geoLink (last updated 2010-11-06) back to main Commodore page

World of Commodore presentation

geoLink IRC chat

geoLink login screen

geoLink setup screen

geoLink ping screen

tone007 running geoLink on an Educator 64

an early build on jasmaz' SX64 at World of Commodore

geoLink is a networked GEOS application for the Commodore 64 written by ShadowM using the ip65 network stack. It was assembled and linked on the '64 using geoProgrammer (no cross-assemblers!). A technical presentation on geoLink was given at the C=4 Expo on 2010-05-29.

2009-12-05  First prototype (0.96) shown at World of Commodore in Toronto. Contained only a simple chat client that talked to a Java-based server.

2010-04-14  Version 1.00 released, including an IRC client instead.

2010-04-26  Version 1.01 released with the following changes:

• All debug and motd ("message of the day") output has been turned off to minimize screen rendering and scrolling. This should solve problems with geoLink being unable to keep up while the motd is being sent right after connection.
• Double-buffering of the screen has been turned off. This gives a small but noticeable increase in rendering speed.
• The latest release (2010-03-21) of ip65 is being used. This includes a TCP fix ("when using tcp_listen, an incorrect sequence number was being sent in the SYN/ACK packet"). I've also changed my build scripts to remove some more unused features, which gives me additional memory to work with. Per Olofsson (original author of ip65) is now credited in the info dialog along with the current maintainer, Jonno Downes.
• A separate buffer is now used to build screen output (rather than re-using the TCP input buffer).
• The channel name in the title bar is not changed when a /join or /part is sent, but only when the corresponding notification is received from the server.
• Support for desk accessories has been removed.

For information about geoLink, make sure to look at the README on the disk. To ask questions, please use the #geos channel on NewNet. If you are having a problem with geoLink, being able to enter this channel with a different computer will at least verify that your issue is not with IRC itself. I'm usually there, but I work during the day (US Central time). Or you can send an email to shadowm at lyonlabs.org. Note: For Scandinavian users wanting to access IRCnet, irc.swipnet.se has been reported to work well.

disk images

Here is a D64 image of geoLink (version 1.01), which is a bootable GEOS 2.0 disk. All you need to run it is a Commodore 64, a 1541 disk drive or 1541 Ultimate (it will not run on a µIEC) and a mouse (there's also a joystick driver on the disk; to use it instead, hit Commodore-i and use the keyboard to select it). Oh... and a network card! geoLink requires an RR-Net compatible card, and has been tested with 64NIC+, 1541 Ultimate, RR-Net, MMC Replay, and FB-Net.

This D64 contains the geoLink source code in geoProgrammer format. You can find a copy of geoWrite here if you want to have a look through it, or you can use Jonno Downes' peekbot to browse it online. Note that I have made some small modifications to ip65 to make it work with GEOS; the binary (ip65-geos) is on this disk, and here is an svn diff from the 2010-03-21 release that I checked into my own Subversion repository. For register and hardware information, see Jens Schoenfeld's articles Inside RRnet and Inside Replay, or the CS8900A data sheet or application notes.

using the IRC client

• Boot the client disk (LOAD":*",8,1).
• Double-click the README file (there's a copy of geoWrite and several printer drivers on the disk), and read it. For those without a printer for their Commodore system, here's a scan of the README to print out on your more modern computer.
• Double-click the geoLink icon to start the client.
• The first time the program is run, a setup dialog will appear. Enter your network information or click "use DHCP", then click the OK icon. It is suggested that you use a MAC address beginning with Commodore's reserved OUI of 00:80:10. DHCP negotiation may take a minute or more the first time.
• When connected successfully, the program will ask you to save your settings to a file. Although not necessary, this will make starting the program again much easier. If settings have been saved, a dialog will appear when the program starts asking you which settings file to use (you can also cancel that dialog and enter new settings).
• To test connectivity, you can select options/ping from the menu. Enter a hostname or IP address to ping. The exit icon in the upper right of this dialog will exit the ping module.
• To enter IRC, select options/IRC from the menu. Further information can be found in the README.

Have a lot of fun!   —ShadowM

building geoLink

1. Make sure you have all the right tools. The source is written in geoWrite, and to build it, you'll need geoAssembler and geoLinker, which you can find on my GEOS page.


2. Download the source code. Dissolve the D64 and put all the files on the same disk or CMD partition. You'll need a 1581 or larger; I used a 1581 partition on a CMD hard drive. An accelerator like a SuperCPU or TurboMaster will certainly help.


3. For geoLink, assemble the following files one at a time with geoAssembler:
   • geoLinkRes
   • geoLinkVal
   • geoLinkSetup
   • geoLinkPing
   • geoLinkLogin
   • geoLinkIRC
   • geoLinkParse
   • geoLinkText
   • geoLinkIRCd
   • geoLinkHdr


4. Link the object files from the above step into an executable by running geoLink and selecting the linkage directive file geoLink.lnk. At this point you should have the geoLink program on your disk, but it won't run yet.


5. Build the embedder by assembling the following files with geoAssembler:
   • geoLinkEmbed
   • embedHdr


6. Link the embedder by running geoLink and selecting embed.lnk. At this point you should have a program named embed on your disk.


7. Run the embedder. This will embed the TCP/IP stack (ip65-geos) into VLIR record 9 of the geoLink executable created in step 4, and the monospaced font (VIP64-mono) into record 8.


8. You should now have a working copy of geoLink. Let me know if you have problems building it and I'll try to help.

next version

issue	status
FEATURE REQUEST: respond to CTCP version requests
FEATURE REQUEST: randomize a valid MAC address if none has been entered yet
BUG: incoming chat message may be echoed back as though geoLink user had said it
BUG: crash on exit (only when using 'q' command from geoDebugger)
BUG: IP address validator allows nonsense address to be entered (but doesn't pass it)
BUG: messages from C64 Contiki IRC client show in italics as though they were PMs
BUG: some combinations of cursor left and backspace will corrupt the input buffer if it's larger than what will fit in the text input area

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