Commodore Free 15/Commodore_Free_Issue_15_2008_Commodore_Computer_Club.d64/t.iv rick

Text File | 2023-02-26 | 16KB | 512 lines

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Interview with Rick Youngman
http://users.commspeed.net/wlbbs/

Q Please introduce yourself

My name is Rick Youngman. I live in
Prescott AZ, & I'm happy to say, I have
made it to the age of 55 years old for
some reason that is beyond my control.

Q Where do you work & what do you do

I assume you mean to make a weekly pay
check, if so, I have been a "repair
man" all my life. I have spent some 30
years in the RV field, & have bounced
back & forth from repairing motorhomes
& fixing boats for as long as I can
remember. Presently, I run the Service
Desk at a motorhome dealer in town. I
also have technical training in
electronics & assorted programming
languages.

Q What introduced you to Computing &
C=?

It was either devil or an angel, but
whatever it was, I've been consumed by
computing ever since. Sometime in the
late 80s, I got a C64 & monitor at a
yard sale that didn't work, but a
simple fix to the power supply cord got
it working. It was my first computer, &
from there, my life did indeed change
forever. Its been a love hate relation-
ship, that why I refer to the angel &
devil.

Q- What C= items do you own presently

1541, C64 breadbox, & a 1702 monitor,
but I hardly ever use them with VICE
available. The VICE team has done such
a good job of making that emulator,
that is is very rare that I fire up the
real C=.

On the other hand, when I shut the BBs
down & sold the equipment on Ebay there
was 78 lbs of floppys, over 400 lbs of
hardware, & over 60 lbs of books & dox
in the BBs library, so what I own today
is just a lot easier to move if I have
to.

Q Why do you think C= is still
important

I don't know if I would consider it
important now in the age of the PAC
Crowd (point-and-click), but for
serious computer users, the C= is
something they need to learn about. The
C64 was the best selling computer in
the world for good reasons, & much of
what it can do, was discovered by 3rd
party programmers like the late Jim
Butterfield. Those concepts & BASIC
programs, are still used as building
blocks for many modern day programs.
The C64 is, & will always be an
important part of the development of
modern day computers.

Q Why do you still Support C=?

When my first BBs went online in the
late 80s, on a C64, it was all about
support for the machine. I never
charged a membership fee in the 10 yrs
it was online, or required users to
upload stuff, in order to download the
BBs files, like many other BBS did at
the time. There is an old metaphor that
says "once its in your blood" , or
something like that, is the reason I
still support the C= machine. Anyone
who has been a SysOp, of a working BBs,
can understand what that dedication
means. I was lucky enough, to have had
some foresight, to archive the files,
before I shut down, so I'm still in a
position to offer support. I now offer
those programs to people again on CDs

Q Can you tell us about your website
http://users.commspeed.net/wlbbs

The web site for the most part is about
offering a CD collection of C= related
software on CDs. It is NOT A BUSINESS,
by any means ! It is about support &
preservation, of C= software. It is
something I started about 6 yrs ago
because a friend of mine talked me into
it, & it has helped a lot of people
smile again offer the C= for support,
& there are links on the page, that
will let visitors request programs,
that can be sent to them via email for
free (which I gladly do).The web page
has been #1 for a Google search for C=
Software, for over 5 yrs, for one
reason, & that is support for the C=
machine. What started out as one CD of
the archives of the Commie Kazeez BBs,
has now grown into a set of 3 C=,
full of software for the C= computer.
That would have never happened without
the contributions of many individuals
around the globe, who have uploaded
programs to me to include on the C=. At
present there are 3 CDs offered, & 2
more in the works, thanks to people
around the world.

Q What is the Cad-pad project?
  http://users.commspeed.net/
   wlbbs/CAD-PAD.html

This ended up being one of the most
useful hardware hacks I ever tried. I
built the first one using a keypad from
an old telephone, to use for drawing
screens for the BBs. For about $10 &
minimal soldering skills, you can make
a whole new controller that will draw
straight lines & that includes a 45
degree angle, which is nearly
impossible to do with a joystick. It
also doubles as a replacement for the
joystick for gaming too. When I first
posted it, years ago on the BBs
circuit, no-one really paid attention,
because no-one in their right mind was
using "push-buttons" to control games.
Today, most "gamers" don't know what a
joystick does, let alone what it is, so
I think its a useful project again, &
I'm sure someone could adapt something
like a Playstation controller, to use
on the C=, with a little ingenuity.

Q You also pointed me to
 http://users.commspeed.net/wlbbs/
  vice-keys.html
do you think emulation plays a vital
point in the support of C= machines?

There is no question in my mind, that
it is because of the perfection of
emulators like VICE, that keeps the
C= alive. Original hardware is getting
harder to find, but because of
emulators, new users can experience
what a real C64 was like, & for the old
timers, we can still enjoy our C64
roots, on a modern day PC. The CD
collection I offer is archived in all
D64 format to use with the emulators,
so finding software is not a problem
any longer.

Q Do you have any other machines other
than C=?

I have more computers around here than
wall outlets, but here is one of my
favorites. I call it my X1541 tower.
 http://users.commspeed.net/
  wlbbs/1541tower.jpg

Q- Can you tell us about the C= Cs you
sell, what is included & how to order ?

I have tried to include everything &
not just games. There are lots of
productivity software, including
graphics drawing programs, word proces-
sors, BBs programs, & tons of other
utilities for music files & BASIC
programmers. There is also a lot of
stuff for advanced users, like
assemblers, compilers, & schematics for
a lot of hardware, as well as an exten-
sive library of docs for various games
utilities, & the C64.

Q Some users dont have access to the
internet can they contact you via snail
mail?

Yes, but I see no reason to publish it
here, because they would need internet
access, to read this magazine.

Q How do you purchase the CDs & what
would be the cost, also can you deliver
internationally & what payment methods
can you take ?

I ship world wide, but there is an
extra charge for orders to be sent
outside of the US. The CDs cost $10
each, shipping is $5 for 1 or all 3.
In the US. I used Paypal for credit
cards, until EBay bought them out, so
now it is strictly personal checks or
money orders.

Q You were saying "I'm most proud of,
is I have been #1 on a Google search
for "C= Software" for over 5 years" how
was this achieved

I have never paid a penney to anyone
for my position on the search engine.
The "crown" comes from consistency, &
honesty. The page itself, is very
primitive, & was set up when I first
started learning HTML (it shows), but
it does what it is meant to do, &
people soon learn its for real, when
they email me questions & get a
personal response in a few hours. How
to actually achieve a #1 position,
without paying anyone for it, involves
many things. I would be more than happy
to give you more details in a future
interview if you would like.

Q Why did you put all the software onto
CDs & how was this archived?

After years online, I knew the dial up
BBs had come to an end, & also knew, it
was a matter of time before I sold off
all the equipment the BBs used, but I
did not want to let the software the
BBs had amassed, to be lost entirely,
so I started archiving it onto a hard
drive on a PC. That PC was a 286
running DOS 5.0  I tweaked its BIOS to
let it use a 850 meg hard drive. I used
a X1541 cord, & a program called
Trans64, to archive the entire software
library into D64 disk images. The
process took uncountable hours to
complete, because Trans64 is very slow,
but the good part was, it archived many
disks that no other similar program
could, so those are also preserved now.

Honestly I never intended to make a CD,
because back then, a CD drive was just
hitting the market, & I didn't have
one. I did intend on using that hard
drive on a future PC based BBs, to
offer C= downloads, but at the time the
emulators out there, for lack of a
better word were, CRAP. They had so
many bugs, & were DOS based which made
them hard for most people wanting to
explore the C64 on a PC. I eventually
got a new PC that had a "CD burner", &
burned a few CDs off that hard drive, &
gave 1 to an old BBs user that was a
close friend. He alone was responsible
for talking me into offering it to the
public, so I started indexing the CD &
released the first one in 1999.

Q Why bother putting the files onto CD?

Blank 360K floppys are hard to come by
these days, so I choose the CD format.
Actually, when folks order the
collection, they have an option of
getting all three CDs on one of those
USB flash drive sticks if they want for
a few extra coins. I think that is
really cool, & if current hardware
hackers succeed with interfacing a USB
flash drive to a C64, I can predict a
whole new user base of the C64. Try to
imagine having a 1 gig 1541 drive to
use with an original C64 breadbox, that
isn't even the size of a pack of
cigarettes.

Q Has anyone contacted you with regards
to copyright on the applications?

No, & I think that is simply because
they don't care anymore ( if they still
exist at all ). Many of the companys
that produced software for the C64 have
dissolved years ago, & those that
survived like Electronic Arts, &
Borderbud, have long since abandoned
support for the C= software they
marketed 20 years ago. My entire file
list is viewable on the web page, & if
anyone objects to me including a
program on the CDs, all they need to do
is email, & it will go away.

Q Do you read C= Free magazine?

No, I devour it. Keep up the great work

Q- Can you tell us about the Cross
referencing you are doing on Transactor
magazine

I am putting together a database of the
"Bits & Pieces" column, in the
magazine, that will be searchable &
indexed, that I will post on my web
page soon. There was a lot of great
stuff in that column for programmers &
hardware hackers, & unlike Craig Bruce
who has archived the whole publication,
I am focusing on just that section so
users can quickly find the tips &
tricks presented there.

Once that is done, I plan to do the
same for ALL the magazine articles so
a users inquiry for say "SID", will
list a result of the articles & which
issue they were in, so they can view
them. Transactor was an important part
of the C= scene, it cut through the
bull & hype of other rags like Gazette,
& simply got down to the business at
hand.

Q What other projects do you have lined
up?

At present, a few others & I are
writing a new multidisk adventure game
for the C64 called "The C= Crook". It's
a text adventure, where you can get
hired by C=, as a office boy, but if
you know C= computers, you can advance
in the game & the company. The ultimate
goal, is to be able to get to be a top
level programmer, & then steal the
plans for C= new Super Computer, & sell
them to Steve Jobs at Apple for a cool
$5,000,000. It's really quite fun.

Q- Any other logs in the fire?

Besides the new CDs in beta testing,
the Transactor project, & the C= Crook
game, I have also started to create a
HTML Bbs that will emulate the BBs
generated by a C64.The BBs project has
actually consumed most of my time
lately, but I thought it would be nice
to release a package that anyone can
use with basic HTML coding abilities, &
become a SysOp, without all the
advanced skills to run a telnet site &
stuff.

Q- Would you class yourself as a
programmer or a hardware expert or just
an expert user & can you explain why
you categorise yourself?

Thats a tuff question to answer. I'm by
no means an expert in anything, & I
don't think anyone can claim that
title, because someone always will know
more than you do. I am a very good
BASIC programmer, & electronic tech,
but I am not an expert. I learn new
things everyday about computers, & if I
was an expert, I would have already
known them.

Q Can you tell us about your BBs, what
was used to run it & why you closed
down?

The Commie Kazeez BBs was online for
about 10 yrs on a C64 running C*base
with four 1581 drives. Eventually, as
more & more users switched to IBMs
the user base dropped off, so I
reluctantly switch to a DOS based BBs
on a 286 PC called Wildcat, & renamed
it to The Wasteland BBs. The Wasteland
still had a C= section on it, so I
didn't lose all my users, but as the
internet became more & more popular, I
finally pulled the plug about 3 yrs
later.

Q- Do you think the BBs scene will ever
be reborn, or is it a thing of the past

Contrary to what is believed, there are
many dial-up BBs still, but they have
gone underground, & are very secure.
They have things on them that they
don't want to chance being accessed to
on the internet, so I would say it is
alive & well, just harder to get to.

Q Do you regret being a SysOp?

For the most part no, but I did
sacrifice thousands of hrs maintaining
the BBs of my life, & I wouldn't dare
to guess how many dollars in equipment
& phone bills. I'm sure it was a lot, &
I look back now, & question my sanity
for not charging users to access the
BBs. On the flip side, I learned a lot
about computers & maintaining "a
network", & that has helped me a lot in
other endeavours I dabble in now.


CD F.A.Q.

What is a .D64 File?
A .D64 file is a "disk Image" of a C=
floppy disk that can be used on your PC
with any of the popular emulators to
run the programs in the image file. A
single "image" file may contain several
individual programs because it is a
full copy of the original disk, & that
disk may have contained many different
programs. Todays emulators come with
good documentation as to how to access
all the files in the D64 format.


How do I use the D64 files ?
Very easy, by making use of one of the
C= Emulators included on the CD You
simply use your mouse & point & click
on the program you want to run. You can
also return a D64 file back to its
original format by using one of the
copy programs included on the CD, & a
simple interface cord that goes between
your PC & a C= Disk Drive. Details to
construct the interface cord are
included on the CD


What are the System Requirements for
the CD?

CD Player (4x or faster recomended),
DOS 5.0 or better OR Windows 3.1, or
better, 8 megs of memory, 66 MHZ
processor or faster


How many programs are on the CD?
Thats a good question, I haven't even
attempted to count them all !! There
was over 2000 disks archived into D64
format, & alot of those disks contained
20 or 30 programs each. When I run a
word count on the full file list, Word
reports there is 14,783 lines, so its
safe to say there is at least 10,000
files on the disk. One thing for sure,
there is enought files & programs on
the disk to keep you occupied for a
long time to come.


Can I use the D64 files on my C=?
No, not in the format they are in now.
You must use a copy program to return
them to "native" C= format.


Can I copy the CD?
Well I sure can't stop you!! Just do me
a favor & don't try to sell your
copies.... give them away. OF COURSE!
I'd rather have you steer your friends
towards this web page & have them
purchase one, but I have no control
over what you do with the CD after you
get it. Use it for a mini frisbee if
you want to.