4 ms·

Possibly my favorite part of the entire post comes from the comments at the bottom. Apparently some radio stations used to broadcast software--you'd just record

Possibly my favorite part of the entire post comes from the comments at the bottom. Apparently some radio stations used to broadcast software--you'd just record it onto a tape and then load it with your C64 (or other computer with a tape drive)! What a fantastic world I missed out on by being born a decade late!

andrewchambers 11y ago
Yeah, now you are stuck with the crappy option of downloading code over the internet.
- branchless 11y ago
  From a traceability perspective radio broadcasts are superior. A sort of anonymous multicast.
- rawTruthHurts 11y ago
  I don't think it's that crappy. Is it?
  - andrewchambers 11y ago
    Your sarcasm detector needs recalibration.
    - rawTruthHurts 11y ago
      Sorry, boy, it's yours ;)
yodsanklai 11y ago
Little story about the tape drive. I remember that my tape drive was a bit defective. Somehow, some games wouldn't work because the signal wasn't loud enough. My neighbor who was an engineer helped me with that. He added a jack connector to the drive in order to plug a headphone. Then there was a screw that could be adjusted in order to get a better signal. I had to tweak for a while to optimize the signal and finally be able to run my game. The C64 also had a big transformer on the floor that I used to warm my feet in the winter. I think I was 8-9 at the time. Eventually, I got the floppy drive who was quite big. We called it the "shoe box". But it was quite an improvement over the tape.
- bgroins 11y ago
  Yes, going from a tape drive to the good ole 1541 was like night and day. Incredibly reliable device. I can't say the same thing for C=64 power supplies though.
  - thwarted 11y ago
    Incredibly reliable device You never had to adjust the alignment of stepper motor in the 1541? The drive would "get out of alignment" because the copy protection on the commercial games would jam the head in the extreme edges of the drive. This was where all the noise the drive made while loading copy protected games came from. It's true that the device was generally highly reliable, but the user groups I attended had learn-to-align-your-1541 lessons regularly.

andrewchambers 11y ago

Yeah, now you are stuck with the crappy option of downloading code over the internet.

branchless 11y ago
From a traceability perspective radio broadcasts are superior. A sort of anonymous multicast.
rawTruthHurts 11y ago
I don't think it's that crappy. Is it?
- andrewchambers 11y ago
  Your sarcasm detector needs recalibration.
  - rawTruthHurts 11y ago
    Sorry, boy, it's yours ;)

yodsanklai 11y ago

Little story about the tape drive. I remember that my tape drive was a bit defective. Somehow, some games wouldn't work because the signal wasn't loud enough. My neighbor who was an engineer helped me with that. He added a jack connector to the drive in order to plug a headphone. Then there was a screw that could be adjusted in order to get a better signal. I had to tweak for a while to optimize the signal and finally be able to run my game. The C64 also had a big transformer on the floor that I used to warm my feet in the winter. I think I was 8-9 at the time. Eventually, I got the floppy drive who was quite big. We called it the "shoe box". But it was quite an improvement over the tape.

bgroins 11y ago
Yes, going from a tape drive to the good ole 1541 was like night and day. Incredibly reliable device. I can't say the same thing for C=64 power supplies though.
- thwarted 11y ago
  Incredibly reliable device You never had to adjust the alignment of stepper motor in the 1541? The drive would "get out of alignment" because the copy protection on the commercial games would jam the head in the extreme edges of the drive. This was where all the noise the drive made while loading copy protected games came from. It's true that the device was generally highly reliable, but the user groups I attended had learn-to-align-your-1541 lessons regularly.