[caption id="" align=“alignnone” width=“400”] My Sacred Diskettes[/caption] In 1986 (or was it 1987?) I got my first computer, a Commodore 64. I started learning BASIC and during ‘87 and ‘88 I created some very simple games. Somewhere in ‘88 I started learning assembly language ( machine language to be precise), but I don’t recall coding any game using this language. If so, it must have probably been due to the fact that I lacked a good monitor. Somewhere in 1989, I switched to the Commodore 128. Whereas I continued creating games using BASIC, I also started coding some games in assembly language, profiting from the built-in C128 monitor, which was pretty decent. In 1990 I started coding intros, doing some trainers, and re-cracking some games for a local computer shop (SADOI). And I kept doing that until 1992. I stored all that sacred info (my games, intros, re-cracks, trainers) in my diskettes. At the time, my diskettes were my most valuable possession.

As a kid, I always avoided the Drean Commodore. I didn’t like them because they were not compatible with the NTSC software. As an adult, I really wanted one basically because I’m from Argentina, and the Drean was produced in Argentina. And I want to make sure that all the software that I develop works on a Drean. And in my lastest trip to Argentina I was able to get one :-) The condition of the computer is Ok, neither great nor terrible. It works, although I need to do more tests. Here are some photos:

A few weeks ago, we, the Pungas de Villa Martelli, released “¡Arriba las Manos!”, a music disk for the Commodore 64. It includes ten 8-bit songs, an animated hi-res graphic, an easter-egg, and you can control it with a joystick, or a mouse or the keyboard! Not even Apple puts so much love in the UX like us (the future is the c64!) ...

I like Fritzing. I think it is great for small projects and it is very easy to use. But it has its limitations when creating the PCB, mostly because its component library is not very complete. Eagle, on the other hand, is more difficult to use. But its component library is very polished. Also, companies like Adafruit and SparkFun create components for Eagle, so that is a big plus if you purchase components from them. So, I re-wrote the schematic again in Eagle, and then created this PCB:

UniJoystiCle v0.2 coming soon. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4d8Ow-SmCmM Changes in v0.2: [NEW] - ESP8266 device: supports 2 joysticks (uses three 4066 ICs instead of two [NEW] - ESP8266 firmware uses AP mode by default. Uses SSID “unijosyticle” + last 2 bytes of mac address [NEW] - iOS Client: Can be configured to use either joystick port [NEW] - iOS Client: Auto-discover ESP8266 firmware using mDNS [NEW] - iOS Client: UniJoystiCle mode also supports up, down and fire (jump) [FIX] - Name: Renamed project from Uni-Joysti-Cle to UniJoystiCle (easier to search, shorter to type) [FIX] - ESP8266 device: replaced NodeMCU LoLin with NodeMCU Amica [FIX] - Sophisticated Glue Material: Uses gaffer tape, instead of duct tape

Download: Mac: vchar64-0.0.13.mac.dmg Win32: vchar64-0.0.13.win32.zip Source code: https://github.com/ricardoquesada/vchar64 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lb7UNIhoyoI Changelog:

The Uni-Joysti-Cle™: The first and only solution to play Commodore 64 video games with your unicycle. Unique immersive experience, much better than VR. It consists of five beautifully designed parts: The Uni Games video game for the Commodore 64 The Uni-Joysti-Cle™ WiFi receiver, and its firmware The Uni-Joysti-Cle™ smartphone application A unicycle Sophisticated glue material Find all the information about this revolutionary device here: /unijoysticle/ ...

…or How to use a 64-bit machine to control a Commodore 64. No schematics or PCBs yet. But at least I have the materials that I’m using: One Lolin NodeMCU (should work with any other ESP8266 that have at least five GPIOs) Two 4066 ICs. I’m using this one. …and this is the software that I’m using both for the NodeMCU firmware and the iOS client: ...

Today was the premier of the Growing the 8 Bit Generation movie at the Computer History Museum. Great documentary about the 8-bit computers, focused on Commodore although it talks about Apple, Sinclair and Atari as well. Chuck Peddle, Bil Herd, Leonard Tramiel were there. And Jeri Ellsworth was there too. I went with my Commodore mug and I was able to to get Jeri’s and Bil’s autographs. Yeah!

Requirements for the c64 controller A micro-controller. I doesn’t need to be very powerful, just powerful enough to handle some UDP connections and configuring some GPIOs. Flash-able firmware: If possible with support for Arduino IDE (or similar). C++ preferred. Micropython could be a nice backup plan. WiFi Some GPIOs Which module to choose There many alternatives, and these are the ones that I evaluated: Arduino + WiFi shield or ESP8266: This is the first option that I evaluated thanks to different suggestions. But since the ESP8266 already comes with a flash-able firmware, there was no need to use the Arduino part. I discarded this option, but I liked the ESP8266 part. Adafruit Huzzah breakout ($9.95) / Adafruit Feather Huzzah ($15.95): An ESP8266 based module. I like Adafruit products since they are very well tested, they give you support, have very good documentation. But they are usually on the pricy side. All ESP8266 boards are supported by the Arduino IDE which is a very good thing. (I ordered one Feather Huzzah). SparkFun ESP8266 Thing ($15.95): Similar to the Feather Huzzah. NodeMCU (~$4.00): Very similar too Adafruit Huzzah and SparkFun ESP8266 Thing. I’m not sure who built the first module (Adafruit, SparkFun or NodeMCU), although I wouldn’t be surprised if NodeMCU was the first one. There is a lot of innovation in China in this area. NodeMCU comes with a firmware that supports Lua, which is nice for faster development. You should know that the Lua firmware could be installed in the other modules as well, and you can run C++ firmwares on NodeMCU as well. There are three different NodeMCU brands: Amica: Which seems to be the official one, although I didn’t know this when I decided to buy the LoLin. LoLin: It seems that it is no longer produced by WeMos. (I ordered one of this too). DOIT: I know nothing about it. Mini D1 (~$4.00): Another ESP8266-based module similar to the previous ones. It is produced by WeMos, the same as the NodeMCU LoLin. My theory is that WeMos realized that there was more money in trying to create their own ecosystem rather than just cloning NodeMCU. It has 11 GPIOs, instead of the 9 offered by Adafruit Huzzah, which is good (I ordered a few of this one too). There were other alternatives, like the SparkFun Particle Photon ($19.00), based on non-ESP8266 micro-controllers. They were a bit more powerful, but also more expensive. And don’t support the Arduino IDE. So, for the moment I discarded them.