C64Walkabout
Spinnaker's Kidwriter: Video and Manual Scan
Category: Articles Published Date Written by Robinson Mason
I'm not the sort of person to keep his collection of retro computer hardware and software locked away in a closet. I want to enjoy it and to share with others, including my daughter. With that in mind I've bought a few titles that she might enjoy over the past couple of years, including Kidwriter by Spinnaker Software, a maker of "edutainment" titles. Spinnaker is a company I would have avoided as a young teenager in the 80s, so while the names of the titles are familiar to me, the content is new. Even as a boy I loved writing and making my own pictures for books I wrote (usually simple horror fare like "The Bloody Mansion") so if I had been born a few years later I might have enjoyed Kidwriter, a creative program that lets you write books and make simple pictures to go along with them. When you view your book in all its glory, you get music as well!
Recently I had some difficulty finding any working word processor I could use with my MPS-803 printer. My Magic Desk cartridge, an old standby, no longer works. But there was one way for me to print a retro-themed letter I wanted to write to a friend ... Kidwriter! OK, so it was not the best solution for the task at hand, but it did offer MPS-803 printing, and does so quite easily.
The video below is just a bit of the fun we had with Kidwriter and my printer. Enjoy!
You can find Kidwriter HERE at the "Latif" link.
My personal manual and box scan of the game can be found HERE.
If you are new or returning to C64 emulation and hardware use, or want to get someone else into the scene, check out my book, A Commodore 64 Walkabout. A print version can be found HERE.
Last Updated on Wednesday, 04 January 2012 23:08
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Wishbook Memories and Discoveries
Category: Articles Published Date Written by Robinson Mason
Back in the early 80s when there was no Google Shopping, no Amazon marketplace to search for the perfect component or game for my home computer system, there were magazines like COMPUTE!'s Gazette, snail mail catalogs, and of course going to stores to look at the boxes of the games and productivity programs themselves. One of my favorite things to pore over before Christmas were the Sears (and other) catalogs that had multiple computer systems, software, and games listed for each. Tantilizing little photos and descriptions had my imagination running wild with the possibilities.
I recall being fascinated by the strange and new Commodore Plus/4, once games started showing up in the catalogs, that is. Hey, cut me a break, you can't tell much from tiny little photos of games in a catalog...! (I kid, I kid, you Plus/4 fanatics out there).
I recently got the urge to pick up an old copy of a Sears Catalog, but instead found the excellent WishbookWeb. It had the Commodore listings that I remember, and also some for games systems and computers that are mostly forgottent today, like the APF-M1000 and Coleco Gemini. The real heyday for such computer and game systems in these catalogs seems to be from about 1979 to 1985. After that point the computers are replaced with computer-like toys such as the Computron. Perhaps it was the crash of the video game industry, or just the fact that computers were taken more seriously toward the end of the 1980s that can explain why home computers disappeared from Sears WishBooks. The Commodore 64, ever affordable, was sold long after 1986, however, so I'm sure there's more to why the department stores stopped selling them through their catalogs.
Halloween Fun: Castle Hassle
Category: Articles Published Date Written by Robinson Mason
Looking for a (sort of) Halloween-themed game for some unusual fun? Castle Hassle (also known as Mystic Mansion), an older C64 title from 1983, mixes action and puzzle-solving in a unique way. It's great for youngsters, too, so let the kiddies give it a try, but don't forget to mention that this is not just a joystick-driven game. The spoooky ghost you control in the game can also be transformed into a number of other objects. Type the first letter of each of these words to try other shapes:
MAGNET, HAMMER, SHOVEL, KEY, TORCH. Type "G" to return to your GHOST form.
Some rooms can be solved without requiring that you transform into anything special. With the fire button, your GHOST form becomes a directed gun that can fire at objects in the game as well, and that itself might be enough to do the trick. The name of the room, seen in this screenshot at the bottom, may help you figure out the puzzle... There are 60 rooms and 40 treasures to find!
Keyrah: Hybrid Commodore Emulation
Category: Articles Published Date Written by Robinson Mason
Not too long ago I picked up a Keyrah device from Versalia Online. As a fan of both the real hardware and emulation, it bridges both very nicely. Basically it allows you to use a Commodore case, keyboard, and old-style joysticks with a modern computer. Most importantly, it allows you to type on a real C64 (or other Commodore) keyboard with the proper key mapping. No more hunting for the asterisk or RUN/STOP keys on a PC keyboard.
Some time back, before the switch to this new site, I posted about Andy Taylor's VIC-20 PC. I considered making one of my own, but I could not find a motherboard that would truly be a suitable replacement for my main PC, and I had concerns about heatsink height as well. Since PC specs are always improving, rather than making a system that would be dated in a few years, I decided instead to use the Keyrah to make a simple USB keyboard type of setup that could connect to any PC.