[Boards: 3 / a / aco / adv / an / asp / b / bant / biz / c / can / cgl / ck / cm / co / cock / d / diy / e / fa / fap / fit / fitlit / g / gd / gif / h / hc / his / hm / hr / i / ic / int / jp / k / lgbt / lit / m / mlp / mlpol / mo / mtv / mu / n / news / o / out / outsoc / p / po / pol / qa / qst / r / r9k / s / s4s / sci / soc / sp / spa / t / tg / toy / trash / trv / tv / u / v / vg / vint / vip / vp / vr / w / wg / wsg / wsr / x / y ] [Search | Free Show | Home]

70s-early 90s Computer Gaming General

This is a blue board which means that it's for everybody (Safe For Work content only). If you see any adult content, please report it.

Thread replies: 498
Thread images: 56

File: TRS 80 Model III.jpg (216KB, 1599x1045px) Image search: [Google]
TRS 80 Model III.jpg
216KB, 1599x1045px
*New* Helpful Links : http://pastebin.com/UdmipND6

Welcome to the 70s to early 90s Computer Gaming General. We talk about games and the hardware they were made for, either micro, mini or mainframe computers, desktop, tower or all in keyboard package, from Japan, the US, Europe, or anywhere, if the platform came out before 1995.

Don't hesitate to share tips, your past (or present) experiences, your new machines, your already existing collection, emulation & hardware advises, as well as shots, ads & flyers, videos, interviews, musics, photos, that kind of stuff.

Allowed : Computers made from the 70s to Windows 3.x and their games (of course), peripherals for these computers from any time period (MIDI expanders included)
Tolerated : Unknown, unsupported or not really popular post-95 stuff (BeOS, old Linux, stuff like this), baka gajin Western computers
Not allowed : Late 90s games and computers, Pentium PCs or more, PPC Macs and up, Windows 95 and later
Discouraged: Europe vs America shitposting, boring, long-winded technical discussions like the last thread (unless it's technical discussions about the X68000, PC-8801, etc)

IRC Channel : #/g/retro @ irc.rizon.net

Random music:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ny_YeviBR60

Random gameplay:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NQDuHveP0lY
>>
File: hqdefault[1].jpg (31KB, 480x360px) Image search: [Google]
hqdefault[1].jpg
31KB, 480x360px
> Europe vs America shitposting, boring, long-winded technical discussions like the last thread

Yes please, last thread was a pile of crap.

Recommend me good rpgs
>>
>>3304759
>baka gajin Western computers
Look like OP forgot to remove that shit.
>(unless it's technical discussions about the X68000, PC-8801, etc)
And that one too.

>>3304762
What have you already played? I'm no expert on that subject, but you might as well try the classic falcom games on MSX (Xanadu, the Ys series) as well as the Micro Cabin ones (the Xak series). Most of these might have translations or are already in english. Of course there classics like the Wizardry series on Apple II and PC or the Ultima series on Apple II and Commodore 64 (I've read somewhere that the PC version of the early Ultima episodes aren't that good compared to the other versions though). On Amiga, there are dungeon crawlers like Dungeon Master, Eye of the Beholder and Captive (gotta love the title tune of that one), as well as the Moon series (and a few Ultima episodes too).
>>
>>3304936
I meant to remove those but I forgot. I copypasted the thread text into Notepad and edited it, but then I wasn't paying attention and copypasted the original one from the Foolz archive.
>>
>>3304936
>I've read somewhere that the PC version of the early Ultima episodes aren't that good compared to the other versions though

They're CGA/PC speaker stuff. Not worse than the Apple II, but since they've all been remastered for better hardware, there's no reason to play those now.

Also U2/3 do absolutely no speed throttling and will be too fast on anything but an 8086, so on DOSBox you'll need to lower cycles.
>>
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yoLx_he6UIQ

This is patched for EGA btw so not what the game would have originally looked like.
>>
>>3304942
Okay. Well, shit happens. Anyway, let's hope this one turns out to be good.

>>3304946
>>3304953
I see. Thanks for the precisions.
>>
>>3304946
As one other note, U2/3 are designed for DOS 1.x so they don't support saving your game progress to a subdirectory.
>>
>>3304936
Thanks, i have actually played only a dew Ultimas. I need to checkout Wizardry series.
>>
If you want to play the classic Ultimas (up to VI), the Amiga ports are the best ones.
>>
>>3305301

IIcs were sold in huge numbers and aren't particularly valuable, no.
>>
>>3304942
Nuke the thread while its still fresh.
We will start over in no time
>>
>>3305471
Well it would be a waste imo, it started out pretty good. All we'll have to do is remind at the end of this thread to remove these stains, that's it.
>>
http://www.ebay.com/itm/VTG-Radio-Shack-TRS-80-Model-III-Micro-Computer-System-48K-Working-/322155848128?hash=item4b01fc21c0:g:mNUAAOSwvg9XZINQ

"This is before my time, I don’t know how to test all functions of this computer, nor do I have any disks to test other than a (blank ?) disk that was in the drive when I acquired this. This computer turns on, both disk drives turn, and may or may not work perfectly"

Take the disk out and go into BASIC, you baka.

Seriously?
>>
>>3305471
Too bad moot killed thread self-deletions thanks to starcraft shitposters on /vg/ a long time ago.
>>
>>3305713
You can delete posts, just not after they've been up 10 minutes.
>>
>>3305713
Nononono. It had to do with some stuff that happened on /sp/ in 2012 or somewhere back then. OPs of game threads were deleting them on purpose in the middle of an NFL playoff match or whatever and then accusing the janitors of doing it.

I know because I used to do it myself. :^)
>>
>>3305860
Pots within a thread. Threads themselves not at all.
>>
>>3305713
Oh well, maybe Hiro will give us back thread deletions.
>>
File: Panasonic_FS-A1GT_Ad.jpg (1MB, 1629x2024px) Image search: [Google]
Panasonic_FS-A1GT_Ad.jpg
1MB, 1629x2024px
3 MSX (2 Turbo-R models and a 2+ one), all equiped with an MSX Music chipset, playing Cosmic air way, the theme of the C level in Darius:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=adOr76TzHL0
>>
File: MicroCabin_Xak_I_II_ToG_Fray_ad.jpg (2MB, 1559x2024px) Image search: [Google]
MicroCabin_Xak_I_II_ToG_Fray_ad.jpg
2MB, 1559x2024px
>>
>>3305590
>>3308558
>>3308567
>>3308572

Can we add eBay whining to the discouraged list next time? It's getting annoying.
>>
>>3308639
Lol. I just want more vintage computer discussion, not complaining about prices.
>>
File: Gradius_episode_II_MSX_ad.jpg (806KB, 1559x2024px) Image search: [Google]
Gradius_episode_II_MSX_ad.jpg
806KB, 1559x2024px
>>
>>3304946
>but since they've all been remastered for better hardware, there's no reason to play those now.
Huh? I don't play old games because of fancy graphics. The only thing a remake can do for me is if they have new scenarios or something else gameplay related.
>>
>>3309167

Sometimes games can also look better on inferior hardware too. The Sanyo MBC-55 version of Time Bandit looks quite nice and colorful compared to the Amiga and Atari ST version for example.
>>
File: iczer_MSX.png (3KB, 256x192px) Image search: [Google]
iczer_MSX.png
3KB, 256x192px
Hey the Coleco Adam version of Dragon's Lair looks pretty neat:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YSinFyg6Y5Q
The animations looks great imo.
>>
"An article in the November 1983 InfoWorld Magazine stated that as many as 30% of all Commodore 64s sold were being returned to their place of purchase by disgruntled customers, versus the industry average 2-5% return rate. Despite continued rumors of Commodore having shoddy reliability/quality control, the company denied this, arguing that all major technical issues with the C64 had been fixed earlier in the year and most of these returns were 'due to customers who simply didn't understand how to connect and set their machines up.'"

It does give pause for thought when one considers that Commodore sold computers anywhere and everywhere, including major department stores like Sears and K-Mart, Toys'R'Us, and college bookstores whereas Apple (to cite one example) sold only through authorized retailers which probably reduced the amount of tech illiterates buying computers just because it was the cool thing to do at that time. The early 1980s personal computer boom did end up attracting a lot of novices which was unfortunate at a time when computers were still too primitive and difficult to use for non-geeks.
>>
>>3310549
but C64 ICs tend to literally self-destruct
>>
>>3310597
Not sure if it was that and not mostly the shitty black brick PSUs failing and taking out the machine with it.
>>
>>3310597
The VIC-II and SID do tend to get rather toasty; early models had a ceramic VIC-II for better thermal control, but this was changed to plastic on the Rev B boards. Officially, the RF shield was supposed to act as a heat sink, but not all C64 boards had it and many PAL machines had aluminized cardboard instead of a metal RF shield, which provided very little heat dissipation.
>>
>>3310723
C64Cs are more reliable than the old breadbox due to fewer ICs and adoption of the newer HMOS process instead of NMOS. However, this is a bit of a problem for American retro computer collectors as the vast majority of NTSC Commodore 64s were the breadbox model and sales here started tapering off after 1986. The C64Cs are very common in Europe, not that common in the US.
>>
>>3310604
The brick PSU is a horrible piece of shit, although the RAM is the most common victim since those are CMOS rather than NMOS and have higher transistor density. While the VIC/SID/6510/6522 can handle some overvoltage, 4164 DRAMs cannot take even a little bit above +5V.
>>
>>3310728
That kind of proves Americans' tendency to move onto the next big thing quicker than Europe. The C64 continued selling strongly in PAL regions even as late as 1991-92 and was still profitable for Commodore. In fact it was ultimately retired not for lack of sales, but actually because the price of the 1541 drives was climbing, most likely due to scale of economics. It seems likely that Commodore's main supplier, Alps Electronics, decided to hike prices since there can't have been too much demand left for single sided 5.25" drive mechanisms by the early 90s and so they had to start charging more for them to keep their operation profitable.
>>
>>3310758
Anyway, the established C64 user base in North America was big enough to keep it supported by software until the end of the 80s (Microprose stated in 1987 that their primary focus was on the C64, Amiga, and PC compatibles), but not a lot of new machines were still being sold here by 1987-88 and pretty much everyone with a C64 had bought theirs in 83-85. In the late 80s, the NES grabbed a lot of the gaming market on one side and then the PC/Amiga on the other side. In fact, the NES was sometimes referred to as "the last great hurrah of 8-bit hardware".
>>
>>3310017
Holy shit, yeah! That's the rom I found at the flea in Oakland. Never seen that screen. I was never able to get anywhere in it, glad to see others using it!
>>
>>3310828
The pic isn't from the game though, it's an TMS9918-like reproduction of an Iczer-1 fanart that was done on PC-8801. As the MSX1 and the Coleco Adam use the same video chip, well you know the rest.

But anyway, this game being a Dragon"s lair port yeah it must be pretty hard, but man it sure does look great!
>>
>>3310728
>However, this is a bit of a problem for American retro computer collectors as the vast majority of NTSC Commodore 64s were the breadbox model and sales here started tapering off after 1986. The C64Cs are very common in Europe, not that common in the US.

No but C128s are pretty easy to find and they have the newer chipset in them.
>>
File: 01_ICZER_1.png (20KB, 640x400px) Image search: [Google]
01_ICZER_1.png
20KB, 640x400px
>>3310964
The original fanart, from the MMK Anime collection 4 artdisk.
>>
>>3310742
Yeah it does seem that bad power bricks are the main cause of RAM failures in a C64.
>>
I have a question -- which old computers (that stay within the realm of this thread obviously) do you guys actually own, and which ones are you planning to get one of these days?
>>
Is this worth picking at around 70$

it is a 286 with 1mb ram and 40mb hard drive

and its fully functinoal

monitor,keyboard and mouse all included
>>
File: the battery from Hell.jpg (5KB, 200x157px) Image search: [Google]
the battery from Hell.jpg
5KB, 200x157px
>>3314314
If you do buy it, check that the motherboard doesn't have one of those blue barrel batteries. If so, remove that infernal thing before it leaks.
>>
>>3314314
Get a Gotek or HxC floppy emulator for easier file transfer.
>>
>>3314314
>70$
I don't know if it's worth that price.

>>3314336
What if he doesn't want to?
>>
>>3314341
Well he's not getting any files from a modern PC onto that thing if all it has is a 5.25" drive.
>>
>>3314343
Ah, I didn't stop to think about that. My bad.
>>
>>3314314
$70 seems too high for that. I had gotten a 386 from a flea market back in 2002 for $25.
>>
>>3314356
>15 years ago

Yeah, the price of things remains static, amirite?
>>
>>3314343
There's still the serial transfer option though. If he's got a 40mb drive, it must already have some softwares on it, so maybe a terminal one or the DOS interlink, and an rs-232 to USB adapter is cheaper.

>>3314352
Samefag?
>>
>>3314370
Wha...you think a 286 PC is more valuable/useful than it was in 2002? I'm sure it's as much deprecated, obsolete junk as it was then.
>>
>>3314371
>If he's got a 40mb drive, it must already have some softwares on it, so maybe a terminal one or the DOS interlink

AFAIK Interlink was a DOS 6.x utility. If that's a 286 PC it probably has DOS 3.x on the hard disk and no Interlink.

The one other thing that I don't like about 286 PCs is that most of them don't have a BIOS setup program in the system ROMs, it's usually on a boot floppy. This is of course system-specific and you will need the correct one for your machine. There's a huge fuckton of different 286 PCs and it's quite unlikely you can find the setup program you need online unless it's an IBM AT. Even if you had it, you'd still need a way to copy it to a 5.25" floppy.
>>
>>3314336
>>3314341
>>3314343
>>3314352


I have a pentium 2 with windows 95 can make file diskette put into 386 I have with both bigger and smaller disketts and can trasnfer from smaller to bigger ones and then into the pc

>>3314356
He I also get a working cga/ega monitor with keyboard if the keyboard will be mechanical I will surely go for it ,but ask again is it really worth it ??
>>
>>3314408

I already have a fully working 386 with both small and big diskette driver so can copy on that
>>
>>3314435
But can you even find the BIOS setup program for that motherboard? Again, there's so many 286 PCs and BIOS versions that it may be almost impossible to find it unless it's an IBM AT or maybe a Compaq setup program.
>>
>>3314356
Cool, do you still have it?
>>
>>3314446
Perhaps if he asks on VCFED someone could help him.
>>
File: maxresdefault.jpg (215KB, 1920x1080px) Image search: [Google]
maxresdefault.jpg
215KB, 1920x1080px
Plus/4 -- what can /vr/ tell me about it?
>>
>>3314960
It's a fucked up half breed of a VIC-20 and a Commodore 64 that has a video chip that dies if you look at it the wrong way.

DOA in the US, but was kind of popular in some parts of Europe for a while.
>>
>>3314965
The BASIC in the Plus/4 revived some of the disk commands from PET BASIC, though not all of them. There was one magazine reviewer who posted a lengthy rant on y u no RANDOM# command (this being used for relative file access). They did however revive the BACKUP command which was completely useless on a 1541 drive.
>>
>>3314960
TED is dead, Jim.
>>
>>3314960
Only bother with that thing if you're European and you heat sink the TED and CPU immediately. I'm not kidding.
>>
>>3314960
I saw one in a flea market in its original box. They're kind of cool, but oh so useless and also so fragile you'd be afraid to turn it on.
>>
>>3314435
>>3314426
>I already have a fully working 386 with both small and big diskette driver so can copy on that
Well, look like the potential problem is solved. If the computer you're asking for wasn't that expensive (70$ for an old PC clone that doesn't even have a well known brand is too much imo), I'd be telling you have fun with it.

>>3314446
If it uses some well known BIOS like American Megatrend, Award or Phoenix, there are still chances that he might be able to find it. Also, there are also chances that there's no need for all of that and that there are dipswitches on the motherboard for the setup(though you'll need the instructions to know what to do with them).

>>3314960
>Japanese Commodore Plus/4
lel they still tried to sell their computers to the Japanese after jewing them with the MAX, and still expected people to buy them? Even though the VIC-20 was a huge success there releasing a mangled unfinished Commodore 64 with a keyboard worse than the VIC-20's ruined all their credibility on the Japanese market.
>>
>>3315078
Imagine if they released the real C64 in Japan.

We could've had some actually good games.
>>
>>3315097

There ARE actual good games on the C64.
>>
>>3315103
>inb4 computers.png
>>
>>3315078
They never sold the Plus/4 in Japan and that's not kana characters on the keyboard; the image quality just sucks and makes it looks like them.
>>
>>3315078
>Also, there are also chances that there's no need for all of that and that there are dipswitches on the motherboard for the setup(though you'll need the instructions to know what to do with them)

286 boards never have DIP switches for the BIOS; that's an 8086 thing.
>>
>>3315078

it also includes a cga/ega monitor and those are also very rare ,im gonna go see e it and IF the keyboard will ne mechanical i might buy it,the seller said it has a loud harddrive, that it sound like a helicopter when starting
>>
>>3315129
>the image quality just sucks and makes it looks like them.
Oh well, now it makes more sense.

>>3315156
Okay, do what you want. Anyway, have fun with it.
>>
File: 461411280.jpg (328KB, 803x1182px) Image search: [Google]
461411280.jpg
328KB, 803x1182px
>>
>>3315183

no I need /vr/ to tell me wat to do
>>
File: download.jpg (52KB, 600x450px) Image search: [Google]
download.jpg
52KB, 600x450px
Hi, /vr/. I've got a Redstone Apple II clone and it has problems. I can get it running fine from a cold start, but after a minute or so the keyboard craps out and the screen freezes. If I power cycle it, it generally freezes up and puts a few random characters on the screen. Obviously something is warming up and becoming faulty. I don't think it's the ICs as I've done a full substitution and with no improvement Any ideas?

Anyone come across this before? Sockets? Power supply?
>>
>>3316138
I'd take a peek inside the PSU or replace it if you have another.
>>
>>3316138
Bad sockets, traces, IDK.
>>
>>3316160
>>3316138
Some Apple II clones were made on the cheap and not always at the best quality standards and it's generally not improved by spending 15 years as a home for generations of mice.
>>
>>3314314
I always found 286s to be pretty much useless. They can't run the really old games like Digger due to hardware incompatibilities, they're too slow/gimped to run Windows or most VGA games decently, and they can't run 32-bit games at all.
>>
>>3316735
They're perfect for games like Silpheed and other late 80s titles.
>>
>>3317024
But you can just run those on a 386/486/Pentium anyway.
>>
File: adcpc464.jpg (176KB, 1166x824px) Image search: [Google]
adcpc464.jpg
176KB, 1166x824px
some 80s porn
>>
>>3317062
Most PCs up to the Windows 95 era can run stuff going back to the late 80s without a problem so there's no need for an actual 286 PC to run those games..
>>
>>3317062
Some might have speed-sensitive routines that make some features unavailable on faster machine. For exemple, I can't get the MIDI to work without speeding down my 486 (internal cache disabling and all that stuff) when I try to play PM2.

>>3317084
That's exactly what he said m8.

>>3317075
I'd get one of these monochrome monitors for my CPC 6128 one of these days, I bet that they're pretty damn nice for high-res adventure and detective games, or even CP/M stuff.
>>
>>3317092
I had a Pentium 133Mhz and it rarely choked on late 80s games. Once in a while something's too fast and you'd have to turn the turbo off (it had a turbo option but in the BIOS setup, not with a button on the front).
>>
>>3317098
Yup, many run just fine, but there are still some that truly require a 286 or else you'll have to slow down your CPU with various means (turbo buttons like you said, or internal cache disabling), thus making the 286 not that useless
>>
>>3317110
I don't know of anything that explicitly needs a 286 to run. There are games that require a real 8088+CGA combo to run, but after 1985 games were mostly designed to run on a wide variety of hardware.
>>
Best solution for games from the 86-90 period is a 386SX box as those have a 16-bit data bus and run slower than a full-up 32-bit motherboard and also are easier to set up and run (no BIOS boot floppy, all of them have VGA and proper protected mode support, etc).
>>
I honestly don't understand why the C64 didn't have a built-in machine code monitor/assembler like the Apple II.

Is it possible to hack the kernal/BASIC rom and integrate one in there?
>>
>>3317263
The VIC-20 and C64 dropped the built-in ROM monitor from the PET for cost reasons (revived on the Plus/4 and C128). You can get a disk/tape/cartridge monitor for them.
>>
>>3315235
That's one spooky game cover.
>>
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UTn3gCHLQkQ
That boy can't be more alpha -- shutting down haters, collecting pussy, loading programs faster than a ZX Spectrum user could even dream, and being able to play great games.
>>
File: Panasonic_FS-A1WX_Ad.jpg (1MB, 1629x2024px) Image search: [Google]
Panasonic_FS-A1WX_Ad.jpg
1MB, 1629x2024px
>>
>>3304759
Zoombinis?
>>
>>3320851
Stop bumping the thread when it's not even in page 9, /vr/ is a slow board and it take a lot of time for a thread to go down there.
>>
Here are some Amiga crack intros:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZDO6fddE3-0
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EhCJy6FBIYI
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tKVbnms1IRY
>>
This is very tenuously related but there really isn't a good place to ask. Can you run early DOS games on FreeDOS installed on a semi-modern (late 90's early 20's) desktop? Will there be timing/graphics issues? I imagine there would be.
>>
>>3323060
Early PC and XT era games will run too fast. Also you'll have to use a soundcard that has DOS drivers.
>>
>>3323081
>Early PC and XT era games will run too fast
And possible graphics incompatibilites.
>>
Is a Vic-20 worth picking up? Local computer recycling place says they might have one
>>
>>3323096
Well it's better being picked than being trashed. Even if you don't know what to do with it, you can still sell or give it to someone who will.
>>
>>3323096
VIC-20s are a fun little computer and have a lot of games although they're all Atari 2600-level. The only problem is you need a memory expander to do anything useful with them.

So hell, get it if it works. You can probably even make a homebrew memory cartridge since the VIC-20 uses SRAM and you can buy those chips new instead of 35 year old 4116 DRAMs.
>>
Memory expanders for the VIC-20 could use either SRAM or DRAM and apparently the huge cartridge PCBs were there to include optional support circuitry for DRAM (as the main system board didn't have any).
>>
>>3323081
>>3323087
Oh well, I own a PC and XT system board but I've never gone about actually fixing either of them. I really don't know where I'd start though. First encounter I had with actually building and working on computers was in the mid-90's so it's a bit before my time. I have some vague concept of how the parts go together working backwards from what I know but I'd probably break something.
>>
>>3323170
PC and an XT* so two different boards
>>
>>3323170
Should probably ask on VCFED. They could help you more than /vr/.
>>
>>3323659
It's a slow board. At least bump it with content, asshat.
>>
>>3323096
So, did you pick it up?
>>
Started collecting hardware with the intention to repair it and get it all working but I simply can't afford it anymore and I also just don't have the time. I think my interest is much more in the software anyway. So intend to just spend my money on a really good CRT and just go the emulator route. I've still collected quite a lot of half-working computers, mostly system boards for PC clones, I've got a 286 (I think), 386, 486, quite a few pentiums and later stuff. I also have a tandy 1000, a TRS-80 model 100 and so on. I'd like to see these go to a good home. Don't really want to make money on it since I've probably barely spent over 200 on everything and I've gotten my enjoyment from them. Where would be the best place to give these away to ensure they wouldn't just be scrapped?
>>
>>3325739
Try to check if there are people into this hobby in your area, by going on forums treating these subjects and the like, and tell them that you're willing to give or sell some of your collection. That's the best way I can think of.
>>
File: atari_st_ad_midi_maze.jpg (470KB, 1089x1491px) Image search: [Google]
atari_st_ad_midi_maze.jpg
470KB, 1089x1491px
>>
>>3324821
No, apparently it's really deep in storage and the guy who works there won't be able to get it for a few days. I probably will when I hear from him, though.
>>
>>3320323
I've never seen this before. Really cool design.
>>
Can anyone explain how RAM designations work?

http://www.issi.com/US/product-asynchronous-sram.shtml

>x8, x16, x32

What do they mean? Noob question.
>>
>>3328161
It means how many bits per address pin. Oldskool 4116 and 4164 chips were x1, meaning that each address line represents one physical bit on the chip.

x8 means 8 bits per line, so each address line represents one byte. x16 means 16 bits or 64 kilobytes per pin. etc, etc.
>>
>>3328176
For example, the Commodore 64 used the somewhat unusual setup where one bit from each 4164 was used to make a byte. Thus, the first chip held the Bit 0 for the entire memory space, the second chip held the Bit 1, and so forth.

The C64C switched to using 41264 chips which hold 32k of memory so only two are needed. These boards used a slightly different addressing scheme and it is possible to mod breadbin C64s to accept 41264s.
>>
>>3328161
Low capacity DRAMs like the 4164 aren't manufactured anymore and they've all been replaced by SRAMs. Theoretically those chips listed there could be used as RAM replacement in most classic computers if you build a circuit to disable the RAS/CAS line and demux the address/data bus. Of course some architectures like the Commodore 64 it would be really hard to use SRAM.
>>
The 4116 DRAMs are 16kx1 which means each chip physically holds 2 kilobytes of data and has one bit per address line. It took 24 of them to fill up a typical 48k computer of the time like a TRS-80 or an Apple II+.
>>
The IBM XT (on the original 64-256k board) needed a whopping 80 4164 chips to get the full 640k of RAM (32 on the main system board and 48 on an expansion card). Later XTs with the 256-640k board had 4164s for the first 256k of system RAM and the remainder used 41256 chips which hold 32k each, so only 12 were needed for 44 total chips.
>>
Which has worse sound effects and music:
The 48k ZX spectrum or the 8088 IBM PC?
>>
>>3328282
It depends. Stock?
I don't know the the PC programmers did shit like this:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0rDYInnzV9Y
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GRUQr457zkw
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kl8dAVybwq8
If they didn't, then the latter is worse. If they did then it's both.
>>
File: DSCF1562.jpg (72KB, 640x480px) Image search: [Google]
DSCF1562.jpg
72KB, 640x480px
The first DRAM ever brought to market was the Intel 1103 in 1971 which stored a whopping 128 bytes and needed an even more whopping 16V of power.

Eventually there followed 512 byte DRAMs and then the 2k 4116 which claimed 75% of the total DRAM market at its peak.
>>
>>3328202
Nononnono. That number refers to how many cells are in a RAM chip. The 4164 was 64x1 meaning there's one physical 64 kilobit (8192 byte) cell. On the other hand, you can have a 64kx8 chip meaning there's eight 1 kilobyte cells to equal 8 kilobytes. The 4116 was 16kx1 meaning there's one physical 16 kilobit cell, or 2048 bytes.
>>
File: DSC01945.jpg (740KB, 2048x1536px) Image search: [Google]
DSC01945.jpg
740KB, 2048x1536px
>>3328404
I own 3 Intel chips just a little older than this one.
The 3101 was Intel's first product and also the first solid state memory.
It can store 64bits as 4bit words, has separate inputs and outputs and runs on 5V.

The only chip older than these I own is one SN7400N made in week 18 of 1967.
>>
>>3328548
Hey these chips are pretty good looking!

Also, nice model 100. What do you use it for?
>>
>>3328553
Thanks.
I mostly used my M100 for writing as the keyboard (with it's linear ALPS switches) is superior than all modern laptops, in the long run it made me buy a Cherry G80-3000LPMDE/01 for my main PC.
Recently I used DSKMGR.CO for a Brother FB-100 disk drive (which the TPDD1 is based on) that I bought with an Olivetti M10 which came with all the manuals, including one for the disk drive.
>>
>>3328443
No, a 64kx8 chip stores 64 kilobytes. In short, it's the equivalent of eight 4164 chips in one IC.

>>3328180
Late C64Cs use two 41256 memory chips. The 41264 is just a manufacturer's designation and they're standard 41256 chips (32kx1).
>>
>>3328574
I see. Does it use the same softwares as the other TRS-80 models, or does it have it's own softwares?
>>
>>3328215
That's freaking inefficient af and uses a _lot_ of power.

>80 RAM chips each using 5V

IIRC you had to upgrade the power supply in an IBM 5150 for that because the original 63w unit wasn't enough to handle a maxed out 640k machine.
>>
>>3328605
I have an IBM 5150 with an AST Six Pak. I'd have to take it out of storage but I'm pretty sure the power supply is 120w or something.

The factory PSU in the IBM XT was 135w but it also had to power a full height hard disk. Later XTs had half height drives and fewer RAM chips due to half of them being 41256es.
>>
>>3325894
Yeah I was thinking of doing something like that, I know people do giveaways on VOGONS all the time. I'll have to get it all sorted and organized there a few things I want to keep anyway
>>
>>3328604
They all have different software.
My M100 doesn't have a modem builtin just as my M10 because these were are intended for european market.
This means that their software is different from their american counterparts as all routines to handle the modem are gone.
>>
>>3328779
No modem for the european market? In 1983?
Which country was it's main target? It would have been pretty useful in some countries like France which had the Télétel network.

But anyway, are there games that were made to run on these machines specificially?
>>
>>3328404
The 4116 was the first DRAM to feature a multiplexed data/address bus which became the norm for DRAMs.
>>
Why is Play DOS Games online whining about not having enough space on my computer all of a sudden?
>>
File: msx2+_sanyo_wavy_70FD2.jpg (65KB, 600x450px) Image search: [Google]
msx2+_sanyo_wavy_70FD2.jpg
65KB, 600x450px
>>3327510
That's the design used by pretty much every MSX2+ and Turbo-R that Panasonic released. Personally I like the Sanyo Wavy 70FD design more, with it's frontal floppy drive(s for the FD2 model).
>>
>>3329526
I don't know.
>>
Someone said the ZX Spectrum has better sprites than the C64.

What nonsense is this?
>>
>>3331190
That's because the ZX Spectrum only graphic mode is 256*192, which is higher than the 160*220 mode used by many C64 games, and thus allow more detailed "sprites" (though the Speccy don't really have hardware sprites), which are preffered by some people over less detailed but more colorful ones..
>>
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JZXer8pnjnM
It's a good thing that Sierra still supported the MT-32 when porting their games to the Atari ST (it would have been a waste for the Atari ST if they didn't). Apparently some of their games also support the high resolution monochrome monitor.
>>
>>3331190
Don't know how the ZX Spectrum works, but the C64's high res sprites mode is fucking shit, it cuts the horizontal resolution in half.

So the only way to get decent sprites would probably be to use the monochrome mode and overlay sprites on top of each other, and hope to god that you can write a decent multiplexer.
>>
>>3331223
Yeah, but the C64 could do 320x240 sprites too - but only at a single colour.

A few high-end games multiplexed 1 single colour and 1 multi-colour sprite to get high-res sprites.

ZX Spectrum had ass quality graphics compared to the C64 tho. Did any games even use backgrounds in it?
>>
C64 sprites are 12x21 or 24x21 and you also have a scaling option for either the X or Y axis.
>>
>>3332309
The hardware can also handle collision detection, which I think is not that common when it comes to VDCs
>>
File: cbquest.jpg (23KB, 256x324px) Image search: [Google]
cbquest.jpg
23KB, 256x324px
You haven't lived if watching your older cousins play this didn't give you nightmares.
>>
>>3332503
Collision detection registers are worthless for all but the simplest games which is why Nintendo never included them in any of their consoles.
>>
File: Roosevelt_laughing_in_videotext.jpg (1MB, 2304x1728px) Image search: [Google]
Roosevelt_laughing_in_videotext.jpg
1MB, 2304x1728px
>>3332079
> Did any games even use backgrounds in it?
It would be understandable for most of them not to have one -- the ZX Spectrum don't have any hardware sprite, so if you don't want your "sprites" to switch color when it's navigating through the screen (though that would be pretty fun in some kind of Cameleon-themed game) you'd better not have any elaborate background consisting of more than a single color.

Anyway, posting some OC.
>>
File: zx80-ad.jpg (199KB, 640x895px) Image search: [Google]
zx80-ad.jpg
199KB, 640x895px
>>
File: PC-9800_ad.jpg (179KB, 800x1134px) Image search: [Google]
PC-9800_ad.jpg
179KB, 800x1134px
>>
File: 198473948534.png (2MB, 2207x2149px) Image search: [Google]
198473948534.png
2MB, 2207x2149px
>>3334336
>zx80
Don't laugh, but zx80's go for some serious coin now.
>>
I was really interested in the ZX Spectrum a few years back, never got one though. The fact that it can only be connected through RF is a damn shame.
>>
>>3336324
It wasn't composite?
Anyway, the 128k model have an RGB output.
>>
>>3336328
Oh well, might get one then. I gotta fix my Amigas first though. I'd love to have a Silicon Graphics computer too, but they are sorta hard to find, and since they were workstations and not home computers, they aren't exactly that useful today.
>>
>>3336339
SGI stations are still useful in a way that they're still UNIX stations -- they can do the stuff you'd do on any other Unix(-like) station. Also, there's alway the 3D hardware you could use too, like if you wanna make some raytraced scenes for fun, or game that would take advantage of such stations.
>>
>>3336349
Sure, but I don't possess the skill necessary for that, so if the computers can't be used for gaming or demos (which there are few for SGI) I don't really have much use for them aside from the novelty of it.
>>
>>3336402
Yeah, I understand what you mean, it's true that not everyone might find it useful, seeing the kind of tasks you could do with it.

Anyway, you mentioned earlier that you owned an Amiga, which model do you own? I do own one too, a model 500 (the last revision before they turned it into a 500+ with less stuff), and I think I'll try to get my hands on a 2000 or 3000 one of these days.
>>
>>3336429
I own one 1200 and one 500.
>>
Apparently there's a sequel to the dungeon crawler game Captive called Liberation:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ljq6jvJ1q-8
Unlike it's prequel, it appears to use texture-mapped 3D environments.
>>
>>3336502
Nice. I hope you'll be able to fix them soon.

Anyway, a demo that I particularily enjoy:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N3FYdj02kxg
>>
Anyone here interested in classic Macs? I've got an old SE that I've been attempting to stuff with games/applications, and I'd appreciate recommendations.
>>
>>3338653
The SE was produced from 1987 to 90 so look for any software pre-1992 and it should run on the thing.
>>
>>3338653
Also if it's not maxed out to 4MB, you can scan Ebay for 512k 30 pin SIMMs.
>>
>>3338653
There are the obvious Mac choices like the Mindscape Macventures (Uninvited, Shadowgate, DĂ©jĂ  -Vu I & II), Balance of Power, Shufflepuck & Shufflepuck Cafe.
>>
>>3338664
It's maxed, and I'm booting off of a Zip drive because it's the dual 800k floppy model. What's the difference between Shufflepuck and Shufflepuck Cafe?
>>
>>3338738
>Zip drive
Neat! Which capacity? For a late 80s macintosh even the 100MB ones must be some pretty huge storage. I should get a Parallel one for my Amiga one of these days.
>>
>>3338749
>Parallel one for my Amiga
Are there parallel Zip drivers for Amiga? I know the SCSI ones "just work" if you have a controller card.
>>
>>3338805
Yes there are, but you'll need to tweak a parallel cable in order to make the parallel units work on the Amiga though though.
>>
>>3338849
Would it work with one of those multi-port cards that can switch the parallel port between Amiga and IBM compatible? I think the only difference is +5V on one pin.
>>
>>3339212
Well I think it would, but it'd be better to verify it though.
>>
>>3317092
Why would anyone get a green screen for an Amstrad CPC? They look disgusting.
>>
>>3338749
Just a 100MB drive. I'm using about 70 megs right now, and that's with a pretty large game library, and a few basic applications. Any outstanding applications I should grab? (music related, possibly?)
>>
>>3339297
>Why would anyone get a green screen for an Amstrad CPC?
Because monochrome = readable text in high resolution mode. On a color monitor, it's still readable, but some color combination make it pretty damn difficult to read. Therefore a monochrome is, like I said in my previous post, really useful for CP/M stuff and high-resolution games.

>They look disgusting.
That's like, your opinion man.
>>
>>3339912
>Any outstanding applications I should grab? (music related, possibly?)
There's Performer, Vision or Notator that are well-known Mac sequencer (though the last one only became available on Macintosh in, like 1992, and was an Atari ST-only software before that). There might be a version of Cubase for classic Macs, but I don't know if it'll run on a Mac SE.
>>
File: 3364573686_4b1aced01f.jpg (115KB, 333x500px) Image search: [Google]
3364573686_4b1aced01f.jpg
115KB, 333x500px
>>3340160
>>
>>3340160
>>3340502
Cubase had been out for Macs since 1989. As they shared a CPU with the Atari ST, it probably made porting the program really easy.
>>
>>3340502
>>3340504
Oh well, my bad, I though it was released later. I have a copy for my Mega ST (a cracked version though, if I ever find a guenine version for not too much $$$ with the documentation and all I'd buy it even though I can already run it) so I've never really searched about the macintosh version.

>As they shared a CPU with the Atari ST, it probably made porting the program really easy.
Yup, though the ST having built-in MIDI ports, they had to take advantage of that on top of the serial interfaces.
>>
>>3340504
>implying a CPU is the only component in a computer
The Genesis and Mac SE have the same CPU as well. I'd like you to port Streets of Rage to the latter and see how well that works out.
>>
>>3340549
cubase and streets of rage is not a fair comparison
>>
>>3340549
You'd need a 68030 or 68040 or a PowerPC Mac to pull that off. Having no sprites or hardware scrolling makes Johnny a dull boy.
>>
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DU7GUkCbmqs

SOR is also not one of the more advanced Genesis games. It's only 512k and the animation is pretty basic.
>>
>>3340549
It's true that saying you can port a software from one platform to another based on the CPU only isn't alway true, but come on, Cubase is a sequencer that only really need a 640 * something video mode and a serial port (RS-422 or MIDI) while Street of Rage is a video game that's supposed to run on a machine that have 2 different CPU and some heavy-duty video hardware for a home console of the late 80s, they're 2 different kind of software.
>>
>>3340606
Genesis has 1 CPU. You're confusing it with the Saturn.
>>
>>3340612
The megadrive have 2 CPU -- a 68000 and a Z80. The 68000 is the main CPU, while the Z80 take care of the sound (and maybe the graphics if I recall correctly).
>>
>>3340616
I checked again and no, the Z80 only has access to the sound hardware (OPN chip and PSG), 8kB of sound RAM, and a 32kB window of the memory that the 68000 can access.

Anyway, while we're talking about 68k-based machines:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=adh7MftTsCU
>>
>>3340616
The Z80 can run the whole system, since the sound subsystem is basically a Master System, intentionally implemented for compatibility.
It's not designed as a full co-processor though.
>>
>>3341324
No it's not a full co-processor, but it's still like on various arcade boards, multiple CPUs with a main one and other more specialized ones.
>>
Genesis has specialized graphics hardware. Not a fair comparison. The Mac SE and Atari ST are much more alike hardware-wise, even the Amiga is quite different due to also having specialized hardware.
>>
>>3341441
Some ST models do have a blitter though (MegaSTs, and later the STe).
>>
>>3341469
Though about 20 people bought those things.
>>
>>3341490
I didn't say Atari Transputer parallel workstation, I said Mega ST and STe, which were successful models. In France it's pretty easy to find an STe, and not particularily hard to find a Mega ST (I own one, and if it's not as easy to find as the STe, it's because there are still musicians using them -- the guy who sold me his was among them). I think it would be the same in germany, or even easier to find these, as it was the country were the ST was the most popular, among both home nad professional users.

On the subject of the hardware differences between the ST and the Mac, let's not forget that the former have a real sound hardware (PSG chip) instead of a single PCM channel, 2 additional graphic modes (320*200 w/ 16 color, 640*200 w/ 4 color, among a 512 color palette) available with a color monitor (the monochrome one forcing you to stay in 640*400 monochrome).
Also the Ste also have a better graphic chipset with an extended color palette (4096 like the Amiga), hardware scrolling.and the blitter that non-mega models didn't sport.
The ST architecture isn't as simple as the Mac one, sure it isn't like the Megadrive with it's 2 CPU and other specialized chipset or the Amiga with Paula, Agnus, Denise and Copper, but it's still more than a machine with only one graphic mode available, 1 PCM audio channel and nothing else.
What's really easy to port from the ST to the Mac are GEM applications and games, like cubase, but stuff like non-GEM dependant games and applications wont be that easy.
>>
File: IBM XT.jpg (9KB, 267x189px) Image search: [Google]
IBM XT.jpg
9KB, 267x189px
"Speculations on IBM's new entry in its Personal Computer line ended up being more ambitious than the finished product, perhaps a machine based on the Intel 80186 or other next-generation features. Ultimately, there was disappointment to learn that the XT was nothing more than a conservative enhancement of the PC that did not even use the 8086 CPU, but merely the same old 8088. The biggest enhancement to the XT of course is its eight expansion slots, correcting one of the biggest complaints about the PC. This is not without some caveats as the two slots closest to the power supply cannot accommodate full-length expansion cards and the narrower spacing in the XT also means certain cards designed for the PC cannot fit, especially those with double PCBs. The prospective customer is therefore advised to make sure any expansion cards he purchases will fit inside the XT."

"The XT has a beefed-up power supply, putting out 135 watts as opposed to the PC's 63 watt power supply. This is necessary to accommodate the extra expansion slots in the computer as well as the new fixed disk drive. The XT motherboard has been upgraded to accommodate larger capacity 64kx1 DRAMs as opposed to the 16kx1 DRAMs in the original PC. IBM has also redesigned the PC's motherboard for same and discontinued single-sided diskette drives and the cassette model, which was never much of a factor anyway. Although the PC still has the cassette connector, sales literature no longer even mentions it."
>>
"I was slightly disappointed to find out that IBM does not offer the XT with two diskette drives even though the floppy disk controller is unchanged and the ribbon cable for the drives still has two connectors on it. If IBM had used half-height diskette drives, this might have been possible. The lack of two diskette drives is a bit of an inconvenience for some applications particularly copying files between floppies. It seems that the only 'legal' way to purchase an XT with two diskette drives is to buy the 5161 expansion chassis and install the fixed disk in that, then put two diskette drives in the computer itself."

"The fixed disk is one of the XT's biggest attractions and greatly increases the convenience of the machine as well as speed. With a transfer rate of 1.5 million bits per second as opposed to 250,000 per second from a diskette drive, accessing data is threefold faster. I found it took only one second to load BASIC from the fixed disk instead of the four seconds it took from a floppy. The fixed disk is also considerably quieter than the noisy diskette drives. Also the XT can boot directly from the fixed disk as opposed to needing to boot from the floppy drive first. During startup, the computer will still attempt to boot off the floppy and if this is not successful, the fixed disk. It is still of course necessary to boot from a diskette under certain circumstances, particularly when running copy protected software such as Microsoft's Flight Simulator."

"The ST-412 drive in my test XT developed a howling sound within three days. Although I did not lose any data, this was unnerving enough that I had the drive replaced under warranty with a Miniscribe unit which has been completely trouble-free."
>>
"DOS 2.0 is if anything more revolutionary than the XT itself. Microsoft says that it is a complete rewrite from the ground up and has many features derived from their Xenix operating system. This includes support for the XT's fixed disk as well as subdirectories, a more advanced file handling system, and many new and upgraded utilities. BASIC has also been significantly upgraded. Most DOS 1.x applications will work on DOS 2.0. Some will not work and Microsoft has included a list of them in the user documentation. It can be safely assumed that in the coming months, nearly all software vendors will release updated versions of their products for DOS 2.0."

"Having said that, the documentation for DOS 2.0 is a disappointment and shows obvious signs of being rushed. There are numerous spelling and grammatical mistakes and the manual for BASIC 2.0 was even worse. In addition to more spelling mistakes, the examples shown of BASIC's new functions prove that the writer did not understand the purpose of most of them. The initial BASIC 2.0 manual released last spring was in fact nothing more than the BASIC 1.x manual with a couple sheets of printed paper listing the new BASIC 2.0 features that the user was expected to staple into the manual."
>>
"IBM as of yet has not offered any new video display cards for the PC and these still consist of the Monochrome Display and Printer Adapter and the Color Graphics Adapter. The former is mostly designed for an office environment and provides sharp, high resolution text, but no graphics capability. Aside from IBM's 5151 monochrome monitor, one may also purchase a compatible third party display. I had tested an Amdek amber monochrome monitor, but preferred the IBM 5151 for its sharpness and phosphor color. The Color Graphics Adapter provides 16 colors and full bitmap mode graphics, but at a much lower resolution. In addition, IBM has finally introduced a color monitor, the 5153. One of the more nagging complaints about the Color Graphics Adapter is its tendency to cause screen flicker when scrolling text due to contention between the CPU and the video circuitry. BASIC does not have this problem as it uses the BIOS text output function which properly obeys the rules for preventing screen flicker."

"One of the industry's least favorite subjects to discuss is backing up data. Although the business world uses archival data tapes for this purpose, tape drives are extremely pricey and unaffordable to the average customer. As such, the only cost-effective option for backup is by using the floppy drive in the computer. To this end, Microsoft has included a backup utility in DOS 2.0 to do just that - it will copy the contents of a fixed disk to diskettes in a compressed archival format, which can later be restored. The problem is that this will require a significant amount of diskettes. The fixed disk in the XT stores 10 million bytes, which is equivalent to 27 diskettes. Worse still, the backup utility in DOS 2.0 requires that you have blank, formatted diskettes on hand which will create a problem as the user typically won't know how many diskettes are needed to back the fixed disk up beforehand."
>>
>>3342661
>>3342660
>>3342659
>>3342658
BTW, this was from a 1983 Byte Magazine review of the IBM XT.
>>
File: 2015-08-04-NZ-bits-and-bytes-ad.jpg (487KB, 800x560px) Image search: [Google]
2015-08-04-NZ-bits-and-bytes-ad.jpg
487KB, 800x560px
>>3342658
Less Murrifat rubbish and more real computers.
>>
Is there a good list of games for the PC 98 that you can play without knowing Japanese.
>>
File: PS2 Model 30.jpg (18KB, 198x225px) Image search: [Google]
PS2 Model 30.jpg
18KB, 198x225px
>>
>>3342839
Well by trying to avoid text-heavy games like strategy, role-playing and adventure games, and by checking for more action-oriented ones, I guess that you'll end up with quite a few games that doesn't require you to understand runes.
>>3342906
>New! IBM PS/2 model 30 now available in ant size!
>>
>>3343035
>>3342839
Also there are the obvious choices like Kotsujin and the 5 first 2hu games:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xgWVJrmNWEs
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dQBaeFKWlt0
>>
http://www.ebay.com/itm/TRS-80-Model-III-Micro-Computer-Radio-Shack-/282093629693?hash=item41ae1730fd:g:mGkAAOSwRQlXfsx8

"Sold as-is, no returns vintage Radio Shack TRS-80 Model 3 MicroComputer. When powered on one red light turns on and then turns off. The power cord's prong looks like it was cut and replaced. Does come with cover with a slight rip. Please look at pics before buying. I do not know if it can be fixed but it can be used as parts."

This is actually normal behavior on the Model III. If you power it up with no bootable disk, it just sits there with a blank screen and you can go into BASIC by holding down Break and then pressing Reset.

Anyone want to drop this poor sod an email and explain that he has to press Break+Reset and that the computer is probably working just fine.
>>
>>3344743
Why don't you do it instead of asking some people on a mongolian magic tapestry sharing forum to do it for you? It's not like it'll take more than 2 minutes.
>>
>>3344794
I don't have an email account set up atm.
>>
Amberstar on the Amiga:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q3u6Ar4PPO8 (6:30 to skip the credits)
I really should give the Thalion RPGs (Dragonflight, Amberstar and Ambermoon) a try, they seems to be rather good games.Has anyone here ever played these games?
>>
are there any examples of C64 cartridges that were larger than 16kb except for the easyflash?

how easy would it be to build one in theory and just slap a game on it?
>>
>>3344959
Couple of PAL region carts like the Ocean Double Dragon used bank switching.
>>
File: Flame_Zapper_kotsujin_intro.webm (2MB, 635x394px) Image search: [Google]
Flame_Zapper_kotsujin_intro.webm
2MB, 635x394px
>>
So LGR just dropped a megaton on his fanbase:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fbjYkPKRm-8

Wow. Needless to say, DOS PC prices that were already crazy are about to get far, far, far worse. I've been looking for a 486 for months and seeing this pretty much single-handedly made me give up.
>>
File: Sion2_title_x68000.webm (2MB, 529x496px) Image search: [Google]
Sion2_title_x68000.webm
2MB, 529x496px
>>3346020
Talking about him sure wont help though (nor does giving him free views). Just avoid ebay as your main supplier and check for other selling websites and you'll be alright.

Anyway this thread need more music:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Cgn9djDqSDw
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u2YQp-sDsb0
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZZN7-AWXnBo
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NkrUFxePuWw
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vc8VonBWGXg
>>
http://www.ebay.com/itm/Vintage-TRS-80-Computer-w-Printer-with-Manuals-Radio-Shack/351774824547?_trksid=p2047675.c100010.m2109&_trkparms=aid%3D555012%26algo%3DPW.MBE%26ao%3D2%26asc%3D20131231084308%26meid%3Dc7daf254462d4cf8a96e0bd25696c823%26pid%3D100010%26rk%3D4%26rkt%3D24%26sd%3D282093629693

Apparently not working but at least he's fair enough to charge a reasonable price and holy god, that printer and all that software.
>>
>>3346020
This guy is one of the many autists who post on Vogons and think you need a real 486 to run games that can just be played on DOSBox and are almost indistinguishable from the real thing.
>>
>>3346693
dosbox sucks though

you have to have a different config file for almost every game
>>
>>3346748
So it's just like a real PC where you have to configure a different CONFIG.SYS for every game? :^)
>>
>>3346750
Not if you actually know how to configure your shit (putting everything in high memory, shit like that) and run memmaker. Also
>DOS Box is indistinguishable from a real 486 PC
Until you run a demo and you see the whole shit crashing when trying to replicate some simple effects.
>>
>>3346756
>Not if you actually know how to configure your shit (putting everything in high memory, shit like that) and run memmaker. Also
Of course unlike yourself, I was not born in 1998 so I did actually do this stuff back then and it's not as easy as you think at all.
>Until you run a demo and you see the whole shit crashing when trying to replicate some simple effects
But who runs demos anyway except Yuropoors?
>>
Believe me when I say, you'd have to be constantly readjusting stuff for every game depending on its memory or other requirements.
>>
>>3346759
>born in 1998
Nice assumption.
>so I did actually do this stuff back then
Considering the way tou act, I doubt you actually did.
>it's not as easy as you think at all
It's not easy when you don't read the fucking manual. There's everything needed in the DOS help for you to allocate EMS out of your XMS, free the monochrome display drivers from memory, specify which segment you want your TSRs and drivers to be placed in memory, in other words make sure the way you managed your stuff allow most games to run on your configuration.

>But who runs demos anyway except Yuropoors?
Now I see you're just shitposting.

>>3346765
All the games I have on my 486 HDD don't require me to change my config.sys file. After running Memmaker i have enough conventional memory (there's alway >600kB free when no other TSR are loaded), I alway have some EMS that is emulated and enough XMS to run most pre-95 games.
>>
File: Gandhara_MSX2_intro.webm (3MB, 537x476px) Image search: [Google]
Gandhara_MSX2_intro.webm
3MB, 537x476px
>>
File: sick-mac-220x289.png (47KB, 220x289px) Image search: [Google]
sick-mac-220x289.png
47KB, 220x289px
Anyone have to deal with any retrocomputing bullshit lately?

I installed Mini vMac on my laptop so I could play Wesleyan Tetris while I'm away from home, and I got kinda carried away and downloaded a software archive or two.

Much to my dismay, I found out that several of the games in the archive had the nVIR virus and I spent the last hour disinfecting everything and swapping virtual floppies.

I never realized how prevalent the nVIR virus was.

Also, it feels silly, but I have a folder of virtual blank floppies.
>>
>>3348581
Ah yeah, that kind of stuff does happen from time to time too when it comes to Amiga disk images -- some people didn't check his disks before dumping them, stuff like that. Hopefuly, many cracks, demos and tool disks also include a little antivirus of some sort that'll check the memory for well known viruses (most of them are reboot resistant so if it was there when running the demo, it'll still be there when you'll be trying to do some serious work after rebooting).
>>
>>3348687
Yeah. Everything's good now.

On a side note, does anyone here know where I can download the macventures? The original ones for the macintosh, please.

I can't seem to find any of them, only the amiga ports. I know macintoshgarden has deja vu, but it's 404-ing on me.
>>
>>3348706
The mac version of Shadowgate seems to be downloadable on myabandonware, same for Uninvited.
>>
>>3348718
Only the dos version.
>>
>>3348758
Never mind, I'm dumb
>>
Man, getting files in and out of Mini vMac is such a cludge. ImportFi *works* but only for archive files. Problem is, all the stuffit archive stuff I have is too modern for stuffit 4.0.1 which runs in the emulator. There's miniunzp, but the file has to be named "arc.zip"
There's a improved miniunzp, but it requires system 7, which I haven't gone through the trouble of installing.
>>
File: DCSF0009.jpg (3MB, 4000x6000px) Image search: [Google]
DCSF0009.jpg
3MB, 4000x6000px
>>3304759

I'm about done with my AT build, its got everything it needs short of a 386 upgrade.
>>
>>3349237
Those IBM brand printers...did anyone actually buy those things except government agencies?
>>
>>3349237
1.44MB drive and I guess it's a Hercules card driving the monitor?
>>
>>3349237
Hey that's a nice looking setup! What expansion cards did you install in it? What do you plan to run on it?

>>3349238
I can find a few for sale around where I live, they usually go around 10~30 bucks.
>>
>>3349241
He has at minimum a monochome card of some kind. It could even be an EGA card set to mono mode.

Having said that, I've never liked 286 PCs. There's nothing really you get out of them that you can't get out of a 386/486//Pentium, they're too slow to run Windows decently, too fast to run the really old stuff that needs an 8088 and I also dislike how the BIOS setup is on a boot floppy instead of the system ROM.
>>
Where the heck did the Amiga thread go?
>>
File: bedroom.jpg (3MB, 4000x6000px) Image search: [Google]
bedroom.jpg
3MB, 4000x6000px
>>3349239
>>3349241

Its got an ATI VGA Wonder running in EGA mode.
Soundblaster 16
3COM Etherlink III
Hayes 1200 baud modem
Intel Aboveboard with 1.2mb of EMS
And the standard fixed disk controller card for the 20 meg drive.
>>
>>3349248

It looks like it was deleted.
>>
>>3349250
Why? The thing was over 400 posts of mostly constructive discussion.
>>
>>3349252

No idea, it was still on topic too.
>>
>>3349257
>>3349250
>>3349248
The thing got axed because it had a furry OP pic. Per Global 3:

"You will not post any of the following outside of /b/: Trolls, flames, racism, off-topic replies, uncalled for catchphrases, macro image replies, indecipherable text (example: "lol u tk him 2da bar|?"), anthropomorphic ("furry") or grotesque ("guro") images, post number GETs ("dubs"), or loli/shota pornography."
>>
>>3349249
A proper extended memory card would be better but maybe hard to find since most 286 PCs were never used with XMS or with anything except as a faster 8086.
>>
File: ro.jpg (25KB, 335x478px) Image search: [Google]
ro.jpg
25KB, 335x478px
>>3349259
You honestly mean to tell me Captain Hot Pocket deleted a PERFECTLY ON TOPIC thread with lots of interesting discussion solely because it had a furry image as the OP pic.
>>
>>3349249
Yet another nice looking pic. Do you have any other photos?
Anyway, that's a pretty nice setup.
>Soundblaster 16
>3COM Etherlink III
I have both these cards in my 486 machine too (though my SB16 is a value model, without the waveblaster port). Also, is the modem for BBSes?
>>
File: at-orig.jpg (56KB, 639x604px) Image search: [Google]
at-orig.jpg
56KB, 639x604px
>>3349263

Yeah, took me a while to scrounge enough DIP RAM chips to populate a few banks.
>>
Can i put two identical VG isa cards in na 386 DX and then have dual monitors, both cards have only 1 vga output ??


Also I have a EGA/CGA monitor and would like ti hook it up to the 386 ,can I use the dual VGA/EGA-CGA without removing and replacing the cards every-time I wanna switch between monitors ??
>>
>>3349263
IBM had a XMS card for the AT which is either 2-4MB (not sure how much) and is populated with single DIPs which I assume are 41256es. Most third party XMS cards had 30 pin SIMM slots.

Another interesting experiment would be building a homebrew memory board with SRAM.
>>
>>3349252
>>3349259
are you sure it wasn't because australia-kun made up for 90% of the posts
>>
>>3349275
>Can i put two identical VG isa cards in na 386 DX and then have dual monitors, both cards have only 1 vga output ??

No. That wasn't possible at all in a PC until PCI cards.
>>
>>3349275
If I recall correctly the only display cards you can actually put in the same PC-AT are one VGA/EGA/CGA and one MDA.
>>
File: ast_rampage_plus_286.zip.jpg (72KB, 800x303px) Image search: [Google]
ast_rampage_plus_286.zip.jpg
72KB, 800x303px
>>3349281
>Most third party XMS cards had 30 pin SIMM slots

286 boards generally only have the first 640k of RAM on the motherboard, although I think some late ones might have had SIMM slots (late 286s made in 89-91 were more like a 386 and included 1.44MB floppy support, onboard BIOS setup, etc)
>>
>>3349287
Get one of these and he can run Windows 3.1 on that thing at a painfully slow clip.
>>
What's the best retro computer to get if I want to use it for making music?
>>
>>3349318
1. Atari ST
.
.
.
9001. Anything else
>>
>>3349249
>And the standard fixed disk controller card for the 20 meg drive

If this is an original CMT hard disk, I'd be all like "Damn." because those things were a piece of shit.
>>
>>3349334

Seagate ST-225
>>
>>3349298
Or he can run Princess Maker II at the right speed. If he had an MPU-401 unit he could even play the music in MIDI (with an MT-32 or a GM expander) when faster computers need to be slowed down to do so.

>>3349318
It depends on what you want to do when it comes to music.
You wanna do tracker stuff? A DOS PC with a Soundblaster-compatible or an Amiga 1200 would be good, though you can already do that kind of stuff on a modern PC with a Windows or Linux tracker.
You wanna do MIDI stuff? The Atari ST is among the kings because it doesn't require you to have any additional hardware other that the MIDI expanders and synths themselves. Some PC soundcards have a "wavetable" (which doesn't really use wavetable synthesis) unit incorporated but most of the time they barely sound better than the MS wavetable (which basically consist of the SC-55 patches without all the effects that makes them sound more than passable). It doesn't mean that you can't do MIDI stuff on DOS, it's just that you'll need more than just your computer, a sequencer, a couple of DIN-5 cables and a MIDI expander to do something decent, unless you're willing to go for the third option. Also unless you don't get a fast 386 & later or use an MPU-401 in Intelligent Mode, you're gonna have some shitty timing.
You wanna do FM synthesis? Then unless you're living in Japan or Netherland, stick with DOS PCs with a REAL Adlib or pre-PCI Soundblaster (FM emulation done by some soundcards suck really hard). You can also go with an ST and an external FM expander. I you do live in Netherland (and to some extent Spain and France) you can also use an MSX with an FM-PAC or MSX Audio cartridge, or even better, use a Yamaha CX5M or CX7M/128 MSX.
You wanna do bleeps and bloops? Then everything that has at least an AY-2-8912 or the likes will be enough.
>>
>>3349334
There was a guy on VCFED who said one of his prized possessions is a working CMT 20MB hard disk.

Basically, these things were junk that IBM installed in the AT because it was cheap. But then factory-installed PC components are always like that.
>>
I'd just get a common 16 bit multifunction ISA card and an IDE drive. They're faster, more reliable, and have a hell of a lot more space than that ST-225.

Also you don't need to manually park the drive heads with PARK.COM every time you move the computer around.
>>
Also the AT had Ye Data 1.2MB 5.25" drives which were infamously bad for not being able to write to 360k disks properly which is why on dual drive models, IBM equipped a 360k drive as B:

Later ATs (spring 1986 until their discontinuation in spring 1987) could be had with 3.5" 720k drives and the last revision BIOS also recognizes 1.44MB drives and 101 key keyboards.
>>
>>3349343
>Or he can run Princess Maker II at the right speed

That thing came out in 1993. I'm pretty sure he's not running that on an IBM AT.
>>
>>3349381
Wolfenstein 3D came out in 1992 and could run on a 286 PC. He also got a VGA card and more than 1MB or RAM.
I'm pretty sure that the PC-98 version could run on a PC-9801VX and some lower-end models (like the U and UV ones), which used a 286 (and a V30 for the lower-end ones) and had only 1MB or RAM. Hell, it even came on 5"1/4 floppies.
I don't think the PC version require more ressources than the original version. The only thing that would cause problems is the fact that the game would take more than half his HDD.
>>
>>3349284

So I can put a stand alone VGA videocard and a another standalone that is for hercules,cga,ega both on different isa slot in the 386 *

right ?
>>
>>3349509
No, the CGA, EGA and VGA video cards use the same memory segments so you can't use them in the same machine, but you can use an MDA card along with one of these video cards. I don't know for the Hercules card though.
>>
>>3349259
Holy 2007 batman.
>>
>>3349525

sop you telling me everything I wanna switch between a cga,vga or ttl monitor I got to swap the cards

what a pain in the ass
>>
>>3349689
Yup, but if you swap too much you'll end up wearing down the expansion card slots. The best move would be to try having having 2 computers -- one with CGA/EGA, and the other with VGA, and stick to only 1 of the cards before having both machines.
>>
>>3349704

but I only have one 386dx.

but I do have a Pentium 2 with 2 ISA slots,can that have a AGP videocard and a isa cga card at same time ?
>>
File: Fuuko_surprised_2.jpg (44KB, 268x233px) Image search: [Google]
Fuuko_surprised_2.jpg
44KB, 268x233px
>>3349717
>putting a CGA card on a Pentium II machine
All the games that'll actually need a CGA card will run way too fast on that machine, even if you slow down the CPU (by disabling the internal cache for example). Hell even some VGA games will run too fast.
Your best option would be to keep the VGA card for the 386 PC, and save the CGA for a 8088 or 8086-based PC that you may end up getting -- no need to install it on a PII PC, even for the 386 one the CGA card won't be that useful.
>>
Princess Maker 2 system requirements:

80386 or better CPU
12MB disk space
VGA

Recommended:

Microsoft-compatible mouse
EMS memory
Sound Blaster

Nope. He almost meets all of the system requirements but he's missing the single biggest one.
>>
>>3349525
>I don't know for the Hercules card though.
Hercules is same as MDA (VRAM at B000h and ports at 3B0-3B9h)
>>
>>3349575
No shit, that's probably back when Moot wrote the rules originally.
>>
>>3349272
That iron cost up to $6000 when it was new. And a little disappointing since for all that it amounted to a faster 8086 PC.
>>
>>3349272
>>3349245
Though nice thing is that ATs will take any old PS/2 keyboard with an adapter, but unless it has the Revision 3 BIOS, it won't recognize the extra keys on 101 key keyboards (there's probably a driver out there for that).
>>
>>3349287
You should be able to max the computer out to 16MB with one of these unless they cheapened out and only put 22 address lines on it in which case you're only doing 4MB.
>>
The first version of Windows in fact was developed on an IBM AT with a 4MB Intel memory card.
>>
>>3349814
Ah, yeah, you're right, the DOS/V version (and thus the PC-AT) ask for at least a 386. Oh well, I was sure it could run on a 286-based machine (maybe only the PC-98 version of the first Princess Maker could). Look like I was wrong. Well, anyway, I'll sleep less dumb tonight.
>>
>>3349892
Even if it would work, you'd eat most of your hard disk and the thing will run at like 2 fps.
>>
File: 1453516082387.jpg (402KB, 1152x1614px) Image search: [Google]
1453516082387.jpg
402KB, 1152x1614px
>>
I used to have a GRiD 1660 laptop, which was a 386SX/25 with 8MB of RAM and a 120MB hard disk. It ran WfW 3.11 pretty nicely and I'd print school reports with a Lexmark 1000. Printing to that thing was incredibly slow considering I'd also used that printer on a 486 and a Pentium where it ran at lightning speed.
>>
>>3349919
Naah it wouldn't run at 2 FPS, the first Princess maker could run on MSX and PC-8801, and the second has a PC Engine port. It's a management, simulation and role playing game, not an action-oriented game, I bet it could run just fine with a 286 if the developpers wanted it to.
>>
>>3349945
You have no idea how hilariously shitty and handicapped that PCs back then were.
>>
>>3349284
>>3349275
>>3349283
Funny, Macs were able to have multiple video cards since NuBus came out in the late 80s.

Why are PCs so backwards?
>>
>>3349950
You're telling me that a PC with 1MB or RAM and an 8MHz 286 is worse at moving a few 16 color tiles on a 640*480 screen and calculating shit than a 3.58MHz Z80-based machine with 128kB of RAM is at doing the same thing in 512*212? Remember that this games is purely menu-driven with very few animation. Were PC-ATs so slow they couldn't handle games with mostly static screens?

Also, Ijust checked and no, there's no PC-88 version of Princess Maker, but there's definitely an MSX2 version
>>
>>3349987
It kind of is though because x86 code is not very efficient and also you have problems like the segmented PC memory layout which makes it a headache to program for. You'd have to be John Carmack level of good to get any decent framerate out of a 286 PC.
>>
File: 1446356559008.png (238KB, 600x418px) Image search: [Google]
1446356559008.png
238KB, 600x418px
>>3349272
>>3349249
>>3349237
>>3342906
>>3342658

Actual oldfag DOSfag here.

Can you guys help me understand this?

What is the appeal of digging up these old machines? What do you do with them all day? Run old software? Do they actually occupy useful space in your house, like a nice desk? Is it your primary computer?

I'm not talking down. I think it's pretty cool. I could even get into it, maybe. I'm just trying to understand what you do all day? Xtree Gold and WordPerfect 5.1?

Help this oldfag understand what you kids are doing.
>>
>>3350021
Mostly because we can. And we're not the nuttiest. These guys are the nuttiest.

http://www.lemon64.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=56301&postdays=0&postorder=asc&start=15&sid=272dba489e0ff48e3abe020a4990fb9c
>>
>>3350034
What about my questions though -- what do you DO with them?

Do you keep them set up in your house?
>>
>>3350047
Wha...you don't think it's fun to boot up King's Quest and intentionally walk King Graham off a cliff or have him get eaten by an ogre?
>>
>>3350013
So you're telling me x86 CPUs are actually worse than twice as slow Z80s?
>you have problems like the segmented PC memory layout
Yeah, but a single segment is as big as what the Z80 can see without bank switching. With 5 segment (yes because of the retarded way Intel placed their segments, though you only really need 2 segment adresses) you can access twice what a Z80 could address. With the segments registers set correctly you can retrieve data without too much trouble. And finally, let's not forget that the 286 also had a protected mode.
>You'd have to be John Carmack level of good to get any decent framerate out of a 286 PC.
That'd be true if we were talking about action games using CGA or EGA video cards.
But you don't need to be John Carmack to have a decent framerate when you display the same pictures for several second before modifying it slightly using a VGA video card, or animating a few tiles on-screen, especialy when such animations could already be done on older PC-9801 games (games which ran on V30 and 286 models). Yeah, there are the adventure phases where there's a scrolling map, but it's not some sort of smooth scrolling, it just scrolls the map block per block, something that can be done with a PC-88.
I find it hard to believe that PC ATs could be that bad at running such a static game. Maybe you're right, but I find it quite astounishing. The only reason I could think of it needing a 386 would be so they could handle 32bit words easily instead of being forced to handle 16bit words at a time.

>>3350021
>>3350047
I personally like to use old computers -- use their respective softwares, play games on them, sometimes do more or less useless stuff too. It doesn't even need to be a DOS PC, non-PC compatible are fun to use too.
As for my setup, for the moment I have 3 computers (2 late 80s and an early 90s one) that have their own desktop, and 2 others (early and mid 80s) that I need to place somewhere.
>>
>>3350102
>I find it hard to believe that PC ATs could be that bad at running such a static game. Maybe you're right, but I find it quite astounishing

CGA/EGA would be fine but VGA graphics are a lot of stuff for an 8Mhz CPU to move around. That's the big problem. I mean, Sierra games used EGA and ran fine on PCs like that, but by the time VGA was the norm, all new PCs were 386s.

>The only reason I could think of it needing a 386 would be so they could handle 32bit words easily instead of being forced to handle 16bit words at a time.

That and the 386 also gives you a whole bunch of new instructions for string handling and bit manipulation that make a lot of things easier and faster.
>>
>>3350102
>And finally, let's not forget that the 286 also had a protected mode.
Also difficult to use and much more limiting than 32-bit protected mode which is why hardly anything used it.
>>
File: c64-lit.jpg (1MB, 3264x2448px) Image search: [Google]
c64-lit.jpg
1MB, 3264x2448px
>>3350021

Its half decorative, and half useful.
Its a nice distraction free computer if I have writing to get done, most of the time it is just used to log onto BBS.

I have a Commodore 64 setup at work, its in one of our meeting rooms. Its a good conversation starter.
>>
>>3349858
Also the original AT 84 key keyboard will work on any PC with a PS/2 port (so anything made until about 2009).
>>
>>3350176
>white PSU plug
Not the original I take it? You did send Lucifer's Power Brick back to where it came from, right?
>>
>>3350284

Its running off a 64C power supply, the originals were an accident waiting to happen with all of that resin inside.
>>
>>3350284
>White PSU plug
>Not the original

I could have sworn mine had a white one. Maybe it was aftermarket as well
>>
File: Sid Meier's Pirates C64.png (150KB, 640x480px) Image search: [Google]
Sid Meier's Pirates C64.png
150KB, 640x480px
Pirates! actually is written in part BASIC, I kid you not. The game logic uses BASIC code and machine language is used for sound/graphics and maybe disk access. It also has an incredibly evil copy protection known as RapidLok with a custom DOS and sync checks.
>>
File: 180px-PS_251053-02b.jpg (15KB, 180x156px) Image search: [Google]
180px-PS_251053-02b.jpg
15KB, 180x156px
>>3350314
The original C64 power brick (the evil one) was black. This is what all breadbins came with.
>>
>>3350021
i dunno the others, but i would love to have the resources and money to make a true good DOS capable pentium 166 rig and get some good not available on steam games.

our father was one of those 60s serious macho person who didnt ever got technology, that, alongside the fact that being in mexico with those imported prices, made extremely difficult to get good pcs.

>good not SB soundcards? nope
>3d accelerator? don't think so
>BBS/usenet access? the fuck is that? to date i still don't know how to use usenet.
>internet access? HA! you wish
>good games? i was lucky to have bought duke3d, but only because it was in US and in bargain! around 1999, oh! and also it was the original version, back then we did never knew the atomic edition was a thing, also, who was playing that game at that time? not to mention communities were an alien concept at the time.

We were always a step back on pc's at least until the 2003/2004, this year i suffered, but i fully bought a powerful lastgen pc that i can call my own, but still, comparing to all that i missed it really hurts, now, at 30 years, i think its too late for me...
>>
>>3350318
Yeah, after seeing this picture I remember it being black. What's wrong with it exactly?
>>
File: IMSAI-08L.jpg (126KB, 1024x683px) Image search: [Google]
IMSAI-08L.jpg
126KB, 1024x683px
>>
>>3349863
>>3349814
>>3349237
They actually did have 386 accelerators for 286 PCs which replaced the original CPU with a 386 on a card, but all it did (in essence) was turn the thing into a 386SX PC which means you can run 32-bit code but all memory transfers are 16-bit and you obviously are still limited to 16MB maximum memory.
>>
File: Fleet System 2 Commodore 64.jpg (13KB, 300x225px) Image search: [Google]
Fleet System 2 Commodore 64.jpg
13KB, 300x225px
>>3350176
My dad had this. It had a spell checker with incredibly slow disk access, I mean scanning a 4 page document could take a couple of minutes. Also you had enough memory for about 6-8 pages of text and that was it.

Did have a print preview feature though which was pretty sophisticated for an 8-bit machine.
>>
>>3350102
He's exaggerating a little bit, but yes 286-era PCs do royally suck to program.
>>
File: GEOS desktop.png (5KB, 320x200px) Image search: [Google]
GEOS desktop.png
5KB, 320x200px
GEOS was very popular especially after Commodore started bundling it with later machines (1987 onward) but does require a 1351 mouse and REU to be usable.
>>
>>3351401
They also had C128 GEOS which uses the VDC's 640x200 mode. Very nice and makes you wonder the point of including CP/M with the computer. Who'd want to use such primitive, outdated 70s crap when you had a nice, modern GUI OS.
>>
Fujitsu FM Towns commercial:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JXc_Gpuy-0s
The fact that the CD-ROM drive is placed that way on the front panel make this machine look so damn good that it might be one of the sexiest machines along with the sharp x68000, NeXT Cube and Commodore CBM-II BH.

>>3351428
>Who'd want to use such primitive, outdated 70s crap when you had a nice, modern GUI OS.
Someone who might want to use softwares they've already used at work/know exist on that platform/got from some friend instead of having a nice GUI to play around with but nothing to run on it yet? In 1987 CP/M was still pretty damn useful thanks to softwares like Turbo Pascal and WordStar, and it isn't that bad to use thanks to 3rd party shells like Microshell and CP/M Commander (roughtly Norton Commander for CP/M). Also, let's not forget games like Star Trek, Zork I, II & III, and even more.
>>
>>3351401
>got a C64C with the box
>says it includes GEOS disks
>there are no disks and even if i had them the machine didn't even come with the 1541 anyway
what's the fucking point
>>
>>3351461
>In 1987 CP/M was still pretty damn useful thanks to softwares like Turbo Pascal and WordStar
Except you forgot how the Z80 in the C128 is clocked at 2Mhz so everything runs at a painfully slow clip. In fact you're better off using native mode C128 software like SpeedScript.
>Also, let's not forget games like Star Trek, Zork I, II & III, and even more
Irrelevant because all of those were available for C64/C128 native mode and don't run at like 3 mph.
>>
>>3351462
It's called being taken to the cleaner by an Ebay seller.
>>
>>3351465
IIRC the reason the Z80 is clocked so low is because of the timing requirements of the VIC-II/SID.
>>
The C128 has a small but very good library of native mode application software, if not quite as perfect as AppleWorks.
>>
>>3351472
nah i've had this one for quite a while, i just think it's funny that the machine itself didn't even come with the floppy drive yet they bothered including that OS
>>
>>3351485
But you said they didn't include any GEOS disks.
>>
>>3351486
someone gave it to me

i just think it's funny they marketed it that way
>>
>>3351476
Yeh that's pretty much it. The execution time for Z80 instructions is reaaaally long so the 8502, despite being the same clock speed, is 2-3x faster.
>>
>>3351465
>Except you forgot how the Z80 in the C128 is clocked at 2Mhz
Ah well that just make the C128 a pretty bad CP/M machine.

Anyway, did the C128 got native games (or could run C64 games with additional features)?
>>
>>3351493
>(or could run C64 games with additional features)?
A few, including the Gold Editions of Infocom games, Ultima V-VI, and Wizardry.
>>
I do think that the CP/M mode in the C128 was quite useless given its molasses-like speed and the fact that CP/M was a dinosaur OS by the late 80s.
>>
File: c128d.jpg (135KB, 1356x984px) Image search: [Google]
c128d.jpg
135KB, 1356x984px
>>3351515
I see, thanks. I don't own a C=64 nor a C=128, but the C=128D is among the machines that I'd like to get one of these days, so it's alway nice to know that some games take advantage of it.
>>
I think how much nicer Maniac Mansion and Zak McKracken would be if they'd had C128 support. It would cut down on load time _significantly_.

Wizardry takes full advantage of the C128; faster disk access (assuming you have a 1571), the extra main system RAM, and it can also use an REU, also it uses the VDC memory for even more storage.
>>
Also the worst hell imaginable is trying to play Wizardry on a basic C64+1541 combination. You don't want to try it. Ever.
>>
>>3351565
>>3351540
The flat C128 has 16k of VDU memory installed and you can upgrade it to 64k. The C128D already has 64k installed. There was a trick you could do to test if a flat C128 has 64k without pulling the cover off, but I forget what it was.
>>
>>3351465
Speedscript was an example of Stallmanism in action; it originated as a type-in assembly language program printed in Compute! Magazine for the Atari 400/800, then quickly ported for other 8-bit machines.
>>
File: computer_place.png (28KB, 800x600px) Image search: [Google]
computer_place.png
28KB, 800x600px
9000 hours in paintbrush, and better watched while listening to italo disco:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Eb5RB2sbrsM
>>
Im trying to format a old 30mb MFM hard drive in 386 bios

When 386 is booting up it detect drive led blinks on it and then tries to boot from it reads what is on drive (stepper motor) and I know there is no system so after it reads it I get

NO BASIC ROM
SYSTEM HALTED

how to format the easiest and best chance to get it working and with minimal effort, cause I dont have any system on this 386, I think bios is good enough to format it right ?

ideas ?
>>
>>3352440
okay have ms-dos runing on the system now. but 99% of the commands I found in google it gives me

bad command or file name

for instance when I try: "FORMAT D:"
>>
Can anybody point
>>3352380
in the right direction? One other than >>/out/, preferably
>>
File: computer_c64_revision_a_01.jpg (59KB, 640x480px) Image search: [Google]
computer_c64_revision_a_01.jpg
59KB, 640x480px
Early C64s are known as "silver label" models. They have a 5-pin video output as well as for the power supply. On later C64s, the video output has 8 pins and the power plug has only 3 pins. One reason for this change is that on the silver label C64, the power and video plug are identical. So you could accidentally put the power plug into the video connector and...oh...god...dammit.
>>
>>3353081
Silver label C64s are really only valuable for collector's purposes, they're not as reliable as later models, the video output is rather crappy, and of course the dangerous design flaw of having the video and power cables use identical plugs.

About the only thing they're "good" for is that nothing else can run the C64 CP/M cartridge, but that's not a particularly useful feature.
>>
>>3353123
I saw one once in a thrift store when I was a kid with an Alps mech 1541. I will say in all my travels, that was the one and only C64 I've ever seen in a thrift store while I've encountered Apple IIs, Atari 8-bits, and TI-99/4As on multiple occasions.
>>
>>3353131
>>3353123
There can't be a lot of them. My sources say they only sold 360,000 C64s the first year (1982). And then you have to factor in the reliability issues plus people sending them to Valhalla by plugging the power cord into the video output.
>>
>>3353134
Maybe a little more than that because I believe the rainbow logo C64 came out sometime during the winter-spring of 1983, so some of the 83 production figure (roughly 1.5 million units) could have also included silver label models.
>>
>>3353134
>My sources say they only sold 360,000 C64s the first year (1982)
And that's worldwide with no region breakdown, thus it was probably about evenly split between PAL and NTSC models.
>>
The first production NTSC C64s have the "revision 1" kernal ROM which changes the character color to white if you clear the screen via PRINT CHR$(147). They also lack the ability to detect if an NTSC or PAL VIC-II is present. These are known for random white flashes appearing on the screen due to bugs in the early VIC-IIs.

Some software is incompatible with these, for example Pharaoh's Curse would lock up on the revision 1 ROMs.
>>
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oBWV0bjUon4&feature=youtu.be

Bong with a silver label C64 and apparently a very rare ceramic SID, only the first couple months of production models had those.
>>
>>3352412
You can't make partitions nor format disks from the BIOS in an old 386.
Get or make yourself some MS-DOS installation floppies (If you don't have these, then I recomend you getting 6.22, you'll have a bunch of useful utilities with it) so that this computer will be able to boot from them. While installing, DOS will make a partition taking up the whole HDD and format it (it supports partition up to 2GB, so 30MB ones won't be any problem).

Anyway, What do you plan on running on this system? Do you have any particular game you wanted to run on it?
>>
>>3353317

I have made a MS-DOS diskette when fromating from windows xp and runing it on the system now

only command it works is dir and shows whats on diskette, anything else just flips bad command or file name *??
>>
>>3353521
Huh that's because it's system boot disk you're supposed to make when shit hit the fan, not a real MS-DOS installation disk (type ver on the prompt and I bet it'll tell you that you're running Windows XP). Try to get real MS-DOS 6.22 disk images and install them.
>>
>>3353534

I typed ver and got

" Windows Millennium [Version 4.90.3000] "
>>
File: iWKad22.jpg (90KB, 1440x1080px) Image search: [Google]
iWKad22.jpg
90KB, 1440x1080px
>>3353568
>Windows ME
>386
>MFM hard disk
>>
>>3353317
Also get an IDE hard disk for crissake.
>>
>>3353568
Well, almost right. Anyway, like I said in my previous post, the best thing to do would be to get MS-DOS 6.22 disk images, put them on real floppies and install it that way.

>>3353713
If it's working then there's no reason for him to change.
>>
>>3353716
386s didn't even come with IDE drives, that's 8086 stuff. Besides, IDE drives are faster, more reliable, hold a lot more, and don't need low level formatting.

That and any software that actually needs a 386 to run is going to hog a quite substantial piece of a 30MB drive.
>>
>>3353719
Some of the early 386s in the late 80s might have had MFM drives, but when 386 PCs were mainstream (1990-92), all PCs had IDE unless they were a server/workstation.
>>
I suspect he most likely doesn't have any other hard disks on hand. Still, trying to use a Windows ME startup disk on a 386 PC is a whole new level of fail.
>>
File: IMG_20160712_161229[1].jpg (2MB, 4096x2304px) Image search: [Google]
IMG_20160712_161229[1].jpg
2MB, 4096x2304px
>>3353707
>>3353713
>>3353716
>>3353719
>>3353728


I got dos 6.22 running now

gonna run fdisk now
>>
File: IMG_20160712_161248[1].jpg (2MB, 4096x2304px) Image search: [Google]
IMG_20160712_161248[1].jpg
2MB, 4096x2304px
>>3353735

I have plenty of IDE hard drives from 200mb to 1 gb but I like the sound of MFM hard drives and got this one for free
>>
>>3353735
>Still, trying to use a Windows ME startup disk on a 386 PC is a whole new level of fail.
He though it was a DOS disk so he used it, it's better than not using anything at all. And we're better off helping him getting his computer to work than spewing reddit-tier reaction pics and vocabulary.

>>3353738
>>3353745
Noice. Don't forget to post some more photo of your machine. Anyway, what kind of softwares and game are you planning to run on it?
>>
File: IMG_20160712_161344[1].jpg (2MB, 4096x2304px) Image search: [Google]
IMG_20160712_161344[1].jpg
2MB, 4096x2304px
this is what I got from " fdisk "

Error reading fixed disk
>>
>>3353752
Try to get a low level formatting utility for MFM drives.
>>
>>3353756
Dude, I already explained how to low level format MFM drives. This will work for most of them except some odd controllers that have an external formatter program.

A>debug
-a
092A:0100 jmp c800:5
092A:0105 int 20
092A:0107
-g
>>
>>3353769
>Dude, I already explained how to low level format MFM drives.
In which thread did you do that? Also, it's not like everyone here wanna note that kind of stuff when they'll probably never use this kind of drives.
And finally, having an utility means that he wont have to type that stuff everytime he gets a new drive or want to erase the one he already have.
>>
File: IMG_20160712_161306[1].jpg (2MB, 4096x2304px) Image search: [Google]
IMG_20160712_161306[1].jpg
2MB, 4096x2304px
>>3353769
>>3353769


the controller is this one:

http://th99.classic-computing.de/src/c/S-T/20922.htm

on my controller jumpers from W1-W4 are all open(not shorted),only W8 and W5 are shorted

hard drive:
KYOCERA KC-30B 30MB

>>3353769
I just type " A>debug" but isn't that for drive A,cause thats my diskette, the drive should be under D, like in bios


There is also one thing that might be wrong and that is number of heads,sectors,... which may be wrong in bios I just picked something close enough, cant seem to find any actual info on this hard drive about its numbers of head,sectors and so on, only thing I know its a 30MB
>>
>>3353123
I met an Apple fanboy some years back who crapped on the C64 saying they all break down and none around today would still be in working order.

Another time I met an old bloke who owned a computer repair business, he had a lot of Amiga 500s and Apples in his shop. I asked him about the C64 and he told me that most are now busted and I wouldn't find a working one because they were so rare that the owners wouldn't dare to throw em out.

Funny, I started to collect a lot of fully functioning C64s after these so called experts gave me their unwanted opinions.
>>
>>3353783
>I just type " A>debug" but isn't that for drive A,cause thats my diskette, the drive should be under D, like in bios

Dude, you're just using DEBUG to activate the formatter program in the drive ROM. Assuming it does have a formatter present, that program should start it.
>>
>>3353782
I explained it in this very thread (no clue why the post was deleted)

http://archived.moe/vr/thread/3304759/#q3352440
>>
>>3353783
>There is also one thing that might be wrong and that is number of heads,sectors,... which may be wrong in bios I just picked something close enough, cant seem to find any actual info on this hard drive about its numbers of head,sectors and so on, only thing I know its a 30MB
You don't enter that info in the BIOS with MFM drives. The controller has its own ROM, so you'd just set the BIOS to "No hard disk".
>>
>>3353793
Ah yeah ok then, when I checked the thread this morning it was already gone.
>>
>>3353783
>KYOCERA KC-30B 30MB

I did some checking. This is actually not an MFM drive, it's an ESDI drive. My bad.

Disregard what I said about putting the BIOS to no hard disk. Yes, you do set the BIOS up for this. It has 4 heads, 615 cylinders, and 26 sectors.

ESDI drives still do need low level formatting as I explained.
>>
>>3353769
Also, while c800:5 is the most common jump address for the formatter program, sometimes it may be 6 instead of 5 and the formatter could also be at cc00, d000, d400, d800, or dc00.
>>
>>3353796

if I change it to no hard disk it doesnt want to boot from diskette but wants to boot from mfm drive which isn't right !
>>
>>3353783
You say you have the W8 jumper closed? According to that link, this governs where the controller ROM maps into and if it's closed, then it will be at CA00h. Thus, you might want to try JMP CA00:5.
>>
>>3353812

Disregard that. I found it's actually an ESDI drive.
>>
>>3353807

what about WPcom and LZone ??
>>
>>3353783
>on my controller jumpers from W1-W4 are all open(not shorted)
Good. That should be the correct setting for this drive, which is roughly identical to a Seagate ST-238.
>>
>>3353819
http://stason.org/TULARC/pc/hard-drives-hdd/kyocera/KC-30A-33MB-3-5-HH-RLL-ST412.html

This has all the specs for a Kyocera KC-30A.
>>
>>3353807
It's both.

ftp://ftp.seagate.com/techsuppt/misc/drivetyp.txt

ESDI drives have an onboard ROM, but it's for 8086 PCs. If you have a 286+, the BIOS has inbuilt hard disk support and you can disable the controller ROM by closing the W7 jumper.

However, you may still need to have the controller ROM enabled to low level format it. After that's done, you can disable it again and run the hard disk through the BIOS.
>>
>>3346020
>wrote a long-ass comment on that video trying to be of some use
>still no reply
>he instead replies to 3 word sentences like it's candy

I j-just want senpai to notice me.
>>
>>3353849
>>3353841
>>3353808
>>3353807
Geez, I wasn't kidding when I said in a thread last week that setting up pre-Windows 95 hardware is a bitch.
>>
>>3353785
>I met an Apple fanboy some years back who crapped on the C64 saying they all break down
he wasn't wrong
>>
>>3353875
>>3353785
The guy was unnecessarily being a dick about it, but he was mostly correct about C= reliability.

I don't think that being an enthusiast about the 64 requires you to turn a blind eye to the troubles it has always been fraught with.

Has any one of you ever had to realign a floppy disk drive for any other computer you have ever owned?
>>
I wouldn't dismiss the idea that the C64 had poor quality control, especially a lot of the early models were given little or no QC testing before leaving the factory.
>>
>>3353889
The only Commodore gear that ever went bad on me was a blown SID in a C128. Never had misaligned disk drives or anything else of that nature and I had had one of the early silver label C64s which never gave any trouble either.

I do agree the early production models were less reliable, especially the 1541s. But aside from one SID, that was all I've personally experienced.
>>
>>3353893
>>3353889
True, the early breadbins from 1982-83 were kind of shitty, but the later ones are as good as anything else. 1541s in my experience have been all fine aside from sometimes getting too warm.
>>
C64s are no better or worse than any contemporary machine. I've seen Atari computers and disk drives crap out, I've seen Amstrads crap out.

I always believed it was rubbish spread around by the fanboys of less popular machines and widely printed in magazines dedicated to those machines.
>>
>>3353856
Naah 486-era stuff is pretty easy to setup, it's mostly the pre-IDE/SCSI drives that are troublesome.

>aside from sometimes getting too warm.
If you're not clumsy you could put your coffee cup on it so it stay warm.
>>
One other caveat. If he does use an ESDI drive, he can't run Windows in anything but Standard Mode since IIRC the 32-bit disk drivers only work on IDE/SCSI drives.
>>
To be fair, my first C64 died in a couple of years. One I got from a thrift store didn't power on when I plugged it in. My father in law's C64 worked the last time he used it and I'll assume it still does. Yet my C128 is working swimmingly.

So that's 2 out of 3 C64s that I've owned and rolled over dead.
>>
The second sentence of >>3353905 was meant for >>3353897.
>>
>>3353915
Funny that, but I've rarely heard of C128s malfunctioning other than occasional busted RAM and you'd think they're a much more complex machine. Maybe better QC or they run cooler.
>>
>>3353918
I'm guessing that Commodore were probably cranking out C64s faster than QC could keep up with them. Not an ironclad rule, my British breadbin from 1984 works flawlessly, not everyone was so lucky and plenty of people swear the later C64Cs were more reliable.

This is also true with the early 1541 drives, which again may have been cranked out faster than the blokes on the assembly line could keep up with.
>>
It seems that the two biggest reliability issues with C64s are overheating and PSU malfunctions, both of which could be fairly easily solved with third party PSUs and heat sinking chips.
>>
I'd like to see a failure rate study. I'd bet C64s had the highest rate of failure of any of the major selling machines of the time. I've had a whole lot more broken C64s than I've had working ones, if only due to failed PLAs.
>>
>>3353918
Two of the C128 designers swore that the VDU had an 80% or something failure rate. :-/

Having said that, there wasn't near as many C128s around. If they were selling/manufacturing them at the same rate as the C64, you could bet you'd see a lot more problems crop up.
>>
>>3353935
>Two of the C128 designers swore that the VDU had an 80% or something failure rate
Prototypes, not production models.

>>3353897
I agree most new computers had reliability issues. Also the further back you go in time, the less reliable electronics in general are.
>>
I think another issue about blown c64s, was about static electricity, especially with carpets. Touching joyport connectors might blow something inside, possibly a CIA.
>>
>>3353939
That and as noted earlier, the silver label C64s used identical plugs for the PSU and video cable which meant you could accidentally plug the former into the latter and...yeah.
>>
I have a C64C I use with a third party PSU and also a fan installed to keep the innards cool and this was an untested one I bought on Ebay.
>>
My cousin once back in the 80s had a friend plug a Datasette into his C64 with the power running. the poor thing spent two months at a repair shop.
>>
pretty much all old computers are pieces of garbage in 2016 in terms of reliability.
>>
>>3353949
You're exagerating on that one.
>>
My dad had a breadbin he got in 84 and had for ten years without any problems but he'd had an Atari 800 before that with random lockup problems. Also he knew one dude who got a C64 that died, so he bought another, put the dead one back in the box, and returned it to the store claiming it was DOA when he'd gotten it.
>>
I have two Apple II-C's that work great and the games all work too. The only problem is my joystick and my flight stick are both dead (one has a dead button the other has up-down on the stick no tension)

Where would I go to buy a good, at the very least, generic joystick for the II-C? What is a good flight stick to play shit like DamBusters?

Thanks in advance guys
>>
>>3353974
>Also he knew one dude who got a C64 that died, so he bought another, put the dead one back in the box, and returned it to the store claiming it was DOA when he'd gotten it.
kek!

>>3353994
For the joystick, the button might be replaceable. Have you tried opening it to see what's going on inside?
>>
>>3353974
There was a guy on VCFED claiming he has two Atari 800s and never lost a 4116 RAM chip in either of them despite their notorious reliability. So needless to say, your mileage will vary.
>>
>>3354008
His Atari 800 had loose connectors inside, it would freeze up and he'd have to take it apart and reseat everything. However, his C64 and 1541 were entirely trouble free for a decade while he only had the Atari like 3 years or something.
>>
Would have been nice for the C64 to have switchable NTSC/PAL mode, maybe BASIC 4.0, and correct the 1541 speed issue.
>>
>>3354257
When people talk about Atari computers, these are the first thing that comes to my mind:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qri5xavBdh4
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LbeeMAJaA1g
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ytNJ0GibZpU
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z3-J2-VeoH8
>>
>>3354337
What I'd have done different on C64?

>better BASIC
>built in machine language monitor
>the fast IEC bus was finished but the guys drafting the motherboard layout removed the extra lines needed
>the Datasette port should have been dropped by 1984--pointless except to Britbongs
>>
>>3354343
That's a real nice way to spam your Youtube channel, dude.
>>
>>3354347
They could have had a lot of those things on the 64 but Tramiel made it a rush job. You couldn't have changed it.

And I'm not sure he could have sold at a loss. As with the PET, the new price had to be high to cover initial overheads, doesn't it?

Though I do like the really cheap idea. A variation could have been some huge third party pushing modems as loss leaders to make up for in service subscriptions. Say ÂŁ25 Chinese junk plugins to get the ball rolling. Imagine half the nation online a decade before multimedia PCs really had it all together.
>>
Ah, another thread that tiptoes around the facts.

IEC was not invented in a weekend. It was a response to IEEE cables being unavailable, so a new standard was needed. It was a good solution that kept costs down and allowed daisy-chaining of devices.

And the slow 1541/C64 is down to the 6510 processor - so change that and the machine is fundamentally DIFFERENT.
>>
2 MHz CPU, 2 MHz CPU, 2 MHz CPU...
VIC II colors... different palette and if cost allows, broader palette
>>
>>3354369
Did they even have a 2Mhz 6502 core available when the C64 was designed? I kind of thought there wasn't.
>>
>>3315235

Had this on Intellivision when I was a kid. Thought it was fun
>>
>>3354375
There was one in 1982, it was used by the CBM-II line.
>>
The reasons for the slow 1541 transfer speed are well-established - the VIA chip in the VIC-20 had a bug in it that forced them to reprogram the disk drive for a lower transfer speed. This wasn't an issue on the C64 but if they'd set the 1541s for higher speed it would have made them not work on VIC-20s.
>>
>>3354369
the VIC-II palette is fine as it is

i'd try to make PAL and NTSC VIC-II's consistent though
>>
>>3354375
>>3354369
The 6510 actually is rated for 3Mhz and may be able to get up to 4Mhz, also most of the ICs in the C64 can handle 2Mhz speed. After all, they run at 2Mhz when you're using a C128, right?

In fact the main and principle reason why the 6510 is clocked so low is because of the VIC-II which cannot handle speeds above 1Mhz. Also it let them use slower RAM speeds (C128s have faster RAM).

They could in theory have modded the VIC-II in the C128 for 2Mhz speed but there wasn't enough time for that.
>>
>>3354350
>All the 4 videos have different uploaders
>it's somehow my Youtube channel
Stop being retarded and go shitpost somewhere else will you.
>>
1. Should have kept that original IEC fast bus.
2. 16-color per pixel in 320x200 mode (instead of what we got, i.e. 160x200). Or 320x240 would've been better, but maybe less possible then.
3. A better software bundle in box to get started with, perhaps with more 3rd party stuff (including any public domain BASIC prgs from the PET/VIC era)?
4. Four-voice SID, instead of 3, and with stereo/mono output ability, the 5 or 8-pin audio/video DIN had a couple of free pins, right?
5. Better quality PSU than that black brick of death
6. I would have preferred a case that also enclosed a diskdrive, powersupply, and maybe internal space for carts/cards, so perhaps something similar to the SX-64's formfactor would've been nice instead of the VIC-20 case that the C64 started with, but then that would have also increased the base price. Lighter portability, as opposed to "luggable" PC's then, in 1982 would've been a huge hit I'd say, i.e. the SX-64 case design FIRST instead of the breadbin form as the 64's debut.
>>
IMO, they should have simply dropped the C64 in 1986 and completely replaced it with the C128, which was criminally underused. Imagine all the glorious things games could do with that extra RAM.
>>
>>3354407
>>3354369
A lot of these ideas are pretty unrealistic for the 1981-82 time frame. As it were, the Atari people were already left dropping their jaw at how Commodore could sell a computer with state-of-the-art sound/graphics chips and 64k of memory at only $600. More practically, the IEC bus should have been set up properly for faster speeds and also not use epoxy-filled power bricks of death. Maybe putting a bit better static protection on the cartridge and joystick ports would have also been nice?

A hardware UART would have been nice as well, but since hardly anyone in 1982 had a 1200 baud modem, it probably wasn't that big of a deal.
>>
>>3354417
Adding proper sound/graphics/disk commands to BASIC would have been easy but they elected not to do it.
>>
>>3354407
320x240 wasn't posible on American TVs if I'm not mistaken.

>>3354410
Trying to market the C128 in 1986 when the Amiga is already out isn't an easy task if you ask me. Maybe market it as a lower-end machine in Germany (though the ST already started to conquer the German market in 1985).
>>
C64 was groundbreaking as cheap and powerful tape-based machine. 1541 was way too expensive. Crap thing was slow tape drive, until turbo-tape routines were coded. With turbo it was very much OK.

I would've changed strategy about floppy drive development in years to come... making them much cheaper. Back in 1987. price of 1541 should've been significantly reduced, perhaps creating everything in one chip, simplifying design or something...

It was ridiculous having a situation back in 1990 that Amiga 500 had similar price as C64+1541???

I think Commodore was asshole for heavy taxing C64 fans with overpriced drives. They did great thing in cutting costs of C64 in all those years, but 1541 remained pretty expensive, despite technology development.
>>
>>3354426
It's generally a rule that electronics get cheaper with time, however mechanical components (ie. disk drives) don't. They didn't sell as many 1541s as they could have which contributed to high prices. My dad paid $250 for his in '84 and it probably didn't go down from there.
>>
>>3354430
Disk drive prices seem to have been regional and every Commodore branch set their own prices. There were periods in the US when disk drives were expensive, but literally everyone here had them after 1983, in many cases two of them. By the late 80s, stores were often selling Commodore drives for <$100.

It's only too bad that Commodore UK elected to charge such obscene prices that nobody could have a disk drive on their machines.
>>
In seriousness, I would have made a bigger deal about the cartridge based games. It took me years before I realised that you could get cartridge games for the machine. This may have been because I was young, but I don't remember seeing cartridge games for sale anywhere.
>>
>>3354440
One of the greatest mysteries of C64 was under-usage of cartridge support for commercial games. There were some, but not nearly as it could've been.

tape/disk games were ported straightforward to cart, without using any advantages. Just some games used medium to full potential.
And frankly, for small games it was ludicrous wasting money on cart, while tape version did it just fine.

No carts. WHY?
>>
>>3354447
Easy: Cartridges were expensive compared to a disk/tape and they only hold 16k unless you use bank switching which costs even more.
>>
Would have been nice just to have two button joysticks. IBM PCs and Apple IIs always had two button sticks, why couldn't Commodore do it?
>>
>>3354440
The C=64 cartridges were limited to 16kB max without bankswitching, and while such capacity was enough for VIC-20 games (many games for VIC-20 were released on carts), I doubt you could take advantage of the C64's capability with that kind of storage.
>>
>>3354450
And one other point - if, while developing a program and there's a flaw in it, you have to throw away the cartridge ROM while a disk can just be rewritten.
>>
Not have the VIC and CPU bottlenecked on memory. IMO this is the worst design decision they made.
>>
>>3354460
>>3354450
1 - yes, well known fact. Got better with years...
2 - not quite, with various tricks it could've been any size.
3 - we talk about commercial releases, no bugs expected.
>>
>>3354460
you're telling me EPROM technology didn't exist at the time?
>>
>>3354460
>>3354468
and also you could probably use floppies for the actual development
>>
Does anyone know the exact technical reason the VIC-II can't run faster than 1Mhz? I could swear I remember hearing that it actually runs at 18Mhz internally.
>>
>>3354460
EPROM was already a thing back then.
>>
>>3354470
The color clock runs at 17-18Mhz, the dot clock at 7Mhz. However, the external bus is 1Mhz because the VIC-II also does RAM refresh

The main issue with this is it also makes the RAS and CAS timings, which it then also has to have enough time to set the address bus and wait for AEC and BA and other signals, when running the internal clock at 2mhz the "delay" in its gates doesn't get any faster which pulls all the timings tighter. It already is running at 2Mhz ( the 64bus is effectively 2mhz ) so to get 2mhz it has to run at 4Mhz, which the gate delays start causing issues. As in the RAS and CAS are currently set from the 8Mhz clock, to time them at 4Mhz you would need a 14~16Mhz clock in.

It stores all its data in Shift Registers and not "RAM" So if you pull data in twice as fast, you need to push it out twice as fast. So the VIC needs the character data and color data 1 for every 8Pixles, this is what the 1Mhz clock gives it, if you push data in at 2Mhz then the shift register push data out twice per 8 pixels which is a problem. So you then have to get a 2mhz input that only push out at 1mhz and that is not a fun problem.

Now, the NES PPU solves this problem by storing data in RAM, but that would increase your chip die size/costs/blah blah blah.
>>
I don't understand most of what you described about VIC-II's internals regarding the 1 MHz CPU limit but I have a feeling that the design itself was probably not very clever... I mean a design that meant that they could only use a 1 MHz CPU...
>>
>>3354470
1Mhz wasn't slow in 1981. For example, a 6502 processes instructions 2x faster than a Z80. The reason it's clocked lower is because the 6502 requires an external RAM refresh circuit. The Z80 takes longer per instruction, but it has built-in RAM refresh so has higher clock speeds.
>>
OK here is the deal with the C64 CPU that I think today people are overlooking, apart from Vector based arcade machines 3D was not really an important part of a chipset design in 1981 when VIC-II was designed.

1. The closest machine to the C64 is the December 26th 1.8mhz 6502 based 1979 Atari 400/800 CTIA chipset with 128 colours (not 256 like the later GTIA models) and none of the better more C64 like screen modes of the GTIA chipset from the 1981 Atari 400/800.

2. The fastest machine with a Z80 would be the 4mhz Memotech MTX 500/512 series. Think of it as a 4mhz MSX.

The Atari 8-bits are definitely better at 3D/vector graphics than the C64, but that has more to do with the C64's hamstrung hires graphics mode and the fact that like 75% of the VIC-II die is dedicated to sprites. The Memotech is blazing fast, but nobody ever ported Star Wars, Elite, or Outrun to it, so who cares, right

The Atari 8-bit struggles at doing games with lots of sprites. The Memotech has monochrome sprites and no hardware scrolling, which puts more workload on the CPU.

So what do you want? Better Bubble Bobble or better Ballblazer?
>>
Yes the C64/Vic-II was mainly designed with 2D games in mind.

The point I'm getting at is don't compare two totally different designs (6502/Z80) and assume the Z80 is faster just because it has a faster clock speed, it isn't. It has a faster clock speed because its commands take longer to execute.

Ultimately its the memory bus speed that is the limiting factor with these 8 bit machines when it comes down to pure CPU grunt.
>>
Point one:
Most system designs followed one of two routes up to and including the Amiga and the ST -
either, the cpu and the display used every other cycle basically doubling the memory speed compared to the cpu speed (so the BBC B runs 4MHz memory - there are some very nice "Computerphile" videos on youtube with the designer talking about it and the ARM),
or, the cpu had the the memory alone (so running same speed as cpu bus speed - which for the Z80 is every 4 cycles I think) and an additional chunk of video memory that it could address with was is basically an extra address line (as the Z80 has with OUT opcodes) and that again runs fast enough for both a cpu and display chip (typically those horrible TI chips). Or you get some horrible wait times on access as with old PC displays.

Point two:
The A8 is bloody brilliant engineering. It basically runs the 6502 (and memory) at full tilt at 1.79MHz and it only pauses to let the display chip read its data when it wants to. Shut the display down and you are not slowed anything apart from memory refresh. So display modes with low memory use is very popular, like double-thick lines.
This isn't entirely unlike what the Amiga does, but the 680x0 will ever only use half the available cycles - this doesn't change before you get to the 68020. I think.
The C64 (and even more so the 128) should have copied this design - they owned MOS after all and could have done a static version of the 6502 I bet.

Point three:
If I remember and understood the Dadhacker guy correctly (http://www.dadhacker.com/blog/) the ST did something cleverer than the Amiga and VIC (but similar to the ZX) - it did burst read access to memory. One row access, and four column accesses in sequence (so cutting the time needed for three separate row accesses). Correct me if I'm wrong. The VIC-II does 40 byte reads in a row so it could probably have saved lots of bus time if it did the same. Again, correct me if wrong.
>>
The serial bus and maybe a better BASIC is the one thing that they could have realistically fixed. A lot of you guys have an unreasonable idea of what 1982 technology was capable of, especially for the price they were selling the C64 at.

Of course that doesn't explain why two years later they didn't make incremental improvements to the C64 instead of all the resources wasted on the Plus/4.
>>
>>3354507
>This isn't entirely unlike what the Amiga does, but the 680x0 will ever only use half the available cycles - this doesn't change before you get to the 68020. I think.
No, it doesn't change until you get FastRAM -- RAM that the CPU has full access on and that is outside the scope of the custom chips. You usually get FastRAM via a board you plug on the Zorro I/II/III ports.
>>
>>3354516
Most likely because the principle C64 designers left to found Ensonique by that time. Al Charpentier had plans for a next-gen VIC-II with 80 column text and adjustable sprite sizes. They had plans for a new computer with faster disk drives and 256k of memory, also hopefully it would be backward compatible with the C64. Jack Tramiel said no, too expensive.

In fact the main design team left in September 1982, a mere month after the C64's launch, thus nobody left at Commodore understood the VIC-II/SID well enough to make those upgrades.
>>
They could have got the CPU running at 2Mhz but slow it down to 1Mhz when the raster is displaying the screen (which is possible with the C128 in C64 mode).
>>
Remember - Jack Tramiel was _not_ primarily interested in gaming or the home market, he wanted to go after the professional business market. Which is completely understandable since most of a computer manufacturer's profits and prestige comes from business machines. The Amiga 500's advertisement touted it as a business computer. In fact if it weren't for the UK market, the Amiga would have died early.

So, yeah. Also the Atari 8-bit computers if you want to see where I'm going with this.
>>
>>3354548
Are you sure? Because all the resources put into the VIC-20/C64 say otherwise. I mean, they were clearly home computers intended to play games on and were sold at department stores.

The business market is important, but Tramiel probably was eager to take sales anywhere he could get them and if this meant poaching Atari sales, so be it.
>>
>>3354556
>>3354548
Actually in the early 80s, Commodore had a software branch producing games for the VIC-20/C64 so I don't agree that there was an anti-gaming sentiment at the company back then. If anything, that became more pronounced after Jack left.
>>
>>3354548
>In fact if it weren't for the UK market
AND the German one, there were almost as many Amiga sold in Germany than in the UK.
>>
File: zork_C64.jpg (197KB, 800x1070px) Image search: [Google]
zork_C64.jpg
197KB, 800x1070px
>>3354561
This. Pic related.
>>
Jack was most interested at that point in conquering the home computer market which meant quick, easy profits. The Plus/4 line was actually created in response to that--the VIC-II and SID were expensive to manufacture, so he figured they could put out an even lower-end home computer line.

Unfortunately by the time the Plus/4 got to market, the cost of producing C64s had gone done, so...yeah.

It was mostly the engineers like Al Charpentier who wanted to build high-end, professional computers.
>>
>>3354548
there's no way the SID and VIC-II weren't designed with gaming in mind
>>
No brainers:

1. Faster IEC bus
2. Better power supply

Also nice:

1. Two button joysticks
2. Better BASIC

The lack of a re-release that was compatible (with previous 64s) but fixed the no-brainers is puzzling. By all accounts, it seems that they 100% knew the fix for the slow drive. Also the 1541 was crippled mainly for VIC-20 compatibility, but the VIC-20 was dropped in 1984 and that wouldn't have been relevant anymore, so why they never bothered fixing it I don't know.

Another idea I had is why not just buy JiffyDos and put it in your newer machines? Don't want to make a faster and highly compatible OS - buy one.

More cartridges is also intriguing. Yes they are more expensive, but weren't they easier to copy protect? Seems like they could have been lucrative if used correctly with extra chips etc (ala NES).
>>
You could call Jack Tramiel cheap, but he had nothing on Clive Sinclair.

>rubber keyboard
>one video mode
>frame buffer graphics
>bleeper sound

The C64 looked quite stately and professional compared to the ZX Spectrum.
>>
At CommVex 2015, Bill Herd and Leonard Tramiel said that Jack had almost no personal interest in video games.

Commodore had a software division, but a lot of it emphasized educational and productivity tools. Even the photos on the back of the box the computers came in suggested gaming was just one of the many things you could do.
>>
>>3354606
>>3354574
Yadda yadda yadda. Jack may have not cared about gaming himself, but that sure doesn't mean he was above exploiting video games for shekels. I mean, come on. The VIC-20 and C64 were 100% totally, totally designed to go toe-to-toe with Atari. The photos on the back showing kids doing math problems or typing a school report on a C64 were mostly just for marketing reasons to sell parents on the idea that a computer would get your child into MIT and wasn't a toy like a Colecovision.

If the business market was all they cared about, they could have just kept making incremental improvements to the PET line.
>>
When doing a mental exercise like this, you have to make it clear to yourself what exactly you are trying to do.

1. Are you doing a fantasy computer, only lightly bound to the limits of the period, where money is no object?
2. Are you correcting a few mistakes on the original machine that could have been done as an afterthought, without impugning the compatibility with the old machine and/or altering the flavour significantly?
3. Are you doing a realistic proposal for an alternative machine that could have been build and sold?
4. Are you doing a followup to the C64 that uses the possibilities of a few years years later (though not way too late like the C65 would have been), while remaining compatible?
5. Or are you fixing the C64 up in the present, where there is limitless possibilities?

I'd say only 2, 3 and 4 is interesting.
Here’s my take on the those:
>>
Firstly, Commodore should have axed the Datasette completely by 1984-85 and removed the cassette connector from the computers (would have saved a nice bit of money too). Cassette storage for anything above about 16k blows chunks. It's a crying shame how the UK market was chained to the yoke of the Datasette which severely limited the kinds of software that could be released.

Also they could have saved money by not including an RF modulator. The VIC-20 and Apple II never had one and nobody ever complained.

Further, a reset button. For goodness sake, loads of other 8-bit computers had a reset button including the Apple II and TRS-80. Not having one on the C64 was a big blunder.

Retaining the quad density PET drives (8050/8250) would have been really nice. An entire megabyte of storage. How you gonna beat that?

I think retaining the stamped metal PET case could have been nice too. More durable, doesn't trap heat as much, and looks more professional.
>>
>>3354532
It is too bad most of the engineering talent left and Commodore were stuck running on fumes. I mean, the Amiga put a little more gas in the tank but by then they didn't have enough money to do anything with it.
>>
>>3354585
The CIA chips actually have enough lines to support six (!) joystick buttons.
>>
>>3354684
I'd think dropping cassette support would have not been very good for European sales.
>>
>>3354713
Yeah well, fuck those guys. Get rid of it and they have to buy disk drives like First World nations.
>>
Is it me or are original Apple II games on Ebay awfully...expensive compared to C64 games.
>>
>>3354862
probably because of the widespread piracy back then
>>
>>3354862
Apple II software (on original media) is expensive and kinda hard to find. In general if a given game has both Apple II and C64 ports, the latter will be cheaper.
>>
Scott Adams adventures are extremely collectible. Not all of them, but the Apple II and TRS-80 versions always bring good money.
>>
Most Apple II games also exist on the Atari 8-bit and C64 and if you played the Apple version, you probably will be nonplussed by it. Aside from Apple exclusives like Bilestoad, in general I'd always recommend the Atari/Commodore ports.
>>
I guess the thing is, the Apple II series is basically the predecessor to the IBM PC. A large part of its popularity is because it was for the masses, not the classes. The Macintosh is where that changed by giving you an all-in-one system which wasn't really expandable and was essentially neutered. The Apple II, while usually outclassed by the later C64 (and definitely in terms of graphics and sound), was probably superior to the early Macs as well just because you could do a lot more with it - the RAM was expandable, there were still plenty of peripherals including graphics cards and sound cards (not that much cop honestly) and many peripherals were affordable, not to mention the schematics for the machine were in the manual opening it up to third-parties...plus nowadays you can use a null modem to connect it up to a PC and via a few simple commands using its built-in operating system, you can upload programs that way. To do that with any other computer, including the C64 and the Mac, you're going to need more software or special hardware.

You can sledge modern Apple all you want, but this is the classic vintage stuff here. It's got a lot more in common with the modern PC than any subsequent Apple product except maybe the Mac Pros, and without the price tag.
>>
>>3354889
>masses not the classes
Hardly. You want to compare the price of an Apple IIe in 1983 to the price of a C64?
>>
Probably the poorer distribution and the fact that the Apple II came out earlier. It was primarily a US computer without a market presence in Europe as Commodore had.
>>
They sold 6 million Apple IIs (IIgs included) from 1977 to 1993. Considering this thing was out 16 (!) years and sold half as many computers as the C64 which was out 13 years...
>>
It is hard to admit, but without the Apple II there would have been no Atari 800 or Commodore 64.
>>
Actually there would have been. Commodore and Atari were intent on releasing their own computer (at around the same time as the Apple II) whether or not the Apple II even existed. In other words, if no Apple II, the Commodore PET still would have been released and shortly afterward the Atari 800 would still have been released.
>>
Are you sure, though? It was only through the success of the Apple II that paved the way for IBM, Commodore and Tandy.
>>
>>3354924
The PET was first announced in January 1977 (though it didn't start shipping until the end of the year). This was four months before Apple announced the Apple II. Radio Shack also began work on the TRS-80 at the end of 1976 and it was unveiled in August '77.
>>
>>3354929

True, the PET was an innovation. But the Apple II had color graphics and sound long before the competition did. So that was part of its success, in 1977, no less. The first 'color' computer was the 1975 Compucolor I.
>>
>>3354934
The PET still had a lot of innovative features of its own like a full fledged floating point BASIC with a sophisticated screen editor as well as much more advanced cassette storage than the Apple II and TRS-80. The Commodore kernal ROM was also a novel feature for the time and can be seen as a precursor to the PC BIOS.
>>
>>3354912
Apple only succeeded because the big players bury themselves to the ground with price,technology and marketing wars.
There was big gap in the market after all this shit and someone had to fill it in,guess who was still in the game.
>>
apple was a cancer

when i was a kid in school
there were different kinds of computers in the lab
i remember tehy had the pet computer they had some kind of hp propriatary computer and the apple 2(all of which had green monochrome screens)

basically all we used the hp computer for was a really spiffy typing tutor program nobody ever used the pets i dont think it was allowed at least

and everything was done on apples it was almost a conspiracy

i got the commodore cause it was the cheapest and a cirle of friends spreading pirate cracks really kept costs down

it wasnt till high school that i saw color on a school computer with the 8088 pc clones with cga screens and hours playing sopwith and flightmare i swear burned my retenas with the horrid baby blue lavander and white pallate
>>
File: 1300044776986.jpg (23KB, 250x250px) Image search: [Google]
1300044776986.jpg
23KB, 250x250px
>>3354874
>there was no piracy of C64 games
>>
Apple's sponsoring of education made the II line the dominant school computer, too bad all of them just had monochrome monitors because color ones were too expensive.

And the fact that the Apple II only supported one joystick and had nothing but bleeper sound. It might have been innovative in the 70s, but do you see any Apple equivalent of Gamebase64?
>>
>>3354919
Totally agree. The PET was entirely Chuck Peddle's brainchild and had no connection whatsoever with whatever Steve and Steve were doing in a garage in California. And the PET came about because Texas Instruments had fucked Commodore good in the calculator market and consequently Jack Tramiel was looking for revenge.

Also literally every book/documentary about the history of personal computers ever made is 90% Apple and Microsoft while devoting a page or two to Commodore at most. Yes the Apple II is a p. decent machine for its time but so are many contemporaries like the Memotech MTX or SORD M5 and honestly, an Atari 800 is a far more interesting (and fun) machine to play with.
>>
>>3355026
Also I don't think either machine was worth the money in 1982, but the IIgs was a very fine machine and a good showcase of how to update an 8-bit computer, better than the C64 -> C128.

Yes the C128 is kind of cool, but it has a lot of very unfortunate what-could-have-beens attached to it. Namely being unable to use 2Mhz mode except with the VDU which is useless for gaming, even worse having a completely useless Z80 sitting on the system board while Acorn had back in 1983 developed a useful way to employ a 6502 and Z80 as dual CPUs.

The C128 makes terrible use of what tiny improvements it has over the C64 by wasting all the tech soldered to the motherboard like a 2mhz 8502 AND A Z80 and the 64k VDC only being useful in 80 column so making 2mhz 8502 useless for games programmers)
>>
You're dreaming. If Apple hadn't existed then another company perhaps Commodore would have been there first. Too much attention is given to Apple who basically made machines for upper middle class snobs.
>>
One only needs to look at the CPU employed by the Apple II to recognize that MOS technologies, also known as the Commodore Semiconductor Group, was what made the Apple II possible. In other words, without Commodore, there would have been no Apple II.
>>
>>3354862
>buying retail floppies that are without a doubt corrupted beyond use now

Unless its' to cater to your collection boner, don't even bother. Just use ADTPro, a USB-to-RS232 adapter, and blank floppies (surprisingly still cheap)
>>
>>3355049
Wrong. The 6502 was introduced in 1975 before Commodore bought out MOS Technologies.
>>
What Steve Jobs could be proud of is through his own actions, ie he gave Bill Gates a Mac prototype to rip apart. Winblows now exists and is the dominant force for personal computers now like it or lump it thanks to Apple in general and Steve Jobs specifically.
>>
>>3355057
All the same, they already owned MOS by the time the Apple II was out, they made the CPU for the Apple II, and Jack Tramiel could have easily refused to sell them any and instead forced them to a more expensive chip like the 6800, but he didn't.
>>
Apple machines essentially didn't exist in Europe. While it might be an important computer for Americans, it's nothing but a brief historical footnote here.
>>
>>3355067
There we go. That was still awfully charitable of Tramiel to continue selling CPUs to a rival company when he could have just pulled the plug. I doubt Steve Jobs selling his bicycle would have bought very many 6800s which cost 10x more money than a 6502.
>>
What was the 6800 microchip? Was it a cousin of the 6502?
>>
>>3355082
the 8-bit predecessor to the 68000
>>
>>3355082
The 6800, Motorola's answer to the Intel 8080. The 6502 was actually designed as a lower cost clone of it and even copied the pinout. This resulted in a lawsuit, after which MOS changed the pinout.

The 6800 was not a popular CPU in the 70s due to its cost and also needing an external RAM refresh circuit.

Also MOS were selling calculator parts to Commodore and since they lost a lot of money in the Motorola lawsuit, they begged Jack Tramiel to bail them out. So he obliged and purchased MOS in 1976, which then gave Commodore the huge cost advantage of an in-house chip fab.

As one other point, no Apple and Atari did not actually buy 6502s from MOS. Like all chip fabs, they couldn't meet the demand by themselves and licensed the 6502 to outside manufacturers. Apple and Atari bought all their CPUs from these second sources and not MOS itself, since it was owned by a rival computer manufacturer.

Even so, Chuck Peddle's dream of a low-cost CPU was a major reason why the personal computer revolution happened so let us not shortchange him.

As for the VIC-20, well, that happened because Commodore were always a big player in Europe where the Sinclair ZX81 was cleaning up. Tramiel wanted some of that and noticed that he was also sitting on a big pile of 2114 SRAMs and VIC chips which had been unsuccessfully marketed to arcade game manufacturers.
>>
I know we usually see arguments from trolls about how much better is the C64, Spectrum, Apple, Atari, etc... However, these systems are all actually pretty similar. Most of the systems of the era use a variant of the 6502 CPU. I don't know all that much about any 8-bit machine's internals aside from the VIC-20, C64, and Plus/4. But, I started studying the Apple II a few days ago to see how difficult it would be to get code from one machine to work on another.

One of the more interesting things I discovered is that the screen RAM is in the same memory location on both the Apple II and the C64. Which means, in many cases it may be possible to take an unmodified piece of machine code and have it run on both systems and actually work.

So I began to wonder, has anyone around here ever written software for both the C64 and some other 6502-based computer such as the Apple-II ? If so, what types of things did you have to consider?
>>
>>3355117
any use of kernal won't work
>>
>>3355121
Well I know that much. But I imagine the Apple II has equivalent routines in its system ROMs for reading keypresses and character output and whatnot?
>>
Once you actually try it, you'll realize how little sharing a CPU actually means anything. If you're just converting a text adventure, sure, that's simple, but anything with bitmap graphics and sound...yikes.

You could reuse the game logic and AI, other than that, everything else, including sound, graphics, keyboard/joystick input, and disk access will be completely and totally different. And of course that's about 80% of a game.
>>
>>3355131
Ok yeah, if you mean action games, then it would be pretty hard, but something like a simulation or a CRPG shouldn't be that difficult, right?
>>
>>3355135
Actually you will find that a large percentage of such games are written in whole or in part with BASIC, because the kinds of algorithms they use are easier to implement that way. Microprose and SSI in particular did this a lot.
>>
It's relatively simple to convert an Apple II game to C64, but converting a C64 game to Apple II is usually impossible without a complete rewrite.
>>
>>3355142
Can you elaborate as to why that is? Or are you implying that when Apple II games are converted to C64, they don't bother to take advantage of the extra graphics and sound?
>>
the apple II has no graphics hardware, ie no sprites. so the entire game typically renders to a bitmap (ie, "software sprites"). now converting this to the c64 is extremely easy, just do the same thing. (for example: choplifter)
now if you have a c64 game, which is typically based on the usage of sprites and maybe scrolling colorful backgrounds .... forget a quick port to a machine that has no sprites or scrolling support.
>>
My uncle used to code games for C64 and Atari 8-bit and he could assure you that aside from sharing a CPU, the two computers are completely and totally dissimilar and very little code beyond perhaps some algorithms can be reused. Sound, graphics, sprite handling, screen output, memory mapping, keyboard input, disk access between the two machines are like translating between English and Vietnamese.

In fact, just looking at disassemblies of the C64 and Atari ports of a given game will look about as alike as disassemblies of two different C64 games. Atari 8-bits, they're fun computers, but programming them is not. So many simple things made so needlessly difficult. Even their BASIC was totally different and a mess. At least most computers could share a BASIC listing, then you'd have to rewrite major pieces of it for Atari BASIC.
>>
>>3354875
>>3354862
>>3354881
I notice that in particular original copies of adventure and RPG games for the Apple II tend to sell for ridiculously inflated prices.

http://www.ebay.com/sch/i.html?_from=R40&_trksid=m570.l1313&_nkw=ultima+apple+ii&_sacat=0

http://www.ebay.com/sch/i.html?_odkw=ultima+apple+ii&_osacat=0&_from=R40&_trksid=p2045573.m570.l1313.TR0.TRC0.H0.Xwizardry+apple+ii.TRS0&_nkw=wizardry+apple+ii&_sacat=0

Seriously, Ebay?
>>
And thread limit reached.
>>
>>3355072
They did, they're just not as common as other machines. Still, you can still find Apple machines from the time here and there (way overpriced but still available).

>>3355095
That would be the 6809.
Thread posts: 498
Thread images: 56


[Boards: 3 / a / aco / adv / an / asp / b / bant / biz / c / can / cgl / ck / cm / co / cock / d / diy / e / fa / fap / fit / fitlit / g / gd / gif / h / hc / his / hm / hr / i / ic / int / jp / k / lgbt / lit / m / mlp / mlpol / mo / mtv / mu / n / news / o / out / outsoc / p / po / pol / qa / qst / r / r9k / s / s4s / sci / soc / sp / spa / t / tg / toy / trash / trv / tv / u / v / vg / vint / vip / vp / vr / w / wg / wsg / wsr / x / y] [Search | Top | Home]

I'm aware that Imgur.com will stop allowing adult images since 15th of May. I'm taking actions to backup as much data as possible.
Read more on this topic here - https://archived.moe/talk/thread/1694/


If you need a post removed click on it's [Report] button and follow the instruction.
DMCA Content Takedown via dmca.com
All images are hosted on imgur.com.
If you like this website please support us by donating with Bitcoins at 16mKtbZiwW52BLkibtCr8jUg2KVUMTxVQ5
All trademarks and copyrights on this page are owned by their respective parties.
Images uploaded are the responsibility of the Poster. Comments are owned by the Poster.
This is a 4chan archive - all of the content originated from that site.
This means that RandomArchive shows their content, archived.
If you need information for a Poster - contact them.