• Finally getting started

    From Daniel@1:340/7 to All on Sun Sep 8 17:48:54 2019
    Well I am two weeks before my connector arrives for my newly acquired c64. It sits in its original box on the guest bed until then. Meanwhile, I've been pouring over basic and assembly ebooks. On
    youtube i was trying to get a c64 emulator working for kubuntu when i happened upon a video recommendation for something i've already seen. For kicks i thought i'd rewatch it. 8 bit guy did a
    review of the c64 mini.

    So i'm watching it and, lo and behold, i noticed that it comes with basic!

    I know gamestop carries the device and its on sale so i ran out there a bit ago and picked it up. I'm gleefully sitting at my computer desk with the mini sitting behind my normal monitor and got
    a usb keyboard connected to it. and now i'm able to learn basic and assembly on the 'real thing' without pulling it out of the box.

    now i can take my time obtaining the parts i've been eagerly waiting to buy.

    wish i had thought of this a month ago.
    Daniel Traechin
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    * Origin: Digital Distortion: digdist.synchro.net (1:340/7)
  • From Andreas Kohlbach@3:770/3 to Daniel on Mon Sep 9 16:16:38 2019
    On Sun, 08 Sep 2019 17:48:54 +1300, Daniel wrote:

    Well I am two weeks before my connector arrives for my newly acquired c64.
    It
    sits in its original box on the guest bed until then. Meanwhile, I've been pouring over basic and assembly ebooks.

    I mentioned "the bible" of 6502 (even if the C64 has a 6510) assembly
    language by Rodnay Zaks. The cheapest used book on Amazon is less than $7 CAD.

    It's also available at archive.org in PDF format for free. Since it's
    still there I assume no copyright has been broken.

    Email me otherwise.

    On youtube i was trying to get a c64 emulator working for kubuntu when
    i happened upon a video recommendation for something i've already
    seen. For kicks i thought i'd rewatch it. 8 bit guy did a review of the
    c64 mini.

    So i'm watching it and, lo and behold, i noticed that it comes with basic!

    It's an emulator. I don't like these minis, along with other retro consoles <https://news-commentaries.blogspot.com/2018/04/retro-consoles.html>. They usually have an ARM processor and software to emulate a system.

    Since they are only emulators you could just had installed the VICE
    emulator on your PC/Mac. It's even better then the mini because it has a built-in "monitor" program let's you editing assembly code <http://vice-emu.sourceforge.net/>. If I fancy to write an assembly
    language I use this. Another big advantage is that on executing your
    program crashes on the mini and the real thing all is lost. In the VICE emulator the program is still there and you can edit the code.
    --
    Andreas

    Some random thoughts
    https://news-commentaries.blogspot.com/

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  • From Daniel@1:340/7 to Andreas Kohlbach on Wed Sep 11 09:51:01 2019
    Re: Re: Finally getting started
    By: Andreas Kohlbach to Daniel on Mon Sep 09 2019 04:16 pm

    I mentioned "the bible" of 6502 (even if the C64 has a 6510) assembly language by Rodnay Zaks. The cheapest used book on Amazon is less than $7
    CAD.

    I'm reading that book as we speak. Great suggestion

    Since they are only emulators you could just had installed the VICE

    I tried vice for a full 5 hours, and can't get it to launch on my system. I can save what i do on th emini on a flash drive. either way, i'm learning on something and it was a quick and easy
    solution. and on top of that it has tons of games too. not bad for $25.

    anyway, i'm having a great time.

    meanwhile my video cable finally came in for y actual c64. now i have to troubleshoot why its not outputting clear video. oh joy.

    that's a task for the weekend.

    Daniel Traechin
    --- SBBSecho 3.09-Win32
    * Origin: Digital Distortion: digdist.synchro.net (1:340/7)
  • From Andreas Kohlbach@3:770/3 to Daniel on Wed Sep 11 18:15:06 2019
    On Wed, 11 Sep 2019 09:51:01 +1300, Daniel wrote:

    Re: Re: Finally getting started
    By: Andreas Kohlbach to Daniel on Mon Sep 09 2019 04:16 pm

    I mentioned "the bible" of 6502 (even if the C64 has a 6510) assembly language by Rodnay Zaks. The cheapest used book on Amazon is less than $7
    CAD.

    I'm reading that book as we speak. Great suggestion

    It's nice to hear.

    Since they are only emulators you could just had installed the VICE

    I tried vice for a full 5 hours, and can't get it to launch on my system. I
    can
    save what i do on th emini on a flash drive. either way, i'm learning on something and it was a quick and easy
    solution. and on top of that it has tons of games too. not bad for $25.

    Ooooooh, I forgot to mention. On some systems (Linux, MAC?) the kernal-,
    basic- and charset- (character set) roms are not distributed which VICE
    needs to launch. As I remember the Windows version of VICE has them
    included though for reasons I cannot understand.

    To find out if that is your problem, open a terminal and just type x64 to
    see if it complaints about not having them available.

    I'd be surprised if you use Windows and not get it running. Check (Linux
    paths, might be similar in windows or MAC OS) check if you have any files
    in ../vice/data/C64/. If not, try to find basic, chargen and kernal or
    send me an email for help.
    --
    Andreas

    My random thoughts and comments
    https://news-commentaries.blogspot.com/

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