When I started out with my first VIC 20 back in 1983, all I had was the basic VIC and a datasette. Shortly after that I bought a VICModem that had VICTerm on tape with it. That's what I used to surf the BBSes for quite a while before I finally bought a VIC 1541 disk drive.
Fast forward to now, and I have a WiFi modem on my VIC, along with a 35K RAM expander with a built-in real time clock (for running my BBS), as well as several SD2IEC drives and a Pi1541 drive. It's amazing how much new high tech gear you can get for the VIC/C64. I hear there's a Bluetooth adapter out for them now!
But sitting in the corner is my original Commodore 1530 (C2N) Datasette. Good "old reliable". I decided to load some of my most frequently used programs off of my Pi1541 and save them to tape. You know what? I kinda enjoy loading stuff off tape. It takes me right back to the beginning. Mostly I use the first program on my tape which is my terminal program for calling BBSes. I also load and play games from tape now. It kind of slows my world down and makes me appreciate my little VIC just like I did over 40 years ago.
How about you? Dabbled using a Datasette recently? Did it "click" with you like it did with me?
I have a modest collection of original games on cassette. Occasioanlly it's nice to pop in my copy of GridRunner and load it the same way I did as a teenager.
I also love tapes. Something warping one back a couple of years has a rejuvenating effect on mind and body – more and more studies confirm it. Meanwhile the VIC became the first of the Commodores to play audio like a MC: https://www.pouet.net/prod.php?which=66244 – and at least one game (PULSE) does that when showing the splash screen.
Someone even claimed to have done video using an SD card-reading C2N emulator but didn't publish anything but a video AFAIK.
I was able to turbo load at 6.4kbit/s but that's an insane and unstable number with no error checking – there's still something new to get out of it, I assume.
I feel I am a bit weird and don't mind tape loading. On the Vic it usually isn't _too_ painful compared to the C64. Gives you time to make a coffee or something. I also love how a few games like Pentagorat have loading screens now as well
I just worry about tapes being eaten due to an old drive belt or similar :O
I use my vc 20 exclusively with datasette. I record the newly acquired programs with tapebuddy on cassettes. For this I have a second datasette at the start that is connected to the pc.
It's just fun, sometimes difficult when programs are made for floppy, but there was always a way
Same here. The first 4-5 years in the mid Eighties, it was all Datasette....there was no way I could afford a disk drive as a teenager. In the past 3-4 years I've pulled everything off my original cassettes, and have the usual PC/Linux tools to make tapes, if I need to. I totally agree with the "go make a sandwich/get a cookie" ethos -- it's what we did. I also have a KIM-1 replica that has a cassette interface, with the same nostalgic slowness. Although, in that case, it takes 20 minutes to load the BASIC!
WOW! I had no idea a KIM-1 would hook up to a datasette. That is VERY cool! I wonder if there was a prototype datasette from those days? Probably just a Radio Shack tape recorder with some AUX cables... LOL! That is neat! Do you have pic of your KIM-1 with the datasette in action?
Rick in Canada
Computers: two VIC-20s with Gold Labels, Mustard Keys
Sysop of DeepSkies BBS (bbs.deepskies.com:6400)
As you and I may have discussed before, we started off with the same setup, and I still demo my rig using the datassette and even my youngest used the cassettes to demo it to her friends; they are almost gobsmacked by it. Then I load 'Attack of the PETSCII Robots' and they tend to just grab the SNES controller, and go to town! (I let David M. know this.)
I hope all is well up there (we are getting a blizzard here right now ).
#LONG LIVE THE VENERABLE C2N DATASETTE, FOR ONE AND ALL!
Hey OGM! Yes, the C2N is the shiznit for sure! I even emulate a datasette when using VICE instead of using emulated drives - I guess I just have a lot of time to spend waiting.
A blizzard?!?! We've got 65 degree weather here right now - I'm in my shorts! Things are going swimmingly here right now. I can almost see over the snowbanks at the end of my lane way when driving out... LOL!
Rick in Canada
Computers: two VIC-20s with Gold Labels, Mustard Keys
Sysop of DeepSkies BBS (bbs.deepskies.com:6400)
My 1980's with the Vic was solely on tape format and that seems right. For many games you are not waiting a long time for them to load and I still play games loaded this way for the memories ... or use my Tapuino if I don't have the original.
When I first got my Vic funds were very limited and I didn't even have a datasette for the first month or so. I recall repeatedly typing in the games from the back of the manual before the inevitable power-off - an activity I don't plan to repeat, even for nostlagia's sake.
beamrider wrote: ↑Tue Apr 01, 2025 11:13 am
When I first got my Vic funds were very limited and I didn't even have a datasette for the first month or so. I recall repeatedly typing in the games from the back of the manual before the inevitable power-off - an activity I don't plan to repeat, even for nostlagia's sake.
I remember those very sad days too, Beamrider! I got my VIC-20 in Spring of 1983, and had to wait until Christmas for a Datasette, which sucked because I was playing Scott Adams' Voodoo Castle and was unable to save progress, nor was I able to save Rocket Command by Duane Later: perhaps the inspiration for me eventually becoming a Minuteman III crew commander. -OGM
ral-clan wrote: ↑Mon Mar 31, 2025 7:16 pm
Agree with all the datasette love here. That's one of the main reasons I could never install jiffydos on my VIC (it disables the cassette function).
Besides, cassettes are the only 1980s microcomputer magnetic media that is still being manufactured in 2025!
I have JiffyDOS on my VIC, but I also have a toggle switch mounted on the back (near the cartridge port) that allows me to toggle it on and off whenever I want. I also have a memory expander that has DIP switches that lets me set any memory configuration I want.
Most of the time, I run the VIC without JiffyDOS and with 16K of extra RAM, which was how my original VIC usually was set up in the 80's.
Rick in Canada
Computers: two VIC-20s with Gold Labels, Mustard Keys
Sysop of DeepSkies BBS (bbs.deepskies.com:6400)
).
-OGM