commodore vic-20 problem

[SuperTimor]

hello there people , I have a problem with my commodore vic-20 system. When I try to load a game in the cassette tape the computer DO search for it but it seem to take it infinite time as ive never been able to load any game (even by waiting 10 min for 1!)

 

Do anybody can help semeone who know ABSOLUTLY nothing on this system?

[Mayhem]

Most likely to be with the cassette deck... will need cleaning and properly aligning to read the tapes.

[nathanallan]

there's a certain chip called the VIA that controls the cassette that may need attention. First things first, though, try a different cassette player. Nothing is very common in my neck of the woods, but you may have better luck at thrift stores and such finding another one. After cleaning it up real good and aligning the head, like Mayhem suggested.

Edited November 17, 2008 by nathanallan

[the maddestman]

This might sound like I'm talking down to you, but are you 100% sure that the tapes actually have a game on them? Are you rewinding the tape right back to the very start first? Finally, how is it that you are trying to load the tape, with C= RUN/STOP, or are you typing in a command?

[+Random Terrain]

And if I'm remembering correctly, 10 minutes isn't long enough to wait anyway. I remember games on tape taking 5 billion years to load.

[the maddestman]

And if I'm remembering correctly, 10 minutes isn't long enough to wait anyway. I remember games on tape taking 5 billion years to load.

Maybe on a C64, but when there is only about 3.5K of usable RAM, the Vic 20 load times weren't too bad really, 10 minutes and it should be loaded easily. I know back in the day I used up pretty much every byte of available RAM and the load times weren't too bad.

[+Random Terrain]

And if I'm remembering correctly, 10 minutes isn't long enough to wait anyway. I remember games on tape taking 5 billion years to load.

Maybe on a C64, but when there is only about 3.5K of usable RAM, the Vic 20 load times weren't too bad really, 10 minutes and it should be loaded easily. I know back in the day I used up pretty much every byte of available RAM and the load times weren't too bad.

Yeah, I was using tape on a C64 for a while before I got a hard drive, so I'm probably remembering that. I could fly to the moon and back and it still wouldn't be done.

Edited November 17, 2008 by Random Terrain

[the maddestman]

And if I'm remembering correctly, 10 minutes isn't long enough to wait anyway. I remember games on tape taking 5 billion years to load.

Maybe on a C64, but when there is only about 3.5K of usable RAM, the Vic 20 load times weren't too bad really, 10 minutes and it should be loaded easily. I know back in the day I used up pretty much every byte of available RAM and the load times weren't too bad.

Yeah, I was using tape on a C64 for a while before I got a hard drive, so I'm probably remembering that. I could fly to the moon and back and it still wouldn't be done.

Yeah, the C64s biggest weakness was loading times for anything other then off a cartridge or hard disk. The 1541 5.25" disk drives were notoriously slow, and they were lightning speed compared to cassette tapes!

 

Anyway, back to topic, which games have you tried to load from cassette tape?

[Nukey Shay]

The 1541 drive was fine if you purchased a speedup cartridge. The Fastload works in a pinch, but faster versions are available (like Final Cartridge or Action Replay...which can load any file they've written in 5 seconds flat).

[SuperTimor]

I tryed with two cassette recorder and both don'T work with even thought I use the same cassette. My only theorie is that I don't have official cassette or what ive heard , VIA Chip. Or maybe im not enough patient? How many time it take to finnaly load a cassette?

 

Oh and also when I press the rewind button I don't see anything moving on the cassette.

 

I use the command LOAD and it is SEARCHING forever and never show a sign of life after this (unlike what they told me in a commodore vic-20 FAQ)

Edited November 17, 2008 by SuperTimor

[Prodos8]

Try writing a short bit of code in basic and then save it to a new (or known good blank) tape. I can't recall the exact command to save it but I think it also verifies it too. This will at least let you know if the hardware or your old tapes.

[awhite2600]

Start with a new blank casette tape. Use a cheap standard casette. Metal or chrome tapes will not work. Rewind the tape fully. Press Play, wait about 5 seconds for the tape to advance past the plastic leader tape, press Stop. Pop the tape out and double check that you are past the plastic leader.

 

Type in a simple BASIC program. Perhaps something as simple as:

 

10 PRINT "TAPE TEST"

 

Now, enter the command

 

SAVE "TEST PROGRAM"

 

Press Return. You will be prompted to press Play & Record on tape. The program should take about 15 to 20 seconds to save. Once the program is saved, rewind the tape. Power the computer off and back on again. Enter the command

 

LOAD

 

Press Return and you will be prompted to press Play on tape. Press play. The program should load within 30 seconds. If the program loads, type LIST to see the BASIC program that you entered.

 

If the program fails to load after 30 seconds then you most likely have a faulty tape drive or faulty components in the VIC itself. You can also try cleaning the tape heads with a head cleaner or 99% isopropyl alcohol.

 

Good Luck!

Edited November 17, 2008 by awhite2600

[+Random Terrain]

The 1541 drive was fine if you purchased a speedup cartridge. The Fastload works in a pinch, but faster versions are available (like Final Cartridge or Action Replay...which can load any file they've written in 5 seconds flat).

I had the Fast Load cartridge, the Vorpal Utility Kit, and the Final Cartridge. If I remember correctly, I liked the Final Cartridge the best.

[SuperTimor]

I think ive found the problem but I cannot repair it. Its the cassette drive, when ive (how do we say that in english) err...

 

Removed the screw and tryed it with the comp while it was open. By pressing REWIND on the cassette drive it do not do anything. Also I there is metal thing that is broken and ive never seen the led light on even when I tryed to save. It do ERROR SYNTAX 0 READY

[nathanallan]

if you can, try a different datasette. If you saw something broken on the inside, may as well try another one.

[+SpiceWare]

The 1541 5.25" disk drives were notoriously slow, and they were lightning speed compared to cassette tapes!

Turbo Tape made the Datasette just as fast as a stock 1541. I saw it demoed at a C= user group meeting in Corpus Christi, TX.

Edited November 17, 2008 by SpiceWare

[supercat]

Turbo Tape made the Datasette just as fast as a stock 1541. I saw it demoed at a C= user group meeting in Corpus Christi, TX.

 

I saw a demo tape that loaded faster than a 'stock' 1541, while showing a screen and playing music. Playing the music while loading probably isn't too hard (divide the data into blocks, and handle the music between blocks). Accepting the loss of 43 cycles at a pop 25 times a frame would seem harder. Maybe not impossible, though.

 

If the CIA's could be supported so one would have the MSB of interrupt status become set at a moment just after the end of a badline and every scanline thereafter, while the other had the MSB become set when there was a pulse from the tape, then maybe something like this could work:

StartOfByte:
 lda #1
 clc
ByteStartLp:
 bit TIMER_INT
 bpl ByteStartLp
 bit TAPE_INT
 bmi ByteStartLp
; Assume we just had a tape pulse the last time we had an interrupt.
; Acc is loaded with 1 to start with.
StartOfBit:
BitWait1:
 bit TIMER_INT
 bpl BitWait1
 bit TAPE_INT
 bmi GotBit
BitWait2:
 bit TIMER_INT
 bpl BitWait2
 bit TAPE_INT
 bmi GotBit
 sec
BitWait3:
 bit TIMER_INT
 bpl BitWait3
 bit TAPE_INT
 bpl BitWait3
GotBit:
 rol
 bcc StartOfBit
 sta buffer,y
 iny
 bne StartOfByte

The code for each polling operation fits in less than 20 cycles, except at the end of each byte. Each byte is nine pulses; the gap between the first and second pulse codes a bit, likewise second and third, etc. The gap for a 'zero' should be 1.3 scan lines; for a 'one' should be 3.3; the gap between bytes should be 2.3 scan lines. A byte with half the bits set would thus take 20.7 scan lines, for a data rate of about 760 bytes/second. Quite a bit faster than the normal tape or disk routines; with some work it could be made faster still.

[Ze_ro]

I saw a demo tape that loaded faster than a 'stock' 1541, while showing a screen and playing music.

If you think that's impressive, there are some tape loaders that will actually let you play a game while it's loading the "real" game... like Invade-a-Load, Micro Painter, and Load 'n Play.

 

--Zero