Robert Hurst » C64

CPU Reverse Engineering: 6502

Rob — Sat, 15 Jan 2011 10:03:24 +0000

A video of a wonderful presentation and ongoing project, currently reverse engineering the 6502 CPU, but the process and tools are a springboard for other chips (video, sound, i/o) and pcbs:

CommodoreServer

Rob — Sat, 02 Oct 2010 15:57:31 +0000

Talk about retro-cool technology. This web site features a new internet modem for all Commodore 8-bit computers, for easy “Load & Go” access into their online software library. And I was able to contribute to that library my very own VIC 20 collection as a floppy disk. How neat is that?

This demo is fascinating to watch a C64 using their online software library in action:

C64 on Internet using the Comet64 Modem

I also purchased one of these 1541 Ultimate 2 drives, although I might not even see it this calendar year as these units are severely back-ordered:

The 1541 Ultimate 2 cartridge for the Commodore 64

The Price of Storage

Rob — Sun, 28 Mar 2010 21:14:19 +0000

Funny short story: today, a CMD HD with 80-megabyte storage solution for the Commodore 64/128 just sold for $375 shipped on ebay. That comes to roughly $4800 per gigabyte, with NO manual and NO warranty. I was tempted earlier today at BestBuy for a 1-terabyte storage solution that connects to your home router for one-button backup of your PC and allows for streaming media to my PCs and PS3 for under $200 with local pick-up. That comes to roughly twenty cents per gigabyte, with manual, cables, and a 2-year warranty — more than 24,000x less per gigabyte than CMD HD.

Moral of the story: someone’s junk is someone else’s treasure.

Running VICE

Rob — Sat, 13 Mar 2010 19:37:51 +0000

VICE is a conglomerate of Commodore 8-bit emulators. For the inexperienced user looking to do some retro-gaming from those wildly popular machines from the late ’70s and throughout the ’80s, it can be a daunting and frustrating task to operate those “friendly” computers. Particularly because you had varying-sized game cartridges, floppy software, cassette software, and a ranging mix of memory expansions that can cause the most grief in booting up an old game.

Fear not, it’s Boray to the rescue! He provides a nice link to a Windows utility, PRG Starter, that will deter those PRG loading blues — particularly for PET, VIC 20, and C64 BASIC programs — although there is quite a bit of logic for the more esoteric program loads, too, and for the other VICE emulated machines.

After permission to examine his source code, I decided I could use a simply elegant utility such as this for my Fedora desktop — after all, like Windows, GNOME offers the same customized launching feature via an associated filetype extension. You can find the C source archive to the simple launcher dubbed run.

After associating filetypes, such as .prg, p00, .a0, .crt, .d64, .g64, and .rom, to launch a customized command, run, you simply double-click the Commodore 8-bit binary file and it will run the correct VICE emulator with any associated command-line options, such as memory expansion, attach as a cartridge, or boot from a floppy or tape.

You can even do this from the command-line. Here are some examples (with the verbose option on):

$ run -v quikman2k8.prg
**** Commodore VIC 20 ML program ****
xvic -memory none “quikman2k8.prg”

$ run -v berzerk-mmx+.prg
**** Commodore VIC 20 ML program with 16kb memory expansion ****
xvic -memory all “berzerk-mmx+.prg”

$ run -v Super\ Zaxxon.crt
**** Commodore 64 game cartridge ****
x64 -cartcrt “Super Zaxxon.crt”

And of course my favorite:

$ run -v mega-cart.rom
**** Commodore VIC 20 with Mega-Cart ****
xvic -cartmega “mega-cart.rom”

‘Low End’ Computers (1985)

Rob — Sun, 13 Dec 2009 14:23:18 +0000

Ran across this info program from that day chronicling what the home computer giants, Atari and Commodore, were doing and envisioning. Of course, Atari got Jack Tramiel, former CEO and founder of Commodore, or even they would not be in this picture. It was cool seeing a glimpse of the (new) Commodore 128 and hearing about the future with Amiga.

8-bit vintage computing and ebay

Rob — Mon, 19 Jan 2009 00:14:02 +0000

With all the tinkering I have been doing lately with 8-bit computers, I decided to expand my existing collection to include a Commodore 64C computer, 1581 diskette drive (3.5″), and 1902 RGB monitor. All equipment is in excellent condition, complete with original boxes. The most satisfying part is that I was able to last-second outbid for all three items for a total of only $160 (plus shipping costs). That same gear would have cost me at least $750 back in the mid 1980s.

What is nice about the Commodore peripherals, both the monitor and diskette drive, are compatible with my VIC 20 and Plus/4. I might be able to resurrect an old 128, too, which could then take advantage of the monitor’s 80-column mode, or perhaps find a nice replacement on ebay as well.

Here are some pictures of my incoming treasures from their sellers: