It's always great when someone finds a new way to make use of the many fully functional Commodore 64 original machines still out there in the hands of enthusiasts.  While a C64 may not be able to keep up with fancy graphical websites, it most certainly can do text.  And what is Twitter but all about text-ing?

An entry on Vandenbrande.com describes exactly what you'll need to Twitter from your Commodore 64, as well as read messages from those you follow on Twitter.

The program is called BREADBOX64, and it can even be used with the VICE emulator, which supports networking.  Now that would certainly make for an interesting Twitter "client"!

Check it out now HERE.

        

Bored with minesweeper?  Why not try something a little more exciting?  All you'll need is a Commodore 64 emulator running on your main PC, and you'll open the door to over a thousand games in the "Boulder Dash" style, which is not so different from a minesweeper type of game.

To give you an idea of the popularity of the game Boulder Dash and the many variants and clones it spawned on the Commodore 64 alone you need only check the GB64.com website and perform a SEARCH on the genre  Arcade - Boulderdash.  (Yes, it has its own genre for searching!)  The amazing number of results currently sits at 1064 games.  With names like Crazy Dash, Michingo-Dash and ProfiBoulder, the majority are public domain and unpublished games.

Several months ago I briefly introduced one variant here along with some other games called PP Digger.  It had the added element of trapped creatures that would come after your "digger" if you didn't crush them intentionally.

An apparent play on the word "balderdash", the original game, released in 1984 is downloadable HERE.  Written by programmer Peter Liepa, it was followed by a long series of Boulder Dash sequels.

Because of the relatively static graphics in tiles, hacking the original Boulder Dash to make your own puzzle screens for others to enjoy was probably one of the initial allures for amateur game makers that got them making so many Boulder Dash clones.

The concept behind the game is what made it so appealing to a wide audience.  Essentially it is a puzzle game with some elements of action - more or less - depending on the variant.  Your in-game character must "dig" around a screen-sized map for diamonds and avoid getting crushed by falling boulders or blocking off a method of escape from the maps.

The twist is that it is easy to deny yourself access to diamonds or an exit by digging under and dropping boulders haphazardly.  The game often requires thinking two or three steps ahead, which is where the puzzle element comes into play.

Because the boulderdash games are generally easy to play in an emulator using a keyboard instead of a joystick or gamepad, it makes them a good choice for playing in the background on your windowed operating system.

If you need the Boulder Dash or related game files, click HERE.  Then go to the "Latif" links in the lower right to download for the games you've selected.

If you're new to C64 Emulation, check out this easy tutorial here: Step by Step - How to Play Commodore 64 Games on a PC

And finally, enjoy your digging - it can be addictive!

        

If you're new to Linux or new to C64 Emulation, you will not find it nearly as easy as downloading WinVICE for Windows and getting it to run quickly and hassle-free.  Hard-core Linux guys may puff up their cheeks and grumble in disapproval at my mentioning this, but just as I don't review unintuitive games here, I won't throw you into Linux C64 Emulation without fair warning.  I've been using computers since my first VIC-20 in the early 1980's, and it was still not easy or intuitive to get VICE up and running without any hiccups with the distributions I was using. 

That said, getting it running can be quite rewarding if you're up for learning new things, and once you have over 20,000 C64 programs at your fingertips from sites like GB64.com you'll overcome one glaring flaw with Linux for gamers --- a general lack of games when compared to Windows.  And if you're a true fan of Open Source and things that are Free in general, you can always narrow your search to Public Domain and Unpublished games - and open the door completely to all of them if you are a believer in the idea of "Abandonware".

First off, there are a few things you need to know about Linux in general if you've been thinking of making the switch. 

Pick your distribution, and pick it well if getting C64 gaming working painlessly is important to you.  I recommend OpenSUSE or RedHat  because I found OpenSUSE .rpm's (packaged files for install) of WinVICE and Frodo that both worked.  Strangely, while Ubuntu makes claims to being the "easiest to use" Linux, and comes with VICE as an option to install right on the install CD/DVD, it includes an older version of VICE that lacks essential components needed to run.  It sort of defeats the purpose of having it there as an installable option in the first place when you need to look around the web for components; components that are included in a much easier to install .rpm download you can find for OpenSUSE, for instance.  If there was an easier way to get Ubuntu's VICE fully working, or an easy to download and install a package, I missed it. 

It's important to note that if the distribution you choose (because you think a certain distro has a "cool name") has no pre-packaged VICE out there, prepare yourself for some pain in getting it to run.  More about that later.

If you are a die-hard Ubuntu fan, in a nutshell you need to perform steps such as downloading, extracting and copying the 1541, chargen, kernal, and basic files from the web to ~/.vice/C64 on your system.  With the latest version of VICE in a downloadable .rpm for OpenSUSE11, however, you can skip that headache and use a 2.x version of fully working VICE instead of a 1.x version in Ubuntu that's missing files.  By the time you read this, there may be a simple way to get 2.x running in Ubuntu, so feel free to post it in the comments for others!

You will need to learn how to type commands.  It may seem old-school and a bother if you grew up with Windows and have a quick mouse hand, but there are advantages to typing commands that you'll learn later if you master Linux. 

Bring up the "terminal" tool in your GUI menu.  Something that looks like an MS-DOS style prompt will pop up in a window.  Use the "ls" command to show what directory you are in, and used "cd" plus the name of the directory to change directory to get where you need to be, like "cd bin".

Don't even think about downloading VICE directly from the VICE website.  Unless you are a Linux expert and your idea of fun is spending an afternoon in "dependency hell", don't try to compile VICE from source.  Find an .rpm or similar package of pre-compiled files for you to click and install.  It still won't be as easy as clicking and running x64.exe after downloading WinVICE, but it will save you from pulling your hair out if someone else has done most of the work for you.

Do a "full" install of your distribution when you install Linux.  You don't want to be missing any critical OS files when you attempt to install VICE (or Frodo) later.

Locations and commands of importance:

usr/bin - where RPM installed files typically go.  RPM is short for "Redhat Package Manager" - and is also used by OpenSUSE as well as other distributions of Linux.

usr/local - where programs compiled from source end up.  You will need to know this if you intend to install Frodo from source.  I found Frodo easy to install, but lacking features included in VICE.  Frodo is best if all you need is a simple C64 emulator to simulate turning on a C64 and playing around.  I've not found it suitable for gaming when compared to VICE.

rpm -ql vice     This command shows where the VICE emulator files were installed if you used a .rpm file to install.

The VICE RPM from a repository: http://rpmfind.net/linux/rpm2html/search.php?query=vice

For 32-bit OpenSUSE 10 (or SLES 11, the version I used), I found the best, easiest to install and run VICE program here:

http://download.opensuse.org/repositories/Emulators/openSUSE_10.3/i586/

The actual RPM is: http://download.opensuse.org/repositories/Emulators/openSUSE_10.3/i586/vice-2.0-2.1.i586.rpm

Again, this is only if you have installed a recent version of OpenSUSE or SLES close to SUSE 10. 

Once you have VICE installed, the actual name of the command you need to run, again by typing it in a terminal window, is x64.  This is similar to the x64.exe file in Windows.  You'll want to type a file name as well in that same line unless you just want to mess around with an emulated C64 with nothing on it. 

To run a downloaded Computer History quiz, download the C64 program file from the "Latif" link HERE

Drag and drop the zip file into usr/bin  (you don't need to extract the files)

Type in the command line:

x64 "COMPHIST_16901_02.zip"

This is the equivalent to autoattaching and running a .d64 or .t64 file in WinVICE.

You should see your Linux version of VICE pop up and run in a window, and can give three cheers!  Click around on the open window to pull up VICE menus for other options.  There's no "toolbar" as in WinVICE, but the options are there.

As I wrote, getting a C64 emulator to work in Linux is not a simple download and click affair.  You'll need to familiarize yourself with Linux and its quirks and charms before you get things working easily.

But once you get the hang of it, you'll be running and playing Commodore 64 programs on your free, Open Source OS, and that's a reward in itself!

        

If you haven't noticed, things have been a bit quiet at the 'Walkabout lately.  I've been preparing to kick off my new fiction webserial-type blog, spurred on by interest in Commodore 64 introductory fiction stories included in game manuals such as these: Scans of Stories from Sword of Fargoal, Gateway and Temple of Apshai.

If you are interested, please head over to the World of Hadanus - And other Tales blog, and check out my first webserial here: The Burrowing of Fort Nadus, Part 1 .

In the days and weeks ahead I'll be adding artwork, background, a glossary of terms, maps and more to enhance the experience!

And don't worry, the C64 Walkabout will be running on all cylinders again soon...

        

In the next couple of days I'll (finally) be writing a how-to on Commodore 64 emulation for Linux distributions.  For people who are interested in the Windows side of C64 emulation, I've written many tutorials and walk-thru type articles, and even have video and a podcast for you to refer to.

Since those posts are spread out over many months, I've put together a set of links to those entries below.  As always, if you run into any problems getting some aspect of C64 emulation working for you, feel free to comment below and I'll do what I can to get you up and running!

        

Jess D. Skov-Nielsen aka "Razmo" from the Commodore Remix forums has a neat "work in progress" site up built with his original art and music.  I think it's worth checking out, and there are a few nice remixes there including one from the Commodore 64 game "Entombed", which was also Egyptian-themed, like Razmo's artwork.

Check out DreamSpawn!

You can find download links for the old game file (see the "Latif" link) and the original SID chiptune for Entombed HERE.

        

Just a few days ago I was pleasantly surprised to hear from Anthony Maro, the author of a game in a post I'd written several months back introducing a text adventure, Castle of Spirits.  At 15 years old he was paid a check of only $300 for his efforts by Commodore Magazine, and also wrote the text adventure Lifeboat.

I had the opportunity to ask Tony some questions and he provided some great feedback.  I hope you enjoy his responses below as much as I did!

C64W:  What got you started as a programmer on the Commodore 64?

Tony: Actually, I started programming on the Commodore VIC-20.  A friend of my brother's got a new TI-994A and a group of us sat around and taught it to play Christmas songs. I was immediately hooked and convinced my parents to get me a computer.  My mom bought a VIC-20 at the PX because "I liked the way it looked," she says.  It didn't take long to teach myself BASIC programming on the VIC-20.  The "Commodore Programmers Reference Guide" became my Rosetta Stone.  It got even more exciting when my parents finally got me a cassette tape drive so I could actually store and retrieve my work.

The first real "usable" things I wrote were text adventure games - in fact Castle of Spirits was my very first.  The biggest challenge - beyond the text parser - was obfuscating the game logic so you couldn't just read all of the text.  I was inspired by "Adventureland" by Scott Adams and "Voodoo Castle" which I believe his wife wrote.  I wanted to write my own interactive fiction games.  I was an avid reader my entire life so it was a natural extension for me and didn't require graphic art skills.  In my later stages of text game development I picked up "Creating Adventure Games On Your Computer" by Tim Hartnell.  I still have the old dog-eared copy on my bookshelf, and amazingly you can still find it used on Amazon.

C64W: GB64 lists two games under your name - Castle of Spirits, and Lifeboat.  Did you have any others published or unpublished, perhaps on different platforms?

Tony: Castle of Spirits was my first published game, and Lifeboat was a continuation.  Both were actually written for "Commodore Magazine" and designed to be typed in from a printed magazine - hence the small size and code obfuscation.  Originally I was going to do a regular column, but Commodore Magazine was in decline and falling on hard times just as Lifeboat came out.  My mom actually had to threaten to sue them to get me my payment on Lifeboat.

After Lifeboat I started working on a full sentence text parser and learned more about parts of speech than I ever would have in school.  I never actually released a game based on it because of the failure of Commodore magazine and the lack of Internet distribution at the time.  I did a bit of BBS'ing, but it was long distance for me so no software exchanges.  I also wrote a lot of silly little games that I never did anything with - the kind of cute little arcade games that were common at the time.  Adventures and fantasy were really where my interest was though.

In 1989 I started work on a 6502 assembly language (C-64) graphical strategy game to the rules of Battletech, but in the middle of it I met my wife and quickly lost interest in it.  I believe I still have a printed copy of the source code in my files.

I also wrote a complete double-entry accounting package for my parent's business that I called "AccountsEasy" (later I learned someone else used that name,) and I wrote a spreadsheet for a state programming competition in 1988. Both were for the Commodore 64 and neither were published anywhere. Believe it or not the fully functional spreadsheet only came in third place at the competition because I didn't "have enough comments" in my code.  The judges didn't understand the fact that with 64 KB of RAM, you didn't have memory to waste in REM's because they all ate up memory.  lol.

Later on I wrote a breakout clone for the Amiga 1000 since my wife was a huge fan of breakout games at the time - also never published, but we sure enjoyed it.

About a decade ago I came up with an isometric view MMORPG that I actually had working, even without a team of designers and programmers.  It was designed in a shard based system and could dynamically reload the game code and upadate the logic without having to disconnect players due to a unique memory management feature.  It also transferred players from one server to another seamlessly and was designed so that there was no "choose a server to connect to" - everyone was in the same world.  Once I hit the point of needing better graphics for the client and being unable to find any talent willing to work for free, I dropped the project and went back to real life.

C64W: Do you recall any "Easter Eggs" in those two C64 games?  Any special inspiration behind making them?

Tony: Honestly I don't recall.  I always was prone to do things like that, so no doubt there are a few clever responses, but it's been too many years to remember them now.

C64W: What are your interests today?  Have you tried a C64 emulator like VICE to look back on your programs from the old days?

Tony: Yes, actually about a year ago I downloaded a pirated copy Castle of Sprits (hehe, irony, eh?) and played around with it. It brought back some memories.  A played around with The Bard's Tale, which I'd been horribly hooked on as a kid.  I really remembered the graphics being better...

Today when I'm not working - I'm C.I.O. and part owner in EvriChart (www.evrichart.com) - a medical records management company - I'm working on various Linux software projects that strike my fancy.  I developed a complete workflow, inventory, and document management system for our company in PHP that runs across 5 servers.  I'm a strong advocate for Open Source software and just over 6 years ago released "CheckBook Tracker" for Linux as free software - a personal finance software comparable with commercial offerings for Windows.  freshmeat.net/projects/cbtracker

A few years ago I wrote and released a free document viewer and markup software - perfect for studying the Bible or reading other texts - designed for the Linux based touchscreen Internet tablets that run Maemo, specifically the Nokia n800 tablet.  I wrote about 90% of a game engine similar to The Bard's Tale that runs on that platform as well called DragonFear, but the wireless died on my tablet and I never replaced it.

My current project is a really cool photo manager and workflow software for Linux that I'm so far calling SimiliFlow.  Great for hobbyist photographers.  It will also be free but I haven't actually released any code yet.  www.ossramblings.com/similiflow

Unfortunately all my old C-64 floppies melted back in 1990 when I was living in a drafty mobile home.  An in-wall heater in the spare bedroom came on despite being turned off due to how cold it was.  My disk cases were leaning against the heater...  Probably for the best - a person would serve jail time today or at least face the software equivalent of the RIAA for what I had in those cases   A lot of the games I ... released ... back in high school I didn't put my own name to.  I met the group known as "Thieves' Guild" who taught me the basics of cracking piracy prevention methods, and some friends and I did a bit of our own ... releasing.  The "Action Replay" cartridge was probably one of the best purchases I ever made when it came to furthering my understanding of computers.

History of computers that I've owned:
VIC-20
C-64
Comodore PET with dual cassette drives
C-128
Amiga 1000  (the 1 MB memory expansion was bigger than my current media center PC)
Amiga 500
Then... PC Compatible ($2500 for my first 486)
Now I custom-build all my own and run Linux on everything except the gaming computer.

Languages I'm fluent in (or have been fluent in):
Commodore BASIC
6502 Machine Code
6502 Macro Assembly
ANSI C
Pascal / Delphi / FreePascal
PHP
Python
Javascript

And through all of that, professionally I am NOT a software developer.  I decided right out of high school that I get too addicted to programming and didn't want to do that as a career, so I keep it as a hobby.  In fact, about 90% of the current software projects at work are being handled by my team.  I spend most of my time planning and overseeing the projects and less time with actual coding.

Thanks for the interest! 

C64W: Thank you for the informative and lengthy responses!

        

This time around I've put together a podcast (push the play button below) that describes computer role-playing games on the Commodore 64.  It explains some basic concepts of CRPGs and their early days on the C64.  Specifically games like Ultima (III), Phantasie, Telengard, Adventure Construction Set and Temple of Apshai.  I think these turn-based, stats-laden games can be fun today, especially when kept in an emulator window on your desktop while you do other things.  Using "save snapshot" in the VICE emulator is very helpful!  There are a few things anyone not familiar with them will need to know before jumping in, so this podcast was designed to make your entry into the worlds of 2D C64 CRPGs as painless as possible.

Extra documentation such as the spell lists for games like Phantasie and Ultima can be found here: Project 64 Games Documentation.  Even if you have fantastic memory and played these games a lot yourself back in the day (remember "M" for "Mittar"?)I think you'll find having a window up with a text file of these games is useful.  For instance, you can "save as" the file HERE to help with your Ultima III spells.

Why did I choose these RPG's?  Well, games that came later like Ultima V had complex concepts such as mixing spell reagents -- some pretty hardcore stuff for younger gamers who grew up on twitch gaming consoles.  Ultima III, Phantasie I & II, and games like the Bard's Tale Series are actually more accessible, I think.  A good one to start with might be Adventure Construction Set's premade adventures, as it is pretty simple.

I have songs in the podcast from the Ultima series as well as the Temple of Apshai Trilogy.  It's interesting to note that the Trilogy was a remake on the C64 with improved graphics with the two expansions included, as well as a neat couple of SID tracks.  The original Temple of Apshai and expansions only had creepy ambient sounds.

The short clip intro to the podcast is from Soliton off of the album "Light Bullets", and the very long track can be purchased at Amazon.com. 

Wondering what that background music in the podcast is?  It's some pretty obscure stuff.  As a former Fujitsu FM-Towns owner, I owned the Ultima Trilogy, and those songs are CD Digital Audio tracks from the Trilogy CD.  Made by Origin back in the early 1990's just for Fujitsu's advanced home computer, I don't think the songs were ever ported or used again.  You can read more - if you recall I blogged about the Ultimas on the FM-Towns HERE.

You can find the the game files and SIDs at the links to the names of the games in the paragraphs above.

If you are new to C64 Emulation, follow this Tutorial.
Here's a link if you're new to SIDs: Playing SID Chiptunes on your PC or Mac

I took the advice of the experienced podcasters such as Jan Lund Thomsen over at the Remix64.com boards to try and make my podcasts more entertaining, so I hope you like the new sound!

Press play on the button below to enjoy the Podcast, or use the player app that also includes previous podcasts on the left hand sidebar.  Please subscribe to my podcast if you enjoy it, available now on iTunes, and I'll promise to make more!

Played: 513 | Download | Duration: 00:00:00

        

I had a discussion today with SaphirJD, a live streaming music DJ who's going to do a special at Radio PARALAX tomorrow night...or day, depending on where you are in the world (20:00 CET).  Even if you miss his show by the time you read this, keep an eye out for his future contributions to the retro computer music scene.

I asked him to provide some information about himself so that you C64 Walkabout readers (and podcast listeners) might have a better understanding of the music he's going to share.

He's 28 years old and lives in Austria, is a big Scenemusic/Demo Fan, as well as a SciFi and Fantasy Fan.  Although he never had the chance to get his hands on a Commodore 64 or Amiga, he appreciates the music and demos of those older computers.

His first contact with Scenemusic and Demos was during the 90's.  He got his hands on a Game CD where some Assembly Dos Demos were featured.  At the time he didn't knew the origins but was impressed about the sound and visuals.

On this Disc there were also some tracked tunes in the "mod" format.  He fell in love with the songs and got more from a friend soon after - a CD with dozens of songs in mod and other formats.  An expired shareware player closed the door on his enjoyment, and forgot about th music for a while.
 
Fast forward to 2002 -  he found that cd with those songs again, discovered Winamp (and plugins for chip tunes) and tried to get more songs and Demos.  He then stumbled onto "back2roots" - a big online collection of scene-related things.

Later he discovered Nectarine Demoscene Radio (now followed in spirit by Demovibes Demoscene Radio) and thanks to that he met Nuke from Surprise Productions who taught him some things.  Ever since he's been a big fan and collector of Scenemusic and Demos in General.

Since 2008, from time to time he does Netradio Shows for Radio-Paralax - http://www.radio-paralax.de/  the Tristar Demogroup - http://tristar-whq.org and on as site of his own - http://sjd.myftp.org

He tries to convey in his radio streams the "best" of Scenemusic and Netlabel Tunes from the 1990's up to today.

If you are interested, check out his show tomorrow night.  I've mentioned Radio-Paralax here before, but prepare yourself for some German language discussion mixed in with English, as the site is based in Germany.

"This Time I'll present a one and a half hour program with the best of the Music Competitions and the Amiga/PC Demos and Intros from the Breakpoint 2009 which was previous weekend. After that comes as usual the best of Scenemusic in general."

Or as written at Radio-Paralax:

RetroVision in double pack: After the "Breakpoint 2009" demo party last weekend in Bingen, we're presenting you the best demos from C64, Amiga, PC and some other fancy plattforms on sunday, the 19th of April starting already at 16:00 CET. Furthermore there will be the top 3 demos from "The Gathering 2009" which also take place at the same time in Hamar/Norway. Afterwards "SaphirJD" will present you 3 more hours with the best music of this event as well as some classic tunes; altogether 7 hours of Breakpoint & demoscene total.

Follow this LINK and use the many streaming options on the left hand side of the page.  With 3 hours of SaphirJD, I hope you can try to find some time to tune in.

Use the IRC chat at Radio-Paralax and join in the real time feedback!  (Type in a Nickname and click "Verbinden" - worked for me, and I don't speak any German (just Japanese here).

Enjoy the music!

        

I have a handful of original C64 game titles in boxes on my bookshelves, and now with a new scanner and an interest in the short, introductory stories associated with old C64 titles, I've scanned in backstory portions of the manuals of three old C64 games: Temple of Apshai, Gateway to Apshai (actually from the Colecovision/Adam Manual) and Sword of Fargoal.  Whether or not you intend to play these games, they are neat little short bits of fiction.

You won't easily find pdf. (Adobe Acrobat Reader or similar program required) files of the specific backstory portions of the manuals to these classic games just anywhere, even if you can find the plain text instructions at a place like Project 64 Games.  So do your part in preserving these bits of classic gaming history and add this fiction to your collection!

Download them at the links:

Sword of Fargoal - Plight of the Great Forest

Gateway to Apshai - Apshai's Legacy

Temple of Apshai - The Adventures of Brian Hammerhand