Coco new color modes found...

ral-clan · Post by **ral-clan** » Tue Mar 16, 2010 6:19 am

aaronrls01 wrote:Lol, Ral

Its not that it's the game with all levels, but how it makes the game run lol, Read the description at the bottom, It's quite amazing. A Coco 3 running a DK Board emulator at full speed? Thats what I love about the Coco just the raw power, what you can do, Lol and where's the Vic's version I wana see it!

Quite impressive then. I didn't catch that it was emulating the arcade machine.

On the other hand, since this isn't an actual 1980s TRS-80 game, then the VIC still maintains the record of being the only home system from the early 1980s that had ALL FOUR Donkey Kong Levels. (I think the ADAM might have come out with all four levels in Super Donkey Kong a few years later - I'll have to check that one).

aaronrls01 wrote:Also, What graphics chip is in the vic?

That would be the VIC chip.

ral-clan · Post by **ral-clan** » Tue Mar 16, 2010 6:21 am

rhurst wrote:SuperPET was built primarily for Commodore engineers to make the software for their 6502 machines, no? And I don't recall being able to purchase a SuperPET through normal retail channels (not ebay today, although why bother?).

My Elementary school had a SuperPET. Although again, we were in Ontario, and the SuperPET was developed in Ontario by Commodore Canada and the University of Waterloo here. So I think Ontario was a special case.

aaronrls01 · Post by **aaronrls01** » Tue Mar 16, 2010 10:09 am

Why would you not call it a game? Its running it, just not in the usual way lol

Vic chip? What's it's modes? Speed? Etc......Any info on here somewhere?

gklinger · Post by **gklinger** » Tue Mar 16, 2010 10:14 am

aaronrls01 wrote:Vic chip? What's it's modes? Speed? Etc......Any info on here somewhere?

Familiar with the Wikipedia? There's an entry for the MOS Technology VIC.

rhurst · Post by **rhurst** » Wed Mar 17, 2010 4:59 am

lol i have a CoCo2 and i still hate it ... only plays one decent game in dungeon of daggorath, lol. never bothered with the original piece of shit called CoCo. lol i mean who can take that little 'puter seriously when it sounded like a kid's cereal? lol

vic had captain kirk, who did coco have? lol

well this guy seems to like it... i recall him being the poster child for coco, no? wasn't he some flunky actor that turned from a mild-mannered doctor into this when he got mad? lol

aaronrls01 · Post by **aaronrls01** » Wed Mar 17, 2010 8:24 am

Hmm just check the stats, decent chip, games must have all decent sound

Graphics and such meh, they were good

I really want a vic or commodore or something now......I wish I could find one....

Coco1 and 2 are basicly the same, not too many differences. None hardware wise. Better keyboard......Yeah thats about it.

Rhurst you should try programming some assembly on it, sacrafice it for a random project if you hate it lol

And IDK what your saying about kirk and everything, but there are a TON of great games for it, you should try to look around nitros9. Download some and emulator play them.

Speaking of that does Vic have an emulator? Im allways on at school so theres no time to research....

http://nitros9.lcurtisboyle.com/coco_game_list.html

One game I can think off the top of my head is Doodle Bug, Arkanoid, Berserk, Contras (REALLY COOL), The Sands of Egypt, etc. There are tons of excelent games for this system, you just have to own alot of them from disk sin ce alot aren't able for download yet.

gklinger · Post by **gklinger** » Wed Mar 17, 2010 8:54 am

aaronrls01 wrote:Speaking of that does Vic have an emulator? Im allways on at school so theres no time to research....

How long would it take to type "VIC-20 emulator" into Google and look at a few links until you found VICE? Lazy, more like.

PaulQ · Post by **PaulQ** » Wed Mar 17, 2010 6:33 pm

I can tell you why the Vic 20 was superior to any CoCo computer in the early 1980's: It was a REAL computer with a REAL keyboard and peripherals compatible with computers used in local schools and some businesses that a 12 year old boy could afford with his paper route money. For around $100, I was able to get a C2N tape drive and a Vic 20, and dreamed big while I wrote some of the most amazing programs ever to grace a television screen. Until I ran out of memory. I digress. I don't care how technically superior the CoCo (or any other computer) is (or was) to the Vic 20; what matters is the rich snobs with their SuperPETS, Co-Co's and whatnot couldn't keep lowly unwashed paperboy kids like me from the world of real microcomputers in the 1980's, thanks to the Vic 20.

aaronrls01 · Post by **aaronrls01** » Wed Mar 17, 2010 6:44 pm

Wow well I'd love to see those programs.....Ran out of memory? Did you seriously use Basic?

And actually I did find vice 5 minutes after that post, but since I was developing a Chrome extension and messaging and googling, don't really have enough time to read through each Vic's piece of history, parts, emulators, etc. That takes a LONG time, and even, to live through the Era......I don't have that much time in class, especially since we're taking our High School graduation tests, on top of everything.

Okay from now on I will search before I ask a question. I just want to get the right info from you guys, I trust you more then a random google page....

PaulQ · Post by **PaulQ** » Wed Mar 17, 2010 7:09 pm

aaronrls01 wrote:Wow well I'd love to see those programs.....Ran out of memory? Did you seriously use Basic?

Of course. That was the beauty of the Vic 20; a 12 year old could write some of the most wicked awesome programs ever with it, using an easy to understand programming language. Some of them can be downloaded from my web site (I suppose following a link then scrolling to the bottom of a page would take too much time for you). I have others, but I reserve those only for people who can take the time to enjoy the Vic. I mean, you wouldn't give a well aged bottle of wine to an alcoholic who would guzzle it down in a second, would you?

aaronrls01 wrote:And actually I did find vice 5 minutes after that post, but since I was developing a Chrome extension and messaging and googling, don't really have enough time to read through each Vic's piece of history, parts, emulators, etc. That takes a LONG time, and even, to live through the Era......I don't have that much time in class, especially since we're taking our High School graduation tests, on top of everything.

You're missing the point. Your CoCo was irrelevant to me. It was irrelevant to many others as well. It was a "Johnny come lately." The Vic was the first real and complete computer for the masses, not the classes; those that followed (like the CoCo) just couldn't measure up. The only notable computer Radio Shack sold was the TRS-80 Model 100.

rhurst · Post by **rhurst** » Wed Mar 17, 2010 7:24 pm

That was the beauty of the Vic 20; a 12 year old could write some of the most wicked awesome programs ever with it, using an easy to understand programming language.

Jeff is only 12?

aaronrls01 · Post by **aaronrls01** » Sun Mar 21, 2010 6:56 pm

^ LOL.

Hmmm well why not assembly? I mean seriously, basic is okay, but it is 100% impossible for it to do what assembly does. If your so good, your programs could be 50x smaller and 1000x faster with assembly, you should look into it.....

Okay I will check out that site now and look at some source....I lurve source

"In 1982, the Vic 20 used Microsoft BASIC, then called CBM BASIC" Lol....Funny......Microsoft made both "OS's"

I hat to say it, but basic on every computer truthfully is pretty.....terrible.....Unless your programs are simple and not resource intensive.....Like....5 variables?....Mhm....

TNT · Post by **TNT** » Mon Mar 22, 2010 3:23 pm

aaronrls01 wrote:your programs could be 50x smaller and 1000x faster with assembly

Ok, I'll bite. While you probably can do the main loop under 100 cycles you can't make the C64 program below in 14 bytes:

Code: Select all

0 poke56325,255:gosub30:u=81:b=0:s=1064:j=56320:f=63:l=2023:g=4:w=8:a=960:n=3
1 printchr$(142)"{^h}{clr}{rvon}  0{37*spc}{6*left}";hb;
2 h=0:t=m:x=20:y=1504:e=0:d=-1:b=0:s(t)=t:q=1524:goto8
3 d=d+iandf:ifd>vthenpokes(t),z:t=t+iandm:goto6
4 ifpeek(o)=uthenpokeo,z
5 o=s+rnd(v)*a:on(peek(o)=z)+igoto5:pokeo,u
6 k=peek(j):e=(e+((kandg)=v)-((kandw)=v))andn:x=x+x(e):y=y+y(e):h=h+iandm:q=y+x
7 k=peek(q):on-(k=corx<vorx=rorq<sorq>l)goto20:ifk=uthend=f-i:b=b+i:print"{home} "b;
8 s(h)=q:pokeq,c:goto3
20 ifb>hbthenhb=b:print"{home}{down}congratulations! you got new high score!";
21 print"{home}{3*down}{rvof}{5*rght}{rvon}  press fire for a new game  ";:waitj,16,16:waitj,16:goto1
30 dims(1023),x(3),y(3),k,q,x,v,e,d,t,i,h,y:i=1:m=1023:o=m:c=160:r=40:z=32
31 x(1)=1:x(3)=-1:y(0)=-r:y(2)=r:return

Program size is 676 bytes. Main loop ( between lines 3 and 8 ) takes less than 100 ms per round.

Yes, I think I'm good

PaulQ · Post by **PaulQ** » Mon Mar 22, 2010 8:36 pm

aaronrls01 wrote: I hat to say it, but basic on every computer truthfully is pretty.....terrible.....Unless your programs are simple and not resource intensive.....Like....5 variables?....Mhm....

That's nothing.

I walked to school uphill both ways in 5 feet of snow when I had my Vic. 5 variables? If you couldn't make a fun game using less than that, you had no imagination.

Seriously. Assembly is fine, until you realize that one friend has an Apple, another friend has a CP/M based machine, and the Commodores at the school didn't run Vic assembly...if you actually lived in the 80's, you would have realized that 12 year old kids with vivid imaginations used BASIC, so we could load our creations on the PETs at the school and our friends computers with very little code change. I was writing stuff that could predict the weather, have you trade with intergalactic space pirates, and take you on an adventure on the woods in my backyard on the same 99 cent cassette tape.

Say what you want about the programming language, but there's been some very impressive stuff written in just BASIC. In fact, probably much more worthwhile than anything you ever wrote in assembly.

Not that I have anything against assembly; just that a truly good programmer doesn't believe the tool is what makes a program good. If assembly is what you need to achieve the end result you desire, then so be it. That doesn't make assembly inherently better than BASIC. As TNT has eloquently demonstrated, a good programmer uses the right tool for the job.

Go on with your bad self and your Co-Co. My Vic 20 blows it away.

aaronrls01 · Post by **aaronrls01** » Thu Mar 25, 2010 5:26 pm

Then the vic must have a pretty good BASIC interpretter....By good I mean small

Okay well if you think so then sure. It's all about what you think I guess....I just think 2 8bit registers and 2 pointers and stacks and an optional 16 bit pointer is what alot better then 1 8-Bit and 2 16 Bit.....And don't even get me started on the Endian XD

Leme go try to run that Basic program in a emulator Im curios to the game

Edit:Tnt, please go work your "magic" by recoding VICE, I was about to download, but it was 6MB total......0_o