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The Contiki Desktop OS for C64, NES, 8-bit Atari,
Adam Dunkels writes "This is for those of you who think that a text-based operating system that fits compressed on a 1.44Mb floppy counts as 'tiny': the brand new Contiki operating system and desktop environment for the Commodore 64, with ports to a bunch of other platforms such as the 8-bit Nintendo Entertainment System, the VIC-20, 8-bit Ataris, Atari Jaguar, the Tandy CoCo, and the Apple ][ under development. The Contiki system includes
the following: a multi-tasking kernel, a windowing
system and themeable GUI toolkit, a screen saver, a TCP/IP
stack, a personal
web server, and a web
browser. The Contiki web browser, which is likely to be the world's smallest browser given its extremely small memory footprint, is the world's first true web browser for an 8-bit system and probably makes the 21 years old Commodore 64 the oldest system ever to run a real web browser! All of the above programs are contained in a single, fully self-contained, 42 kilobytes large binary. The entire Contiki system with all programs running simultaneously is comfortable in 64 kilobytes of memory. The name 'Contiki' is derived from Thor
Heyerdahl's famous Kon-Tiki
raft which was able to sail across the Pacific Ocean despite being built using prehistoric techniques, something previously thought impossible. There are also screenshots
and a FAQ
avaliable."
where do I plug the RJ-45 cable into my NES?
Have you seen my stapler?
Imagine a beowulf cluster of these! ;o
it's called a _realtime os_ you fscing moron, and it's being done at least 56 times the last century.
Please, start accepting and posting better titles or what!
how does this handle images?
how well do you expect a C64 to stand up to a slashdotting? There're 5 posts and it's already jammed.
Nice project though. I just wish it was available for the Amstrad CPC, then I could ressurect my old dinosaur.
...for Doom3 on my Commodore 64!
I'm sure Carmack is able to do that!
This is the closest we've ever been to having a fully native Internet suite for the stock C64. All we need now is a PPP implementation :P
:P
And don't bring up The Wave or any of the other SCPU-only tools - this is straight 1MHz 6510
At last, the effort to bring browser crashes due to poorly written Javascript strings has been brought to the otherwise unafflicted Commodore 64.
That should be something, 'cause I can put a commie emulator on my box and run this code from there and I bet the footprint will still be smaller than Lynx.
Or I coud run an emulator from DOS to get multitasking maybe?
.ACMD setaloiv siht gnidaeR
Will this work on the TI 99/4A or will I need a few extra 16k memory expansion cards to get up to snuff?
I still don't understand why any of you use these big computers. We only need 32k to do everything! I'm using one now and although I had to split this message over a cassette tape, it's still better than using those computers that Bill Gates said were too memory rich.
Check me if I'm wrong on this, but I believe the Atari 400/800 are a couple of years older than the C64, which would make *it* the oldest system to run a web browser. I had one (an 800) with 32 whopping-mo-fo-kilobytes of RAM in, like, 1981.
Yeah, that's right, I was a badass.
"Lawyers are for sucks."
- Doug McKenzie
TCP/IP stack for Internet networking, either with RS-232/SLIP or Ethernet (PPP is under development). There's no PPP yet folks, so no dial-up access. On the plus side, there is telnet :)
According to the ports page:
If you know much about electrical engineering, the nesdev community could use your expertise in creating network hardware for the NES. Even a high-speed serial port would be a good thing.
Will I retire or break 10K?
This gets me to thinking about how much programing is probably "junk" programming these days. Anyone remember the sequal to Elite? Elite 2: Final Frontiers I think it was called. That had thousands of systems, planets, bases, stations, etc... set up in a game that had "realistic" physics. You could actually land on the planets yourself!
It was 1 disk big (1.44 floppy).
Now I look at Freelancer. A big CD full of great graphics. Yet at the same time I see it as not nearly as complex and thought out as Elite 2.
This is an interesting attempt not to make bigger programs, but tighter ones. Making the most of what you have. It feels like there is so much available on computers these days, that programs aren't concerned with getting the most out of it, just using as much of the bells and whistles as they can. Imagine using the same mentality on a modern computer!
Fuzzy Knights: New RPG Strips Tuesday and Friday!:
http://www.fuzzyknights.com
Their web server must have been running on a C64 or something
I don't know why i would need to multi-task on a VIC 20 but i'm going to pull her out and see if can get her going. I have a slew of tapes/tape drive or the old beauty. If i can get my EE and CE roomates and buddies to rig up an interface to ethernet then we have a low power webserver pretty soon. It's not hi traffic, but it's not like I get hits like Slashdot.
Writing support for a HD or faster storage then tape would be the best, but no time right now. Getting a basic webserver over a serial modem should be fairly trivial. Porting a Java shouldn't be and i've always wanted to get JAVA to run on C64, VIC 20, or TRS....Not the embeded version.
All the prwdy images are /.ed =(
I think i still have a C64 somwhere around here, maby i'll pull it out. I don't have any of the special cables for networking though. There are other OSes for C64 including multitasking unix based ones.
cat
Seriously, why..? The C64 was a cool piece of machinery in its day but honestly... Who other than sentimental geeks would WANT to browse the web on a C64? Or run anything else than Iridium or Krakout or any of the other cool games..?
I'm not putting the C64 down. I've owned one myself and I've been pretty impressed by some of the things that have been done on it (including Contiki). But I can't help thinking that such talent that it takes to do this could be put to better use.
Maybe it's just me. Come to think of it it probably is..
Remember, there are no stupid questions. But there are a lot of inquisitive idiots.
Anytime you run emulation of any kind there is a considerable amount of overhead, even in the case of emulating an 8-bit computer on a 32-bit platform.
BTW--links has a smaller footprint than lynx and supports graphics under SVGAlib or X.
My journal has hot
The C64 port is ready now, it says on the site that the "oldest" will be put back to the appropriate year when the other ports are ready
The first two screen shots are actually historical - they show a Commodore 64 web browser browsing web pages served by a Commodore 64 web server
*sniff* Hmmm, do I smell burning plastic? Ahh yes, there melts another C64 powersupply.
Oh well, it died an honorable death. Damn /., destroying the remains of our technological history! :)
Blockwars: a realtime multiplayer game similiar to Tetris.
"They do not preach that their god will rouse them, a little before the Nuts work loose." Kipling, 'The Sons of Martha'
There's no PPP yet folks
Some dial-up Internet access providers still support SLIP (serial line IP), the protocol that PPP largely replaced.
Will I retire or break 10K?
The Commodore 64 market has been screaming for an up to date operating system and web browser for decades. This should breathe new life into a sector which has been seen by many as obsolete, and may well trigger a renaissance in C64 development and application support.
If I seem short sighted, it is because I stand on the shoulders of midgets
You mean a version of Eliza that says things like "Comrades, we must seize the means of production!" and "Down with Capitalism!"
Sorry, I'll get me coat...
-- And when Justice is gone, there is always... Force. --Laurie Anderson, "Oh Superman"
Kudos to these guys. My first thoughts after, "No freakin' way!" were, "How the heck did they get ethernet and a C64 together?"
/. that had some sort of odd C64 hybrid that streamed audio?
I figured it was some sort of butt-slow serial hack, but instead they designed their own C64 ethernet cartridge! Nicely done.
Come to think of it, weren't these the same guys we saw a while back here on
What is Contiki and what is it good for?
Contiki is an Internet-enabled operating system and desktop environment for a number of smallish systems such as the 8-bit Commodore 64. In short, Contiki is the software needed to access the Internet and browse the web. What makes Contiki special is that it makes it possible to do this even from really constrained systems, which previously have been belived to be too small to be able to run this kind of software.
Is this about retro or nostalgia?
No. This is not about playing old games to revive childhood memories. It is about pushing the limits and doing things previously thought impossible.
What do I need to run Contiki?
A standard system to which Contiki is ported. In general, there are no expansion boards, CPU accelerators or extra memory cards required, not even a disk drive. An RS-232 (serial) card or Ethernet connection is required for Internet connectivity, however.
The typical system requirements for the Contiki system is about 20 kilobytes of RAM for the base functionality and about 50 kilobytes for full functionality (desktop icons, web browser, web server, etc.)
Do I need to upgrade my system to run Contiki?
No. Contiki is designed to work with unexpanded systems, so there is no need for megabytes of RAM or main board upgrades.
Does Contiki require megabytes of memory, or 16-bit CPU accellerator upgrades?
No, in general, Contiki does not require any upgrades, accelerators or expansion kits.
Does Contiki need assistance of a powerful server to reach the Internet?
No. Contiki does not require assistance of a powerful PC or *nix server to use the Internet. Everything (TCP/IP, HTTP, HTML, etc.) is done by Contiki on the 8-bit system.
Is the Contiki web browser really the first browser for 8-bit systems?
Yes. While there are other programs such as the HyperLink hyper-text document viewer that allow an 8-bit system to browse the web, these programs require a powerful *nix server to translate the Internet content to a simpler format that the 8-bit system understands.Contiki does not require assistance of a powerful server, but is fully self-contained.
There are also web browsers that claim to run on 8-bit system, but in reality require radically more powerful 16-bit CPUs and megabytes of memory. The Wave is such a browser.
Is it possible to use Contiki with a modem and a dial-up Internet account? Does Contiki support PPP?
Lawrence Chitty is currently working on PPP support for Contiki.
Is it possible to use Contiki with a broadband or DSL connection?
Yes, if you have an Ethernet card for your system, it is possible to use Contiki with a broadband or DSL connection.
Does Contiki support pre-emptive multitasking?
No, Contiki does cooperative multitasking. The reason for not supporting pre-emptive multitasking is that it would unnecessarily increase the complexity not only of the operating system, but also of the applications that would run under it. Pre-emptive multitasking is primarily useful in general purpose multiuser operating systems such as *nix, or in real-time systems where response time is critial. Contiki does not fit in either of those categories.
Where does the name "Contiki" come from?
The name "Contiki" is taken from Thor Heyerdahl's famous Kon-Tiki raft. Kon-Tiki was built using prehistoric techniques in order to prove that ancient Polynesians actually were able to sail from South America to the Polynesian islands. Similarly, Contiki runs on prehistoric computers, yet it is able to do much of a modern PC usually does.
Are there any other uses for Contiki?
The small size of Contiki could make it useful in small networked systems which are required to be very inexpensive. Such a system could be comprised of a low-cost, low-power, 8-bit microcontroller like an AVR, an Ethernet chip such as the CS8900a, an LCD display and three touch buttons - perhaps something similar to the Mosaic Industries EtherSmart Controller. Contiki would make it possible to surf the web from a device with only a small low-cost 8-bit microcontroller, without needing to use an expensive 32-bit CPU.
Contiki would not make a good environment for an end-user device such as a handheld PDA or a mobile GSM phone, however, as it don't have the kind of features expected from a web browsing environment of today. There is no Java, no Flash, and it even lacks support for images. Most modern handhelds, PDAs and mobile phones have quite a lot of computing power; many of them are even able to run a graphical version of Linux. For systems of that size, there are better environments than Contiki available.
At the heart of the Contiki desktop environment is the event driven Contiki kernel. Using non-preemptive multitasking, the Contiki event kernel makes it possible to run several programs in parallel. It also provides message passing mechanisms and timers to the running programs.
Processes
In the Contiki event kernel, a process is defined by three entities: the initialization function, the event handler and the idle loop. The idle loop is optional and is called repeatedly whenever the system has nothing else to do (i.e., when no events occur and no timers are scheduled). The event handler is called when an event occurs. The initialization function is used to initialize the program and to register to which events the process is listening. A process the does not have an idle loop must listen to at least one event, or else the process will never be scheduled and will therefore not ever run again.
Events
Events can be emitted by all processes and can be directed either towards a particular process, or towards all processes. If the processes are listening for the event, the event handler function will be invoked for each process. An emitted event is accompanied with a pointer that can be used for message passing between processes.
Timers
Timers are implemented using events; each event can be scheduled to occur at a given time in the future. The Contiki event kernel will emit the event when the timer goes off. Because the Contiki event kernel never preempts a running process, there are no guarantees about the time-out times.
Examples
The figure the left is an illustration of how the Contiki event kernel works. There are four processes in the system and when the system starts, each process' initialization function (here called init()) is called. After the initialization in done, no events are scheduled, so the idle functions of the processes are being run. Only process 2 implements an idle function, and it will be called repeatedly until event 1 is emitted. Processes 1 and 3 have registered a listener for event 1, and each process' event handler function is invoked in response to the event being emitted. Both event handler functions run to completion, after which no events are scheduled so the idle loop is run until event 2 is emitted some time later. Process 4 has registered a listener for this event, so its event handler function is invoked.
As a more concrete example of how the Contiki event kernel works, consider the Contiki desktop environment. Here, there are several processes running: the GUI and windowing system (i.e., the CTK toolkit), the TCP/IP stack, and all of the programs such as the web browser and e-mail client. Both CTK and the TCP/IP stack implements idle functions, whereas the other processes only implements event handlers. The CTK idle function checks for keypresses and TCP/IP stack's idle function polls the network device driver for incoming packets.
The Contiki Tool-Kit (CTK) provides graphical user interface primitives such as windows, dialog boxes, buttons and text editing to Contiki and its programs. CTK is designed to be highly modularized which makes it possible to change the appearence of it in a lot of ways and to adapt it to many platforms.
Frontends and themes
CTK is divided into two separate modules; the CTK backend, which handles how the user interacts with the windows, buttons, menus, etc., and the CTK frontend which draws the windows onto the screen and grabs keypresses from the user. It is this division that makes CTK portable.
It is also possible to create different CTK looks, themes, by changing the CTK frontend. Currently, there are three CTK themes:
ctk-conio
The textbased "base" theme of CTK. It is designed to be extremely portable; in order to port it to new platforms, it is sufficient to implement as few as three C functions.
ctk-eyecandy
A modern looking grayish theme with squared buttons and windows, and a vertical gradient background. Only runs on the Commodore 64 version of Contiki and was the first graphical theme to be implemented.
ctk-blueround
A blueish theme with rounded buttons and window borders for the Commodore 64.
Windows
Similar to most other desktop GUI systems, windows are central to the design of CTK. Windows are the container of all other user interface elements. In CTK, windows can be moved and closed, but they cannot be resized or iconified. The visible windows form a hierarchy where the bottom windows are overlapped by the front windows. The frontmost window receives the user input and is usually drawn in another color than the back windows.
Dialogs
Dialogs are a special kind of windows that do not have a normal window border, and are always on top of the other windows, and focused. Dialogs always appear at the center of the screen and cannot be moved around.
Menus
The CTK menus are similar to the Mac OS ones in that there is only one menubar and not one menubar per application. The default configuration is to have the menu bar at the top of the screen (like Mac OS), but since this it up to the actual frontend implementation, it could very well be drawn at the bottom of the screen.
Widgets
Like most GUI toolkits, CTK uses user interface widgets to manage the user interface. There are six widget types in CTK: separators, labels, buttons, hyperlinks, text entry widgets and icons.
Separators
Separators are passive widgets that only serves the single purpose of separating widgets from each other. Separators have a configurable width, but always has a height of one.
Labels
The CTK label widget is a passive widget that displays text. Both height and width are settable.
Buttons
CTK buttons are active widgets that, when pressed, emit a ctk_signal_button_pressed signal to the process that created the button.
Hyperlinks
CTK hyperlinks are active widgets that emit a ctk_signal_hyperlink_active signal when pressed and a ctk_signal_hyperlink_hover signal when they are selected. The signals are sent to all processes that are listening for the signal. This makes it possible for both the web browser process and the e-mail client process to listen for hyperlinks, and the e-mail process can choose to handle mailto: links, whereas the web browser handles hyperlinks starting with http://. The ctk_signal_hyperlink_hover signal lets the web browser change the status bar message when a hyperlink is selected.
Text entries
The CTK textentry widget is an active widget that is the primary text input method of CTK. The text that the text entry widget edits may be wider than the actual width of the widget, and the widget will scroll the text when the cursor moves off the right of the widget. The text entry widget can be multiple characters high.
Icons
The primary use of the CTK icon widget is to have desktop icons. When pressed, the CTK icon widget emits the ctk_signal_button_pressed signal.
The Contiki desktop environment uses version 0.9 of the uIP TCP/IP stack to provide Internet communication. uIP is designed to allow limited systems to enjoy full TCP/IP communication.
uIP provides the following protocols:
ARP (IP address to Ethernet MAC address protocol)
SLIP (Serial Line IP)
IP (fragment reassembly turned off for Contiki)
ICMP echo (ping)
Unicast UDP
TCP
In addition to the above protocols, a PPP implementation is currently being developed by Lawrence Chitty.
DNS - Domain Name System
In order to run the web browser, Contiki must implement the DNS protocol. DNS maps host names (like www.google.com) into a numerical IP address (like 216.239.51.101) by using a globally distributed database.
The DNS client in Contiki has a cache of hostname and IP address pairs so that a DNS lookup will not have to be made each time a Contiki program asks for an IP address. The size of the cache is configured at compile time and typically is about 10 entries large.
The DNS client implementation is not very heavily tested andmay fail with certain DNS names.
More information
For more information about the uIP TCP/IP stack, see the uIP homepage at: http://dunkels.com/adam/uip/.
How the heck do you get a new operating system onto a gaming console like the NES?
Are the game controller ports used as serial ports?
Do you use a specially made cartridge?
My blog
a beowulf cluster of these! Oh, wait..
The Contiki screen saver is started when there has been no user input for a configurable amount of time, usually for five minutes. The screen saver is part of the architecture specific files for Contiki and there currently only is a screen saver for the Commodore 64 version.
The Commodore 64 screen saver shows two small pillars of fire at the left and right edges of the screen. The fires are drawn using 8x8 pixel blocks, colored in firery colors (red, yellow and white). The screen shots below gives an idea of how it looks, but the fires of course look better when actually running.
The Contiki web browser is not only the world's first true web browser for 8-bit systems, but also the smallest browser available and sets a new record for the oldest computer ever to browse the world wide web.
The Contiki web browser contains the essentials of what's needed to browse the web. It does DNS lookups, talks HTTP (over TCP/IP) to fetch web pages over the Internet and renders HTML pages with text, hyperlinks and forms. There is currently no support for pictures or JavaScript.
Smallest
Regular web browsers require several megabytes of RAM and disk space. The Contiki web browser only needs a few kilobytes of RAM and no disk at all. With a code footprint of 9 kilobytes and with a total of only 4 kilobytes of RAM required, it might very well be the world's smallest web browser.
Oldest
The Contiki web browser is probably the first web browser ever to run on an over 20 years old computer system - the Commodore 64 is from 1982. (This record will be broken when some of the other ports are ready.)
First
While it has been possible for some time to use an 8-bit platform for web browsing, previous browser-type programs for 8-bit platforms have required assistance of special programs running on much more powerful Unix or PC servers to be able to reach the Internet and display web pages. This is how Cameron Kaiser's C64 HyperLink hyper-text document viewer, the Uzix FudeBrowZer for MSX, and the VIC 20 WAP browser work. Other browsers have claimed to be running on 8-bit platforms, while in reality they require much more powerful 16-bit CPUs and more memory than most 8-bit systems can handle. The Wave is an example of such a browser.
The Contiki web browser does not need any special proxy programs or Unix servers. Instead, it connects directly to the Internet, downloads and displays web pages and provide a user interface, without extra software or special power-servers. It is therefore the world's first true web browser for an 8-bit system.
User agent string
If you see something like the following in your web server logs, you know you've had a visitation from the Contiki web browser:
User-Agent: Contiki/1.0 (Commodore 64; http://dunkels.com/adam/contiki/)
Ideas for the future
In the current version, the main limiting factor is the memory usage. By optimizing the web browser code and introducing loadable program modules, more memory will be made available for feature enhancements. Some of the possible future features are:
Buffering for faster scrolling. The current version of the Contiki browser does not buffer the downloaded web pages. Instead, it parses the HTML on-the-fly and only stores what's actually shown on the screen. This means that in order to scroll down a page, the page has to be downloaded from the web server again. By buffering a larger part of the web page, scrolling could be made radically faster. Adding support for this will be straightforward as the current architecture already is designed for this extension.
File and full disk downloads. Being able to directly download files from the Internet down to a C64 disk or tape would be a very nice feature to have. Also, the ability to directly download a full D64 image to a C64 disk would be a nice way to get new software and demos for the C64. Since latest version of cc65 now supports file I/O, this feature could probably be quite easily added.
Improved forms support. Currently, only forms with a GET action is supported, and only the input types submit, text and image.
Tabbed browsing. Starting with Mozilla and Galeon, many modern browsers have started using a feature known as tabbed browsing. With tabbed browsing, multiple browser sessions can be kept in parallel and accessed using special buttons at the top of the browser window. Adding tabbed browsing to the Contiki web browser will probably require a more sophisticated memory management on the Contiki web browser's part as well as more RAM, but should otherwise pose no fundamental problems.
Viewing JPEG images. The amazing JPX/Juddpeg C64 JPEG viewer by Adrian Gonzalez and Steve Judd shows that it is possible to render JPEG images on a C64. Their code could perhaps be incorporated into the Contiki browser which would facilitate viewing inline JPEG images in the web pages. The main problems with JPEG decoding is that it probably requires a lot of CPU cycles, and might use too much memory to be possible to incorporate in the Contiki browser.
Viewing GIF images. There are several GIF viewers available for the Commodore 64, and it might similarly be possible to integrate one of these into the Contiki browser. GIF image decoding should be less CPU intensive than JPEG decoding, and uses less memory since it does not require as much memory for tables as JPEG decoding.
SID player plugin. Downloading SID tunes to listen to while browsing should be possible. By reserving the memory between $1000 and $2000, a lot of SID tunes could be used.
Flash plugin. Olivier Debon's Flash player is quite small - only about 9k when compiled for the x86 - so it just might be possible to port it to the C64.
Java virtual machine for running Java applets. While this idea is more far fetched than the above ones, it should be noted that Brian Bagnall actually is working on porting/implementing a Java virtual machine for the C64.
The Contiki personal web server provides a convenient way to transfer files from Contiki to any other computer over the Internet. The web server currently only works with the Ethernet-equipped Commodore 64.
The web server works by sending a full C64 disk image as a D64 disk image over the Internet. The D64 disk image can be downloaded using a regular web browser. Future versions of the web server will make it possible to download selected files and read the directory over the Internet.
The Contiki telnet client is intended to make it possible to do text-based remote logins to Unix servers from Contiki. It is currently under development and when finished, the Contiki telnet client will implement a VT100 compatible terminal which will allow screen based programs such as vi and emacs to be run from Contiki.
Currently, the Contiki telnet client only is good for doing other stuff than actually running telnet. It can be used as a poor man's e-mail program, for instance.
Or it can be used to read and post Usenet news.
HTTP and HTML purists can even use it as a very simple web browser.
Apart from the two applications that come with Contiki 1.0 (the web browser, the web server and the telnet client), there are a few applications under development:
An e-mail program.
An IRC client.
More applications are expected to be developed.
The Contiki e-mail program will eventually support reading and sending e-mail from Contiki. It currently is possible to send mails, but getting incoming e-mails have not yet been implemented.
The Contiki e-mail program first will need to be configured with identifying information and the names of the e-mail servers that will be used for sending and receiving e-mail.
Once configured, one can start typing in short e-mails.
Of course, we don't want to accidentally erase the message we spent so much time typing in. As can be seen from the screen shot, the program isnt bug free yet (where is that "No" button?).
'
And off we go! The e-mail is converted from the Commodore PETSCII encoding into regular ASCII before sending, hence the captialized text in the mail.
Kontiki - another dot-bomb by Kleiner Perkins
Monday 6:30AM in California, as I awaken I find this site slashdotted. WTF?
Seriously, this is very cool stuff. I might dig up my old CBM from the attic to play with this. Now only to be able to hook my oceanic 1541 drive to my PC or my Mac somehow. Or are there ways to simulate a c64 disk drive from a PC with a resoldered C64 disk cable?
How _does_ one transfer software from PC to a real hardware C64 nowadays? Can some people in the know drop some pointers to FAQ's and links?
Please some clever person with no value on their time: Make a version for the spectrum, the world needs this! The speccy is a (modified) Z80, so is the NES (as I remember) - it should be possible and possibly quite easy that would be so cool! Web browsing on a rubber keyboard, those fancy CBM machines are almost "real" computers by comparison
URL: http://dunkels.com/adam/contiki/links.html
System information and emulators
Commodore 64/128
The Commodore 64 is based on the 6510 CPU, which is a 6502-derived 8-bit CPU. It has 64k of RAM and 16k ROM which includes a BASIC interpreter and some basic I/O services. Graphics is provided by the VIC chip which has 16 colors and a maximum resolution of 320x200 in hi-res mode. It provides a 40x25 raster of characters in character mode. The three voices of digital sound is produced by the SID chip.
The Commodore 128 is an extended version of the Commodore 64 that contains a 8510 CPU which is capable of 2 MHz operation and can address 128k RAM (hence the name Commodore 128). It also has a Commodore 64 compatibility mode which is extremely similar to a regular C64 but with a few minor differences.
SuperCPUThe SuperCPU is a 20 MHz 16-bit 65816-based computer that is plugged into the back of the Commodore 64 or 128. It uses the C64 keyboard and joysticks for input and the VIC and SID chips for audiovisual output. The SuperCPU is capable of addressing several megabytes of memory and is usually used together with a 16 megabytes RAM expansion board.
There are no SuperCPU emulators avaliable.
Links- The VICE emulator
is capable of emulating a large number of Commodore machines. It
emulates the C64, the C128, the VIC20, most of the PET models, and the
CBM-II. VICE runs under Windows, Linux, FreeBSD, and a number of other
host systems.
- Joakim Eriksson's Web
C64 emulator, written in Java, runs as an applet within a web
browser.
- Per Håkan Sundell's CCS64 emulator works
under Windows and DOS.
- The ec64
emulator is developed for Linux and was originally written entirely in
x86 assembler.
- An article by Simon
N Goodwin about C64 emulators.
- The Commodore
emulators category in the Dmoz has more links.
Operating systems and desktop environmentsCommodore 64/128
There are plenty of alternative operating systems for the C64, mostly written in 6502 assembler. Some of them are far from complete, however, and only appear as dark shadows on a few web pages - MagerValp's SMOS and my own osT are among those.
- GEOS from 1986 probably
is the most well-known graphical operating system for the C64. It is
still sold commercially by CMDKEY.com.
- LUnix NG is an
open-source multi-tasking operating system with TCP/IP/PPP-support, a
*nix-like command shell, and a number of *nix-like utilities
such as ls and cp.
- Craig Bruce's ACE is a
text-based single-tasking operating system for the 64 and the 128. It
provides a *nix-like command shell, a text-editor, a terminal program
for the SwiftLink RS232 interface, as well as device drivers for a
lot of devices
- GeckOS/A65 is a
multi-tasking operating system with TCP/IP support and a *nix-like
command shell.
- Wheels
is a version of GEOS that requires RAM expansion to run.
SuperCPUWith its 20 MHz and megabytes of memory, the SuperCPU is powerful enough to run fully-fledged graphical operating systems that rival early Machintosh or Microsoft Windows systems.
- Wings is a
TCP/IP-enabled graphical operating system for the SuperCPU. It
includes a MOD music player, JPEG viewer, web page download utility,
etc.
- JOS is an older version
of Wings.
Internet softwareTCP/IP and PPP connectivity
To surf the web, send or read email, etc., the first step is to actually get in touch with the Internet. This requires both physical access to an ISP, either via a modem and a phone-line or an Ethernet broadband connection, and the TCP/IP software running on the C64.
There are a number of programs that make it possible to reach the Internet with a C64/C128.
- LUnix NG contains a
TCP/IP stack and a PPP implementation which makes it possible to reach
the Internet using a modem and a dial-up ISP.
- GeckOS/A65 also
contains a TCP/IP stack, but no PPP dialer.
- My own uIP TCP/IP stack
has been used for some time to run a web server on a Commodore 64. uIP
currently does not include a PPP dialer.
- Novaterm 10
contains a PPP dialer and enough TCP/IP code to be able to run telnet
over the Internet.
Application programsSuperCPU
All of the above mentioned SuperCPU operating systems have TCP/IP support.
- The
Wave is a web browser for the SuperCPU (and not for the Commodore
64/128 as the web page claims) that runs under the Wheels operating
systems. Here
is another page with information about The Wave (that also falsely
claims that The Wave is for the Commodore 64/128). The latter page
also includes screenshots of The Wave in action.
Commodore 64/128Small graphical user-interfaces (GUIs)
User interfaces for embedded systems range from the simple buttons on the front of a washing machine to those of fully fledged web browser type interfaces on information stations. The underlying technology varies from simple electronic circuits to full-scale PC compatibles.
- PicoGUI is a GUI architecture
designed for embedded systems to desktop machines. It does not require
any supporting GUI system and can be used on anything from graphical
screens to text based systems. Their smallest target system are
handheld terminals and the compiled object code size is on the order
of hundreds of kilobytes.
- Microwindows/NanoGUI is
a graphical user interface system designed to run without support from
an underlying system. On 16-bit systems Microwindows is about 64k
large.
Small web browsersThe smallest web browsers are usually specially designed for the limitations of embedded systems and other specialized computers such as car navigation systems, set-top boxes and medical equipment. There are also a few small web browsers for old DOS PCs available.
You guys are so behind times man! Katz's buddy Junis from Afghanistan was beta testing this a year back!
Can't wait to see what a beowulf cluster of these will do!
---
"The chances of a demonic possession spreading are remote -- relax."
What should I do with my life?
I'm dying to dig my old Commodore PET out of the basement to get Contiki up and running, though I haven't the foggiest idea how I'm going to to get usable code off of the net and onto a CBM disk. Anyone know where the latest verion of gcc for the PET is located? :-)
--zawada
In Soviet Russia, the Beowulf cluster imagines you!
Cool .. older OS used to fit in 1 small 650 MB RW-CD ... and would run on 32 MB RAM ...
Excellent! Now I can play Monty on the Run and Sanxion in Death Match mode..
Not only will this allow a new lease on life to old equipment (which otherwise would likely be leaching arsenic into a third world water table somewhere), it's also an opportunity for low-income folks to get onto the net.
My college days were spent writing educational software for these 8-bit, 6502-based systems (typing tutors, etc.) These were great machines to "cut your teeth" on - ROM-based BASIC interpreters, software bootstrapped OS, 320x200 graphics in "8" colors - including black and white (Okay - C64 had more than Apple ][, I admit...) Ahh... 10 HGR2 : HCOLOR 3 : HPLOT 20,20 TO 300, 200...
These ~1Mhz systems are going to have their work cut out for them trying to multitask, but I presume that their TCP/IP traffic is going to be limited to the comm technology of their day (1200/2400 baud)
Also - I think the Apple ][ has the drop on C64 in age - Commodore had the PET our before the 64, methinks...
Any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from a rigged demo. -- James Klass
Ooh, wonder if they'll do a version for the BBC Micro (http://www.nvg.ntnu.no/bbc/) and I wonder if I could knock up an RJ45 to Econet socket adpator ;-)
No reason why this isn't possible, port lynx to the beeb, get the tcp/ip stack sorted, port ppp and finally see what modem I can get running off the RS423 port. Then cram it onto a 40-track 320kb floppy.
Look, if might be flamebait or even funny or troll, but it certainly is On Topic. It is referring to the aparent insanity of the developers. Get a grip of your lives.
Stick Men
Although the focus of this project is not the technology itself I think. This guy has proven to any employeer he will ever approach that he has superior skills when it comes to programming under tight constraints. Enjoy working in the embedded systems industry (and making money hand-over-fist doing it)!
What else is interesting about this is that it goes to show how foolish and blind nearly the entire computer industry is when it comes to technology advances. People can't upgrade to a 10GHz processor fast enough, when all they need to do is check their email. Companies are constantly wasting servers and replacing them with newer models. This is not necessary. Today's software is written so poorly that super high-end hardware is needed to make up for lazy/poor programmers. Look at what these ancient systems can do. That "old" PIII or PII or K6 sitting on your desk is a power house. What's the problem? The software you're running on it is likely to be wasting 75% of the CPU cycles it eats.
It's a shame there aren't more developers or at least software architects out there with this guy's talent. We'd all be saving a hell of a lot of money I think. Then again, hardware prices would increase in proportion to its long-term value. Then again, there's a lot of savings in many ways (largely environmental -- less junk being dumped into the wild at the beginning and end of a computer's life cycle). Of course, I wonder if most of the blame goes to businesses just trying to get software out the door as soon as possible without stopping to think about good design (in all senses).
Why bother.
This is what I call making a point! The very concept of a multitasking OS and web browser/server on a C64 or ATARI is the greatest thing the coding community could do to show how much waste and politics has sucked itself into technology. Not only that, but this OS might even be portable to a watch-sized machine.
-ad105
The screen shots look a lot like Windows 1.x or 2.x... no proportional fonts, bright solid colors, etc. :)
Also, I don't see how this would work on my VIC-20. I still remember when it's powered up it says "3583 bytes free". Not quite enough free space! I have an 8K expansion cart, but that still doesn't bring me up to the required amount of RAM.
Now I only need a NES emulator to run on Contiki on my NES. That would be awesome!
Anyone know what I'd need to do to get TCP/IP over RS-232 with this? They say it can be done on the page, but I'm not sure what kind of cables I'd need. The coolest thing about this project is that it will run on a standard c64, with no expansions of any kind.
(Currently looking at c64 and 1541 drive sitting on my closet shelf.)
Finally I have a use for that XE1541 cable I bought two or three years ago.
The Norwegian company "Norsk Data" made a computer in the 80's called "Kontiki", a Z-80 computer with an OS called "Tiki". Considering the vast number of people who loved this computer, it is confusing to have another OS named Contiki. Norsk Data also had to change the name of the computer to Tiki because of trademark problems. See for info on the original Kontiki computer.
All of the above is included in the self-contained Contiki binary, which is 42 kilobytes large and runs comfortably in 64 kilobytes of memory.
Kernel, GUI, screen saver, TCP/IP stack, web server, telnet client and web browser in 42 KB? Wow... I suppose the TCP/IP stack is based on his uIP code that's around 5 KB large, using 500 bytes of RAM. =) And I like how the GUI is skinnable. =)
Another cool part is of course that I've studied at the same university as him. hehe.. He was rather well-known there as a "decent" programmer. =) You know, those that writes a complex algorithm, compiles it once, and it works.
Beware: In C++, your friends can see your privates!
Okay, well, I've got 6 Ataris (some 800xls, a 1200xl, and some 130xes). Let's see, if I cluster them together, I'd have a total of 6 * 1.79, 10.74mhz at my command. Don't get jealous guys. Wipe away the drool. That's right baby, I'm gonna be crunching some SETI@home units today...
What about QNX? I am no OS guru, but I believe QNX did all the same things a few years ago. I don't think it was ported to any of the commadore systems, but I believe it was capable of being ported to anything. I certainly fit onto a 1.44 mb disk and featured a web server, browser, etc.
http://www.qnx.com/
Let me know when they've managed to fit Emacs in there too.
This
looks like the submitter just found this article on osnews and slightly re-worded it.
C64 is not as old as Apple ][, you predjudicial bastard.
It's still a 68xx series.. Though surfing on 7 segment LED displays sucks.. :)
---- Booth was a patriot ----
Arsenic? water table??
WTF??!!
...on my trusty ol' Timex Sincliar with its mind-numbing 20K of (expansion) memory. And don't even try to get me started the friggin' keyboard....
CrazyLegs
"Pork!!" said the Fish, and we all laughed.
When I first saw this, I thought of Contiki vacations, could just image a bunch of drunk Ozzies/Kiwis traveling around creating a browser. http://www.contiki.com
C is a horrible match for the 6502. This is a processor with a 256 byte stack and no stack frame support. In my experience with C compilers for the 6502, they were barely usable as toys. Now someone is claiming to have written a 42K OS package including a webserver that runs on 1MHz chips? Even in assembly language that would be amazing, but in C? I have serious doubts, unless this guy wrote his own C compiler that's geared toward this application.
Grrrr, didnt see any details on the Apple. I hope it comes to fruition. I wonder what specs they will design it for? It would be cool to have it run on a stock 48k Apple ][+, but to have it work with dual disk ][s, an enhanced 80 column card, lowercase (mousetext?) and 64-128k would presumably make it better.
-- After all is said and done, more is said than done.
64kb sould be enough for anybody.
If it'll run on an Apple ][, it ought be doable. Heck, my Trash-80 has 128k. Lee Kaiwen, Taiwan, ROC
Does it have themes? Please tell me it has themes!
Chuck Norris: Socialism == a thousand years of darkness.
Eliza: Hello. I am ELIZA. How can I help you?
Jim: commie emulator
Eliza: Please go on.
Jim: You mean a version of Eliza that says things like "Comrades, we must seize the means of production!" and "Down with Capitalism!"
Eliza: Oh, i mean a version of eliza that says things like comrades we must seize the means of production and down with capitalism.
Jim: Sorry, I'll get me coat...
Eliza: Apologies are not necessary.
Jim:
Eliza: Can you elaborate on that?
Jim:
Eliza: Please go on.
Jim:
Eliza: Please go on.
In fact, Fairlight created the first browser for the Commodore 64:
http://hem.passagen.se/harlekin/
Look at FairligHTML. (1997!)
Jeroen Ruigrok/Asmodai
it's all about regression, if you ask me. we've got TONS of unemployed it/developers out there... yearning for better days, when they were children and had nothing better to do than play on their c64 all day... and now reality is closing in on them and they're escaping... it's the same thing with transformers/he-man/care bears/strawberry shortcake/etc that's making a come back.
Incredible, absolutely incredible.
In this day of ever increasing memory and hardware demands for new software, it's nice to see that there are people out there still trying to do new stuff on old hardware.
Old computers never die - They just get TCP/IP stacks written for them!
Yes i know its a 65xx not 68xx.. just a typo.. typical monday it seems.
---- Booth was a patriot ----
42k that will take about 20 min to even load on the C64 prolly about 10 on the old apples :P
I remember typing that in. I also remember typing the entire hex dump of speedscript, and wondering why - because I didn't have a printer....
Clear, Dark Skies
is that with strict hardware limitations, games could be designed entirely by one person -- or a small group of people -- so a more coherent artistic vision was possible.
These days, with games being created by tens or hundreds of people, what you get is the median quality of everyone's artistry, and it's a lot harder to produce a unique or artful product.
How beautiful to go back and play Crystal Castles coin-op, or Adventure on the Atari 2600, and really hear one person's unique voice.
Java != JavaScript
Of course this is the coolest thing ever, but what about doing the same on modern x86 hardware? I have always wanted to have a nice compact little "simple" os that fits onto a single FDD and leaves more than enough room on the HDD for other goodies. Has anyone written something like this recently?
I recall something call QNX back a couple years back. Do they still have the 1 FDD version?
http://www.ohlssonvox.com
I thought the Japanese version of the NES (Famicom) had a keyboard and modem released for it. Could the modem be used for networking? I know it had a disk drive (FDS).
In his older years, Heyerdahl also developed the rather obnoxious habit of threatening with lawsuits against anybody who might disagree with him. He was a big childhood hero of mine, but he pretty much ruined that with a threat directed at a website I edit.
So, if he had lived, he would certainly have sued these people, and BTW, I should probably stop here, so that I don't risk a lawsuit myself.
Employee of Inrupt, Project Release Manager and Community Manager for Solid
OK, so the browser is news. But GEOS for the C64 was much more polished than that 40-column text hack with some color added. Nothing to see here folks, move along. It was done in '85, and done better.
because it renders the HTML on the fly, without caching.
so, to scroll a page, it has to reload the page and rerender it.
being on 56k is bad enough. i like to forget what 300 baud was like. *shudder*
Keep your packets off my GNU/Girlfriend!
SVTC
NPR News
Washington Post
Any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from a rigged demo. -- James Klass
Web browser, TCP/IP with PPP support coming, theme support, support for multiple types of hardware. All running on a 6502/6510 with a max of 64K, oh and it does multitasking? From what I remember of the 6502, the code liked to written to run at a fixed address (you could write relocatable code, but its support was limited), this would make make any kind of multitasking difficult, because the two programs could require the same memory addresses, oh and did I mention there's no memory protection? Anybody actually use this thing? Does it really work?
By reading this sig, you agree to the terms of my sig license.
It looks like there may only be 1 ethernet adapter in the world for the C64 too. Found the info on their site for it, but they use an "embedded controler" from someone else and their own "glue logic" and the link to the embedded controler site returns nothing readable. (And the only one they have was apparently taken off an on-line C64 so they could use it for something else). Unless there is software compatable ethernet hardware for the C64, this is pretty useless. With ethernet I wouldn't mind playing with it, but there's not enough information provided to let one duplicate their ethernet interface.
I'm an American. I love this country and the freedoms that we used to have.
Oh, how I wish my Tandy Coco III had more than 16K of RAM!
16K? Really? Did someone steal the other 112K?
(I think you're thinking of the Coco 2, which came with 16K; the Coco 3 came with a minimum of 128K, and was expandable to 512K: plenty for a project like this, I think!)
I'd say with the advent of this new operating system, this would be a great time to buy stock in Atari or Commodore. Once news of this hits Wall Street, there's sure to be a surge in the market.
You see? You see? Your stupid minds! Stupid! Stupid!
Why did they create another GUI for the C-64? The C64 and other 8bits had the third party GEOS around 1987.
As for the Atari 8bits, I could see a way to hook up an RJ-45 cable rather easily. You'd just need a dongle or something that would connect the ethernet to the SIO port. After all, the SIO port was the forerunner to USB....and created by the very same engineer!
The Atari Jaguar would be an interesting port...ethernet via the Catbox adapter...
"Right now, somewhere in this world, Scott Baio is plowing a woman he doesn't love," - Peter Griffin, *Family Guy*
There's a Kontiki, Inc. in Sunnyvale, CA USA that has a peer-to-peer content distribution network product. Gamespot uses it like a "download manager," and they have some other large customers. I suspect this will cause a few problems for the Contiki folks... Kontiki was named based on the same story, too.
How long have you been interested in seizing the means of production?
Way back when I was studying computer science, we had this book called "The Psychology of Computer Programming".
.sig? Here's a .sig for you: Take THAT! How's that for a .sig?
It referred to a few legendary (back then) programming feats, including one about the guys at the Jet Propulsion Lab.
They found they had 1/2/I forget which/ Kb of RAM left on the Pioneer/Voyager/I forget which/ spaceprobe they were writing the software for.
So they wrote an image pattern recognition program that would study the atmosphere in jupiter/saturn/I forget which/ planet.
Ok so I don't remember all the details but it sounded like really, really, REALLY tight code.
---
You want a
Not even close. People have run web browsers on PDP-11s. The PDP-11 was introduced twelve years before the Commodore 64. I suspect that people have run web browsers on computers even older than that.
]10 HGR2:HCOLOR 3:HPLOT 20,20 TO 300,200
]RUN
?SYNTAX ERROR IN 10
]
Hi-Res graphics gives you 280x192 to play with, but before that, HCOLOR needs = between it and the number.
I had a 14.4-kbps faxmodem hooked up to my IIGS, and I was moving files between it and whatever x86 box I was using at the time at up to 57.6 kbps. Even on the IIe, I was getting 19.2 kbps through a Super Serial Card. (Nowadays, though, the IIGS is connected to my home network through a GatorBox CS. It has direct access to files on a Quadra 610 and a Linux server, and indirect access to Win32 boxen through the Linux server. The GatorBox serves as an Ethernet-LocalTalk bridge, allowing a connection speed of 230.4 kbps.)
The bigger trick to getting this to work on an 8-bit Apple II, though, will be the lack of a periodic interrupt source. You could do cooperative multitasking (like pre-X MacOS or Win16), but preemptive multitasking without something to cause the preemption would be difficult to pull off. (It wouldn't take much to build an expansion card that just triggers an interrupt every once in a while. Some existing cards, such as clock cards and mouse interfaces, could also be used.)
20 January 2017: the End of an Error.
"seizing the means of production" has got to be the strangest euphemism for yanking off that I've ever heard!
I know it's pathetically unoptimized, because I don't use emacs and therefore don't know what to leave out, but I had to install the latest and greatest Xemacs for a user here. Directory size: 122Mb. My favorite emacs joke:
"Emacs would make a great OS if they'd just write a decent text editor for it".
Now will this get +1 Funny, or -1 Flamebait? Or just plain old -1 F*&%cking annoying.
I'm pretty sure a few NES games used a modem, which plugged into the hidden expansion slot on the bottom... (take of the clip-on thingy mos ppl already lost, and remove the punch-out panel that some ppl confuse as a vent...)
--DS
the only thing this is truly useful for is the amazing take-a-break.exe!
http://www.homestarrunner.com/sbemail60.html (watch it till the end)
http://www.homestarrunner.com/take-a-break.exe
Do you mean Java Javascript?
Well EXCUSE ME! What idiot (probably Microsoft) did this naming blunder? It is like Ford ford Cars, Con Ed Con Ed Electricity.
for the ZX81. That's compact.
They do have the schematics.
This was a couple of years ago but I remember reading that some companies were actually manufacturing new C64 for sale in China/India. Not everyone in the world can afford to upgrade to the latest hardware. Especially when a new pentium costs three years wages.
I'm sure these people are interested in a web browser for their machines.
http://fefe.de/dietlibc/
>Porting a Java shouldn't be and i've always
>wanted to get JAVA to run on C64, VIC 20, or
>TRS....Not the embeded version.
Check out my Java plans for the c64:
www.mts.net/~bbagnall/commodore
Just in embedded applications.
I think it would be good if they could port this to the PICmicro or Atmel AVR microcontrollers. Imagine a single chip web server (Yes this has been done before, but not to this extent). All they need is zeroconf support, and this can be part in all manner of appliances. eg: Imagine an alarm/wall clock that never loses or gains time because it syncs using ntp.
These single chips are as fast as, or in some cases faster then the old computers that this software is currently ported to.
Comparing a IIGS to a IIe is a wide stretch, of course, since it was using a significantly faster 65816 than the classic 6502. I, too, had a super-serial board that could run 19.2kpbs for direct link to PCs, but I was referring to internal modems of the day such as the Hayes and AppleCat. Your point is good, though, a fast serial card could drive a reasonable external comm device.
You're dead-on about the lack of hardware interrupts to hook into (especially if you don't have the luxurious IIGS!) On the other hand, the simple, non-preemptive nature of the beast makes it easy to count clock cycles for a particular code fragment, so perhaps a "virtual machine" approach with fixed time-slicing per process is the approach they'll take. I'm keeping this one bookmarked...
Any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from a rigged demo. -- James Klass
Does Contiki support pre-emptive multitasking?
Any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from a rigged demo. -- James Klass
Having a IIe emulator on one of my work machines helps. :-)
Hmm...might be fun to look at, but given the reliability issues associated with most cooperative-multitasking systems (one crash wipes out your system), it's not something on which I'd want to lean too heavily. I suppose it's like the talking dog...it's not the quality of the speech, but that the dog can talk at all. :-)
20 January 2017: the End of an Error.
The earliest -11 you can run a web browser on today is probably the 11/70, released (IIRC) in 1975. You can install 2.11BSD on an 11/70 with enough memory, and your browser can run from within that. If there's no browser, then there's at least telnet to port 80. :-)
PDP-11/70s are difficult to run and maintain. I would suggest that the intrepid reader use a 11/44 instead. Nearly 100% software-compatible with the 11/70 but not quite as huge and not quite as expensive to obtain, the 11/44 is a good collector machine. If you get one, read up about its power supply. If you touch the wrong places (and the're easy to touch), you WILL be killed!
Less intrepid but still interested readers shoudl go with a MicroPDP-11/73 in a BA23 tower. They look like skinny tower PCs and are relatively uncomplicated.
Washington, DC: It's like Hollywood for ugly people.
I saw the info, but what they have is the minimal "glue" to hook a C64 up to an "embedded ethernet controler" that they got somewhere else. Try following the link they give, it just gives garbage. If you can't get the "embedded controler" then their schematics and board layout for their "glue" to hook it to a C64 isn't any use.
I'm an American. I love this country and the freedoms that we used to have.
Choice, non-linear gameplay, freedom: games like GTA, Black & White, The Sims, etc. are enjoying a huge burst of popularity right now because gameplayers are getting wise to game developers trying to woo us with fancy graphics alone.
As a postscript, may I say how much I'm looking forward to Elite 4 whenever it comes out. Now if you'll excuse me, I have an appointment with a granny...
Pouf!
...if they may be willing to copy this out on a real floppy (5¾", SS SD) for me. I mean, the postage shouldn't be frightfully huge. Maybe they can patch together an ethernet adaptor and sell me too?
1. create a niche product aimed at nerds who still owns an outdated computer.
2. sell modded hardware to increase percived usefullness of said product.
3. PROFIT!
Hooking this up to my network at home should be a breeze... and I just have to restart the C64 to play some kickass games too.
Failing that, could someone post a simple, easy to understand, step-by-step guide on how to get this onto a floppy that my C64 can read?
Everything in the world is controlled by a small, evil group to which, unfortunately, no one you know belongs.
I'm reading this on my Babbage analysis engine right now !
jesus what a phenomenal waste of time
It's entirely possible to run Unix on several models that predate the 11/70, including the 11/40 and 11/45. The C version of Unix was originally developed on the 11/40.
The PDP-11/70 isn't that difficult to run and maintain. But it is rather large (physically).
I have almost every PDP-11 model, and several of some, but I'm still looking for an 11/45. The 11/44 is a nice machine, and is the is the one I use the most. It was the last of the TTL PDP-11 designs; all models designed after that, such as the MicroPDP-11/73, use the F11 or J11 microprocessors.
The BA23 is a terrible case. Aside from having only two drive bays and an anemic power supply, it is difficult to run cabling for options, especially if you want disks other than the RD5x. Also, many of the BA23s available surplus have not had the power supply cable retrofit, and the old power supply cables are prone to burning up. If you have a choice, get the BA123 "World Box" instead. It's a much nicer case, and will work with the 11/23, 11/53, 11/83, and 11/93 processors.
Washington, DC: It's like Hollywood for ugly people.
Damn you! I just figured out what the (aha, coconut!) milk, honey and lizard (aha, skink!) are. But not the garlic. But think I do know where they go! That pretty well tells you how far I am.
Doesn't it make you feel good to know that our freedoms are protected by politicans, lawyers and journalists.
:-) Sorry about before.
The page you linked to has a link for the Invisiclues(tm) at the bottom. You probably arleady know what they are. If you don't, go back to that page, and click on the Sample Question "How do I fold a piece of paper to make it look like a bird?". Ivisiclues are pretty cool because the hints always go from vague and general (only partly giving away the answer) to really, really precise (tells you exactly what command to type).
If you're not playing this from an actual C128 Trinity disk (or maybe even if you are), you may not have gotten all (or any) of the feelies that came with Trinity. Feelies were a special thing that all Infocom games had, but maybe you alreay know this in which case, I feel stupid. But if you don't have them and you'd like to see what Trinity's feelies were, you can get them here: :-)
(warning: no spoilers, but huge graphics)
Trinity feelies.
The map at the bottom will be helpful later in the game, and the sundial's neat.
Furry cows moo and decompress.
The subject line of the previous post by me is in error because I wrote it before I noticed that the page you originally linked to had a link to Invisiclues already there.
Furry cows moo and decompress.
I have a switch in my apartment that doesn't do anything. Every once
in a while I turn it on and off. On and off. On and off. One day I
got a call from a woman in France who said "Cut it out!"
-- Steven Wright
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