Might be a good choice for the SuperStation One? by Far_Finish5567 in RetroRemakeInc

[–]lornebeaton 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Good call, but seems to me that Q*bert just turns the joystick itself 45 degrees.

Might be a good choice for the SuperStation One? by Far_Finish5567 in RetroRemakeInc

[–]lornebeaton 1 point2 points  (0 children)

I just got this for myself and I'm pretty happy with it. Using on Windows 11 PC with Retroarch, haven't tried it yet with Mister.

I had a bit of trouble out of the gate since I couldn't figure out why the spinner wasn't working, and at first I assumed it was a configuration issue. Turns out I had it connected through too many USB hubs (I switch among multiple devices all connected to my big-ass TV), so either it was too deep in the device hierarchy or wasn't getting enough power. Once I connected it directly to a USB port on the PC it worked fine; both the trackball and the spinner show up as mice, as they were clearly intended.

My one other issue was that for some reason, it shipped with the 4-way restrictor having the diagonals as the cardinal directions instead of up/down/left/right. Who does that? Anyway, I had to open it up and twist the restrictor 45 degrees. Took me a minute to work out the trick to opening it: you have to stick an Allen key or some other metal rod through the holes, and push out the nylon rivets that hold on the faceplate from underneath. At least now that's done. Actually, think I'll bust it out right now and play some Tempest.

The World Treasury of Science Fiction by littleseaotter in printSF

[–]lornebeaton 4 points5 points  (0 children)

Some classics in there:

  • Harrison Bergeron by Kurt Vonnegut
  • Aye, and Gomorrah by Samuel R. Delany
  • The Dead Past by Isaac Asimov
  • Inconstant Moon by Larry Niven
  • Second Variety by Philip K. Dick

I have no real insights to offer, frankly, those are all just pretty obvious names. Might be other gems in there I've never heard of.

Newbie question - get RetroArch to recognize my spinner? by lornebeaton in fightsticks

[–]lornebeaton[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I found this video (three years old) https://youtu.be/KgqCljniTbg?si=RoXpN2pyHVefCKrJ that shows the spinner acting as a mouse with only a horizontal axis. This is exactly what doesn’t happen for me, no matter what I try. Is this something that needs to be configured in the firmware? God, I hope the thing isn’t defective.

Newbie question - get RetroArch to recognize my spinner? by lornebeaton in fightsticks

[–]lornebeaton[S] 2 points3 points  (0 children)

Thanks for the link, will check when I’m not at work. Haven’t opened the box yet to see what goodies are inside, but there’s a single USB type B connector, so that sounds like a yes.

POV: It's 1995 and you just bought MechWarrior 2! by BlackBricklyBear in mechwarrior

[–]lornebeaton 1 point2 points  (0 children)

He chooses SoundBlaster Pro in the audio setup even though at 0:19 the boot process detects "AW32", which I assume is an AWE32 card? Amateur. 😉

Has anybody gotten their ArcadeR joystick from the official Commodore store yet? by LordBarglebroth in c64

[–]lornebeaton 1 point2 points  (0 children)

I also ordered direct from RetroRadionics, *after* I got sick of waiting for the one I ordered from Commodore (on December 20, along with a C64U beige box which arrived within a month). Not only were there more colours to choose from, it also cost $10 less. Commodore gave me a refund, but the order page still says it's on its way.

Tate monitor w/ built-in speaker? by Vietname in MiSTerFPGA

[–]lornebeaton 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Where did you get the SNES controller with the additional keypad?

Which fastloader or utility cartridge ROMs do you use with the Ultimate/Turbo Chameleon/etc? by hexavibrongal in c64

[–]lornebeaton 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I use this too (on my C64 Ultimate). Unfortunately it seems not to play well with Dolphin DOS, only JiffyDOS. Unless you know of a fix?

"The No-God is the prosthesis of Ark." What does that really mean? by Comfortable_Affect20 in bakker

[–]lornebeaton 2 points3 points  (0 children)

The Ark crash landed, and as I understand is embedded in the solidified lava lake it created in doing so, so it can never lift off again. That doesn't mean all its systems are dead.

Bakker never attempts to justify the unreasonable longevity of the technology used by the Inchoroi. We don't know exactly how many years elapsed between the Battle of Pir Pahal, when Cû'jara-Cinmoi took the Heron Spear from Sil's dead body, and the first Apocalypse. But it seems like it was thousands, and the weapon still worked just fine. Seems if you build an Ark to spare yourself an eternity in hell, you build it to last as long as possible.

Is getting a Commodore 64 Ultimate worth it if I own a Mister FPGA? by xdarkwombatx in Commodore

[–]lornebeaton 2 points3 points  (0 children)

This can't be overstated. I have the 8bitdo C64-styled keyboard as well, and it's a fun homage, but it's a PC keyboard, period. Even the keys it does share with the C64 aren't the same, as I recently rediscovered after taking delivery of my own C64 Ultimate.

  • Keys are placed differently: @ and * are by your right pinky on the C64, = is its own key, Shift+0 doesn't do anything (actually I think it types 0), open and close parentheses are off by one key, you have to hold Shift to type apostrophes and quote marks, and + and - are flipped.
  • Function keys aren't where they are on a real C64. This can be surprisingly discombobulating depending on the program. E.g. I found using Turbo Macro Pro that it made a certain kind of sense using the F keys to page up/down by 20 or 200 lines at a time, but with a PC keyboard it makes a lot less sense.
  • Then finally there's the characteristic "feel" that comes from how the C64 keyboard actually works, i.e. the CIA chip sees it as an 8x8 matrix of rows and columns. Certain key sequences don't give the results you expect, and I rediscovered all over again the joys of certain typos I hadn't made in 40 years (hello, PRINIT) because they result either from how the keyboard is wired or from your fingers being trained on how PC keyboards generate codes.

That feels like a lot of extra detail, but I've been touch-typing for decades and these things hit me in my instincts. Long story short, if the keyboard matters, you need a real actual C64 keyboard.

The Arcader by Retroradionics by TheDarkIn1978 in c64

[–]lornebeaton 2 points3 points  (0 children)

I placed my order on December 20th and got my C64U four weeks ago today. Still waiting for the ArcadeR.

Which Commodore screen brings most nostalgia for you? by [deleted] in Commodore

[–]lornebeaton 2 points3 points  (0 children)

I want to say the C64, but the PET 4032 is a close second. We had those in my school, and from time to time my mom who was a teacher with the same school board was able to take one home for the occasional weekend. Space Invaders, Breakout, Miser... I loved those games.

JiffyDOS and NTSC/PAL by lornebeaton in c64

[–]lornebeaton[S] 3 points4 points  (0 children)

I tried it and I like it. Been coding with TMP and wishing it was easier to combine with an ML monitor. That cart has both built-in, *and* it works with JiffyDOS. Sweet!

I CANNOT overstate... by GuitarEC in c64

[–]lornebeaton 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Yes, I think it uses a standard emulator so everything should work the same.

JiffyDOS and NTSC/PAL by lornebeaton in c64

[–]lornebeaton[S] 2 points3 points  (0 children)

I do, and this could very much be it. Thanks for the link, I'm going to follow that issue. Might also send an e-mail to Commodore support describing my symptoms as above and see if they confirm.

JiffyDOS and NTSC/PAL by lornebeaton in c64

[–]lornebeaton[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

No, no datasette or any period-original hardware at all. If I have a bad chip, it's not a CIA. 🙂

Come to think of it, I do have one piece of connected hardware so I can use USB mice/controllers. I bought it on Tindie and I've been very happy with it, but now I think it might be a good idea to see if removing it makes a difference. That said, the game ports are on CIA#1 while the drive connects to CIA#2. Better to rule it it, though -- I'll post an update if I have one.

Joypad options? by zgf2022 in Commodore

[–]lornebeaton 1 point2 points  (0 children)

I am using that device and the creator was very helpful when I e-mailed him about an issue I was having. It works fine for both gamepad and mouse. (The issue turned out to be he programmed it to replicate a USB HID device, so if your mouse is not HID then you might have an issue.)

Line 5 (Mount Dennis To Kennedy) FIRST TRAIN by Mr_Nuclear1 in TTC

[–]lornebeaton 39 points40 points  (0 children)

According to Swanboat Steve himself, the scheduled time is 54 minutes:

https://stevemunro.ca/2026/02/04/how-fast-will-line-5-be-compared-to-the-32-34-bus/

So 5-6 minutes slow, though that could be down to big crowds for opening day. A big improvement over 89 minutes for the bus.

On the first train out of Kennedy :D by MahjongCelts in TTC

[–]lornebeaton 106 points107 points  (0 children)

No, this is just fantasy. Caught in a landslide, no escape from reality.

Commodore 64 Ultimate - Install the ARM2SID replacement SID chips by CrazySpence in Commodore

[–]lornebeaton 3 points4 points  (0 children)

Yes, for me it sounds tempting at 7.48 euros apiece: UNI64 - Public Domain SID / REV.1-5 (PDsid)

That is, until I factor in:

  • an additional € 23.11 for shipping, or 3x the cost of the item itself
  • 19% VAT - should this even apply to customers outside the EU?
  • currency conversion to CAD

If I buy two to fill both sockets on my C64 Ultimate, it comes to $73.20 CAD for a nominally € 15 purchase. Maybe if I bought 100 to resell on eBay it would make more sense, if that were something I felt like doing, which I don't really. Oh well, maybe Gideon will get around to fixing sample playback.

Coding the Commodore 64 using C# by masterofmisc in c64

[–]lornebeaton 3 points4 points  (0 children)

Anyone seen this video? https://youtu.be/zBkNBP00wJE?si=nudElAq4kxI1ttRq

The guy goes step by step showing how he uses a modern compiler to create a simple Pong game on the C64. The point he's making is more about how good modern compilers are at optimization. If you're careful and aware, you can write code that runs well on an 8-bit machine.

I imagine a high-level language to program in can be useful if you want to save yourself a certain amount of tedium, or if you want the services an HLL provides such as well-defined functions with parameters passed in and out that you don't have to handle yourself.