Commodore Free 20/Commodore_Free_Issue_20_2008_Commodore_Computer_Club.d64/t.iv paul

Text File | 2023-02-26 | 11KB | 378 lines

u

Commodore Free interview with Paul
 http://www.commodore-plus4.co.uk/
  index.htm

COMMODORE FREE.
Please introduce yourself to our reader

I am a 43 old who still lives in the
past - love the 80's. I am married to
a lovely lady & have a daughter who's
nearly 18, she is still single by the
way. I am a football fanatic who
follows a team since May 1981 who you
may not of heard of - Dagenham &
Redbridge, we are currently 4th of
bottom of Div 2 of the English league.
My daughter & I go to every home game &
travel away(when we can afford it)
following the Daggers.

Q. What is your fascination with
Commodore machines

My 1st computer was a C16 & I was
hooked on computing from that day. I
had to borrow the money to pay for it.
I started typing in the little
programs & then bought a games book
trying to enhance my basic skills. I
wrote 2 games in 1985 & 86. At the
time I just could'nt get enough of
this little machine. I was always
looking for games which appealed to me
in shops & markets etc. Due to a
lack of money I was forced to sell it
to my father in late 1986 & was not
re-united with Commodore until I got
my 1st Amiga in 1988. I had an Amstrad
6128 & a MSX in between.

Q. Can you tell our reader what
Machines you own?

Commodore & Non Commodore. At the
moment I have 5 fully working Plus 4'
and 2 fully working C16's. 3 Plus 4's
and the 2 C16's are complete in boxes.
I also have a non working C16 & non
working plus4's which will be up &
running later this year as these just
just need a CPU & other minor little
details to sort them out.

Q. You are writing a new C16 game can
you tell our reader about the game

I used to play Football Director II in
the 80's on my Amstrad & got hooked
on this. I used to come home from work
and start playing on a Friday night
and would still be playing at 10.00
o'clock the next morning with my wife
having fallen a sleep on the sofa. I
always thought I could do better than
this game & set about writing my
own. 1st on the Amstrad & then on
the Amiga. I was always making changes
to the game & improving things as my
brother would play test it for me.
Anyway then come along kick off,
championship manager etc & I found I
was playing games every waking hour
and my programs would get laid to
rest. Every now & again I would
start programming a new version
improving on the game & the gameplay
etc & so I never got one finished. I
also found to time to produce a
daughter in this time. Last year I had
a GP2X which was designed for
emulators so I thought a football
management game would fun to play on
this (plus 4 emulated) if it was
designed write so I set about writing
for this machine in mind. What I mean
is the game that I am writing for the
Plus 4 will play easily on this as I
am trying to make all game choices are
cursor & return key controlled on
the plus 4 with the joy pad & fire
button on the GP2X. Got to mention
also I have dabbled with other game
formats as well. I still have a copy
somewhere of knightlore which I
started to re-write & completed 70%
- 80% of it. It was good it had every
room & you could find the items &
enemies etc . I should have finished
this one but it was for the PC only
and I lost interest.

Q. How far through the football game
design are you

Its probably about 30% now although
the team data will have to be updated
before its finished as there would
have been promotions & relegations
in that time. I do try to do a little
bit every other day.

Q. Can our reader be of assistance in
the completion of the game

I am always open to suggestions &
have always thought its to hard to do
a game on your own. So if anyone has
any ideas please contact me through my
website.

Q. Do you plan to create further games
for the c16 & plus 4

I have nothing in mind at the moment
as I have started decorating & the
wife wants me to do the whole house,
Hmm. Although saying that it gives you
time to think so who knows.

Q. Does the football game work on the
C16 only or will the game run on the
Plus 4

The game will only work on the Plus 4
or a C16 with memory expansion. For
those with an un-expanded C16 you can
purchase memory upgrades from
www.CommodoreC16.com
There thats a bit of business their
way.

Q. There is an awful lot of confusion
about the C16 & plus 4 are they
compatible games wise

Most games will work on either
machine. Unless its stated Plus 4
only. There are only a few C16 games
that will not work on the Plus 4 due
to the fact of where specific graphic
data is stored in memory etc.

Q. What is the main difference between
the machines?

The C16 is a cut down Plus 4. It only
has a quarter of the total memory of
the Plus 4 which leads to 12k
available to the user where as the
plus 4 you get a whole 60K. Also the
Plus 4 has the extra rom packages,
Spreadsheet etc. The C16 has the
breadbin design like the C64 & Vic
20 which a lot of people prefer,
myself personally I love the Plus 4
design as its very stylish &
comfortable to use.

Q.
 http://www.commodore-plus4.co.uk/
  index.htm
You run the website for Commodore 16 &
plus 4 machines what do you hope to
accomplish from the website.

I just want people to have the
information about the machines & may
somehow be able to relate to it. I
know there is other sites out there
but as we know websites come & go so
the more information out there the
better. Also I just want to feel that
I have done my bit in trying to keep
the memory of this machine alive.

Q. The website also hosts a number of
games for the machines with screen
shots how many hours did this take to
create, were all the screen shots from
emulators.

Right 1st of to get this site up &
running I used the actual emulated
screen shots from the Plus 4 World
site which where supplied as far as I
know from a guy called Luca. I have
started to replace them with my own
shots but its very time consuming. I
informed him with what I had done. I
do try to give something back when I
can as I had a few cover scans which
they did not have so it's sort of
swaps. The site took me quite a while
to create as per normal I was doing
bits here & there.

Q. Is there a favoured Commodore 16 /
Plus 4 emulator

Personally I prefer Yape but others
like Vice so I think its just down to
the User preference.

Q. Do you think Emulation of older
machine is important

Emulation is very under-estimated &
very important. People who use an
emulator start thinking I used to play
this & I had that one etc & then a
few of them like me will try to
acquire the original machine which
keeps the vintage era going.

Q. What do you prefer emulation or
real hardware & why

I use the plus 4 emulator all the time
but you cannot beat using the real
hardware. I have converted my loft
into a small room & every other day
I go up there a get out one of my Plus
4's to play & test games. It just
gives me a right buzz sitting there
using one of these.

Q. Can our readers help with the
website maybe sending some missing
information? what information do you
need .

I would like people to contact me,
telling me about their time using
their commodore, if they still have
one, all the sort of information that
is nostalgic & maybe a small pic &
some brief information about
themselves. I would then add some new
pages on the site with there pics &
information on it, a sort of C16 Plus4
community.

Q. One unique feature about the c16 /
Plus 4 range is the TED can you
explain what TED is

The TED is the heart of the 264
series. It's responsible for video,
sound, DRAM refresh & cursor. The
difference between the numbers
(7360/8360) is that they were
manufactured with different
technologies. The 7360 is manufactured
with HMOS-1 (251535-01) & the 8360
is manufactured with HMOS-2
(251535-02). Most people will find an
8360 in their machine if they ever
open it up. From what I understand
there were 3 revisions of this chip.
The Ted chip is not very reliable,
although I have only come across a
couple of machines where the Chip has
failed. I seem to get more machines
that pass through my hands that have a
faulty main CPU(8501).

Q. Commodore 16 Commodore plus 4 is
there a name we can refer to these
machines as, Also didnt Commodore
release the 16/ plus 4 in Europe under
another name, do you know the reason
for the name change, & were they
essentially the same machines just re-
branded

The C16 release in parts of Europe was
also known as a C116. This had a
completely different look. It wasnt
very reliable & looked more like a
Sinclair. The Plus/4 was originally
named the Commodore 264 during
prototype stage, & extant units
bearing the 264 nameplate (some with
and some without the integrated
software) have been reported by
hardware collectors. An unreleased
Plus/4 family prototype, the Commodore
V364, included Voice Synthesis
hardware & software. In Denmark the
Plus/4 was used in a bundled product
from the then-national tele company
(now TDC A/S) to help hearing impaired
communicate over telephone lines

Q. Many readers use E-bay or similar
if our reader is looking out for a
Commodore machine what buying tips can
you give

Ah Ebay love or hate it. I source a
lot of my items from Ebay. It can be
hard as if you are a collector once
you get passed about a 100 games you
have to start buying bigger bundles
just to pick up a couple of software
titles you dont have. Some good tips
are as follows. When you do a search
always type in the following Commodore
C16 , Commodore 16 Commodore Plus &
do a search on each one. Also make
sure the search is in all categories
as people don't always list in the
right place. Also try replacing
Commodore with Commodore as this is
quite a common spelling mistake. And
last of all try a search doing a
search on people who live not to far
from you as you can save a lot of
money this way. I have picked up items
which are listed as Pickup only &
superb prices.

Q. Do you think in years to come the
machines will attract a premium price
like antiques fine art or paintings .

I would love to think so as that would
mean I am sitting on a possible gold
mine for the future. But there were
about 400'000 of these made so I doubt
they would make anyone rich but who
knows. The ZX80 now attracts a few
hindered pounds so another 25 years or
so & I what I have now my subsidise
my pension.

Q. Do you think Commodore were right
to release the C16 & plus 4 at the
time they did without the proper
software backing .

Everything about the C16 Plus 4
release was wrong. It wasnt just about
the software, there was various
hardware problems, lack of
compatibility, poor marketing & top
of that you had the Speccy & C64
going so strong. Still because of this
the Plus 4 & C16 are now more of a
collectors item than the Common C64's
etc.

Q. Do you have any final Comment to
our readers?

If you have an interest share it.
People love information & would be
lost with it. Don't throw things away.
One mans junk is another's treasure.
EBay it. You would be surprised what
people buy. And remember please send
me what information you have & would
also like to share with others.