extremely new to commodore

[ericaesop]

hello, my name is eric, im 16 years young, and since last year when i stumbled upon a surplus of commodore 64 and 128 computers, i have been facinated with the world of commodore, i have mostly been playing games for the past year, and i would like to know what might one do with

c128
c64c (blown sid)
1541
1541-II
1902 monitor
2 modems
a final cart (either 1 or 2, i cant tell)
a hearsay 1000 (i dont know what that does but it plugs into the cart port and has a microphone)
about 400 untested disk's
and about 10 serial cables
, thank you for all your help

[RobertB]

hello, my name is eric, im 16 years young, and since last year when i stumbled upon a surplus of commodore 64 and 128 computers, i have been facinated with the world of commodore...

Welcome to the C= fold, Eric.  When I was walking in the midst of the thousands of attendees at Maker Faire this past weekend, many commented on the C64 I was carrying, e.g., "I remember that...", "Does it still work...", "I used to do programming on that...", etc..  In my own little way, I wanted to bring them back into the fold.

...i would like to know what might one do with

c128
c64c (blown sid)
1541
1541-II
1902 monitor
2 modems
a final cart (either 1 or 2, i cant tell)
a hearsay 1000 (i dont know what that does but it plugs into the cart port and has a microphone)
about 400 untested disk's
and about 10 serial cables

You have got quite a collection already.  You can do plenty with the Commodore... it just depends on what you want to emphasize.  Music?  Games?  Programming?  Business?  Internet?  Graphics?  All of these can be done on the Commodore.

               Back from Maker Faire,
               Robert Bernardo
               Fresno Commodore User Group
               http://videocam.net.au/fcug
               July 25-26 Commodore Vegas Expo - http://www.portcommodore.com/commvex

[airship]

My suggestion would be to connect the C128 to the 1902 (using both 40 and 80 column cables), plug in the 1541 as device 8 and the 1541-II as device 9, and start experimenting. Load up some programs from those 'unknown' disks and start messing around with them.

Search here and you'll find posts that will guide you to web sites with information, links to books in PDF form, documentation, programs, etc.

Have fun!

[commodorejohn]

Hmm, not a bad little hoard. You can use it for just about anything, with the right software; is there anything in particular you want to know about?

One tip, regardless: if you're looking to get serious about your Commodore at all, I would invest in a 1581 drive (maybe you can sell the 64-C and put the proceeds toward one.) With a 1581 at your disposal, it gets about a billion times easier to get more software for your Commodore, as you can just transfer files over from PC-formatted floppy disks, easy as pie.

[ericaesop]

thanks for all your help, a reply the the 1581 comment, i would love nothing more then to have a 1581 in my collection, but i havent been able to find one at a decent price

[commodorejohn]

They do tend to go for a bit; I had to pay $50 + $30 S/H for mine, but it's been absolutely worth it. Just keep watching eBay, and check around at some of the old-computer retailer sites that are still around.

[ericaesop]

i think what i would most like to do with my equipment is dial into some (if any are even around anymore) bbs's,. and perhaps learn how to make a working backup of geos,

[RobertB]

i think what i would most like to do with my equipment is dial into some (if any are even around anymore) bbs's...

You'd better hurry.  Andrew Wiskow's dial-up BBS (the only one left in the world) is coming down on June 5 and won't be back up until February, 2010.

...and perhaps learn how to make a working backup of geos,

Making a back-up for the use of GEOS applications is easy.  Deprotecting it is harder; for that, you would need Maverick (and sometimes that doesn't always work for GEOS apps).

              Back from Maker Faire,
              Robert Bernardo
              Fresno Commodore User Group
              http://videocam.net.au/fcug
              July 25-26 Commodore Vegas Expo - http://www.portcommodore.com/commvex

[airship]

Rather than a 1581, I would STRONGLY recommend you buy a uIEC or SD2IEC. They run about $50 and let you transfer files quickly and easily from a PC to your Commodore using a memory card. Absolutely indispensable.

Just search from the main forum menu for 'uiec' or 'sd2iec'for more info and where to order.

[megabit]

and perhaps learn how to make a working backup of geos,

You can get GEOS for free here.

http://cbmfiles.com/geos/

Dan...

[airship]

And once you get confident enough to want to rip open your C128 and plug in a function ROM, get Dan's Megabit ROM Expander. It's cheap and it's really good.

[RobertB]

Rather than a 1581, I would STRONGLY recommend you buy a uIEC or SD2IEC. They run about $50 and let you transfer files quickly and easily from a PC to your Commodore using a memory card.

Well, to be truly quick and easy, you'd need to get JiffyDOS for your C64/128.

                Truly,
                Robert Bernardo
                Fresno Commodore User Group
                http://videocam.net.au/fcug
                July 25-26 Commodore Vegas Expo - http://www.portcommodore.com/commvex

[airship]

Well, to be truly quick and easy, you'd need to get JiffyDOS for your C64/128.

Conveniently enough, Jim Brain will soon be selling both the uIEC/SD2IEC and JiffyDOS.

And while you're plugging in the JiffyDOS chip, you can add the Megabit chip right next door.

[RobertB]

Conveniently enough, Jim Brain will soon be selling both the uIEC/SD2IEC and JiffyDOS.

Jim Brain sells the uIEC in three versions - uIEC with SD, uIEC with CompactFlash, uIEC with CompactFlash and IDE.  The SD2IEC, which is also JiffyDOS-compatible, is sold by Tony Kim of NKCElectronics.com

                Ah, there was that FCUG meeting where
                we had the SD2IEC daisy-chained to the uIEC,
                Robert Bernardo
                Fresno Commodore User Group
                http://videocam.net.au/fcug
                July 25-26 Commodore Vegas Expo - http://www.portcommodore.com/commvex

[ericaesop]

all of the suggestions are great, thanks for all your help, i have decided what i want to do, i would like to learn coding in basic, i would like to one day write a couple  80 column games, does anyone know where i can get a guide to coding in commodore basic? 

[BigDumbDinosaur]

Poor guy!  Now he won't know where to start. 

[RobertB]

i would like to learn coding in basic, i would like to one day write a couple  80 column games, does anyone know where i can get a guide to coding in commodore basic?

All kinds of used books at

                http://www.alibris.com

Just put in the search for "Commodore Basic", and you come up with 5 pages of results.  Happy hunting!

                     Where I buy used books,
                     Robert Bernardo
                     Fresno Commodore User Group
                     http://videocam.net.au/fcug
                     July 25-26 Commodore Vegas Expo - http://www.portcommodore.com/commvex

[zap]

Welcome mate nice to see new blood.
Another great site for Books on the Commodore Bombjack

zap