Pocket C64 Reviewed

[Janak Parekh]

<div class='os_post_top_link'><a href='http://www.pdacorps.com/default.asp?key=pages/PocketC64.htm' target='_blank'>http://www.pdacorps.com/default.asp...s/PocketC64.htm</a><br /><br /></div>PDACorps has put together a review on Pocket C64, which was released about <a href="http://www.pocketpcthoughts.com/forums/viewtopic.php?t=8962">a month ago</a>. When I have a few minutes, I'll have to dig out my old C64 games - talk about a nostalgia trip. 8)

[Ben909]

Thanks for the announcement... we've got a couple of copies to give away too :D More info on the site.

[kfluet]

Emulators are great! I just installed an Apple II emulator yesterday and played Choplifter and Aztec for the first time in almost 20 years. Yes, the pixels are huge, but its a hell of a lot of fun. If had a C64 back in the day, you have to try this.

[Jason Dunn]

...and played Choplifter...

Ah, Choplifter - talk about the memories!! :D

[cesarfong]

and what about montezuma ... those years... :roll: :roll:

[Jonathon Watkins]

Any word of a Spectum emulator? THAT would be good. Show these upstart C64 owners what a REAL computer was like. :wink:

[grohl]

Choplifter, ahh, yes.

LodeRunner, anyone?

How about an obscure cartridge called Jupiter Lander...?

[Vincent M Ferrari]

How about an obscure cartridge called Jupiter Lander...?

That and Gorf... And Omega Race...

Wow... The memories :-)

[Ben909]

Jupiter Lander... is that the same thing as Lunar Lander?

If so, have a look at this one.. http://www.classicgaming.com/features/articles/vectordreams/

I've used this emu before, and it rocks. Perfect emulation of the old vector based arcade machines (Asteroids, Asteroids deluxe*, Battlezone, Lunar Lander, Battlezone).

* the only difference with Asteroids Deluxe as far as I could tell was that it had tinted coloured plastic underneath the screen to give the impression of a colour display. lol.

(straying off topic here - this is a PC emu.. sorry)

[Jonathon Watkins]

We'll just make this thread an old persons convention then? :lol: I wonder if any of these young wipper-snappers know what it's like to load a game for 5 minutes by tape cassette, only to have it fail at the last moment, and then repeat 10 times to play ONE game. :D Yes, the memories!

[Ekkie Tepsupornchai]

Emulators are great! I just installed an Apple II emulator yesterday and played Choplifter and Aztec for the first time in almost 20 years. Yes, the pixels are huge, but its a hell of a lot of fun. If had a C64 back in the day, you have to try this.
Where did you find the Apple II emulator?

I had one once for my EM500, but it only worked on a MIPS processor at the time, and I've since lost track of where I originally got the program.

[Vincent M Ferrari]

We'll just make this thread an old persons convention then? :lol: I wonder if any of these young wipper-snappers know what it's like to load a game for 5 minutes by tape cassette, only to have it fail at the last moment, and then repeat 10 times to play ONE game. :D Yes, the memories!

Getting my 1541 was like night and day :-) I'll never forget it. To go from that stupid tape to playing Impossible Mission, and all the great arcade games and it only taking about 2 minutes to load was like heaven...

The magic words: Load "*",8,1

Those were the days.

[grohl]

The magic words: Load "*",8,1

LOL!! :D It's been a LONG TIME since I thought of that famous keystroke!

How about the knock-knock-knock sound from the floppy drive? I think the old copy-protection schemes wrote a disk error that those drives balked at. I don't know how they maintained good head alignment.

[Ben909]

hehe.. wonder if all those old poke commands work with the emu for applying cheats and so on. Can't say I tried that for the purposes of the review! One thing's for sure.. the old Action Replay red cartridge wouldn't squeeze in to my SD slot on my ipaq! :D

[PDAC-Bob]

I remember hammering away at an old Tandy TRS-80 model 1. A key selling point of which was that it had gold plated edge connectors!!!

There is a nice emu somewhere around which lets you run Dancing Demon, a little proggy that never failed to make me chuckle...hehe

Anyone remember CP/M machines? (LSi Octopus for instance)....if so, you're as old as me :lol:

Bob
PDA Corps

[dean_shan]

Where did you find the Apple II emulator?

I use Apple CE (http://www.geocities.com/bonelyfish/applece.html) for my emulation it will work on an ARM processor.

[Vincent M Ferrari]

I don't know how they maintained good head alignment.

I had a lot of friends whose drive got hosed. I guess in some ways, I was the lucky one. Although, I did have to replace my keyboard four times. I learned very intimately how to open up that bad boy and change the damned keys :lol:

But you know what? It's that computer that got me started in the world of computing, and I can't possibly begrudge its faults.

[thanos255]

I don't know about anyone else...but I was CRAZY about Elite for the C64 and INFILTRATOR!!!!


Thanks
Thanos

[derosnec]

Ahh the memories... and the frustrations. I remember loading ghostbusers on tape which, of course, too the usual five minutes. The most frustrating part was the fact that you had to reload the game after you died three times, for some strange reason :-)

[PDAC-Bob]

...and, talking of C64, let's not forget the birth of the legendary Mr. Rob Hubbard and chip tunes. SID music - what a difference...

The loading tune on 'Sanxion' by Thalamus caused quite a stir as I recall. :D Then there was Crazy Comets, Wizball....

[jrappold]

'Elite' WAS a blast, as was 'The Bard's Tale'. Loved my C64, but when I got an Amiga...well, in many ways, the Amiga is still the best computer I ever owned.

[patwoods]

All you C64 folks got me thinking about my old Atari 400 from long ago. We Atari users had the same tape loading issues (I remember waiting 15 minutes one time for Preppie! to load only to fail at the end. At least the dual-cassette stereo components made it easier to backup for 'fair use' back then... ) ;)

But I also VIVIDLY remember typing in an eight page or so program listing from AtariAge mag, with a few lines of BASIC code, then hundreds of lines of assembly data, over hours only to have to dig hard for typos in the machine data... ugh. And, that was before I even had the tape drive, so I had to leave the stupid thing on or lose the program when I powered down. Those were the days.

I spent all my paper route money on that computer back then, first upgrading to 48K from the measly 8K that it came with, then dropping serious cash on the 'real' keyboard, and then my friend, the Indus GT floppy drive... that was awesome. Not to mention the old 300baud modem for surfing the BBS scene and 'demon dialing' .... ;)

[Ivan]

We'll just make this thread an old persons convention then? :lol: I wonder if any of these young wipper-snappers know what it's like to load a game for 5 minutes by tape cassette, only to have it fail at the last moment, and then repeat 10 times to play ONE game. :D Yes, the memories!

That's nothing... how about this; remember the Commodore 64 magazine which had the game of the month for you to type it in BASIC or machine language?... I had a C64 with no floppy drive at first and spent hours typing the code to play the game for hours and then switch the computer off and see it all gone... of course I later on bought a 1541 drive.

Now those were the days! :D

[Jonathon Watkins]

Yup, the old fogies thread. :lol: I remember the days........


Actually I do remmember typing in the BASIC programs, only have them fail and then have to debug line by line. My first computer was a ZX80 with 4k memory. Those were the days! :D

When Ah were a lad.................. :wink: