
*************************************
       Commodore Free Magazine
    http://www.commodorefree.com/
*************************************

         Issue 42, July 2010

      Free to download magazine
  dedicated to Commodore computers
  Available as PDF, HTML, TXT, SEQ
         and D64 disk image

=====================================

*************************************
              CONTENTS
*************************************

* Editorial
* NEWS
  - MorphOS 2.5 & eMac Support
  - Spectacular Copy - Turbo To Disk
  - Mass Storage Device C64SD
  - Third Club Info Issue of 2010
  - Aladdin 4D Forums on Amiga.org
  - DIY Action Replay Card
  - Genealogy Newsletter and C64
  - BasEdit - Basic Editor on Windows
  - Alpha Release of Timberwolf
  - New Commodore Club
  - Chicago Creative Extreme Expo
  - Descent Freespace 2 / AmigaOS4.1
  - X-Moto 0.5.3 for OS4
  - Arcade Retro Gaming Update
  - Loadstar Unofficial Issue 250
  - Fortis Game for MorphOS Released
  - Updated MorphOS SDK 2
  - Commodore Bounties
  - A-EON and Varisys Partnership
  - Micromart U.K. Retro Section
  - NTP Commander Now Open Source
  - The New Adventures of Alfredo
* The Early Days of Online Genealogy
* Interview With Bjrg Stojalowski
* Interview With Ross Myers
* A Quick Look At BasicEdit

=====================================

*************************************
              EDITORIAL
*************************************

COMMODORE 16/PLUS 4 VERSION OF
COMMODORE FREE DISK MAGAZINE?

It would be a nice addition, would
anyone like to volunteer to create
such an item,

SOLD

I started a For sale section at the
request of many reader however: I
haven't had ANYONE send any
information to me about things for
sale! Of course if no one has
anything to sell I can't print
anything! Still it's there if you
feel the need to sell your stuff to
likeminded people and don't want to
eBay your items, selling via the
magazine is more community friendly,
but of course auction sites do offer
more money.

HELP

I personally am looking for a set of
books called STEP BY STEP they dealt
with specific items so step by step
sound step by step graphics I think
they were all written by the same
guy P. Cornes

Step-by-step Programming for the
Commodore 64

Step-by-Step Programming Commodore
64 Graphics - Book Four

Step-by-step programming Commodore
64. Book two

Step-by-step programming, Commodore
64. Book one

Step-by-Step Programming Commodore
64 Graphics - Book Three

And a book called

Step by Step - Interactive
programming course in BASIC -
Commodore 64

You can guess from the titles they
cover Commodore 64 BASIC programming
they crop up from time to time on
eBay however they are as you would
expect very expensive and I don't
have the funds for this route, I
will happily pay postage, maybe you
are reading this and have the set, I
would be interested if you could
contact me.

FOOTBALL

Football is well and truly over for
England's rather dismal display, and
whether it was the wrong shaped ball
or 1 goal that the ref missed (we
still lost 4-1 even 4-2 would be a
loss) or if the grass had become
just the wrong shade of green or the
tea wasn't warm enough or the sun
was to hot or bright. I am glad I
don't really follow the game enough
to comment any further, however
while the match was on I did the
monthly shop with my good lady wife
and I must say it was quiet. We saw
a couple of sad sorry soles who had
been forced into a shop by there
wives, but it was quiet no queues
also absent was a total lack of
traffic on the read. I knew when we
arrived home something was wrong as
no one was chanting and cheering. Oh
well I suppose all the Saint George
memorabilia will be half price.  I
cant help thinking though that
having a manager that speaks English
would actually aid in the training
of the team, still I am no expert on
football.

RSS

I have been working to create an RSS
Feed for Commodore Free (with some
help) as many readers wanted some
notification of when an issue was
ready, also wanted was a one click
download for the magazine in various
formats. This is currently being
tested and you can see how far I
have or haven't got through the
process by loading this
http://www.commodorefree.com/rss/
pdf-feed.xml with a compatible RSS
reader or web browser. Once I think
the file is ready I will add a rss
logo (graphic) to the website so
people can subscribe, at this
current time it appears to be
working without problems.

IN THIS ISSUE

I have in my possession a bought and
paid for MCC (Multiple Classic
Computer), the device was held up in
customs for some time but finally
arrived, and I can tell you that it
does work, and the picture and sound
quality seems better than the DTV,
however; I need to play more games,
erm I mean do some more thought
testing, as I was having some
initial problems I left a review out
of this issue. Hopefully (as it
seems I am at the moment the only
U.k. purchaser) next month I will
have something in writing in way of
a review about my finding.

BASICEDITOR seems to be an
application that is coming on quite
nicely and I have an interview with
its creator in this issue.  I have
also a quick tutorial, or brief look
at the application, showing a small
number of its functions. If you
program in BASIC it could be a very
useful utility for you.

Regards
Nigel

Email: Commodrefree@commodorefree.com
Website: www.commodorefree.com
Test RSS Feed:
http://www.commodorefree.com/rss/pdf-
feed.xml

=====================================

*************************************
                NEWS
*************************************

*************************************
   PUBLIC RELEASE OF MORPHOS 2.5 &
    INTRODUCTION OF EMAC SUPPORT
*************************************

The MorphOS development team is
proud to announce the public release
of MorphOS 2.5, the fifth new OS
version since the debut of MorphOS
2.0 in the same month two years ago.
MorphOS 2.5 finally adds the Apple
eMac to its list of officially
supported platforms. In addition to
the extended hardware support,
existing users will benefit from
various bug fixes and a few new
features. For an overview of the
included changes, please read our
release notes.
http://www.morphos-team.net/releaseno
tes-2.5.html

We strongly urge owners of eMac
computers, carefully read our
installation
http://www.morphos-team.net/installat
ion.html and troubleshoot guides
http://www.morphos-team.net/faq.html
before they attempt to install
MorphOS for the first time. Existing
users can upgrade via the familiar
procedure but are encouraged to read
the guides as well. MorphOS 2.5 is
available for download in our files
section.
http://www.morphos-team.net/downloads
.html

WHAT IS MORPHOS?

MorphOS is a lightweight, highly
efficient and flexible desktop
operating system. It includes
primarily proprietary as well as
open-source components, most notably
the Ambient desktop environment. Its
many features range from a modern
exceptionally customizable graphical
user interface, which can utilize 3D
hardware acceleration, to a
high-performance Just-in-Time
compiler which emulates the 68k
family of processors and thereby
allows to transparently execute
legacy applications developed for
the Commodore Ax00 series of
computers.

Parts of MorphOS are based on work
made by the the AROS project

-------------------------------------

*************************************
  SPECTACULAR COPY - TURBO TO DISK
*************************************

Sailor has released an improved
version of the transfer program
Spectacular Copy. The originally
creator Stephan Senz used to
transfer programs from a datassette
to a disk drive.

FEATURES

* Transfer Turbo-tape programs from
  datassette to disk drive
* Auto transfer mode.
* Rename file name.
* Device number configuration.
* Load error detection.
* File size maximum is 230 blocks.
  Check on blocks free

TIME TO GO THROUGH THEM OLD
SHOEBOXES WITH TURBO250 TAPES?

Then this is the tool for you!
Perhaps you remember the good old
"Spectacular Copy - Tape To Disk"
tool? Well, this is Sailor's
version, improved to handle rough
weather at sea! All info you might
need is provided in the program!

http://noname.c64.org/csdb/getinterna
lfile.php/89033/SCT2D_TRIAD.ZIP

-------------------------------------

*************************************
      MASS STORAGE DEVICE C64SD
*************************************

WHAT IS 'THE C64SD ?

A Circuit board with Plug & Play
features that emulates the floppy
drive of a Commodore
You Just need an SD (secure digital)
card where you uploaded my package
of games Turn on your Commodore and
LOAD your favourite games

The device plugs into the Tape port
on the Commodore 64 requires no
floppy serial cable and does not
need any external power source

TECHNICAL INFORMATION ABOUT THE
FIRMWARE;

* D64/D71/D81/M2I support (both
  reading and writing for Dxx, even
  with direct sector access using
  U1/U2) * T64 is not supported

* PRG/P00 etc. support

* limited REL support

* Subdirectory support (CMD command
  syntax).

* Support for Turbo Disk AKA Fast
  Load AKA Speeddisk fastloader

* Supports the JiffyDOS fast serial
  bus protocol, the Final Cartridge 3
  fastloader/fastsaver, DreamLoad,
  Exos

* Supports an external "disk change"
  button

* Supports FAT long file names

* Supports FAT12/FAT16/FAT32
  formatted SD and SDHC cards

* Supports sector access of SD cards
  from C64 side

* Good standard IEC compatibility

* Supports most typical IEC
  functions (LOAD, SAVE, OPEN, GET,
  PUT, CLOSE, ...)

* 1571 ROM has been taken as
  reference for implementation

* Many non-fastloader games run (see
  znarF's M2I list).

http://c64sd.roxer.com/

-------------------------------------

*************************************
  THE THIRD CLUB INFO ISSUE OF 2010
*************************************

The third Club Info issue of 2010 is
here to quench your thirst of summer
releases! Erich/Ultd has packed two
disk sides with a load of goodies:
the German language articles have
reviews and tips for some of the
latest games (e.g. Adventures in
Time and Olticrun), jokes and other
info. Side B has some new stuff:
Dir-Druck 2spalt, Potenzrechner,
Supermind (a previously missing
game), Tower of Evil +4, Tuerme Von
Pompeji and others. Fire up that old
Plus/4 (or an emulator) and dig in!

http://plus4world.powweb.com/software
/Club_Info_117

-------------------------------------

*************************************
    ALADDIN 4D FORUMS HAVE A NEW
          HOME ON AMIGA.ORG
*************************************

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
June 08th, 2010

Contact: DiscreetFX

Chicago, Illinois June 8th, 2010 -
In order to help streamline and
simplify log in accounts Aladdin 4D
forums now have a new home on
Amiga.org. This should make them
easier to access for those
interested in Aladdin 4D and current
owners of the 3D package. If you
have no interest in 3D animation
software or Aladdin 4D you can
ignore the new forums and not
comment in them. New versions of
Aladdin 4D are still in development.
Over 3000 hours of development have
gone into Aladdin 4D 6.0 to make it
multi-platform and modern.

The new version will showcase that
fast native 3D animation software
can scream on Amiga OS 4.x, MorphOS
2.x and AROS. Many exciting 3D
animation programs had their start
on the Amiga platform but abandoned
it for greener pastures long ago.
Aladdin 4D will show that
multi-platform quality software can
be acceived without leaving out
Amiga OS, MorphOS & AROS. If you
have created an account on
Aladdin4d.com you will have to
recreate it here, unless of course
you already have an account on
Amiga.org like many Aladdin 4D
owners.

The forums on Aladdin4d.com will
remain there during the transition
but will eventually be copied and
included on Amiga.org. Aladdin4d.com
will cease to be a forum in the
future and will instead be a full
website with details about the 3D
package. Forum posting has already
been disabled on Aladdin4d.com. If
you have any questions we will be
glad to help you and answer them.
Aladdin 4D 6.0 is not vaporware, a
feature incomplete beta for Mac OS X
was given to Rich at AmiZed Studios
on May 18th, 2010 and he can verify
that it is real. The current 5.x
version of Aladdin 4D is still
available and runs great on MorphOS,
Amiga OS 4.x and Amiga virtual
machines like Amiga Forever 2010. A
fix was included in MorphOS 2.5 that
allows the Aladdin 4D installer to
complete without problems.

You can access the Amiga.org Aladdin
4D Forums via the link below.

http://www.amiga.org/forums/forumdisp
lay.php?f=57

Best regards
DiscreetFX Labs

-------------------------------------

*************************************
       DIY ACTION REPLAY CARD
*************************************

http://projekt64.filety.net/index.php
?dir=GEOACTION/

Here you can find all the
information you should need to make
a working Commodore 64 Action Replay
Clone, the project is called
GEOACTION  see the item in action
with this AVI

http://projekt64.filety.net/index.php
?dir=GEOACTION/&file=How%20it%20works
.avi

-------------------------------------

*************************************
    GENEALOGY NEWSLETTER AND C64
*************************************

From: Ernie Chorny
Subject: Genealogy newsletter AND C64

This history of the early days of
telecomputing at ---

http://blog.eogn.com/eastmans_online_
genealogy/2010/06/the-early-days-of-o
nline-genealogy.html

Don't be turned off by the
'genealogy' reference as there is a
lot of historical info here on
computers and data providers and
genealogy is the application.

Be sure to read the reader's
comments at the end of the article
and be sure to get to the posting
near the end (June 5, 2010 @ 4:59
PM) from Ray Whidden in Edmonton.
Ray was a TPUG member and
participated in the C128 group. I
remember his big application for the
128 was his genealogy work (using
CP/M I think) and he was a presenter
a couple of times on that subject.

Scattered through the blog and
comments are references to VIC-20,
C64, C128 as well as Sinclair,
Apple, Macintosh as well as IBM and
MS-DOS (and others).

Ernie

Editor : see the article reprinted
in this issue

-------------------------------------

*************************************
               BASEDIT
   EDIT BASIC PROGRAMS IN WINDOWS
*************************************

Finally after some years I managed
to convert / upgrade my old BasEdit
to the .NET platform. Switching from
DirectX graphics to GDI+ should help
all those people who had
difficulties to use BasEdit until
now.

It's written with VB Express 2008
and uses .NET 3.5

PURPOSE:

Edit Commodore Basic files on the PC
with syntax highlighting and support
of the full PETSCII character set

FEATURES:

* full featured editor
  * unlimited lines
  * syntax highlighting
  * cut&paste
  * search&replace
  * insert and overwrite mode
  * switch font size small / big
  * switch font upper/graphics -
    lower/upper
  * supports special characters for
    cursor movement and colors in
    strings
  * character window with all 256
    PETSCII characters, double-click
    to insert characters at actual
    position
  * right-click on a line number to
    jump to that line
* load and save tokenized BASIC
  (PRG) files
* load and save PETSCII
  (untokenized) files
* load and save ASCII files
  * with support of different
    translations for {up}, {down},
    {clr} etc.
    * BasText
    * PetCat
    * Tok64
* support for
  * host filesystem (= directories
    on PC)
  * diskimages (read & write)
    * D64
    * D71
    * D81 (no partitions)
    * attach existing or create
      empty diskimages
    * diskmanager tool integrated
      * copy files from / to
        diskimage
      * delete files
      * rename files
      * change order of files in
        directory
* copy and paste ASCII blocks via
  clipboard using the above
  translations
* supports different Basic dialects
  * Basic V2
  * Basic V3.5
  * Basic V4
  * Basic V4/C64
  * Basic V7
  * Basic V10
  * @Basic
  * Exbasic Level II
  * Wimbasic
  * Speech Basic
  * Turtle Basic
  * Waterloo Structured Basic
  * Super Expander
* supports different fonts (VIC-20,
  C64)
* change load adress of PRG file
* Save&Run file in editor with
  emulator via F5
  * file will be automatically
    converted from label to line#
    mode if necessary
  * prg file will bes saved (host
    filesystem or diskimage, wherever
    it was loaded from)
  * depending on the start address
    of the PRG file special emulators
    will be automatically selected
     **> VIC +3K, PET/CBM series
     **> C64
     **> VIC unexp, VIC
         +SuperExpander, Plus/4, C16
     **> VIC +8K and more
     **> C128
     **> CBM II series
  * and a setting for a standard
    emulator if none of the above
    will be selected
* two different edit modes:
  a) line# mode: the classic editing
     mode with line#
     * Renumber feature for the
       whole program or blocks of
       line#s
     * Auto mode with intelligent
       numbering when inserting lines
       between existing lines
     * Compact source to squeeze as
       much commands in one line as
       possible
     * Cross refernce to show all
       jumps and all usages of
       variables
     * Syntax Check
     * Proofreader support for
       Compute '83 and '86 versions
     * import binary data with
       conversion to data lines and
       an optional POKE*loop
  b) label mode: enhanced editing
     mode without line# like in
     modern Basics
     * one command per line
     * indentation of loops
     * special comments with '
       (single apostroph) will be
       ignored when converting to
       line#
  * programs can be converted
    from/to both modes at any time,
    substituiton of line#/labels will
    be done automatically
* project mode
  * keeps both edit modes in sync,
    providing a line# PRG file and a
    label mode PETSCII file for
    editing
  * when using label mode, variables
    can be of any length and will be
    shortened automatically when
    transforming into line# mode
    * shortening of variables keeps
      track of used variables to
      avoid double usage (CHECK and
      CHECK1 will be transformed to
      CH and CE, for example)
* drag and drop files onto BasEdit
  icon or onto edit area in running
  BasEdit will load that file
* free definable keyboard layout
* Basic tokens, ASCII tokenizer,
  different emulators, colors, fonts
  etc. can be changed via BasEdit.Ini
  or special files

F1 POPS UP A LITTLE HELP DIALOG WITH
SHORT COMMAND SUMMARY:

movement:
  cursor keys - move around
  home - start of line
  end - end of line
  pgup - one page up
  pgdown - one page down
  ctrl-pgup - got first line
  ctrl-pgdown - goto last line
  ctrl-home - goto first char
  ctrl-end - goto last char
  mouse click - move cursor to mouse
                position

block commands:
  (blocks can be either some chars in
  >one< line or multiple >complete<
  lines)
  shift cursor keys - mark text
  shift-del - cut block, copy to
              blockbuffer
  ctrl-del - copy block to
             blockbuffer
  shift-ins - insert blockbuffer

other commands:
  num lock - switch between 16x16
             (standard) and 8x8
             (small) font
  ins - switch between insert and
        overwrite mode
  ctrl-shift - switch between fonts
      (upper+graphics / upper+lower)

right mouse click opens context menu
for loading and saving files

Keyboard mapping can be controlled
by Keymap.txt for all those of you
not using german QWERTZ keyboards

Getting the special commodore
symbols on PC keyboards can be
tough, special mappings are made for

ctrl and letter keys = graphic
symbols

alt and numbers = color codes and
reverse on/off

alt and cursor keys = {up}, {down},
{left}, {right}

alt and home = {home}

alt and shift and home = {shift home}

Or just open the charset window (F2)
and double click on the desired
symbol.

Edit BasEdit.Ini for further options
like tab indent, which tokenfile to
use, colors etc.

www.stojalowski.de/files/BasEdit.net.
zip  - always latest release

No installation needed, just unzip
to some folder and have fun.

-------------------------------------

*************************************
     ALPHA RELEASE OF TIMBERWOLF
*************************************

We're happy to announce the
availability of the first Alpha
release of Timberwolf, the AmigaOS
port of the popular Firefox browser.

Timberwolf needs AmigaOS 4.1 Update
2 installed. Please read the
documentation for information about
usage and limitations.

This is an alpha release, meaning it
will have a lot of problems still,
and be slower than it should be. We
are releasing it as a small "Thank
you" to all those that have donated
in the past, to show that
development is still going on.

Timberwolf is available on
os4depot.net

http://os4depot.net/index.php?functio
n=showfile&file=network/browser/timbe
rwolf_install.lha

For further information and
feedback, check the Timberwolf
support forum on amigans.net.
http://www.amigans.ne
Welcome to the Timberwolf Alpha 1
release.

INTRODUCTION

First of all, please know that this
is an Alpha release. This means that
some functionality is not in yet or
not working, and the program still
contains many bugs.

LAUNCHING TIMBERWOLF

Timberwolf is launched by double
clicking on it's icon. If you run it
for the first time, it will take
considerably longer than on
subsequent runs. Since there is no
splash screen yet, it will look as
if nothing is happening.

KNOWN PROBLEMS

There is a number of known problems
with this release:

- Menus display correctly (mostly),
  but selecting items with the mouse
  isn't working. Therefore, we
  recommend using shortcuts
  (ALT+underlined letter to open
  menu, cursor keys to select).

- Some boxes on web pages do not show
  correctly. They might even destroy
  some of the UI elements.

- When launched for the fist time,
  the window will be taller than the
  screen. You'll have to resize it
  (if you can't reach the size
  gadget, use the ctrl+alt key method
  to resize on any edge of the
  window)

- Speed is currently much lower than
  it could be. A conceptual problem
  in the rendering code (leading to
  massive overdraw, sometimes 2 to 8
  times)  and missing hardware
  acceleration is responsible for
  that. Since we're updating to a
  newer release of the base source
  code (Firefox 3.7), this will be
  addressed later..

- It crashes a lot. It might even
  crash when just looking at it.
  Don't use it for homebanking yet.

REPORTING BUGS

There is a support forum for
Timberwolf at
http://www.amigans.net.  Please
report any bugs that you find. Note
that we might not answer to all of
the reports, but we will read and
try to address all of them.

-------------------------------------

*************************************
         NEW COMMODORE CLUB
*************************************

I'm starting up a Commodore computer
club in the Vancouver, WA and
Portland, OR metro area and looking
for like minded people with an
interest in Commodore computers...
mainly the Commodore 64 (C64), SX-64
and Commodore 128 and all the
various hardware that comes with
that, like 1541 disk drives, modems,
1702 monitors, etc. If there is
enough interest, we can discuss the
Amiga, VIC-20, C16, Plus/4 or even
the C64 Direct-to-TV (C64DTV).

Things are still in the early
planning stages. My plan is to have
monthly meetings and discuss cool
things that are still happening in
the scene as well as share project
ideas and inspire one another for
new ideas or concepts.

We could also help each other out
with various repairs and
modifications to our Commodore
computers. Another cool thing would
be a nice get together for us to
buy, sell or trade various Commodore
hardware and software. The sky is
the limit here.

For a little background about
myself, I've been involved with the
Commodore 64 computer for over 27
years (since December 1983),
basically since I was a little kid.
I ran various BBS's and did a lot of
programming for the Commodore 64.
I'm still plugging away on my
original C64 and doing repairs for
friends and family.

I do plan on putting up a fully
functioning website in the near
future. This is just a place holder
to get some general interest from
the surrounding area.

Anyway, if this interests you,
please send me a message and lets
talk more about it.

Email: geekwithsocialskills {at}
gmail {dot} com

Thank you for your time and
consideration.

EMAIL

From: Robert Bernardo
To: Commodore Free
Subject: Commodore clubs

Earlier today I got off the phone
with Sean R. who had given me more
information about two new
Commodore clubs in the Pacific
Northwest. First is the Portland
Commodore User Group (PDXCUG).
PDXCUG meets at 7 p.m. every second
Thursday of the month. It's at the
Sunset Lanes bowling alley in
Beaverton (west Portland, OR area).
And it's in a private meeting room
there. Ah, Commodore and bowling...
a match made in heaven. ;) The
website is http://pdxcug.org

Then there is the Commodore Computer
Club a.k.a. the C64 Club in
Vancouver, Washington, across the
river from Portland. Right now
meetings are every Friday evening at
Sean's house, but as things settle
down, a once-a-month meeting on
Friday will be held at a pizza
parlor which is being constructed
right now. (Hmm, another club...
another pizza parlor. :))

For more information, go to
http://www.c64club.com For a
personal response about either club,
contact Sean at the e-mail address
listed at c64club.com

Truly,
Robert Bernardo
Fresno Commodore User Group
http://videocam.net.au/fcug
July 24-25 Commodore Vegas Expo 2010
http://www.portcommodore.com/commvex

-------------------------------------

*************************************
    CHICAGO CREATIVE EXTREME EXPO
*************************************

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Contact: DiscreetFX

Chicago, Illinois June 14th, 2010 -
In order to help expand the use of
NewTek products, Amiga OS 4.x,
MorphOS, AROS and other creative
software DiscreetFX will be hosting
the very first Chicago Creative
Extreme Expo sometime in February or
March of 2011. This will be a
weekend show and happen once per
year if turn out is successful in
2011 & 2012.

This is still in the very early
planning stages but we thought it
would be best to let everyone know
so they can start making plans to
attend now. Amiga.org will have a
booth at the show and dealers,
developers, usergroups and Amiga
portal websites will also be
encourage to have a booth. Further
information will be released on the
DiscreetFX website soon. Come to the
Windy City and have some fun.

Best regards
DiscreetFX Team

-------------------------------------

*************************************
 DESCENT FREESPACE 2 FOR AMIGAOS4.1
*************************************

The  first beta version of Descent
Freespace 2 for AmigaOS4.1

This version has some small bugs but
it is playable also on slowest
machines like SAM 533 You need the
3CD version of Descent Freespace 2
to run the game. Simply click to
"Install" script provided with game
and follow the instructions.

You will find all information at
Game page

http://www.amigasoft.net/pages/games/
fs2.asp

Download here
http://www.amigasoft.net/pages/games/
download/Freespace2.lha.lzh
(AND PLEASE READ THE INSTRUCTIONS!)

If you found other bugs please send
them to me at my usual email address.

GENERAL

Thirty-two years have passed since
the end of the Great War, we are now
in the year of 2367. Ten years after
the destruction of the SD Lucifer in
the Sol system, the Terran and
Vasudan species forged a new
alliance, called the Galactic
Terran-Vasudan Alliance. The
Reconstruction period began in the
galaxy as both races prepare their
civilisations for the return of the
Shivans. Even though, not everything
goes very well: Admiral Aken Bosch
formed the Neo-Terra Front, a true
alliance of an ideal considered
hostile by the Galactic
Terran-Vasudan Alliance. Both sides
have been at war with each other for
eighteen months now. Deneb, Alpha
Centauri and Epsilon Pegasi are the
focus points in this war. Admiral
Bosch's rebellion seems to be
winning.

FEATURES

* Enhanced graphics

* A completely new and alien
  environment: The nebula fog

* Be assigned to up to six fighter
  squadrons, from the Vasudan 203rd
  Scorpions to the elite 70th Blue
  Lions!

* Fly for the SOC, Special
  Operations Command.

* Over 20 weapons of mass destruction

* A thirty-mission single player
  campaign and even more multiplayer
  missions!

* Encounter deadly new capital ship
  weapons: the Flak guns and Beam
  cannons

* Attack up to 8 players via LAN or
  TCP/IP

* Over 70 new ships, ranging from
  Super Capital ships to stealth
  fighters

* FRED, the easy-to-use mission
  editor

* Reasonable moddability

INSTALLATION

Be sure you have the three CD
version of Freespace 2.

Simply click on Install icon and
follow the instructions

You need approx 1.8GB of free space
on Disk.

The installation could take some
time depends from your system speed
and CD-ROM reader (and Media).

Copy ALL libraries in SOBJS
directory into SOBJS: dir (backup
the originals first!)

KNOWN BUGS

* Audio output has some ticks that
  depends from OpenAL library

* At exit you will have a problem on
  OpenAL library

* The in game message windows has a
  white background (well, this is not
  a real bug..)

-------------------------------------

*************************************
 X-MOTO 0.5.3 NOW AVAILABLE FOR OS4
*************************************

X-Moto is a motorcross stunts game
using the Open Dynamics Engine for
realistic physics.

It requires AmigaOS 4.1 Update 1
(for MiniGL 2.2), and somewhere
between 32MB and 64MB of graphics
memory depending on the complexity
of the levels being played.

It can be downloaded from OS4Depot
http://os4depot.net/index.php?functio
n=showfile&file=game/driving/xmoto.lh
a

Network multiplayer is not
functional with the official
tuxfamily server, but does work
between two OS4 machines. The game
may crash if the person hosting the
server closes it down before the
client disconnects. Since the
previous port by spotUP / Up Rough,
this version can run in a window,
has more levels, updated graphics
and music, server synchronization
and better physics with objects in
many levels interacting with the bike

-------------------------------------

*************************************
     ARCADE RETRO GAMING UPDATE
*************************************

Dear all,

We have new additional items in our
Online store for a real classic
computer and gaming experience.

http://s318412817.e-shop.info/

Please check out the C64 Keyboard
stickers,. Convert now your PS-2
keyboard for the MCC into a real C64
keyboard.

We have a couple of limited edition
MCC-216 left.  HURRY UP  !!  They
sell fast.

In addition we like to make you
aware that we released today a new
C64_NTSC core for the MCC-216.
It starts per default in NTSC mode
and is intended for US customers.

Please check out our download
section for the MCC.
http://www.mcc-home.com/3.html

Simply download the core on a PC,
copy it to the SD-card and follow
the update process from the MCC.
It's that easy to upgrade your MCC
with new a new released core.

WE LAUNCHED IN ADDITION TWO NEW
YOUTUBE VIDEOS.

1.) TOP C64 games on the MCC (C64
    is back !)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ow7q2m
32N6A

2.) Top 11 Game Music played back
on the MCC-216 (SID)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u1Xwar
MglVI

ENJOY !

Thanks,
Dirk Dudenbostel

Kind regards / Mit freundliche
Gruessen / Bien amicalement
Dirk Dudenbostel
CEO
Arcade Retro Gaming
Mail: contact@arcaderetrogaming.com

ONLINE:

http://www.arcaderetrogaming.com
http://www.mcc-home.com

ONLINE SHOPS:

http://s318412817.e-shop.info/
http://shop.ebay.com/merchant/arcader
etrogaming

-------------------------------------

*************************************
    LOADSTAR UNOFFICIAL ISSUE 250
    RELEASED AND LOADSTAR CLOSED
*************************************

Loadstar was scheduled to run until
Issue #256. The last published issue
of Loadstar was Loadstar #249. Dave
Moorman has stopped doing Loadstar
since 2008, leaving the remaining
issues undone. I helped with the
beta-testing of Loadstar #250 in
2008. It only got to the beta-stage
and was never released. I decided to
edit the beta to get the bugs out
and to release this issue on the
web. So here it is, sadly what is
the last issue of Loadstar - Issue
250. Enjoy it.

Four D64 images and a D81 image are
included.

Download it at:
http://www.mediafire.com/?niudn5wjyjz

NOTE:

The Copy It feature does not work on
this issue. The Copy It program
reads info from a text file called
"files on side X". Since this issue
was only in beta stage, those files
were not on the disks. I could not
figure out how the "files on side x"
text files were suppose to be
written in order for the Copy It
program to read it and know what
files to copy for a program. So if
you want to copy any program off
from this issue, just use any
standard file copier program.

L O A D S T A R # 250
TABLE OF CONTENTS

LOADSTAR FILES

DISKOVERY....................SIDE 1
HEAR SOME OF THE REAL STORY FROM MR.
JACK TRAMIEL HIMSELF.

CREDITS......................SIDE 1
WHO'S WHO AND WHAT'S WHAT.

LABEL 250....................SIDE 1
ONE OF OUR MORE STICK-TO-ATIVE
FEATURES.

LOADSTAR BY THE DOZEN........SIDE 1
GET YOUR BACK ISSUES IN A CONVENIENT
WINDOWS-READY FORMAT.

UNDERSTANDING COMPUTERS 2....SIDE 1
BY DAVE MOORMAN
SO HOW SMART IS A LIGHT SWITCH?

THE 65XX.....................SIDE 1
BY JIM BUTTERFIELD
AN EARLY ARTICLE FROM THE GUY WHO
TAUGHT US EVERYTHING.

PHAMOUS PHILOSOPHIES.........SIDE 1
RIPPED FROM THE WEB - NUGGETS OF
GOLD FROM NAMES YOU KNOW.

HISTORY OF ADVENTURES........SIDE 1
BY PAUL PANKS
AN IN-DEPTH LOOK AT THE GENRE OF GET
LAMP AND KILL DRAGON.

FUN WARE

BATTLESHIP...................SIDE 1
BY HIT PACK
A WELL WROUGHT VERSION OF THE
CLASSIC GAME. SEE YOUR SLAVOS SAIL
OVER THE HORIZON.

DIAL M FOR MARLO.............SIDE 1
BY RICKY DEROCHER
LOADSTAR'S FAVORITE DETECTIVE
DESIRES YOUR HELP IN THIS QUEST
ADVENTURE.

PIRATE SOLUTION..............SIDE 1
BY RICKY DEROCHER
IF YOU GOT STUCK ON LAST ISSUE'S
QUEST, HERE IS A STEP-BY-STEP
SOLUTION TO YOUR PROBLEMS.

RINGSIDE BOXING..............SIDE 2
BY GHISLAIN DE BLOIS
PUGALISTIC POWERHOUSES PUNCH IT OUT
IN THIS SUPER SIMULATION.

BRAIN WARE

MONDO WORDO II...............SIDE 2
BY LEE NOVAK
SCRABBLE MEETS TETRIS IN THIS
JOYSTICK-AND-MIND BENDER.

PROFESSOR CALHOON............SIDE 2
BY BOB MARKLAND & RICKY DEROCHER
CLASS IS IN SESSION. PUT DOWN YOUR
BOOKS AND LAPTOPS. LET'S SEE WHAT
YOU REALLY KNOW!

UTILITY WARE

DB DESIGN....................SIDE 3
BY DAVE MOORMAN
CREATE "PROFESSIONAL" SCREENS, EDIT
FONTS, AND DESIGN SCREEN OBJECTS
WITH THIS SON OF MR.MICK.

DB COMMANDS DEMO.............SIDE 3
BY DAVE MOORMAN
WATCH NEW DOTCOMMANDS IN ACTION.

DB COMMANDS COPY.............SIDE 3
BY DAVE MOORMAN
QUICKLY AND EASILY COPY OUR NEW
DOTCOMMANDS TO YOUR DB+ LIBRARY DISK.

CLASSIC WARE

SNACK MAN....................SIDE 3
BY JOHN MCCARTHY
RETURN WITH US NOW TO THOSE
THRILLING DAYS OF YESTERYEAR AND THE
ONCE UBIQUITOUS, QUARTER-EATING
ARCADE GAMES.

MULTI-MEDIA WARE

SCAMMER......................SIDE 4
BY SHIVER METIMBERS
READ AND WATCH HOW ONE SCAM-BUSTER
BRUISED A NOTORIOUS 419 SCAM GUY.

CHOPIN AWAY..................SIDE 4
BY HENRY "CORKY" COCHRAN
PRELUDES AND ETUDES TO EXUDE YOUR
GRATITUDE.

-------------------------------------

*************************************
  FORTIS GAME FOR MORPHOS RELEASED
*************************************

Fortis game for MorphOS has been
finished and released. It is old
school shooter wrapped in flashy 3D
art and FX. More details about the
Fortis for MorphOS, screenshots and
video-trailer (see on YouTube or
download AVI/XviD) available on
Encore Games website.

As we promised, price of the Fortis
for MorphOS has been very reduced.
Everyone can download the final FULL
version of the game from Encore
Games website and use it without any
limitations. However if you would
like to legally own it you need to
either buy full version of the
Fortis for iPhone, iPod touch (or
iPad in future) on AppStore or
recommend the game to another user
of iPhone, iPod touch or iPad.
Please inform us once you do it, so
we could update our statistics.

Fortis for MorphOS is available on:

http://www.encore-games.com/data/Fort
is_MorphOS.lha

Follow Encore Games news:

- on Twitter: @encoregames
- on website: www.encore-games.com

See you in next (better) projects.
Encore Games

-------------------------------------

*************************************
      UPDATED MORPHOS SOFTWARE
          DEVELOPMENT KIT 2
*************************************

The MorphOS development team would
like to announce that the MorphOS
Software Development Kit 2 has left
the beta state. All developers who
are interested to upgrade their
existing MorphOS development
infrastructure will need a computer
running the recently finished
MorphOS 2.5 and at least 300 MB of
free disk space.

The latest release of the MorphOS
SDK 2 includes the following changes:

- Improved MorphEd compatibility
  when invzeropage is enabled
- Added minor improvements to the
  documentation
- Added a convenient update mode to
  the installer
- Increased the amount of example
  source code

You can download the MorphOS SDK 2
in our files section.
http://www.morphos-team.net/downloads
.html

-------------------------------------

*************************************
       SD2IEC FIRMWARE - GEOS
        JIFFYDOS FOR THE VIC
*************************************

COMMODORE BOUNTY MISSION

Written by redrumloa

Commodore Bounty was started in 2010
with the idea of giving incentives
to programmers to create software
that Commodore 8bit end users want
the most. Users may vote with their
wallet on what is most important and
programmers have an incentive to do
a project they may otherwise not be
interested in.

If you would like to be assigned
this bounty, please use contact form
on right.

Current Bounty - $150.00

THE GOAL:

1.Document the GEOS DiskTurbo
  Protocol and it's various
  implementations (1541, 1571,
  1581,FD,HD,RAMLink) and various
  versions (if different versions
  exist for Wheels64/128 and GEOS
  64/128

2.Implement at least the 1541 and HD
  variations in the sd2iec firmware

SUCCESS WILL BE DEFINED AS:

1.Booting a GEOS Disk image (any
  image type)

2.Running a GEOS application

3.Writing a GEOS file on a disk image

4.Reading the file back

5.Documentation backing up the
  implementation, including a
  description of the protocol

OPTIONAL:

1.Ability to change mounted images
  while running GEOS in a system
  friendly way.

BOUNTY LENGTH:

This is a 180 day bounty. Once
assigned, the developer will have
180 days to finish the project or
the bounty will be moved back to
unassigned.

EXTRA:

Retro Innovations has pledged to
match the first $250 in donations
and may possibly match funds beyond
that. Retro Innovations has also
offered a uIEC/SD for 180 day
testing/use. Contact Retro
Innovations for more details.

DONATE:

When donating, please use "Add
special instructions to seller" to
indicate what name should be
credited for the donation (real
name, nickname, etc).

http://commodorebounty.com/index.php?
option=com_content&view=article&id=46
:sd2iec-geos&catid=34:unassigned&Item
id=37

JIFFYDOS FOR VIC 20

Written by redrumloa

Status - Unassigned

Current Bounty - $23.47 (after
PayPal fees)

THE GOAL:

Re-implement JiffyDOS to the VIC-20
KERNAL (both PAL and NTSC)

SUCCESS WILL BE DEFINED AS:

1.Creating or obtaining a C64 KERNAL
  source listing

2.Using the listing at
  http://hem.passagen.se/harlekin/
  jiffy1.doc and the original C64
  KERNAL source to create a combined
  source listing that can be
  conditionally assembled as normal
  or JiffyDOS

3.Obtaining the VIC-20 Kernal ROM
  source code on http://
  www.classiccmp.org/cini/systems.htm
  and modifying to compile for
  both NTSC and PAL VIC-20 systems

4.Adding the required conditional
  JiffyDOS portions to the combined
  VIC-20 Kernal ROM source

5.Cleaning up JiffyDOS VIC-20
  portions to accommodate smaller
  screen of VIC-20 and differences
  between 6522/6526.  SJLOAD
  (http://www.sleepingelephant.com/
  ipwweb/bulletin/bb/viewtopic.php?
  p=49679&sid=ee65a2071ad64ca96a7d092
  812017ae0) could be used to develop
  the 6522-based Jiffy code

6.Verifying that the assembled
  VIC-20 source runs on both PAL and
  NTSC VIC-20s in both JiffyDOS
  equiped and non-JiffyDOS equiped
  drives

7.The non-JiffyDOS portions of the
  source listings released under a
  suitable FLOSS license

BOUNTY LENGTH:

This is a 120 day bounty. Once
assigned, the developer will have
120 days to finish the project or
the bounty will be moved back to
unassigned.

There will be a 30 day probation
period after bounty has been
assigned. The developer must
demonstrate reasonable progress has
been achieved, or bounty will be
returned to unassigned status.

IMPORTANT!

JiffyDOS for Vic 20 will not be free
software after bounty completion.
Overlays available for sale at Retro
Innovations after bounty completion.

INTERESTED IN ACCEPTING THE
CHALLENGE OF THIS BOUNTY?

Please use the Contact Us link in
the Main Menu to express your
interest. After the first capable
candidate comes forward, the status
will change to pending. The status
will stay as pending for
approximately 48 hours. If no other
candidates come forward, the bounty
will be assigned. If multiple
candidates come forward, Commodore
Bounty will consult it's technical
advisers to chose who will be
assigned the bounty.

CURRENT BOUNTY UPDATE

- s2diec-Geos($1073.48)
- JiffyDOS-Vic20($23.47)

-------------------------------------

*************************************
  A-EON TECHNOLOGY CVBA AND VARISYS
      LTD ANNOUNCE PARTNERSHIP
*************************************

A-EON Technology CVBA and Varisys
Ltd., are pleased to announce their
partnership in the development of
the AmigaOne X1000 hardware platform
for AmigaOS. Varisys Ltd were
identified as the ideal hardware
partner for the ambitious project to
create a new, genuinely modern
computer system to run AmigaOS4.x in
late 2008, even before the formal
creation of A-EON Technology. In
early 2009, Varisys Ltd began work
on developing a new PowerPC based
motherboard, codenamed Nemo, which
would form the heart of the new
AmigaOne X1000 computer. After
months of design and testing,
Varisys delivered the first Nemo
prototypes in late 2009 and have now
completed a Revision 2 design, which
will be supplied to beta testers
under the recently announced
Extended Beta Test Program.

A-EON Technology director Trevor
Dickinson said "We are very pleased
to reveal Varisys as our AmigaOne
X1000 hardware partner. They have a
proven track record for delivering
high quality products on time and to
budget. Their extensive experience
with PowerPC and parallel processing
solutions makes them our ideal
technical partners, and with their
help we can revitalise the AmigaOne
platform". Varisys Managing Director
Paul Gentle said "We are equally
pleased to be working with A-EON
Technology and we believe our
previous background and experience
will prove vital in helping to make
the AmigaOne X1000 a success" Adam
Barnes, Varisys co-founder, added.
"The Nemo motherboard design
introduced some new and interesting
technical challenges but we are
extremely pleased with the results.
Revision 2 of the Nemo board has
recently been completed and will
form a solid foundation for the
A1-X1000 and beyond".

Visitors to the VCF Exhibition at
Bletchley Park on Saturday, June the
19th, will be able to meet some of
the Varisys team on the joint A-EON
Technology / Hyperion Entertainment
stand.

Further information via the linked
PDF below.

http://dev.amigans.net/a-eon/NewsRele
ase-20100618.pdf

ABOUT VARISYS LTD.

Varisys is a producer of Commercial
Off The Shelf (COTS) products and
provider of bespoke hardware design
and manufacturing services for
industrial and embedded computing
applications. The High Wycombe, UK,
based company was founded in 2000 by
Paul Gentle and Adam Barnes, and
since then has earned a reputation
for delivering high-quality products
with a specialisation in PowerPC and
FPGA hardware. Varisys have
customers in a wide range of
industries, including manufacturing,
military applications and
telecommunications, and are perhaps
best known for their development of
the PowerPC G4 motherboard used in
the immensely popular WholeHog III
lighting control console.

For more information, see the
Varisys website.
http://www.varisys.co.uk/

ABOUT A-EON TECHNOLOGY CVBA

A-EON Technology is a technology
start-up based in Belgium. Founded
in 2009 by Trevor Dickinson, Anthony
Moorley and Ben Hermans, A-EON works
in very close cooperation with
Hyperion Entertainment CVBA, the
developers of the AmigaOS Operating
System, to produce modern computer
systems for AmigaOS.

ABOUT THE AMIGAONE X1000

The AmigaOne X1000 is a new high-end
AmigaOS hardware platform scheduled
for release during the summer of
2010. By providing the AmigaOS
platform with a high power
dual-processor CPU, modern interface
standards, high-end graphics and
Xcore technology, the X1000 will
launch a new era of modern Amiga
computing.

For further information, email
contact@a-eon.com

-------------------------------------

*************************************
    MICROMART U.K. RETRO SECTION
*************************************

COMMODORE FREE
Micromart is a U.k. publication,
mainly dealing with PC hardware and
software however it does have a 1
page Amiga section, Apple mac
section and of course the amazing
Retro section.  Of course my
suggestion is to extend the retro
section to cover 2 pages rather than
1. Of course finding new ideas for a
magazine week after week is
difficult.  Here is a message from
Shaun bebbington Retro columnist

Hi folks,

Firstly, I'd like to thank the few
people who have, over the years
provided me with feedback, comments
and suggestions, though you are a
very few (it seems) amongst many.
It's really great when I actually
hear from real people :-)

Anyway, for the first time in a long
time it seems that I've had some
spontaneous feedback (from issue
1111) on the Micro Mart forums and
elsewhere, and to be honest, some of
the more recent efforts have been a
little on the poor side, whether it
be content, grammar or both. Anyway,
there's obvious interest in the more
'techie' or 'geeky' aspects of
[8-bit] computing, like programming.
It basically all started out as a
mix of hardware, modifications and
games and other types of software,
ie, applications and utilities. I
drifted towards it being mostly
about new software and less about
everything else because it seemed
that the publicity fed on itself and
because I was previewing and
reviewing new games, more started
appearing. Even some other magazines
took note of new 8-bit software.

Anyway, things definitely need
freshening up, and I'm open to any
suggestions. One is to cover the
'demo' scene, perhaps have a 'demo
of the week' bit at the end of my
column in each issue? Another is to
focus on computing rather than
gaming, with games being the
exception rather than the rule.
Perhaps I could provide information
on where to buy parts for
restoration of machines? Or any tips
I've picked up over the years?

One thing I want to avoid is the
'what's this worth' angle because
that's more than well-served
elsewhere, and to be honest I'm not
very good at writing price guides
anyway. If anyone wants to know,
search on eBay and take an average
of what you have with comparable
items.

Over to you - any feedback, comments
and suggestions are most welcome.

Many thanks,
Shaun.

PS, If there's any 'niche' formats
that I've missed over the years
(Jupiter Ace, Grundy NewBrain, Texas
etc...), now is the time to tell me
rather than complaining and doing
nothing about it. Just to note
though that the retro column is not
all about nostalgia; there has to be
a community and something happening
in it (hardware or software).

http://www.micromart.co.uk/

-------------------------------------

*************************************
 NORTON COMMANDER FILE MANAGER CLONE
    NTP COMMANDER NOW OPEN SOURCE
*************************************

Patrick Sucansky, an author of the
file manager NTP Commander (Norton
Commander clone for the Amiga). Has
released the applications free, he
has also released the source code
for the never released 2.2 version
including DICE development

NTP Commander
www.amigaportal.cz/files/public/ntp_c
ommander/ntp_commander_1.1.dms

Source code
www.amigaportal.cz/files/public/ntp_c
ommander/ntp_source.zip

DICE (for NTP Commander use only)
www.amigaportal.cz/files/public/ntp_c
ommander/dice.zip

-------------------------------------

*************************************
    THE NEW ADVENTURES OF ALFREDO
*************************************

A Binary Legends Retro Release for
the Commodore 64

Alfredo the lovable stickman was
once the star of the Big Blue Disk,
Softdisk and Loadstar disk magazines
in the 80's. The Alfredo adventures
were non-interactive computer
"cartoons". Today they would be
called demos, but the term was not
in use at the time.

Now in 2010, Alfredo returns in two
new Alfredo adventures/cartoons that
I created. Back when I did work for
Loadstar, I made these two Alfredo's
for Loadstar. Both were published on
Loadstar in 2000. Since Loadstar
ceased putting out new issues in
2008, I decided to update them and
release them for the web.

The disk contains the Return of
Alfredo, and Alfredo's Perilous
Pitfall.

This release is freeware.

http://binarylegends.5gigs.net/?p=dl

=====================================

*************************************
 THE EARLY DAYS OF ONLINE GENEALOGY
*************************************

COMMODORE FREE
If you view the site with Internet
explorer 8 you receive an error this
is fixed using compatibility mode
here is what the website says I also
contacted the page author and have
permission to reprint the article
without the readers comments, if you
have internet access its worth
reading the comments here is the
email response

To: Commodorefree
From: Dick Eastman
Subject: Reprint article request

Certainly. I'd be honored.
Please feel free to republish that
article, as you specified.
God luck with the magazine!
- Dick Eastman

I recommend the Firefox and Chrome
web browsers for this site. Having
problems reading this site in
Internet Explorer 8? That's because
IE8 has a compatibility problem. To
fix it, click on IE8's Compatibility
Mode icon or else read the article
at http://www.eogn.com/ie8_bug.html

Reprint of article (with authors
permission) originally found at this
URL link

http://blog.eogn.com/eastmans_online_
genealogy/2010/06/the-early-days-of-o
nline-genealogy.html

The text was originally created by
Dick Eastman

THE EARLY DAYS OF ONLINE GENEALOGY

A few weeks ago I was in Columbus,
Ohio. I went out to dinner, seeking
a particular barbecue restaurant
that I found highly recommended by
an online restaurant database
service on the World Wide Web. I
found the restaurant listing by
searching the web using my Apple
iPhone and then was guided to the
restaurant by the GPS in the rental
car.

As I approached the restaurant, I
realized that the neighborhood
looked familiar. It seemed to be
deja vu. Soon, I recognized an
office building that I passed at
5000 Arlington Centre Boulevard. It
was the former location of
CompuServe corporate headquarters.
The building is now empty with a
"Space Available" sign on the lawn.

I was inside that building many
times in the 1980s and 1990s. In
fact, I was at CompuServe
headquarters the day the company
announced that parent company H&R
Block had sold CompuServe to its
biggest competitor, America Online.
There were some long faces in the
building that day!

The memories started flowing. I
stopped to think how much the
technologies have changed since I
first started using home computers
in the late 1970s and how much has
changed since I started using
CompuServe in 1984. Most of those
computers used television sets as
the monitor. I used to access
CompuServe by using a 300-baud modem
with "rubber cups." I had to pick up
a normal telephone, dial the
CompuServe access telephone number,
wait until I heard the modem tones,
and then place the handset in the
"rubber cups" on the top of the
modem.

In contrast, in 2010 I am able to
access far more online information
from a shirt-pocket-sized cell
phone, using an "always on" Internet
connection with no wired connection
at all. I don't know the speed of
the 3G wireless connection, but it
certainly is much faster than 300
baud! I travel around guided by
another shirt-pocket-sized device, a
GPS. That technology wasn't
available on my previous trips to
Columbus.

REST IN PEACE, COMPUSERVE.

I first started installing and
repairing mainframe computers in the
mid-1960s but didn't start
researching my family tree until
about ten years later. My first
"genealogy database" was recorded in
my employer's mainframe computers. I
didn't have an opportunity to go
online and compare notes with other
genealogists until the early 1980s.
Of course, online genealogy
databases were unheard of in those
days.

Online genealogy got its start in
the message boards, or forums,
simultaneously on commercial
services as well as on FidoNet and
UseNet. Although quite different
from each other, FidoNet and UseNet
evolved as separate systems at about
the same time. Duke University
graduate students Tom Truscott and
Jim Ellis conceived the idea of
UseNet in 1979 and established the
first online UseNet system in 1980.
Usenet was a communications system
installed on college and some
commercial mainframe computers that
were tied together via the Internet.
Keep in mind this was more than ten
years before the invention of the
World Wide Web.

NOTE: Many people do not realize
that the Internet and the World Wide
Web are not the same thing. The
Internet was invented first, in the
1970s. The World Wide Web was
invented in 1993 as a service that
runs on the Internet. The World Wide
Web (WWW) is a system of interlinked
hypertext documents accessed via the
Internet. English engineer and
computer scientist Sir Tim
Berners-Lee wrote a proposal in
March 1989 for what would eventually
become the World Wide Web. By
Christmas 1990, Berners-Lee had
built all the tools necessary for a
working Web. On August 6, 1991, he
posted a short summary of the World
Wide Web project on the
alt.hypertext newsgroup and made it
available to others. However, a
functional "Web" requires multiple
computers. The second computer in
the "Web" did not become available
until December 1992. On April 30,
1993, CERN (the European
Organization for Nuclear Research)
announced that the World Wide Web
would be free to anyone, with no
fees due. Some accounts claim that
the World Wide Web was born on
August 6, 1991, and other accounts
claim December of 1992, while still
other accounts use the date of the
CERN announcement: April 30, 1993.
UseNet soon became popular in the
early 1980s amongst college students
and many employees of companies that
had Internet-connected computers.
Thousands of people became active on
UseNet message boards. However,
UseNet required access to mainframe
computers, which was an impediment
for many.

UseNet message boards are more
popular today than ever before with
most Internet Service Providers
(ISPs) now hosting local copies of
UseNet message boards. You can
access genealogy UseNet groups at
alt.genealogy,
soc.genealogy.computing,
soc.genealogy.britain,
soc.genealogy.surnames.usa,
alt.hipclone.genealogy.jewish, and
elsewhere. You can find more
information about today's UseNet
groups at http://www.newsdemon.com/
genealogy_newsgroups.php

FidoNet was originally founded as a
non-commercial affiliation of
independent PCs in 1984 by Tom
Jennings of San Francisco,
California, as a means to network
independent dial-up Bulletin Board
Systems (BBSs) that used his own
"Fido" BBS software. Each BBS ran on
a single PC, typically installed in
someone's home as a hobby. The BBSs
were more "democratic" than UseNet.
That is, they were available to
anyone who owned a home computer and
a modem. You didn't need a mainframe
user name and password in order to
use FidoNet. Many BBSs were
available free of charge while a few
charged fees for access.

Most BBSs had one telephone line
connected. You dialed the number
and, if someone else was already
using the BBS's single phone line,
you received a busy signal. Then you
waited  and waited until the other
user finished. A few commercial
systems did use as many as eight or
even 16 phone lines. The World Wide
Web had not yet been invented, and
even the Internet was in its infancy
and was not used by the majority of
dial-up BBSs.

The FidoNet Bulletin Board Systems
usually contained multiple message
boards, or "forums," with topics
typically based upon the BBS owner's
interests. Local users could read
messages and post new messages as
they wished. Users could also send
and receive email messages to each
other outside of the forums (public
message boards).

During the early morning hours,
FidoNet systems would dial out,
connect to other FidoNet systems,
and exchange email messages and
forum messages. While crude by
today's standards, the system worked
quite well. For instance, a
genealogist on the East Coast might
enter a "looking for the parents
of..." message on Monday; the
message would travel over the next
few days through the affiliated
network of genealogy-specific
FidoNet systems; a user on the West
Coast might answer the query on
Thursday; and the reply would travel
back to the originating system over
the next few days, arriving by
Sunday or Monday.

Later versions of FidoNet improved
the speed of delivery.

The FidoNet genealogy message boards
were active through the mid 1980s
and into the 1990s, often featuring
messages by Richard Pence, Don
Wilson, Howard Nurse, and others. In
fact, if you were active on FidoNet
in the mid 1980s, you may have seen
occasional messages from me.

At the same time that UseNet and
FidoNet were becoming established,
several commercial companies saw an
opportunity in providing online
services to individuals. Early
players included CompuServe, The
Source, Genie, Prodigy, and a quirky
service called QuantumLink.

NOTE: QuantumLink was a dedicated
online service only for use with
Commodore 64 and 128 computers. Its
user interface featured low
resolution video, and its initial
services were limited. I looked at
QuantumLink around 1985 and said to
myself, "This online service won't
ever amount to anything; it's too
limited." However, QuantumLink soon
expanded its services, opened up its
service to other brands of
computers, and changed its name to
America OnLine. So much for my
prognostications!  I believe that
Genie (General Electric Network for
Information Exchange) was the first
commercial online service to
successfully offer an online
genealogy forum, starting around
1985. The Genealogy RoundTable was
managed by Rhonda McClure for
several years. Genie was a
wholly-owned subsidiary of General
Electric. The company had built a
financially-successful online
network by selling stock market and
other information to other
companies. However, most of the
usage of this network was done
during normal business hours. The
network was almost idle during
nights and weekends. General
Electric decided to offer online
services to consumers with two-tier
pricing: very expensive during
business hours but at the bargain
price of $5 per hour nights and
weekends. Prices later dropped to
$4.95/month for a set of "unlimited
use" features, but other services
cost extra. Access was initially
available at 300 baud although "high
speed" 1200 baud connections soon
became available. Higher speeds
became available as modem technology
improved.

In 1994, GEnie claimed around
350,000 users. The service closed on
December 30, 1999, without finding a
buyer.

The Source was a commercial network
started in 1979 and owned by Readers
Digest. It had a similar business
plan to Genie, offering services to
businesses during the day at higher
prices and to consumers nights and
weekends. The Source was a popular
business service although I do not
recall a genealogy service ever
being started on The Source. Readers
Digest sold The Source to competitor
CompuServe in 1989. CompuServe then
dismantled The Source.

CompuServe was founded in 1969 as
Compu-Serv Network, Inc. although
its networking servcie was
originally called MicroNet.
CompuServe was one of many computer
timeshare services of the 1970s,
initially running on a single
dial-up line in Cleveland connected
to a DEC PDP-8 computer. The system
soon grew into a network of PDP-8
and PDP-11 computers, eventually
replaced by DEC PDP-10 systems. The
PDP-10 was the machine that made
time-sharing common. The CompuServe
dial-up network also expanded to
become one of the largest such
networks in the world. When I was an
active CompuServe user, I was able
to dial into local CompuServe
numbers when I traveled to London,
Rotterdam, Hong Kong, and Aruba.

CompuServe originally was a
subsidiary of Golden United Life
Insurance, then was acquired by H&R
Block for $20 million dollars. H&R
Block used CompuServe's network and
mainframes to transfer income tax
information and stock market
information during business hours,
then to provide consumer computer
services during nights and weekends.

By the late 1980s CompuServe was the
largest commercial online service,
offering a variety of  services. In
1987 I sent a business proposal to
CompuServe to start an online
genealogy forum with myself as Forum
Manager. After some negotiations,
CompuServe's Genealogy Forum went
live on April 7, 1988.

In my proposal, I had predicted that
we would receive 200 visitors a week
or so in a genealogy offering on
CompuServe. I was wrong. We received
more than 2,000 visitors the first
day, and the numbers increased daily
after that for several years,
peaking in 1996. At one time, the
Genealogy Forum on CompuServe had
60,000 visitors per day with a total
visitor database of nearly 150,000
users. The CompuServe Genealogy
Forum provided message boards, text
files, and even downloadable
programs for IBM, Apple, Commodore,
Amiga, TRS-80, and other computers.

The CompuServe Genealogy Forum
flourished for several years until
competition from the Internet,
specifically the World Wide Web, as
well as competition from AOL, Genie
and others began to take their toll.

When I started with CompuServe as a
user in 1985, the hourly charge was
$18/hour during business hours but
fell to "only" $12.50/hour nights
and weekends. Competitive forces
kept driving those prices lower and
lower, ending at $1.95 an hour in
1995. America OnLine (AOL), however,
introduced a far cheaper flat-rate,
unlimited-time,
advertisement-supported price plan
in the U.S. to compete with
CompuServe's hourly charges. This
caused a significant loss of
customers until CompuServe responded
with a similar plan of its own at
$24.95 per month in late 1997.

In 1998, CompuServe was sold to AOL
for $1.2 billion. That was a
lucrative deal for H&R Block, which
had only paid $20 million for the
company eighteen years earlier. AOL
has continued to operate CompuServe
as a separate, but shrinking
service. A newer version of
CompuServe, known as CompuServe
2000, is still in operation. The
Genealogy Forum on CompuServe is now
operated by Betty Clay and is
available at http://
community.compuserve.com/n/pfx/
forum.aspx?nav=start&webtag=
ws-genealogy

You can access CompuServe 2000 at
http://webcenters.netscape.compuserve
.com/menu/

AOL has had a long and somewhat
erratic history. After all, who
hasn't heard of AOL? Originally
called QuantumLink, the online
service was renamed to America
Online and floppy disks containing
sign-up kits were mailed to nearly
every household in America. The
floppies were later replaced by
CD-ROM disks, and thousands of jokes
sprung forth about the AOL CDs.
George Ferguson emerged as the
Genealogy Forum Manager on AOL and
ran a successful service there for
many years.

At one time AOL claimed several
million members. However, the
bookkeeping was a bit flawed, and
AOL executives eventually admitted
that former customers were still
claimed as "users" for a year or
more after canceling their accounts.
Internally, previous customers were
referred to as "inactive users" and
were still counted.

In recent years, AOL has suffered
from a decline in customers and the
"dot-com bust" of the early
twenty-first century. Like most
other commercial online services,
AOL was unable to match the
rapidly-expanding World Wide Web.
Parent company Time-Warner spun AOL
off as a separate independent
company in 2009. AOL still operates
with many customers today but is not
nearly as big as it once was. You
can access AOL today at
http://www.aol.com.

Numerous other commercial online
services have appeared and
disappeared, although not all of
them offered genealogy services.

Delphi was the first commercial
service to offer Internet access to
consumers, with FTP, Telnet, Usenet,
text-based Web access (November
1992), MUDs, Finger, and Gopher.
While it was possible to access
genealogy UseNet message boards on
the Internet through Delphi, I do
not remember any genealogy services
ever hosted on Delphi itself.

Prodigy Communications Corporation
was an online service that offered
its subscribers access to a broad
range of networked services,
including an active genealogy
section. Prodigy was founded on
February 13, 1984, as Trintex, a
joint venture between CBS, computer
manufacturer IBM, and retailer
Sears, Roebuck and Company. The new
online service gathered very few
customers until the name was changed
to Prodigy in 1988 and an aggressive
advertising campaign was begun. At
its peak, Prodigy claimed 465,000
subscribers.

Prodigy then slowly faded away.
Senior executives were replaced two
or three times in an effort to turn
the company around, but with little
success. Today, accessing the domain
www.prodigy.net redirects to
my.att.net, which appears to be a
Yahoo!-based content and search
portal linking mostly to other
online services.

And who can ever forget Wow!? Well,
it seems that lots of people forgot
it. In 1996, CompuServe felt the
need to face lower-cost competitors
by introducing a second online
service to be called Wow! Wow! was
the first online service to be
offered with a monthly "unlimited"
rate ($17.95), and stood out because
of its brightly colored, seemingly
hand-drawn pages. The Wow! service
would also implement a parental
control technology so that parents
could limit and monitor the online
activities of their children. Wow!
was marketed primarily as a
family-friendly service: easy for
anyone to use and a place where
parents could feel safe allowing
their children to surf online, even
without parental supervision. Wow!
only worked with Windows, which was
still in its infancy with many users
clinging to MS-DOS in those days.
There was no Macintosh version.

A genealogy forum was implemented on
Wow! with myself as forum manager.
The best description I can think of
for the Genealogy Forum on Wow! is
"sleepy." Nothing much ever happened
there.

WOW! was never successful.
CompuServe's traditional customers
were not enthusiastic about the new
user interface. Competition from the
new World Wide Web proved to be
overpowering. CompuServe shut down
the service on January 31, 1997,
less than a year after it went
online.

Other commercial providers began to
suffer growth problems by the mid to
late 1990s. The reasons can be
summed up in three words: World Wide
Web. By 1995 or so, the World Wide
Web was in hypergrowth mode. The
old-fashioned commercial providers
stood like deer staring into
headlights on the side of the
Information Superhighway.

AOL performed better than most of
its competitors, having a successful
run into the early 2000s by
integrating the Web into the other
online offerings. However, by 2005,
even this business model began to
fall apart. AOL has since laid off
most of its employees but is still
an online service, offering only a
fraction of the services it offered
fifteen years ago.

All of these early online services
were fun to use. They produced a
camaraderie amongst users that is
difficult to find amongst the
millions of online genealogists
today. Indeed, we were all pioneers.
The online services of the eighties
and nineties tended to be
user-unfriendly by today's standards
and were horribly expensive. They
also taught us a lot about online
communications and about genealogy.
It was a great experience, and I am
glad that I was around to
participate.

When did you first go online? What
computer hardware did you use?

Posted by Dick Eastman on June 02,
2010 in History | Permalink

=====================================

*************************************
  INTERVIEW WITH BJRG STOJALOWSKI
         Creator of BasEdit
*************************************

Please introduce yourself to our
readers

My name is Bjrg Stojalowski, I'm 43
years old, live in Germany and I'm
totally addicted to Commodore 8Bit
computers!

Can you give some brief history
about yourself and computing

I started my programming career in
1980 on a PET-2001 at our school,
the real early ones with chicklet
keyboard and integrated tape
recorder. After my first program "10
PRINT "HALLO"  - 20 GOTO10" I was
hooked...

I bought my first Commodore in 1981,
a VIC-20 and started programming it
in Basic, but after a while I got my
hands on a book about 6502 assembler
programming and changed over to
assembler. This started another
tradition for me as I programmed
every computer I got in my life
first in Basic and afterwards in
assembler. Speaking of computers, I
managed to own and use the following
computers: VIC-20, C64, Apple-II,
Atari-ST 260, Amiga 500, Atari
Mega-ST2, Acorn Arcimedes and then
PC's in nearly every configuration,
starting from 286 AT with 8 MHz and
512KB to a Core2Duo at the moment.
Beside the 6502 I have another
faible for the 68000 processor, as
it seems to be the logical step
after the 6502. As high level
languages I have experiences with a
lot of procedural and
object-oriented languages like C,
C++, Pascal, Basic, DBase, FoxPro
etc.

With this history in computers it
was unavoidable to go to the
university to study computer
science. Unfortunately for me this
has nearly nothing to do with
programming and fiddling with my
beloved computer but is mathematics
and theory and some very obscure
courses. After 2 years I decided to
quit and make a more practical
education and made a 2 year training
to become something with a very long
name which I prefer to shorten as
"programmer". From 1992 until today
I work as a programmer and I could
not even imagine what I would do for
a living if we would not have
computers...

Can you explain what "COMMODORE
BASIC EDITOR" was created for

Simply stated it's a WYSIWYG text
editor on the PC which uses a
special graphical font to show the
complete PETSCII character set as
found on Commodores 8bit computers,
a more modern editing environment
for (Commodore) Basic.

With BasEdit you can edit your Basic
sources on the PC, using standard
editing controls like pg up, pg dn,
home, end, search&replace,
cut&paste, insert and overwrite
mode, scroll through the code with
the mouse wheel up and down etc.

To enhance readability it supports
syntax highlighting, lines can be as
long as 255 characters and won't be
broken into multiple lines on screen
but simply scroll out of the visible
area. If needed you can switch
between big (16x16) and small (8x8)
fonts, the first one is the standard
editing font, the second one if you
need more source on screen at once.
BasEdit has an integrated Syntax
Checker which can be called at any
time and checks the source against
the Basic syntax rules and reports
any error to the user. To make life
easier BasEdit implements an
"intelligent" auto feature, i.e.
automatically numbering new lines in
the source with respect of the
surrounding line numbers. Inserting
a line between 10 and 20 will
automatically generate a line 15. If
necessary it renumbers the following
lines to make space for the newly
inserted line, thereby adjusting all
references to renumbered lines. To
follow gotos and gosubs, you can
right-click on a jump destination to
move the cursor to that line, adding
a "jump back" option to the context
menu to return to where you come
from. With this function you can
follow a chain of goto's and gosub's
and go back step by step.

But BasEdit even goes one step
further and enables a modern "shell"
for old-fashioned line number
oriented Basic in the so-called
label mode. You can at every time
convert a standard Basic program
with line numbers into a program
without line numbers, using labels
as jump destinations. A special form
of REM with a simple apostrophe
allows for comments which will be
ignored when translating back to
line number mode. So you can have as
much comments as you want without
wasting precious space for the
resulting PRG file.

10 GET A$: IF A$="" THEN 10
20 PRINT A$
30 IF A$<>"E" GOTO 10

will become

LBL10:
   GET A$
   IF A$="" THEN LBL10
   PRINT A$
   IF A$<>"E" THEN LBL10

And to take that even further
BasEdit supports as simple Project
mode in which a PRG file (for
running on the real machine or an
emulator) and a lable mode source
(PETSCII-file) will be kept together
and in sync.

In this mode you program without
line numbers and can even use
variables of any length which will
be shortened automatically when
converting back to line number mode.
Keeping my small example from above,
it would maybe look like this:

' WAIT FOR USER TO MAKE SELECTION
' E ENDS LOOP
INPUTLOOP:
   GET KEY$
   IF KEY$="" THEN INPUTLOOP
   PRINT KEY$
   IF KEY$<>"E" THEN INPUTLOOP

When saving or starting the program
with F5 it will be converted in
background to this (by default
BasEdit tries to squeeze as much
commands in one line as possible
without compromising the logic):

10 GETTA$:IFTA$=""THEN10
20 PRINTTA$:IFTA$<>"E"THEN10

(of course if the variable TA$ would
already exist in our source, BasEdit
would generate another variable
trying TS$, TT$, TE$ and then A0$
until ZZ$!)

And while I was at that feature, I
implemented some extensions like
WHILE-WEND, REPEAT-UNTIL, DO-LOOP
and IF-THEN-ELSE-ENDIF which will be
converted to standard Basic V2
command sequences when saved as PRG
and/or started.

So finally the above sample could
look like this:

REPEAT
   GET KEY$
   IF KEY$<>"" THEN
      PRINT KEY$
   ENDIF
UNTIL KEY$="E"

So this runs on a standard PC and
can produce basic Code as a PRG file

Yes, it can load and save files from
PC disk and since some time you can
even attach (or create) disk images
and load and save directly from and
in these images. The disk manager
allows to create disk images (D64,
D71 and D81) and copy files from and
to those disk images from the PC
hard drive, delete files out of disk
images as also as rename or move
files in the directory up and down.
And as a nice add-on you can with
one key save your source and run it
in an emulator with F5 from hard
drive or out of a disk image.

What else can BasEdit be used for

You're not limited to PRG files, in
fact you can load and save
PETSCII-files as you can see in my
samples or even ASCII-files with
translations for the printable
control codes like home, clr etc.,
PETSCII and ASCII-files can be with
or without line numbers so you could
even use BasEdit as a full screen
text editor for a diskmag or
something like that! Some users take
BasEdit to re-type Basic programs
from magazines, using the built-in
proof-reader function which shows
the checksums for Basic lines as
used in the Compute issues and some
other magazines. And last but not
least you can use BasEdit to
copy&paste sources from other
electronical means like text
versions of the Programmers
Reference Guide or sources in Wikis
etc.

So the program supports all versions
of Commodore Basic vic /c64 /c128
/16 and plus4 can it support other
versions of basics if so how

BasEdit is for the most part driven
by configuration files. I made token
files for the most common Basic
dialects and even for some I
personally never heard of before,
but these files can be extended by
users with their own token files.
These token files consist of some
required and some optional
information for each token as the
token byte or bytes, it's PETSCII
form, which sort of line numbers can
follow and a syntactical description
for the syntax checker, looking at
the TokenList_BasicV2.txt as a
starter should explain all these
features.

The program displays all the petscii
codes on screen however I notice you
cant print the codes out to a
printer PLEASE can this be
implemented somehow

Good request!

This is not as easy at it may seem
though as the complete editor is
graphic based and there is not
complete and usable PETSCII TTF font
with ALL PETSCII characters. There
are some fonts which support the
basic alphanumeric and some special
characters like +,-,* etc. but I
could not find a TTF with all
graphical characters and the
complete inverse set. So each
character in BasEdit is drawn with
Draw Image onto the screen
(simplified explanation...), I will
have to do the same thing for
printer output but providing page
and line breaks. Nevertheless I can
understand the desire to print the
sources so I will give my very best
to implement a print feature in the
future.

How did the project start and what
prompted you to write such an
application

Since my first computer was a VIC
and I try to relive that feeling I
do most of my 8-bit programming on
the VIC. Being honest I have to
admit that coding Basic in 22
columns in 23 lines isn't as
exciting as it was nearly 30 years
ago, I felt hopelessly confused by
the crowded screen with up to 4
screen lines belonging to one Basic
line. Trying to edit a program with
more than a few lines on the VIC
proved to be a nightmare for me. So
I developed the idea to use the PC
for editing the sources having a big
screen and all the possibilities a
PC can give.

Some readers will shun the idea of
1. writing Basic programs and 2.
using a pc to do so, what are the
advantages of writing software in
Basic over a lower language and
using a pc rather than a real machine

I think that's a common
misunderstanding about Basic being
slow and ugly and leading to
unreadable code etc. Basic itself
isn't a bad language, indeed it does
a good job with string handling -
just trying to be as versatile in
self programmed assembler routines
as Basic is with strings can be a
coding nightmare. Of course it's
slow compared to assembler, but
taking my above sample of an input
loop there is no need to be faster
anyway, Basic does the job as good
as required! So for me it's always
the right tool for the right job,
doing the tedious tasks of user
input or string handling in Basic
and maybe outsourcing some time
critical parts to assembler. And
doing it on a PC is something along
the same lines using the right tool
for the right job. If I want to get
some retro feeling I code on the
real machine, but if I want to
concentrate on the source and
algorithms I use BasEdit and let the
result run in an emulator. When
finished and satisfied with the
solution in the emulator it's time
to test on the real machine as this
often; simply feels different; due
to screen resolution, keyboard etc.
and sometimes the real machine
simply behaves differently to
emulated one. For example the
program Videopoker which is part of
the BasEdit distribution as a sample
file, was written in BasEdit (the
old one). It's for the unexpanded
VIC and can be viewed in BasEdit in
total within one screen on the PC -
on the Vic it's about 10 pages! with
basic lines spawning up to 4 screen
lines which makes it at least very
difficult to edit and understand on
the real machine.

The feature lists are quite
extensive but have you any new
features you want to add

Lots!

I would like to enhance BasEdit to a
full-fledged development environment
including character editor, screen
builder, sprite editor etc. Another
nice feature would be an integrated
assembler to generate hybrid
programs with Basic and Assembler
parts or even complete assembler
programs. I could take this any
further; there is lots of room for
enhancements...

Would you welcome suggestions from
readers

Yes, of course, lots if not most of
the features BasEdit has are
directly or indirectly triggered by
user requests. That started with
syntax highlighting, continues over
syntax check, proof reader,
ASCII-tokenizer, variable
shortening,  jump trace, start
address changer and even support for
disk images and FE3 loader files. I
could never came up with all these
great ideas for myself as I am more
concerned about programming BasEdit
right now then using it. Anders
Persson for example requested an
interface to start BasEdit directly
from his PRG Starter which resulted
in some nice discussions about how
to translate filenames between PRG
files inside diskimages and the PC
filesystem as PETSCII<>ASCII. During
that time I learned a lot about
PETSCII and the work the VICE team
made, things I would have not came
across without user suggestions.

Is the software free to download and
will you include the source code

Yes and no. BasEdit is free to
download, but the sources are kept
by me. Maybe if I am satisfied with
what BasEdit is one day I will
release the sources, but as long as
I'm actively developing I would like
to be the only one who changes
anything in the sources. Setting up
some sort of source repository and
keeping track of changes, merging
versions, testing other changes etc.
simply isn't the fun I want to get
out of BasEdit. For the records:
BasEdit consists of 29 files with
more than 12.500 lines of code in
224 subs and 91 functions - so even
if I release the sources that does
not mean that anyone beside me will
ever understand what is going on
inside it...

I presume this project is amended
and a current one how long will you
support the application

As long as I'm having fun with retro
computing I think. I won't promise
anything

What software was used to write the
application originally and then in
the conversion

My first BasEdit started out I think
in 2006, was written in VB 6.0 and
used DirectX as output. This was ok
for my own machine but proved to be
difficult with others - they could
simply not get it to run on their
machines. So I decided it would be
best to ?redo from start as Basic V2
would call it and base it on a more
modern development environment. It
took a while but earlier this year I
started BasEdit.NET from scratch
using VB2008 and the .NET framework
3.5. This seems to be a good
solution as I did not get any
complaints about not being able to
run BasEdit on other machines.

Why was the software converted to
.net framework most people don't
like this Microsoft extension, can
you explain to our readers what .net
is in a Commodore style reference

I would say .NET is some sort of
standardized kernal for the PC so
that programs can run on virtually
any PC. The same could be said about
a standard Basic V2 program (without
specialized POKEs for sound or
graphics, of course) which can run
on any Commodore 8bit computer.

Do you have any other projects you
could tell our readers about

Nothing as fancy as BasEdit, maybe
my XAsm, a 6502 2-pass macro cross
assembler for the PC with some nice
features like generating a complete
Basic program out of assembler
source with DATAs and the required
FOR-NEXT-loop to POKE that data into
the destination. Which reminds me to
mention that BasEdit can insert a
binary file into the source which
will be converted to DATAs with the
required FOR-NEXT-loop to POKE that
data into the destination :-) And I
extracted the disk image
manipulation part into a standalone
command line Disk Tool which can be
used to create Disk Images and add,
remove or extract files from them
within batches/ makefiles/ command
line.

What sort of Feedback have you had
about the project

A lot of very positive feedback -
mostly of the sort "Great tool,
great features, but may I ask for
this one additional feature...?" as
everybody seems to use BasEdit for a
different purpose. Sometimes I even
had feature requests which where
already implemented - unfortunately
BasEdit is missing any form of
Readme/How-to/Documentation,

Do you have any other comments you
would like to make

Maybe to encourage others to do some
retro programming and sharing their
results with the community. You
never know where your project will
end, get a lot of interesting
feedback and ideas and you will
definitely learn a lot more about
your beloved retro computer than by
simply playing another round of
Donkey Kong or whatever (which by
itself isn't bad, just to keep any
ramblings off!). I learned a lot
about the Basic Interpreter during
my development time for BasEdit -
did you know that a line like 10
A{space}$="X" is totally valid, will
be listed with the space between A
and $ but nevertheless will assign
the "X" to A$. Or what strange
things the PRINT command will do
when mixing strings and numeric
variables and constants. Or even
dropping the final ". Or that a line
like 10 GOTO 20 anygarbagecanfollow
will work - it jumps to line 20 and
the rest of the line will be simply
ignored. But most important: Have
fun with what you are doing!

=====================================

*************************************
      INTERVIEW WITH ROSS MYERS
        Creator of Cassadapt
*************************************

Please introduce yourself to our
readers

Hi, my name is Ross Myers (aka
VimFuego on Lemon64), I'm 38 and
married with 3 kids under 8 and
living in Australia. I work in the
automotive industry as a programmer
on PowerPC based embedded systems, a
vastly different beast to the 6510
CPU in our humble Commodore
computers. I'm a very musical
person, unfortunately I wasn't
blessed with the talent to play
music beyond some guitar riffs of my
favourite songs, but whenever I am
working I am always listening to
music, anything from Pink Floyd to
Slayer, my musical tastes are very
wide. Another of my interests
outside of computers is old cars, my
daily driver is a 1967 Cadillac,
quite a contrast considering my work
is with cars full of computers and
the latest technology.

Can you give our readers a little of
your computing history

Well I am happy to say it all began
with a C64 back when I was in
primary school. I'm not actually
sure why my parents bought it
because they certainly weren't in to
computers and they cost a bunch of
money. My two older sisters used it
for a few weeks then lost interest,
so it pretty much defaulted to being
mine. For many years all I had was a
Datassette and a Comp-Pro joystick,
but the C64 was very popular at my
school so there was never a shortage
of new games to try. I remember I
used that C64 every spare moment I
had. At some point I got a 1541 and
an Action Replay cart, this set-up
did me for many years but the Amiga
had also been out for about a year
and I wanted one, so eventually my
C64 set-up was sold to fund an A500.
The A500 did me well for a while
before making way for an A1200. As
you can see I was a loyal Commodore
guy, I was also in a local Commodore
computer club during these years.
Though back then I never got in to
programming beyond the odd type-in
from a magazine (did they ever
work?) I was more a gamer than a
programmer. Eventually I caved in to
progress, plus the fact that
Commodore was no more and moved on
to Windows 95 and a Playstation for
gaming. A few years ago I started
using Vice on the PC and eventually
found myself on Ebay buying up a
Commodore collection again. I've got
a number of 64's, a C16, Vic20,
C128, an A1200 plus a few floppy
drives, datassettes, joysticks etc.
I think I'll stop buying now, I've
covered most of the machines I ever
wanted as a kid or need for product
development.

You have designed a product called
Cassadapt can you describe the
product

A quick summary, Cassadapt is a
product used to transfer a .prg or
.tap file from your PC via the sound
card to a Commodore computer via the
datassette port. Obviously you can't
feed audio signals in to the
datassette input, so Cassadapt
converts the audio signals from the
PC to a digital 0-5V digital signal
the Commodore will recognise. It
also has a Play button that
simulates the play button on a
datassette. This means you can
actually load a tape game direct off
the PC to the Commodore computer
with actually having a datassette
connected.

How long did the product take to
design and then produce

Not too long, the 'smarts' behind it
is an Atmel AVR micro, I've been
playing around with those for many
years so the coding side was done
over a few late nights. This being a
hobby it's not like I work on it 9
to 5 every day, but overall between
a prototype board, a second PCB
revision to add a couple more
features I guess it was a weeks work
but spread over 2 or 3 months.

So with Cassadapt you basically
record the sound from the Commodore
tape deck the strange screeching and
wailing noise's and record them via
the device to a computer audio
input. Then you can load the file
basically a sound sample of the
cassettes screaming wailing back
into the commodore machine the
commodore thinking that its just a
cassette is that the theory

Actually that is one small function
of what it can do, in fact I only
added the ability to record back on
to the PC on the 2nd PCB revision.
It's not actually the best way to
transfer a tape to the PC but
sometimes it works ok. The main idea
behind Cassadapt is you transfer a
.prg or .tap file from a PC via the
audio out socket to the C64 either
as a direct input simulating a
datassette playing back a tape or
you can record it to a datassette.
If you want to play games on a real
Commodore computer this is a really
quick way to do it. Using a program
on the PC like WAV-PRG you can be
playing a game on a real C64 (as an
example) in under a minute without
needing to copy it to floppy or
record it to cassette. Multipart
loading games would be required to
be recorded to a real datasette
though.

What Commodore machines is this
compatible with, and are any
workarounds needed

I've tested it on a C64, C16 and a
Vic20. Each has it's own little
quirks to deal with. There is
nothing tricky if you are recording
a .prg or .tap to the datassette, it
only gets tricky if you are trying
to play direct from the PC
simulating a datassette. The reason
for this is the datassette is often
paused during loads, maybe whilst a
loading screen is being shown, or a
decruncher running. The PC has no
way of knowing it's supposed to
pause playing back the file whilst
the Commodore is busy doing
something else and things get out of
sync. On games that use turbo
loaders you would be best to record
it to a datassette. The Vic20 is
pretty good in this regard as there
is no pause once it's found a file
on the tape, the C64 and C16 pause
to tell you "FOUND X" program, you
have to quickly press the space bar
to skip that so the PC stays in
sync.  Unfortunately for the C16 ,
Plus/4 because of the non standard
datassette plug they used you will
need to get a second datasette to
remove the harness to use with
Cassadapt.  I imagine it would work
with some of the PET series, but I
don't have one of those to confirm
that.

Is there a manual for the device?

I did do a pdf for it as there is a
little bit of setup required by the
user to account for variations in
sound cards and a few jumpers to
move around depending on how you
intent to use the product. I will
continue to update the manual as
required based on feedback from
users.
http://www.cbm8bit.com/c8d/files/cass
adapt_instructions.pdf

On the PC side is any special
software required or can you use any
recording software

Any of the existing programs out
there do the job well, WAV-PRG,
AudioTAP etc.

Once recorded does the final file
need "cleaning" in someway before
use or for better reliability, if so
what tools would you recommend for
this process

Yes it does require cleaning,
TAPClean is what I've used during
testing.

How did you think up this idea; And
Why did you go down the sampling
(recording the sound) route rather
than another route for extracting
the data

The idea behind Cassadapt was born
from two things, firstly, I don't
particularly like using an emulator
to play C64 games. I'm not saying
they are bad, far from it, I just
like to use the real hardware. So I
first started playing games on my
C64 by transferring files from the
PC to a 1541, this works ok but I
found it a little tedious after a
while. It didn't help that the
software to do that didn't play nice
with my desktop PC's LPT port so it
crashed often. I then looked at
getting a C2N232 adaptor except my
laptop which is what I was wanting
to transfer files from has no real
serial port. Given there is a couple
of PC based programs that will play
.tap or .prg files out the sound
card or convert to a .wav file I
thought it would be neat to be able
to convert the audio signal from a
PC to a signal like the datassette
would produce.

Are you a Tape fan, I know its a
format frowned on by many users;
but I like the loading screens and
music, I think they add something to
the game the suspense and
anticipation waiting to play the
game rather than just
click-click-play game, it seems to
add something. When I first saw a
loading screen with music I couldn't
believe that the machine was still
loading the game while playing
music, mind blowing!

Tapes where all I knew for many
years so I'm with you on the views
on using tapes, the loading screens,
the flashing turbo load boarders are
part of the gaming experience. As I
say with tapes, there is something
cool about something so uncool. My
1541 is currently packed away in
it's box, so I am a tape person for
sure. Besides, turbo tapes can load
faster than a stock 1541 in many
cases.

Do you have any other projects,
currently in progress or finished
you would like to tell our readers
about.

Yes, in fact I had another project
almost completed before I started
Cassadapt, I put that on hold whilst
I made a major change to the design.
It's a board that that plugs in to
the the keyboard connector inside a
C64 that serves two purposes.
Firstly to provide a way to reset
the C64 without needing to fit a
push button switch, the second is it
will select different Kernal ROM's
on a multi ROM board. How it works
is you hold down the Restore key for
about 2 seconds and it will toggle
the Reset line in the C64. To select
the Kernal ROM you press either F1,
F3, F5 or F7 within the first few
seconds of the C64 running and it
will select the appropriate ROM
lines then reset the C64. It
remembers what ROM you want selected
at each start up. The idea behind
this product is I didn't want to
drill any holes in to my mint
breadbox 64 but I still wanted
switchable ROM's and a reset switch.
I hope to get back on to this
project shortly. I've got the
protypes in all my 64's, it's pretty
neat. For those that want to keep
their 64's looking original yet have
a reset switch and switching ROM's
it's ideal.

Do you have any projects currently
still in the "design stage" or shall
we say on paper awaiting further
developments

Nothing more in immediate planning
stage, but I'll come up with
something no doubt, combining new
technology with these old Commodore
computers is fun.

Is the Cassadapt now for sale? if so
how much and where can our user
obtain the device?

Yes it is currently for sale, the
cost is $32 USD plus shipping, this
is a fully assembled and tested
unit. My aim was not to make a
substantial profit from my products,
I do it more for fun but I can't do
it for free either, the Cassette
port connector alone is nearly $5
USD! I guess that is one problem
with products like this, you are
buying parts in low volume so you
pay significantly more for them
because of it. It seems wrong that
the AVR microprocessor in Cassadapt
is actually cheaper to buy than some
of the connectors I have to use on
it. More information on the product,
ordering and any future product
releases can be found here:
http://c8d.cbm8bit.com/

The Cassadapt is professionally
produced, did you think about
offering the item as a Diy project

I designed it using through hole
parts for ease of assembly for
anyone, but at this stage I enjoy
soldering up the odd one or two here
and there, it's therapeutic to put
on some headphones and solder away,
so at this stage no. I have access
to a very expensive Hakko soldering
station, so they look like they were
machine assembled, not handmade, I'd
like to keep it that way.

Do you have any final comments you
would like to add

Thanks to those who have already
ordered Cassadapt and thanks to the
very active and helpful Lemon64
community. Thanks also to Shane at
www.c64web.com for hosting my
website. And of course finally
thanks to Commodore Free for
publishing a magazine each month,
it's always a great read.

=====================================

*************************************
      A QUICK LOOK AT BASICEDIT
 A Windows tool to edit Basic files
        in windows (and more)
*************************************

I will attempt to show some of the
functions of this program in the
hope it will, excite you enough to
download and start using it. The
application itself has been designed
for BASIC programmers, and overcomes
some of the problems of writing
Basic on Commodore systems; notably
like the Vic 20`s display screen.
You also gain from the Windows
clipboard, so you can copy and paste
text. The application itself will
even convert lowercase text to
uppercase before pasting it.

FOR OUR BRIEF LOOK AT SOME OF THE
"BASIC" FEATURES

First Start the application; Hmm
maybe you should download it and
second start the application, still
you get the meaning

Once the Application is up and
running you can see we have a fairly
standard looking Application for a
windows based system; with all the
usual menu options running across
the top of the application.

For this brief look I am going to
open the basic file videopoker.txt
this comes with the download of the
application

First we need to load the file:

Select FILE
Then select ASCII
and then select the videopoker file

Once loaded into the BASIC editor
you notice that all the Commodore
petscii graphic characters' are
displayed, just like you were
looking at a real Commodore machine!
Now what we want to do is save this
file so we could email it to a
friend, lets say for checking; or
place it on a website for people to
type in, maybe to learn programming
or syntax. However we have a
problem! petscii is a Commodore
proprietary standard and as such the
characters will not display with
windows fonts or any other systems
fonts for that matter.  I am
guessing you know what I am about to
say?? so queue up the Drumroll?

Ok Drumrill?..
Trrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr

The solution as I am sure you have
seen, would be to use standard text
otherwise knows as ASCII to convey
the Commodore petscii characters,
this would be used for things like
"down cursor" and the "colour red"
and "reverse text" etc. so when the
user is retyping the program he
would know to substitute this text
for a real cursor down or red colour
or reverse text

Select File
Select SAVE as ASCII

Saving the file and then opening it
up in Windows Notepad, or your
favourite text editor we see the
first line of the text is converted
to

0 q=36874:pokeq+5,30:print"?{blu}
{rvon}";:fort=1to22:print" ";:next

The standard file without converting
would look like this

0 Q=36874:POKEQ+5,30:PRINT"???";:
FORT=1TO22:PRINT" ";:NEXT

Notice after the print we have
strange characters as ASCII text
cant display or rather doesn't have
a character for this, well not a
Commodore character any way.

Look closely again at the first
line; its all lower case!

And also note the none displayable
characters (petscii) are converted
to {blu}{rvon} so our cursor down
example would be displayed as {down}
so on a real machine we would look
at the word {down} and convert that
to cursor down when we retype,
following me? No?. Oh well I tried
my best to explain it.

RENUMBER

Another use for the program; and a
real time and life saver is the
renumber, how many times have you
started numbering in tens then
realised you missed something or
wanted to add more code but you only
have 9 lines, ok there are utilities
for the C64 to do this but then you
have to save the file load up a
utility run it against the saved
file ?...

select edit then select RENUMBER

Here we can select the line to start
renumbering from the last line we
want to renumber to  and the
increments, the program also changes
the goto statements to ensure the
whole application will still run.

Another option is to Save the text
out as a prg file ready to run in an
emulator or copy to a real machine,
and similar we could open a prg file
for re editing. As it's a windows
application you can stretch the
screen, so no more hunting though
lines to find the error you can
maximize the screen and work to the
full resolution of your pc monitor.

You can load and even create a disk
image all within the application.
Heck you can even load a PRG file
from with in a disk image, or even
save one back. If this was all the
program could do it would be great
however in this text I have just
about scratched the surface of what
can be done, I would suggest
downloading the application and
playing around.

The program covers a large number of
basics including

ATbasic
Basicv3.5
Basic 4 (Commodore 64)
Basic v10
SpeechBasic V2.7
TurtleBasic
Wimbasic
Basic v2
Basic v4
BAsci v7
EXbasiclevel 2
SuperExpander
Waterloobasic

Regards
Commodore Free

=====================================
