home *** CD-ROM | disk | FTP | other *** search
- uInterview with Piccadore 64
- creator Jason Winters
-
- In a reverse of efforts Jason caught
- up with Commodore Free magazine,
- firstly to Commend my efforts, and
- also to tell me about his project. I
- then persuaded Jason to a small
- interview for the readers. Here is the
- interview.
-
- CF please tell the readers what is a
- Picodore 64
-
- JW The Picodore 64 is a custom built
- C64 laptop based on the main circuit
- board from a DTV Hummer Off-Road
- Racing game (many thanks to Jeri
- Ellsworth). The Hummer game was one of
- those joystick games that you connect
- directly to a TV. The game wasn't very
- good but it didn't take long for the
- DTV hackers to discover its secrets.
- As far as laptops go the Picodore is a
- tiny one. It's a little smaller than
- those portable DVD players. It
- includes connections for a disk drive,
- external keyboard, audio/video output,
- headphones, joystick/userport,
- external power adapter and SD card.
- Buttons below the LCD screen allow for
- brightness and volume adjustment.
- There is even a speaker tucked into
- the enclosure.
-
- CF how did you come up with such a
- great name for the machine?
-
- JW I wanted the name to emphasize the
- smallness of it and the prefix "pico"
- means one-trillionth. Since I already
- own the domain "picobay.com", it
- seemed like an easy decision.
- "Picobay" doesn't mean anything in
- particular. I registered it way back
- in 1996. With the success of Ebay, I
- thought the "Vbay" suffix was really
- going to catch on. Nanotech was just
- starting to get its roots and I
- figured picotech wasn't far behind. I
- was wrong on both counts.
-
- CF Tell the reads a little about
- yourself
-
- JW My father was in the mining
- business and a jack of all trades. I
- learned a lot from watching him patch
- together broken machinery with
- whatever was on hand. I, on the other
- hand, was always tearing things apart
- when I was a kid to see how they
- worked (actually I still do). I loved
- anything related to computers,
- electronics and Lego blocks. I wanted
- a career in robotics and I eventually
- went to school for mechanical
- engineering. My last year in college,
- I placed in a national robotic design
- competition and I landed a cool job
- designing gizmos for the U.S. military
- and space program. Over the course of
- five years, I moved up in the ranks
- and, unfortunately, became less and
- less involved in the technical side of
- things.
-
- Consequently, interfacing with the
- human mind and body was another area
- of interest for me. So much to the
- bewilderment of my parents (and
- jealousy of my friends), I decided to
- quit my job and return to school
- again. I'm happy to say that I just
- received my master's degree in
- biomedical engineering last month and
- now I'm working on my PhD. My area of
- research involves implanting
- electrodes into the brain for both
- data acquisition and stimulation. It's
- a dream job for a hacker since so much
- is still unknown about the central
- nervous system and how the various
- areas communicate with each other.
-
- Cf Please tell us about Commodore and
- yourself, what machines do you own,
- your first machine, do you still use
- Commodore Machines?
-
- JW I'm 29 years old, so I grew up
- during the middle to end of the
- Commodore's golden era. I received a
- C64, which was my first computer, when
- I was about 12. I loved programming
- and the Commodore was great for that.
- I was also fascinated with controlling
- things with a computer. I felt like I
- discovered cold fusion the first time
- I hooked up an LED to the userport and
- made it blink. Needless to say, it
- wasn't long before I fried the CIA
- chips in that first machine. A few
- years later I got a C128 but I used it
- in 64 mode 99% of the time anyway. I
- lost touch with the Commodore scene
- during college since everything seemed
- to be PC based in the world of
- engineering. To tell the truth, I
- really didn't get back into Commodores
- until a few months ago when I was
- designing a
- custom video card that relied on
- control via RS-232 input and output
- composite video. My initial attempt
- with a microcontroller yielded poor
- results. Then I thought about my old
- Commodore and wondered if I could use
- the VIC-II chip and RF modulator. I
- bought a C64 on Ebay with the
- intension of gutting it for the
- components that I needed but once I
- got it in the mail and booted it up to
- that familiar blue on light blue
- screen, I didn't have the heart to
- destroy it. During the next week I
- ordered a disk drive and the parts to
- make a XM1541 cable. I learned about
- the DTV while researching the VIC-II.
- It was by accident that I saw a
- DTV-Hummer game at a local Radio
- Shack. I didn't know what I was going
- to do with it, but I knew they were
- getting scarce so I bought it on a
- whim.
-
- Cf Tell us a little more about the
- project, also how many other people
- would you estimate enjoy DTV and
- Hummer hacking?
-
- JW I can't stress enough how this
- project is a combination of a lot of
- effort by the entire DTV hacking
- community. I was just the first person
- to put it all in a nice little
- laptopish package. I, too, would like
- to know how many DTV hackers are out
- there. There are about ten very active
- members who are blazing the trial for
- the rest of us. I really didn't join
- the forum discussions until I was
- almost done with my project and I
- would think there are many others
- reading those message boards and
- working on their own projects.
-
- CS I see the machine is battery
- powered, are these recyclable and is
- the machine able to run from mains
- power ?
-
- JW The LCD screen is very power hungry
- because of the type of backlight it
- uses. That component basically sets
- the power requirements for the entire
- unit. I knew I wanted to use
- rechargeable batteries and thankfully
- the discharge curve of NiMH AA's fit
- within the voltage requirements of the
- LCD. The Picodore 64 can also run from
- an AC wall adapter. When the external
- power plug is inserted, the batteries
- are removed from the circuit via a
- mechanical contact switch in the
- receptacle. I wanted to make it as
- useful as possible, but I stopped
- short of actually charging the
- batteries while they are in the unit.
-
- CS I have included the specifications
- of the machine at the end of this
- question and answer session but,
- please can you give us (in as much
- detail as possible) how you came to
- design the machine and the thought
- process, and problems you had along
- the way.
-
- JW My initial tinkering with the
- Hummer involved hooking up a PS/2
- keyboard, disk drive and fixing some
- problems with the video and audio
- circuits. It wasn't until I connected
- the video output to a little LCD
- screen that I decided a tiny laptop
- was in order. I read through the
- entire PETSCII forum (THE resource for
- DTV hacking information) to make sure
- that this would be the first of its
- kind. I then started looking for a
- small keyboard with the LCD as a guide
- for the approximate dimensions I
- needed. I took a chance and ordered a
- few different types. It turned out
- that a portable folding keyboard meant
- for a Jornada PDA was the perfect size
- and had all the necessary keys.
-
- The only problem was that it couldn't
- be directly connected to the DTV board
- because it didn't use the required
- PS/2 protocol. I borrowed an
- oscilloscope from my lab at school and
- used it to decode the signals. Knowing
- very little about how keyboards work,
- it took me a few days to get a
- microcontroller to decode the Jornada
- keyboard signals and re-encode them to
- PS/2. Figuring out the power circuit
- turned out to be easy since the
- various components used standard
- voltages. The SD card slot interface
- was adapted from a design by Jan
- Derogee and Pyrofer.
-
- I started looking for a case to modify
- as soon as I got the keyboard working.
- I found a bunch of little enclosures
- that were almost the right size but it
- would have been a lot of work to make
- it look right. I ended up just making
- the entire case out of wood and
- superglue. It turned out to be a great
- decision. The materials were cheap and
- readily available. I was able to build
- the entire thing with a minimal set of
- tools. All I really needed was a saw,
- drill, sandpaper, dremel tool,
- micrometer and razor-knife. Covering
- it with faux stainless steel contact
- paper worked out great and really gave
- the project a professional look. I
- don't think it would have received the
- same amount of attention if I left it
- looking like wood.
-
- The joystick was one of the last
- things I did for this project.
- Realistically I knew the Picodore 64
- was going to be primarily a machine
- for playing classic games and a full
- sized joystick wasn't going to look
- right. I found a miniature Atari
- keychain joystick that I managed to
- convert into a device that was
- compatible with the Commodore joystick
- port.
-
- CS Would you consider selling the
- machine if someone was interested?
-
- JW I've been debating this, but yeah,
- I probably will eventually. I've got
- a few other projects that I'd like to
- pursue and as a poor college student
- my funds are limited.
-
- CS do you think the machine is a
- commercially viable product for the
- Commodore community, if it could be
- mass produced?
-
- JW This particular design wouldn't be
- great for mass production since it
- seemed to take forever to get the case
- done. But if you're asking me if a C64
- laptop would sell? I would say
- "Absolutely!" Granted, a C64 laptop
- doesn't have the market potential of a
- Sony Playstation III, but it
- definitely fills a niche.
-
- Not only would this be a great
- creative outlet for all those young
- programmers out there, but the
- enormous library of existing software
- is a resource just waiting to be
- tapped into. I think this would be a
- no-brainer for some company out there.
- Though, I do have a laundry list of
- things I'd like to see on a mass
- produced unit. Some sort of memory
- card slot would be a must to get
- software on and off of it. A million
- new C64 laptop owners scouring Ebay
- for 1541 drives and 5.25" floppies
- isn't very realistic. Also, I'd like
- to see an enhanced version of BASIC
- and a JiffyDOS-like utility included.
- This might be upsetting to the
- Commodore purists out there but my own
- C64 become a lot more entertaining
- once I plugged in a Super Expander 64
- cartridge. I think better access to
- music and graphics from within BASIC
- could be added without sacrificing
- compatibly. And let's face it, if
- you're that nuts about the C64, you're
- probably coding in assembly language
- anyway.
-
- CS what problems would mass production
- cause
-
- JW The obvious problem involves all
- the old software that was written off
- as unprofitable and abandoned by
- software companies years ago. As
- certain titles become popular again,
- software companies may attempt to
- enforce old copyrights and cause
- trouble for sharing sites. Hopefully,
- these companies would choose to
- develop new software instead. The
- thought of EA Games writing new
- software for a C64 may sound far
- fetched, but mobile phone gaming has
- demonstrated that there is still money
- to be made from relatively low tech 2D
- games. Another problem that is
- happening right now is the legal
- entanglement of the several parties
- involved in making the current batch
- of DTV gaming devices. Each party owns
- a piece of the technology puzzle and
- I'm not sure they are all on the same
- page these days.
-
- CS do you have any other projects in
- the pipe line?
-
- JW Haha, I'm assuming you only want to
- know about the Commodore related
- projects. I have another, larger, C64
- laptop in the works with a 3.5" floppy
- drive in it. Although the Picodore 64
- wins the prize for being little, it's
- really too small for coding without an
- external keyboard attached. The
- Commodore 64 has been around so long
- that it's difficult to come up with an
- original hack for it. Though I do
- think my future projects will focus on
- demonstrating that there is still a
- place for this classic machine in
- today's world of ultra-fast and
- ultra-complex computer systems.
-
- CS I am sure all readers, would like
- one of these, have you had many
- comments?
-
- JW I thought I might get some
- feedback, but I really didn't
- anticipate the overwhelming amount of
- positive comments left on various
- message boards. And yes, many of them
- do express the desire to own one. I
- would build more of these but DTV
- Hummer parts are getting hard to find.
- Besides, my apartment is tiny and I
- need my kitchen table for other things
- sometimes. Finally, I would like to
- thank all those who have contributed
- to the DTV hacking effort on the
- PETSCII forum. I also need to thank my
- girlfriend for not complaining during
- the week that I converted our kitchen
- into a workshop. She was more than
- tolerant of the layer of sawdust that
- was deposited on everything in our
- apartment and the frequent trips to
- the hardware store.
-
- CS thanks for your time and efforts
-
- ...end...
-
-