Commodore Free 7/Commodore_Free_Issue_07_2007_Commodore_Computer_Club.d64/t.iv vogelgsang

Text File | 2023-02-26 | 13KB | 420 lines

uInterview with Christian Vogelgsang
Creator of Diskimagery64 (See Issue 6)

Q Please introduce yourself

Hi, my name is Christian Vogelgsang.
I'm a 34 year old software developer,
currently working in a small software
company that I founded with 5 Collegues
after leaving university. We are
developing CAD/CAM solution, mainly for
the automotive industry.

Q Where do you live

I live with my fiance Simone in
Erlangen, Germany. Erlangen is a small
university town located near Nuremberg
in Bavaria in the south of Germany.

Q What introduced you to C=

Back in 1982, my father introduced me
to the wonderful world of home
computers by buying one of the first
C64 computer in our town. Actually, the
only shop which sold them was located
in Munich & that was a 180 km journey.

In the first two years my dad mostly
worked with this machine, but
Fortunately he also bought a joystick &
introduced me to computer gaming.
Gaming was real fun & showed what was
possible on this fascinating machine.
But I soon got bored with gaming alone
& started to program with BASIC. That
quickly lead me to the point where I
found out that the small command set of
version 2.0 was not enough to program
something not totally boring... As a
Christmas gift I got a Simon's BASIC
cartridge that allowed me to start
programming some graphics stuff. A few
months later I bought myself the great
C64 Reference Manual & a Sybex
Assembler disk & book edition. This
lead me to assembler programming... & I
still use this language as my favourite
one on this machine - ok, now the tool
is Style's Turbo Assembler or a cross
assembler on my Mac...

Q what machines do you still own & what
C= machines do you actively use

I actively use a C= 64 setup with 1541.
I own 5 complete configurations
including all kind of different models
(Old Rev C., C64 II, C64G, "Aldi" C64)
& 1541 types (old revs, 1541 II). I
have a 1084 & a 1084S Monitor. One
setup is Actually connected on my desk;
the other Ones are stored away. I use
some modern hardware including the
Retro Replay with RRNet adapter to
connect my Mac to the C64 & I use a
MMC64 cartridge To transfer data via SD
Card.

Q Please tell us about diskimagery

DiskImagery64 is a disk editor for all
D64, D71 & D81 image files used in all
kind of C64 emulators & also in the
MMC64 hardware. On my Apple Mac there
was always a lack of such tools & I
initially started DI64 to fill this
one. The disk editor allows you to copy
files from your host (here Mac's) file
system to a C= disk image & vice versa.

I started to manage all my disk images
I had on my hard disk with DI64. I
added options to quickly mount such an
image in my favourite emulator (here
VICE) or run a selected program there
with a single key stroke.

With the emerge of nice tools that
allowed to transfer files or data via
the RRNet ethernet adapter directly
through your local home network to your
good old C64, I wanted to have these
nice features directly embedded in
DI64. I started to port code that was
available for Windows or Linux for this
task to my Mac & reversed engineered
the missing network protocols by
sniffing the network traffic between a
C64 & the windows reference
application.

Now the current release version 0.7 has
all essential tools available: you can
edit disk images, test the images in an
emulator & quickly transfer the disk
images to real disks residing in the
1541 connected to the C64 via Ethernet.
Furthermore, you can directly transfer
& run a single PRG on the C64 with a
single mouse click on your host or
share any number of files on your host
system as a virtual network drive on
your C64.

Q what makes this software unique?

Its the first full featured C64 disk
editor that is portable & runs on Mac
OS X, Linux & Windows directly
compiled from one source code.
Further, it has a direct integration
of your favourite emulator on the
system & last but not least an
extensive set of network protocols
implemented that greatly facilitate
working with a real C64 connected via
Ethernet.

Q Why would we wish to download the
software what benefits would it give

If you own a Mac or Linux system,
then you finally get a full featured
D64 disk editor for your platform. If
you want to quickly test a large bunch
of disk images in your emulator then
you will enjoy the tight integration of
DI64 with e.g. VICE. If you own a
network adapter & a real machine then
DI64 is a Must have that contains all
kinds of network data transfer tools
from & to your retro hardware combined
in a single easy usable GUI.

Q I see you released the source code as
"open-source" does this mean we can
download the code & make any alteration
we wish?

Yes, the source is released as Open-
Source under the GNU Public License
(GPL).This allows anyone to download
the source, have a look at the inner
Workings develop the source further
& even release own work derived from
this. In contrast to source that is in
the public domain, the GPL regulates
the distribution of derived work & for
example requires each re-user of my
source to keep the copyright of my code
parts intact & to release their source
with the same GPL requirements. This
helps me to have some protection of my
copyright but also gives me the freedom
to share my source & thus my ideas.
I greatly profit from all kinds of
open-source software, ranging from
small tools running freely on my Mac or
whole operating systems (Linux) running
on my server. So releasing my source as
open source is a way of giving some-
thing back to these generous software
presents given to me.

Furthermore, releasing the source helps
interested readers to better understand
the inner workings of the software,
gives developers a tool to identify
bugs more quickly & to give more
detailed bug reports. Finally, other
developers might contribute new &
interesting features that I have never
dreamed of.

Q One comment/ suggestion, Is it
possible to Read TXT & SEQ files from
within the Application, Maybe with the
ability to copy the text & convert
PETSCII to ASCII & Vice Versa

Currently, DI64 transfers all files as
raw data from & to a disk image. You
have to make sure that the file on
your system's hard disk already have
the correct (PETSCII) encoding if you
want to transfer it. That can be
improved in future versions. DI64
already checks the file extension &
tries to map it Automatically to a CBM
DOS file, e.g. a file named test.seq
will result in a CBM SEQ file called
'test'.

Q Another suggestion Maybe a Geo write
document Viewer, extractor

Sorry, I never got really in touch with
the whole GEOS thing. Maybe because I
never owned a C64 mouse... joystick
control is IMHO no way to really
Control a GUI. Ok, I admit that I am a
command line freak, too ;)

At this point let's hope that open
source works as expected & a more
skilled GEOS developer will take my
source & add the Requested features ;)

Q I notice you have a DTV hack, could
you Describe the design & what problems
you encountered in its assembly.

Yes, soldering & hardware hacking is
also a hobby of mine. So building an
DTV mod really got my interest as it
combines hardware & CBM hacking.

I used one of the numerous published
build instructions available on the net
& creating my version took only an
afternoon. I chose to use a generic box
case where I placed all connectors
inside & integrated a small circuit
board with power conversion & pinouts
for all connectors found in the case. I
removed the main circuit from the
joystick case & soldered wires to all
points that need to be connected for
power, reset, video & audio out,
Joysticks & PS/2 keyboard.

It's the trickiest part as it requires
soldering wires to very small contact
holes found on the circuit board. A SMD
soldering iron & no nervous hand is
really of great use here. All wires got
connectors soldered to it so you can
now attach the main circuit to my
connector board without any soldering.
That allows quick remove or even
replace the main circuit without any
hassle. I own a PAL DTV 2 & a DTV 3, so
I can quickly exchange them without
soldering.

Recently, I found a very interesting
add-on: an integrated SD Card reader
that emulates a 1541 floppy
(http://pontoppidan.info/lars/index.php
?proj=mmc2iec)

It perfectly fits inside a DTV mod. I
am currently working on its integration
in my DTV mod, so stay tuned & have a
look at my blog
(http://www.lallafa.de/blog).

Q Do you read C= Free magazine

Yes, I do. I heard about your magazine
in one of the C= Forum's I visit
regularly & since then I always grab a
PDF issue if it is released. Yes, I
prefer the PDF version over the txt or
disk version as reading a longer
journal is much more comfortable with a
decent font, a nice layout & a larger
resolution - or maybe I am just getting
older ;)

I always greatly appreciate all efforts
to publish up to date information about
our historic computing environment.
Only this keeps the machine alive!

Q do you think there is any commercial
worth left in the C= range of machines

To be realistic, the CBM machines
including the Amiga computers are all
now outdated compared to today's
hardware & therefore not used in most
professional applications. Never-
theless, with all old things there are
few people that still share interest in
these retro machines, are very enthus-
iastic about it & thus are often
willing to spend money even today to
improve their retro environment. This
ensures the existence of a handful
stores & hardware developers that still
develop & sell new retro hardware add-
ons (e.g. the RRNet or the MMC64).
Well, yes it's a tiny niche compared to
the whole hardware industry, but its
nice to see that those people actually
can make a living from this.

Q do you have any other projects, C= or
n C= related

Most computer related projects that I
am still working on in my free time are
either C= or hardware hacking related.
My C= projects Include DI64 & main-
taining the official Mac version of the
VICE emulator. I do some experiments
with networking directly on the C64 but
there are currently No releases
available.

One of my web-based projects is my
blog, where I write up all my findings
about Macs, the C64, VICE & its Mac
Port & all combinations of these
topics.

My current hardware projects include
the DTV modding & building small
robots from construction kits. I am a
great fan of the Lego Mindstorms kit &
I am looking forward to its new
incarnation Mindstorms NXT.
Additionally, I built the robot that
was presented in the German c't
computer magazine & I am experimenting
with different control software
implementations.

Q From the website you seem to be
more of an Apple/Linux user is this
correct, & what is the benifit of the
Linux or Mac operating system

Yes, definitely. I got my first
experiences with operating systems on
my Amiga 500 & Amiga 2000. Later on I
switched to a PC with MS DOS & later
Windows 3.11. It was like going back to
stone age... no more large memory
allocs, no more preemptive tasks, no
flexible graphics, no nice shell,
nothing! I was very disappointed &
really about to sell my PC when I
learned about Linux at the university.
That saved my day & gave me back many
of the things I was so desperately
missing. From then on I use Linux on
all my PC-based computers.

Later on I wanted to have a mobile
computing platform & with the release
of Mac OS X (the first unix-based Mac
OS) & Apple's really well thought-out
portables design it quickly convinced
me to buy my first Powerbook. Since
then I absolutely prefer my MacBook Pro
over every other modern Computer,
because of its unique combination of a
powerful unix based OS with real multi
user support, all the nice unix tools
(shell, compilers, scripting languages,
...) & all that wrapped up in a very
elegant & comfortable user environment.

Q people have tried porting Linux to
C= machines have you tried any of the
versions & would you like to comment on
them?

A few years ago, I played a little with
Lunix on the C64. It was a nice
approach to bring the philosophy of a
unix system back on a 8 bit platform.
It proved that bringing unix is
possible but also showed that the
Constrained memory poses extra
difficulty in porting for example
existing tools.

As Lunix lacked real applications &
only provided some OS tools, general
interest was unfortunately not too high
and soon faded away. Nevertheless, I
nice project & it really gave a great
feeling of having a real shell on the
C64 ;)

Q is there any question you would have
liked to have been asked

Maybe, "Do you regret spending so
much time of your life for free with
hardware that is almost as old as you?"
- That would be a clear: NO - je regret
rien!

Q If you were given 1 million pounds
what would you do

Puh, a difficult one at last! First of
all build a house for my soon-to-be-
wife, myself & my family later on. A
larger part will be saved & also
charitable donations will not be
forgotten. Finally, new & old hardware
needs always to be updated ;)