Vimfuego at Lemon has designed a device that will allow people to upload/download TAP files via a sound card and record them onto cassette via a 1531 datasette. For the particulars, see the following thread:*
http://www.lemon64.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=33490
*Vimfuego has given permission for his project to be posted here.
New Tape Hardware
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Re: New Tape Hardware
Cool stuff!English Invader wrote:Vimfuego at Lemon has designed a device that will allow people to upload/download TAP files via a sound card and record them onto cassette via a 1531 datasette. For the particulars, see the following thread:*
http://www.lemon64.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=33490
I don't see the need to ask permission to post about it here, even as a matter of courtesy. He himself posted it in a public forum, so he should expect (and most likely welcome) that the news spreads in other forums. If he had told you about it in a private conversation it would of course be a completely different matter.*Vimfuego has given permission for his project to be posted here.
Bacon
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Das rubbernecken Sichtseeren keepen das cotton-pickenen Hands in die Pockets muss; relaxen und watschen die Blinkenlichten.
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Das rubbernecken Sichtseeren keepen das cotton-pickenen Hands in die Pockets muss; relaxen und watschen die Blinkenlichten.
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- Vic 20 Scientist
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Re: New Tape Hardware
It was Golan who sought permission. He never got round to posting and it seemed rude to disregard Vimfuego's consent once it was given.Bacon wrote:I don't see the need to ask permission to post about it here, even as a matter of courtesy. He himself posted it in a public forum, so he should expect (and most likely welcome) that the news spreads in other forums. If he had told you about it in a private conversation it would of course be a completely different matter.
Re: New Tape Hardware
Bacon wrote:I don't see the need to ask permission to post about it here, even as a matter of courtesy.
I asked because I was fairly sure he knew about Denial and wanted to make sure that he hadn't specifically chosen not to post here.English Invader wrote:It was Golan who sought permission.
We were looking for a way to confirm that it did in fact work on a VIC-20 before posting here.He never got round to posting and it seemed rude to disregard Vimfuego's consent once it was given.
In the end it will be as if nothing ever happened.
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Re: New Tape Hardware
No better place to find out than a community of VIC-20 users.gklinger wrote:We were looking for a way to confirm that it did in fact work on a VIC-20 before posting here.
In any case, I see no reason why this hardware couldn't work on a VIC-20 or, at the very least, be modded to work on a VIC-20.
Re: New Tape Hardware
You might want to run that one through the meat processor again.English Invader wrote:No better place to find out than a community of VIC-20 users.gklinger wrote:We were looking for a way to confirm that it did in fact work on a VIC-20 before posting here.

If anyone in Australia has a spare VIC-20, please let me know. It would be great if we could find one for Vimfuego.
In the end it will be as if nothing ever happened.
I have an old Cardco device which plugs into the datasette port and offers mini headphone type jacks to go both into and out of any recording or playback device you want (in the 80s this was meant to be a generic audio cassette deck, but today it could be an MP3 player or computer soundcard).
Also, public domain schematics for a similar device were fairly widely known even in the 1980s in order to allow people to use their Commodore computers with home cassette recorders. How is this new device any different from what has been around for 20 years?
EDIT: Ah, I see it will allow you to directly record from a sound card to the datasette, but this could be accomplished by using the device I described above an buying/building one of those datesette "Y" adapters that were well known in the early 1980s (I think Ward Shrake even publicly posted a schematic).
Also, public domain schematics for a similar device were fairly widely known even in the 1980s in order to allow people to use their Commodore computers with home cassette recorders. How is this new device any different from what has been around for 20 years?
EDIT: Ah, I see it will allow you to directly record from a sound card to the datasette, but this could be accomplished by using the device I described above an buying/building one of those datesette "Y" adapters that were well known in the early 1980s (I think Ward Shrake even publicly posted a schematic).
Hi All,
Guess I better jump in at this point. First up thanks to the mods and gklinger for sorting out my registration to this forum (I accidentally registered as under 13).
To answer the previous posts at the outset of this thread, I must confess I had not heard of this forum (please don't be insulted). Going way back to the 80's my first Commodore was a 64, time warp to now and I've slowly been building back up my collection of Commodore computers. Up to this point I have not got a Vic-20.
When I had posted on Lemon 64 the details on the tape interface some people had asked if it would work on the Vic-20, that answer I did not know. At this point I would say yes, but to confirm I have now stepped up my hunt for a Vic-20 to purchase to confirm.
ral-clan, I understand that my idea is not revolutionary and I've never intended to make it out like it's the first time anything like this has ever existed. With the current range of software for working with tapes (such as tapclean, tap2wav etc) I felt it was time to create some hardware to match the hardware available on modern PC's / laptops (eg, no real LPT or game port) but just using the soundcard.
Aside from just allowing you to play and record to/from the datassette it also mimics the operation of one enough that you don't actually need a datassette to play tape games, you can just play the .tap, .prg file directly out of the PC's sound card to the Commodore. Finally it will also allow you to use the C16, Plus/4 1531 datassette on a Vic-20/64/128.
Like most of you, collecting these computers is a hobby for me, any profits I make from selling some of these will go straight back in to more product development or saving another old computer from the scrap heap. So, once I get myself a Vic-20 I will be able to confirm it works on one, if not I can modify it so it will.
Cheers,
Ross
Guess I better jump in at this point. First up thanks to the mods and gklinger for sorting out my registration to this forum (I accidentally registered as under 13).
To answer the previous posts at the outset of this thread, I must confess I had not heard of this forum (please don't be insulted). Going way back to the 80's my first Commodore was a 64, time warp to now and I've slowly been building back up my collection of Commodore computers. Up to this point I have not got a Vic-20.
When I had posted on Lemon 64 the details on the tape interface some people had asked if it would work on the Vic-20, that answer I did not know. At this point I would say yes, but to confirm I have now stepped up my hunt for a Vic-20 to purchase to confirm.
ral-clan, I understand that my idea is not revolutionary and I've never intended to make it out like it's the first time anything like this has ever existed. With the current range of software for working with tapes (such as tapclean, tap2wav etc) I felt it was time to create some hardware to match the hardware available on modern PC's / laptops (eg, no real LPT or game port) but just using the soundcard.
Aside from just allowing you to play and record to/from the datassette it also mimics the operation of one enough that you don't actually need a datassette to play tape games, you can just play the .tap, .prg file directly out of the PC's sound card to the Commodore. Finally it will also allow you to use the C16, Plus/4 1531 datassette on a Vic-20/64/128.
Like most of you, collecting these computers is a hobby for me, any profits I make from selling some of these will go straight back in to more product development or saving another old computer from the scrap heap. So, once I get myself a Vic-20 I will be able to confirm it works on one, if not I can modify it so it will.
Cheers,
Ross