mozartpc27 Posted December 28, 2020 Share Posted December 28, 2020 On 12/25/2020 at 10:37 PM, christo930 said: I'm in Philly. I got my printer from a little computer shop called "Some Hole in the Wall" which was in NE Philly. WOW, August of 94 for a Commodore printer is LATE. I somehow ended up getting a Software Hut catalog and it wasn't really that far from what I recall, somewhere around Chester. They were still around and still selling Amiga 1200s when I bought my 1200, which I ended up getting used on EBAY sometime around 2000. I think it was a special kit with some included software for $199. But I found a 1200 with an 030, expanded RAM, SCSI and a SCSI CD for slightly less money. Software Hut was around selling commodore games for a long time. They were big in Amiga though. You sent me down memory lane with your post. When I got my Commodore 64 , which I got from a former Commodore employee I might add, one of the things that I got with it was Volume 4 of the Commodore Buyer's Guide, which I still have - and in the back of which I scratched down the directions to Software Hut, from when I called them to see if they had the printer in stock. My mom took me. It was right down by the Philly airport: 313 Henderson Drive, Sharon Hill PA 19079 to be exact. Have their old phone number too. Thinking about that and seeing if I could find the place on Google maps again led me to this website, which chronicles the trip two guys took there to fix a Commodore Amiga 4000T: "Software Hunt" (nightvzn.net) Also led me to read this old article about the "return" of the Amiga in 2000: THE RETURN OF AMIGA - Chicago Tribune Nice to see there are still Commodore folks in the Philly area since we were the home of Commodore after all (the Bahamas notwithstanding). Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+DZ-Jay Posted January 4, 2021 Share Posted January 4, 2021 (edited) I had two cartridges I bought off a magazine, I think they were from "Mastertronics." One provided text-to-speech and "voice recognition" capabilities to the integrated BASIC, and the other was a "game maker" software. Both were kind of crappy, especially the second one, which was buggy and very slow. The "voice recognition" was supposed to allow you to play games without a joystick, you know, like saying "up!" or "shoot!" but in reality it didn't really work all that well. It also mostly ran with the built in games it came with, which were equally crappy: one was a balloon that you "controlled" by saying "up" or "down" to raise or lower it on the screen. I kind of remember that it came with a cheap headset and microphone. Meh. I was soooooo disappointed with both. I haven't seen any of them in any C=64 software libraries in the intervening years. Has anybody heard of them? -dZ. Edited January 4, 2021 by DZ-Jay Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+DZ-Jay Posted January 4, 2021 Share Posted January 4, 2021 27 minutes ago, DZ-Jay said: I had two cartridges I bought off a magazine, I think they were from "Mastertronics." One provided text-to-speech and "voice recognition" capabilities to the integrated BASIC, and the other was a "game maker" software. Both were kind of crappy, especially the second one, which was buggy and very slow. The "voice recognition" was supposed to allow you to play games without a joystick, you know, like saying "up!" or "shoot!" but in reality it didn't really work all that well. It also mostly ran with the built in games it came with, which were equally crappy: one was a balloon that you "controlled" by saying "up" or "down" to raise or lower it on the screen. I kind of remember that it came with a cheap headset and microphone. Meh. I was soooooo disappointed with both. I haven't seen any of them in any C=64 software libraries in the intervening years. Has anybody heard of them? -dZ. OK, doing some more research, I think I tracked them down. One of them seems to be "The Games Creator" by Mastertronics, which fits my recollection. The other ... as far as I can find information on it ... seems to be the Covox Voice Master. I may be confusing it as coming from Mastertronics, probably because I purchased all of them from at the same time from the same magazine catalog. I also may be confusing the voice one with two separate products: a text-to-speech cartridge and the Covox voice Master. I really don't recall much details, but I strictly remember a headset/mic sort of gear that came with it, and speaking to the computer, yelling "Up!" and "Down!" and "Fire!" at the screen on some crappy balloon game it came with. The text-to-speech seems to be a separate thing altogether, because I recall that I plugged in the cartridge and I could enter "text-to-speech mode" in which the machine would just say anything I typed, or I could include speech commands in my BASIC programs. For some reason I remember those being the same thing, but I can't find any evidence of the Covox software being on cartridge. Does anybody have any idea? The "Games Creator" game was crap, though. -dZ. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
krslam Posted January 4, 2021 Share Posted January 4, 2021 There's a bunch of info on the Covox devices here: https://nerdlypleasures.blogspot.com/2014/09/the-mysterious-covox-pc-sound-devices.html At first I thought you were describing the LipStick. I seem to remember that it came with a piece of software that would display a word like UP! on the screen when you responded verbally with UP to the prompt. Later I realized it was just a sound activated joystick button and would display UP! at that point no matter what I said. I remember saying some *bad words* when it wanted me to say FIRE! and it worked just great. An interesting side note: if you pair a LipStik with an Amiga JoyBoard (which was sort of an early Wii balance board), you could have truly hands free play on an Atari or Commodore. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+evg2000 Posted January 4, 2021 Share Posted January 4, 2021 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
krslam Posted January 5, 2021 Share Posted January 5, 2021 2 hours ago, evg2000 said: Looks like you've been sniffing around my basement... 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+DZ-Jay Posted January 5, 2021 Share Posted January 5, 2021 5 hours ago, krslam said: There's a bunch of info on the Covox devices here: https://nerdlypleasures.blogspot.com/2014/09/the-mysterious-covox-pc-sound-devices.html At first I thought you were describing the LipStick. I seem to remember that it came with a piece of software that would display a word like UP! on the screen when you responded verbally with UP to the prompt. Later I realized it was just a sound activated joystick button and would display UP! at that point no matter what I said. I remember saying some *bad words* when it wanted me to say FIRE! and it worked just great. An interesting side note: if you pair a LipStik with an Amiga JoyBoard (which was sort of an early Wii balance board), you could have truly hands free play on an Atari or Commodore. Hmm ... It could be the LipStick, although I think I would remember a silly name like that -- especially if it was emblazoned with that totally-80's logo, like in @evg2000's photo. I distinctly remember that it was supposed to recognize your voice and that you could say "UP!" or "DOWN!" or "FIRE!" to control the stupid balloon. It didn't really work all that well, like 2 out of 5 times, or so; and I felt silly just yelling at the screen to play a game. -dZ. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
carlsson Posted January 5, 2021 Share Posted January 5, 2021 I never had a LipStick but I clearly remember when a computer magazine had a competition to win one by submitting a slogan why you should win it. Out of the 10 winners, the one I remember best was this one (translated into English, the rhyme gets lost): My voice is so brutally beautiful, that my sister gets epilepsy seizures. ? ? ? 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rik1138 Posted January 8, 2021 Share Posted January 8, 2021 I had (still have, actually) the ISEPIC cartridge. And used it quite a lot on games to remove the disc-drive error checking copy protection... Surprised to find the original receipt inside the box too: Paid $64.95 for it (well, my Mom did anyway... ? ) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+DZ-Jay Posted January 8, 2021 Share Posted January 8, 2021 1 minute ago, Rik1138 said: I had (still have, actually) the ISEPIC cartridge. And used it quite a lot on games to remove the disc-drive error checking copy protection... Surprised to find the original receipt inside the box too: Paid $64.95 for it (well, my Mom did anyway... ? ) Wow! I remember those. I recall, back when I was 11, dreaming about having one and all the fantastic things that it would allow me to do, and trying to figure out in my head how it could even work, like magic. Then a friend of mine got a hold of Fast Hack'Em and other cracking software from some German BBS and we cracked all the games from the neighborhood and schoolground kids in a couple of days. ? Awwww, those were the days. ISEPIC was quite awesome, though. :) -dZ. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+DZ-Jay Posted January 8, 2021 Share Posted January 8, 2021 Oh, wow, someone remade ISEPIC back in 2017! ? https://www.c64copyprotection.com/isepic-2017/ I may get one of those and fulfill a boyhood dream. LOL! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
carlsson Posted January 8, 2021 Share Posted January 8, 2021 I remember that some cracker groups considered using ISEPIC and making simple freezes to be blatant cheating. People who spread such copies were looked down at. Probably that held true even for later freezer cartridges including the TFC and AR series. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+evg2000 Posted January 8, 2021 Share Posted January 8, 2021 I have an ISEPIC cart, disks, box, inst. and a bunch of other cracking software. A couple of years ago I sold my megasoft The Shadow board, software, instructions, etc. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+DZ-Jay Posted January 8, 2021 Share Posted January 8, 2021 Oh man, memories. I had Keymaster ... although all my software back then came from some European BBSs of ill repute. -dZ. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
motrucker Posted January 13, 2021 Share Posted January 13, 2021 I did not own one of these, but a very close friend did buy one. I am referring to the Mimic Spartan (a full Apple ][ emulator for the C-64. They took so long to actually ship, they were considered a scam for quite a while - But when they finally shipped, they amazed the C-64 world! They worked, and were slightly cheaper than a "real" Apple ][. 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
carlsson Posted January 13, 2021 Share Posted January 13, 2021 Yeah, wasn't the Spartan delayed by about 3 years give or take? I'm not sure if the Apple world had moved on from ][+ to //e or even IIc by then, and to which extent this device supported the latest/current software. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
motrucker Posted January 18, 2021 Share Posted January 18, 2021 Ispic was mentioned a few posts back. That cartridge is back on the market from this site; https://corei64.com/shop/index.php?route=product/product&path=65_70&product_id=52 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rik1138 Posted January 18, 2021 Share Posted January 18, 2021 On 1/8/2021 at 3:24 AM, DZ-Jay said: Oh, wow, someone remade ISEPIC back in 2017! ? https://www.c64copyprotection.com/isepic-2017/ I may get one of those and fulfill a boyhood dream. LOL! There were a LOT of clones of it back in the day. I used to have a few of them, including two that were obviously handmade (wire-wrapped boards and such). Apparently it's wasn't a complicated piece of circuitry... I love that the remake actually has permission from the original designer... I didn't even know about that one, but now I kind of want to get one too. It'd be cool to have the 1985 and the 2017 versions. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
motrucker Posted January 19, 2021 Share Posted January 19, 2021 I have one of the re-issued cartridges from Corei64, and I love it. Thomas Christoph is very passionate about his work in the 8 bit hardware field for Commodore 64. You will not find a better person to deal with either. He is quite often found on lemon 64. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tommywiz Posted July 2, 2021 Share Posted July 2, 2021 (edited) A four or five slot cartridge expander. Its still around here somewhere. Edited July 2, 2021 by tommywiz Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
1980gamer Posted July 25, 2021 Share Posted July 25, 2021 I had a Star NX1000 printer and had to buy some interface adapter for it? Cannot remember which, but it took some effort to set the dip switches etc to make it work. I also had an eprom programmer. would do up to 32k e/ee and I think proms also. I only ever used eproms. Of course I also had a "cart" board to put the eproms in. It had several banks. It also would let you put basic programs on the eproms and run them directly. WAS SO COOL back then. My favorite items were the Final Cart III until a "friend" lifted. I then got a Super Snapshot IV. Liked them both. I later added jiffy dos and I cannot remember this item... but you connected a ribbon cable from one 1541 to another for fast disk cloning. But I don't remember the name... but it worked great. Around 1991/92, I gave all of my Commodore stuff to my nephew and his mom/my sister threw it all out a few years later. Multiple computers, drives and 1,000 floppies LOADED with commercial games and apps. Oh.. Floppies... My absolute most used item, the disk notcher. Let you use both sides of a 5.25 disk on the 1541. Made Winter Games easier. Yes, I copied my games, but I did buy a bunch of games. I just didn't like using the original disks. I think Accolade was my fav. publisher. But Winter Games got a lot of love and EA had a few as well. I did end up with a bunch of mastertronix games because the expensive ones were $9.99 Why I continued to by them??? I don't know. The Last V-8 used to piss me off!!!!! I may need to get a C64 emu setup so I can try that F'n game again. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
1980gamer Posted July 25, 2021 Share Posted July 25, 2021 Pretty certain these are some of the items... https://www.pcbway.com/project/shareproject/C64_EPROM_PROGRAMMER__DELA_EPROMMER_II___REDRAWN_.html Not certain, but this may have been the parallel cable copier I am thinking of? It was to long ago.. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+DZ-Jay Posted July 25, 2021 Share Posted July 25, 2021 9 hours ago, 1980gamer said: I had a Star NX1000 printer and had to buy some interface adapter for it? Cannot remember which, but it took some effort to set the dip switches etc to make it work. I also had an eprom programmer. would do up to 32k e/ee and I think proms also. I only ever used eproms. Of course I also had a "cart" board to put the eproms in. It had several banks. It also would let you put basic programs on the eproms and run them directly. WAS SO COOL back then. My favorite items were the Final Cart III until a "friend" lifted. I then got a Super Snapshot IV. Liked them both. I later added jiffy dos and I cannot remember this item... but you connected a ribbon cable from one 1541 to another for fast disk cloning. But I don't remember the name... but it worked great. Around 1991/92, I gave all of my Commodore stuff to my nephew and his mom/my sister threw it all out a few years later. Multiple computers, drives and 1,000 floppies LOADED with commercial games and apps. Oh.. Floppies... My absolute most used item, the disk notcher. Let you use both sides of a 5.25 disk on the 1541. Made Winter Games easier. Yes, I copied my games, but I did buy a bunch of games. I just didn't like using the original disks. I think Accolade was my fav. publisher. But Winter Games got a lot of love and EA had a few as well. I did end up with a bunch of mastertronix games because the expensive ones were $9.99 Why I continued to by them??? I don't know. The Last V-8 used to piss me off!!!!! I may need to get a C64 emu setup so I can try that F'n game again. "Disk Notcher"? Pffft! I hope you mean "paper hole puncher," because that's all we use for the same thing! I did buy a couple of games, but I have to admit that I copied way more than I bought. My friend Luis G. and me would spend week-ends duplicating disks from the neighborhood or school kids in exchange. We used to buy those Fuji diskette packs of 10 or 20, where each disk came to a bit less than $1.00. At some point in time I had a few hundred disks. I then created a cataloguing software that would allow you to search for a game by name, then tell you which disk and side it was in; then load it from the drive once you put it in. (Yup, I did catalogued all my hundreds of games, and labeled and numbered them. Damn, I was such a nerd!) -dZ. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
1980gamer Posted July 25, 2021 Share Posted July 25, 2021 Hey dZ, I didn't have a paper hole punch. Tried x-acto knife stuff, somewhat successfully, but it was a PITA. So paying < $5 for something like this: https://retro8bitshop.com/product/floppy-disk-notcher/ was a great value. Oh, we traded games all the time. But some games you just had to have the real deal.. As a fellow Intellivision collector, you certainly get it! Hardball; 4th and inches; Test Drive etc. from Accolade. Epyx had the Winter, Summer, California and World games stuff. I don't remember who made Hunt for Red October? But that came with a poster etc. One of the last games I got for the C64. Because I liked the movie so much. I don't have the room, but wish I still had all that stuff! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+DZ-Jay Posted July 25, 2021 Share Posted July 25, 2021 Just now, 1980gamer said: Hey dZ, I didn't have a paper hole punch. Tried x-acto knife stuff, somewhat successfully, but it was a PITA. So paying < $5 for something like this: https://retro8bitshop.com/product/floppy-disk-notcher/ was a great value. I was joking, of course. I only said it because -- at least in my circle of the world -- it appeared to have been common for parents to already have a paper hole puncher around the house, along with a stapler, a scotch tape dispenser, and paper clips. When me and my friends saw the local electronics shop start selling floppy disk notchers, we were like, "why would anybody buy an expensive specialised tool? doesn't everybody have a paper hole puncher?" As an adult, it seems rather clear that it may not be so common, but as a nerdy 10 year-old kid projecting his constrained provincial world view to the rest of the world, it just seemed so obvious. Just now, 1980gamer said: Oh, we traded games all the time. But some games you just had to have the real deal.. As a fellow Intellivision collector, you certainly get it! Hardball; 4th and inches; Test Drive etc. from Accolade. Epyx had the Winter, Summer, California and World games stuff. I don't remember who made Hunt for Red October? But that came with a poster etc. One of the last games I got for the C64. Because I liked the movie so much. I don't have the room, but wish I still had all that stuff! Oh, I completely agree. I remember begging my mom for the Epyx games. -dZ. 1 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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