Commodore 128 Alive!

I posted for the first time yesterday, and was dismayed to find myself listed as a "Windows user". I call foul! I only use Windows under duress, and never to access this forum. How do I fix it?

More posts  ;D

Everyone gets a nickname based on how many posts they've made. It's Lance's idea of 'funny' to call newbies by that HIGHLY insulting name until they get - what is it? - 50 posts, I think.

Quote from: airship on March 20, 2008, 12:26 AM
Everyone gets a nickname based on how many posts they've made. It's Lance's idea of 'funny' to call newbies by that HIGHLY insulting name until they get - what is it? - 50 posts, I think.

10 actually.

cheers,

Lance

Well, if it makes you feel better, I'm only a VIC-20 user and I've never even owned one of those.

Quote from: airship on March 20, 2008, 12:26 AM
Everyone gets a nickname based on how many posts they've made. It's Lance's idea of 'funny' to call newbies by that HIGHLY insulting name until they get - what is it? - 50 posts, I think.

I think it's hilarious. BTW did you get a chance to see what I did with the Wikipedia Article on BSaved Images on the C64? I cut you some code Mark but I think you'd better proof-read it me being a Windows user and all... can you spot the deliberate error:)

Is anybody into writing C64 programs? This Windows User just put-up a full-blown Cross-Compiler on his Aztec-C Website and just thought he'd stop-in and leave a link or two:

Aztec C65 Version 1.06e Cross Compiler

(http://www.clipshop.ca/c64/classic.gif)

Manx Aztec C65
Version 1.06e
Target: Commodore 64 6502 Native Code
Target OS: Commodore 64 (C64) BASIC 2 operating system
Compiler: C II Vers. 1.05h 6502 (C) 1982, 1983 by Manx Software Systems

http://www.clipshop.ca/Aztec/index.htm#commodore (http://www.clipshop.ca/Aztec/index.htm#commodore)

MS-DOS cross-development environment for 8086 and compatible computers
Preconfigured for Windows XP

With several samples, projects, and a production example
With an additional link library for sound and graphics etc.
With many original related custom tools for MS-DOS including source code

This is a complete Aztec C build environment for Windows XP (MS-DOS) which will enable you to produce efficient 6502 machine-language programs which will, when properly built, load and run from BASIC on a Commodore 64 or in the Vice C64 emulator, and which will exit cleanly to BASIC when done.

The flavour of C that is used is not ANSI compliant, but many of the functions that existed or still exist in ANSI C are available, or have equivalents. I am unable to provide the original documentation for this compiler, but generally speaking, other Aztec C manuals that may be available online for this version (1.0...) might help.

Programs are written in C on an IBM-PC compatible computer and can be augmented with inline assembly language or assembly language modules if desired. This compiler's first pass produces 6502 assembly language, which is assembled on the second pass and linked to other assembled code objects and libraries on the final pass to produce finished programs which are then modified using special tools to load and run under C64 BASIC 2.

It is quite a complicated environment, but I have highly simplified it for you by pre-configuring it to run under Windows XP, and by using MAKEFILE's, and have provided many original programs and library routines that I wrote in their entirety to get you started. I have organized this environment into topical subdirectories to make it easier for you to review and use my work and to provide you with a sustainable framework for your own C64 research.

An additional link library (B64NAT.LIB) is provided which supports, among other things, the use of graphics and bit-mapped graphics images, sound routines, and other useful routines for native mode C64 Aztec C programs.

If you wish to create full-screen bitmapped graphics for the C64 you may wish to download my ClipShop program. Additional utilities for graphics and sound file conversion are included with this compiler.

Other than that, all you need is the ability to write and compile programs in the C programming language.

(http://www.clipshop.ca/c64/time.gif)

Classic C64 Software
d64 Disk Images for Commodore 64 Emulators
All Programs Written and Produced by Bill Buckels
In Aztec C for the C64 in the
Windows XP Cross-Development Environment

http://www.clipshop.ca/c64/index.htm (http://www.clipshop.ca/c64/index.htm)

Introduction - Commodore 64 Version

In early 2008 as part of his efforts to produce a Windows XP based C programming language environment for the Commodore 64 (C64), complete with sample programs, the developer of the Apple II version of "What Time Is It?", Bill Buckels, decided that he would create an English-only version for the C64 as a demonstration program in the C programming language using an obsolete C64 compiler program called "Aztec C".

The C64 Version runs at the same speed as the Apple IIe version in less memory, with equal or better graphics, and better sound. It runs nicely in the WinVICE C64 Emulator in Windows XP (it has never been tried on a real C64), and is as complete in every way as the other versions, accounting for differences between the C64, the Apple IIe, and the IBM-PC.


C64 Graphics in Windows XP

If you are interested in diskimages for the C64, you may also be interested in C64 Graphics. The ClipShop program for Windows XP also written by Bill Buckels provides support for conversion from several IBM-PC compatible graphics file formats to many C64 graphics file formats, and for loading and saving these directly.

ClipShop also has a "Split Commodore Image" feature, provided primarily for Commodore 128 Emulator Enthusiasts, which creates a file package including a loader program written in BASIC 7 and the split pieces of the original image. If you have the c1541 disk image utility that comes with the VICE emulator installed and on-path, you can run the batch file that is created with the file package to create a d64 disk image by clicking on the batchfile.

ClipShop does not load these split images. They are created for Commodore Emulator Enthusiasts as a fun activity to help keep them occupied with re-living their past, and there is really no purpose in inflicting the rest of us with yet another C64 Image Format.


http://www.clipshop.ca/index.htm (http://www.clipshop.ca/index.htm)

If you don't understand most of this talk about C64 graphics and you want to learn more, review the Wikipedia Article BSAVE (graphics image format) http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/BSAVE_(graphics_image_format) (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/BSAVE_(graphics_image_format)) by Bill Buckels as a starting point.

Windows User indeed! ROFLMAO!

Later,

Bill

Yo Airship!

I was thinking a little more about it and I am really a 6502 user as well as an 8086 user rather than any of these doogie categories.

So what is a Window's User? - Doogie Category Revealed

One of my best friends was a rom burner in an Apple II at one point in my programming career in my days of coding instructions in hex. Not to mention my days of patching 8086 hex directly into binaries because the compilers of the day couldn't produce composite object modules that were interrupt handlers that did a far ret instead of an iret which would pop the flags. Yes Virginia, in a segmented architecture especially using intel byte order life was not so simple as it was on the MOS or ZILOG.

Why Become a Window's User?

In those years the 8086 was an excellent source of heat for my computer lab which was a little cool being in a basement here in the True North Strong and Free! I probably would have frozen to death if I needed to depend on my Apple II or my C64 alone, not to mention starved to death along with my family because the money was in the X86 around here by that time.

C64 programs written by a Windows User and citable C64 Expert

Derisive laughter at the user categories here aside, this lowly Windows User would be remiss in his duties as a citable and reliable expert on the C64 to not also mention some additional C64 Software that may be of interest to some and maybe inconsequential to others who have ascended to loftier platforms like the VIC20, of which I should have kept mine by the way along with my Apple II Plus with the Z80, but which both went to a good home with a collector some 15 years ago.

The C64 is still around, and a working Apple //e is sits between the two 22" Flat Screen Monitors that my wife and I have attached to our 64bit 3000+ mghz XP Toy Boxes that we play on the Internet with when I am not writing real programs for some client or on the lake fishing.

Now about all I can add to any of this is that I know for a fact that Carl Sassenrath is alive and well and growing grapes at Sassenranch. He still answers his emails so far be it for me who has much smaller grapes and a smaller ranch (really just afew lots or so) to avoid stepping down to street level from My Ivory Coloured Windows Tower to remember what led us here in the first place.

Graphics Program and Graphics Demos DiskImages

(http://www.clipshop.ca/c64/cbinlode.gif)

http://www.clipshop.ca/c64/index.htm#gdemo (http://www.clipshop.ca/c64/index.htm#gdemo)

This zip file consists of Commodore 64 d64 disk image files of Graphics Programs that I have written in Aztec C. They can be run in the VICE emulator. They are also distributed with the Aztec64 Windows XP C64 compiler environment complete with source code and graphics and sound library routines available from my website at:

http://www.clipshop.ca/Aztec/ (http://www.clipshop.ca/Aztec/)

If you already have this compiler you likely already have these.

While being less than spectacular by today's standards, they demonstrate what a programmer can write for the Commodore 64 from the comfort of the C programming languages in Windows XP or MS-DOS without needing to resort to messy programs written in Commodore BASIC or machine language.

CBINLODE - bitmapped graphics file loader

This is a bitmapped graphics viewer program for C64 HIRES and MultiColor BSaved screens. These screens can be created on the C64 if you are so inclined to write a program to do so, or from both IBM-PC and C64 Image Sources by using my ClipShop program for Windows XP available from my website at:

www.clipshop.ca (http://www.clipshop.ca)

The programming tools that I distribute with Aztec64 will also create these (and other C64 graphics) from IBM-PC graphics. This program also handles HIRES Doodle Draw and HIRES Art Studio and MultiColor Koala Painter Screen Images that can also be created in ClipShop as well as by a variety of other sources.

VECTOR - vector graphics demo

This program demonstrates the basic functionality of my Aztec C graphics routines that are not related to bitmapped graphics. It draws lines, boxes, and circles in both HIRES and MultiColor modes and is generally a vector drawing demo using graphics primitives routines that are included in my B64NAT.LIB Aztec C link library for the C64.

SPRITES - Aztec C rewrite of the 3 "Hot Air" Sprite Demos

These are the three hot air baloon examples from the C64 manual rewritten in Aztec C. They are reasonably faithful as rewrites go although they really don't do much except move a sprite around the screen when you press the keyboard.

Sprites are fast and a neat feature of the C64 but really too small for the type of animations that I like to do. If you want to write a game of some kind using sprites, the source code for these demos would probably give you a starting point.


SID Music Playback and Piano Programs DiskImages

(http://www.clipshop.ca/c64/songdir.gif)

http://www.clipshop.ca/c64/index.htm#sdemo (http://www.clipshop.ca/c64/index.htm#sdemo)

This zip file consists of Commodore 64 d64 disk image files of SID Chip Music Programs that I have written in Aztec C. They can be run in the VICE emulator. They are also distributed with the Aztec64 Windows XP C64 compiler environment complete with source code and graphics and sound library routines available from my website at:

http://www.clipshop.ca/Aztec/ (http://www.clipshop.ca/Aztec/)

If you already have this compiler you likely already have these.

While being less than spectacular by today's standards, they demonstrate what a programmer can write for the Commodore 64 from the comfort of the C programming languages in Windows XP or MS-DOS without needing to resort to messy programs written in Commodore BASIC or machine language.

SONGSTER - song playback - simplified user interface

Simple stand-alone simple text interface with 10 built-in bit-music SID songs with midi-sequencor style controls and voice change etc.

SONGDIR - song playback - advanced user interface

Full featured text interface with a diskimage filled with bit-music SID songs, and with the same midi-sequencor style controls and voice change etc. but slicked-up quite a bit compared to SONSTER which is fun too.

PIANO - Aztec C rewrite of the SID Pianokey program

This keyboard piano is an introduction to the SID chip and music on the C64.

There is much fancy-stuff going-on here behind the scenes although it is only a simple text screen interface. If you are a programmer, reviewing all of this (especially the source code) is a must-do. The pianokey programs was originally presented as a sample in the C64 manual.

The original program is also on this diskimage.


Have Fun!

However if you are somewhat saner than I am you may not wish to download old compilers and create diskimages for the C64... just to run them. If that is the case I congratulate you on your sanity and I won't even ask you why a truly sane person would be bothering with old programs in the first place. That can be a discussion for another day.

No matter what your intentions may be (other than malicious of course) you may freely download, use, and distribute any of the diskmages available from this webpage, provided you do not take credit for them, and provided you do not charge any fee of any kind for them.