Why the Commodore 64 Was Better Than the PC-XT

When I was a teenager, I had two main computers - a Commodore 64, and a PC-XT. They were both color, they both had sound, they both used 5 1/4" floppies, but the PC-XT was pretty much only used for word processing and compatibility with the computers at school. In fact, I was working on making the word processor on the PC useless as I was writing my own in BASIC on the C-64 called "Peachword"




Yup, I wrote my own software. The one that I focussed a lot of my time on was my Address Filer. I wrote 4 versions of it, and was eventually going to integrate Peachword into it. I wrote my own disk catalogging software and wanted to integrate everything. I just wasn't happy with any of the pre-bundled stuff that I found.

But the fact that I knew how to program in BASIC isn't what really made the C-64 stand out, since I had GW-BASIC for the PC-XT. The C-64 had much better color, better graphics, and better sound than the PC. It also didn't need a boot disk to start up. This is what made it the most fun computer I've ever used!

I got introduced to some unbelievable stuff when I made contact with others who also had a C-64. One of the programs from them was called "drive music". It plays music using the stepper motor in the floppy drive!

I just recently aquired (another) Commodore 64, but this one is in perfect working condition. I blew up the last three C-64s I owned because I was using a defective fastload cartridge made by Alienware. I've finally trashed the cartridge because I decided fast load times weren't worth the price of finding another working C-64.

Since I now have another working computer, I was able to make the following videos. Here's one of the floppy drive playing music (don't worry, I have an extra drive if by some chance I fuck this one up playing music on it):



Apparently, there is also a piece of software that lets you compose your own drive music! I don't have the time to work on this, so I will probably never try it.

The great thing about having another C-64 is that I have access to all kinds of cool software from the internet! I made myself a cable that will connect the C-64 to a parallel port on a PC. The software I needed to copy software to the 1541 floppy drive runs in DOS, so I needed a computer that supported real DOS because Windows 2000 and beyond don't like letting you play with the parellel port. So I used my laptop running Windows 98. But first, I needed some floppies.




I used some old Wordperfect floppies, since Wordperfect sucks balls anyway. But the C-64 drive is only single-sided, so I had to make "flippy disks" by putting another notch in them. For those who have never had to do this, here's a tutorial:

First, line up the floppies back to back. Then take a sharpie and mark where the notch is on the un-notched floppy.




Then, take a GOOD single hole-puncher (not those shitty dollar store ones, you'll destroy it - yeah I already tried) and punch a half-moon where your marking is.




Voila! You now have a flippy disk! They used to sell actual punches for this very purpose, but hole punchers were cheaper and more universal.




*NOTE: You can only use double-sided double density floppies in the C-64 drive. You can usually identify them by an enforcement ring glued around the middle hole on the disk. High Density floppies don't have this ring, and they won't format in the C-64 drive (yeah, I tried that too).

Then, I was able to transfer the software I found on the net to the floppy drive.




Here's a couple of pics of one thing that I downloaded. The first is a slideshow of Britney Spears. It's just odd seeing this on a C-64.




You can also get porn for the C-64, but I'll leave that up to you to check out. You can see what C-64 porn looks like at http://girls.c64.org/ (I love the pic on the enter page!)

One thing that was cool about the C-64 was the demo scene. Anyone who cracked a copyrighted game usually put their own little demo or title page as the loader. However, a lot of these people also made entire disks of demos and had competitions to show off their programming abilities.

I used to have one that played a sample of "Holiday Rap" by MC Miker G & DJ Sven. After searching the net for a copy, I came across other demos that were far more spectacular. Here's one that has quickly become my favorite:



BTW, I had to use my DVD recorder to capture the video and then encode it to put it on Youtube. Take my advice, don't buy ATI video capture cards. They're pieces of junk. I've had nothing but problems trying to hook the C-64 up to it (and digitize some movies), but that's for another blog. Just take my advice and you won't be disappointed.


Anyway back on topic. All these reasons plus more that I haven't listed are why I enjoyed the C-64. For those of you wondering if there's anything else being done for the C-64, I can tell you there is. You can connect the C-64 to an IDE hard drive or CD-ROM, and others have even made it possible to hook it up to a network via ethernet, and someone even developed an internet web browser for it! I'm REALLY tempted to hook my baby up to the information superhighway just to say I did it. If I do, you can be guaranteed I'll be writing about it here!

CD Review: Over The Rainbow - Gay Classics

Now, before I start my review of this album, I will make it clear that I'm 100% straight and I love women :)

Now that I cleared that up, here's the story. I came across this CD about a week ago. It was sitting with the usual crap on the CD shelves at Value Village. Of course, the title caught my curiousity. The first thing that I noticed was the naked dude's hairy ass on the cover. Looks like he's fucking the roof of a barn. What an unusual CD! It's not often I see CDs with naked dudes on them. I put the CD back on the shelf and walked out of the store.

For a few days, it bothered me that I didn't buy it. It was a unique find, and I'm just a sucker for buying something stupid like this. My logic was that I have enough useless CDs at home and I don't need another one. But then, I remembered my first experience listening to the song "He Wantz It" by a rapper called Gangsta Fag. I was literally rolling on the floor with laughter! It was enough to convince me to go back to the store a couple days later and pick it up.

So, I popped the disc in for the drive home...... I was a bit confused. I expected to hear some lispy guy singing about his boyfriend or something, but I heard the voice of a female singing instead. The song wasn't even about lesbian love! I flipped through a few more tracks and heard more songs by female artists, singing about some guy that they love. My first thought is this CD isn't very gay, it's just a compilation of songs.

When I got home, I looked into it a bit more. Apparently, these are all songs that are/were just popular in gay clubs. In other words, the music on this CD is okay for straight people to like :). Also, there's an entire SERIES of these albums!

Also I was shocked at how much this sucker's going for on Amazon.ca! I now know what I can sell if I need some extra beer money.

So in conclusion, I give this CD a big thumbs down; one star out of five. The cover is VERY misleading to the type of music on this CD. I was expecting songs about men orgys or having sex with a straight dude, kinda like the Gangsta Fag stuff, but it's just plain old dancy music. I hope the artists know about this CD because if they don't, there's gonna be lots of shit flying!

The Digital Recorder Drunks

This was an interesting find, and it's even interesting how I came across it. I was driving down a nearby back lane, and I came across some CD Jewel cases in the trash. Now, these are the larger kind which can have front and back inserts. Of course I jumped at the opportunity to grab them, since the CD-Rs I buy don't come with them (anymore) by default. These cases were in a CD holder which was sitting in a box. So I grabbed the whole CD holder, and I noticed something else that was sitting in the box. It looked like a garage door opener, but a bit more of an examination informed me that it was something else. So I grabbed it anyway and figured I'd look at it more when I got home.

So anyway, I got it home and took a closer look. It looked like a digital voice recorder which is used for recording memos and things. To verify, I looked it up online and sure enough, it's a digital recorder - an RCA Model RP-5810A. It will record for 10 minutes, up to 99 tracks. Pretty cool! I couldn't really understand why someone would throw something like this away, unless it was broken.

So, I put two AA batteries in, and it turned on! I pressed play, and was able to hear what the previous owner(s) had recorded onto it. Basically, it's a bunch of drunken idiots who had nothing better to do than cuss, sing, and talk about each other's "corn pipe".

The unfortunate thing about this digital recorder is it didn't come with an audio output jack on it. So I took it to the garage and installed one! And for you the audience, I have taken the liberty of putting the audio onto the internet for all to enjoy :)

Click here to listen!

4 Track Player Update

Hey all! I know I haven't been posting for the past while, but I haven't forgotten about this blog. I've just been really busy because it's warm outside, and I've been enjoying the summer doing other things. The 4-track player works great! I had to replace the belts in it. The stupid thing I did was I ran the outputs into the sound card in my computer, and thus blew the input on one of the channels.

But I was able to listen to Judas Priest quite nicely. Now I just need to track down some REAL 4-track tapes.

Also, I've been coming across some great stuff to post about. Stay tuned and when I get some time (likely when the warm weather turns cold), I'll be posting more unusual things that are in my posession.

My "New" Shiny 4-Track Player

I was out and about browsing for new music the other day. Of course, I found some. I can always find new music if I make an honest effort. I went to Cash Converters (a really neat + tidy pawn shop) where I bought 4 CDs and got the 5th one free. I went around the store to see if I could find anything interesting or unique. I came across something that I never though I would find in Canada. It's a Muntz 4-Track Player. Now, if you know nothing about these units, they pre-date the 8-track tape. If you know nothing about 8-track tapes, they pre-date MP3s. Nuff said.



I was surprised that this unit (likely made in the 1960s) was in such nice shape. It's covered in what looks to be chrome, and it was only ten bucks! This is a unit that mounts under your dash board. Even the mounting bracket is chrome! Needless to say, I bought it.

Now, as with most things I buy used, it comes with its own share of problems. First of all, it doesn't have a connector plug with cables so I can hook the speakers and power up. Second, I don't own any 4-track tapes. Well, I did once when I was 7 years old. But back then, I didn't know what the heck it was. It didn't sit in the 8-track player right, and it didn't play. So, I promptly destroyed it.

Other than that one time, I have never seen any other 4-track tapes. Since I need a tape to test how well this unit works, I decided to make one out of an 8-track tape. I have enough shitty tapes laying around, so I plucked one of my favorites:



I'm a huge fan of Roger Whittaker, and I have great respect for his work. Unfortunately, the track arrangement on 4-tracks is different than 8-tracks. I won't get into too many technical details, but I needed to record music on programs 1 and 3, while erasing programs 2 and 4. This should essentially give me a somewhat decent tape that will play on the 4-track player.

Now, since I couldn't keep Roger's wonderful lullabys for testing purposes, I decided to record another one of my favorite bands over top:



I took the time to record four Judas Priest songs: Screaming for Vengeance, You've Got Another Thing Coming, Desert Plains, and Living After Midnight.



After recording the tape, I had to give Roger's album a new title:




Now, to get a bit on the technical side, a 4 track player has its pinch roller built into the machine which pops up at the moving of a lever, and pushes the tape against the capstan in order to move the tape. An 8-track has the pinch roller built into the cartridge itself, so you just pop the tape in and do nothing. For this 8-track to work in a 4-track player, I removed the pinch roller and used my trusty dremel tool to cut a hole in the bottom of the cartridge.



I buggered this one up once by removing the post to hold the tape in place, so I had to destroy another 8-track: "Dick Nolan sings Folsom Prison Blues and other Johnny Cash Songs".



Just as a side note, I chose a black cartridge because the black plastic seems to hold up much better than other colors (ie yellow).

After putting my new 4-track Roger Whittaker album together, I tried it out in the 4-track machine. It stays nicely in place, and the pinch roller engages flawlessly.



Stay tuned for Part 2 when I actually do some work on the machine.