too, and it has pretty much all the highlights on it. There's some newer games available on the Denial site that I'd like to have on it, but that's about the only drawback to it at all. The MegaCart even has the RAM expansion and programming carts on it, making my real ones obsolete. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Fyrri Posted February 2, 2011 Author Share Posted February 2, 2011 I checked out the Megacart. While awesome beyond measure, it's WAY out of my price range. This happens a lot, being 13 with no regular income . I'm going to ask the folks on Denial in a bit, because it won't let me register for awhile. Those darned anti-bot measures kept me out for now. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
nathanallan Posted February 2, 2011 Share Posted February 2, 2011 I checked out the Megacart. While awesome beyond measure, it's WAY out of my price range. This happens a lot, being 13 with no regular income . I'm going to ask the folks on Denial in a bit, because it won't let me register for awhile. Those darned anti-bot measures kept me out for now. EXCELLENT that you are into vintage hardware!! Isn't this stuff fun and interesting? I have never lost my curiosity over it ever since I was your age and the Vic 20 was just being replaced 22 years running so far. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Fyrri Posted February 2, 2011 Author Share Posted February 2, 2011 I checked out the Megacart. While awesome beyond measure, it's WAY out of my price range. This happens a lot, being 13 with no regular income . I'm going to ask the folks on Denial in a bit, because it won't let me register for awhile. Those darned anti-bot measures kept me out for now. EXCELLENT that you are into vintage hardware!! Isn't this stuff fun and interesting? I have never lost my curiosity over it ever since I was your age and the Vic 20 was just being replaced 22 years running so far. Thanks! This stuff is endlessly amazing. I could sit down and play my 2600, NES, etc. for hours. Funny how the laptop I received less than five years ago is already defunct (Apparently there were some defective video cards coming from Dell), but my Vic 20 from the early 80's still functions beautifully. They just don't make computers/games like they used to. xD 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mirage Posted February 2, 2011 Share Posted February 2, 2011 It's always great to see young people who didn't grow up with this technology enjoy and appreciate it. The Vic-20 was the first computer I ever owned myself. Limited, but still fun. This thread actually motivated me to go play with the Vic/MegaCart for over an hour. There's some really good games for it! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
zylon Posted February 3, 2011 Share Posted February 3, 2011 I'm also a member of Denial and willing to help if I can. The mega cart is awesome! I tried to order one once but it didn't go through. A standard dual cassette deck works just fine for backing up programs on tape. I've tried copying to cd with no success yet. In a few cases, I've loaded the programs and altered a few code lines related to loading, then saved to disk. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Fyrri Posted February 3, 2011 Author Share Posted February 3, 2011 Do you have any idea how to burn a *.TAP file from a PC onto a VIC cassette? Still trying to register at Denial... xD Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mirage Posted February 3, 2011 Share Posted February 3, 2011 http://wn.com/TAP_files_to_Cassette_on_the_Commodore_64 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Fyrri Posted February 4, 2011 Author Share Posted February 4, 2011 (edited) http://wn.com/TAP_files_to_Cassette_on_the_Commodore_64 Thanks much! So, I need a tape recorder... Do I need a computer with a special jack for the RCA cable, or will a headphone jack work? Edited February 4, 2011 by Fyrri Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mirage Posted February 4, 2011 Share Posted February 4, 2011 http://wn.com/TAP_files_to_Cassette_on_the_Commodore_64 Thanks much! So, I need a tape recorder... Do I need a computer with a special jack for the RCA cable, or will a headphone jack work? Usually a headphone jack will work for this sort of thing, but there's no guarantees of course that any specific one will be able to hit the correct output levels. I remember doing something very similar playing WAV files of 2600 .bin files into a 2600 SuperCharger from a PC through headphone/output jack and it worked fine. You'll just have to experiment to get the right volume levels and such. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
zylon Posted February 5, 2011 Share Posted February 5, 2011 Try setting the volume at 50% first, then work your way up if needed. If you set it too high, you'll get distortion and it won't load properly. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nateo Posted February 8, 2011 Share Posted February 8, 2011 I checked out the Megacart. While awesome beyond measure, it's WAY out of my price range. This happens a lot, being 13 with no regular income . I'm going to ask the folks on Denial in a bit, because it won't let me register for awhile. Those darned anti-bot measures kept me out for now. Dude, 13... that's when I first joined these forums almost ten years ago. It's strange to think that I've been visiting a website for ten years now... But anyway, sorry to digress Carry on! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TheGameCollector Posted February 9, 2011 Share Posted February 9, 2011 (edited) I tested out games for both the VIC-20 and Commodore 64 using tapwave many times just to try out games. It will also work on the Starpath Supercharger for the Atari 2600. I didn't bother doing it much though. Only when the system was new to me. It takes so long to load up a game from a cassette tape on Commodore 64, I said forget it and decided I'll only want to go after cartridges for a while, then floppy disks 2nd with cassettes being a distant 3rd. C64 tapes take like 8 minutes to load. VIC-20 cassettes are not as bad because the games are much smaller file sizes than Commodore 64 games and load up substantially quicker. 2-3 minutes usually. Edited February 9, 2011 by TheGameCollector Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Fyrri Posted February 14, 2011 Author Share Posted February 14, 2011 Datasette came in the mail today. The cassettes is came with work fine, but the ones I create almost never work. So far, I've gotten one to work, but trying to play the same tape again failed. I follow the onscreen directions, it says 'Searching' and appears to be done within one minute. I try to run the game, but it just says 'Ready' again. What am I doing wrong? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mirage Posted February 14, 2011 Share Posted February 14, 2011 Is there a hole above the keys for a small (tiny) screwdriver? If so, that will adjust it. You may want to try that. Though, I've never had to do it before as I've never had one not work. If it doesn't have that hole, then I'm not sure how you adjust the head other than taking it apart. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Fyrri Posted February 14, 2011 Author Share Posted February 14, 2011 The keys on the Cassette drive, or the computer itself? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mirage Posted February 14, 2011 Share Posted February 14, 2011 The keys on the Cassette drive, or the computer itself? Tape drive. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Fyrri Posted February 14, 2011 Author Share Posted February 14, 2011 Ok, I see it. I'll try to adjust it now... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mirage Posted February 14, 2011 Share Posted February 14, 2011 Ok, I see it. I'll try to adjust it now... You may have to adjust it, then record a program, then read it back... you may still not be able to read the ones that you already wrote. Then of course make sure you can still read the other games. Again, I've not done this ever to a Commodore Datasette, but just working from experience on similar units. There's got to be instructions out on the internets somewhere for this. Or a good manual for the C2N. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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