Commodore Free 33R1/Commodore_Free_Issue_33R1_2009_Commodore_Computer_Club.d64/editorial

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     Commodore Free Magazine
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   http://www.commodorefree.com/

    Issue 33, September 2009

    Free to download magazine
 dedicated to Commodore computers
 Available as PDF, HTML, TXT, SEQ
        and D64 disk image

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CONTENTS

* Editorial
* NEWS
  - Ethernet Cartridge
  - JiffyDOS License Acquired
  - 185 Classic AMIGA Games &Joystick
  - Bezerk Redux Updated
  - The C2N-II Datassete project
  - BBC computer Does SID
  - 1541 Ultimate II announced
  - Cosine TMR Game preview
  - Commodore 64 Hacking
* Interview With Marshall Alexander
* Commodore64 Ringtones
* Geos & Role Playing Games
* Interview with Johan van den Brande
* Commodore 16 and plus 4 pages
  - Graphic Tally Commodore 16+4
  - Tally Counter
  - VAT Calculator
* Commodore Computer Club Meeting
* Interview with Arcade Retro Gaming
* Multiple Classic Computer Platform

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             Editorial
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Someone I know is a fanatic about X
brand of Coffee,

Nothing else will do, and yes I have
tried offering different varieties
and pretending its brand X, but he
can taste the difference. This leads
me to hardware in a very round about
way to;

Many Commodore users are fanatical
about there machines. This isn't a
problem; I may upset some of you here
by saying I am not just a Commodore
user. When I worked for Silica shops
in the U.K. (anyone remember them) I
became quite attached to the Atari
Falcon!

Now ok every machine has its
strengths and weaknesses and I know
the Falcon wasn't blessed with all
the greatest features, especially if
teamed up next to the Amiga 1200.
However I was quite drawn to the DSP
(Digital Sound Processor) in the
Falcon and wondered how far the
machine could be pushed. Sadly, the
Falcon never really took of (I know
some diehard Atari users will claim
otherwise; but hey you should be
reading and using Atari fanzines not
Commodore ones) I also quite liked
the Atari Jaguar, Atari's 32bit
console although I think they
marketed it as 64bit because it
contained 2 x 32bit chips so 32 and
32 = 64bit The Atari Jaguar seemed to
have a lot of features, Jeff minter
was backing the machine, and a quite
excellent version of Doom existed for
the device, and quite a nicely
designed hardware box (although again
you may claim differently as this is
subjective matter) placed next to the
CD32 that used CD media instead of
cartridges, well personally I think
the CD unit for the Jaguar should
have been provided free of charge.

Some Hardware technical type people
seem to like bits and pieces from one
system and hate other features from
other systems. The Commodore 64
gained an advantage because of the
SID (sound interface device) although
I think it should have had 2 SIDs in
the initial hardware design but then
I suppose there was a costing element
involved. Of course the hardware
sprites made the machine more
flexible and produce Arcade style
graphics. Now I may upset people by
saying I was never a fan of the Zx80,
Zx81 although these was the first
machines I ever "touched" as a child
to program, starting with the now
famous "hello world" and "input your
name" style applications, but I
suppose we all start somewhere. The
Sinclair machines suffered from the
membrane keyboard ,strange input
methods of characters and of course
no hardware sprites, and the sound
well it virtually wasn't there (the
zx81 didn't have any and the Spectrum
just had a small internal speaker
that fuzzed a little)

Watching the Television recently I
found someone praising the glory of
the Atari 2600 console, and I
remember sitting at the machine with
a friend playing "tank Command" quite
a remarkable offering (at the time)
from Atari something the whole family
could crowd around take turns and
beat each others high scores.

A friend at school also had an Oric
atoms now I cant remember off hand
about the specification of this
machine, I just remember the small
size and keyboard. Yes many other
systems have existed and I still
remember using some form of Timex
system with a small cassette and till
roll printer, this was version I
produced my not so famous "wall paper
estimator" application that told you
how much wall paper to buy, some
years later and I still haven't
perfected the program fully; although
I have used it to calculate how many
rolls of paper I need and it does
function to my needs, just a little
clunky.

A great many systems have appeared
and failed due to lack of software,
or features or bad design.

Of course I have just touched on a
few machines here; but it leads me
nicely into memories and retro
computing. Remember your grandparents
always said things were better in the
old days, well I don't really buy
into that, yes they seemed more
exciting for me when I was a young
child, and watching my sons
excitement at an imminent
thunderstorm and other "grown ups"
around just shrugging and saying "umh
another thunderstorm going to get wet
again" Now my young son was amazed
shouting "look the black clouds are
coming" and then "we will get
lightening" and constantly shouting
"it's a thunder storm it's a
thunderstorm?" took me back to when I
saw "Monty mole" on the Commodore 64!
I purchased the Cassette version from
a local cosmetics store called
"Boots" mainly for the screen shots,
but also I had heard about the sound
track. The game loaded and My friend
and I looked in amazement; "how is
this music coming from the Commodore
64, its not possible!" We then told
all our friends that "The music is
amazing listen.." and taped it onto
Audio cassettes to play whenever we
found a unit to place them in.

Not all retro was great,

Slow loading, large floppy drives are
all a thing of the past, now we have
SD cards hard disks and IDE
interfaces, we also devices that can
load games from memory in seconds
(although really this isn't that new
a feat for Commodore users". So while
some look back at Retro with rose
tinted glasses, just remember it
wasn't all good. Do we remember our
childhood as great and so everything
about it was great, music, computers,
TV, etc... I do remember with
fondness some of the old shows and
toys from my childhood, heck they
still look great today, is this just
my fondness of my youth or was there
something special happening. Back
then it was all innocence, today
teenagers just want to link into
facebook and brag about the number of
friends they have. I remember that
although playing computer games was
amazing, when the sun came out
playing "kick the can" was also as
good. I never really got on well in
school, maybe this was the teachers,
and maybe it was a rebellious streak.

Retro is becoming big business,
people are making money out of
selling old systems.

Who is buying the systems?

- Well to my mind it seems to be
this; Some people just collect
systems to place in a museum never to
see the light of day, maybe they have
to much money or just like the
thought of collecting all the boxes,
its like a "Clarice Cliff collector"
collecting everything she made to
place on display in a large glass
cupboard. If the device isn't used
for the purpose is was made I cant
really see the point of owning it,
however some people would disagree. I
know there are museums you can go
round and look at the items, and
preserving history is a worthwhile
cause but a "closed" museum that only
the collector has access to..

- Then we have the nostalgic; someone
who remembers the unit as a child and
it evoked strong memories, they want
the feeling of childhood excitement
back so buy the unit and for a while
its fun; but then they get fed up and
the unit ends up back on eBay or in
the loft.

- Next we have the normal users,
pushing the hardware like Geos users
printing out colour postscript files.
Programmers creating new and amazing
demos, musicians getting more and
more voices from the SID chip.

So then to sum up

I am not just a Commodore man I like
many consoles for differing reasons;
the thrill of "Tank command" the
memories of laughing at others
failing to beat our high scores, the
BBC micro and in my mind the best
version of elite; coupled with the
joy at gaining the "elite" status and
taking photos of the screen to brag
at school, the thrill of tempest2000
the flashing colours and the thumping
techno music and all that superb eye
candy, the feel of a unit in your
hand the stylish look

Even today those feelings; for me
have not gone away, amazing Commodore
demos of such programming skill I
still look at the screen in absolute
amazement; how the heck can this be
done. Nothing is impossible, heck we
even walked on the moon. Bring on the
console bring on the challenge..

Errrrmm that's it for this editorial
see you next time

Thanks
Nigel
www.commodorefree.com

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