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2022-08-26
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u
L U C K I
Spring Commodore Expo 2004 -
Modernity Grp. Speech
by Greg Nacu
I've got so much to talk about
today. The hardest part has been
deciding what to talk about first.
This is probably the 5th Commodore
Expo where I've given a demo. And I've
had a great time giving them --
showing off WiNGs, and whatever I've
been able to do with it. After the
last EXPO in Chicago, I realized that
while I have a lot to offer the
Commodore Community, there is really a
lot more that I could be doing. So my
first step down the path of "Doing
More" was to officially become a
group. So as of the Spring of 2004 I
am introducing "Modernity Grp."
My Plan for Modernity Grp. is to
something like Protovision -- focused
on a few particular goals. The details
of those goals I'm not going to give
away now. They will be the tasty
treats for future EXPOS as they
develop.
But I can tell you what Modernity
Grp. is all about. I'm going to
continue working on great new
software, trying to get the C64 doing
stuff it's never done before.
But more than that, some of this
software is going to and already does,
require Modern Hardware. And part of
our goal is to make that hardware
available. And that's starting this
EXPO. For my first time ever, I'm
going to be reselling some pretty cool
hardware which I've imported from
Europe. So I'm going to demo the first
two pieces of hardware I'm making
available:
MICROMYS
The first is the Micromys PS/2
mouse adaptor. It has a little logic
board inside the connector. We plug
this end into the controller port, and
we can connect any PS/2 mouse to this
side.
The adaptor translates the signals
sent from the mouse and gives them to
the Commodore exactly as a 1351
mouse does. This makes all PS/2 mice
immediately compatible with lots of
standard software like Godot, Wheels,
Mr.Mouse, and WiNGs.
It's so compatible with the 1351
that it even supports joystick mode.
Power up with the right mouse button
held down and it acts like a joystick.
(Bruce Thomas tells us that the scroll
wheel when clicked is compatible with
the CMD SmartMouse's middle button).
It has the additional feature of
making the mouse wheel programmable.
Many PS/2 mice have a scroll wheel.
When you roll up a series of joystick
up signals are sent. Scroll down,
joystick down signals are sent. The
frequency of the signals is related to
how quickly you scroll. So you can
program it for the scroll speed to be
proportional. The instruction manual
included with the adaptor has the
details of the programming
information.
I've had a couple of questions
about these.
"Does it work with optical mice?"
I have been told that some optical
mice require more power than the
control port can provide. Those mice
will fail to work. However the optical
mice I've tested both worked.
"What about USB mice?"
USB mice which come with a USB >
PS/2 adaptor in the package are also
compatible with the Micromys.
IDE64
The big piece of hardware I'm
making available today has been my
secret weapon for several years. The
IDE64. I'd give a demo and I'd be
whizzing through WiNGs, opening
programs, play digital music or
showing off a movie file or something
and it would look really impressive
and fast. But then you guys would go
home and try it out... and it would be
dissappointingly slow.
Of course my secret weapon was
that I was loading all the data off a
really quick IDE64. So today I'm
selling IDE64's. The newest version
just became available about 6 weeks
ago. Version 3.4. The newest feature
is compact flash storage.
Compact flash is a very small
storage technology that is in wide use
right now, mainly in digital cameras.
You can pick up a CF card at any store
that sells computers or digital
cameras. (Geoff Sullivan notes that
you can buy them at the drugstore).
The card is only an inch by an inch
and only a fraction of an inch thick.
And they are available in capacities
from 8 Meg, all the way up to a
Gigabyte. The primary features:
- Very Small
- Widely available
- 8megs to a Gigabyte
- Non-volatile storage (Doesn't need
a battery backup)
- Low power (Doesn't require
external power supply)
- Totally silent (No moving parts)
If you thought your RamLink was
cool in the early-mid 90's, the IDE64
with Compact Flash is like a RamLink
on steroids for the 2000's.
RamLink IDE64 v3.4
------- ----------
Expansion
port device Expansion
port device
Max 16 megs Max 1 Gig
storage storage
30 pin ram simms CG Cards
(old, hard to (Easy to find
find these days) and buy)
Semi non-volatile non-volatile
(needs bulky (doesn't need
backup battery) power)
Requires Powered by
External PSU tge Expansion port
Auto boot file Auto boot file,
ML Monitor,
Filemanager,
Start up settings
RTC chip RTC chip
CF Cards
are easy to swap
Expansion port
for more
peripherals
The IDE64 can be connected to
CD-rom drives, and has built in wedge
commands for managing the drive as
well as reading PC formatted (ISO9660)
CDs. ISO9660 CD's can be accessed and
read directly from the READY. prompt
or from any program that is compatible
with the commodore kernel.
ATAPI CD-rom drives are readily
available, much easier to acquire than
SCSI CD-rom drives. Music CD player
software is also available.
IDE64 firmware and features:
- Battery backed RTC chip
- Machine Language Monitor
- Two panel file manager
- Set up utility
- set screen colours at bootup
- auto boot file
- PC - Link built in
- comes with an 18 page printed
paper manual
- CR2032 Battery (for the RTC)
- Double sided 1541 utilities disk
The IDE64 has a shortbus connector
for additional peripherals, two of
which currently exist. The DUART is a
dual RS232 serial port cartridge,
115Kbps each. This can be used for
PC-Link serial mode, and has modem
interface drivers for WiNGs and
Novaterm. The second shortbus device
card available is the ETH64 -- A 10
megabit Ethernet adaptor. Currently
Contiki drivers exist, and WiNGs
drivers are under development.
GN
Modernity Grp.