Commodore Free 16/Commodore_Free_Issue_16_2008_Commodore_Computer_Club.d64/t.b guide 1.2

Text File | 2023-02-26 | 12KB | 347 lines

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The Beginning
Lord Ronin from Q-Link

Chapter 1, Section 2 of 2

 Looking at the end that will go into
the monitor. Those are called RCA
jacks. Sort of a crown looking thing
with a short shaft in the center. They
are probably different colours. Love to
tell you which colour goes where, but
not all manufacturers used the same
colour scheme. On a two plug one, you
just try to fit it at first to the
respective colours of the socket.
Yellow, most of the time is video.
Naturally dealing with old monitors,
that colour in the socket may be cloudy
or just plain not visable. OK plug it
in, turn on the monitor, but not the
C=. If there is a bad hum when you mess
with the volume control. Which is known
as a 60 cycle line hum. You have it
backwards. Reverse the plugs and the
hum should go away.

 Now then for those that have a
monitor cord that is more than two.
Well only three of them are needed. I
am hoping that your monitor has three
input sockets. There are many monitors
that will work with the C=. Not all of
them made by Commodore. If you have a
1701 or a 1702 monitor. You have in
many peoples opinion, the best one.
But past that point. Some monitors
have the inputs on the front. Some
have them on the back, and some, like
the 1702 have them on both the front
and the back. Side note here, I have a
1702 set up for my 64c model. Using a
three wire connector. That goes in the
back. I have my DreamCast connected to
the two front sockets. All I need to
do is flip the switch in the back, to
move from the C= to the DreamCast. But
that aside, the hard part is putting
the correct plugs in the correct
sockets. Try to match the colours of
the plug to the sockets. Give thanks
to the C= headed goddess if it works
right the first time <G>. For me on
the 4 and 5 plug ones. I have never
found the black one to do a thing for
me. But don't take that as etched in
stone.

 Now some of the problems that you can
encounter. Story time, the C= monitor
model 1802. Nice one, has a built in
antiglare screen. Also has the
connections for two and three wire
plug ins on the back. Not really
labled well for many people. I paid
$5 USD for one just for parts. Because
the guy that got it, couldn't make it
work. Bought his C=64 as well for the
same price. Reason it didn't work, was
that he didn't connect the cable right
on the back. Since the cable and the
switch that moves between the two and
three wire connection, well it has to
be on the right one for the input. He
had it set for two wire and then had a
three wire input, half set for two
wire and the rest for three wire. When
dealing with something like that, try
all the combinations that you can
think of, and if that fails. There may
be a manual for your monitor on line.
There are sites that preserve the text
of manuals for the C=.

 Right then, why are there 3 plugs on
some and others just have 2? Well C=
after some time, split the video output
signal to "Luma" and "Chroma". I was
told that this was the start of the
S-Video thing. Not that I know what
S-Video is in any form. But here is a
kicker. You see when they did that,
they had to change the video output
socket. Adding a couple more pins and
changing the pin layout in the socket.
The older video cable would fit the
newer configuration. But naturally the
newer one wouldn't fit the older one.
Funny thing is I have a collection of
video cables, that have 3 plugs. But
they are pinned out for the older
socket. Makes one wonder why.

 Now for people that don't have a
monitor. I could say go out and score
one up. But till you know if you like
the C=, why spend the money? The
monitors are fairly priced on line.
But the shipping can be over $100 USD
for one. Depending on how it is
shipped of course. That was the price
quoted to me from a users group that
was going to take it to one of those
places that pack and ship for you.
What you will see on the T.V. is not
as good as what you will get with a
monitor. Your picture may be a tad bit
fuzzy and it will certainly in
comparison not be as sharp or colours
as vibrant. Yeah I have used a T.V.
for a monitor. Connecting your C= to
the T.V. is easier than those guys
doing it to a monitor. The cable with
the two RCA ends is the first thing to
find. Second is that little box thing.
One end of the cable goes into the C=.
There is only one hole it will fit.
The other end plugs into that little
box. Well that is what it says in the
book. On the Other Hand <OTOH> I have
close to 100 of these buggers. You may
not have gotten an original one in
your collection. Some of these have
the cable built into the box. If you
have a T.V. that takes an aerial. You
just take the two small flat leads
with the "U" shaped connectors on
them. Screw that into the antenna
screws on your set. What you are doing
is converting the signal from the C=
to the 300 ohm <standard of
measurement> antenna signal input on
your T.V. Now then, there are newer
forms of TV units. That do not have an
antenna input. These "cable ready"
units have a connecter that looks a
bit like a screw. I mean the connector
is  threaded. Your C= to T.V. adaptor
doesn't fit. What you need is a 300
ohm to 75 ohm connector. Best I can
tell you is take the box to you
favourite electronics store, show them
and tell them that you need to convert
that to 300 ohms. They generally have
the device. Most of them will just
pressure fit onto your cable input. OK
now there are many variations of
these. I have some that are both 300
and 75 ohm in the box. Many of them
are not original. But ones from off
the shelf electronic store converter
systems. As they have a little switch
on them that says T.V. on one end,
computer or Game on the other. A few
have game on one end, T.V. on the
other and computer in the middle.
Using a 3 position switch. Whew that
was a lot. OK we are finished with the
Monitor and T.V. connection. Save for
one little thing. Take a look at the
back of the C=64. There is a switch
that has 3-4 on it. This is used to
select channel 3 or channel 4 for the
C= input to your T.V. I never had T.V.
connected at the same time as the
computer. Never used that switch.

 Thanks man, you have waded through a
lot of drenn to reach this part. And
we haven't gone on about what the C=
will do! I have a reason for that, and
that is, get the smegger hooked up
right before you tackle anything. To
that end, there are a few more
connections to make, or possibly make.
Then I will expound on things about
the C= that you may not know. Since in
the next installment, we are hitting
the user book for more information.

 There are three ways of having
something show up on the screen form
"canned" software. Cartridges or
"carts". Cassettes, a.k.a. DataSett
and there are several spellings for
that one. Disks, and here there are a
few different ones. Carts are the
easiest and what most of the early
users started with in the first place.
I mean after blowing $199 in 1980s
money. There isn't a lot left to buy
the other stuff right off the bat. Now
you may have a few carts in your
collection. I have never seen one that
wasn't already opened and used. So I
don't know what the packaging was
originally. They are a device that
plugs into the right rear, as you face
the keys, on the C=. Entire programme
is stored in that cart. To use it,
turn off the C=. Plug the cart in
snuggly. Turn on the C=. You should
have the start of the programme on the
screen. If you are lucky and I am
rarely that lucky. You will also have
a small instruction booklet for the
programme. If you don't see anything
at all. Time to clean the cart and the
port. Personally I use a cotton swab,
best are the ones sold in electronic
stores for cleaning tape machines. The
coton fibers on the swab don't catch
on things and make matters worse. I
also go to the local drug store and
buy Isopropyl Alcohol <nice to have
the bottle at hand for spelling> at
the stength of 91%, or greater. Make
certain it is plain. No scents or
additives like that. As that will coat
your connectors and cause problems.
Now just lightly wipe the wet swab
over the copper looking things in both
the cart and on the C=. Bet you find a
lot of crud. Now then after that is
completed. Wait at least 5 minutes.
Let it dry out before reconnecting. If
all is as it should be, you will see
the programme when you plug it in and
turn on the C=. If not, then there is
a problem in the C= or the cart.
Working on that isn't in the scope of
this part of the series.

 Next in line we come to the DataSet.
That is my preferred spelling. If you
have one of these in your collection.
Then it looks like a mono cassette
machine. The older ones by Commodore
where rectangular in shape. Later
models where square with rounded
corners. In either case, it is a
cassette machine for the C=. When I
worked for Radio Shack as a repairman
and tech. They were selling the TSR-80
units. These would only load from an
off the shelf cassette machine. There
wasn't at that time any other form of
software. In some countries the
DataSet is still heavily used. As the
price of it and tapes was much cheaper
than a disk drive.

 Here I can go on a bit for you. I
have a couple in my collection that
are still in the box. Besides the
tight packing. There is also a manual
for the use of the DataSet. Small and
most of the information is in other
books. Like the user guide that came
with the C=. Where the difference
between a cassette drive and a DataSet
end is the connector. This plugs into
the port on the C=. On the back of the
C=, this is next to the round socket
that isn't for the video output.
Really it only fits in one place. Ah,
but you ask, where does it plug in for
power? Well the same place. I remember
that it pulls about 5 volts to
operate. Could be wrong on that. But
remember what I said about the brick
power supply and it being under
powered when things are added? Well
this is about all it was designed to
handle. And there is debate on that
part. Right you want to see if there
is anything on that tape in that box
of stuff you have. Well repeating
myself here again. Don't plug it in
with the system turned on. Taking that
as read. You need to open the lid of
the DataSet and put in the tape. Type
in the word LOAD and then press the
return key. For those coming from the
non C= world. That RETURN key would be
the same as the enter key on other
keyboards. Anyway the computer will
say PRESS PLAY ON TAPE. Do that and
then the C= will go blank as it hunts
for the prg. When that is finished.
You get the message FOUND (the name of
the programme). Press the C= logo key.
Ah that is bottom row far left. The C=
will now load the programme. A note at
this point. OK a few notes. If the prg
is a long one. Well go make something
to eat, watch a T.V. show. Grab a
smoke and a drink. Then see if the
thing has loaded. Tape loads are S L O
W. They are also on old tapes and
machines not that accurate. Mainly
because the cassette machine is dirty
and needs to be cleaned. I'll cover
that in another part. Now you can load
the first programme on the tape as
written above. You can tell it to load
a specific programme on the tape. This
means that you have more than one
programme on the tape. If it isn't the
first one then the DataSet will play
through looking for the prg name. At
the incredible rate of 1 7/8 inches
per second. Think about that if you
use 90 minute tapes for your saves.
Now you see why many users went to the
floppy disks. A thing to mention here
about the tapes. Regular ones will
work on the DataSet. Not going to bore
you more with the different tapes of
tapes. Only this one section. There
was/is a tape that was manufactured,
that didn't have the clear leader tape
at the start and end of the cassette.
Once this was said to be for cassette
letters, then for the blind in their
tapes. Then it was called a computer
cassette. Only difference was the
price.

 Right I've babbled on long enough or
this session. Mainly as this is done
originally on a Commodore and I have
reached the limit of lines for the
programme. Next part will be on Disks
and the manual and anything else that
feels right at the time.