######## ################## ###### ###### ##### ##### #### #### ## ##### #### #### #### #### #### ##### ##### ## ## #### ## ## ## ### ## #### ## ## ## ##### ######## ## ## ## ##### ## ## ## ## ## ##### ## ## ######## ## ## ## ### ## ## #### ## ## ##### #### #### #### #### ##### #### #### #### #### #### ###### ##### ## ###### ###### Issue #7 ################## Feb. '94 ######## ----------------------------------------------------------------------------- Editor's Notes: by Craig Taylor (duck@pembvax1.pembroke.edu) This net-magazine is still alive after over two years suprising even myself. There should be more to come also!! And it's been late everytime it's been released. :-) I dunno - I'm trying not to make that a tradition but next time I don't think I'm going to set any firm dates so it can't possibly be late. Lesee, first to address some questions and queries that have been going on over the network: - The C project that I mentioned a while back is now officially defunct, dead, resting in peace... whatever you want to call it. There may be other individuals working on their own version of an ANSI C compiler but the group that was setup is no longer. Basically, it was a problem of too many programmers, too few managers (and we know programmers *grins* - They all want to do it their way. Incidentilly - my way _was_ the best. ;-) ) - The C65 exists but there are very few of them out there and GrapeVine no longer sells them (out of stock I believe). It was only made in small quantities for prototype work. There have been numerous individuals reading comp.sys.cbm that see mention of the C65 and assume that this creature Commodore released. Commodore sold a warehouse and its contents to Grapevine and Grapevine stumbled across them and sold 'em. They are functional but due to the low number of them available I doubt that there will be any C65 targated applications. (Someone prove me wrong, please?) - Geesh - That stupid article about the 1351 mouse that I kept promising from issue 2 on I've officially declared dead. It may come around later but for now it's dead. It's existed as a promise in one form or another since issue 2 so this message officially kills it. - Also there was some confusion last time about my wording about not writing any more articles and such (or rather, not as many as I had been). Basically, yes - I'm still going to do C=Hacking - it's just that because of time, frustration, school and jobs that I don't have as much time to devote to researching and writing articles. That's all that I meant to say - some people were concerned that C=Hacking was no longer going to be released... As always, here's the obligatory begging for authors on any type of software or hardware project that involves the Commodore computers. Please, Please if you or your user group has any information or material concerning the Commodore computers that you think may be appropriate for C=Hacking let me know via e-mail at duck@pembvax1.pembroke.edu. I'm looking for anything from hardware schematic, programming theory to actual programming techniques, programs. The articles in this issue of C=Hacking I'm especially pleased with. There are two articles concerning the VIC chip and its operations that detail how certain "magical" techniques are performed. Also, Marko Makela has written a very detailed, interesting article on various memory techniques for the C-64. We also have a summary of the ACE programming / operating system and a referance guide on how to write applications for it. I've also included an InterNet guide that I've started writing to show individuals how to use the InterNet to get Commodore-64/128/Vic-20 related material. Included within that is a list of FTP sites containing numerous programs. ============================================================================= Please note that this issue and prior ones are available via anonymous FTP from ccosun.caltech.edu (among others) under pub/rknop/hacking.mag and via a mailserver which documentation can be obtained by sending mail to "duck@pembvax1.pembroke.edu" with a subject line of "mailserver" and the line "help" in the body of the mesage. ============================================================================= NOTICE: Permission is granted to re-distribute this "net-magazine", in whole, freely for non-profit use. However, please contact individual authors for permission to publish or re-distribute articles seperately. A charge of no greater than 5 US dollars or equivlent may be charged for library service / diskette costs for this "net-magazine". ============================================================================= In This Issue: Commodore Trivia Corner This section of C=Hacking will contain numerous questions that will test your knowledge of trivia for the Commodore computers. Each issue they'll be answers to the previous issues questions and new questions. How much do you know? InterNet Resources for the Commodore 64 / 128 V1.0 This article goes into detail about the available resources on the InterNet and is meant to introduce people to the wonderful, wacky world of the InterNet. It covers what the InterNet is, what capabilities it has and how to access those capabilities. In addition, it also includes Howard Herman's latest list of File Transfer sites for the Commodore computers. Hiding kilobytes Most Commodore 64 programs do not utilize even nearly all of the 64 kB random access memory space. By default, there are only 44 kilobytes of accessible RAM. This article describes how you can take the hiding 20 kilobytes to use. FLD - Scrolling the Screen This article, using a technique described by Pasi Ojala in the last issue of C=Hacking, gives an example of a program using Flexible Line Distance technique. Tech-tech - more resolution to vertical shift At one time half of the demos had pictures waving horizontally on the width of the whole screen. This effect is named tech-tech and it is done using character graphics. How exactly and is the same possible with sprites ? ACE-128/64 PROGRAMMER'S REFERENCE GUIDE (version 0.9, for Release #10) This article explains the complete system interface for the ACE-128/64 computing environment. It is intended to be used by programmers for developing software to run on top of the ACE kernel. ACE is a program for the Commodore 128 and Commodore 64 that provides a command shell environment that is similar to that of Unix. =============================================================================== Commodore Trivia Corner by Jim Brain (brain@mail.msen.com) Everyone who reads this article has had, or presently owns a Commodore computer of some kind. I own more than one, which is not uncommon among Commodore enthusiasts. Well, I bought my first Commodore computer in 1982, a brand new Vic-20 with some game cartridges. I had wanted an Atari, but father knew best and he told the then 11 year old son that computers would shape my life more than any game machine. Well, it is 11 years later and a Computer Engineering Degree earned, and I have spent many a night during that time playing on many models of Commdore equipment. Now, I would like to share the knowledge I have with you in an interesting way. As you now know a little about me, let us see how much you know about the machines and company that binds us all together. The following is an installment of Commodore Trivia. These questions have been gleaned from books, magazines, persoanl knowledge, work on the machines in questions, and other fellow commodore users happy to share interesting bits of semi- useless knowledge concerning the CBM systems. This installment consists of two parts, the December 1993 edition complete with answers and the January 1994 edition without answers. Each new issue of Commodore Hacking Magazine will contain more questions, as well as answers to the previous issue's questions. Each new edition is also posted every month on the 12th of the month on the Usenet newsgroup comp.sys.cbm. Winners will be announced on the newsgroup, and prizes may be awarded. For anyone wishing to submit answers from this article, please email your responses with question numbers preceeding each answer to : brain@msen.com The answers to this edition will be posted on the 12th of February in comp.sys.cbm with the next edition of questions. Have fun trying to answer the questions and feel free to send me a note with new questions. I can always use them. [Ed's Note: In addition, the mailserver that I have setup for C=Hacking will make provisions to allow individuals to retrieve the newest set of questions and last month's answers. Currently not implemented, it should be available soon. Details in the next issue. Also due to C= Hacking being published fairly irregularly and not every month the column here will contain answers to the last issue of C=Hacking's questions and have new questions for the month that it's released in.] ----------------------------------------------------------------------------- Here are the answers to the 10 questions in Commdore Triva Edition #1 for December 1993. [that were posted on comp.sys.cbm] Q $000) Commodore started out into computing with the PET series of computers. I am not sure if the first ones had PET emblem, but nonetheless, What does P E T stand for? A $000) Personal Electronic Transactor Since the acronym was made up before the expansion, the following are also valid: Personal Electronic Translator Peddle's Ego Trip Q $001) Commodore planned to manufacture a successor series to the successful Commodore 64 home computer. Both were intended to be Business machines. We all know this resulted in the Commodore Plus 4, but what were the machines originally called and what was the difference between the two? A $001) the 364, which had, among other things, a larger Plus 4 style case that housed the regular keyboard plus a numeric keypad. the 264 turned into the Plus 4, with 64K of RAm. We will never know much more about the 364, since it got scrapped. Q $002) How much free memory does a Vic-20 have (unexpanded)? A $002) Oooh! There are many answers for this. The VIC has 3583 bytes of RAM for BASIC The VIC has 4096 bytes of RAM for ML The VIC has 5120 bytes of RAM. 4K of RAM + 1K for Video. Q $003) What early 80's Commodore software company had a Light Bulb as a company logo? A $003) Skyles Electric Works. The Vic-20 came out with a few peripherals I want the model numbers for the : Q $004) Disk Drive A $004) VIC-1540 - Same as 1541, only faster serial spped. Q $005) Cassette Player A $005) VIC-1530 Q $006) Printer A $006) VIC 1515, which, by a miscommunication, could only use 7.5" paper. Evidently, someone thought 8.5" meant full width of paper w/ perfs! This printer was quickly supplanted and overtaken by the 1525, which should own this title in the first place! Q $007) 16 K Ram Expansion. A $007) VIC-1111 Q $008) Commodore Introduced 3 printers that used the same printer mechanism. What are the model numbers. A $008) MPS 802 (Square Dots, Serial), CBM 1526 (Round Dots, Serial), PET 4023 (Round Dots, IEEE-488). Q $009) What is the diferences between the printers in #9 A $009) MPS 802 (Square Dots, Serial), CBM 1526 (Round Dots, Serial), PET 4023 (Round Dots, IEEE-488). ----------------------------------------------------------------------------- Here are the questions for Commodore Trivia Edition #2 for January 1994. Q $00A) What was the Code-Name of the Amiga while in Development? Q $00B) What is Lord British's Real Name (The creator of the Ultima Series)? Q $00C) What is the POKE location and value that will fry an early model PET? Q $00D) On the Plus 4 and C-16, the VIC chip was replaced with the TED chip. What does TED stand for? Q $00E) Commodore Produced a Letter Quality Printer in North America (maybe elsewhere) for the Commdore Serial Line. Name it. Q $00F) What is the version of DOS in the 1541? Q $010) What is the Version of BASIC in the Plus 4 and the C-16? Q $011) What are the nicknames of the original three custom Amiga chips? Q $012) Commodore produced a 64 in a PET case. What is its name and model number? Q $013) Commodore sold a 1 megabyte floppy disk drive in a 1541 case. Give the model number. Q $014) What does GCR stand for? Q $015) Commdore produced a drive to accompany the Plus 4 introduction. Give the model number. Q $016) What does SID stand for? Q $017) What does the acronym KERNAL stand for? Q $018) What version of DOS does the 1571 have? Q $019) What other two Commdore Disk Drives share the same DOS version number as the 1571? Q $01A) How many files will the 1571 hold? Q $10B) How many files will the 1541 hold? Q $01C) What did Commodore make right before entering the computer market? Q $01D) Commodore introduced an ill-fated 4 color plotter. Give the model number. Q $01E) Some formats of CP/M write disks using the MFM format. What does MFM stand for? Q $01F) On the Commodore 128, the user manual left two commands undocumented. One works, and the other gives a not-implemented error. Name both commands and what each one does or does not do. Some are easy, some are hard, try your hand at it. Jim Brain brain@msen.com ============================================================================= InterNet Resources for the Commodore 64 / 128 V1.0 by Craig Taylor (duck@pembvax1.pembroke.edu) [This article is placed into public domain by the author. Copying encouraged] The Internet Let me start this article with a quote by another author that everyone should heed when dealing with the InterNet: "One warning is perhaps in order---this territory we are entering can become a fantastic time-sink. Hours can slip by, people can come and go, and you'll be locked into Cyberspace. Remember to do your work! With that, I welcome you, the new user, to The Net." brendan@cs.widener.edu - Author, Zen and the Art of the Internet What is the InterNet? What exactly is the InterNet? Imagine if you will, when you were a kid stringing wires between houses in your neighborhood so that you could talk with the kids that lived beside you. You could talk to those beside you but not the ones that lived across town. Now, suppose that you wanted to relay a message to a buddy across town. The only feasible way would be to send a message to the guy next door; then have him send it to the correct person. This is the basic system of the Internet. Computers connected to other computers that are connected to others. In the above paragrph communication was limited because of geography - how close individuals were. The InterNet system; while geography does play a factor, relies more on how the sites grew up and were established as to how messages will get passed back and forth. There are also other networks hooked up to the InterNet that provide auxilary services to their local group of computers. One large one is BITNET and UUCP. Various bbs's also carry items from the InterNet such as the BitNet news. In addition, online services such as Genie, Compuserve, and others offer "gate-ways" or ways of getting access to the resources of the InterNet. Access To The InterNet Gaining Access to the InterNet There are several ways of gaining access to the InterNet. Your local college may be your best low-cost opportunity. Typically, if you are a student or faculty or staff, you may qualify to have an account that allows you to access all the InterNet facilities described above. If you don't fall into any of these categories your next best bet is an online service such as America Online, Genie, or Compuserve as these all support what is known as an InterNet gateway - allowing you t o access the InterNet through t hem. (At this time, I don't believe Prodigy has an InterNet gateway - if I'm wrong I'm sure I'll get tons of mail. Other online services also exist - I've only listed what I consider the "primary" ones.) Once you've gotten access to the InterNet you may be asking "Okay, I know what the InterNet _can_ give me - how do I do it?" Unfortunately, because the InterNet is run on differant computer systems this will vary from system to system. Your best bet would be to examine the documentation and help screens associated with the online service or college's facilities. Study them over until you can quote them backwards (well, not quite that much) - Study them over until you understand what they are saying. Also, having someone who is already experienced with the InterNet aid you in your explorations is a great help. What is E-MAIL? There are numerous individuals using the InterNet each day. Each is also able to write the other through the use of Electronic Mail or, as it's commonly called "e-mail". To send a message to me you'd use your mail program (the actual procedure varies depending on what type of machine you use) and tell it to send the message to my user name, "duck" at my site that I login at - (currently going to Pembroke State University) hence "pembvax1.pembroke.edu". So the full address with an "@" sign the computer needs to use to know how to seperate the computer name and the user name is "duck@pembvax1.pembroke.edu". It's easy to talk to somebody in Mexico, Germany, Australia with this method and it's quicker than the U.S. Postal system (which, on the InterNet you'll see referred to as Snail Mail (or s-mail) due to it's slow delivery time compared to e-mail). Projects, Questions, Answers, Ideas and general chit-chat on how the family is doing, etc can be relayed over the InterNet. There are also numerous abbreviations and notations that are used in E-Mail. Some of them are: ttyal8r - Talk to you later rtfm - Read the *uckin' manual imho - In My Humble Opinion rotfl - Rolls on the Floor Laughing lol - Laughs Out Loud. l8r - Later ;-) - (winks) :-) - (smile) :-( - (frowns) There are _many_ _many_ more - you can also find a huge list of the smiley faces (turn your head sideways and look at the ones in parenthesis above) on the InterNet. You may also hear the phrase "my e-mail bounced". What this means is that your message, much like a bounced check, did not work right and it was returned to your account. Typically this happens because of incorrect addresses, or an incorrect user name. Email Servers Another large way of getting information is from individuals running what are E-Mail servers from their accounts or from specific accounts. From Email servers you may request certain files; catalogs of programs that are availble for request; send messages to be distributed to other individuals and automatically subscribe yourself to the mailing list for new items. The only Email Server specifically designed for the Commodore computers is one ran by the author. It major intent is that of distributing the Commodore Hacking magazine as well as programs that are in the magazine. To get help on how to use it send a message to the author in the following format: To: duck@pembvax1.pembroke.edu Subj: MAILSERV Body of message: HELP This specific mailserver is ran twice a day so you should get your reply within approximately 12 hours. Please be sure to have a subject line of "MAILSERV". If anyone knows of any other Email Servers existing for the Commodore computers please let the author know. NewsGroups One of the primary purposes of the InterNet is for educational research and discussion. For this purpose, there are currently over 2000 newsgroups established dealing with a wide range of social, politicial, science, computer and educational topics. Some of these range to inane, whimsical, to practical and useful. Two of these for the Commodore 64/128 line of computers are: comp.sys.cbm comp.binaries.cbm The names for the newsgroups start with a short abbreviation such as "comp" for computers, "sci" for science, "bio" for biology, etc... The second group of letters stand for the type of newsgroup "sys for system, binaries for binaries etc..." while the third describes it better - "cbm" in this case for Commodore Business Machines. The newsgroup, Comp.Sys.Cbm supports discussion about anything under the sun involving the Commodore 8 bit line of computers (and lately, even talking about the old old ancient calculators that Commodore mae that might not have even been 8 bit). Comp.Binaries.Cbm allows programs to be "posted" or made available to everyone who wishes them. There are programs available that will let you take the "encrypted" text-only version of the program that you see on the screen and convert them into the correct binary p rogram. Basically the rules for newsgroups are: 1) Enjoy yourself, 2) Don't harass others and 3) Try to stay on topic. Newsgroups are read by many many people - typically you'll get a response to an inquiry within only an hour or so - sometimes even sooner. But because they're read by so many people chatter or "babble" as it's known, is also discouraged. Don't hesitate to post any questions, concerns or comments but make sure in each message that you post that you have a reason to post. So What's Out There? So why should you be interested in the Internet? Imagine, if you will, being able to ask questions to numerous indiv