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2022-08-26
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u
EMU-LETTER
by Dave Moorman
A growing number of LOADSTARites
are discovering that their Pentium
machines can do a dandy job of
pretending to be a "real" C= computer!
And we just want to keep you updated
on some exciting things going on in
the world of emulation.
The big news is that VICE has just
released version 1.9. I have used
v.1.7 this year to edit LOADSTAR, and
I am hugely happy with it. When 1.8
came out, it promised Stereo SID, but
had a very nasty bug. I stuck with
1.7.
But with v.1.9, VICE has more than
exterminated a bad bug. The menus have
been improved, with more control and
options. The program even emulates the
fuzzy appearance of a TV or composite
monitor! (If that is what you want.)
And then there's the Stereo SID. I
dug out some of my favorites - John
Kaputa's Ride of the Valkeries, John
Davis classics, and even some PRESTO
music I did years ago. The results are
fantastic!
The other great thing about VICE
is that it only costs a Download. You
can find a link to VICE at
www.loadstar.com in the Free Stuff
area. Grab it, PC people!
------
THINGS TO KNOW ABOUT VICE
SYNCHRONIZING SOUND
VICE does a great job of emulating
the SID chip. However, the process of
creating a WAV file and then playing
it causes something of a lag between
screen action and sound effects.
With version 1.7 or 1.9, you can
improve the synchronization by
pressing <Alt-E><O>, and changing the
"Sound Buffer Size" down to "100
msecs". The sound may be a bit more
"ragged", but now the "binks" and
"bonks" are right on time!
For listening to music and other
non-synch situations, the 350 msecs
Sound Buffer is superior.
TRUE DRIVE
I have finally truly figured out
True Drive. This feature completely
emulates the 1541, 1571, and 1581
drives in every way. The price is
longer load times. But some programs,
such as Rotation Craze on this issue,
do things that require full drive
emulation.
Here are the steps for engaging
True Drive:
1. Click "Settings > Drive
Settings" (<Alt-E><R>) and choose
drive 8. Click the "radio button" that
corresponds to the type of disk image
file you are using (D64 = 1541, D81 =
1581). Close the window.
2. Click "Options > True Drive"
(<Alt-O><T>). This switches on True
Drive. You will see a little "drive
activity light" at the bottom right
corner of your window.
3. Reset the Emulator (<Alt-R>
<Y>).
4. Re-Attach the disk image file
(<Alt-8> double click the file). In
effect, you have just turned on a new
virtual drive, and now you must put
the "disk" in the "slot"
That's IT! Turning off True Drive
is simple -- <Alt-O><T>.
------
THE WORLD OF 64/128
Everyone uses their c-64/128
differently. We have GEOS/Wheels power
users, JOS/Wings SuperCPU exploiters
("exploit" in the nicest sense of the
word). And then there are folks who
see no reason to get more complicated
than their beloved "bread box" and
1541. LOADSTAR - like the Colossus of
Rhodes - stands with one foot on each
side of the harbor. Make that a
"transvestite Colossus," because we
also "cross-dress", spanning two
platforms: C= and PC.
Diversity is the cornerstone of
the Commodore Community, as each user
finds his/her place of comfort, and
respects other users in their own
favorite configurations.
This is one of the reasons you
will never see a book entitled
"Commodore for Dummies." We don't have
no dummies here!
DMM