From: Sam Ismail <dastar(a)wco.com>
Subject: More books added to the library
One finds the best stuff at thrift stores. Check out
what I found today:
The Anatomy of the 1541 Disk Drive
By Abacus Software, 1984
ISBN: 0-916439-01-1
It contains a full description of the file system, the
file structure, the
file commands, and also has a full 6502 assembler listing for the drive's
ROM! Very cool. This book apparently also came with a "Test/Demo" disk
but the programs are printed in the book so they can be duplicated. What
a treasure.
If I recall correctly the book also describes tha basics of coding
your own fast drive access routines (fast loader, etc.) which is mighty
handy.
001010100101110100100011010110100011100101001000010100010111001001010000
Somewhat Classic Computer related was my acquisition of a Color
QuickCam for my Mac, I know it isn't even near 10 years old but it is
worthy to mention for its almost instant imaging capabilities... The
thing has a range of 1" to infinity (you can zoom in on the numbers
printed on tops of chips and have them readable!) So now I have to
clear the piles of papers away from a corner so I can use the cam to do
shots of some of my equipment (like a better picture of the P-500, etc.)
To give you an idea of the detail I am extolling, check out this pic I
put on-line for you to see for yourself:
http://www.goldrush.com/~foxnhare/CLOSEUP.JPG
The pictue is of a 12/24 edge connector (.156" spacing), a Commodore
monitor connector and the top of a 6510 microprocessor DIP chip. (best I
could do in a couple minutes of scrounging.
Note this is 'medium size' and the resolution can go up to 640x400.
The real bummer to it is I don't think I can get it to work on my
Commodores,also it's leash (interface cable) is 6'long... :/
Larry Anderson
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