Post by xlar54 on Jun 8, 2006 1:25:27 GMT -5
Was wondering what you guys code for these days on the 8-bits. I fail to see these machines are uselss, but certainly the landscape has changed.
I had hacked away at VICE to put C-Net 64 on the Internet, and that was fun, but 300 baud (the best I could get out of the VICE RS232 code) made it a one-time-login nostalgia trip. Right now Im tinkering with a windows service to replace tcpserj, then maybe some internet applications (text browser, ftp, irc) for the 128, and then afterwards, maybe start looking into GEOS coding.
What Im still amazed at though, is that age doesnt always = more knowledge. The 64 and 128 can STILL surprise me in how they work. Assembly today is just as challenging as it was back then, and it makes you appreciate the tools you have now (CC65), and the folks who made them. Part of me wishes I had only coded in assembly, and never ever touched the BASIC interpreter to begin with.
Honestly I can say that I have not had as much fun coding as I have recently with the above mentioned projects. Somewhere down the line a hobby became a career, and lost its fun. I do C# by day, but Im always thinking about that annoying bug in my home Commodore project. Alot of it is really due to folks like Jeff and Jim Brain, and those who have kept telnet BBSs running. When I found an Image BBS running on the internet, and stumbled into these forums, a part of me woke up that hasnt been there in quite awhile. In no time, I was buying hardware from ebay (thanks Payton!) and building an interface. Then to read some of the other projects going on...its pretty awesome.
Anyways, enough late night ramblings. It all started with the fun in coding, and these guys have helped bring that back. Do we need to do "practical coding" on the 64 or 128 anymore? Nah. MS Word beats Word Writer 128, hands down, but being that I have a career in writing code for businesses, I KNOW the folks at Microsoft arent having NEAR as much fun as we are.
I had hacked away at VICE to put C-Net 64 on the Internet, and that was fun, but 300 baud (the best I could get out of the VICE RS232 code) made it a one-time-login nostalgia trip. Right now Im tinkering with a windows service to replace tcpserj, then maybe some internet applications (text browser, ftp, irc) for the 128, and then afterwards, maybe start looking into GEOS coding.
What Im still amazed at though, is that age doesnt always = more knowledge. The 64 and 128 can STILL surprise me in how they work. Assembly today is just as challenging as it was back then, and it makes you appreciate the tools you have now (CC65), and the folks who made them. Part of me wishes I had only coded in assembly, and never ever touched the BASIC interpreter to begin with.
Honestly I can say that I have not had as much fun coding as I have recently with the above mentioned projects. Somewhere down the line a hobby became a career, and lost its fun. I do C# by day, but Im always thinking about that annoying bug in my home Commodore project. Alot of it is really due to folks like Jeff and Jim Brain, and those who have kept telnet BBSs running. When I found an Image BBS running on the internet, and stumbled into these forums, a part of me woke up that hasnt been there in quite awhile. In no time, I was buying hardware from ebay (thanks Payton!) and building an interface. Then to read some of the other projects going on...its pretty awesome.
Anyways, enough late night ramblings. It all started with the fun in coding, and these guys have helped bring that back. Do we need to do "practical coding" on the 64 or 128 anymore? Nah. MS Word beats Word Writer 128, hands down, but being that I have a career in writing code for businesses, I KNOW the folks at Microsoft arent having NEAR as much fun as we are.