• Commodore Free Magazine, Issue 73 - Part 11

    From Stephen Walsh@39:901/280 to All on Sat Dec 14 22:28:40 2013

    can once again be put into the soul of the Commodore, a machine that
    supposedly lost its first place in the world over twenty years ago? Lenard thinks that out of all the computers in existence, both present and future, Commodore still possesses a soul; a soul of chips and resistors, yes, but a soul nonetheless. Lenard hopes to reach a new generation of users and readers of all the hope and glory that made computing the commodity that it is today. It seems that the drama and fun is in the finished product; let's put the
    drama back into the use of the machine.

    With all this talk of bringing fiction back to the Commodore, are there any ideas brewing in the head of this fifty year old comedian? The answer to that question can be found in two treasure troves: One is the already published Commodore works of Lenard Roach, and the second can be found only in a
    paradigm format on the Commodore desktop of the old man. However, with some grace, Lenard was willing to share with readers of Commodore Free what is
    going on so far.

    "Run/Stop-Restore" - Lenard's first ever book, solely printed and published on a Commodore machine, contains a combination of stories, data, and software reviews that were found in the pages of both "Ryte Bytes" and "The Secret Organization of Commodore Users" newsletters over the span of five years from 1995 to 2000. Here you get to taste what Lenard was trying to reach; the Commodore market with more than just history and data. "Run/Stop-Restore" is a potpourri of Commodore fun and information for readers of all ages. This book only resides in the hands of very few people in its original form, but thanks to computer advances, a .PDF copy of this manuscript exists now on Lenard's website (lenardroach.com) and through Tim's Tech Shop of Missouri. If you want to see what publishing on a Commodore would look like, then please plan on purchasing the .PDF copy of the book.

    "RUN/STOP-RESTORE: 10TH ANNIVERSARY EDITION"

    Why a re-release of the first copy? Well, for starters, this is not an exact replica of "Run/Stop-Restore," but an updated version with stories added as well as stories taken out. According to Lenard, only 60% of the first book resides in the second edition, which makes "Run/Stop-Restore: 10th Anniversary Edition" its own separate animal; more of a "son of " than a 100% reprint.
    This book is much more accessible to the general public with dealers being amazon.com, authorhourse.com, lenardroach.com, and your favourite book dealer. "Run/Stop-Restore: 10th Anniversary Edition" should also be available on
    e-book at your local online dealer.

    "A Post Holiday Commodore Mystery" - This story only saw partial daylight in the pages of "The Secret Organization of Commodore Users" newsletter as it was being published in sections by Lenard as each part was completed. In this little tale, it is late February and Santa Claus comes knocking on the door of the apartment where Captain L resides. His reindeer have been stolen and the jolly representation of the holidays is looking for help from the Commodore using Captain. A quick search on Q-Link shows that the reindeer are up for slaughter to the highest bidder, so it is a race against time to find the missing animals and bring them back to the North Pole before they end up deer jerky in someone's refrigerator. Lenard adds twists and turns to the story as it unfolds and he has to keep track of all the data on his trusty portable Commodore SX-64. Will the Captain find the reindeer in time? The only way to find out is to get busy and knock on Lenard's website and tell him to get cracking and get back onto the GeoWrite and finish it! Kids will love the references to Santa and adults will love the mystery and intrigue that unfolds as the story progresses. This story was a favourite during the short history
    of "The Secret Organization of Commodore Users" existence.

    "UNTITLED"

    This work, still in paradigm format, follows the adventure of Steve Vector,
    all around globe trotter and fun seeker, but he also has a secret mission - to smuggle Bibles and other literature into lands unfriendly to the gospel. On a stopover in mainland China, Vector is caught by the police and challenged that he is bringing propaganda into the country to subvert the government. The only thing Steve possesses is five, blue collared 3.5" Commodore DSDD disks. Can Steve recover the disks and get them into the hands of the Chinese underground church before the police can access the data, which would incriminate Steve
    and make him a permanent prisoner of China? This is a must read when finished, so follow Lenard's website for developments on this and other things he is working on, both Commodore and non-Commodore.

    As just shown here in the few above paragraphs, there is still hope and life left in getting more material starring the Commodore computer out to the public; what can you do to bring Commodore fun back to the forefront?


    *************************************
    INTERVIEW WITH COMMODORE FREE EDITOR
    By Commodore Free Readers and
    Nigel Parker
    *************************************

    Nigel editor www.commodorefree.com

    "I normally don't do these things (although yes I have had a couple for other magazines) and can't see why anyone would have the slightest interest in me; however as so many people emailed me with questions and still do, both about
    me and the magazine! I decided I would hopefully put the records straight, answer all the questions at once about Commodore Free and add a little insider information that I may never have shared before"

    These questions have been pieced together from all the ones I received, they were arranged into some sort of loose order and then were read out to me, my responses were recorded and typed up, some of the questions order was altered to help with better the flow of the interview and of course depending on
    my answers some of the questions were moved in order.

    To anyone who did ask me question, thanks for taking the time to write in! and I hope if I didn't personally answerer your question you find the information you require within this text. Although I am sure I did answer all the
    questions asked of me and emailed, but just in case...................

    - - - - - - - - - -

    Q. When you interview people for Commodore Free you start with an all-about
    you question; so to continue the tradition within commodore free, can you please introduce yourself to your own readers?

    Well ok you all know that I am called Nigel and edit this very magazine Commodore Free, I live in the U.K. and I have a let's say fondness or
    affection for Commodore computers, this all stems back to when I used to read about computers in the newsagent (I bet we all did this didn't we?), I used to buy various magazine and look at the pictures, and droll over the text (although that could have been the other way around now I think about it) I always wanted to own a computer for myself. Then out of the blue A friend of
    my fathers had purchased a VIC 20 computer; so me and dad went to see the machine and if it could be related (in some vague way)to school work, and help with my spelling and maths (ha ha of course it failed to do this on both counts)

    Most people said in those times if you didn't own a computer you would be missing out, and not helping the child's schooling progress, and as a consequence of course your child's learning would suffer, maybe, but I just remember the games!

    We went to my father's friend's house where he had setup the machine (hooked
    it up to a television and plugged in the tape drive), my father's friend attempted to load a game but failed miserably, then I took over and I still remember the day just like it was yesterday, we loaded Blitz and played it for some time until I managed to land the plane and the little man got out and waved.

    I know the game has been done to death now, but back then it was and I still think is a great game!

    We then loaded some sort of database and that was enough to convince my
    farther that this was indeed a good machine to own, so co

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