Commodore History
Commodore History
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Exploring My Collection of KIM-1 Single Board Computers
In this video I walk you through the various KIM-1 single board computers I have in my collection. These computers were originally created and sold by MOS Technology, Inc, then Commodore International purchased MOS Technology, Inc in November 1976 and continued selling them under the Commodore brand.
มุมมอง: 508

วีดีโอ

Former Commodore Treasurer Don Greenbaum helps us learn how many Commodore 64 were sold
มุมมอง 1.6K16 ชั่วโมงที่ผ่านมา
The Commodore 64 is listed in the Guinness Book of World Records as the highest selling single model of computer of all time. But how many were actually sold? Estimates found on the internet range from around 12 million to 30 million. In this video I attempt to put this topic to rest by inviting Don Greenbaum, the former Treasurer of Commodore International Limited, to help. Link to my original...
Commodore D64 Files: Everything about them you never wanted to know.
มุมมอง 1.7K21 วันที่ผ่านมา
This video does a deep dive into the d64 file format. d64 files are used with all popular Commodore emulators to represent disk images. If you've ever wondered exactly what is stored in a d64 and how the file structure is set up, you're in luck! That's the entire purpose of this video.
Commodore: From Typewriters to Computers, and... Wheelchairs?!?!?
มุมมอง 462หลายเดือนก่อน
Commodore Portable Typewriter Company Ltd was founded in 1958 to sell typewriters. Over the years, they moved on through several different product lines, eventually becoming world famous in the personal computer market. Most Commodore fans know about most of the intervening products like adding machines and calculators. In a few of my previous videos I discussed Commodore radios and Commodore t...
The Commodore VIC-21 Computer. Was it from Jack Tramiel's Commodore?
มุมมอง 904หลายเดือนก่อน
This video will look at a Commodore VIC-21 computer (that's right, not a VIC-20) and talk about what it is, and whether it's related to Commodore International or not.
Commodore Programmable Electronic Thermostat - Was it Jack Tramiel's Commodore?
มุมมอง 1.6Kหลายเดือนก่อน
This video dives into the history of the Commodore-branded programmable electronic thermostats that hit the market in 1980 and answers the question, "Were these thermostats sold by Jack Tramiel's Commodore?"
Commodore b128 Power Supply (and clock generator) Replacement
มุมมอง 6437 หลายเดือนก่อน
The power supply in this Commodore b128 failed and shot sparks out of the case. Because I lack the knowledge to diagnose and repair it, I chose to replace it with a modern power supply from Mean-Well. In this video, you'll see how I went about mounting the new power supply in the original PSU case to preserve the original look, and you'll see how I dealt with providing a clock signal, which the...
April 2024 Update and What's in the Box?!?
มุมมอง 5218 หลายเดือนก่อน
This is a quick and dirty, low production effort video just to let you know what I've been up to and what I'm working on now. Most of the video is spent giving you a preview of a box of Commodore documentation that was sent to me by former Commodore staffer, Michael Tomczyk.
How Does Epyx Fastload Make Loading Faster on a Commodore 64?
มุมมอง 38K9 หลายเดือนก่อน
This video does a fairly deep technical dive into exactly what the Epyx Fastload cartridge does on a Commodore 64 to make loading from a Commodore 1541 disk drive faster. I use a logic analyzer to trace the signals on the bus and explain what's going on every step of the way, comparing Epyx Fastload wire protocol to the standard Commodore serial bus wire protocol. To learn how Epyx Fastload wor...
Update to my previous video on why the Commodore 1541 disk drive was so slow
มุมมอง 2.4K11 หลายเดือนก่อน
This is an update to my most recent video: th-cam.com/video/kaeFV0oZaps/w-d-xo.htmlfeature=shared I mentioned in that video how terrible my benchmark methodology was, and a few folks commented on the poor performance. I realize that I'm giving Commodore drives a bad name across the board if folks think that's typical performance. This video was created to set the record straight about Commodore...
Why Was the Commodore 1541 disk drive so slow?
มุมมอง 18K11 หลายเดือนก่อน
UPDATE: I created a follow-up video to provide more accurate benchmark tests for the drives I discussed in this video: th-cam.com/video/7SPr5S0eEYM/w-d-xo.htmlfeature=shared Like millions of other kids, I had a Commodore 64 with a 1541 disk drive when I was growing up. For all the great memories I have of that system, I don't fondly remember how slow the disk drive was. All I wanted to do was p...
Beginner's Guide to Disassembling 6502 Binaries
มุมมอง 5Kปีที่แล้ว
This video walks through the disassembly of the Commodore PET Space Invaders 6502 executable. It starts with an explanation of assembly language and how that is converted to machine language that can be executed by the CPU. It then walks through an example disassembly of the Space Invaders Commodore PRG file step by step, resulting in a final disassembly that can be modified and re-assembled to...
Historic Commodore building, 3330 Scott Blvd
มุมมอง 653ปีที่แล้ว
This is a completely unedited, raw video with poor audio quality of my recent visit in August 2023 of 3330 Scott Blvd in Santa Clara, California. I was visiting California to attend VCF West and stopped here to take a quick video. This building was built in 1978 and Commodore took occupancy in 1979. It's most famous for being the initial assembly location for Commodore 64 computers in 1982.
Historic Commodore building: 390 Reed St in San Jose, California
มุมมอง 419ปีที่แล้ว
This is a completely unedited video of a short visit to a historic Commodore building in August, 2023. This is 390 Reed Street in San Jose, California. This is where the very first Commodore PET assembly line was set up in 1977.
Was it Jack Tramiel's Commodore? -- Radio edition
มุมมอง 953ปีที่แล้ว
The Commodore name represented many companies and products over the years. Some, like the cruise line, are obviously not related to the Commodore that was founded by Jack Tramiel. Others aren't quite as clear, though. In this video I'll be looking at Commodore-branded radios and digging into the history so we can learn which, if any, Commodore-branded radios were taken to market by Jack Tramiel...
Building Wizard of Wor for the Commodore 64 from the original 1983 source code
มุมมอง 2.4Kปีที่แล้ว
Building Wizard of Wor for the Commodore 64 from the original 1983 source code
Commodore 1700 REU 512KB Upgrade
มุมมอง 1.6Kปีที่แล้ว
Commodore 1700 REU 512KB Upgrade
Using GIMP to preserve historical documents
มุมมอง 713ปีที่แล้ว
Using GIMP to preserve historical documents
Repairing Commodore employee Neil Harris' 8050 Disk Drive
มุมมอง 562ปีที่แล้ว
Repairing Commodore employee Neil Harris' 8050 Disk Drive
MOS Technology Plant Visit 2022
มุมมอง 2.1Kปีที่แล้ว
MOS Technology Plant Visit 2022
Part 2: Commodore Pong Console composite video mod
มุมมอง 9262 ปีที่แล้ว
Part 2: Commodore Pong Console composite video mod
Commodore Pong History: The Commodore 2000K and 3000H pong consoles from 1977!
มุมมอง 1.2K2 ปีที่แล้ว
Commodore Pong History: The Commodore 2000K and 3000H pong consoles from 1977!
Commodore Vixen History
มุมมอง 18K2 ปีที่แล้ว
Commodore Vixen History
The Commodore Logo: A Short History
มุมมอง 2.7K2 ปีที่แล้ว
The Commodore Logo: A Short History
Exploring an early silver-label Commodore 64
มุมมอง 4.5K2 ปีที่แล้ว
Exploring an early silver-label Commodore 64
Commodore 2031 Disk Drive Cleanup and Minor Repairs
มุมมอง 8622 ปีที่แล้ว
Commodore 2031 Disk Drive Cleanup and Minor Repairs
Implementing Commodore's IEC bus protocol on a KIM-1 single board computer
มุมมอง 3K2 ปีที่แล้ว
Implementing Commodore's IEC bus protocol on a KIM-1 single board computer
Converting a Commodore 8250LP disk drive from 220V to 110V power
มุมมอง 4572 ปีที่แล้ว
Converting a Commodore 8250LP disk drive from 220V to 110V power
How Address Decoding works on the KIM 1 single board computer
มุมมอง 1.5K2 ปีที่แล้ว
How Address Decoding works on the KIM 1 single board computer
The gory details: how saving to tape from a KIM-1 single board computer works
มุมมอง 3.8K2 ปีที่แล้ว
The gory details: how saving to tape from a KIM-1 single board computer works

ความคิดเห็น

  • @64jcl
    @64jcl 9 ชั่วโมงที่ผ่านมา

    I have one Kim-1 in my collection, serial number SC0938, bought it quite a while back before the prices on eBay became crazy and it working fine.

    • @commodorehistory
      @commodorehistory 45 นาทีที่ผ่านมา

      Four of mine were literally saved from the trash. The others were purchased before prices took off.

  • @8_Bit
    @8_Bit 18 ชั่วโมงที่ผ่านมา

    A very informative overview, thanks for all the great info!

    • @commodorehistory
      @commodorehistory 43 นาทีที่ผ่านมา

      Thanks for watching, and for the positive feedback. I really appreciate it!

  • @mk500
    @mk500 18 ชั่วโมงที่ผ่านมา

    Beautiful collection! You answered a lot of questions I’ve had about the KIM-1 for years. Thanks!

    • @commodorehistory
      @commodorehistory 43 นาทีที่ผ่านมา

      You’re welcome! Thanks for watching!

  • @cairsahrstjoseph996
    @cairsahrstjoseph996 20 ชั่วโมงที่ผ่านมา

    The first board 6502 must not have the ROR instruction then.

    • @commodorehistory
      @commodorehistory 41 นาทีที่ผ่านมา

      When I got it, someone else mentioned this was just after ROR was implemented. I’ll test and report back to let you know.

  • @MK-ge2mh
    @MK-ge2mh 22 ชั่วโมงที่ผ่านมา

    Fantastic collection! I was under the impression that the KIM-1 was a reference design for 6502-based computers so engineers could try it out in order to use the 6502 in product designs. If that's the case, then it stands to reason the production numbers would be low as selling 6502s in large volume would've been the priority for MOS and not KIM-1s.

  • @kernalclink
    @kernalclink 22 ชั่วโมงที่ผ่านมา

    I have a KIM1 rev F with ser no PA6728, just 50 ftom yours. I've had mine for quite a few years but have never tested it.

  • @RudysRetroIntel
    @RudysRetroIntel 23 ชั่วโมงที่ผ่านมา

    Excellent collection and video. Love the unscripted work. Thanks for sharing

    • @commodorehistory
      @commodorehistory 38 นาทีที่ผ่านมา

      Appreciate the kind feedback. Thank you!

  • @robclarke7832
    @robclarke7832 23 ชั่วโมงที่ผ่านมา

    As always, a fun and informative watch Dave.

    • @chrisjpf33
      @chrisjpf33 21 ชั่วโมงที่ผ่านมา

      Hi Rob!

    • @commodorehistory
      @commodorehistory 40 นาทีที่ผ่านมา

      Thank you Rob!

  • @herdware
    @herdware 23 ชั่วโมงที่ผ่านมา

    The white ceramic chips are the best looking ones. I only have a Rev G (no serial number) and a Swedish made licensed clone (serial number 8). The company was called Digitus.

  • @The.Doctor.Venkman
    @The.Doctor.Venkman 23 ชั่วโมงที่ผ่านมา

    Nice bit of history - Thank you for sharing!

  • @Mr_ToR
    @Mr_ToR 23 ชั่วโมงที่ผ่านมา

    I believe they started the serial number from 100 or 200.

    • @commodorehistory
      @commodorehistory 39 นาทีที่ผ่านมา

      Good to know. I had no info to work with, so appreciate whatever you can share

  • @MD_il_microcanale
    @MD_il_microcanale วันที่ผ่านมา

    awesome collection, I only have one F revision and would like another with ceramic chips, but they are insanely expensive!

    • @commodorehistory
      @commodorehistory 37 นาทีที่ผ่านมา

      Yeah, KIM-1 prices seem to have skyrocketed compared with other commodore items over the past five years or so.

  • @UTubeRangerBob
    @UTubeRangerBob 2 วันที่ผ่านมา

    Looks similar to GPIB, just serial instead of parallel.

  • @mr.painkiller4908
    @mr.painkiller4908 3 วันที่ผ่านมา

    Now that is well explained! Nice!

  • @Stefan_W69
    @Stefan_W69 4 วันที่ผ่านมา

    Now you only need to Dolphin DOS and show how much that sped up the process 👍

  • @insanedruid3143
    @insanedruid3143 6 วันที่ผ่านมา

    Thank you, and thank you Don for providing all the data. What a marvel.

    • @commodorehistory
      @commodorehistory 6 วันที่ผ่านมา

      You’re welcome. Thanks for the kind words.

  • @TonimanGalvez
    @TonimanGalvez 6 วันที่ผ่านมา

    Awesome, thanks for the amazing investigation.

  • @HutchCA
    @HutchCA 6 วันที่ผ่านมา

    Didn't you already do this video? I can't find the original now.

    • @commodorehistory
      @commodorehistory นาทีที่ผ่านมา

      Yeah, I never liked the first video, so it’s unlisted. I’ll shoot you a link on discord

  • @autingo6583
    @autingo6583 6 วันที่ผ่านมา

    1:05 it's almost the shrine of commodore :-D these beauties lined up left, right and center are a sight to behold =)

  • @madigorfkgoogle9349
    @madigorfkgoogle9349 7 วันที่ผ่านมา

    Excellent research, thank you. I have just one remark that will unfortunately skew your total C64 numbers by "cloud" number. If you go back and listen to Don closely, you will find out one important fact you do not calculate with. Commodore (as many other tech companies did) is counting the sales for units sold in B2B relation and not the B2C. Why is this important? Well the 10.594.000 sold C64 units does not reflect the number of units moved to end customers like me or you. There are many units that do not sell and are scraped at the end, either by producer as returns or by the retail seller. Especially at the EOL of the product, the overall percentage is not marginal usually. And another factor Don was talking about and you may missed is that they had a percentage of returned units, especially after Christmas market, and according to Don these units got refurbished/repaired and sold AGAIN. So there is a fair percentage of units that got sold twice or even more times and this is not reflected in the annual reports at all. And while one may think that this is not that important, we are talking about 5-10% of units at least. So in reality we may speak about 1.6 million units less units realistically sold to end customers. We will never know, but we can speculate, right?

    • @commodorehistory
      @commodorehistory 7 วันที่ผ่านมา

      Go back and listen again. Don explicitly mentioned that the sales were booked when they got to the retailers. He even mentioned K-Mart. Second, refurbs and returns were accounted for. Don also mentioned that. It’s why he said tracking by fiscal year is likely more accurate because the returns are accounted for by then. When product was sold, it was counted as a unit sales. If a product was returned it was counted as a negative unit sale. If that product was refurbished and sold again, it was counted as a sale again, so it was only counted once. By the way, if they were counting double for refurbished sales, the actual sales number would be lower, not higher. If you look at some of the reports I show in this video, you’ll notice negative numbers for some products in the unit sales column. That’s due to accounting for returned product across report boundaries.

    • @madigorfkgoogle9349
      @madigorfkgoogle9349 6 วันที่ผ่านมา

      @@commodorehistory _Don explicitly mentioned that the sales were booked when they got to the retailers_ and that is exactly what I said, sales were booked on B2B base, not B2C. Which means that we know how many units reached retail stores, but we dont know how many units really reached average Joes. _Second, refurbs and returns were accounted for_ no that is not what Don said, well partially. What he meant is that the total Saldo was spot on at the end of fiscal year, that does not mean the unit returned/refurbished number was accounted for. No company is doing that in annual reports, its not important, only the Dollars. And it makes the unit number looks nicer to shareholders while it is not fraud, since its the real number for the invoiced units in total. Some companies do not even state the unit number moved in their annual reports, as I said Dollars are important. _By the way, if they were counting double for refurbished sales, the actual sales number would be lower, not higher_ and that is what I said, that the total number may be 1.6 millions lower. _ If you look at some of the reports I show in this video, you’ll notice negative numbers for some products in the unit sales column_ as I mention many produced units that are EOL or non reparable and still on stock are often scraped, thats the negative number, since they have to depart from the stock. For example A1000 not sold before 1990 got scraped.

    • @commodorehistory
      @commodorehistory 6 วันที่ผ่านมา

      Sorry I misunderstood your first point. Yes, we agree that if Commodore sold 1000 c64s to K-Mart and there was a warehouse fire at K-Mart and all 1000 c64s were consumed by a fire, no end users would ever purchase them and that would have counted as 1000 c64s sold. I assure you that I asked Don about returns and refurbs before I made the video. What you see in the video isn’t the first conversation I had with him. According to Don, returns and refurbs were accounted for in the annual report sales numbers. Perhaps Don has a TH-cam account and can reply directly.

    • @madigorfkgoogle9349
      @madigorfkgoogle9349 6 วันที่ผ่านมา

      @@commodorehistory well that would be great if he can clarify. I ran a company for twenty years and it is not a practice in bookkeeping to care about numbers of items other then quantity for multiplication of the sum. If you sell something from your inventory its sold, no matter if you did it one, two or many more times. I believe you misunderstood what Don told you, but then again if he can clarify it would be great.

  • @gklinger
    @gklinger 7 วันที่ผ่านมา

    If that doesn't settle the debate, I don't know what will. Excellent work, as always, Dave. Thank you!

    • @commodorehistory
      @commodorehistory 3 วันที่ผ่านมา

      See some of the comments here. The debate rages on! Thanks for the kind words, Golan :)

  • @bluefalcon1975
    @bluefalcon1975 7 วันที่ผ่านมา

    This is gold! Thank you very much💪🏻💪🏻

  • @GeorgesChannel
    @GeorgesChannel 7 วันที่ผ่านมา

    Great video, Dave! Thank you for the work you put in!

    • @commodorehistory
      @commodorehistory 7 วันที่ผ่านมา

      Thanks for watching, George!

  • @dkalwishky
    @dkalwishky 7 วันที่ผ่านมา

    The audio was a little garbled when Don talked aboutSX64 numbers, what is the number he mentioned? I know it's insignificant but I'm just curious.

    • @commodorehistory
      @commodorehistory 7 วันที่ผ่านมา

      That was me talking over him. I'm not exactly Barbara Walters.... He didn't cite a number. He just said the numbers were insignificant.

  • @thank_you_thank_you
    @thank_you_thank_you 7 วันที่ผ่านมา

    i had mine as a christmas present in 83 because of good grades but i had to repeat that same year because of just gaming.

  • @nicholas_scott
    @nicholas_scott 7 วันที่ผ่านมา

    I loved my C64, but I loved my Amiga even more. I find it interesting that during the Amiga years.... Commodore actually sold more C64s.

    • @commodorehistory
      @commodorehistory 7 วันที่ผ่านมา

      Same. It makes sense that the C64 took off like it did in the beginning. It was the right machine at the right time at the right price point. The fact that they sold 800,000 C64s in 1991 is astonishing to me.

  • @RacerX-
    @RacerX- 7 วันที่ผ่านมา

    They must have lied to the press. News outlets reported way more numbers than that back in the day. Gary Kildall reported on Computer Chronicles special about the C64 in 1988 that "The result is there is about, what, 7 million of these (C64s) in the United States alone". The Electronics Arts rep repeated that same installed number in another segment. I know numbers like these don't lie, but companies do I guess. I guess those could still be true but that would mean they only sold about 4 million in all other countries. I guess that is plausible. Great video as always.

    • @commodorehistory
      @commodorehistory 7 วันที่ผ่านมา

      I think some of the inflated sales figures come from Jack Tramiel answering the "how many" question in interviews long after he left Commodore. He left in January, 1984, so his direct knowledge of c64 sales figures was when they were at their peak. I don't believe for a moment that Jack Tramiel intentionally tried to be deceptive about c64 sales figures. I think he was citing their monthly production figures from when he was still there.

  • @BusWithUs.
    @BusWithUs. 7 วันที่ผ่านมา

    I had dinner with a group of people after WOC in 2022 including David Pleasance (UK director). He verbally reported as many as 28-30 million. Apparently Commodore under reported the actual units for tax/duty purposes...Who knows? Thanks for the update.

    • @commodorehistory
      @commodorehistory 7 วันที่ผ่านมา

      I'm friends with David, and he's a spectacular fella. I even wrote the foreword for one of his Vultures books! I'm certain he wasn't lying about that, but I think it's a figure that got tossed around so often it just became the truth. I'm always willing to learn more about this and do another updated video if I need to. So far, what you see here is what I've been able to uncover.

  • @theoldar
    @theoldar 7 วันที่ผ่านมา

    So the success of my favorite computer has been greatly exaggerated (in some estimates)?

    • @commodorehistory
      @commodorehistory 7 วันที่ผ่านมา

      That would seem to be the case, yes. But if I learn otherwise, I'll absolutely post an updated video.

  • @KarlHamilton
    @KarlHamilton 7 วันที่ผ่านมา

    So cool that he kept all that stuff, and finally found a home for it 40 years later :)

    • @commodorehistory
      @commodorehistory 7 วันที่ผ่านมา

      I shipped everything back to Don after I scanned and archived it. It was really great of him to allow me to archive everything. The sad part is he said he threw away several filing cabinets of old Commodore documents not long before we got in touch.

    • @KarlHamilton
      @KarlHamilton 6 วันที่ผ่านมา

      @commodorehistory always the way 😞

  • @75slaine
    @75slaine 7 วันที่ผ่านมา

    Great Update, couldn’t believe it when you said the last video on this was a couple of years ago already. Nice to see that I was one of the 800,000 units in FY91.

    • @commodorehistory
      @commodorehistory 7 วันที่ผ่านมา

      Same! I did the first one in 2021. Doesn't seem that long ago. Thanks for watching this one!

  • @PerBengtsson
    @PerBengtsson 7 วันที่ผ่านมา

    Great video! Very interesting and well illustrated analysis. There are some much higher numbers floating around but I've never seen any of them backed up by any papers. It's more like they wanted the total to be as high as possible so they summed up the highest numbers they could find including overlapping counts. There's no need to exaggerate the numbers to make the C64 the best selling computer of all time. We all know it was the best computer of all time no matter what.

  • @MD_il_microcanale
    @MD_il_microcanale 7 วันที่ผ่านมา

    molto interessanti questi dati!

  • @rbebut1
    @rbebut1 7 วันที่ผ่านมา

    whole sale vs retail. Where did all $ go ???????????????????????? I am sure some of it went to the place I bought it from. But someone must have made out like a bandit! 🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣

    • @KarlHamilton
      @KarlHamilton 7 วันที่ผ่านมา

      Irving Gould

    • @KurtPedersen-tg7jc
      @KurtPedersen-tg7jc 7 วันที่ผ่านมา

      Wasted on the development on the Amiga

  • @saganandroid4175
    @saganandroid4175 7 วันที่ผ่านมา

    I accept no number under 30 million 🙂

    • @johneygd
      @johneygd 6 วันที่ผ่านมา

      Welli throught that there were 10 or 16 million C64 systems sold, but if it turns out that only 5 million motherboards were ever produced and shipped (including up & down graded versions of the C64), then i could consider myself lucky owning an originsl C64 wich i boight 2 years ago on ebey for under $100 bucks😁

  • @ArttuTheCat
    @ArttuTheCat 7 วันที่ผ่านมา

    COMMODORE 64 FOREVER 😺👍🕹️! Press play on tape LOAD LOAD"*",8,1 LOAD"$",8 AMIGA FOREVER 😺👍🕹️! Insert disk 💾 2 Happy new retrospective year 2025 from Vantaa, Finland 🇫🇮 😺👍🕹️.

  • @mikecook317
    @mikecook317 7 วันที่ผ่านมา

    Man, you have some awesome CBM drives! Do I spy a low profile CBM 8250 back there? Oh, man, that may be the greatest Commodore drive, I'm a little jealous, TBH

    • @commodorehistory
      @commodorehistory 7 วันที่ผ่านมา

      Hey Mike! Yes, that's an 8250lp. I did a video about replacing the internal PSU a couple years ago to convert it to 110V, but the video wasn't great. I was still learning how to make content at the time.

  • @AppliedCryogenics
    @AppliedCryogenics 11 วันที่ผ่านมา

    Thats some funky music during the disassembly montage. Reminds me of James Brown. Icing on the cake for an OS-9/6809/SuperPET video!

    • @commodorehistory
      @commodorehistory 9 วันที่ผ่านมา

      Yeah, I went a little overboard with that one. When I first started making video content, I used waaaay too much music and it was always too loud :)

  • @mr.painkiller4908
    @mr.painkiller4908 15 วันที่ผ่านมา

    That's an incredibly well explained thing! Thank you! It's actually unbelievable what technology could do back then.

  • @sa3270
    @sa3270 16 วันที่ผ่านมา

    I saw Bil Herd's video of this building a couple years ago, and then I had a nightmare I was snooping around in there late at night, and I heard voices and hid in a stairwell and hoped no one would find me.

    • @commodorehistory
      @commodorehistory 15 วันที่ผ่านมา

      Hey man, drive to Norristown, PA and maybe that nightmare could come true!

  • @sa3270
    @sa3270 16 วันที่ผ่านมา

    What is it, some kind of black Amiga variant?

    • @commodorehistory
      @commodorehistory 15 วันที่ผ่านมา

      Yeah, the Commodore CDTV was Commodore’s adjacent market strategy to move into the consumer’s living room. As you can see, it’s styled like a 1990s stereo cabinet component. This was one of my earliest videos. I think I was still using Shotcut on Linux to do video editing and I wasn’t very good at creating content. I’m still not very good, but better than I was when I published this. I should have provided more background information and narration. Anyway, look up Commodore CDTV and you’ll learn all about the device you see in this video. Thanks for watching!

  • @AlenMarkov
    @AlenMarkov 17 วันที่ผ่านมา

    07:10 - love that "beautiful" cable :O) Btw - saw that C= Tatoo on that forearm once before somewhere on FB, at least now I know who it belongs to =) Absolutely great, love this stuff - thanks again for this video!

    • @commodorehistory
      @commodorehistory 15 วันที่ผ่านมา

      Hey Alen, thanks for watching! The C= tattoo on my forearm is almost 30 years old. It’s faded and barely looks like a C= logo these days, but I guess it’s enough to be recognized still :) Thanks for watching and thanks for the positive feedback!

  • @lurkerrekrul
    @lurkerrekrul 17 วันที่ผ่านมา

    While I can understand the author of the D64 format not including more complex things like half-tracks, and errors, there's one omission that has always left me scratching my had: The disk ID. Each disk formatted on a Commodore machine will have a name and a two character ID. And while this IS stored in the sector headers, they wouldn't have to make the format any more complex to include it. Just read the ID from the actual disk, and include it as an extra two bytes in the D64 file. The reason this matters is that there is some software that uses the disk ID to tell when you've put the correct disk in the drive. It's rare, but it does exist. And from a compatibility standpoint, it seems odd to leave it out. All the headers can be calculated by the emulator, but the disk ID can't be calculated because it's chosen by the user. I mean, it would be like leaving out the disk name.

  • @75slaine
    @75slaine 20 วันที่ผ่านมา

    Great video, thanks. While I “knew” most of this, it was great to see it laid out like this. Reminds me of a project I wanted to work on. A kind of “shred” program to fully exercise/erase a disk, by writing to each data block on the disk and verifying it. And then clearing it out. Given the age of the media we’re dealing with that it’s more likely to get second hand floppy disks than new old stock. I thought it might be a handy way of validating and clearing off second hand disks.

  • @andrewdupuis1151
    @andrewdupuis1151 20 วันที่ผ่านมา

    i have c64 mini and c64 for ever emul i use d64 on it

  • @TheFourFrogs-b6q
    @TheFourFrogs-b6q 21 วันที่ผ่านมา

    Thanks for your channel; subscribed! Back in probably 1985 I had a conversation with legendary C64 programmer Kevin Pickell at local C64 meet. He had an idea of ramping up the speed of an Apple floppy drive in the middle of a track, as another way to bypass floppy bit copiers. The reading floppy would have to ramp up the speed in the same way as the writing floppy drive. Manufacturing variations may have made this copy protection scheme impractical, but it is a fun thought.

    • @TheFourFrogs-b6q
      @TheFourFrogs-b6q 21 วันที่ผ่านมา

      This was just after he shared with me his public domain sprite editor, that was the first (I'd seen) to do arbitrary angle rotation; not just 90 degrees. Amazing.

  • @martythomas2383
    @martythomas2383 22 วันที่ผ่านมา

    I had a C64 in my teens. I had three disk boxes full of copied games. They were all double sided with the notch cut out by scissors. Weekends spent typing in programs from computer magazines. My favourite games were M.U.L.E., Dragonriders of Pern, Racing Destruction Set and Ghostbusters. I think GEOS was incredible, especially compared to modern desktops I loved the banging noise on the 1541 and the music. Great times.

  • @MorreskiBear
    @MorreskiBear 22 วันที่ผ่านมา

    Very interesting watch! Gonna have to be satisfied that "it just works" and trust those who knew what they were doing. Makes me wonder though: Isn't one track of a disk basically an "endless" sequence of bits, where the 1541 seeks out the clues it wrote when formatting to later make sense of what's what? Like, you cannot mimic those header values in data saved to the disk yourself to confuse the drive? Honestly though, I never knew there was anything more than tracks, sectors, and 256 bytes in each. Whoa.

    • @commodorehistory
      @commodorehistory 22 วันที่ผ่านมา

      It’s the sync marks that are used by the drive to detect the start of a header block or data block. I think what you’re asking is “what if some file data coincidentally happens to be a sync mark?” GCR encoding prevents that from happening. If you’re interested, I can provide more detail when I’m at a computer. Typing on my phone at the moment.

    • @MorreskiBear
      @MorreskiBear 22 วันที่ผ่านมา

      @@commodorehistory If one looks at the continuous bit-stream that is a disk track, there must be a logical way to pick out those sync marks, eh? It can't even be as simple as seeking out specific bytes, because how can one know which bit begins a byte? I guess that's something the designers figured out long ago. The GCR encoding probably helps with this too, ensuring the scenario I described cannot happen. But to make it so, those "256 bytes" of GCR-encoded data are most likely MORE than 256 bytes of bit-stream data to make the encoding work. You need not find an answer for me, I just get curious about stuff at times. Thanks for your reply!

  • @Mrshoujo
    @Mrshoujo 23 วันที่ผ่านมา

    Commodore disk format can have its directory info in any place on the disk. MasterTronic's Ninja was sold on floppy with both the Atari 8-bit version using track 0 & the last half of the disk while the C64 version used tracks 1 to 19, essentially, since Atari drives are 40 track capable. Both versions on the Same Side of the disk.

    • @Okurka.
      @Okurka. 23 วันที่ผ่านมา

      Tracks 1 to 19 includes track 18 where the BAM and directory info reside.

  • @NuntiusLegis
    @NuntiusLegis 23 วันที่ผ่านมา

    Handling d64 iamges with Star Commader in MS DOS seems more convenient than OpenCBM, and I don't need ZoomFloppy, just an X1541 cable for about 10 $. Old but gold. :-)

    • @Okurka.
      @Okurka. 23 วันที่ผ่านมา

      Or use a $4 Arduino Pro Micro to make a XUM1541 cable where ZoomFloppy got their code from.

    • @commodorehistory
      @commodorehistory 22 วันที่ผ่านมา

      I have my x1541 and one of the later versions laying around somewhere. I just don’t have anything to connect them to anymore. :)

    • @NuntiusLegis
      @NuntiusLegis 22 วันที่ผ่านมา

      @@commodorehistoryI still have several PCs with Windows 98 SE which has DOS built in; I could never throw away a working computer, even if it is not from Commodore. ;-)