Hi, new Denial member here. I still have my VIC 20 packed in a box in the attic. One of these days I need to dig it out and see if it still works!
As a high school student in about 1982, I created a "toy burglar alarm"-type system for the VIC 20/C64. It consisted of a BASIC program on tape (VIC 20 version on one side, C64 version on the other), some copper contacts connected to a joystick plug with some wire, and instructions. I called it "Alarmex" and sold a couple thousand of them using "Brass Key Software" as a company name. I eventually made a downpayment on a car from the proceeds.
I was feeling nostalgic today, so I thought I'd check with you all here and see if anyone had ever heard of it?
David Reynolds
Southern Illinois, USA
Alarmex hardware/software package
Moderator: Moderators
Never heard of it or have seen it in any advertisements.
I'm pretty impressed. It's a simple idea and obviously sold well. I would expect a lot of people would have "over engineered" this project with all sorts of ICs, made it operate on the user port, etc.
But in your case, the K.I.S.S. philosophy was the charm. Good one!
I'm pretty impressed. It's a simple idea and obviously sold well. I would expect a lot of people would have "over engineered" this project with all sorts of ICs, made it operate on the user port, etc.
But in your case, the K.I.S.S. philosophy was the charm. Good one!
Welcome to the forum CSX321. I happen to have a copy of the alarmex manual, joystick device and the tape software like you say. I bought it on ebay approximately a year ago. Its a nifty little system. With enough wire and contacts a person could wire their whole house and have the vic20 (or c64) guard it.
The tape and instructions say JD reynolds Brass key software 1983.
Did you create any other products or software?
The box that mine came in is a red square box with white polka dots and hand written in felt pen is "Vic-20 House alarm" on the sides and top of the box. Is this the original box? Can you tell us how this product came to be?
What got you started on the vic?
Im glad you showed up and asked about this. It is very cool to meet the creator of a product for the computers we enjoy so much. Thanks
The tape and instructions say JD reynolds Brass key software 1983.
Did you create any other products or software?
The box that mine came in is a red square box with white polka dots and hand written in felt pen is "Vic-20 House alarm" on the sides and top of the box. Is this the original box? Can you tell us how this product came to be?
What got you started on the vic?
Im glad you showed up and asked about this. It is very cool to meet the creator of a product for the computers we enjoy so much. Thanks
Yes, that's it! Wow! I'm amazed I found someone so quickly who has a copy. No, the polka dot box isn't original. 
It originally came in a plastic bag with a card stapled over the top, kind of like a bag you might buy a cable or something in. That was the only product I ever sold for the Commodore computers. I was a sophomore in high school when I first wrote the program.
My interest in computers started in the late 70s when I saw an episode of The Bionic Woman where she had to break into some kind of bunker and defeat the computer intelligence in control of security. That led me to think that it would be great to have a computer to keep my little sister out of my room. I used to drool over the Radio Shack catalogs that showed the Model 1, but it was way too expensive. A couple of years later we bought a VIC 20, literally with the change we had saved in a huge jar.
I eventually also got a C64 and finally wrote the alarm system for my room (although I never really used it; my sister wasn't so much of a pest by then). I don't remember why I tried to sell it, but I learned a lot about the manufacturing business. I had to find sources for Atari joystick connectors in bulk that I could afford, large quantities of plastic bags, and a recording studio that could replicate the tapes cheaply. My dad was a great help in this. My girlfriend (who is now my wife of 22 years!) helped me and my family assemble them in our kitchen. They were all sold wholesale to a place in Barrington, Illinois, whose name I can't now remember. I think it was *something* Enterprises.
Finding this forum inspired me to root around in the attic tonight. I found two of the Alarmex cables and tapes loose in the box with the VIC. Somewhere I think I have a couple of the original packages in the bags, but I didn't see them in a quick look around. If I find them, I'll post a picture of what the original package looked like.
Having the VIC out, or course I had to try to fire it up!
I had to make a cable to plug it into a little TV, and the sound isn't very good from the modulator. But it works, and I can't believe that it still loads stuff off these 25-year-old tapes! I loaded up the Alarmex program and ran it. Wow, memories! I also found one of the best programs I ever wrote for my VIC, one that solves some geometry problems. It uses just about every byte of the 3.5K. My oldest daughter was impressed with that one. My son wanted to play Sargon II chess.
It originally came in a plastic bag with a card stapled over the top, kind of like a bag you might buy a cable or something in. That was the only product I ever sold for the Commodore computers. I was a sophomore in high school when I first wrote the program.My interest in computers started in the late 70s when I saw an episode of The Bionic Woman where she had to break into some kind of bunker and defeat the computer intelligence in control of security. That led me to think that it would be great to have a computer to keep my little sister out of my room. I used to drool over the Radio Shack catalogs that showed the Model 1, but it was way too expensive. A couple of years later we bought a VIC 20, literally with the change we had saved in a huge jar.
I eventually also got a C64 and finally wrote the alarm system for my room (although I never really used it; my sister wasn't so much of a pest by then). I don't remember why I tried to sell it, but I learned a lot about the manufacturing business. I had to find sources for Atari joystick connectors in bulk that I could afford, large quantities of plastic bags, and a recording studio that could replicate the tapes cheaply. My dad was a great help in this. My girlfriend (who is now my wife of 22 years!) helped me and my family assemble them in our kitchen. They were all sold wholesale to a place in Barrington, Illinois, whose name I can't now remember. I think it was *something* Enterprises.
Finding this forum inspired me to root around in the attic tonight. I found two of the Alarmex cables and tapes loose in the box with the VIC. Somewhere I think I have a couple of the original packages in the bags, but I didn't see them in a quick look around. If I find them, I'll post a picture of what the original package looked like.
Having the VIC out, or course I had to try to fire it up!
I had to make a cable to plug it into a little TV, and the sound isn't very good from the modulator. But it works, and I can't believe that it still loads stuff off these 25-year-old tapes! I loaded up the Alarmex program and ran it. Wow, memories! I also found one of the best programs I ever wrote for my VIC, one that solves some geometry problems. It uses just about every byte of the 3.5K. My oldest daughter was impressed with that one. My son wanted to play Sargon II chess.How is it, can the data direction of the joystick port be reversed so you can send signals on the joystick pins? Another feature about using the joystick is that you could've ported the software to tons of home computers using one and the same interface, in particular if it had its own power source and so on. But as a high school student, perhaps you didn't have the resources to write burglar alarm software for 10+ different computers...
Anders Carlsson
Exactly. Or wire some in series in 5 "zones."ral-clan wrote:Carlsson, I don't think he was sending "data" to the joystick port - he just had wired up momentary contact switches or something. The way a regular joystick works inside.
So I am assuming you could only alarm five doors/windows. Each one corresponding to a joystick contact? (N, S, E, W, and fire?)
Here is a scan of the manual to help you guys better understand how the system works. Unfortunately, as the system stands, you couldnt monitor individual windows or doors as they would all be hooked up in series. If any one of them had the contacts broken it would break the circuit and make the vic20 alert you. A genious idea for the time for sure. 
I had a similar idea for my Commodore, though it involved monitoring up to 9 separate zones, based on the 8 directions of the joystick plus one fire button. I got to the point where I could plug in my joystick and my program would detect each direction as a zone; when it came to actually creating the necessary switches to protect things like doors and windows, I came up a bit short and lost interest in the idea.