Commodore Free 39/Commodore_Free_Issue_39_2010_Commodore_Computer_Club.d64/john 2

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      FIRST COMPUTER NOSTALGIA
      Why I Like The Commodore
           By John Fielden
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        Continued from John 1

When the four games became played.
And the BASIC manuals were a bit
tedious for a youngster with no-one
to go to when Dad was away, and
things became too hard to understand
-even for him, a maths expert
(common speak). Grandma, Mum would
say "Hey!  It's no good asking me."
And we'd never heard of clubs. In
fact no-one understood that it was
important to buy more programming
books to progress with it. So
programming was to take a back seat
for awhile having limited
comprehension.. Though there were
some achievements along the way. I
remember feeling chuffed to bits
when my Dad was impressed that I'd
programmed a rendition of The Z-cars
theme by ear. From a tape that had
movie themes on. Though saved to
tape, it is long gone. Probably part
of some-ones second hand collection.
And the music tapes?  Some idiot put
them on a windowsill, and the rain
got in so they warped. But I'll
never forget the look of sheer
delight on my Dad's face when I
showed him my achievement.  The
program itself wouldn't go anywhere
as that's all it did. Rigid to that
one task of producing sound.

Another special memory comes to mind
of being helped along by a visitor.
He engineered for a rental company
where my uncle was a sales rep. The
Uncle having kindly forgone
commission on the sale to give us a
good TV deal. So on occasion when it
broke, Roy was sent round. And as
there was nothing on TV in the day
time.(So, what's new?) the sixteen
would be set up with said telly
being used to destruction by it.

We had actually met before at a
church bazaar where he was helping
to raise funds.  Having set up his
computer, he was charging for it's
use. I remember playing Space
Invaders. At which point I seemed to
lose any interest for what the rest
of the family were doing. Or for
what else was there for that matter.
I remember, we had a discussion
about SOUND. And that the chip for
sound in the C64 is more advanced
than the C16. And the Amiga was
therefore further advanced still.
Even though these were still in
their infancy!

Do you know how it feels to put
something down, like a book. Only to
come back later to find it has
vanished? I had been trying to learn
Random Numbers. I was particularly
stuck because I had little idea of
the DIMension statement to store the
numbers in. I'd given up to play
Pacmania. Which is still the hardest
version of PacMan that I've ever
played. The red Ghost is faster than
you and comes straight for you,
while the others work to block you
in.

Well, the TV broke, D.E.R. were
called and The Master appeared! I
say this because it was almost like
The Karate Kid film where the old
Master sees the boy in trouble and
decides to try to help him. Having a
memory like a sieve, I needed
reminding that we'd met before. This
set me off about my current plight.
He kindly taught me how to generate
a list of random numbers for the
pools. The list produced 11 numbers.
His demonstration continued. Now
those numbers didn't repeat but he
said if you go on long enough they
will. Several attempts, still no
repeated number. Pointing out that
the ratio of 'chosen numbers' to
'pool to choose from' meant the odds
of a repeat happening are quite
remote. So we tinkered with the
program and it proved true.
Changing the program allowed me to
see it in more detail. If memory
serves, Having shown me how to, he
deleted it and left me to work out
how to stop the repeat numbers.
Needless to say I forgot. Oddly
enough the TV soon broke again. And
thankfully The Master showed up
again.

I told him, I'd got nowhere. Once
the TV. was fixed he asked me to
demonstrate what I'd tried.
Announced he liked my thinking. And
was kind enough to show me the right
answer. I think at this point my mum
got cross that he wasn't working on
the TV. like he was paid to do. I
wish she'd have seen that he was
earning more than wages could give
him by imparting his computer
knowledge. He vanished after that.
But I must Thank him, his generous,
and gently enthusiastic manner and
his ability to communicate the joy
that computer programming can bring.
Not least in keeping me off the
streets a bit longer with something
productive to show at the end.

Roy, if you're reading this. I Thank
You very much for the kindness you
showed me in that short time. And so
besides a special mention for my Dad
whose saving up and going without
his beloved beer meant I actually
got a computer, this article,
including much of the programming
series for The C16 is dedicated to
you.

C=64

The Commodore 64 looked like it had
been repaired along its way to me.
And did well to last as long as it
did. Still it didn't quite reach my
18th where I was to receive a life
assurance maturity payout.
Programming had long since gone by
the by as the POKE numbers in the
manual were printed wrong. And it
still hadn't been twigged that many
books make light work-or is it
hands?  In this case it is the same
thing!  I remember giving up and
playing Ghostbusters, The Double on
being introduced by one of my no
good lay about "mates" of the time.
Became addictive once I showed my
Dad one Sunday.  At one point he
bought a new C64 from Sale of The
Century in the local paper. Just to
play The Double!!!  He later sold it
without warning to his workmate. I
wish he'd given it to me as mine
didn't last much longer. I do
remember having to write to Summit
Software for a copy. I asked if the
copy protection could be removed as
the characters were too small to
read, detracting from the actual
game. It was sent along with a nice
letter thanking me for my interest
and feedback. Clearly a fellow
football fan.  Well, Dad took it. I
didn't get much say, he and Mum
being divorced, but allowed round
Sundays to visit the computer!  He
gave it back announcing he'd sold
his computer.  words come to mind
that I can't print!)

The Amiga

Having gauged the market,
researching "heavily"' that is
listening to a schoolmate babble on
about his, and his older bothers
experiences, as well as wanting to
keep things commodore. On maturity
of policy I soon became a proud
owner of a brand new A1200 from the
local store. The attendants face
changed from dubious suspicion to
shock when I produced the 300
asking price in cash. Getting it
home much to my dismay no BASIC
package!

I found Mansell, racing game OK. but
limited. I was disappointed when the
driving tutor didn't actually speak.
Finding it impossible to read the
instructions and follow the track at
the same time. Trolls, which I
barely played. I still had a b/w
telly. Having long since been
prevented from using the main one
-so as to stop having to call out
the repair man.  So, the next
investment was colour, with teletext
which was a first for that house.
Add-ons stopped after that. It is a
shame but piracy reared its ugly
head. I now think that had I been
successful in my search to find a
programming program that worked, and
lets not forget the books to with
it! I wouldn't be looking back to a
misspent youth.  I decided to buy
those games deemed worthy. And my
rare couple of visits to said
pirates was spent being discouraged
from programming by their club going
friend.  Though I was given their
copy from an A500 which didn't work
on my set up. Nor did I have the
books. I got magazines which managed
to help put me off the alternatives
out there. Along with people saying
"It's not proper BASIC". Such as
Blitz, and AMOS.  There did exist a
proper BASIC with a much wished for
Compiler but that didn't come to my
attention until recently. Where the
internet proved its value for
getting those otherwise impossible
to find items.

I still have The1200, a bit old now,
and warn with a cheap 3.5ins drive.
I remember being shouted at by the
pirate club goer, who said "You'll
never need that amount of disk
space" -some 500mb+ He was right
about that one.  Though I heard that
he kept having to delete things, and
was upgrading his 40megs. He soon
went his separate way.  The mail
order firm was a mixed bag.  Having
to buy at least one item of a
certain price per issue meant I
would go to the store less. I did
buy magazines such as Amiga Format,
CU Amiga etc.  Even getting a short
letter published in one of them.
Oddly, about piracy. We'd complained
to each other that the cost of these
things is quite high, when you don't
know what you're getting, and try
before you buy with demos might be a
way forward. But I've long since
lost my appetite for games, and
regard them a waste of my time!
Having tried one or two and finding
the whole experience even more off
putting than it used to be. I hate
buying something only to find that I
will have to keep forking out to
make the thing work. so I just don't
have anything to do with any of it
now.

...Except the internet, where I've
bought books on programming, found
emulators for all of the above!  As
far as programming goes I had got
Devpac assembler through mail order,
even got the odd book!, still didn't
understand it though. and it got
shelved.  Back to BASIC and I first
found GFA, though a stockist pointed
out the compiler is only available
to download, which being of limited
abilities I found too much messing
about, couldn't do it. Thankfully,
recently I found a very good second
hand BASIC package with much wished
for compiler. "HiSoft BASIC",
(probably also available on the
net!), is everything I ever wanted!
My dream came true, or true-ish at
long last.

Games most remembered:

C16.
Star Trader, Berks trilogy, Petals
of doom, Spectipede, Pacmania, Big
Mac, The Last Ninja

C64.
The Double, Ghostbusters, loads of
Football management games, Outrun

Amiga.
Civilization, UFO Enemy Unknown,
Cannon Fodder, Railroad Tycoon (P,
*later found on eBay), Frontier
Elite2 (reached Captain, became
Elite, no criminal records, Much
cheating!  Realised there were no
new missions so gave up on it), More
management games like SWOS, &
Championship Manager93/4, Premier
Manager2, Pinball Fantasies.

END

I hope you enjoyed reading how my
love of the Commodore came about.
And hope you are enjoying the
programming and nostalgia.

Happy Programming
John Fielden.

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