Commodore Free 19/Commodore_Free_Issue_19_2008_Commodore_Computer_Club.d64/t.mossycon 4

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MossyCon 4 Personal Review

Written by Lord Ronin from Q-Link
Edited by Robert Bernardo


 "Da fullowin iz ritten da next murn
and wth liddle sleep un nah coffeieeee
yut."

Sunday morn at 3 am. We are still on
the phone with our dedicated #8
(weirdwolf) who through the mega-graces
of the bus system in the Portland
Metroplex missed the bus from there to
Astoria. #8 will have his rants on that
one I am certain. 'Cause I gots mine
EG.

Expected here at 9 pm Saturday night.
Was not a pleasant thing to see his
nickname show up in the chat around
that time, as we were to burn the CDs
for MossyCon and he was going to show
us how that was done, plus a few other
computer related problems were to be
rectified without Lord Ronin (myself)
using the ever-present big and heavy
hammer.

Between 9 pm-ish & 3 am, using Xchat
for IRC switching between screens,
creating a minute problem for #8's
phone and having to recharge it, we
did burn the 10 CDs for the Con.

A lot of thanks go to #8
(supercommodore-Destined!/weirdwolf...)
for taking all that time to work with
us on how to burn a smegging CD with
this new Linux flavour. Finding out
that the CD/DVD burner isn't working,
and we had to replace it with the old
one from the previous set-up. Then,
files that were downloaded not
installing for the burn, and I guess
those that use non C=64/128s are
familiar with this scenario a lot more
than I.

Up at 10 am, or earlier. Coffee on the
boil, cats demanding food. Set-up time
was to be 10 am at the pizza place.
Reminds me some or a few of us
attendees should send some letter of
thanks in some format to them. Well,
at 12:10 pm, over an hour after the
event was to start & 2 hours after the
set-up time, no ride yet, & that was a
bit worrisome, after last year's
medical problem for Robert. Worries
started to cross our minds. Nope,
things were just running a bit late. I
called the pizza place... yeah, me
using a phone... hey, it was a real,
rotary dial C= phone. Talked to Gene
Woods, who told me Robert was on his
way. Shortly after that, Robert was at
the shop.

Couple of bags of things from us,
along with #30 and myself, crammed
into the boat of a car of Robert's.
Well, compared to those Tonka toys
that are on the road now, it has been
called a boat, even if the backseat
hadn't been stacked with items. Well,
the interior of that car is made for
Robert. Not 6'2" me or 6'7" #30. And I
hate seatbelts as well. Oregon
mandates the use of them. Political
rhetoric aside.

Stopping at the back boor of the pizza
place, I showed Robert the back way
there (really, it is legally highway
30) to avoid the centre of town
traffic. We off-loaded ourselves & the
bags. Now I must add here that through
a misunderstanding, we had previously
collected a supply of Amiga items.
These were originally to be for
Robert. They were put in the trunk &
back seat. Want to thank Robert here
for being so understanding about the
mix-up and then seeing that many of the
items were dupes for his group &
allowing us to keep those items in
order that we may start to rebuild the
Amiga section after the sho-vah stole
the club's stuff.

There was a line of tables that held
many items that were just for the
show. Robert had the one that Jack
Tramiel signed at the CMH event in
DEC. Really, that C=64 should have been
under glass with an alarm system. An
Amiga 4000 with several autographs as
well as a 128DCR keyboard also auto-
graphed by some of the engineers.
A lovely presentation of a collage of
the late Jim Butterfield. Going past
that to the right was a collection of
electronic controls that reminded me
of my homebrew days in electronics,
though cleaner and neater. This was
connected to a SX-64. Along in that
area was a Lt. Kernal system that as I
understand has a few additives and is
working. At the end of the line past a
FD-2000 was a VIC-20, for which #30 &
Steve Jones had to return to the shop
in order to replace the PS that went
out on it.

But at the start of the line, right
next to the back door was a C= PET
2001. Not working and was slated for
Ray Carlsen for repair. Neither #30 or
myself had ever seen a real PET 2001 in
real life before. Now I understand the
reason for the term that was used to
describe the keyboard. But hey for us
lefties, the cassette thing is on the
left side of the keyboard.

Met Steve Jones and a man whose name
escapes me, but I think it was Bilud, &
his handle is Nightlord. Wasn't his
accent that tossed me as his English is
very good. But that it just had to
happen that day. Sinus problems blinded
my left eye (I'm left-eyed dominant),
& the ear infection returned so I was
deaf in the right ear. Plus I am
horrible at remembering names. There
was also Gene Woods, who has popped by
the shop from time to time seeing how
things are going with us, even though
it is a few hundred miles & several
hours drive for him. Good that he could
come to the event, as originally that
wasn't in the plans for his schedule.
Bad that he could come to the event,
because his main schedule got frelled.
Robert had set up a tab at the pizza
place for us. Didn't know that at the
start. At the first, since most of us
had not met each other at least in
real life, we sort of just talked
about ourselves and C= related things.
Had some pizza and drinks, mainly soda
pop for the group. Of course, I had to
be different & have beer, but as the
oldest one there, I can be eccentric
at times (most of the time). Talked to
Nightlord about role-playing games. He
had played some in the past, 2nd
Edition AD&D, and IIRC he had done
that in college with friends in his
native Turkey. I think that I went
overboard on the desires we have to
create C= RPG games and tools on the
C= for RPG games, but he did seem
interested in the idea.

Wildstar arrived, having to walk over
the hill, and it is a mean hill; I
can't do it anymore. Plus it was a
nice cool day with drizzle. OK, people
from Southern California may call it a
rain, but those of us in the Northwest
would call it a light drizzle.

Did have the enjoyment of a couple of
deer going past the windows, as they
came up from the bay and back into the
woods on the hill. Nice touch for the
day. Eventually, we had to settle down
some time around 2-ish. Nightlord (hope
I have his handle correct) did the
first presentation. Now I couldn't hear
well so some others should go into this
one. Also the tech level was not the
same as mine. In essence, he created
some demos in the scene which he had
shown earlier on a non C=laptop with
the emulator. Looked very good & the
speed was smooth. At that time he was
explaining many points of how it was
done. I caught the part of using the
CPU & mem in the 1541 at the same time
things are being done in the 64.

But that wasn't his main presentation.
This was his compiler thinggy; I can't
do the name justice. So basically, I
can say that he has created a C= C++
compiler. Does only work in emulation
for creation. But as I understand, the
work can be placed on stock 1541 disks.
He knows his tech & was presenting it
well to those other hardware people who
asked some poignant questions. MossyCon
was honoured with the display of a
Tetris clone that runs at a good speed.
Created with this new compiler for us.
Sadly, he could not release it yet.
Still working on the documentation
first. He wishes that to be done
before the item is released.

Next up was the fat, old, hippy freak.
My presentation was on the use of Geos,
such as GeoWrite, GeoPaint, GeoPub,
PostPrint & GeoDos. In the creation of
the items that I was able to convert
into .pdf files & burn onto the CD.
Only the burning & converting was done
on the Linux system. The rest, even the
zipped .D64s, were done on the C= with
the SCPU. Passed out most of the CDs we
had made. Few games and a lot of the
writings that I have done for the
group. Showed off actual raw 96-page
copy of a 1st ed AD&D adventure
completely created & printed on the C=.

SMJ (Steve) was up next. He described
his Prophet 64 thing. Now I could
follow some of this, because I do have
an ancient background in electronics
& once could play musical instruments.
But there was that hearing problem, &
most of his presentation had a crying
baby & an irate child screaming in the
other part of the pizza joint. What I
could see, & the screen was on a SX-64,
was a bit small for my eyes. Well, the
screen showed a lot of items that were
to me impressive. But the sounds that
he was able to create with his home-
brew box & some other modded electronic
equipment, well, I have never heard SID
sound so clean... as if it was one of
those megabuck synthesizers. True, he
had modded the SX to be a stereo with 2
SID chips. Started off his presentation
with his laptop, where he had
documented in pix the different steps
& alterations of the SX-64. I could
follow that part. But even deaf in one
ear, that sound was fantastic.

Robert followed by showing different
units he had brought. Starting with the
PET & going through the different
autographed C= items. Now if I had my
own transport & could run fast enough,
he would have had less to take back
with him VBG.

I left out that there was a framed set
of stamps. Robert had sent a pic of
Jeri to a place that places the image
on a real, usable, 41-cent USPS stamp.
This one is framed for display. He
donated one sheet for the raffle, and
I understand another will be for
another con/expo raffle.

But for the actual hands-on work, we
had to borrow my SCPU in order to see
the Metal Dust game. This was placed
on Robert's SX-64, the one that I
would like to liberate for the ACUG. I
mean it does have in the second drive
bay a FD-4000. But I am addicted to
C=. By using a cord, this was able to
be connected to the 1702 monitor at
the VIC-20. Not sure about the entire
game. Around three 1581 disks in a
nice box. Robert did state that it has
a tendency to try to save the high
score, but when it does that, it smegs
up a file on the disk, and the game is
dead. What I saw with a couple of
volunteers was a multi-colourful,
fast, sideways scroller. Spaceship
shooting at the asteroids & planetoids
that race from the right side of the
screen. My working eye had trouble with
the background and the foreground.
There is just so much on the screen, at
least seen about 7' away, that I
couldn't tell what was what. But I'll
accept that the eye problem was to
blame.

Another hands-on display was a set of
finger joysticks in a box. This is an
actual C= game, from about 1984 IIRC
what was on the paperwork. Does use a
disk, and one cannot use regular
joysticks. I was struck at the sight
on the table of how the box and
joysticks reminded me of a RC plane
set-up. Good thing I did, as that is
what this game is about. You are
flying a RC model plane. Well, the
testers did give it a try. High marks
for innovative crashing all around.LOL

Last in that demo presentation was the
VIC-20. There was one cart that had
IIRC 38kb or RAM, but a switch out of
the three broke off, cancelling that
one. But we did see and play with the
100+ games in one cart for the VIC-20.
Ah, no one got even close to finishing
the first level of Donkey Kong, and
playing Congo Bongo with the keyboard
was a bit hard, though there is a
joystick options.

One last thing, and it is out of place
in the demo part. Robert showed off
the new MMC2IEC IIRC it is called. He
had both sets, but lost his PS unit
for the display. I was impressed at
not only the fact that here is another
new piece of C= related Hardware, but
looking at what appeared to be a
micronised DreamCast memory cart and
finding it was at least a gig in size.
Then learning that one can place 1541s
onto it and use it like a 1541 drive.
I think that I will learn more and
save up.

Well, a lot more happened, but this is
very long. We left the place around 8
pm. Later, Robert & SMJ arrived at the
commune, where, yes they did see and
Robert had some of the Kittybox cake.
More pix were taken. Talked on games &
the like. Went to the shop, the ACUG
GHQ. Spent time there talking about C=
things & looking at the items in the
shop. Eventually, at some point past
2 AM, the guys headed back to the
motel. I crashed, & for some inane
reason, was up early in the morning.
Oh, yeah, I am up. as Robert was
bringing some Amiga things for us.
Great time, met new C= friends IRL, &
hope we will be doing this next year.

BCNU
Lord Ronin from Q-Link

COMMODORE FREE
MessyCon was recorded by Robert & is
available for purchase on 2 DVD-R in
NTSC format, The pictures in this
review were extracted from the video,
you can contact Robert at:
 http://videocam.net.au/fcug/
   Fresno Commodore Users Group