I watched the mini series and I really liked it. But what really bugged me was the stupid plot surrounding the android Number 6. The Cylons have vastly superior technology and a huge army, but to destroy the human race they create a sexy blonde android that seduces our best programmer. Sheesh. Almost made me stop watching there and then.
"My first PDA was the HP 95 LX, the very first palmtop computer featuring 256KB of RAM and DOS 3.22! In fact, this was the first true PDA released to the market, capable of doing more than just the super-sized electronic organizers."
The HP 95 LX was (as far as I can tell) released in 1991. PDAs had been along for a long time by then. I own two Atari Portfolios (80C88 @ 5 MHz, 128 kB RAM, DOS 2.11, released in 1989) myself, but there are even older ones, like the Psion Organiser 1 from 1984.
We were hoping for a few more original entries, but the rules do state that you're allowed to submit previous work... But with games being submitted every day, it looks like we might even beat last year's 63 entries.
> ** Floppy/IDE Interface
> In the initial release these interfaces will not have any support
> software (with the exception of 1581 emulation), it is hoped that :
> Translation: You'll only be able to use the 3.5 floppy drive
> emulation...and we couldn't get anything else to work with it...we
> hope you can write the software...
I'd just like to point out that I've started writing IDE routines for the C1. Low level routines are done, basic FAT32 support is there, and I'm currently adding FAT16. ATAPI + ISO 9660 is probably up next, so that it'll be possible to boot from CD-ROM as well.
As there is only 3k of space in the boot rom these routines are fairly specialized, but the source is open and it shouldn't be too much work to make a real driver out of it.
You don't have to use the 65816 or the CPU slot at all, you can implement a CPU core in the FPGA if you want to. In fact, the C1 boots with a 6502 core in the 1k30, and the 65816 isn't started until the 1k100 is configured.
Maurice Randall is working on the next version of GEOS, but the main target is C64s with SuperCPU accelerators (20 MHz 65816 cartridge). The C1 is similar enough that it should run unmodified, but it might not take advantage of the new graphics modes.
The biggest problem, if you ask me, is that the C1 doesn't come with a nice case. A generic PC case just won't do it justice. I can't say I'm much for the neon lights and crap that PC modders seem to like these days either.
Yes, emulators (especially VICE) emulate the C64 almost perfectly. Yes, an old breadbox is only one tenth of the price on eBay. But the C1 is neither.
If you've ever worked with the real hardware you'll know that emulators can't replace the real deal. They're great development tools, and they're great for playing games when the boss isn't watching, but just as MAME is not a dedicated Galaga cabinet, VICE is not a real C= machine.
So why not just get a breadbox on eBay then? Well, I suggest that you do, it's an excellent machine. But then you'll also need to buy a 1541 disk drive to run games and demos. If you want to transfer software to or from the system you'll also need an X1541 cable or a 3.5" disk drive. And don't forget an S-video monitor, as you can't use a normal VGA monitor.
The C1 makes it possible to use common PC hardware like VGA monitors and IDE drives. It has 20 times the CPU power and 512 times the RAM, which is great for us that actually use the machine for things like coding (assemble and test in less than 1 second, sweet). Another important point is that when the original C= hardware starts to disintegrate, the C1 will still be there, as it's all just VHDL code.
This is not a machine for everyone, but there's certainly a market for it. There are still a lot of active C= users in the world, more than you'd think.
As I mainly write C for my C= machines (C64, C128, and Plus/4), would this book be of any use to me or is it mainly aimed at larger platforms? So far I've just been looking at the generated assembly code.
cc65 is an ANSI C compiler for 6502 machines. It's sweet.
The DivX crew didn't actually write the 3.11 codec, they simply hacked Microsofts MPEG4-based codec for asf, made it fit into avi's, and called it DivX;-).
Perhaps they just thought it was simpler to port to a new OS on the same hardware architecture, compared to porting to a new OS and a new hardware architecture. Consider the Linux port as half a Mac port and everything's dandy:)
I can't see any major improvements over 1.1, so why the version jump? Although it's nice that they're keeping a steady release schedule.
And I wonder if they're ever going to do anything about the memory footprint. Together with Windows 2000's awful VM handling, I'm in swap city every time I copy a large file, having to wait more than 30 seconds for my Mozilla window to be swapped back in.
Does it work with sun4u-solaris now?
on
GCC 3.2 Released
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· Score: 1
So is it stable under sun4u-solaris now? I've tried 3.0.1, my colleague tried 3.1, and we both had the same problem on our ultrasparc machines: it generates binaries that dies for no particular reason with segfaults and whatnots. Everything is dandy with 2.95.3.
Umm, well, actually, some of us are working on networked games running on the C64... As for emulators being cheaper, I don't there's much of a difference: C64s and disk drives can be had for less than the cost of an internet connection. Hacking the old hardware is immensely more satisfying than playing around in an emulator.
Just because newer computers are more capable doesn't mean that they are more fun. 8 bits is all you need.
Acutally, it's not a problem, all you need is a 32K ram expansion and an RS-232 interface. The VIC-20 has got just as much CPU power as the C64, and it runs an earlier version of the same operating system, so a port is actually possible.
Slashdot Mirror
I watched the mini series and I really liked it. But what really bugged me was the stupid plot surrounding the android Number 6. The Cylons have vastly superior technology and a huge army, but to destroy the human race they create a sexy blonde android that seduces our best programmer. Sheesh. Almost made me stop watching there and then.
Was that the sound of the personal firewall market dying?
OJ Simpson made more sense than this guy. What the hell is he trying to say?
No, they've been allowed every year.
We were hoping for a few more original entries, but the rules do state that you're allowed to submit previous work... But with games being submitted every day, it looks like we might even beat last year's 63 entries.
So now even terrorists using a fake name won't be able to get into the US!
Is there no quicktime webcast this time around? Zoning out in front of Jobs sure beats working ;)
So when will we see it here in Europe?
As there is only 3k of space in the boot rom these routines are fairly specialized, but the source is open and it shouldn't be too much work to make a real driver out of it.
WTF, the guy just cut'n'pasted my message on rgvac...
You don't have to use the 65816 or the CPU slot at all, you can implement a CPU core in the FPGA if you want to. In fact, the C1 boots with a 6502 core in the 1k30, and the 65816 isn't started until the 1k100 is configured.
Maurice Randall is working on the next version of GEOS, but the main target is C64s with SuperCPU accelerators (20 MHz 65816 cartridge). The C1 is similar enough that it should run unmodified, but it might not take advantage of the new graphics modes.
The biggest problem, if you ask me, is that the C1 doesn't come with a nice case. A generic PC case just won't do it justice. I can't say I'm much for the neon lights and crap that PC modders seem to like these days either.
So, where do I find a good case for it?
The C1 is basically just two FPGAs and a CPU slot that boots from flash. Pick up a good book on VHDL and get to work :)
Yes, emulators (especially VICE) emulate the C64 almost perfectly. Yes, an old breadbox is only one tenth of the price on eBay. But the C1 is neither.
If you've ever worked with the real hardware you'll know that emulators can't replace the real deal. They're great development tools, and they're great for playing games when the boss isn't watching, but just as MAME is not a dedicated Galaga cabinet, VICE is not a real C= machine.
So why not just get a breadbox on eBay then? Well, I suggest that you do, it's an excellent machine. But then you'll also need to buy a 1541 disk drive to run games and demos. If you want to transfer software to or from the system you'll also need an X1541 cable or a 3.5" disk drive. And don't forget an S-video monitor, as you can't use a normal VGA monitor.
The C1 makes it possible to use common PC hardware like VGA monitors and IDE drives. It has 20 times the CPU power and 512 times the RAM, which is great for us that actually use the machine for things like coding (assemble and test in less than 1 second, sweet). Another important point is that when the original C= hardware starts to disintegrate, the C1 will still be there, as it's all just VHDL code.
This is not a machine for everyone, but there's certainly a market for it. There are still a lot of active C= users in the world, more than you'd think.
cc65 is an ANSI C compiler for 6502 machines. It's sweet.
The DivX crew didn't actually write the 3.11 codec, they simply hacked Microsofts MPEG4-based codec for asf, made it fit into avi's, and called it DivX ;-).
Perhaps they just thought it was simpler to port to a new OS on the same hardware architecture, compared to porting to a new OS and a new hardware architecture. Consider the Linux port as half a Mac port and everything's dandy :)
I can't see any major improvements over 1.1, so why the version jump? Although it's nice that they're keeping a steady release schedule.
And I wonder if they're ever going to do anything about the memory footprint. Together with Windows 2000's awful VM handling, I'm in swap city every time I copy a large file, having to wait more than 30 seconds for my Mozilla window to be swapped back in.
So is it stable under sun4u-solaris now? I've tried 3.0.1, my colleague tried 3.1, and we both had the same problem on our ultrasparc machines: it generates binaries that dies for no particular reason with segfaults and whatnots. Everything is dandy with 2.95.3.
So no crash yet? That's great! :)
Umm, well, actually, some of us are working on networked games running on the C64... As for emulators being cheaper, I don't there's much of a difference: C64s and disk drives can be had for less than the cost of an internet connection. Hacking the old hardware is immensely more satisfying than playing around in an emulator.
Just because newer computers are more capable doesn't mean that they are more fun. 8 bits is all you need.
Acutally, it's not a problem, all you need is a 32K ram expansion and an RS-232 interface. The VIC-20 has got just as much CPU power as the C64, and it runs an earlier version of the same operating system, so a port is actually possible.
But how else is he going to know if the web server is stable? :) Slashdot is the ultimate stress test.