Commodore Free 39/Commodore_Free_Issue_39_2010_Commodore_Computer_Club.d64/editorial

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       Commodore Free Magazine
    http://www.commodorefree.com/
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        Issue 39, April 2010

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

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              CONTENTS
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* Editorial
* Readers Comments
* Commodore USA, LLC
* NEWS
  - New Version: D64Lister 1.7
  - CCS64 Updated
  - BASIC Game Competition
  - Amiga Zorro RAMBoard
  - Digital Talk 90
  - TAP Clean
  - Clear Competition Pro
  - Commodore Plus/4 Spreadsheet
  - Datatool
  - Return Issue 2
  - VIC20 Twitter Client
  - New Version of SD2IEC Released
  - PET Alive!
* NOSTALGIA
  - Commodore Free
  - John Fielden
  - Peter Badrick
  - Chris Syntichakis
  - Commodore Free (2)
  - Shaun Bebbington
  - Charles J. Gutman

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              EDITORIAL
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This is an issue about Nostalgia, I
have a feeling about 90% of people
will hate this issue, but here goes
nothing as they say.

Being Nostalgic is something
Commodore users especially seem good
at. Although I am not saying things
were better when I was a young lad,
I do still remember my first
Commodore Machines as if it was
yesterday. I know some will be
reading and thinking that xyz
systems were far better but this
issue is a Nostalgic look at
Commodore and Commodore machines and
not other systems.

My first Vic 20 and then My First
Commodore 64 and My First Amiga 500,
for some reason these events have
stuck in my mind more vividly then
any other event I care to remember
or even can remember! Was it because
it marked a landmark in computing
history, or was it just as a child
of a certain age things seem to get
embedded and stay with you as you
grow to adulthood. I know when I
meet new people at parties or work,
they will see the C= logo or here
someone say "ahhh Commodore I had
one of those, what's the game where
you have to ?.." But for me I
couldn't let those memories Fade, I
kept my Vic20 and my Commodore 64
and still played games on them as my
systems progressed through the
Commodore Amiga range. I even
purchased a Commodore 64 emulator
for the Amiga that had a hardware
device. The device plugged into the
Parallel port of the Amiga and on
the other end was a serial connector
for a Commodore disk drive or
printer. Sadly the Emulation was
never as good as the real hardware.
I used to secretly have my Commodore
machines set up and sneak into the
spare room to play on them. I had no
idea that a strong internet
community and indeed a network of
Commodore clubs still existed, all
carrying on with the Commodore
hardware all "keeping the faith"

Was Commodore better than any other
manufacturer of 8-bit computer
systems?

or

was the Commodore marketing
department just too good?

My thoughts are that it was a real
historic and monumental event, to
own a computer and talk about it at
school was something only the elite
kids could do. Most kids at school
had never seen a computer, and to
play real arcade quality games at
home was an event in itself. Typing
in the programmes from the back of
magazine and books was a battle, I
am sure the magazines deliberately
messed up the listings just so you
had to buy the next 2 issues for the
amendments and bug fix routines.
Some magazines though started
carrying tapes on the front so you
could load and play demos and even
full games, without the typing.

My head as a school kid was awash
with the names of Tony Crowther,
Jeff minter, Ben Daglish, Rob
Hubbard, etc. insert you favourite
here

Of course something else was
beginning to take shape at this
time, BBS or bulletin boards these
let user chat and even upload and
download files, sadly most contained
cracked versions of commercial
software. Although I was a big fan
of some of the demos, and how the
heck could you run a program while
loading another from tape or disk
while not interrupting the execution
of the currently running one!

As a child programming the Commodore
became obsessive, although sadly I
did find I wasn't entirely any good
at it. I was however gaining skills
I could later use, and being a
"computer user" or "expert" opened
many Job interviews and openings,
mainly because most people had never
used a computer and were scared of
blowing the thing up or looking too
stupid.

As my Commodore machines were
upgraded new things came along to
excite me, the C64 with its SID
synthesiser chip and amazing music
demos and then the GEOS operating
system, the Amiga with its Workbench
and Sound tracker applications just
blew me away. I heard a Soundtracker
version of a chart song and was
speechless for hours while I
dissected every sample to see how
this thing could be put together and
of course the colour bars as samples
played was amazing. Something else
that is a pure favourite of mine is
Jeff minters Psychedelia, turning
off the lights and the brightness of
the TV up, the putting on some
headphones and playing on this
superb piece of software, I had many
dreams of these coloured shapes
floating in space (still do)
absolutely superb software, I
suspect no one else could have
created such a product or let alone
market something that was so unique.

Maybe I am just a romantic but I
still like to load games from tape,
the suspense of the loading (and of
course thinking will it actually
work) then the screen flickers into
life and a picture is formed, the
SID chip sparks up with digital
tones and after around 3 minutes the
game is loaded, (sometimes its 20
with just a blank screen to watch).
I think after waiting so long and
filled with anticipation, this makes
you play the game more, of course we
can load from SD cards and hard
disks now almost in the blink of an
eye. However I still bring out the
datasette and load games from tape.
(I know you are sat there with head
in hand saying NO NO what an idiot,
load it from disk) My answer is NO
NO back at you buddy!

I still remember the purchase from
Boots (chemist) in the UK. an FM
expander keyboard, taking the device
home and plugging it all in then
loading the Telstar demo, even now
listening to the Telstar demo takes
me back to my childhood, I suppose
at the time the FM synthesis was
something of an amazement and the
slot machine was an interesting way
of randomly programming FM sounds
without getting your hands dirty. In
childhood everything is possible,
everything is exciting, Nothing is
too strange to be realised. At that
time to a young child everything was
new and inventive.

Will the youth of today look back on
there console with nostalgia
(possibly) but I don't think it will
be the same fondness we have for
Commodore or the truly imaginative
hardware and software from the time.
Lets not also forget the countless
individuals keeping the Commodore
torch burning and alive with new
games, demos that cause you to stare
at the screen thinking "how the heck
is this possible" demos that seem to
overcome limitations of the
hardware, and of course the breed of
hardware hackers making new devices
for Commodore machines to use IDE
hard disk and load applications from
SD cards, and way too many other
hardware add-ons, who would have
thought it was possible to load Tape
games from an SD card, gone are the
errors because it's a digital copy
and loads first time, with the other
plus points of tape, I am a lover of
these devices. The countless
individuals who will help out a
fellow user, and not forgetting the
elite users who mock everyone else;
for trying and keeping the dream
alive. Remember some people are
indeed "perfect" in every way.

I realise that there are nostalgic
Spectrum user and Atari users and
that is fine, we all have
preferences whether that's our first
machine or the machine we first
wrote hello world on or because our
parents bought it for Christmas, I
don't think Mine is better than
yours as every machine has strengths
and weaknesses but "I Adore my 64!"

I remember my fist ever hands on at
a console an Atari 2600 my first use
of a machine a zx81 these are but
minor memories to the greatest
feeling of Nostalgia for me that is
Commodore! Even now when I see the
C= logo or the Commodore name I am
drawn into see what is there in the
hope of some truly initiative and
creative hardware.

I fully respect other systems and
while I am interested in
developments of other hardware and
software, really the only thing that
interests me is Commodore. I know
there have bee some exciting
developments on other platforms and
I am sure they are as passionate
about there machines as I am about
Commodore.

Computing is history and Memories
are made from history (something
like that anyway, sound almost like
some form of quote, if it isn't I am
copyrighting it for my own use)

Comments suggestions all are welcome
please email me.

So here is another issue of
Commodore Free remember to print it
out and put it under the budgie cage
to catch the droppings on.

Thanks
Nigel
www.commodorefree.com
www.commodorecomputerclub.co.uk

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