18 Feb
1998
18 Feb
'98
7:11 p.m.
But what was very cool about the 1541, I later
learned, was that it had
its own processor, and that you could upload a program into two drives,
hook them to each other and have them copy disks automatically...very
cool. Then when my friend gave me the program that played Daisy on the
1541 (by this time I had my own C64) I was dazzled. I wrote a similar
program for the Apple Disk ][ but the farts and grunts it made were hardly
comparable to the violin-like sqeaks that emanated from the 1541. Very
cool.
That did? Cool! But my friend who had C64 wrote a special program
so you could pass coded messages on disks back and forth between 2
guys. The gist is: when needs to look up the message, the program
first asks for password also instructs the drive ready to barf bad
data onto disk like as tripwire, if 3 incorrect tries on password.
POOF followed by rapid clunking of head ereasing the disk, it happens
so fast that it's too late to kill power to the diskdrive. :)
After I got over the computer-cock-war syndrome I did
come to realize what
a cool machine the C64 was. I actually started to program on it and
started experimenting with the sound. It could make the wildest sounds.
I wanted to port the Apple ROM Monitor to the C64 so that I'd have a
decent Monitor with which to assemble machine code, but alas my C64 died
on the carpet in front of my TV (thus beginning the C64 curse I've fallen
victim to), I guess from static electricity. They just didn't make C64's
to last I'm afraid. Thus my C64 programming soire was cut short.
This is why what make between this C64 and real machines apart by
relability and protection due to buffer chips, C64 didn't! That
speaks true by my last late spring experience, blew the I/O chip by
static on a P5 board, it's fixed now, ok now. 2 pentium
machines after getting new mobo so I do not have to deal with
crashing 486dx2 66. Short afterwards fixed the blown board Ouch!
repair tips:
But you can get that dead C64 repaired by replacing that CIA chips
and 8 pieces of 64k x 1 chips and heatsink all chips well. (just in
case).
Snip!
Jason D.
Sam Alternate e-mail: dastar(a)siconic.com
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Computer Historian, Programmer, Musician, Philosopher, Athlete, Writer, Jackass
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email: jpero(a)cgo.wave.ca
Pero, Jason D.