THE MAGAZINE FOR COLLECTORS AND USERS OF EIGHT BIT COMPUTERS

ISSUE 1

EIGHT BIT
 PLUS…
PAGE 18: INTERVIEW WITH JOERG DROEGE
PAGE 24: THE COMPUTER REVOLUTION IN YUGOSLAVIA
PAGE 54: THE TECH ZONE
PAGE 58: PROGRAMMING THE 8-BITS
Issue 1 printed June 2016 PAGE 63: GAME REVIEWS
Reprinted February 2017
PAGE 67: THE LAST BIT
and May 2017
Welcome to issue one of Eight Bit Magazine. Firstly, a big
thank you to all those who contributed to the magazine.
Without your support there wouldn’t be a magazine. In
fact our Kickstarter project exceeded expectations so much
that we now have enough funding for the next few issues.
Although we do plan on going much further than that.

Remember to look for us on Facebook for up to date news

and check out our website which should be live by the time
you read this at: [Link]

Enjoy the magazine,

The Eight Bit Team

Issue 2 Out Now...

 The birth of gaming was a complicated ‘show off’ what a computer – back then a
one and not everybody agrees on who machine about the size of a semi-
the father is. It’s often said that Ralph detached house - could do. They were
Baer is the daddy of gaming with his demonstrated by scientists rather than
invention of both the Brown Box in 1968 played by gamers and were not within
and the world’s first home games the experience of everyday people.
console - the Magnavox Odyssey - in
So in my humble opinion, gaming was
1972.
born when games came out of the
Others point to Nolan Bushell as the true laboratory and into the public domain,
father of gaming as his 1971 Computer whether that be amusement arcades or
Space machine was not only the world's
the home. That’s when most people –
first commercial coin-operated
especially young people – got their first
videogame, but also predated the
Odyssey by a year. taste of gaming and underwent an
experience akin to what we would have
Purists and pedants hark back even today when we play a videogame.
further. Right back to the 60s and 50s
putting forward 1962’s Spacewar!, By this definition, gaming was born
1958’s Tennis for Two and even 1950’s sometime in the early 1970s. For the
Bertie the Brain as the first examples of a sake of argument, let’s say that its
computer game. There’s no doubt that ‘biological father’ was Ralph Baer with
following the end of the second world his prototype Brown Box but it was
war rapid technological development Nolan Bushell who brought it up. It was
resulted in more powerful computers early arcade games such as Pong, Night
which were capable of creating Driver and Sprint 2 (all released by
‘computer games’. Yet such games of Bushnell’s new company, Atari) which
the 1950s and 60s were made mainly to introduced videogames to the masses

04
Photograph © 1968 - Videogames Foundation

coin-operated video game in 1971 and

those who did complained that
Computer Space was too confusing and
had too many instructions. Very few
bars and arcades agreed to have a
machine and the project fell flat on its
face.

Fortunately for future gamers, the failure

of Computer Space didn’t deter Bushnell.
He listened to the feedback and went
back to the drawing board. He was
Ralph Baer’s Brown Box - 1968 determined to create a game that was
easy to understand and, most
and sowed the seeds of a new
importantly, fun to play. What he came
cultural and social phenomenon that
up with was a simple tennis game which
would spread rapidly throughout the
he named Pong. Almost immediately
remainder of the twentieth century and
Pong was a smash hit across the US and
beyond.
sales of the machine enabled Bushnell to
Back in 1971, and before Atari was set up Atari, the world’s first video game
formed, Bushell used his electronics skills company, in 1972.
and knowledge to

Photograph © 1958 - Brookhaven National Laboratory

build Computer
Space – a coin
operated game
with a 19 inch
black and white
screen. Nolan had
1500 Computer
Space machines
built with a plan to
set them up in
bars and
amusement
arcades across the
States.
Unfortunately, the
bar and arcade
industry didn’t
really understand
the concept of a
Tennis For Two—1958

05
 So it came to pass that Pong was the first about the 8-bit computers of the 1980s.
commercially successful videogame but, How did games on home micros begin,
as we mentioned earlier, it was preceded you may well ask?
(by just a few months) by the world’s The story of home computers begins a
first games console, the Magnavox couple of years later, in 1974, when
Odyssey. Based on Ralph Baer’s Brown Nolan Bushnell employed a university
Box and released after Computer Space drop out to work as a technician at Atari.
and before Pong, the Maganavox The newly appointed 17-year-old Steve
Odyssey was the first attempt to create a Jobs was excited by the prospect of
working in the fledgling games industry
commercial games console for the home.
but was aware of his technical
Unlike modern consoles it came with
limitations. Fortunately, Jobs’ friend,
dice, decks of cards, fake money and Steve Wozniak, was a technical genius
casino style chips so that it looked like and Wozniak would help out whenever
contemporary 1970s board games. The Jobs got a bit stuck. After a while
thinking was that if it looked like a board

Photograph © 1971 - Nutting Associates/Syzygy

game then the public would
understand it and therefore be
more likely to buy it. However,
the masses weren’t convinced
and, partly due to poor marketing,
the Magnavox Odyssey was a flop.
It sold only 100,000 units in its first
year and was discontinued just a
couple of years later.

Yet, despite the failure of the

Magnavox Odyssey to capture the
public’s imagination, the fact is
that by 1972 both the commercial
arcade game and gaming console
had debuted in the U.S. Not only
had gaming been born but it had
also taken its first baby steps.

So by the early 70s the world had

witnessed the first games console
and the first arcade cab. But what
about home computer games?
After all, this magazine is largely

06
Wozniak officially joined Atari and, Atari’s home version of Pong
together with Jobs, took Pong and (imaginatively titled Home Pong), was a
transformed it into the classic bat and massive success when it was launched in
ball game Breakout which hit the arcades 1975 but Bushnell didn’t rest on his
in the mid-1970s. laurels. Just two years later, on
September 11th 1977, his masterpiece,
Outside of Atari, the two Steves spent
the Atari VCS (video game console) was
the weekends and evenings hard at work
in the Jobs’ family garage
inventing what would
become the world’s first
home computer. They
called it the Apple
Computer and sold fifty
units to local electronics
enthusiasts in 1975 - each
one hand made by
Wozniak. Jobs quickly
realised that there was
potentially a huge market
for home computers and
set to work designing the
Apple II, intent on making it
appeal to a much wider
audience. Jobs drew up the
design specifications while
Wozniak got on with the
technical side of things.

However, to make the

Apple II a commercial
success Steve and Steve
needed investment. Jobs approached
released. The VCS was light years ahead
Nolan Bushnell and asked if he’d like to
of anything that had gone before and
be in on the computer but Bushnell
stunned everyone who saw it. It boasted
declined. Nolan was busy with his latest
colour graphics, dynamic sound and the
videogames project - a home console
promise of changeable cartridges which
version of Pong which could be sold to
would allow users to play dozens of
the American mass market.
games from the comfort of their living

07
Photograph by Tomislav Medak

turned out to be the first of a

number of significant years for
videogames across the world.
As well as the huge success of
the Atari VCS, a previously
unheard of Japanese company
called Taito introduced the
world to the first major
videogame craze in ’78 – Space
Invaders. Space Invaders was
such a phenomenon that by
1981 it had grossed $1 billion
and it was rumoured that the
Commodore PET (USA 1977)
shortage of 100-yen coins in
room. The VCS was a massive success Japan was due to vast numbers of them
and Atari sold over 30 million of them in being pumped into machines by addicted
the years to come – that’s 100 times gamers.
more units than Ralph Baer’s Magnavox
By the time the 1980s rolled around
Odyssey console. another hugely significant event in the
Also in 1977, Jobs and Wozniak brought history of home computers took place.
their new computer – the Apple II – out The Sinclair ZX80 (released in 1980) gave
of the garage and into the market place. the world home computing at an
Due to its expensive price tag, the Apple affordable price. At just £99 it was
II was relatively unknown outside of incredibly inexpensive and thousands of
America but it was a big success in the orders were placed in the first month of
States. It had stiff competition in the its release. Despite problems with
form of the Commodore PET yet machines overheating and breaking
Commodore were aiming their machine down, the ZX80 was a roaring success
firmly at business and college users and and sales quickly reached 50,000. It was
at the time had little interest in very primitive but its impact was huge
developing a micro for home computer and it contributed significantly to the UK
enthusiasts. leading the world in home computer
ownership throughout the 1980s.
Whilst the Apple II was pretty much
unknown in the UK, the much more By 1981 videogaming was gathering
momentum. The Atari VCS was going
affordable Atari VCS found its way into
from strength to strength with the
thousands of British homes when it was
release of more great titles and handheld
released in the UK in 1978. Indeed 1978 gaming was born with the popularity of

08
Nintendo’s cheap Game and Watch effectively than the ZX81, its less user-
machines and electronic table top games friendly programming language and
such as Grandstand’s Astro Wars. But smaller owner base meant that hardly
the most significant development of any games were produced other than a
1981 was the explosion in the UK home handful of simple arcade clones which
computer scene which was spearheaded appeared in the mail order pages of early
by two rival companies based in computer magazines.
Cambridge.
Across the Atlantic, following the success
Following the success of the ZX80, of their PET computer, Commodore had
Sinclair Research released the new and come round to the idea of releasing a
improved ZX81 on 5th March 1981. It home micro and the VIC20 was
unleashed. The VIC20 had 3.5K of
had a black and white display, no sound
memory, colour graphics, good sound, a
and just 1K of memory but it was capable
real typewriter keyboard and the ability
of running more complex software than to accept cartridges as well as cassette
the ZX80 and that, of course, meant based software. It was clearly intended
games. At just £69.99 for a ready built to be used for games as it had a joystick
ZX81, and with ads taken out in national port – something the other machines
British newspapers, Sinclair were clearly lacked. However, the VIC20 had a
aiming their product at the mass market. couple of major drawbacks which
In addition, the ZX81 was easy to prevented it from stealing the ZX81’s
spot as the most popular computer in
program - compared to contemporary
the UK. The major stumbling block was
machines - and gradually, over the
the price. At £190 it was even more
course of the year, Brits from all walks of expensive than the Atom and this was
life – not just the beardy techy types - made worse because you had to buy
dipped their toes in the waters of Commodore’s own £45 tape deck to use
computer coding for the first time. cassette software. Photograph by Evan-Amos

At the same time Acorn computers, also

based in Cambridge, brought out the
Acorn Atom. The Atom had the edge on
the ZX81 in power – it had colour, sound,
a 2K memory and a proper keyboard.
But at £170 for the ready-made version
it was £100 more, and £100 was a lot of
money in 1981. While its more
advanced features meant that it could be
used as a games machine more Sinclair ZX81 (UK 1981)

09
Photograph by Bilby

Atari 800
(USA 1979)

This total of £240 took it beyond the An Atari 800 would knock you back a
reach of the average man in the street whopping £650 in 1979 and if that
and as such it failed to sell in huge wasn’t bad enough you could only get
numbers upon its release. The VIC also games made by Atari as they initially
wasn’t as easy to program as the ZX81. discouraged software development by
To use its more advanced features the outside companies. This meant that
programmer had to develop an Atari 400/800 computer games were thin
understanding of machine code which on the ground and there wasn’t a lot of
made it less accessible to novice point having an awesome machine with
computer users and undoubtedly held no software to run on it. In contrast the
back its initial popularity. ZX81 and Vic 20 may have been low spec
but they were a fraction of the price and
Arguably the best 8-bit home computer
had hundreds of games to choose from.
of the early period preceded all of the
above. Released in 1979 Atari made its In the end, like so many future
entry into the home computer market computers and consoles, the Atari 400
with the 400 and 800. These computers and 800 failed because it didn’t have the
were incredibly high spec for the time software support, good marketing or the
boasting fast processors, big memories
right pricing. Familiar mistakes that
and excellent graphic capabilities.
would be repeated in the industry again
Compared to the Atari machines, the
efforts of Sinclair, Acorn and Commodore and again right up to the present day.
looked rather pathetic yet, despite A trip to the arcades in 1981 revealed
success in the U.S. in the first few years that things had moved on quickly since
of its release, the Atari failed to catch on
Space Invaders landed in ’78. A slew of
in Europe. Why? Well there were a
innovative games such as Battlezone,
number of factors. The big problem was
the price. Centipede and Moon Cresta all arrived in

10
1981. Shoot ‘em up Gorf was the first of a million units in 1981 and Atari and
game to use speech and the brilliant Mattel had also experienced record
Donkey Kong introduced the world to an sales. It was the trigger for a rash of
Italian plumber by the name of Mario. computers to appear during the coming
But by far and away the biggest game of
year, two of which – the ZX Spectrum
1981 was the legendary Pacman. While
and the Commodore 64 - would
it lacked the fancy 3D vector graphics of
Battlezone and the synthesized speech of dominate gaming in the UK for the
Gorf, Pacman more than made up for it remainder of the decade.
in pure gameplay and its simple but Yet the first new machine of 1982 didn’t
addictive formula was amazingly popular carry the moniker of an established
selling 400,000 hardware units and computer company such as Sinclair or
raking in an eye watering $2.5 billion in Commodore, instead it went under the
North America. banner of the British Broadcasting
As the year reached its end it became Corporation. The BBC had launched a
clear that 1981 was going to be the first computer literacy drive in 1981 and
videogame Christmas and there was wanted a machine that could be used to
something available for all budgets. At help novices learn about computing.
the low end of the market cheap Computer companies were invited to
handheld and table top arcade clones submit designs for this new machine and
could be bought for less than £30 while many expected Sinclair, with its early
for those with a bit more cash to splash success in the industry, to be awarded
the Atari VCS package was an absolute the contract. However, it was Acorn,
bargain. For just £99 you got a VCS, two makers of the Atom, who managed to
joysticks, two paddles and the Combat bag the deal and the result was the BBC
game cartridge. At the high end of the Micro which came in two specs – the
market was Mattel’s Intellevision which Model A which had 16K and was priced
boasted superior graphics and more at a rather steep £300, and the Model B
sophisticated games than the Atari but at which had a massive 32K but was even
£200 it was twice the price and had only more expensive at £400.
a limited number of titles to choose The BBC Micro was amazing for its time.
from. It had an excellent keyboard, superb
Following the huge sales of electronic sound, lots of colour graphics
toys and videogames in the run up to capabilities, plenty of memory and a fast
processor. It was perfect for learning to
Christmas 1981, electronics
program and became the computer of
manufacturers spotted the potential to
choice for schools across Britain when
make even more money from this Education Minister Kenneth Baker set up
growing desire for electronic gaming. a computer literacy programme a year
The ZX81 alone had sold over a quarter

11
 later. Many children, myself included, machines to arrive. Yet when it did
got their first taste of computing on a appear buyers were generally delighted
school BBC Micro and it was a great with the computer and it didn’t take long
introductory machine. I fondly before newly established software
remember playing ‘educational games’ houses such as Liverpool’s Imagine
such as the terrifying Granny’s Garden started making Spectrum games.
and the atmospheric Sphinx Adventure in
The success of the Spectrum and the BBC
the tiny library of Highfield CP Primary Micro opened the floodgates and pretty
School. soon every electronics manufacturer in
While Clive Sinclair may have been Britain was developing a home
computer. There was the Welsh made
deeply disappointed to have missed out
Dragon 32, the Camputer Lynx, the
on the lucrative BBC contract, he wasn’t
Jupiter Ace, the Oric 1 and the rather
the sort of chap to let it get him down for fabulous sounding Grundy NewBrain.
long. He’d taken the concept behind his Yet most of these computers failed to
proposed BBC computer, made a few gain a decent share of the growing
tweaks and turned it into the next market. The Dragon 32 and the Oric-1
Sinclair machine. Initially named the had some success but compared to the
ZX82, the renamed Sinclair Spectrum was dominant Spectrum and BBC they
unveiled in April 1982 and, like Clive’s struggled to make much of an impact.
previous computers, it was another It wasn’t until the end of the year that
game changer. The Spectrum had high the dominance of the BBC and the
resolution colour graphics, sound, a Spectrum were challenged in the form of
nippy Z80 processor, a memory of up to an American import called the
48K and a rather unusual rubber Commodore 64. The successor to the
VIC 20, the Commodore 64 was a
keyboard - which wasn’t brilliant but was
machine to take seriously. It had a
infinitely better than that of the ZX80
massive 64K memory, excellent colour
and ZX81. The Spectrum’s most and sound capabilities and included
powerful weapon though was its price. specific game making hardware which
While the 32K BBC was selling for £400 allowed programmers to create sprites
you could pick up a 48K Spectrum for just and scroll the screen in a similar way to
£175. Again Clive was aiming for the arcade machines. Commodore also had
mass market and his touch hadn’t years of success in the industry and had
deserted him. Sinclair was swamped established a foothold in computers with
the eventual success of the VIC20.
with so many orders that it struggled to
Commodore, like Sinclair, also had a
meet the demand and customers often
highly driven man at the helm – Jack
had to wait three months for their Trammel, a formidable businessman

12
whose mantras included ‘Computers for Raid while Parker Brothers brought
the masses, not the classes’ and the Frogger and The Empire Strikes Back to
rather intimidating ‘business is war’. the VCS. Unfortunately, the early
However, despite its capabilities (and promise shown by Mattel’s Intellivision
failed to materialise with few games
Jack’s mass market mottos) the hefty
released during 1982 and, as Atari
£350 price tag made the 64 too
continued to thrive and the home micro
expensive for ‘the masses’ and in a business boomed, the Intellivision
strange move Commodore decided to try disappeared with something of a
and flog the machine as a business whimper.
computer, even though it was
By 1983 videogames were beginning to
undeniably a games machine - so much
establish themselves as more than just a
so that it boasted two joystick ports. fad. It was increasingly evident that they
1982 had been a year of rapid were here to stay. Arcade machines
development yet the old Atari VCS was became more and more impressive as 16
still very popular, mainly because of its bit processors became the preferred
ever growing range of games. This was choice for new cabs. Games such as TX-
in part due to Atari opening up the 1, Star Wars, Dragon’s Lair and M.A.C.H.3
platform to other developers. Activision looked amazing and showed what the
produced the classics Pitfall and River rapidly developing technology was

Photograph by Stuart Brady

BBC Micro (UK 1981)

13
 capable of. Back in the home, the Atari Acorn Electron was essentially a budget
VCS was starting to show its age but with BBC Micro priced to compete with the ZX
over 1500 titles available there was Spectrum. Due to its already established
plenty of life left in it and it was still range of BBC compatible games and
selling well. In fact, console gaming was
familiar Acorn name, the Electron did
in pretty rude health in 1983 and had
pretty well in a heavily saturated market
netted a cool $5 billion in North America
alone. Which made it even more but its success wasn’t significant enough
surprising when the home console to put a dint in Sir Clive’s sales figures.
industry completely collapsed in the U.S. During ‘83 Sinclair reduced the Spectrum
less than a year later. from £179 to £129 and Clive got his
In the UK two new consoles arrived in machine onto the shelves of WH Smith
1983, the Colecovision and the Vectrex. which resulted in another spike in sales.
The Spectrum’s success was reflected by
In addition, more home computers
the emerging software houses of the
appeared in the shops including Mattel’s
early 80s, most of whom were making
Aquarius, the Sord M5 and something the Spectrum their machine of choice.
called the MTX512. Like many before This meant that the rubber keyed
them, these new machines failed to computer had far more games than its
catch on and all of the above competitors and by ’83 Spectrum games
disappeared before the end of the were beginning to find their feet. Psion
following year. and Melbourne House released the early
hits Hungry Horace and The Hobbit but
However, there was one new computer the biggest seller of the year was Bug
which bucked the trend in 1983. The Byte’s Manic Miner coded by a 16-year-
old programmer called Matthew Smith.

Photograph by Bilby

Memotech MTX512 (UK 1983)

14
 Photograph by Evan-Amos

Commodore 64 (USA 1982)

Manic Miner was a brilliantly designed making videogames and living life in the
game and is a stone cold classic of the fast lane.
early 8-bit gaming era.
At the other end of the East Lancs Road
Manic Miner coder Matthew Smith set in Manchester a company called
up his own games company, Software Spectrum Games had published a range
Projects, in 1983 but he wasn’t alone. It of arcade clones and had sold them in
was the year when numerous software pretty healthy numbers. Such early
houses popped up across the country. success convinced owners David Ward
and John Woods that there was money
The kings of the Spectrum scene –
to be made in the games business and
Ultimate Play the Game arrived in 1983
they rebranded themselves as Ocean
with some awesome games. Jetpac, software and started making games for
PSST, Lunar Jetman and Atic Atak set the Vic 20, BBC Micro, Commodore 64
new standards in gaming and showed and Dragon 32 as well as the Spectrum.
what talented programmers could do
In late 1983 Commodore dropped the
with the Sinclair machine. In the North
price of the C64 to £199 and, although it
of England Liverpool based Imagine was still £70 more than the Spectrum, it
software were making a name for was now within reach of a much bigger
themselves too. They’d produced some market. The C64 boasted some
decent games such as Zzoom and Arcadia impressive games with the likes of the
but what really made them standout was home grown International Soccer and a
the lavish ads they took out in computer stack of excellent US imports such as
magazines and the stories they told the Aztec Challenge, Beach Head, Forbidden
Forest and Solo Flight. Some of these
tabloid press of teenage computer
American titles were very sophisticated
whizkids making thousands of pounds

15
 Photograph by Bill Bertram
Amstrad CPC 464 (UK 1984)

games for the time and were often made the MSX range and the Amstrad CPC 464.
by teams of developers rather than Of all these new computers only the
single coders – something that would Amstrad really took off in the UK. Alan
become increasingly common as game Sugar’s success was undoubtedly helped
development evolved over the decade. by Amstrad’s already established brand
name, its wide reaching distribution
So by the close of 1983 the UK 8 bit
network and close links to the big UK
games industry was beginning to take
stores. The Amstrad’s unique all-in-one
shape and by the dawn of 1984 home
package of computer, tape deck and
computers were dominant and consoles
monitor (a model copied from Amstrad’s
were a dying breed. The once all
successful all-in-one range of cheap
powerful Atari was on the verge of
stereos) appealed to consumers and over
financial collapse and Mattel cancelled
the course of the year the CPC 464
the manufacture of the Colecovision
muscled itself into third place in the UK
console. The all-conquering home
home computer market not too far
computer was killing off consoles
behind the ZX Spectrum and C64.
mercilessly and during ’84 yet another
range of new micro machines hit the So by 1984 the four major micros of the
shops. These included the Sinclair QL, decade – the Amstrad, BBC, ZX Spectrum
the Commodore 16, the Commodore +4, and Commodore 64 – had all established

16
themselves in the UK. Although you may For rest of the decade, the UK would
have owned, or had a friend with, a lead the world in videogames
Dragon or an Atari, for example, the vast development. This small island was a
majority of kids owned one of the fertile breeding ground for innovation,
aforementioned big four computers with
originality and sheer 8-bit brilliance and
the ZX Spectrum and Commodore 64
British kids like myself - lucky enough to
being the biggest sellers of the period.
As 1984 unfolded coders pushed these be caught in the middle of it - would reap
machines further and further and the rewards. It was a golden age of
produced increasingly sophisticated gaming which burned brightly from the
games. The Spectrum was blessed with early 80s to the early 90s when it was
the likes of Jet Set Willy, The Lords of finally snubbed out by 16bit computers
Midnight and the incredible Knightlore. such as the Amiga and Atari ST and the
Whilst C64 owners enjoyed stunning triumphant return of the videogames
titles such as Raid Over Moscow,
console.
Summer Games and Impossible Mission.
1984 also saw the birth of the budget So although the 8-bit era is a period now
games industry with Mastertronic and long gone (a quarter of a century and
Firebird both appearing in the Spring. counting!), it’s certainly not an era that
With these cut price publishers selling should be forgotten. Those halcyon days
software for around £2 each, it meant
were the childhood of the games
that gaming was available to everyone,
industry and, as with all childhoods, they
no matter how small their budget.
represent the crucial formative years
So although the exact date of gaming’s which made videogames what they are
birth and the identity of its father may be today. As with many childhood
up for debate, it’s a definite fact that by remembrances, we may be guilty of
1984 the modern games industry was up looking back at the games of the 80s
and running. Selling games through through rose-tinted spectacles but
small black and white mail order ads in there’s nothing much wrong with that. It
the computer magazines of the day was was an incredibly original, pioneering
swiftly being eclipsed by big, colourful, and significant time - an era that shaped
professional spreads produced by the what went on to become the biggest
likes of Ocean, Imagine and Ultimate. By entertainment industry on the planet.
’84 the industry had shaken off its And that’s surely something worth
amateurish beginnings and morphed into celebrating.
a more mature, professional and
business-like industry. It was the start of E n j oy t h e
the modern era of gaming and a
tremendously exciting time. m a g a z i n e.
17
John: So Joerg, why did you start Scene John: Obviously you're a programmer
World? yourself?
Joerg: Because Driven died back in 1998. Joerg: Not for any bit.
the NTSC diskmag. (They came back from
the ashes briefly in 2005 but then died a John: Really?
2nd time) and I had this crazy idea to Joerg: Yes. Apart from 10 PRINT"HELLO":
create a publication that would combine 20 GOTO 10, I know nothing. I can do html
both scopes of the c64 users. NTSC page description language on the fly.
(America, Canada), and PAL (Europe, etc)
John: Was the diskmag a success from the John: The diskmag takes a little bit more
start? than that to work. There's a number of
people involved in it?
Joerg: Depends on your point of view.
NTSC sceners loved it because they had a Joerg: 22 at the moment . :-)
diskmag again to cover and support their
activities. PAL is more about demoscene John: Anyone you want to mention in
and as we are not specifically covering particular? Anyone you want to say hi to?
that exclusively we received some
feedback initially that this wasn't so Joerg: The whole staff really. we do so
welcome but this changed over the much together and most of them I am
years :-) friends with personal for many many
years, such a big project like Scene World

18
doesn't run without a well working and longest and sadly the final one prior to his
encouraged team. :-) death. But apart from that all of them are
awesome, especially if you take into
John: I can imagine. Lots of different account that I have dreamed since a kid to
talents from the team? What’s your role? talk to them.
Joerg: Yeah, especially since we have
branched out with a podcast, youtube John: Ah yes, the maker
video interviews, twitch live shows, of the Brown Box. Was
youtube reviews, just to mention a few. I that a video interview?
am organizer and founder of the Scene Joerg: Yes. 1h via Skype
World Diskmag and organize the other video can be found here:
stuff we do as well. And I am co- [Link]
moderator in the podcast that we run. video-interview-with-ralph-h.-baer/
And last but not least I conduct the Skype
video interviews with all the VIP guys in
the tech field. John: I must have a look at that interview,
sounds interesting. You also interview Jeri
John: This question is predictable, what's Ellsworth I see? [known for creating a
your favourite interview? Anyone famous? complete Commodore 64 system on a
Joerg: The one I am most proud of is the chip.]
interview with the inventor of home video Joerg: Indeed. :-) She is a super busy
gaming Ralph Baer because it was the woman, so I am happy she made it.

19
John: So I heard. Does it take long to [Link]
create a issue and where do the ideas for demoscene-1991-2014/
each issue come from?
John: I agree. Those who have stayed this
Joerg: From the members. and yes, it long will continue to stay. Any upcoming
takes many months to co-ordinate and get plans for future issues you can tell us
the pieces together. So we release 2 about?
issues per year. One in summer and one in
winter. This works out well so far. Joerg: We have huge plans and will
Sometimes we make special major topics support even more hardware with issue
like the birthday of boulder dash recently. #27. stay tuned!

John: Would you agree that the John: Keeping your lips sealed?
Commodore scene is the most active Joerg: Yes. as we haven’t made the plans
among all the 8 bits? By the way, I actually fixed yet. We are in the early discussing
have the boulder dash issue up on my stage at the moment. But we got 2 more
second screen right now. coders who joined us this year to help
realizing the plans.
Joerg: I have never been a part of the
Atari vs Commodore battle. And if you John: I'm looking forward to seeing future
look at the hardware support and what issues as well as our readers I'm sure.
you can get today as new for our retro
lovers, you will be amazed. Today I Joerg: Thank you, we look forward to
received 50 classic Gameboy game provide the new stuff to you as well. We
cartridge cases brand new from the have surprised people with a magsys
factory sold via eBay from a French seller. which runs on NTSC & PAL 100%
Also you can get card reader devices for accurately, supports IDE64, printer, 1351
almost any 8bit, 16bit and 32bit console mouse and joystick
and computer nowadays. support. Now we want to
go further and shock our
The boulder dash topic was so big, we readers positively with
actually made 2 issues out of it. :-) new things. And of course
John: In your opinion do you think the we will try to provide
commodore scene has grown or shrink more exclusive live events
over the years? Do you think it's better or over our live channel at [Link]/
worse now and in what way? sceneworld

Joerg: it's not dying, John: From what I've seen so far it already
despite reading that thing looks impressive. Looking forward to
since 1993. Groom of seeing more. We'll be happy to support
[Link] makes a yearly each other in the near future.
statistic of that on his Regarding interviews, if you could
blog. worth reading it. interview anyone, who would it be
and why?

20
Joerg: Bruce Artwick who invented home
flight simulation but he doesn't give
interviews as a general rule unfortunately.
John: Anyone else?
Joerg: I have invited the inventor of email
recently (Roy Tomlinson), but he never
replied because he died shortly after,
which is sad. I am trying to not miss
chances and interview people if I can.
Luckily, so far 99% agreed :-)
John: That is sad.
Joerg: Yes it's sad, so I am glad we could
take our part in preserving those stories of
those thinkers.
John: Captain Crunch (John Draper). I
haven't read the interview you did with
him but I imagine it was interesting? a weekend with and interview him and
talk to him.
Joerg: I am a personal buddy of John and
he comes to my city every couple of years John: Anything you could tell us extra
to visit all his friends in my city including about John Draper that is generally not
myself. He is an awesome person to spend known?

21
Joerg: Well, I don't know. John is a very SuperCPU with full frames but they were
outgoing person, not hiding much from smart enough to include a frame lock so it
the public. He is not faking anything or would not run too fast but just fluent.
being different in person than what he Impressive thinking ahead for 1987! And I
appears to be on the net. love racing games the most.
There are 2 interviews with him. One via John: Me too. Sadly the Commodore 64
Skype video from 2012 and one audio had many bad version of good racing
interview of our podcast from last year. games. Chase HQ for example, fantastic
on the Sinclair Spectrum and Amstrad CPC
Another hero of my teenager years I and horrible on the C64.
wanted to meet and talk to in person and
suddenly I am his host for a whole Joerg: Luckily they made a successor that
weekend. And at
Gamescom in August
we will run our own
booth again and Dave
Lowe will be running
his as well.

John: The video game

composer?
Joerg: Yes, exactly!
John: That's fantastic.
I hope we get to
meet some
interesting people
ourselves.
Joerg: Will you will
present as well? as a
visitor? Then pop by!
John: No plans yet
but we would love to.
Joerg: So what else
you wanna know?
John: Favourite
Commodore 64 game
and why?
Joerg: Test Drive I.
Because it runs
smoothly on a
22
was much better! Or Hard Drivin' which I John: Too much to list? :-)
run just for Dave Lowe's music in it :-)
Joerg: Exactly.
John: Any other game composer you like?
John: Ok, unless there's something you
Joerg: Tons! Chris Huelsbeck, Jeroen Tel, like to add I think that's the interview?
Rob Hubbard, etc etc etc etc
I totally dig the Tetris theme of Wally Joerg: Thank you very much John.
Beben! John: Thank you Joerg.
John: Music when done right certainly Scene World is the world's only
does sound beautiful on the SID chip. Commodore 64 NTSC & PAL diskmag and
Joerg: Agreed! can be found at [Link]

John: Do you collect or use other 8 bit There you can download issues for your
computers? Commodore 64 or run them through a
emulator on the website. There are also
Joerg: yes. I do have a VCS, and an NES, a interviews, podcasts and a blog. It’s well
game boy and much more. worth checking out for all you
Commodore 64 fans out there.

23
 Beginnings
of the
Home Computer
(R)evolution in
Yugoslavia
By Žarko Živanov

24
When people think of Yugoslavia, they matter even worse, during the same
probably don't imagine it as a computer- period Yugoslavia's officials passed a law
manufacturing country. But, the fact is that prohibited import of any
that during the 1960's, Yugoslavia was merchandise with a price higher than
one of only six countries in Europe that 50DM. This practically made it illegal for
manufactured computers. citizens to buy a computer outside
Yugoslavia and import it.
The first such computer, named CER-10,
was finished in 1960 and was based on
Only the selected companies were given
vacuum tubes, transistors and electronic
a permission to do this, and they were
relays. Although Yugoslavia was one of
mostly interested in importing computers
the leaders in computer technology at
for companies, but not small home
that time, during the late 60's and 70's
machines. Import charges for electronics
computer development was abandoned
were draconian, and the few computers
and IBM, Honeywell and DEC machines
that one could legally buy came with a
made their way into Yugoslav companies.
price tag that was 2-3 (or even more)
Luckily, this was not the end of the story times larger than the price of the same
for computer making in Yugoslavia, machine in other European countries,
although there were many obstacles to which made them even more
be overcome before it continued. When unobtainable. So what choice did people
the first home computers appeared in have if they wanted to buy a computer at
the world in the late 70's, they were too a reasonable price? One of the choices
expensive and could not have been they were left with was smuggling. It was
afforded by most of the general a game of fooling the customs officer into
population in Yugoslavia. To make the allowing the weird typewriter to enter

Galaksija Schematics 25
 the country. Sometimes it was successful, fashion, the article contained complete
sometimes not. After a while, customs plans for a home computer named
officers learned what all those machines Galaksija, including schematics, PCB
were and weren't so cooperative to let layout and software. The magazine also
them pass the border. Although many included an ad to buy a kit containing all
people have smuggled all sorts of home parts needed to assemble the computer.
computers during this period, this wasn't
Before the magazine hit the shelves in
possible on a global scale.
the last days of December, the publishers
This situation changed a few days before were unsure about the number of kits
the New Year's eve in 1983. During the they should prepare, but in the end it
summer of 1983, an engineer by the was estimated that around fifty kits will
name Voja Antonić resolved to find a way be more than enough to meet the
around this difficult situation. His idea demand. The response was beyond all
was that, if you can't buy foreign expectations - only in the first few days
computers at a reasonable price, perhaps more than one thousand kits were
you could build your own. Parts for ordered. In order to help to provide the
computers were mostly sold for less than necessary components, many electronics
50DM a piece, which meant they could manufacturing companies were
be imported legally - you “only” needed contacted to import the needed
to put them together once they arrived. processors, memory modules and other
And so the work to make a home ICs.
computer began. During the next few
So what was so intriguing about this
months, Voja Antonić developed a simple
computer for so many people to be
computer that had a small number of
interested in ordering the kit? It was its
components and complex software to
simplicity and its price. It was a computer
replace expensive hardware parts, so
that could literally be made at home, if
that the finished computer could be as
one was not intimidated by a little
cheap as possible.
soldering it required. There were two
Until this time, since there weren't many main facts that made this possible. First,
computers or computer users in the motherboard had single-sided
Yugoslavia, there were also no computer relatively wide traces, which allowed for
magazines. There was one science- it to be easily manufactured at home.
oriented magazine that was very popular The drawback was, of course, that it had
- Galaksija (Galaxy), which featured many jumpers. Second, the computer
computer-oriented articles from time to had a small number of parts: the CPU,
time. Sometime late in 1983 Galaksija memory, some control logic, the
decided to publish an experimental motherboard, and the keys. It didn't have
special issue featuring only computer any special video-output hardware - the
related content. Having heard about picture was generated solely by its Z80
Voja's work, they got in touch with him CPU.
and decided to include a lengthy article
In order for the computer to use smaller
about his computer. In true open-source
and cheaper EPROMs, the whole

26
operating system was crammed into only radios. The process was very simple: the
4KB of memory, including the BASIC host would announce that in the next
interpreter, a line editor, video output couple of minutes a Galaksija program or
generation and peripheral control. The game would be transmitted. Then one
keys were sold by a local company and would press record on his/her radio/tape
they had to be soldered to the recorder and record it, and later on load
motherboard. it into Galaksija. More adventurous users
connected Galaksija to the radio receiver
The hardware characteristics were very
and loaded the emitted program directly
modest - 3MHz Z80 CPU, 4KB ROM, 6KB
- a truly wireless transmission.
RAM, a professional keyboard, no sound,
two colors (black and white), 32x16 Although Galaksija had very limited
characters on screen, 64x32 “bitmap” hardware, the way in which that
graphics (actually, just a set of special hardware was used was truly state of the
graphic characters) and a composite art. To many a future programmer,
video output. Galaksija was the entry point to learning
how to program. It was not uncommon
Most of the CPU time was used for video
for one computer to be shared between
generation, but one could turn the video
its constructor and his friends, so the
off and get the speed needed for
number of people that started to learn
calculations. Initial peripherals support
programming with Galaksija was even
included a tape recorder and a joystick.
larger than the number of computers.
For a joystick to work, one had to make a
After a while, beside programs, first
few modifications to the motherboard.
hardware expansions were developed by
The news about an affordable home more advanced Galaksija users. Galaksija
computer spread fast. It grew into a acquired a memory expansion, high
national Galaksija campaign, that was resolution graphics, more ROM and
supported by the media - TV, radio and RAM, a three channel tone generator,
newspapers. Voja Antonić appeared in printer support and so on.
many TV shows to demonstrate
The number of one thousand kits that
Galaksija's abilities. As a result of this
were sold initially grew to over eight
increased interest in computers, three
thousand over the next few months. But
regular computer magazines appeared in
the actual number of Galaksijas in
Yugoslavia in early 1984. A lot of home-
existence is unknown, because anyone
brew software was developed for
could make a motherboard at home and
Galaksija, most of which was printed out
buy the other needed parts in any store
in computer magazines. At first BASIC
that sold them.
programs were dominant, but later the
focus shifted to assembly programs. One Some estimations mention that there
radio show, Ventilator 202, emitted were over ten thousand of these
programs for Galaksija over the radio computers, but not all of them have
waves, although the uninitiated were been completed. Since there wasn't any
very surprised by strange, unearthly official casing for the computer, there
noises that were coming out of their are as many different casings for

27
 Galaksija as there are their constructors. computers since as early as 1981, but
Some of them even decided that they were not able to release them to market
don't need a case, and used the because of import laws that affected
computer without one. One company component availability. In 1984 these
even made a batch of Galaksijas for laws were loosened and several other
schools, but there isn't many of them. computers appeared on the market, but
These are the only ones that had a none of them received as much attention
consistent appearance, as they had a as Galaksija, nor were manufactured in
metal casing. any greater number. The “Ivo Lola Ribar”
company developed Lola 8A. The PEL
Galaksija was the first Yugoslav home
company developed Galeb and its
computer, but it certainly wasn't the last.
successor Orao.
In other parts of Yugoslavia people were
involved in the development of home The Ei company developed Pecom 32 and

ABOVE: micro
Galaksija

RIGHT: Galaksija
without a casing

28
its successor Pecom 64, and later a PC XT manufacturers of “official computers for
clone named Lira 512, that looked like a all Yugoslav schools”. Unfortunately,
slightly bigger Commodore 64. Some during the several years of their arguing
companies decided that it is cheaper to and fighting over this position, schools
just re-brand foreign computers, and we did not wait for the matter to be resolved
got Misedo 85 (Tandy Coco 2), Oric Nova and adopted whichever computer they
64 (Oric Atmos) and INES ZX (ZX could or though best. Instead of one
Spectrum with professional keyboard, universal school computer there were at
Interface 1 and Microdrive all packaged least ten different models in use, largely
in one case). Most of these computers incompatible with each other, produced
were made for schools, since their in small numbers, which never got any
manufacturing companies had an wider attention.
ambition to be selected as the

CMOS Galaksija

29
30
Finding a Galaksija computer today is a difficult task.
From time to time one can run into it on auction sites,
and it will usually be the model made for schools. The
ones that were constructed at home are still jealously
kept by their constructors. For many of them, Galaksija
was their first direct contact with a computer, they
invested a lot of time into building it and it is not easy
for them to part with it. Galaksija practically started a
computer revolution among the Yugoslav general public
and for many of the people that had a part in it, those
first steps in BASIC on Galaksija often had a significant
impact on their professional orientation.
Fortunately, even if an original Galaksija cannot be
acquired easily, there are several solutions for those of
us who wish to take a closer look at how it works. The
easiest way is to try it through a software emulator
(available at [Link] or as a part
of MESS). For those of you who are interested in real
hardware, there are at least two practical projects. In
2011, at Petnica research center in Serbia, Dragan
Toroman and his colleagues made an FPGA replica of
Galaksija, called microGalaksija (more details at http://
[Link]/). This version has internal mass
storage (tape recorder emulation) which can store all
software ever developed for Galaksija. The same team
also extended Galaksija's graphic capabilities with color;
this extension can even add colors to original games for
Galaksija without any changes to them. The second
project took more time to develop: during a five year
period, ending in 2012, Tomaž Šolc made a CMOS replica
of the original computer which can be assembled using
the hardware parts available today (more details at
[Link]
Thanks to its fans from all parts of former Yugoslavia,
the story of Galaksija is still being written.

Žarko Živanov
Assistant professor at Faculty of Technical Sciences,
Novi Sad. One of founders of [Link]

31
32
THE COLLECTORS GUIDE TO THE:

33
THE COLLECTORS GUIDE TO THE:

It’s the iconic computer of the don’t know what BASIC is. It’s it works. The inbuilt BASIC
1980’s. Released by a high level programming seems to be speedy enough
Commodore in the United language where commands compared to other 8-bits of
States mid 1982 at a price of are relatively English like, the time even if it is slightly
$595. It went on to sell 17 making it easy to use. BASIC hampered by the 1 MHz CPU.
million plus units for the next stands for Beginner’s All-
12 years making it the world’s Graphics and Audio
purpose Symbolic Instruction
most successful computer. Code and is the programing There are three text modes
Here’s your collectors guide to language that’s available on and two graphics modes.
the Commodore 64. start up for most 8-bit Characters are created in a 8x8
computers. Sadly the matrix occupying a screen size
Not having the opportunity to
Commodore 64 came with of 40 x 25 characters. The two
own one until recently I can
Commodore BASIC 2.0 which graphics modes are Standard
give an honest first
is similar to the version that Bitmap Mode at 320x200
impression. With no rose
came with the VIC-20. Only 71 pixels and Multicolor Bitmap
tinted glasses in sight the first
commands are available with Mode at 160 x 200 pixels. Both
impressions are positive. The
no commands for controlling screen modes take up 8K of
computer feels well-built and
background or foreground memory. Two colours out of
has a reasonably good
colours or even for drawing the sixteen available can be
keyboard which was much
graphics. Luckily a lot of stuff displayed on each 8x8 grid at
better than membrane based
can be done with the POKE 320 x 200 pixels and four
keyboards on some other
command. For example typing colours per 8x8 grid at 160 x
computers of the time. It can
POKE 646,x where x is a 200 pixels. The C64 has built in
be considered ugly to many
number between 0 and 15 hardware scrolling as well as
with it brownish colours and
changes the text colour. POKE being able to display 8 sprites.
bullnose front. However it
53280,7 changes the border More can be displayed using
does have a charm of its own
colour to yellow and so on. It’s raster interrupts. Audio is
and many people would
not as elegant as BBC Basic but provided by a 3-voice
consider it better looking than
sleeker looking C64C redesign.
Personally to me, the sleek
white 64C does appeals to me
more. I’m just not a fan of
browns and I like the lower
front for typing.

Turning on the computer

reveals the iconic 64’s blue
screen with a blinking icon
waiting for your BASIC
commands. For those who THE SLEEKER LOOKING COMMODORE 64C RELEASED IN 1986

34
 THE COLLECTORS GUIDE TO THE:

programmable sound inch Commodore 1541. Except

generator chip. The MOS for the fact that it wasn’t fast
Technologies 6581 SID has a 8 at all with a data transfer rate
octave range of approximately of about 300 bps (bytes per
16 to 4000 Hz and can handle second) making it vastly slower
four different waveforms than the competition. For
which were sawtooth, triangle, example the Atari 810 floppy
pulse and noise. It was the first The Floppy Drive drive released in the late 70’s
of its kind to be included in a has a claimed transfer rate of
home computer. While tapes were the medium 19.2 kbps although the drive
of choice in Europe, the faster capacity was only 90 Kilobytes
Software Library and more reliable option of compared to the C64’s 170 KB.
While marketed as a business disk drives were the common There were a number of
and home computer at first it method of loading software in reasons why it was slow but
was considered to be a games North America and the most one of the reasons was due to
machine later in its life. common disk drive was the 5¼ a timing bug in the 6522 IC

Playing games is where the

Commodore really shines with
its impressive smooth scrolling,
built in sprites and fantastic
audio making it the system of
choice for many gamers. No
other home computer of the
time came close. There are
literally thousands of games
available. As expected the
quality varies widely from
terrible and forgotten to
gobsmackingly amazing.

Software such as word

processors and spreadsheet
packages were available which
are basic but functional.

A graphical based operating

system was release in North
America in 1986 called GEOS.
More on that in a future issue
of Eight Bit Magazine.

35
THE COLLECTORS GUIDE TO THE:

We open a Commodore 64C to see what makes it tick:

1. MOS 6510 CPU operating at 1.023 MHz NTSC or 0.985 MHz PAL

2. VIC II graphics chip provides the C64 with 320 x 200 screen resolution and a total of 16
colours. It has smooth hardware scrolling and 8 hardware sprites.

3. The SID (Sound Interface Device) chip was the first of it kind and still can’t be emulated
correctly today. With 3 tone generators and four waveform nothing came close for the
time.

4. The Complex Interface Adapter (CIA) controls input and output processes such as the
parallel ports, keyboard and joystick interface. It also contains a internal timer. There are
two CIA chips fitted inside the Commodore 64.

5. This is the MMU (Memory Management Unit) and it’s basically gives the CPU the ability
to handle more than 64 Kilobytes of RAM using a technique known as bank swapping.

6. On the left is the character ROM and on the right is the Kernal / BASIC ROM.

7. Ram chips, on the C64C, there are just two 32K chips instead of eight 8K chips as on
previous models.

10 11
8 9

1
4 2
5
6

38
36
 THE COLLECTORS GUIDE TO THE:

8. The User Port is for adding devices such as modems and printers.

9. Datasette Port is self explanatory. It is also used sometimes to power other devices
such as some versions of the SD2IEC floppy emulator.

10. Serial Bus is for connecting devices such as printers and extra drives. It is not
compatible with the RS232 standard.

11. Video / Audio Jack. Early models outputs composite video while later models can
output composite as well as S-VIDEO.

12. RF Modulator for connecting to a old style analogue TV

13. Expansion / Cartridge Port is for plugging in game cartridges or to expand the system.
Examples include RAM expansions, Fast Loaders and even a CP/M cart with a Z80 CPU
built in.

14. Power input

15. On / Off Switch

16. Joystick ports. The C64 comes with 2 Atari style joystick ports.

1
13
12 14

15

4 16
3

39
37
THE COLLECTORS GUIDE TO THE:

which was used to convert The Commodore 1541 floppy The Datasette
parallel date to serial. Luckily drive was bulky, weighted 5 kg
there were solutions to the (11 lbs), runs hot, was noisy The Commodore 1530 (C2N)
problem by use of a fast and unreliable. Having said tape player was the most
loader. There are hardware, that it does have a certain popular method of loading
cartridge and software based charm about it and it does software in Europe. Although
loaders. An example of a match the original breadbin 64 slow it was about five times
hardware based solution is to perfectly. The drive originally cheaper than a disk drive.
install a JiffyDOS ROM. It’s cost about as much as a Transfer rates were only 300
faster and has better Commodore 64 itself and was bps although this was
compatibility over a cartridge considered a ‘intelligent drive’ increased significantly using
based device. However, to use with its build in 6502 CPU. It fast tape loaders which were
JiffyDOS requires opening up was practically a computer included with the tape loading
the computer and doing some itself being able to function process of most games.
soldering which made a without using memory and
Interestingly the datasette has
cartridge based device the precious CPU cycles from the
a built in analogue to digital
more popular choice. computer.
converter so the computer
Examples of cartridge based
The 1541C was released in received digital date on the fly
devices were the Epyx Fast
1986 and was quieter and instead of having to convert
Load and Final Cartridge III
more reliable. The 1541-II was the audio signal itself. This
which increased disk loading
introduced in 1988 and meant you would have to use
times dramatically. While
matched the style of the a tape drive built specifically
software based fast loaders
Commodore 64C. The power for the Commodore 64 but it
weren’t as good they did
supply was not built in to the allowed for better reliability
increase loading times
unit resulting in a cooler for loading and saving data.
significantly for larger
programs. running and therefore a more
PAL and NTSC
reliable unit.
While there was no region
locking there were
incompatibilities between
systems from North
America and Europe due to
different television display
standards. PAL based C64’s
operated at 0.985 MHz
instead of 1.023 MHz. This
caused some software,
mostly games, to be
IN 1984 TO MARK THE 1 MILLIONTH SALE IN THE US A GOLD EDITION incompatible between
WAS MADE.. IN 1986 THE SAME WAS DONE FOR GERMANY. systems.

38
 THE COLLECTORS GUIDE TO THE:

Overall fast loader cart or a JiffyDOS Often considered the best 8-

ROM. The built in BASIC is bit systems to own. While you
There are multiple reasons to terrible, penny pinching at its can find 8-bit systems with
own a Commodore 64 today worst. As a work computer is improved capabilities in one
but the three main ones are was average at best. However area or another, it’s difficult to
the following: it’s the graphical and audio find one that beats it as an
One. Thanks to its sound and capabilities that makes the overall package.
graphical capabilities the title of the world’s best selling
Commodore 64 often offers computer well deserved. SCORE: 5 out of 5
the best version of a
game over other 8
bits. Not to mention
the C64 only
exclusives.

Two. The SID chip was

the first of its kind and
is still used today to
make some amazing
tunes.

Three. It’s a iconic

computer. You can’t
call yourself a collector
of 8 bit computers or
indeed a collector of
computers in general
without owning one of
these.

The CPU is a little slow

when compared to the
competition of the
time and would be a
problem except for
the excellent VIC II
chip taking on the
graphical intensive
tasks. The disk drive is
very slow but that can
easily be sorted with a

39
THE COLLECTORS GUIDE TO THE:

JOY OF THE STICK

The Competition Pro

was and still is the
joystick of choice BETTER VIDEO
for Commodore 64
owners. One word, The standard RF signal
Essential. is terrible, for better
video quality get a
composite video lead which
can either be RCA or SCART
based. Despite what many may
say the C64 does not output
RGB. Commodores with a 8
pin video port instead of
5 can use a S-Video lead
which offers the best
possible display. This is
the way the C64 was meant
to be experienced.

SD2IEC Floppy Emulator

This cute looking device lets

you store your entire C64
software collection on one SD
card. Compatible with JiffyDOS,
GEOS and multiple fast loaders. Get it
from [Link]

40
 THE COLLECTORS GUIDE TO THE:

OLD SKOOL

The Commodore 1541 disk

drive is loud, noisy and
prone to failure but
there’s nothing like it for
experiencing the C64 the
way it meant to be
experienced. Get the more
reliable 1541-II if you
have the newer style C64C.
The same goes for the
Datasette recorder for
European readers. It’s all
for the experience.

Fast Loader Cart

A fast loader cart is essential in

combating slow disk drive speeds.
Examples are the Epyx Fast Load and
Final Cartridge III. The Future Was
8 bit sells the Epyx Fastload
Reloaded for £ 16.99 Sterling.
[Link]

41
 Happy Birthday
By Stuart Williams

Today, Apple is best known for its 64-bit out to build what would become the
Mac Pro, Macbook and iMac computers, Apple I home computer. This very first
and its ground-phenomenally successful Apple, the seed for all the rest, would be a
iPhone, iPad and iWatch ranges of smart self-build kit, best suited to electronics
gadgets. But the foundations of what is hobbyists who were handy with a
today the world’s most valuable company soldering iron, and it would come without
lie deep in the early hobbyist home a keyboard or monitor, and with data
computer era of the late 1970s-1980s, and storage to be provided by audio tape
when they formally set up their world- cassette. Wozniak figured out that the
changing venture in Los Altos, California, printed circuit boards would cost $1,000
USA, on April 1st, 1976, the fledgling start- USD to create and components would cost
up consisted of just three guys with a an additional $20 per computer. He
dream - to make computers for the rest of thought he might get his costs back if he
us. And those computers operated on 8 could sell just 50 Apple I kits at $40 each.
bits. Wozniak didn’t want to build just one
Apple, though. He, his good friend and
On March 5th, 1975, electronics engineer
fellow college dropout Steve Jobs, who he
and computer programmer Steve Wozniak
had met while working at Hewlett
attended the first meeting of the
Packard, and Ronald Wayne, who had
Homebrew Computer Club in Palo Alto,
worked with Jobs at Atari, would join
California (in what was to become world-
forces to make and sell the Apple I.
famous as Silicon Valley). Inspired, he set

42
Apple

Engineer and scientist Wozniak (today legendary (if occasionally controversial)

affectionately known as Woz) not only status in that field, he managed to sell fifty
single-handedly created the first ever Apple computers to The Byte Shop (a now-
Apple computer, but also went on design famous computer store in Mountain View,
much of the second Apple of the eight-bit California) at $500 per kit. But, not having
era, the II (at first styled ][) , and to create much ready cash to finance the Apple I,
the first ever affordable home computer Wozniak was forced to sell his HP-65
disk drive controller, putting Apple ahead calculator for $500, and Jobs sold his
of the cassette-based competition. Jobs iconic Volkswagen Microbus, to fund the
would be their sales and marketing guru. project. To fulfil that first $25,000 order,
The older Wayne (who was to leave the they obtained $20,000 worth of parts at
first ever affordable home computer disk 30 days net and, remarkably considering
drive controller, putting Apple ahead of they were operating at first from Jobs’
the cassette-based competition. Jobs bedroom and his parents’ garage in Los
would be their sales and marketing guru. Altos, California, the two young friends
The older Wayne (who was to leave the managed to deliver the fifty finished kits in
company before it became a major just in 10 days. They had a little help,
success) provided administrative though, hiring neighbourhood kids
oversight. A draftsman, he also designed (including Steve's sister Patti). Just a
the first Apple logo, drew up their couple of years later they would move
partnership agreement, and wrote the their operation to real premises in
Apple I manual. Cupertino, not far from the company's
current campus, on Bandley Drive.
Even in those early days, Steve Jobs was
no fool when it came to marketing. In a The new computer, based on the eight-bit
move that clearly predicted his now- MOS Technology 6502 microprocessor

43
was first publicly demonstrated in July personal computer with a video display,
1976, appropriately enough at the something we have taken for granted for
Homebrew Computer Club. Strictly a decades. Apple I could be used with a TV
hobbyist machine, the Apple I was sold set (add an RF modulator) or a
simply as a motherboard (with CPU, RAM, monochrome monitor with composite
and basic monochrome textual-video video input. Competing machines of the
chips), which left the buyer to sort out a day such as the Altair 8800 were generally
power supply, keyboard and monitor. programmed with front-mounted toggle
Some even built their (now exceedingly switches and used indicator lights for
rare and valuable) Apples into wooden output. They had to be extended with
boxes - kind of an Apple crate, in fact! separate hardware to allow connection to
a computer terminal, or a teletype
The microprocessor which was at the machine, which was not exactly what you
heart of the Apple I and most of the later wanted in your study or living room. Apart
eight-bit Apples had been designed by a from the low cost for the time, the ability
small team led by Chuck Peddle for MOS to use a video display is what made the
Technology. When it was introduced in Apple I so remarkably innovative.
1975, the 6502 was the least expensive
fully featured microprocessor on the But by November 1976, MOS Technology
market, which was a very good reason for had been acquired by Commodore, and it
using it in a home computer. It initially was clear that Apple would, sooner or
sold for less than one-sixth the cost of later, have competition in the personal
competing
designs from
larger
companies,
such as
Motorola and
Intel, and
caused rapid
decreases in
processor
pricing. But it
was another
aspect of the
Apple I that
was most
striking - it was Apple I computer in home-built wooden case at the Smithsonian,
the first picture by Ed Uthman
44
computer market as fans of the later
Commodore PET, Vic-20 and C64 will soon
tell you!

In April 1977 the Apple I’s price fell to

$475, remaining on sale through August
1977 despite the introduction of the
superior Apple II in April 1977, which
began shipping in June of that year. Apple
dropped the Apple I from its price list by
October 1977, officially discontinuing it.
Since Steve Wozniak was the only one
who could support customers with their
first computer, the company decided to
offer Apple I owners discounts and the
chance to trade-in their machines against
purchase of an Apple II. Apple then
destroyed the recovered boards, which is
the main reason they are so rare, The very first Apple Computer logo,
collectable – and expensive – today. drawn by Ronald Wayne

Steve Wozniak (right) and Steve Jobs with the Apple I in April 1976 picture
courtesy of Joe Melena, copyright Apple Computer, Inc
45
Come in number ][
The Apple I had proven that, IBM’s
corporate opinion to the contrary, there
was sufficient public interest to be worth
developing a more mass-market
successor, and it therefore inspired one of
the first, and one of the first, most
successful, mass-produced home,
educational and business computer
systems, the Apple II (styled apple ][ )
range, which became the shoulders upon
which the later Macintosh range would
stand.

The Apple II was also powered by the Steve Wozniak, aka Woz, with an Apple I board
6502. With electronics and software back in the day, courtesy Woz
designed primarily by Steve Wozniak, the
design of the Apple II's unusual case, with
its removable lid and easy access to central processor etc. and a video output,
expansion slots, was overseen by Steve with the ability to expand.
Jobs, and the power supply was developed
by Rod Holt. Introduced in 1977 at the A home appliance?
West Coast Computer Faire by Jobs, it was BYTE magazine predicted in April 1977
the first ‘consumer’ product sold by Apple that the Apple II “...may be the first
Computer, and the first in a long-lived line product to fully qualify as the 'appliance
which would include the original ][, II plus, computer' ... a completed system which is
II europlus, IIe (enhanced as //e), IIc (a purchased off the retail shelf, taken home,
compact, portable version) and IIGS (a 16- plugged in and used". But 1977 was also
bit system) which were produced, until the year Commodore launched the now
finally the Apple IIe ceased production in almost as legendary, if less long-lived, PET
November 1993. The Apple II was also the home and education computer…
first home computer with a colour video
output, at first in the American NTSC Initially assembled in Silicon Valley, and
system and later in PAL. The Apple II range later in Texas, printed circuit boards for
pretty much set the standard for other the Apple II were manufactured in Ireland
manufacturers to follow, at least in terms and Singapore and the first computers
of form following function. A keyboard, a went on sale on June 10th, 1977.

46
 1976 Apple 1 Computer in a briefcase From the Sydney Powerhouse
Museum collection, picture by Binarysequence

The basic spec included a 6502

microprocessor running at
1.023 MHz, 4 kB of RAM , an
audio cassette interface for
loading programs and storing
data, Steve Wozniak’s Integer
BASIC programming language
built into the ROMs, and two
game paddles,. The display
was 24 lines by 40 columns of
monochrome, upper-case-only
text on the screen, with NTSC
composite video output
suitable for display on a TV
monitor, or on a regular TV set
by way of a separate RF
modulator.

The original retail price was

$1,298 (with 4 kB of RAM) and
$2,638 USD (with the
maximum 48 kB of RAM).
Reflecting the computer's colour graphics, previously available as an upgrade,
the Apple logo on the casing was filled supported floating-point arithmetic, and
with rainbow stripes, and featured in was to become the standard BASIC on the
Apple's corporate logo until 1998. Apple II series, albeit slower than Steve
Wozniak's Integer BASIC. Except for
Sound was produced using a toggle circuit,
improved graphics and disk-booting
which could only emit a click through the
support in the ROM, and the removal of
built-in speaker or a line out jack.
the 2k 6502 assembler/disassembler to
Remarkably, all other sounds (including make room for the floating point BASIC,
two, three and, eventually, four-voice the II+ was otherwise identical to the
music and playback of audio samples and original II, but because of a drop in RAM
speech synthesis) are generated on the prices it sold with a full 48k of memory
Apple II entirely by software. already installed. Even more ram could be
The smart, professional-looking Apple II added by bank switching.
was also the first personal computer
Apple II Europlus and J-Plus
which could be easily expanded with the
5.25 inch ‘disk ][‘ floppy disk drive, using a In 1979, Apple expanded its market into
remarkable plug-in controller card Europe, Australia and the Far East. A
designed by Steve Wozniak to save money variation on the Plus allowing greater
compared with the previous 8 inch drive regional compatibility, the Apple II
standard by hugely reducing the number Europlus was developed specifically for
of chips on the controller, and controlling Europe and Australia, and the Apple II J-
it in software. Wozniak also designed the Plus was configured for sale in Japan.
drive itself, which was originally Apple made hardware, firmware and
manufactured by parts supplied by software changes in order to comply to
Shugart and later by Alps, and it was the regional standards, including keyboard
first in a long line of Apple floppy drive lettering and layout, mains electricity
supply voltage, and video in the European
designs. Ironically, it was in 1998 that
and Australian model, where the output
Apple would decide that the floppy drive
signal was changed from colour NTSC to
was obsolete, and they were the first to
monochrome PAL. . If the customer
stop using them.
required colour in a PAL region then they
Apple II Plus would have to purchase an extra video
card, because the simple tricks Wozniak
The Apple II Plus, introduced in June 1979,
had used to generate a pseudo-NTSC
included a new Applesoft BASIC
signal with minimal hardware would not
programming language in ROM. This
work with the more complex PAL system.
Microsoft-authored dialect of BASIC,
Production of the Europlus ended in 1983.

48
But before that came the Apple III. 1980 and using the faster Synertek 6502A
processor running at 2Mhz, almost twice
The ill-fated Apple III the speed of the Apple II line.
No company ever had a straight-line It incorporated a new Disk III floppy drive.
course to success, and Apple has had The most important features which
more than a few ups and downs, despite business users wanted in a personal
its present day supremacy. These ‘hiccups’ computer were a true typewriter-style
included unforeseen problems with upper/lowercase keyboard (the original
machines such as the Apple III, a bigger, Apple II’s was based on a teletype, with no
business-oriented but still eight-bit cousin lower case) and a proper 80-column
of the Apple II, first released on May 19th, display, all of which the Apple III was

Apple II computer. On display at the Musée Bolo, EPFL, Lausanne picture by Rama

49
designed to offer. Apple IIe
By the time the Apple III came along, The Apple II Plus was followed in 1983 by
however, technology had begun to move what was to become the classic eight-bit
on apace. Apple’s latest eight-bit micro Apple home computer, the Apple IIe, a
was too expensive for a mass market more powerful machine using newer chips
(being aimed almost entirely at the to reduce component count and cost and
business sector) and had circuit design to add new features, including displaying
issues. Fourteen thousand early machines upper and lower case characters and offer
were recalled for stability problems, and a standard 64 kB of RAM. Also launched
though these issues were eventually was the DuoDisk, essentially two half-
height Unidisk Disk II 5.25-inch drives (the
sorted out, the damage to the machine’s
Unidisk being Apple’s replacement for the
reputation was done. It has also been
Disk ][) in a single enclosure designed to
suggested by some that the III was also
stack between the computer and the
badly marketed, or even deliberately
monitor, together with a new controller
sidelined. Some have also said that since
card with different ports. The DuoDisk
1979 Steve Jobs was more interested in
suffered reliability problems, however,
his own pet project – the Apple
and was not as popular as the Apple IIe
Macintosh, which followed on from the
itself.
relatively unsuccessful Lisa (only 100,000
sold). Jobs had been forced out of the Lisa The most popular eight-bit Apple ever
project and joined the Macintosh project, built and the workhorse of the line, the IIe
which he then redirected into basically also has the distinction of being the
building a cheaper, smaller and better Lisa longest-lived Apple computer of all time,
– and so history was made, but that’s being made and sold with few minor
another story. changes for almost 11 years. In the period
following the original, two design
Whatever was going on in the background
variations were introduced, known as the
with the Lisa, the Mac and the Apple III,
Apple IIe Enhanced (styled //e, four new
later, more popular models in the Apple II
replacement chips plus 128k RAM gave it
line were to incorporate some of the
more compatibility with the later model
improvements made with the III and, with
Apple IIc, including an upgraded processor
sufficient memory, they could also run
called the 65C02) and the Apple IIe
ProDOS, which was based on the Apple
Platinum (a modernized new look for the
III’s new operating system, the
case colour to match other Apple products
Sophisticated Operating System, or ‘SOS’.
of the era, along with the addition of a
This all ensured that the work on the
built-in numeric keypad). The //e
Apple III wasn’t entirely wasted.
enhancements could also be simply

50
 Apple II plus, picture by Bilby

applied to the unenhanced version after a typing position. The first of three Apple II
sale, using a kit of parts available through models which were made in the Snow
dealers. White design language, it was the only
one in a creamy off-white colour.
Apple IIc
Apple released the compact
Apple IIc in April 1984, promoting
it as a portable Apple II, because
it could be easily carried, though
unlike modern laptops it lacked a
built-in display and battery,
instead running off the mains and
being offered with a compact 9-
inch green screen monitor, which
echoed the also monochrome,
but paper-white, Macintosh
display, which had been
introduced in January. The IIc had
a fold-down carrying handle,
allowing it to be propped up into Apple III plus, picture by Bilby

51
The IIc, which was the first Apple II to use there was the other American invader, the
the 65C02 low-power variant of the 6502 Commodore 64…
processor, deleted the now-obsolete
cassette port and featured a built-in 5.25- But even in the early 1980s technology
inch floppy drive and 128 kB RAM. Having was changing rapidly, and the writing was
no internal expansion slots, the compact already on the wall for eight-bit systems,
IIc contained a built-in disk controller that at least as far as business computing was
could control external drives, and offered concerned. In 1981, IBM unveiled the 16-
ports for composite video, serial interfaces bit IBM Personal Computer (PC), which
for modem and printer, and a port joystick was soon cloned by far-eastern
or mouse port. The disk port was manufacturers and the market flooded.
eventually able to work with 3.5-inch disk As a result of the arrival of these more
drives and even third party hard disks. The powerful, if III, far less cuddly, PC DOS/MS
later IIc Plus of 1988 was basically the -DOS based systems, the business market
same, but with a 3.5” disk drive built-in. It began to pull rapidly away from the Apple
was the final member of the Apple II line, eight-bit range, and that was pretty much
but before then came the Apple IIGS, the last nail in the coffin for the Apple III,
released on September 15th, 1986. A despite the subsequent longevity of the
radical departure from the existing Apple Apple II line in the home and some
II line, the IIGS featured a true 16-bit scientific and educational markets.
microprocessor, and as such, despite
The final version of the Apple III, the III
being a fascinating machine, is beyond the
Plus, was discontinued on January 24th,
scope of this magazine.
1984, ironically the day Steve Jobs
introduced the Apple Macintosh to the
Writing on the Wall
world. It would be left for Macintosh, the
The Apple eight-bit line was highly ‘computer for the rest of us’, to take up
successful, particularly in its home market, the fight against ‘Big Blue’ and popularise
although it was much less so in the UK, the (subsequently much-copied) new
where by 1982 the home computer mode of operation using Windows, Icons,
market had become dominated by Mouse and Pull-down menus which rules
homegrown computers. Here, the the world of desktop computing today.
educational niche was occupied primarily But that is another story.
by the Acorn BBC Micro, itself also 6502-
powered but more advanced than the A roller-coaster ride
early Apples on some ways. Sinclair with
Since Apple was first founded, It's been a
its Z80-based ZX Spectrum dominated the
four-decade-long roller-coaster ride that
low-cost games computer niche. And then
almost came off the rails in the late 1980s-

52
1990s. Steve Jobs was pushed out of the US dollars – £12.4 billion – for the first
company in the mid-80s after the Mac quarter of this year. The company recently
range struggled and he attempted to oust revealed that there are now more than
then chief executive John Sculley. From one billion active Apple devices being used
1997, however, the triumphant return and around the world. Not bad for a three-
inspired leadership of Jobs helped to man venture started in a bedroom and a
define a new era for Apple and since then garage.
the company has gone from strength to
And, as for the great days of the eight-bit
strength.
Apples, as long as the thousands of skilled
Sadly, Steve Jobs, the inspirational design and enthusiastic Apple retro-computing
and marketing genius and eventual fans and collectors world-wide can keep
saviour of Apple, passed away in 2011. their carefully restored and conserved
Thankfully Steve Wozniak, creator and machines going, well those days never
programmer of the first Apples and really ended, did they?
pioneer of the personal computer
April 1st, 2016 was the 40th birthday of the
revolution, is still doing his own thing,
Apple Computer Company. Happy
being surprisingly accessible through his
Birthday Apple, and many happy returns
website [Link] and social media.
of the day.
He's still a stipended Apple employee, and
is also a shareholder, but has gone on to April 1st, 2016 was the 40th birthday of the
run several other ventures, including Apple Computer Company. Happy
working in academia, as well as teaching Birthday Apple, and many happy returns
computer classes to children from the fifth of the day.
through ninth grades – and teachers as
well.

Today, forty years after the firm was

official incorporated as The Apple
Computer Company, Apple has changed
the world and the way we see, hear and
communicate with it. The company now
has a massive headquarters in Cupertino,
California, with another, popularly known
as the ‘spaceship’, expected to open this
year. It runs more than 480 retail stores in
eighteen countries worldwide and
reported income of more than $18 billion
Apple IIc with monitor, picture by Bilby

53
In the first article for the tech zone John Kavanagh check out
the Zaxon floppy emulator for the Amstrad CPC 6128.

The idea of having access to Gotek USB floppy emulator reviewing the 6128 version
thousands of disk images on a and the HxC Floppy Emulator which is also compatible with
real Amstrad CPC 6128 is does the job perfectly. the Amstrad 6128 Plus and
extremely appealing. No more However they were a little on Schneider branded 6128 when
sourcing hard to get and the expensive side and you’ll used with the correct
expensive 3 inch disks and still require a suitable floppy Centronics adapter. Both
then having to transfer cable which could bring the versions of the Centronics
the .DSK images to the CPC price up to near the 100 Euro adapter costs £ 14.99 Sterling.
using a PC to CPC parallel cable mark for either device. The Zaxon CPC 6128 emulator
or worse, playing on a soulless itself costs £ 26.99 Sterling
A cheaper and some may say a
emulator. While I wrote a (around 35 Euro at the time of
more elegant solution is being
three part series for CPC writing). Postage costs £5
offered by Zaxon which offers
Oxygen on doing that back in Sterling unregistered or £9
two different floppy emulators
the early 2000’s thankfully Sterling tracked and recorded.
for the CPC, a much larger one
there are simpler ways We currently don’t have
with a LCD screen for the 464
nowadays. Devices such as the postage rates for outside of
and one for the 6128. We’ll be
Europe but I’m sure a friendly
message to Zaxon will give you
the postage details.

On receiving the device it was

well packaged but there
wasn’t much else. No
instructions, not even an
information sheet. Although
there were links on the
webpage I purchased it from,
it would still had been nice to
receive at least an information
sheet. The device required a 5
volt input with a 5.5 / 2.1 mm
connector which is the same

54
that powers the Amstrad CPC.
Zaxon sells a power splitter
that allows the CPC and the
floppy emulator to be
powered from the one source.

However I didn’t opt for that

and used a 2 Amp, 5 volt
power adapter. Although 2
Amp is overkill it won’t harm
the device. Like all devices it
will pull the amount of current
it requires as long as you keep
the voltage at 5 VDC
everything should be fine. How
much current does the device
needs? I don’t know since
there’s no documentation but
I would guess 500 mA would
be enough, 1 Amp to be safe. I
would suggest the splitter
cable if you don’t have a box The first thing to do is to unzip convert over a 1,500 DSK
of 5 volts adapters as it only images in about two minutes
the HxC Emulator Manager,
costs £ 3.30 Sterling. on a modest Intel Core i3 PC.
browse to the Amstrad CPC
Before powering up the device folder and copy all the content Once done, you have to make
you’ll need to find a USB flash a folder on the USB flash drive
to your freshly formatted USB
drive and format it to FAT32. and copy the newly converted
flash drive.
As expected it won’t work on files over. If you are doing a
NTFS. Once formatted, two Now you need to convert few hundred files I suggest
pieces of software needed to your .DSK images to the .HFE separating the images into
be downloaded which are the file format, this is what the separate folders such as A-C, D
HxC Floppy Emulator Manager second download does. It’s an -F etc. Otherwise you’ll find
and the HxC Floppy Emulator. application for PC and MAC. yourself scrolling forever to
Upon opening you can click on find what you are looking for
The files can be downloaded “Load” to load as the scrolling does slow
here: a .DSK image down the more you scroll. I’m
and then click not sure why there’s such a
[Link] slow down but it’s get to the
“Export” to
download/ point of being almost unusable
export the file
floppy_drive_emulator/
in a .HFE on long lists. Keeping files in
SDCard_HxC_Floppy_Emulator
format. separated folders kept game
_Manager.zip
However I selection nice and fast.
[Link] much prefer
With the Amstrad power off I
download/ the batch
plugged in the device, power
floppy_drive_emulator/ converter
cable and the flash drive and it
HxCFloppyEmulator_soft.zip which can

55
didn’t work! Trying it on Browsing through the folders you are on so you’ll find
another CPC resulted in the and pressing ‘Return’ or the yourself cycling through
same issues. After cleaning the space bar on a game or different slots to find the
contacts on the edge program adds it to one of the program you want. It can be a
connector of the CPC things 15 available slots. The idea is bit of a pain trying to find slot
improved. Although once in a that you can load a game or zero which is the HxC
while the device needed to be program that has multiple disk software. It would be much
adjusted as the CPC came up images into different slots, better if the device went back
with the disk not found using the two available to the HxC slot after being
message. This is more of a buttons to cycle through powered down and restarted.
problem with the CPC edge different slots.
connectors being slightly dusty Another issue I’ve noticed with
and suffering from wear. This One you choose the games the device is that when it’s
isn’t really a problem as it you want for each slot you can plugged in and the jumpers
tends to happen after pressing exit out of the HXC program by are configured as Drive A the
one of the buttons on the pressing ‘ESC’ and pressing Y motor of the floppy drive stays
device and not at random. to confirm. on. A solution would be to
configure the jumpers as drive
To load the HxC software, first Typing CAT on the CPC will B but as many CPC owners are
type CAT making sure HXC is display the files for a certain aware of, some software
listed, if not, press either the disk images, pressing one of needs to be loaded from drive
forward or back slot button on the two available buttons will A. I didn’t like the idea of the
the device and type CAT again. cycle through different disk floppy motor being left on so I
Once HXC is found type Run images. There’s no way of unplugged the build in floppy
“HXC” and press Return. knowing which slot number drive by pulling the plug from
the monitor that powers the
internal disk drive.

Games loaded at around the

same as a real 3 inch floppy
drive. 40 seconds for Chase
HQ 128k version and a
longer time of 1 minute 16
seconds for Gryzor.

Having said all the above I do

like the device. It seems well
built and does add a lot of
extra joy to using the 6128.
The problem I had will using
the device was purely down
to the design of edge
connectors as the device did
connect nice and tight. The
issue with the floppy motor
is easily fixed leaving me
with a device I wouldn’t do

56
without. I rate it 9
out of 10, not
making full marks
due to some minor
issues but
nevertheless this is
possibly the most
useful device ever
for the Amstrad CPC.

464 ahoy!

As mentioned earlier
there is a 464
version. The added
disk drive interface
that’s required [Link]/user/ devices for
bumps the price up a bit at profile/zaxon other 8 bit
Sterling £ 52.99. It is still value formats. Until
In the next issue we will be
for money. You can find next time.
looking at USB and SD card
Zaxon’s online store at

57
Programming
the 8 bits
In the first part of Programming the 8 bits we are going to dip
our toes in to the fascinating world of programming.
It’s a known fact that there focus on the beginner. The 20 print a
were two types of people who goal is to get everyone started 30 next
had computers in the 1980’s on some level. We are going to 40 print “Hello World”
those that didn’t program give a BASIC example as well
You can probably understand
them and those that did. The as a example in machine code
it without me explaining it.
ones that didn’t would type for both the MOS 6502 / 6510
The line numbers are to place
the LOAD command to play and Z80 processors.
the code in to memory. The
their games and that was it.
first line starts a FOR loop. It
While playing games are fun
BASIC PROGRAMMING will set the variable “a” to 1.
they missed out on a whole
The next line print the value of
extra dimension of owning an BASIC is usually the
a to the screen. If the variable
8-bit computer. programming language
was in brackets like this: 20
available when you first turn
Programming, or what some print “a”, it would be have
on the computer. If you’re
people nowadays like to call printed the character a and
using a Jupiter Ace you’ll get a
‘writing code’ gives you a not the value of a. Line 30, the
programming language called
deeper understanding of your NEXT command brings BASIC
FORTH but we are sticking to
computer. To truly know your back to line 10 as the “FOR
BASIC for now. BASIC stands
computer is to be able to NEXT” loops hasn’t finished.
for Beginner’s All-purpose
program it. Not just with The variable a is increased to 2
Symbolic Instruction Set. It’s
BASIC but all the way down to and line 20 prints the value of
based on easy to use English-
the CPU via Assembly a again, this time it prints 2 as
like commands. While
language. the value of a. It’ll do this until
programs written in BASIC run
it reaches a value of 1,000.
There are some of you who much slower than those
Then line 40 executes which
are reading this who already written in machine code they
will print the text “Hello
know how to program and are much easier to write. Take
World” to the screen.
would like more advance the following short program
features. Not to worry, future for example: The wonderful thing about
issues of EBM will have that. BASIC is that while the
10 For a=1 to 1000
Right now, this article will Commodore 64 and Sinclair

58
Spectrum are vastly different much faster. While you can 6510:
from one another the program make an Adventure game in
LDA #05
will still work on both. With BASIC, a arcade type game
ADC #&03
bigger programs a few would run too slow to be
STA &4000
changes might be needed. For entertaining.
example the Commodore 64 Don’t worry if you don’t
An example of a program in
doesn’t have the CIRCLE understand it but feel free to
assembly language to add two
command and to declare a experiment, you can’t do any
numbers together and then
variable on the ZX Spectrum harm. Next issue there will be
stores the value in a memory
you’ll have to put the LET much more programming
location would look like this
command before it. However tutorials divided up in BASIC
on a Z80 based computer:
when using Assembly, and Assembly articles. Email
programming is different LD A,&05 us at cpcoxygen@[Link] if
between computers as you are ADD A, &03 you would like to contribute a
coding directly to very LD (&4000),A article or to let us know what
different processors. However you like to see in future issues.
and like this on a MOS 6502 /
programming concepts remain
the same.

MACHINE CODE

Assembly is the practical

method of programming in
machine code. As coding
directly to the CPU involve
entering a bunch of numbers
things can become confusing
very quickly. An Assembler is
used which uses mnemonics
which are then compiled into
machine code.

Programming this way is much

more complicated than BASIC
and on most micro computers
you’ll need extra software to
write assembly code. One
exception is the BBC Micro
which has a built in assembler.
The big advantage of assembly
programming is that once
complied the program runs
59
 Named Contributors
6581: POKE 54296,15 [Link] users! my english was so bad that I didn't even know
what it meant. Only months later i found out and
Aaron: Proud to be a backer! Didier Lüthi: [Link] OR finished the game.
[Link]/groups/sinclaircollection
Arcano Systems LLC: Arcano Systems creates 8- Jean-Luc Crisanto G. Reyes: I am just going to say
bit computers, chiptune music synthesizers, and Dr Dimitris Gourlis, MD, EHS: Jimmy of Spider that I miss everyone of you guys in the
microcontroller-based devices for hobbyists, Software (TM), a proud member of the Philippines(especially you, Mom). Sending love
musicians, students, hackers, and makers. Visit QUIKSILVERS group, is still active in the C128 from San Francisco. I hope you guys read this
[Link] or follow @ArcanoSystems scene after 25 years! Greets from Athens, message and smile. Also, send me more emails of
on Twitter. Greece. cat pictures.

BobCo: Shaw once said: "We don't stop playing Dustin Vogel (Astray / Silicon Limited): Retro Joachim Froholt: If you can read Norwegian,
because we grow old; we grow old because we computers mean a lot to me, especially the 8-bit please visit our website at [Link]. We
stop playing.” ...I'm starting to believe him. :) ones. They look nice and I love the sounds (like cover retro, indie and niche games, as well as the
the SID), the pixels and the (simple) electronica. occational AAA-release. Mostly computer /
Bug of NCI: For our German Podcast In the past I programmed demos for Silicon microcomputer stuff.
[Link] we did some nice interview in Limited and SuccesS. Today, I collect 8-bit
english language with scene legends: http:// computers and enjoy life. Commodore is my Joerg "Nafcom" Droege: Scene World Magazine -
[Link]/interviews-english/ number 1. [Link] - For All Things C64!
John "MooseCantTalk" Moody: To my gorgeous
Chris Abbott: Get along to EL Passion: wife Erin: Thank you darling for supporting my
[Link] or [Link] for 010001010100110000100000010100000110000 obsessions, I love you! <3 . Also, Commodore 64
C64 remix goodness. 1011100110111001101101001011011110 and Gateway to Apshai for the win!

Cees Meijer: What a great magazine and a Ely: The Dragon 32 was my first, but I loved my Jonathan Garcia: May 4th 2016. Seattle, WA. My
marvelous collection of 8-bit computers! (Such a Atari 8-Bit. All hail the 8bit era! 8-bit computer journey started in Saint-Die,
shame my favorite TRS-80 is not part of France with my best friend Sidoine Pierrel, his
it...maybe next time?). And remember: your Fabrizio Pedrazzini: The Strange (and Rare) Thomson MO5, my Thomson TO7/70. Later I got
current laptop, tablet and phone will be the retro Videogame Pics Page - TS(&R)VPP http:// a Amstrad CPC6128. We had a great time and lot
of the year 2050, so don't throw them away ! [Link]/ of fun. I later upgraded to an Amiga 500.

Charles Atencio: I witnessed the 1980s Fhx: 10 print "fhx backed this issue" Jondo: 8 Bit forever -
Commodore 64 computer hobbyist years, and 20 goto 10 LOAD"GreetingsFromMuntafu",8,1
seen the PC innovation of the 1990s become Run
mired in later standardization. The treasured Judge Drokk: Judge Drokk founder of the classic
years of the 8-bit home computer were unique. fossi-soft: I want to thank my sister. Without Amiga demo group "Anarchy" is proud to support
Few major publishers and direct developer / end her I had never started programming on a this magazine. Search me on Twitter
C64 and I had never study computer science.
user relationships. Innovation was everywhere.
She give up her Christmas presents so that
[Link] my parents could bought me a used C64 for Jürgen Auerbach: Shit happens. Always on my
600$. Thank you sister! shift
CraigsBar: Thanks to all involved in bringing this
mag to the Retro Gaming community. Frk^Img: Frk^Img sends greetings to all Jörn Kierstein: Wer nicht nur spielen möchte, der
Commodore fans and enthusiasts worldwide. C64 findet auf [Link]
D. Skilton: It’s not our job to question why, it our and Amiga rulez forever! Keep the spirit alive :) einen leicht verständlichen Einsteigerkurs zur C64
job to preserve and thrive! Assemblerprogrammierung, sowie Infos zum
Gareth: "GAZCBM" Darby: Long live the c64! Rasterzeileninterrupt, VIC-II (z. B. FLI & MCI) und
Darren Timmis: Laser Squad - Amstrad CPC. One noch vieles mehr.
of the best turn based strategy game to appear Gereon Faßbender: Hello world!
on the 8 bits. For me the Amstrad version was by @LightmileStudio Karpow of Scoopex: The very best regards to
far the leader. 5 maps and numerous variations Antibyte, Photon, Hi-lite, Reward, Uno, Uncle
of armour and weapons and a two player option Gwendelyn Foster: Dominate the world one pixel Tom, Galahad, J.O.E., Autopsy, Thunder, Dan,
thrown in. Simply awesome. at a time! Made, Deck, Vassago, Dr. Stein, The Bat,
Moshmessiah, Dr. Feelgood, Sane, Amenophis,
Darren Townsend: Retro Forever Gryzor: For more retro goodness, visit Neil Green and Chris Abbott. 8-bit FTW!
[Link] - the ultimate community and
David Klco: As a kid I used to go to computer club knowledge hub for the Amstrad CPC! Let the 8- Kim André Sand: Then shalt thou count to eight,
meetings with my dad in the late 80's. That's how bits rule! And of course, here's hoping this effort no more, no less. Eight shall be the number thou
I got hooked on the C64. There were too many here flourishes… shalt count, and the number of the counting shall
games to list and most of the music was and still be eight. Nine shalt thou not count, neither count
is incredible. PrintShop was awesome too, and Hugo van der Aa: PRESS PLAY ON TAPE thou seven, excepting that thou then proceed to
getting on the BBs's was basically the internet eight. Sixteen is right out.
before most people knew what the internet was. Ian Price: Without history there is no future.
Good Times, Thanks Dad Laurence Gonsalves: 0 dim a(13)\1 for i = 0 to
Jakob kjøller, Copenhagen DK: I remember as it 12:a(i)=rnd(0):if a(i)>.5 then ?"UK ";:next:goto 3
David Youd: 10 was yesterday, getting my first reel computer - \2 ?" JI";:next\3 ?\4 for i = 0 to 12:if a(i)>.5
A=32768:FORB=ATOA+27:READC:POKEB,C:NEXT: the commodore 64. It was christmas eve and the then ?"K U";:next:goto 6\5 ?"I J";:next\6 ?\7 for i
SYSA:DATA160,15,152,89,12,128,32,210 20 last present from my parents was yet to come. = 0 to 12:if a(i)>.5 then ?" UK";:next:goto 9\8 ?"JI
DATA255,136,208,246,96,12,71,81,65,77,38,84,7 There it was: Batman The Movie Commodore ";:next:goto 9\9 ?:goto 1:rem i adore my 64
3,94,42,74,74,66,87,2 64C pack including tape deck and joystick. The
Wauw effect was enormous. I sat up the system Kurt Johann Klemm: Don’t forget to flip the
Dekay: Best wishes to all 8bit enthusiasts who and played the same game all night. I only played floppy to side B
made this possible. I've always wanted to get a the first level, because after finishing it, it said on
magazine with articles only about 8bit the screen: "turn tape, rewind and press play" Manuel Sagra de Diego: Thanks for keeping the
computers, leaving out consoles. Greetings to all retro scene alive!

60
 Named Contributors
Marcel Dunkelberg: aka Captain Koelsch Community = KWED SLAYRADIO C64AUDIO Stuart Polkamp: We had Spectravideo computers
LUKHASH KICKSTARTER.... my dad bought for us which were great fun.
Markus R: I’m just an old grey-haired man who’s It is Inspiration in our time. Friends had the C64, that captivated me with
good at what he does. Playing 8-bit games. Paul Blake: A magazine in honour of all those games like Beach Head, Last Ninja and groups
innovative backroom coders of the 80's! playing Winter / Summer / World games. On both
Markus Tillmann: Keep an eye on our Retro computers, it was interesting learning commands
Amiga event in october 2017 in Germany and join Paulo Garcia: As a supporter of any retro and hilarious changing words that appear in
us! :-) [Link] computing initiative, I am thrilled to help to games to something funny.
launch this magazine!
Martin Esser: This is my childhood. Treasure it. Stuart Williams: I'm proud to be able to
martinandrewesser@[Link] Peter J. Badrick: 8-bits ought to be enough for contribute to the launch of this magazine, long
anyone. may it be published. There seems to be a
Martin Grundy: I always loved Zzap!64. Unlike Renaissance in retro computing now, and Eight
the majority of rather dull Commodore mags, Pentagon: Visit: [Link] Bit Magazine is part of it. Good luck!
Zzap! Had the energy and passion of a fanzine. It
was also beautifully made with Oli Frey’s amazing Recovering from a Scratch blog: Bought a C64 Tale-X: Greetings to all 8bit
art adorning its pages and was the first mag again a few months ago so am rediscovering the enthusiasts, especially to the folks
written by gamers not journalists. It was my 8-bit best computer! Your magazine couldn’t have had from [Link] and Computerclub Klausdorf!
bible and a brilliant read. A definite Gold Medal! better timing, I hope it’s a success and we can
look forward to a regular, proper retro mag for 8- Tim "Octoate" Riemann: The Amstrad CPC new
Martin Maly: Stare pocitace jsou sexy. Sledujte bit owners! Philip portal - [Link]
@retrocip, ctete [Link]
Remute: [Link] Timothy Blanks: My brother and I had saved for 8
L.J.L.: a=e Lipps Pixe. Mj csy jmrh xlmw qiwweki months for an Atari 2600, doing odd jobs for
xlex qierw xlex csy evi e zivc wtigmep kmvp! Xs Rev Dave Wakely: Really proud to support 8-Bit neighbours, by Christmas we had only saved half
jmrh xli xviewyvi xlmw mw alex csy qywx hs. Ks xs Magazine. Here at Turbo Formula we love Retro of the total cost when our parents surprised us by
xli ettpi xvii, psso xsaevhw csyv lsywi, xeoi 2 Computing but have to say my personal favourite giving us one for Christmas. I loved that machine,
wxitw jsvaevh erh hmk pmoi e qsywi z=d. is the Commodore 64! I look forward to some until the moment I saw the Ocean loader for
really interesting articles in the months to come. Cobra on the C64 (coming off a tape!) I still have
Mike Burghard: vanye my Atari and C64 on my desk now.
Reverend Neil Wakely: I run https://
Michael "FreakChild" Towns: [Link]/C64-523546447677965 A Thraka:
8 bits of goodness Proud Donator of Eight Bit Magazine. I am a true 0110110001101111011011100110011100100000
Some paper and some ink retro geek and collect old retro computers and 0110110001101001011101100110010100100000
Is what's in your hands. consoles. I am also a member of http:// 0111001101101001011001010111001001110010
[Link] 0110000100111011011001000110111101110011
A bit like a blog. 0011101101110011011010000110000101110010
But not on the internet Roberto Vergani: Thanks to Willy the miner, 0110010101110111011000010111001001100101
Think it's called a mag. Qbert, Dirk and all my other 80' friends
tobo bobo: @tobobobo - 8-bit fanboy and dodgy
Faster than data. Robin Harbron/P1XL Games: Greetings to doodler. Hoping this doesn't go over the 255
Since it doesn't need to load. creators and readers of 8-Bit Magazine from character limi
Easier sharing. Thunder Bay, Canada! Find me on Facebook or
Just pick the mag up, WWW; my pixelly indie games: P1XL Games, and Todd Haynie: Gambit rules!
Hand it over to a friend. my geeky music: Bedford Level Experiment. C64,
There, you just shared it. Commodore PET, and Atari 2600 are my favourite Thomas Sebastian Jensen: Greetings!
8-bits!
Mug UK: Everyone needs to remember the good Villain: 43 50 43 20 66 6f 72 65 76 65 72 21
old 8-bit days :) Roysterini: Well done on reaching your goal,
guys. Keep an eye out for future releases for C64
Mikko "Kaji" Leskinen: Kiitos 6581 - 8580 by Pond Software. We would also like to mention the following
who contributed to have their name included:
Nick Lines: Sam Jules Cave: In memory of good times.
"8 bits are enough for me Eetvartti
This is not where I should be Sebastien Clavet: 1988, late night, dim lights, a Harry Culpan
My life is more than information blanket and pop corn. An old sci-fi movie playing Jakub Tyszko
I want a life beyond emulation" on TV in the background, giving the room a magic Jonathan Ellis
- [Link]. Keep the machines alive! glow. The ambiance was set to play Maniac Paul Monopoli
Mansion on my C64. It was a great and simpler Ronny Wagener
Optimus: [Link] time and this magazine, like a window into the Simon Davies
past, will revisit this era to make us feel like kids Stuart Croy
PA Computer Guy LLC: @pacompguy again! Zach Crawford

PaleDeth: Yay for 8-bit. Sebastián Gavilán Gurvitsch: Gavilán strickes And finally I think the entry on the next page is a
back again. From Argentina, in 2016, 8 bit rulezz! little over 255 characters. Can someone confirm
Patric Beckereit: 1973 this? :-)
Smithers Charitable Group: Ecstatic to be a part
Paul Castellani: Keeping Retro Relevant! of successfully funding Eight Bit Magazine! I didn’t had the heart to exclude it and it’s a story
Coming from the island of Guam. I think we all can relate to no matter if it’s a
Paul Cook: The Commodore 64 redefined the Commodore 64, an Amstrad CPC or any other 8-
soundscape of "Computer Music". Steven Merrill: The American Way LLC supports bit. The first one is always special.
Talent and Imagination evolved AWESOME free speech, and all 8bit from the apple 2, to the
masterpieces still remixed and played today for TSR 80 model 100, and beyond!
all = 30+ years after!

61
Named Contributors
TBR: Commodore 64. We had dad always and play 'Maniac Mansion' or 'Airborne
computers at school. Norwegian comput- exchanged stuff for work. Yeah, we had all Ranger'. I even worked out the amount of
ers called Tiki 100. It ran MS-Dos through of a sudden the biggest satellite dish in fuel I needed in my rocket backpack in
a Z80 processor and we had 64kb of RAM. the neighborhood. 'Rocket Ranger' without ever knowing
Don't remember much what work we did there was supposed to be a code wheel to
with this thing but one day after school I I had my tenth birthday the 6th of August do this. So many hours spent on working
went up to a friend of mine who had just 1988 but a week prior to that I had to go that out but in the end there was places I
got his very own computer at home. to the hospital and that's were I celebrat- never could reach and I never got to finish
Wasn't a Tiki 100. This was something else ed my birthday. Hospital food! I didn't the game.
entirely. There wasn't much else but the like it. My mother told me about this
keyboard, right, but this keyboard was fat. surprise waiting for me back home and I Anyway, the thing is having a Commodore
My friend turned it on and instantly came couldn't wait to leave this bed. Stupid 64 back in the day was great! At school we
the ready prompt. Brilliant. The Tiki 100 hospital! The surprise was of course a shared tapes and disks and back home I
was integrated with it's monitor but this brand new Commodore 64. Mine was did copy the disks and my dad (!) copied
Commodore ( huh? ) 64 you had to con- white while my friends' all had brown the tapes with his audio rack.
nect to a TV. Let's play a game, he said. machines. I later learned it was a C64G. It
Man, I remembered the games we were- was all set up in the living room when I I copied games to my friends and we all
n't allowed to play in class, very simple returned home. My parents spent two had a blast but then… The Amiga came.
games, but still better than the lecture. days setting it up while holding my little My friend who
What games could possible be on this 36 sister away from the Computer. Don't introduced me to the C64 got it first.
something less than the Tiki 100 ? Tapes!? touch it, your brother will be using this to Another friend had the Atari ST 520 and
The Tiki had these floppy disks and some do his homework, isn't that right, son? years later they all had the PC. I still have
even had a hard drive. Were the games Sure, mom… I also learned that while I my Commodore 64. Well, it's more than
audio only? He had this cardboard box of was at the hospital my parents would play one now. I also have some Commodore
tapes called 'The Magnificent Seven games on my Commodore. To tell you the 128's and a C128 D and more games than I
Ocean' whatever and there was small truth I thought, and still, think that was ever had as a kid. The
squares of pictures on the back. Don't I just so cool! Playing games I'd never play Commodore 64 is more than a computer.
have better things to do this day. . . I got before and having my parents give advice For me it's part of my childhood. With the
blown away, didn't I? Of course I did. to me as to what to do and where to go. I computer came buying games and
Now, I can't recall which game we played loved it. “Careful now, or you'll kill the magazines, saving up my weekly allow-
first because we played them all! I do frog.. Better try the door on your right...” ance to buy a disk notcher and printer
remember 'Frankie goes to Hollywood' or “don't shoot the teacher, he'll put you ribbons. My friend, from the very begin-
didn't make any sense at all and we didn't in detention..” My parents just loved ning of this tale, had other friends who
know 'Wizball' has a second player option. 'Wizard's Lair' but my favorite of those 25 threw together an Amiga Club. I cleaned
But the music… Real music, no beep and ( plus the Commodore cartridge with the floor with my Commodore 128 and
blop from the Tiki but proper tunes. So three games on ) games ( wow ) that came some classic demos. In the later years I
cool. with my C64 were 'Deflektor' and actually met some of the SID Legends, like
'Cybernoid'. I still have all my games I got Ben Daglish and Jeroen Tel. Reyn
Couple of days later he had a box full of 28 years ago. Homework on my Commo- Ouwehand bought me a beer in Stock-
tapes. Which game is this, I asked him dore 64. Yeah, that didn't happen. My holm 2008. Most of my live concert
while holding up a random cassette. Not father found I needed a printer. Didn't attendances have been
'game', he answered, try games. That's make any sense to do my homework Commodore 64 shows. The
when I got introduced to the GRL- without a printer, he said. Some months Commodore 64 is still with us and I am
Turbotape. Yeah, SYS 53100 ( I think ) to later I got a printer. A Commodore MPS still keeping up with my C64. New games
LOAD a game. This was mid 1987. I asked 802. He had bought it second hand. It are being published, new hardware is
and asked, begged my parents for a C64 of came with another C64 and a 1541 being produced. It's just as exciting now as
my own but Christmas came and went but diskdrive. Wow, I only knew one other guy it was back in the past. Difference is I can
no big box for me. who had a disk drive but he was some afford more new stuff now. I will always
years older than me and I wasn't allowed have the Commodore 64 in my life and I'll
Other friends of mine all had C64's and I to hang out with him. None of us kids was. keep on playing until my hands give in.
used to play with all of them. Yeah, got There was also a box full of disks. I used That's when I'll get myself a Zipstick.
sent home from one friend and went right 'Tasword' for my
over to another. Had a massive yelling homework and
when I finally got home, all these ques- printed it out on
tions like 'do you even KNOW what time it my printer.
is' and 'don't expect any dinner at this
hour, son'. They still didn't get me my own I don't think there
Commodore. Of course I didn't know how was anyone else in
much they did cost, what did I know about my class that
money? I did know my parents never delivered their
really had too much of that anyway, but I homework on
really, REALLY, wanted my own computer. these printed
I could use it to do my homework on… sheets of paper, I
Didn't we all try that approach? What I actually was told
didn't know was my father had made a NOT to do this. I
deal with a friend of his. He was let down by
couldn't pay for it but this friend of his this but then again
needed some work on his roof. Oh, my I could go home The Tiki-100 was a Norwegian educational computer

62
New Game Review

SUPER STARSHIP
SPACE ATTACK
Reviewed by John Kavanagh Commodore VIC20 (with 16k + Joystick)
From the moment the game loads you know Sometimes it’s difficult to take out a cannon
you’re in for a treat with fantastic music and a when it’s behind a indestructible wall. This
title screen that bounces to the beat. Super forces you to time your move to avoid getting
Starship Space Attack is a fun space shooter. hit. Either go slowly and risk not being able to
The aim of the game is to collect 3 power units accelerate away on time or pass the cannon at
while avoiding the walls and the cannons that crazy speeds and risk flying into a shot or a
are shooting at your ship. Some walls can be wall for that matter. When your ship does get
destroyed with a few shots while others are hit or when it crashes in to a wall it’s always
indestructible. Once the 3 power units are feels like human error and never feels unfair.
collected you got to head back where you This to me points at good game design.
came from to exit to the next level.
The game was developed by Mika "Misfit"
The first level is like a tutorial with text on the Keränen and plays on PAL and NTSC systems
walls saying “shoot me” and no enemies with a 16k RAM expansion. It’s a fantastic and
shooting at you. This level is all about getting enjoyable game that won’t disappoint.
accustomed to the controls. The second level
is where the game really starts as you try and
avoid the walls as well as the cannons.
Graphics 9 - Overall the graphics are nice
Simon Ullyatt of Cronosoft was kind enough to and scrolling is fast and smooth.

give us a copy of the game for review. Audio 9 - Music is fantastic and the
Get the game in tape format from Cronosoft: sound effects are spot on.
[Link]
Playability 9 - When you are shot by the
canon or smash in to a wall it always
feels like yours fault and not the game.
Excellent.

Lastability 7 - I can see myself coming

back to this every once in a while to try
and push further and further.

Overall 9 - Very enjoyable, and certainty

worth having in your game collection.

63
ET Phone Home!
Reviewed by Paul Monopoli
Atari XL / XE

Before I begin I thought I would mention Moving across to the Atari 8-bit
the fact that I have never seen the movie, computers, E.T. Phone Home is a game
E.T. Yes, people like me do exist. I was that bears little resemblance to its console
born in 1979, so I was around during the counterpart, and not just in the extension
E.T. phenomenon. I can’t explain it, it just of its title. In this game you play the role
seems that somehow the movie has of Elliott, rather than his alien chum. The
managed to elude me for all of these game involves moving our hero around
years. the town in an attempt to find the
pieces of the telephone so that E.T.
There were many reasons for can phone home. There are nine
the American (emphasis on difficulty levels, and how hard
the word “American”) you decide to make the
video game crash of game will determine the
1983. There were amount of pieces you
a flood of are required to find.
consoles in Once you have
a market that retrieved all the
was still in its parts of the
infancy, people phone, you
were hesitant to take
move on to new control
technology, and some of
very poor games were E.T.
being released. One of those who has to
games, infact one of the two find the
main contributing titles to the square where he
crash, was E.T. on the Atari 2600. meets his spaceship
This review is not about that game! and goes home!

64
The game features a beeper version of need to take it back to Elliott’s house
the E.T. theme tune, though the game before collecting another. The manual
itself only features sound effects. You and the box heavily promote the fact
will need to have the sound on, as when that you get to hear E.T. speak. This
you move close to a piece of the phone happens once you retrieve all the pieces
you will hear a beep, which gets louder of the phone, and the clarity of the
the closer you get to it. speech is impressive for the humble
Atari 8-bit.
When you get close enough the piece
becomes visible, allowing you to move The graphics are nice, but they have
over to it and collect it by pressing the their problems. The town is quite well
fire button. Once you have a piece you drawn, with trees looking like trees and

65
 E.T. telepathically
should you have
problems
remembering which
pieces you need, or if
you have trouble
finding them. While it
is handy checking
what you need next,
listening to the sound
is all you need to help
you find pieces.

The biggest complaint

about the game is that
the playing area is
houses looking like houses. Being able to small, so it doesn’t take long to complete.
judge gaps that Elliott can move through On the base difficulty level it is easy to
can be a little tricky at times, and it is easy beat the game in under 5 minutes. There
for him to get a little stuck. is no incentive to play on higher levels,
which is a shame as it could have given
The biggest problem is that both Elliott’s the game more life.
house and the location of the space ship
are green squares. As much of the map E.T. Phone Home is a fun game while it
screen is made up of green squares this lasts. The problem is that it doesn’t last
can be misleading, unless you’ve managed very long!
to memorise the map. In the game’s
defence, the playing area is not that big, Graphics 8 - Houses and trees are
but would it have killed them to make recognisable, though having green
these areas a different colour? squares for important locations is a bit
of a hindrance
The game gives you a limited amount of
time to complete your task before E.T. Audio 7 -- Nice rendition of the E.T.
hibernates and the game is over. Scientists theme on the title screen, but there is
and agents wander around the map in an little else to write home about here
attempt to hinder Elliott’s progress. Once
you are spotted by them you need to Playability 9 - This is quite a fun game!
move, else they will catch up with you and
take your phone piece if you are carrying Lastability 4.5 - Unfortunately it won’t
one. If you are playing as E.T. your energy take long to send E.T. home.
will be reduced at a faster rate. You are
able to run away from them, but any Overall 6 - A fun game, but one you can
pieces you are carrying will be dropped. easily complete in under 10 minutes.
You are also able to communicate with

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The Last Bit
The Last Bit cover the latest retro news and rumours. This
Issue, Nox Archaist for the Apple II and a crowdfunding
project for a new Spectrum computer!
which will be given recently. The latest, the
away for free. In Spectrum Next claims to be
fact there’s a a full reimplementation of
competition until the original Sinclair
the end of July Spectrum at hardware
where the best level. It will also be
submissions will compatible with most
receive some expansions and will offer
goodies. enhancements such as new
video modes, different
The final game will
processor speeds, SD
run on any 128K
NOX ARCHAIST Apple IIe or later and is
storage, 512 kb of RAM
and HDMI output.
Nox Archaist, a RPG similar being developed entirely in
in style to Ultima and Bards assembler with no The new computer is going
Tale is currently in constructions sets in sight. to be crowdfunded and you
developed by 6502 can submit your interest by
SPECTRUM NEXT heading over to their
Workshop for the Apple II.
Another new hardware website at:
You can follow
projects was announced [Link]
development at:
[Link]
where you’ll find a blog
covering the game. There
are also tips and techniques
on the art of game
development.

6502 also encourages

people to participate in the
design of the final game
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