I Am The C-64: Tutorial Series, Volumes 1-3
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- čas přidán 31. 07. 2024
- We take a look at the "I Am The C-64" tutorial software, volumes 1-3, which covers some of the abilities of the Commodore 64, and gives an introduction to the use of the keyboard and to the BASIC programming language. It was created by the Palhokes back in 1983, and published by Creative Software in 1984, who claimed it was their #1 bestseller for over 18 months.
I cover Volumes 4-6 here: • I Am The C-64: Advance...
Raw C-64 capture of all 6 volumes on 8BST2: • I Am The C-64: Tutoria...
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End credits music by bedfordlevelexperiment.bandca...
Index:
0:00 Intro: A look at the packaging
1:55 Inside the case
6:07 Booting "I Am The C-64"
7:15 Vol. 1: Overall Introduction to the C-64
16:04 Vol. 2: Introduction to the Keyboard
24:38 Vol. 3: Introduction to the BASIC programming language
36:48 Vol. 4... next time!
38:01 Thanks! - Věda a technologie
Who else wants to be 14 years old in the year 1984, with a clear weekend to spend on learning the C64 and no worries about the future?
I was 13 in 1984, with that same clear weekend and no worries. If I can ever get my flux capacitor working properly, I AM SO going back!
@@deraykrause4517 Be sure and swing by my place on the way. ; )
I was 11 and I want to be 11 years old again in 1984... Or even 48 years old in 1984, I don’t care :) Just get me out of this era, I feel like an alien in this collective insane asylum, they call the 21st century.
@@CallousCoder yup the world truly went downhill after 911.
@@spearPYN overhere in europe we went downhill since then early 90s, but yeah 911 did expedite things for the worse.
While this software is not perfect by any means, I find it very endearing. I can imagine a kid getting his first computer + this software kit and spending hours being completely amazed by what you can do. It warms my heart. :)
Excellent work. Can't wait for part 2.
I Love your work on these videos! I got a C64 for Xmas in 1985 with the disc drive and monitor. I was ready to be like Matthew Broderick in Wargames! Luckily I lived in the DFW metroplex, in the city of Hurst, and I had friends in all directions and back, where I moved from, and would often visit, on Long Island who had C64 computers and loads of copied games. I had hundreds of games in no time. I did learn a very little bit of BASIC. We had a class in Elementary school and maybe even Jr High that would teach a few tricks... I only learned how to make Menus and Choose your own Adventure story programs by learning the if, goto, GOSUB... whatever commands. I believe you accomplished becoming the computer wizard I always wanted to be and these videos explaining how the magic happened are wonderful. Thank you
Very entertaining. Thank you. I can't wait for Part 2: 'Palhokes' Revenge' to come out.
Robin, thanks from an old commodore repair tech and salesperson from the 80s. I really enjoy your videos that go deep into the tech. Takes me back to a time when people interacted in person.
I find it curious how the box says it's written by the Palhokes, but the programs consistently say Paholkes instead. You'd think someone would have spotted that during those 18 months of it being a bestseller...
Reminds me of how _Captain Zapp_ (a slightly modified version of _Flash Gordon_ released after the company lost the license) was spelled as _Captain Zzap_ (yes, like the magazine!) in the actual in-game screens.
I enjoyed that charming little demo and your commentary.
Trolls & Tribulations is my favourite c64 game. You should check it out!
It is a classic with great music!
0:36 Looks like a big cassette case.
5:34 Like how Apple stuff is more expensive than Android stuff. The different customers are willing to pay different amounts for the same thing.
6:56 The DATA statements from line 236 to 290 are obviously machine language, with a heavy peppering of 169, 141, 192, 32, 96.
Because they are a step closer to a computer, and software for them can do useful things, unlike C64 overpriced toy.
That drive knock at the beginning of each volume...Holy Paholkes!
Love this stuff!
When you mentioned Break Street I had to go find a video of someone playing that. I used to have that game and it's interesting seeing it was made by a company that did a lot of productivity software too.
God, I love how much this program oversells the C64 and in some cases UNDERsells it. I would have been so excited to have this back in the day.
Being told how great the C64 was, and all the things it could be used for, makes it very clear how much we've moved on in just 40 years. Could anyone back then even imagine we'd be watching high definition videos on our home computers when 8 (per raster line) 24x21px sprites was an example of what they had to work with?
It's cool looking back to the past, but I'd never want to be stuck there.
Meanwhile, I'm watching this on my pocket super computer...
You're watching a video about something from 40 years ago, because it's more interesting than anything in your life at this moment.
@@customsongmaker Your comments have been noted, thanks.
The C64 teaches you one thing more than anything else - LOGIC. Without it, you're lost immediately.
Many politicians have lost ALL logic ... at least it seems to be ... GOD BEWARE ...
I used to be pretty pendantic about stuff like this, and for posterity, I think it's good to document the inaccuracies in this fashion... But it's important to consider the context as well, i.e. that we are probably not the original intended audience (or if we were, it would have been much earlier in our computing careers, before the internet, and before we learned what we know now). Still though, this was fun, and educational. Thanks for showing it. 👍🏻
This is exactly the sort of program I wrote for my parents to help them get more comfortable with the computer. I wonder if the Pahokees started out the same way and then somebody said "let's sell it"
34:49 Besides SpaceX there seems to be another reference into the future. "Consider this!" is a verse from Losing My Religion by REM
great video, this was a great program for kids in the 80's to get started with the C64, good old days of computing :o)
This “ninja” in the basic section reminds me of a sort of Clippy for the C64
I has an old dos game once who's quit function had Yes No and I don't know options. The "I don't know" option randomly picked between yes and no.
Well, you _can_ fiddle with sprite priority relative to the background, which has an effect on the relative priority of the sprites, so they're _technically_ correct...
I am the C64 sounds so epic haha
Sounds like something Walter White would say
I AM THE C64!!
32:00 Robin ... are you keeping up with your Commodore? Cause your Commodore is keeping up with you! 😜
"Oh, I guess that _was_ the Defender ship."
1:00 I picked up a copy of this but no box
3:05 I’m looking for the (cursor) key
4:06 I add “caring notice” to everything I do…
6:50 there’s the CTRL+2 ;-)
8:40 I’m imagining my Commodore folding laundry. Can it do that?
15:56 Umm, how did they do that?
30:20 I know the VIC-20 was his first computer, not sure if he had a 64
37:46 That red text at the top on a yellow background was a brave choice. Would be almost impossible to see through an RF converter to a TV from 1984
Floppies in a jewel case, what a concept. Well, I suppose it would discourage people from throwing the packaging away.
I have a copy of this too. It was an interesting and fun introduction back then. Mine came write protected and if I recall the copy protection is in the BASIC listing. It is some simple check for an error and if the disk is Write Protected. It was years ago is I am not 100% positive but it is easy to get around. Maybe you can check it out in the next video?
He basically broke the copy protection by putting it all on CZcams! I hope they’re not upset about that. 😜
I one day found something similar to this for the Vic-20. Larger form factor, like a big folder, but still just a tape or maybe two tapes inside with 100% Basic programs that I could have made myself. Not sure why I decided I wanted it. Maybe just because I had so very little in the way of "products" for the Vic-20.
A common practice was backing up a disk before using as running the program could write on the disk. If you can't copy the disk, make sure the read only tab is covering the notch. If a game saves a score or status, that is to the disk. The Commodore retains no data when off.
I appreciate the commentary. I want to know everything.
I don't know about you, but a jewel case for 5.25" floppies is something I'd really like!
It's interesting you called the insert / delete key the instant delete key. I have always called it instant delete instead of insert delete, Where did this come from?
I definitely had this but I don't at all remember the longbox-jewel case-style packaging.
This should have bee included with every C64, it makes programming so accessible. I really enjoyed your commentary, reminded of being a smart alec to the computer teacher in school - were you that kid, too?
I had a program just like this one, but it wasn't the same one. I can't remember anything else about it
Video eccellente,davvero bello.il C64 e' leggendario,numero1!
👍👍👍👍👍👍👍👍👍👍👍👍👍
Perhaps the robot is just a torso plugged into the back, and is speaking to us on behalf of the 64...
LMAO I had to try "GO TO" on my C64. It actually works. I've NEVER seen this before. LMAO
I guess it’s correct that shift-lock is not considered a special key in their approach as they metaphor is with a typewriter, which normally has that key. Although, for this logic, they should have also not highlighted the shift key…
Great video btw. Would love to give this a go but cant seem to find it anywhere all the csdb links appear to be down. Pity
7:22 - 7:24 ahh there's the machine gun sound effect of the 1541 disk drive
It claims that you can't hurt the computer by typing on it.
I was about to mention something, and then I remembered that it was the PET and not the C64.
This is simple stuff, but it could do kids good to learn this stuff these days, so thanks for going through this tedious stuff on a great old computer.
Something interesting to me, would be how to get the SID chip singing along with a few in tandem, if I could get maybe 6 of them into 3x C=64s that would be the extent of my musical performance abilities.
This was fun. Can you make a video on stacking spites? Thanks
Seems like they needed Robin to play test back in the day. ;)
How much does one of those go for nowadays? Can’t find them online.
This man's first hobby is being pedantic, SECOND is 8 bit computers.
I'm jelous... all items you have are in mint shape!
At 34:50: I take your point about NEXT alone suffices. However, in a programming language which lacks indentation, specifying what iterator variable we're NEXTing on improves legibility and aids comprehension. Espcecially for n00bs. For which this product and many manuals were created. Trading a little speed for clarity is sometimes legit.
I can only assume that had the C64 a faster FDD than the 1541, they might've charged as much as for the Apple version.
Well the 1541 is quite fast, as later speed loaders showed (without hardware changes!). I think Commodore didn't care about speed, so they didn't care about their mistakes...
20:43 - you said "instant delete"! Got you, lamer newb! Only took me a year to notice this.
Kind regards from a fellow pedant.
I think that package was created on a DEC VAX 750S for the COMMODORE C64.
Anyone know where I could download this? Would love to give it a try.
If you search csdb dot dk, there's a few cracks of it there.
@@8_Bit thanks, I’ll give that a try
👍👍👍
This is a bit embarrassing, but I just learned that you can put a space between GO and TO 😳
I think it's not very well known, and it's not really a good practice as it uses extra RAM and runs a bit slower than GOTO anyway. I've heard it was added for backwards compatibility because some older BASICs from the '60s or '70s insisted on GO TO being two words.
It's kind of amusing that in order to make use of this tutorial...you already have to know how to use the keyboard and commands enough to be able to load and run the program. :-) Kind of like the classic 'How to use your VCR"...on VHS. :-)
And ah, the old jumbo crystal cases. Sega Saturn wasn't the only one that made use of them....I have several Sega CD games that were in them, as well as a few original Playstation games (though PS games rather quickly abandoned the jumbo crystal cases for cardboard boxes, and then the now-standard audio-CD sized crystal cases). I think they were mainly used because they had the room for a larger instruction manual of similar size to the ones in their Genesis cartridge games...a trend returned to in the DVD era when things switched to larger cases again.
Obviously you'd hire a neighborhood kid to get it set up and running
👍🍺
There is a typo in the instruction sheet here at 5:03: czcams.com/video/Lw-pYyniNeM/video.html It says "Personal Musician - Turn your IBM PC or PCjr into a musicial instrucment." This is for Commodore 64, not IBM. Maybe they have a version for IBM as well.
I bet someone typed literally LOAD “VOLUME(space)(number desired)”,8 :D.
Why is the RESTORE button made so it doesn’t work unless you smash it?
I guess, so that you don't hit it accidentially?
I think that was due to a wrong resistor or capacitor or something on early boards. Later models don't have the problem.
I vaguely remember "edge triggered vs level triggered" it has to detect a sharp edge in the key press, if you press it down gently the edge is not sharp enough?
www.breadbox64.com/blog/c64-restore-mod/
Do you want to quit?
Are you sure you want to quit?
Are you ready to quit now?
No really, do you want to quit?
"to learn how to use the C64, load this disc" but in order to learn how to load a disc, i need the program to teach me how to load discs!
As you know 4711 is an arbitrary number :)
Only in Cologne, and the world around it... 😉😉😉
Am I to guess that the "fart" sound is the loadin' of the music?
8:41 NSFW
30:15 SpaceX ;-)))))))
Re: the "next " thing - the books might be teaching that way as it does improve readability a bit. BASIC is nasty-bad for readability when it's highly optimized, and that would make learning a lot harder.
In fact, in order to make my retro putterings easier, I wrote a simple (and probably terrible) perl script that lets me enter a BASIC program without line numbers (it uses labels instead) and with indentation and copious rem statements, and it automatically strips out the leading spaces and all REM statements, whilst numberizing it (it's two pass). This works well in conjunction with VICE, although would not be super-convenient on a real C64...although it wouldn't be too terrible to develop the whole program and debug on VICE, and then pass it on to a hardware C64 for final testing.
i literally just today made a simple web app to do just that, though it will keep the rem statements if you add them, it has its own comments that it strips out. i'm very proud of it :D
@@JargonIsMe - Oh, nice! Makes working in BASIC much less unpleasant when you don't have to worry about line numbers hehe
@@LordRenegrade yup, that's exactly why i created it. im trying to use it to make minesweeper for the pet because i think that'll be fun :)
08:55 or... _Hit any user to continue_ ;-)
16:14-16:15 Machine gun sound effect times 2
I am the Senate.
But who or what are "The Paholkes"?????
Out of work cowboys
Sounds like a vacation spot. "Hey Jim, you figure out what you're doing this summer?" "Yeah, the wife and I are gonna drive up to the Paholkes and take some skiing lessons."
Why is Apple II software generally more expensive than C64, strange they are both 8-bit machines.
I'd guess because Apple II owners were willing to pay more for their computers, they were also more willing (or able) to pay more for software as well? And the companies were happy to charge more.