ommodore machines; I decided to try the machine outside the door; as I
knew this was working. And just to make sure it was; I took the machine down stairs and plugged it into the TV. in the living room.

Once connected ;"boom" picture came straight up without problems. I picked up my C64 from the living room and took it back upstairs to the "Man cave", connected it all back up and flicked the switch; "nothing" after pondering on the problem for some time; I started thinking about loyalties people have to machines. I mean you have Apple users who own iPhones, iPads and Macs and wouldn't buy anything else, they often hate windows machines and of course Microsoft. You have Microsoft people who love the upgradability of the Pc clone; and can often over look small crashes (not that apple machines don't crash that is) heck even my "generic Android phone" has had its moments; where I fixed it with a power off and back on again!

Then I thought back to school where people fought over Commodore and Sinclair (mine is faster, yeh but mine has better music and graphics, technically mine is superior because....etc...) and sometimes people are blinded by buying into one technology or even a brand. I must admit; I was swayed to a BBC micro as well; although I never actually persuaded my parent to buy me one of these;
not as well as a Commodore 64 and a Vic. One of my friends had a BBC, and a copy of Elite, we played the game to death, and I still think it's the best version of Elite ever released.

Now don't get me wrong; I loved the Vic and the Commodore 64 but when it was time to upgrade; I looked over the Atari St range of machines, and it was a tough call; but for me the Amiga 500 won, (now that is a long story as to why) the same happened when I was upgrading to a 4000 I went for this in favour of the Atari falcon, nut again it was a close call. However when Tempest came out for the Atari Jaguar and then doom! I was very swayed toward this console over the Cd32; in the end however I couldn't decide between the two and bought neither machine! So really I am not a True heads down Commodore user; and I know various machines have faults, anyway after dwelling on this I realised something! Something rather stupid, and to do with faults!

We had an electrical fault; and they changed the main feed to the house
because it was live! When they did; they had to power off the fuse box or consumer panel, when it was powered back on; the lights in the kitchen didn't work because they had "tripped out"! the fuse had clicked off because it was very sensitive, clicking it back on caused them to flicker to life. So I went down and checked the switch marked "Man Cave sockets" on the distribution panel, and it was one of those moments Homer Simpson has where he shouts "DOH" I flicked on the switch and ran back upstairs to see 3 machines and TVs instantly power on and flicker into life, I then opened a drawer and found my long lost Commodore 16 right next to a Commodore calculator! And put on my Commodore T shirt!

I may not be a True Commodore man; and have swayed to the black arts; as some used to say; but, heck, was I pleased I had these commodore machine working right now in my cave. I sat looking at the screens with the warm glow of the various colours wafting over me; and picked out a game, I typed load "*",8,1 and the machine sprang into action, the music pumped out and the screen
loading picture changed. Man you just cant beat this feeling and you just
don't get this on modern machines whatever badge they have on them!

Nigel
Editor
Commodore Free
www.commodorefree.com


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COMMODORE FREE E-COVER TAPE #4
By Richard Bayliss
*************************************

Did you enjoy issue 67's cover tape. We had some less exclusive material, but do our best to keep the tape going. We have two exclusive games, courtesy with Alf Yngve and Christian Siege. A playable preview of an upcoming
RGCD+Psytronik Software game title. There is also a very handy utility on the cover tape as well, which we have found on an old Public Domain utility disk.

While we are on the subject of the Commodore Free E-Covertape. As you may
know, these days it is very difficult to find new exclusive material for the C64 cover tape. If you are a programmer, or created anything using any particular game creator, without any form of copyright infringement, please send us your submission. We will be happy to master the program on to the
cover tape for you.

Finally, you may have noticed we have a brand new feature has been added to Thunderload - Series Six, with huge thanks to whoever requested this option. The loader now has a special "Load complete, press space" message for after loading has successfully finished. We have also increased the loading speed,
to a possible high speed. This is only for a trial period. If the loader speed fails a lot on native C64 tape decks, please let me know at richardbayliss.c64(a)gmail.com and I'll decrease the loading speed for the
next cover tape.

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GRAYHAWK 2013

(C)2013 TND Games and Alf Yngve

Game design: Alf Yngve
Graphics: Alf Yngve
Front End code: Richard Bayliss
Music: Richard Bayliss
Title screen logo: Johan Janssen

Alf Yngve has kindly produced us exclusively for Commodore Free this nicely polished Shoot Em Up Construction Kit title. Alf has been well known for many of his classic SEUCK titles, and his amazingly clever tricks for his games. However; Grayhawk 2013 is yet another of his promising games. This time it is
a vertical scrolling blaster, inspired by Firebird Software's Warhawk (Originally created by Proteus). It is the year 2167 and planet Earth is under a major threat of an alien invasion. That's right - an alien invasion. According to our satellites, aliens are gathering forces on various asteroids.

They are even gathering resources to build a deadly weapon. That of which is a huge threat to not only Earth, but the entire solar system. We have sent out Grayhawk ships into space, to find out what is going on - and we have discovered, the aliens are maintaining sources to build a huge intergalactic bomb. One of which could make a huge impact on all ofour planets.

As a Grayhawk pilot, you have been assigned to fly through each giant
asteroid, shutting down all alien defences. Simply by zapping lasers at them. Unfortunately you will not be alone in each asteroid. The aliens are also
ready to do battle against you. Shoot all aliens in sight, or try to avoid them. The aliens are that hostile, they will try to fry your ship. Can Earth
be rescued or will the entire universe be penetrated by the alien's mega weapon?

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SHEEPOID DX DEMO

(C)2013 Psytronik Software and RGCD

Programming: Richard Bayliss
Graphics: Trevor Storey
Sound: Richard Bayliss
Music: Richard Bayliss

Usually we are putting full games on to the cover tape. This time, we are
happy to bring you an exclusive playable demo of a brand new game I have been writing for the RGCD cartridge and Psytronik Software. It is a game called "Sheepoid DX". For those of you who remember Sheepoid, this game is a deluxe version of the crazy game. This game was of course inspired by Laser Zone by the Yaktastic Jeff Minter. This demo version of Sheepoid DX features smarter graphics and sounds, and also 4 fun levels with really nice in game graphics and effects. The type of effect you would expect with a Psychedelic game. Unlike the original Sheepoid, there are no silly quotes at the top of the screen. This was to make way for the clever warp laser effects for where the aliens enter the screen.

Alien presence has been spotted down on Earth. It looked like a harmless space craft at first, but we wanted to be sure. So sent two sheep (the sheepoid)
into
--- CrashWrite 2.0
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