Академический Документы
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THE ART OF FLOPPY DISK SLEEVES · INTERVIEW: FABIAN HERTEL · TAPECART · FORMER DISK
MANUFACTURERS · CDs ON C64 · ATHANOR (C64) · 8BIT CIVILIZATIONS (C64) · AND MORE
02 CONTENT
FOCUS ON ALTERNATIVE MEDIA
__________________collectibles
3 Some suggestions to complete your
personal nerdvanas
______________________discover
4 The art of floppy disk sleeves: pre-
senting the nicest disk covers
______________________tapecart
10 Martin Wendt and Ingo Korb make
the tape port great again with this
special cartridge
_____________________press play
12 How CD games found their way into
the C64 – and who was behind it
____________________sunglasses
14 Not only useful at night, but also
with green text on black screens
imprint:
kilobyte magazine is a non-profit
PDF magazine about 8-bit home _________________chinese chips
computers and gaming consoles. It 16 Ever wondered where all the supply
is published for free.
main editor, layout: for old MOS chips comes from?
Boris Kretzinger (bk)
additional info supplied by:
Martin Wendt (mw), Ingo Korb _______________________game on
(ik), Nicholas Andrews (na), Volker 18 Return of the Feelies: Athanor (C64)
Rust (vr), Tom Mulligan, Frank
Wolf, Fabian Hertel, Eric Safar,
James Monkman 20 Fly me to the Moon: Moonspire
cover:
Igor Dresvyannikov, 123rf.com (C64)
Manuscripts and article sugge-
stions are most welcome. Please
write to: kilobytemag@gmail.com 22 Get civilized: 8bit Civilizations
All manuscripts need to be free (C64)
from third party rights. If you want
to use any article from kilobyte
magazine, please kindly inform
the author.
legal notice:
In spite of careful checking by the
editorial team, the publisher and
editor cannot accept responsibility
for the accuracy of this publication.
All trademarks are used without
any guarantee that they may be
used freely, and they may be regi-
stered trademarks.
collCOLLECTIBLES 03
EVERYTHING BEYOND DIGITAL BOUNDARIES
There are nice covers what‘s not inside_____________ rad and 80ish as they look, they are
in your diskbox as Look at that disk sleeve: red laser not that common in Europe nowa-
well – we‘re sure of grid in the background and a rad days. Also, there is nothing known
it! Please send your „Silicon“ logo before it, looking like as to who the manufacturer was
scans or photos to:
it was made of steel. However, we‘re back in the day. If you happen to
kilobytemag@gmail.
quite sure: If there is one thing not know anything about this, please let
com
made of silicon, it‘s this floppy. As us know. (bk)
05
disk drive maker makes disks_ into different divisions in 1992. Its
Control Data was not a small com- share of magnetic media was sold to
pany back in the 80s. In fact, they Seagate in 1989, and as far as quali-
have been a large supplier of disk ty goes, at least their 5.25“ floppies
drives for various companies, and were not that reliable. Although
also manufacturer of Computers. they granted a five year warranty on
Founded in 1957, CDC built quite their Storage Master line of disks,
fast super computers during the collectors today often face floppies
1970s and belonged to a bunch of which die proplably because of
competitors of IBM. However, their cheap production methods. This
success was declining during the completely blue Flexible Disk cover
1980s and the company was split up is nice to look at though. (bk)
to make diskettes, get shelved and far, the most in-depth answer from
forgotten over time. We received a any company. Hartmut Schmeinck
very nice reply from Irene Gesell, explained that the size of the me-
Team Assistant Communication at tal particles, 2-3µm with old floppy
3M Deutschland GmbH, who told disks, was rather large compared
us that there were no 5.25“ disks left to the latest magnetic media the
at the company and that the people company produces: LTO, which
who knew about them have left the uses particles in the size of 20nm.
company or had retired. Hartmut Schmeinck dug through
the archive of Fuji and stated that
basf sold everything_________ the first metal particle media tapes
If you live in Germany, you knew the company produced in 1984 are
BASF because they sold the best still working fine today. He went
bang for the buck in diskettes and on to say that diskettes can hold up
video tapes. So we had high hopes as long as 30 years if they are being
when we wrote to them – but sadly, stored correctly, maybe even longer.
there is nothing left of the former Also, he added that Fuji produced
diskette legacy at Ludwigshafen. 3.5“ disks till well into the 2000s.
Well, almost nothing: Alexandra But sadly, there is nothing left of
Goeke from Media Relations at BASF the 5.25“ disks the company once
wrote that some examples could be produced. Schmeinck searched the
found in their company archive. Fur- company archive for brochures and
thermore, BASF sold all their busi- such, but found only something
ness with magnetic storage devices for 3.5“ floppies from the late 90s.
(including audio cassettes and VHS Maybe the older stuff is simply not
tapes next to diskettes) to a Korean digitized yet.
textile firm called KOHAP in 1997.
This company produced and sold And that‘s all. But whatever it‘s
some products under the label EM- worth, it was entertaining. (bk)
TEC. From there, it gets confusing:
EMTEC was bought a year later by
a British company called LGV, went
bankrupt in 2003 and was bought up
in part by imation and MPO France.
Well, a long story short: You won‘t
find any new old stock of disks at
BASF in Ludwigshafen.
CD-ROMs became the standard me- a foothold in the US, where their
dium for computers during the 90s. cheap games did not sell so well.
Their vast storage capacity was just It was not meant as some sort of
beyond anything you could imagine speciality, but intended to „flood the
storing on a medium – and we talk market“, as Richard Darling put it.
about PC era stuff here, 386 and There was also another opportunity
upwards. Now imagine what it‘s like for the company: Instead of selling
to have so much space to store only different cassettes or disks for se-
some Kilobytes worth of 8bit games veral 8bit machines, they could fit
on? Well, back in the 80s, two com- all versions of a game onto one CD
panies did exactly that. Rainbow and then sell that to C64, Amstrad
Arts released their „1st CD-Edition“ or Spectrum users alike, thus saving
back in 1989. And one year later, the cost of individual recordings for
Codemasters brought their „CD each of them. However, production
games pack“ to market. Both needed costs could only stay low if they
an adapter to play back the audio produced a large quantity of CDs. It
data via any common CD player, but all sounded quite nice, but there was
it worked. And today, both CDs have a catch for home computer users:
become sought-after collector items. CD players were quite expensive in
1989. In Germany, you had to spend
flood the market_____________ at least three hundrred bucks for the
Codemasters packed 30 of their cheapest one, with prices climbing
games onto the CD and offered it easily as high as a thousand bucks
for under 20 GBP. Their goal: Get for the better models. So if you did
13
not already happen to have such Elevator, Impossible Mission, Drop-
an expensive device at home, you zone, Loderunner, Solomon‘s Key,
probably would not have bought Jinks, M.U.L.E. and Fist II. Good
one just to play this game collection. games, but in 1989, you either had
„The Codemasters CD pack is not them anyway in some way added to
common on eBay“, explains game your diskbox, or you would not have
collector Nicholas Andrews. Prices wanted to buy those Evergreens on
can easily go above 30 GBP today, a CD for around 100 Marks. „Pu-
as the software did not quite sell so blishing C64 games on CD in 1989
well back in the day, to put it mildly. made for some headlines with the
It was the only attempt by the com- press“, remembers C64 collector
pany at a CD game collection for Volker Rust. But this CD wasn‘t all
8bit home computer users. Today, about games: It was also the first Photo: Nicholas Andrews
reach for the rainbow________ adaptor that opened the gate to load
In 1989, Rainbow Arts was trying games from phones or MP3 players.
something completely new by relea- It was a very innovative concept for
sing ten classic games on one CD for its day, and also quite ambitious
the Commodore 64 exclusively. Ho- considering the target audience and
wever, those were not games made their buying behavior. And both
by the company: David‘s Midnight CDs are certainly a nice addition to
Magic, Leader Board Golf, Mission any collection today. (bk, na, vr)
14 SUNGLASSES
FOR PET SCREENS
Chinese fakes: You can Twelvemillion, maybe seventeen- crushed and shredded. Some Chine-
easily spot them by the million or even twentyonemillion se trader look out for valuable vin-
markings on the top of – the exact number of C64‘s sold tage parts and sell them to western
the chip. Frank Wolf is uncertain. But you can easily go customers – like Frank Wolf from
knows the drill: He im-
online and buy a used C64 for a few Germany. „It all began because I was
ported several thousend
bucks any day. Even now, more than afraid that my stock of SID chips
MOS chips from Chi-
na during the last ten 25 years after the last units left their could last“, he says. First, he looked
years. assembly lines. But no matter how at ebay, but soon went to the source
many survived in cellars, closets and of all the chips: China. With some
garages: Most of those millions of purchases, he received chips with
C64s got thrown away at some point, odd production dates that could
like all consumer electronics that never been true. Many MOS chips
reached the end of their usability. show the date they were produced in
And a lot of electronics goes to third at the last prined row on top of the
world countries like India or China, chip, like e.g. 5283, which translates
where the parts are seperated and to 52nd calendar week of the year
some ressources are scavenged. And 1983. But suddenly there were print
this does not always mean that the claiming 54, 55 or even 63 in com-
circuit boards with all their chips get bination with years MOS did could
17
never have produced any SID chips, I bought about 6.000 chips, mostly
like 72. So after a while Frank got in SIDs, also for friends of mine“, he
contact with an honest trader who claims. But finding ceramic MOS
looked out for MOS and CSG chips chips, his favorites, has become
for him on the Shenzhen Electronics most difficult: „During the crises of
Market. „He offered me everything 2008/2009, the melted all the gold
he could get hold of“, the collector they could get, and that destroyed
explains. And his contact also told many, many ceramic chips.“ Today,
him this re-printing was all about: Frank has retired from ordering old
When electronic waste arrives in chips from China. He might have
China, it is roughly sorted: cases, enough SIDs in stock for now. (bk) Photo of Chips: Frank Wolf
chips, mainboards and so on. All of Montage: Boris Kretzinger
The attack came swift and unex- give meaning to my death, which
pected, and there really was not would otherwise been just a waste.
much on this planet that could have Maybe I succeed, maybe I don‘t. But
withstood the sudden attack of the whatever the outcome, I‘ll make it
Draxx much longer. But suddenly, count.
they withdrew their forces up onto
our worlds only moon. And instead fly me to the moon___________
of killing the remaining humans, At first glance, Moonspire looks like
they chose to halt the terraforming Paradroid on Speed. However, it‘s a
process we had begun and start flip-screen Shoot-em-up of its own
reversing it to turn Arcturus 7 back right, also offering some exploration
to the hostile ice planet it once was. fun – and it plays astonishingly well.
So we put every weapon we had left While progressing through the 264
into one civilian EVA pod, streng- screens this RGCD title has to offer,
hened it with additional armor, and the player encounters a colorful but
I volunteered to go up there and hostile, somehow fascinating but yet
blast them off this moon. After all, strange environment of the so-cal-
with this I at least had a chance to led Moonspire. The aim is to progess
21
through six levels by collecting all
orbs of each level while avoiding or
destroying the four different en-
emy types. The controls feel tight
and three different bullet types give
some variety to the gameplay. But
the better the weapon, the more
ammo it consumes – so think about
what weapon you choose. The futu-
ristic soundtrack by Ari Yliaho adds
immensely to the great atmosphere
of this title. And for programmer
Dušan Milivojević, it‘s his first C64
game so far – hopefully, he‘ll conti-
nue and surprises us with another
decent Shmup someday soon. (bk)
„Can‘t be done“ is a Before 8bit Civilizations, did you When I first encoutered Civiliza-
frequent answer to the ever program games on the C64? tion, I was playing it with friends
question why some No, I did not. I got my first C64 at who owned an Amiga. Sadly. I could
games have not been the age of six as a Christmas present. not play it at home on my C64. So i
ported to the C64 yet.
I started with BASIC programming tried mastering some similar games
Fabian Hertel didn‘t
and later on read about assembler, like Conquestador, but there was
bother. The result: A
respectable Civilization but then my priorities changed as I really nothing like the real thing on
adaption. got a PC and started a family of my the Commodore. Then, a few years
own, so the C64 got neglected. ago, I stumbled upon the CBM.prg
Studio by Arthur Jordison, which
So why did you start with such a I found very accessible. And then
complex game like Civilizations? it just tickled in my fingers to try
23
out new things which
I didn‘t try before. So
at first I wondered if it
was possible to pro-
duce an isometric and
scrollable map on the
C64, which was kind
of a challenge for me
personally. As it wor-
ked out, I added units,
and progressed step
by step until it became
a real project. Things
got complicated along
the way, but thanks to
the help from the guys
at Protovision, there is
now a playable demo
ready to be played. But ultimately, What have been the greatest
this is foremost a personal dream challenges coding-wise along the
come true for me. way?
A scrolling map without any additi-
The game runs on a stock C64 onal RAM was tough. Furthermore
without any expansion modules was it hard to write functions that
»
like SuperCPU, Easyflash or REU. write text and graphics from com-
Why did you choose this way? pressed data onto the screen. And I
Well, first I don‘t have any of those. had to adjust some game principles The AI does not
And second, this would have been to steamline the program. And this cheat.
less challenging. It‘s fascinating to affects not only the RAM, but also Fabian Hertel
imagine that this game would have the CPU speed. However, it was rat-
worked on a stock C64 from 1982. her easy to store all game data like
If you want more speed and RAM, the size of the map, 254 units and 30
well then, go and play Amiga or PC. cities in memory: All this consumes
But the game actually supports the under 8 KB. Oh, and adding the AI
SuperCPU as I adjusted the code was challenging.
accordingly. So the few owners of
this piece of equipment can rejoice. How much memory does the AI
It also works with the Emulation of take up and how smart is it?
this device under VICE, so you can It‘s about 3 KB, but there are cross-
even give it a try there. And it will references with parts of the main
work. program which could have been
24 GAME ON
GET CIVILIZED: 8BIT CIVILIZATIONS (C64)
»
only had enough memory at hand. my aims, I would have dropped this
Let me make an comparison: If you project long ago. To me, it was im-
If the game is wrote an AI for expanding a city portant to see quick progress and be
completed, there will nowadays, there would be some able to test everything. In the end, I
be a d64 image. fixed rules and a score system which am lucky that everything turned out
Fabian Hertel would influence the probability of with this method, doing the map
building this or that. Maybe even first, then the units and so on. And
build a learning system. With 8bit there is always the possibility to re-
Civilizations, there is also a set of duce the functionality to have more
fixed rules, but a less dynamic score memory left. I also have a to-do list
set for decisions. The AI does not in which I add new thoughts and
cheat, but this is a disadvantage accomplishments.
against human players.
Which tools do you use for pro-
How long did it take to finish the gramming?
demo version of such a complex I used CBM.prg Studio for all the
game? coding and Photohop 6.0 for the
I started my first experiments back graphics. And I coded a PC program
in 2014. From there, I continually that compresses text and graphics as
made progress and released a video I need them to be. For additional in-
in early 2016. Back then, AI and formation, I consulted codebase64.
menus were still missing. And since org and the book „C64 intern“.
early 2017, a first playable demo is
ready. How long do you think it will take
you to complete the codig work?
What‘s missing in this version? This depends on how much spare
First of all the diplomacy sub-menus time all the people involved are wil-
with an audience screen to commu- ling to put into this. Many graphic
25
parts are still missing, but so far the
support by Protovision members
was excellent. Furthermore, I‘d need
more save stats from players, which
is why the demo was released. We
have to test it. Well, it‘s difficult to
estimate. If this was my only job and
I had everything I needed, it would
take about four to six weeks.