Re: Projects that take Commodore computers to 2021

From: Claudio Sánchez <tokafondo_at_gmail.com>
Date: Mon, 13 Dec 2021 18:44:00 +0000
Message-ID: <3b037bd8-1b12-69c2-a8ce-14a3deccd452_at_gmail.com>
El 13/12/2021 a las 2:58, Marc Rintsch escribió:
> On 12.12.21 13:11, Claudio Sánchez wrote:
>> Hi all. There are many projects that use modern technology to interface Commodore computers.
>>
>> And many if not most of them fall in two categories:
>> - Those that try to recreate chips as substitution
>> - Those that emulate classic storage devices
>>
>> But what about making the Commodore computers work as if they were computers of 2021?
> 
> It's more work and would not just need hardware but also the software to use it.  And preferably not just one application but all the stuff that makes using the computer interesting.  Because such a project wouldn't work well with all the existing software.

Well.. that's what this thread is about: working with new software, breaking compatibility with classic software. Forget about standar kernal routines.

> 
>> The storage devices emulators try to replicate how a 1541 drive works, so the user will have a small flash memory drive filled with disk image files of 1541 disks. And that mean PRG, SEQ, REL files. But what about a FAT file system implementation and software like a text editor that would write TXT files?
> 
> Text files in what encoding?  PETSCII?  Or limited to ASCII?

Encoding is just a matter of software, isnt't it?

> 
>> Or a 'paint' program that would write BMP files?
> 
> Writing BMP isn't that much of a problem given the program doesn't use compression or the hardware allows seeking or you prepare the complete file in memory.  But then the user might think it should also be possible to read BMP files.  Then the the program has to deal with the restrictions of the commodore hardware.  Maximum sizes, fixed color palettes, restrictions like how many colors can be in a ”tile”, severely non-square pixels, limited RAM, and so on.
> 
> https://www.godot64.de/ is a software that can save BMP on regular C64 hardware.  Can't load it, but some other PC formats like PCX and GIF can be loaded.
> 
>> Or a database program that would write DBF files?
> 
> I thought we are talking about „as if they were computers of 2021“. ;-)
> 
> So I would expect no less than Sqlite3 database files.

sqlite3.prg ???

> 
> Ciao,
>      Marc 'BlackJack' Rintsch


Anyway, those only were examples of what could be done.
Received on 2021-12-13 20:08:36

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