>
> So I poked my nose into the local Salvation Army, on the off chance they
> have one of those 60s style stereo "furniture" things. The kind with a
> radio, turntable, red velvet booze drawer and obligatory lounge hits LP,
> all disguised as a small sideboard.
>
> They didn't, but they did have a C-64. Now I'm young enough that the
> first PC I got to play on was an IBM PCjr. So I know very little
> about C-64s. However, 10 dollars canadian got me :
>
> C-64 Personal Computer
> 2 x 1541 floppy drives (one w/ lever, one w/ "door")
> MPS 1200 dot matrix printer w/ tractor feed
> Joystick (wico)
> power supply, some cables, manual for C-64 (not PC) and monitor
>
> All the above is dirty, though no scratches nor dents.
>
> Conspicously missing :
> Monitor
> Software
>
> I've tested the C-64 by plugging in a floppy drive in, turning everything
> on, and blind-typing load "foo",8. Red LED on the drive came on, noises
> were made, red LED started a blinken.
>
> When I turn the printer on, the LEDs come on, the out of paper LED
> flashes. FF causes the (imaginary) paper to feed. LF works also. This
> printer reminds a lot of my old Epson LX-80.
>
> So now the call for help. What sites would you recomend to learn about
> hacking these things? Is there software available? Can one get floppy
> images and write them w/ a 5.25" drive on modern PCs? When I get a TV or
> monitor rigged up, I'd like to learn 6502 assembler (I already know z80
> and 8086 assembler).
>
> There is a port marked "serial" on back. I'm guessing that all the
> periferals plug into this. Floppy drives and printer. (Hmm... if the
> MPS-1200 is a serial printer, could one get a converter and plug it into a
> wyse 85 or vt220?)
>
> The other thing I would like to do is hook it up to my main computer
> (prolly as a serial terminal) and then get on the net. I aim to recreate
> the authentic B1FF experience. :) The manual leads me to believe the
> serial port on a C-64 isn't compatible w/ RS-232, however. :(
The serial port on the c64 IS RS232 compatible, but it uses ttl level signals
instead of the normal ones. The adapters just (if memory serves) raise the
signal levels to rs232 standards. It only goes up to 2400 baud with the
existing bios, although the chip goes (I think) to 9600 if you reprogram it.
For this reason plugging the serial printer into any standard RS232 device is
probably not a good idea.
I believe there is an OS that was written for the 64 that has an IP stack,
although I don't remember where you'd look for it. It was someone's college
project.
--
Jim Strickland
jim_at_DIESPAMMERSCUMcalico.litterbox.com
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
BeOS Powered!
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
Received on Tue Mar 14 2000 - 23:52:19 GMT