Hello from a brand new enthusiast

Michael Westpy · Post by **Michael Westpy** » Wed Nov 02, 2022 4:28 pm

Good morning (afternoon, evening or night) you fine ladies and gentlemen,

Long short, like most of us here, my first computer was a C64. Sadly, I did not get the programming bug a lot of others had, instead I just ended up playing a lot of games.

I've been recently watching more and more retro 8-bit videos (Jan Beta is my go to) and when I saw the x16 project, I wanted to be part of it. I downloaded the emulator...and got immediately overwhelmed with the absolute mountain of data. I want to learn to program and tinker with software, but I don't have that background. I felt defeated. But I'm still looking forward to learning, as long as many of you are OK with dumb questions.

I live in the USA (Fresno, California) if anyone is wondering, but I realize this is a very international community, so I don't assume everyone I'm talking to is American :)

JimmyDansbo · Post by **JimmyDansbo** » Wed Nov 02, 2022 8:54 pm

Welcome. Feel free to ask all you like.

There are plenty of helpful people around.

desertfish · Post by **desertfish** » Wed Nov 02, 2022 9:56 pm

Hi and welcome! Let us know how we can move you out from the defeated feeling

tmo · Post by **tmo** » Wed Nov 02, 2022 11:55 pm

hey @Michael Westpy! Good to see people get into 8-bit computing, as it is sort of a new hobby for me, too.

I think C-X16 is a great project to get involved with, and the people 'round here are real nice ? Hope to see you around, and the the only "dumb" question there is, is the one that is not asked ?

Stay well

Edmond D · Post by **Edmond D** » Thu Nov 03, 2022 1:02 am

Welcome!

On 11/2/2022 at 9:28 AM, Michael Westpy said:

I want to learn to program and tinker with software

Then start by installing the emulator (Win,Linux,Mac) then following the users guide for the C64 (start with chapter 3) - https://www.commodore.ca/manuals/c64_users_guide/c64-users_guide.htm

Some of the directions are specific to the C64 hardware (such as hitting the run stop key - use Ctrl-C)

The more you do and play, the more you'll learn. If you need help there are many who will point you in the right direction

On 11/2/2022 at 9:28 AM, Michael Westpy said:

I just ended up playing a lot of games.

That's a fine thing to do - all work and no play makes a boring computer ?

Enjoy!

Michael Westpy · Post by **Michael Westpy** » Thu Nov 03, 2022 3:18 pm

I've got the X16 emulator as well as VICE on my main computer. I'm planning on using an older ITX box I built a few years ago as a stand alone "emulation" machine as my main computer is usually running 24/7 doing something or other (usually minecraft farming LOL).

I actually have a very ambitious plan, and I know it will take time, but I'd like to see if I can write a Dragon Quest like clone for the x16. Maybe even start with a port of Dragon Quest to learn the format for those kind of games. I had hoped to do something similar in the c64 environment, but I don't believe 64k (38.1k) of RAM is enough to support a game of that size. However, I need to crawl before I can fly, so...

kelli217 · Post by **kelli217** » Thu Nov 03, 2022 8:49 pm

On 11/2/2022 at 8:02 PM, Edmond D said:

Some of the directions are specific to the C64 hardware (such as hitting the run stop key - use Ctrl-C)

Or Esc.

Michael Westpy · Post by **Michael Westpy** » Thu Nov 03, 2022 9:17 pm

Yeah I use ESC for run stop

CTRL for the commodore key

Kittens for my lap warmers ?