home *** CD-ROM | disk | FTP | other *** search
- u
-
- Commodore Scene
- Meeting report
-
- Robert Bernardo was again making his
- trips around the world visiting
- computer shows & clubs in a variety
- of locations after careful planning
- and itinerary slots being available
- Commodore Scene managed to get
- together & accommodate a meeting
- with Robert
-
- Robert & Shaun Bebbington made their
- way from Birmingham Alan Bairstow of
- www.commodorescene.org.uk & I met them
- at Preston railway station; the train
- arrived on time, in reality a couple of
- minutes late but this was more or less
- on time. So Alan & I loaded bags into
- both our cars & set off on a 30 minute
- drive to my house.
-
- Once at my house we all unloaded &
- proceeded to the very un-posh &
- rather cramped computer room little
- more than a loft conversion but just
- big enough for us to collectively
- squeeze ourselves into
-
- Robert told a shocked Alan about his
- recent heart scare problem & how
- even in hospital he was trying to
- convert past commodore users who were
- doctors & nurses into joining in
- with a nearby Commodore club event.
- Robert confirmed he had to take care
- but was fit & well, Alan had not
- heard the news, & stressed Robert
- should take care, we suggested slowing
- down & Alan said that men just carry
- on not listening to our bodies.
-
- I followed this up with my slipped &
- bulging disks problem the lower 3
- disks in my spine had slipped &
- bulging pressing on nerves causing
- severe pain I waited 2 years then went
- to seek medical care, Alan laughed &
- said its a man thing we expect the
- pain to just go, & put off doctors,
- I was on morphine for the pain but now
- have recovered enough to use just
- strong pain killers as & when
- needed, in fact the whole meeting I
- managed without taking any of them.
-
- AMIGA STICKER
-
- Robert gave us all a self adhesive
- badge with Amiga logo on & proceeded
- to show us about 10 DVDs with Scanned
- magazines unfortunately the text was
- all in German & none of us can read
- German but the pictures of course were
- international.
-
-
- Behr-Bonz VIC-20
- Robert said he had something rather
- special in his bag & Shaun & I could
- test it. Robert produced the Behr-Bonz
- VIC-20 Multicart not just any version
- but the PAL version, beta testers are
- still needed as the games have only
- been tested in an emulator & not on a
- real machine Robert pointed out. Robert
- therefore looked rather disappointed
- when I started my 1st demo
-
- I tried demonstrating the Behr-Bonz
- VIC-20 Multicart 127 cartridge games
- for the vic 20 all on 1 cartridge yes
- Robert I already had one. Robert rather
- deflated handed the device to Shaun
- and suggested he try testing it on a
- spare machine he had back in
- Birmingham, Shaun agreed to test the
- device when he had time.
-
- The demo went rather badly although my
- VIC did manage to boot to the menu, I
- seemed to have a power problem & the
- machine lost power & display so I was
- unable to test further, Shaun lent me
- another Vic to test out the device but
- we were unable to find a power supply
- for this VIC 20, so the demo was put
- aside for another time, as we had other
- items to look at.
-
- 1541 ULTIMATE
-
- I produced a 1541 ultimate device but
- said that my C64 wouldn't power up with
- the device due to the amount of power
- required, we did see the device load &
- look inside some disk images, although
- after initialising one of the freezer
- functions the C64 refused to power up
- due to the drain of the PSU, again this
- device was put aside for further demo
- when a suitable PSU was found for the
- C64, Alan said he may be able to make a
- flat C128 psu power my C64 & would
- produce one for the next meeting
-
- We all chatted about the various clubs
- world wide & wondered why a U.K.
- Commodore club hadn't been created,
- going by our clubs recent get together
- about 1 every 2 years we suggested that
- we meet more often & form a proper
- treasury, have a meeting place & try to
- make the meetings on weekends rather
- than midweek as 2 members were unable
- to attend due to work commitments. Then
- we reflected that it was no wonder the
- U.K. didn't have a regular meeting as
- the 5 of us couldnt even make the
- commitment we all suggested this must
- change & soon. Shaun suggested some
- ways of club fund raising & a meeting
- place was also suggested.
-
- C64TCP
-
- Next for demo was c64tcp, Alan said he
- had commitments he needed to attend
- but promised he would contact us all
- again & not wait 2 years, Alan was
- also keen on a club & proper treasury,
- at this point we said our goodbyes &
- Alan left in his car.
-
- C64tcp demo actually worked & I
- showed the remaining members now me,
- Shaun & Robert how the device
- connected & loaded applications from
- a PC (see full review in this issue
- for more details of the device) Robert
- was keen to video the device in action
- & asked questions about its function, I
- pointed out development had stopped,
- but the device as is had potential even
- if it wasnt a 1541 emulator & couldnt
- handle turbo loading games.
-
- DC2N
-
- Next came the DC2N Robert had not seen
- this device & so questioned why users
- would still want to load TAP files in
- real time one a Commodore machine, I
- pointed out that it was in fact
- real-time with no speedup of the tape
- dumps & also said that most games
- featured turbo loading also it helps
- preserve games that would soon fail to
- load from real tapes, also from a
- nostalgic point of view I still use
- tapes & am a great promoter of this
- device that seems to work without
- problems, is easy to use (although it
- doesn't come supplied with Document-
- ation, I will change this & produce a
- guide to download from
- www.commodorefree.com website when I
- have time)
-
- The DC2N as pointed out allows users
- to copy commodore cassette games to a
- digital format TAP files & play them
- on the device as if they were real
- cassettes, thus the user experiences
- loading the Tap files in real time so
- a cassette that took 20 mins to load
- would take 20 mins to load. Shaun was
- quick to point out that there would be
- no tape errors on heads that needed re-
- aligning or cleaning as the files were
- in a digital format, it was agreed the
- items was useful for preservation of
- Commodore tapes & the designer had
- tested the device on the PET & VIC.
-
- We watched a few videos that Robert
- had taken on his travels & an
- interview with the 1541 Ultimate
- creator Guidion, Shaun suggested the
- device may be used as a SCpu
- replacement as internally the device
- ran at something like 16mhz the
- interview with guideon also suggested
- this may be possible. We saw a
- prototype of the next version with an
- Ethernet port & some other hardware
- and software fixes that the designer
- had implemented into the device.
-
- I told Robert & Shaun I was still
- looking for some sort of video titler
- or presentation software to show text
- on screen in a sort of cut down
- PowerPoint style presentation we
- googled for various items & in the
- end it was suggested maybe a noter
- style application could be used, Shaun
- pointed out & downloaded a couple
- that looked promising I said I would
- test them & try them out, & maybe
- video myself giving the presentation
- to a shocked audience when they
- realise the presentation is in fact
- coming from an C64 & not a PC or Apple
- MAC
-
- Robert then asked about the Sound
- buggy hardware device he saw in the
- room & said he had never seen one of
- these devices he asked about its
- function, I promised to do a review
- for Commodore Free magazine & upload
- some of the demo music files as wavs
- so we could all enjoy them, basically
- the device is an FM sound module thats
- controlled by the C64, Robert took out
- his camera & made a video of the device
- & box, but we didn't have time to load
- the software & do any testing.
-
- I asked about the state of GeoPublish
- version 1.1 Robert said he didnt have
- a copy it was pointed out by Shaun
- that maybe Maurice didnt like its
- release as there was no copy protection
- on the update & thus anyone could use
- the software without owning a legal
- copy it seems the software may not see
- the light of day, Robert said the
- creator was putting a manual & proper
- box together the last he heard from the
- creator was over 2 years ago
-
- We moved out into the garden as the
- room became to hot for usage in the
- British sunshine, we tried to contact
- Maurice Randell on his home number but
- just got the answer machine, Robert
- suggested we phone Jeri Ellsworth but
- again we just got through to an answer
- machine.
-
- Shaun did manage to contact Chris
- Snowden of www.commodore16.com fame,
- he was sorry he couldent attend the
- meeting but was working & also had
- commitments on the day. He asked if we
- could try again for a weekend rather
- than a midweek meeting, we all nodded
- as Shaun spoke his words out loud as
- we couldnt hear the phone.
-
- All to soon Robert & Shaun had to
- leave, I packed their belongings into
- my car & took them back to the train
- station, dropping them off. We all
- confirmed that over 2 years is far to
- long a time to wait to talk to each
- other & we should do more to promote
- Commodore machines, again a U.K. club
- was mentioned, Shaun promised to keep
- more in touch & even share some
- programming knowledge. I watched them
- walk into the station & disappear from
- view, I then started the car ready for
- my 30 minute drive back home reflecting
- that although some of the demos didnt
- work & we never had the time to look at
- wheels on my setup, or even look how
- the MMU unit could be removed from a
- dead C128D (that was soldered on the
- mother board) & inserted into a working
- model, on the whole it was successful
-
- Would we follow the promise of a U.k.
- Group, only time & family commitments
- would tell, arriving home I emailed all
- involved thanking them & saying we need
- to keep momentum & push the new U.K.
- club into existence.
-
-
- General shot of C128D setup. This was a
- picture after the event I don't drink
- coke so the cans were left by the
- members, I need to point this out as a
- certain person reading will question me
- about the cans, its a sort of a
- personal/private joke
-
- Anyone else interested in a U.K.
- Commodore club & meeting on a regular
- basis? Why not drop me an email & tell
- me where in the U.K. you are.
-
- THE END ..
-
- ======
- AMENDMENT PLEASE READ
- Hi Nigel, I read in Commodore Free that
- I suggested that the 1541 Ultimate Plus
- would be a good SuperCPU replacement. I
- never actually said this; what I
- suggested was that with a battery
- back-up function (which I think is
- intended on a future revision), the
- device could be a RAMLink replacement
- at some point in the future. In
- emulation, someone has already hacked
- Wheels to recognise a 17xx Ram
- Expansion Unit up to 8 megabytes, and
- theoretically up to 16Mb. Okay, so this
- hasn't been done in the real world as
- far as I know, but the 1541U+ as far as
- I can gather basically has the same
- function as a 1750 REU (for instance),
- but up to 16Mb. A RAMLink is 16Mb, so
- all that is needed is either a power
- source to keep the RAM in a solid
- state, and some sort of DOS interface
- to read the contents of the RAM (you'll
- note that the RAMLink can do this
- already as you can plug a 1750 REU or
- clone into the RAMPort, which can be
- either 'normal' access via JiffyDOS, or
- 'direct' access as it was intended to
- be used, which is only possible because
- the memory is kept constant as long as
- it remains plugged into the RAMPort and
- the RAMLink isn't unplugged). Even
- without accessing the RAM like a drive,
- you can 'skip RAMDisk formatting' on
- Wheels, and have a RAM disk on your
- desktop. This keeps the memory on even
- after a soft reset, but obviously
- switching the computer off will clear
- it. So, keeping power to the 1541U+
- even after switching off the computer
- should also keep the memory intact
- meaning that you can have all of your
- GEOS apps in RAM for super-fast access.
- The 1541U+ is going to be some kick-ass
- device, that is for sure! As for a
- SuperCPU clone... well, who knows what
- the future will hold ;-) Sorry for the
- rant! Regards, Shaun.
-
- COMMODORE FREE = Shaun I am sorry I
- have misquoted you please accept my
- Apologies ok we are all human
- ====
-
-