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The History of the Commodore C64

 

Pitched Roofs - Flat Roofs - Gutter Clearing and Repair - Re-Pointing - Lead Work -

The Beginnings of the C64

All the Commodore 8 bit computers had used the The MOS Technology 6502 Microprocessor developed in 1975 - Created by Chuck Peddle with Bill Mensch and the Team = MSTP - MOS 6502 but the C64 would use the closely related derivative, the 6510 CPU. In January 1981, MOS Technology, Inc., Commodore's integrated circuit design subsidiary, initiated a project to design the graphic and audio chips for a next-generation video game console. Design work for the chips, named MOS Technology VIC-II (Video Integrated Circuit for graphics) and MOS Technology SID (Sound Interface Device for audio), was completed in November 1981. Commodore then began a game console project that would use the new chips—called the Ultimax or the MAX Machine, engineered by Yash Terakura from Commodore Japan. This project was eventually cancelled after just a few machines were manufactured for the Japanese market. At the same time, Robert "Bob" Russell (system programmer and architect on the VIC-20) and Robert "Bob" Yannes (engineer of the SID) were critical of the current product line-up at Commodore, which was a continuation of the Commodore PET line aimed at business users. With the support of Al Charpentier (engineer of the VIC-II) and Charles Winterble (manager of MOS Technology), they proposed to Commodore CEO Jack Tramiel a low-cost sequel to the VIC-20. Tramiel dictated that the machine should have 64 KB of random-access memory (RAM). Although 64-Kbit dynamic random-access memory (DRAM) chips cost over US$100 (equivalent to $292.36 in 2024) at the time, he knew that 64K DRAM prices were falling and would drop to an acceptable level before full production was reached. The team was able to quickly design the computer because, unlike most other home-computer companies, Commodore had its own semiconductor fab to produce test chips; because the fab was not running at full capacity, development costs were part of existing corporate overhead. The chips were complete by November, by which time Charpentier, Winterble, and Tramiel had decided to proceed with the new computer; the latter set a final deadline for the first weekend of January, to coincide with the 1982 Consumer Electronics Show (CES).

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Despite complaints about quality control and the industry’s slowest disk drive, the Commodore 64 has been an unparalleled success, pushing a number of its competitors out of the market. Part of the reason for its success is the price, which keeps falling—from $595 at its introduction to $149 currently, for which the consumer gets graphics and sound equal to or better than that provided by machines that cost five times as much.

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C64 Games

The C64 had an extensive library of games, with some sources stating a figure upwards of 5000 titles. These games covered almost every genre created at the time. As with all systems, these games varied somewhat in their quality. The best of them were among the best games released on any of the 8-bit home computers. NB – the 8-bit home computers were sometimes referred to as ‘home micros’.

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One of my 6000 C64 games on the CCS64 emulator - What a classic "Crazy Comets - MARTECH 1985", Look at that star field, and it's amazing what you can do with just 3 SID analogue synth voices. Listen to how tight the tune is, and to think that all the 1979-83 UK synthpop was done on 8bit sequencers, three being, Depeche Mode 1981 - THL DARE 1981, and YAZOO 1982 !!, Awwwwww, , the 8bit days and memories of 1986. I was 22.

Rob Hubbard's "Crazy Comets" SID Chip master piece is undoubtably the best ever on an 8 bit computer, and what a genius, the Mozart of the SID chip, and him programming the SID with the MOS 6510 1 MHz processor in assembly language - 80's and 90's computer songs are called CHIPTUNES , I edited in the crazy Honky Tonk end hook at 0:34 !! , , and then my game play at 1:41, but i was not using the joystick and its a nightmare using the keys !!

 

 

Mick's Game Cracking

I first had a commodore 64 in 1984 learning programming with the official bible of a book, the "CBM64 Programers Reference Guide" and from the excellent INPUT magazine series, a weekly 52 week course in programming. I used TURBOTAPE to speed up the cassette baud rate by 10x.

In 1986 i did some game cracking, my first was "Crazy Comets" - After loading a game i did a warm reset by shorting out pin 1 amd 3 of the USER port, i wired up a switch for that purpose. The first 4 bytes of the start of basic memory starting at 2048 are wiped in a warm reset, but if you poke the four bytes back you can list the basic program, usually being something like "10 SYS 2084". After saving an area of memory with the INPUT machine code monitor using TURBOTAPE i got "manic miner" down from 320 cassette counts to 48

The C64 was a strange beast with RAM under ROM, and you could flip between the two, , , i had to find space in RAM to place the MC monitor and TURBOTAPE code, i always found it hard to know where the basic SYS was, it could be anywhere because the start of basic can be set to be anywhere !!.

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Gutter Clearing and Repair

Gutters are an integral part of your home's well-being. They serve to control the flow of rainwater to protect your roof, walls, foundation and landscape. A gutter clogged with leaves, sticks and other debris can cause a leaky roof or water damage to the interior or exterior of your home. When it's so easy to get it fixed, why risk a blocked gutter causing thousands of pounds worth of damage to your home ?

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