The C64 OS Programmer's Guide | Hacker News Reader

The C64 OS Programmer's Guide

c64os.com

65 pointsibobev25 comments

Old school systems fascinate me, and what people are able to do in 64KB of memory on a 8 bit computers today seems like magic.

Genuine question… Could Commodore have made an OS like this in 1982, if they had today’s perspective?

There was GEOS https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/GEOS_(8-bit_operating_system) in 1986.

The KERNAL already supplied with the Commodore 64 had enough basic functionality to be considered an operating system and not just a "monitor":

- Devices were addressed by a primary address (0-31) and secondary address (meaning=device specific)

- You had basic I/O calls: OPEN, LOAD/SAVE (read/write a block of memory), CHRIN/CHROUT (read/write a character), READST (get I/O status), and CLOSE.

- You had the default input and output device and those could be redirected to a file (CHKIN/CHKOUT)

- It was totally possible to open the keyboard for input (device 0) and screen for output (device 3) and get basic buffered terminal-like I/O.

Now if you want to talk about windowed event-driven GUI, now that was crazy for 1982. But Commodore 64 users were lucky to get the above, as Commodore was all about cost cutting, time to market, and underpricing the competition with the 64. Developing a GUI-like environment would have been seen as an unnecessary cost - after all Commodore 64 was stuck with BASIC 2.0 which was primitive even for the time (other Commodores had higher BASICs). That's why an external entity like GEOS really had to come along and do it, because Commodore just wanted to sell as many as possible, and they did that spectacularly well.

Late to the party here, what is this a new OS?

> C64 OS has one goal. Make a Commodore 64 feel fast and useful in today’s modern world.

Lol. That this is even conceptually possible blows my mind.

Is the "D & D Roller" on the context menu what I think it is?

It's a new OS designed from the ground up for the Commodore 64 by Gregorio Naçu [1]. A video does it more justice [2]. There's an active Discord as well.

[1] https://twitter.com/gregnacu

[2] https://hackaday.com/2022/07/28/new-os-for-commodore-64-adds...

When I was 12, I thought this was what I would be doing for the rest of my life. Shame it didn't work out that way.

This C64OS video seems nice: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8nUosmUcckU

I wish someone decided to make ZX Spectrum 48k and Commodore 64 again. Those were my childhood micros and I'd love to have them. And by "make them again", I don't mean "stick an emulator on a Raspberry Pi and then stick that Pi inside a shell that resembles those micros", I mean make the exact same hardware again.

You can use the fonts inside a terminal:

- C64 https://style64.org/c64-truetype

- MSX http://www.ateijelo.com/blog/2016/09/13/making-an-msx-font

- Cool Retro Term https://github.com/Swordfish90/cool-retro-term

Both were produced in very respectable numbers so they are not that expensive to buy used these days, despite the recent appetite for retro HW. Approximately 100 USD.

The C64 can be built from (almost) all new components now.

This is true. I built C64 Reloaded MK2 and it's been great. Amiga has re:amiga and zx has various redos.

Except SID chip. I believe nobody still knows how to make it.

There are multiple SID replacements:

https://retrocomp.cz/produkt?id=2

https://github.com/frntc/SIDKick

These are all in-chip emulators, not real SID chips.

Yes, but if you want to repair a C64 with a broken SID or build a C64 from scratch, it's a decent replacement part even though it's on-chip emulation and not exactly the same sound as a real SID chip.

(Besides, even real SID chips are different from each other.)

I would rather see a 6502- or Z80-based smartwatch platform, honestly. It would totally fit the performance class of those chips, and you could even have some meaningful compatibility with the old 8-bit systems.

My smartwatch can run Windows 3.1 inside an emulator running inside of web browser.

https://zxrenew.co.uk/HARLEQUIN-128K-REV-2D-LARGE-DIY-KIT-p3...

The Commander X16 is a spiritual successor to C128.

In what sense?

Or Mega65

They do, but only a selected few manage to get hold of them, check Spectrum Next.

this is super cool.

is there a plan to make printed copies of the guides available?

I believe that if you buy the OS, it comes with printed documentation.

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