I also did a Rubber Jonnie and bought another computer

[rubber_jonnie]

Kung-Fu cart now ordered from The Future Was 8 Bit :-)

You are SO turning into me!!!

:lol:

[stephen_usher]

Hehe. I'll try not to be totally you, OK. That'd be creepy. :-)

Anyway, just checked the original power supply and that's all fine, except for a horror story inside the mains plug. The neutral was hanging out and the live was about to leave the connector. The screws hadn't been tightened! Goodness knows how it even worked.

Interestingly, as a UK built machine (looking through the ports) there is zero shielding inside. No steel or foil covered cardboard.

[rubber_jonnie]

Hehe. I'll try not to be totally you, OK. That'd be creepy. :-)

Anyway, just checked the original power supply and that's all fine, except for a horror story inside the mains plug. The neutral was hanging out and the live was about to leave the connector. The screws hadn't been tightened! Goodness knows how it even worked.

Hehehe

I believe there is a passthru device for these old PSUs that will stop them killing the C64 if they go bad.

[stephen_usher]

Hehe. I'll try not to be totally you, OK. That'd be creepy. :-)

Anyway, just checked the original power supply and that's all fine, except for a horror story inside the mains plug. The neutral was hanging out and the live was about to leave the connector. The screws hadn't been tightened! Goodness knows how it even worked.

Hehehe

I believe there is a passthru device for these old PSUs that will stop them killing the C64 if they go bad.

Yeah. You can make one up easily. You just need a high current 5.2V, 500mW Zener diode and a 3A quick-blow fuse. DIN socket for input and DIN plug for output. If the voltage goes above 5.2V the Zener turns on and the fuse blows.

P.S. The alternative is that you ignore the original 5V supply, rectify the 9V AC from the PSU and make your own 5V supply.

[rubber_jonnie]

Hehehe

I believe there is a passthru device for these old PSUs that will stop them killing the C64 if they go bad.

Yeah. You can make one up easily. You just need a high current 5.2V, 500mW Zener diode and a 3A quick-blow fuse. DIN socket for input and DIN plug for output. If the voltage goes above 5.2V the Zener turns on and the fuse blows.

P.S. The alternative is that you ignore the original 5V supply, rectify the 9V AC from the PSU and make your own 5V supply.

Sounds like you have a plan :)

[stephen_usher]

Nah, I have a new power supply. :-)

[rubber_jonnie]

Nah, I have a new power supply. :-)

:dualthumbup:

[stephen_usher]

My goodness. Isn't C64 BASIC rudimentary?

No sound commands and no line drawing commands. You have to manually POKE stuff into memory just to do basic stuff. How did they manage to get away with that and selling so many? I guess no-one programmed in BASIC.

[rubber_jonnie]

My goodness. Isn't C64 BASIC rudimentary?

No sound commands and no line drawing commands. You have to manually POKE stuff into memory just to do basic stuff. How did they manage to get away with that and selling so many? I guess no-one programmed in BASIC.

The VIC-20 is much the same, really no easy way to do stuff in BASIC, all peek and poke. For the C64, something like the Simons BASIC cart is what's needed. There is another extended BASIC cart that is similar too, both from Commodore.

When you consider Commodore BASIC is a rebranded Microsoft BASIC you'd have thought it might be better, a bit like the other MS BASIC variants about at the time.

[mrbombermillzy]

Heh. If you want a decent BASIC, get the C128.

It wasn't a bad thing though. Poking to memory mapped locations and no real sound commands sort of threw you into learning assembly from the off instead of the dog's dinner BASIC.

Remember, back then, computers were for technically minded folk/enthusiasts, not for general 'consumers'. :)

(As an aside, I even have an Osbourne book for children from back in the day (early/mid 80s) which shows the fundamentals of coding/data/busses/CPUs...they just don't make them like that any more).

It also helped that the PRG for that machine was very good, with assembly examples.