MEGA65 - my first BASIC experiences

In this video I'm talking a little bit about my first experiences with BASIC on the MEGA65.
Chapters:
00:00 - Introduction
00:28 - A few words about the MEGA65
01:26 - The reason why I'm interested in BASIC on the MEGA65
05:10 - Creating custom chars using CHARDEF
06:52 - Moving sprites using MOVSPR
07:50 - My first BASIC65 game: "THE WALL"
08:38 - The inspiration: C64 game Lazy Jones
09:31 - How to play THE WALL
09:56 - More about the charset graphics, 40 & 80 columns mode, etc
12:21 - The internal 3.5" disk drive
13:21 - The printed manual
14:05 - Final words & the MEGAZINE project
Production Notes:
This video uses some material from mega65.org, c64-wiki.de, c65gs.blogspot.com
Links:
- The MEGA65 project - www.mega65.org
- MEGA65 user manuals - files.mega65.org/manuals-upload/
- THE WALL game - files.mega65.org?id=647ca4e1-4f55-4a15-bf75-ef277662bf52
- BALLOON 65 example - files.mega65.org?id=b54efc4d-ed29-40f2-889a-a3619a449793
- MEGAZINE type-in magazine project - Forum64 bit.ly/3to0PHF
- R8sterblock notepad - r8ster.drwuro.com

[@claus4363]

Small correction : Also the 16 bit IBM PC 5150 had a build in Basic, you could boot in

[@drwuro]

wow that's interesting :) didn't know that!

[@brannkos]

Yes, and it's 32K ROM BASIC supported the cassette tape interface too, but 8088 was 8/16 bit, not a full 16 bit CPU. Also, 5150 had option for UCSD Pascal OS, so you could use Basic, Pascal, CP/M and PC DOS as OS, that was remarkable for '81.

[@oo0Spyder0oo]

Thanks, you’re the only one I’ve found so far discussing this machine without crap music playing over the narration. Appreciate it.

[@Miler97487]

Interesting machine. I only played with a C64 back when I was 12 years old in school because the school I attended has the C64. I was fully aware of the 128 when it came out in 1985 but at that time my family only had a TI-99/4A and a newly bought Atari 800XL (then being discontinued to make room for the XE series). I never realized Commodore attempted a follow-up to the 128 at the start of the '90s but then Commodore figured 8-bit was outdated. Too bad, it could have made a great budget machine for those that couldn't afford an Amiga. Anyways the Charset command is exactly like the Call Char command for the TI-99/4A. On that computer, for example, to change the apostrophe into the same smiley face, it's CALL CHAR(96,"3C5A5A7E42663C00"). 96 being the ASCII character number for apostrophe (') on TI BASIC.

[@heathgallimore4845]

Excellent video! Megazine looks awesome. You’ve perfectly captured everything I feel about my last two weeks working with this machine. Basic is great, it’s so much better now and we’re going to be making some sweet projects in the near future

[@TheReimecker]

Ich weis noch als er damals anfing mit dem Mega65 hab ich jeden Tag nach geschaut ob es schon was neues gibt. Echt cool da Teil !!!

[@OliverGraf]

Fantastic Video! Thanks for sharing your games and your thoughts about what makes the MEGA65 great for you.

[@sandcat-maurice]

Super video!! I was also thinking about using floppies for my own codes. Now you convinced me 👍 I’m not a great coder but will do my best to deliver a small program for your MEGAZINE

[@WittichWolf]

Super Sache, danke für die Vorstellung des Mega 65. Hat mir Spaß gemacht, zu schauen, was für Möglichkeiten diese Maschine bietet.

[@littlebiscuits]

Used the PLAY command a lot when writing in Extended Color Basic on the Coco back in the glory days.

[@KennethSorling]

OK. You talked me into it. I just pre-ordered a Mega-65. Finally. I've been wanting one since word first started going around about the original C-65, so I don't know what's been holding me back.

[@mindrail]

Great video!

[@paulwratt]

the presentation of your video is exactly why I wpuld purchase something like the MEAG65. You turn it on and you can start programming, you can use floppy. The 40Mhz is what makes it "usable" for new programs, and the optional SD-card access mak it possible to do "other things" than just 1x Floppy. Unlike most people, I only play games when I am bored, the rest of the time I would rather be creating something.

[@JeffreyvanderSchilden]

Love how you refer to them diskettes as "floppy"! Team floppy! Yay!

[@dyscotopia]

I was a whiz with BASIC as a kid but could never get the hang of other languages. If I didn't have enough unfinished projects, I'd lust after this machine even more

[@KK4CNM]

Wow that's really cool about the magazine. That really takes me back and brought a big smile to my face.

[@themaraudershideout3010]

Very informative and appreciate the time you put into this!

[@retroCombs]

Outstanding! I'm even more inspired to explore BASIC 65. Great tips and tricks.

[@igork3522]

Great video. Thank you very much for making it. It is really inspiring. I hope you make more.

[@commodorecave5581]

Good video. I really enjoyed it and it is inspiring. cheers.

[@TheStuffMade]

Vey nice, it's like the Commodore version of the ZX Spectrum Next, just faster and with an actual disk drive.

[@drwuro]

yes, i thought the same :) it's great to see both of those machines get a worthy, new, and high-quality modern successor

[@manfredwittemann4198]

Danke für dein Video. Gern mehr davon. :-)

[@rawisdan]

Excellent video. You appear to be a excellent instructor and would like to see more videos like these in the future.

[@birgitjackson598]

well done video. It was fun to watch and very informative. Super!

Very nice video, certainly it's fun to watch .

[@Manwe_SandS]

Cool. Looking forward for new episodes.

[@TheCaptK]

good stuff. keep going!

[@gregclare]

The MEGA65 is surely a cool system. I have also been following its development for years. It’s just unfortunate that the final product is priced way beyond what the majority can realistically afford. This, unfortunately, is going to severely limit the size of the owner community. We can only hope that the early enthusiast uptake is high enough that pricing can eventually be reduced through increased manufacture volume.

[@t-moth64]

Sehr schön, danke!

[@orngamet4314]

well done

[@egriimre]

Great video, thanks! Mega65 seems to have a great BASIC. I have a ZX Spectrum Next, but I like Mega65 too :)

[@valuemastery]

Schönes Video, cooler Computer :-)

[@f1lupo]

great video thanks for posting!

[@Centar1964]

With the recently released VISION BASIC for the C64 it fixes all the problems with programming a C64 in BASIC, On the fly compiling, easy graphics and sound commands, and a complete programming system that the C64 has never seen before.

[@richtakings3359]

Lazy Jones such a classic, hats off to David Whitaker for doing everything on the game. I too wanted to play the wall over and over, had to wait till emulation and save states. Oh and cue the Stardust music.

[@drwuro]

great that you have such fond memories of the game as well :D and funny that you wanted to play THE WALL too! i never got around even 2 corners back then

[@Germanbiker]

Hi this with disk drive it's perfect.. 👏👏

[@Dilligara]

I was a c64 kid in the 80's. Sure wish I had the money for a Mega65. To reclaim my childhood even just a little would be fantastic.

[@Dilligara]

@@LarsTragel-zh7ei nope. But still same look and feel. That's why I don't bother with c64 emulators. Mainly because the keyboard just isn't the same.

[@jamessm4401]

Original Commodore 64s aren’t that expensive on eBay. You can relive that childhood for cheaper than a mega65.

[@Dilligara]

@@jamessm4401 Yeah, that is a good point. The M65 is pretty wild though. The machine that should have been. With a little splash of the future that would have blown our mind back then.

[@tetsujin_144]

12:30 "In the beginning I thought I would probably never use the floppy drive, because it's obsolete technology and so on" Yeah wouldn't want some antique storage device on your 40 MHz 8/16-bit computer

[@drwuro]

i was joking there. lots of people in the community know that i'm a huge fan of the 3.5 disk drive, as there are also some people who'd prefer to have a mega65 without the drive. i always stood up for the drive, even though i was quite sure that i'd almost never use it, because on my c64, i also use mostly modern media. but it's a different thing when you're saving your own stuff, because then, the disk drive feels rather handy, which i discovered during my initial mega65 basic experiments. for trying out other software from other developers, the sd card is of course much more handy instead.

[@TheHighlander71]

I still play Shadow Switcher every now and again. Maybe you can try and make a BASIC version of that for the Mega65 :) I wonder, how many Mega65's have been sold by now?

[@drwuro]

thanks for playing shadow switcher :) actually i have done a "real" mega65 basic game and i've noticed that it's not as easy as i thought. 40 mhz is quite an improvement but can still be slow... as far as mega65 sales go, i think they're about to ship the 3rd batch now (and i think a batch contains 400 units)

[@Steril707]

Saugut!

[@jimmywaltermi6ciami219]

Assembler isn't annoying once you make a peek memory mapper of the memory segments you can poke. I love Assembly.

[@drwuro]

i like assembly too, as i have written numerous games on the C64 in assembly. however, when coding BASIC, i prefer a good set of BASIC commands and functionality instead of having to POKE everything. it's the reason of a language's existence to do things differently from other languages, after all ;)

[@MikeyMcCorry]

Great video! Thanks, but now I'm more interested in how you mentally calculated the hex values from the bit set so quickly at 5:45. 😅

[@drwuro]

haha :D well, the cool thing is, if you divide the 8 bit into two pairs of 4 bit each, you just have to know the bit patterns by heart for the two hex digits, which can only be something from 0-F, i.e. 16 values. but to be honest, i don't know all of them perfectly, just a few, and then sometimes i have to calculate a bit in my head... but as for the video, i had a second piece of paper ready where i already had those noted down :D

[@FolkerHQ]

nice. Ich glaube, ich brauche auch einen

[@armin.hierstetter]

I think I need to get back to BASIC …

[@mikemac2188]

😎🍻👍

[@scottiepal3029]

Can you use the Commodore 64 fast load cartridges on it. Did you make a video of what the old stuff can be used on it? I would like to know.

[@HeliZero]

First of all - i really need this fine machine (saving up for it) and second ... i would love to subscribe to the Megazine. One question tho .. doe it come finished .. without the need to add any chips (SID etc.). Thanks and regards from Dänemark.

[@drwuro]

yes, the hardware itself is finished (no additional chips needed), however software and firmware development is still ongoing, so don't expect a 100% finished product yet!

[@anon_y_mousse]

I wonder if you could do gorillas on there. That was one of my favorite QBasic games.

[@drwuro]

pretty sure yes :) and i think the 80 column mode might be handy for that. actually, there's a game in the mega65 filehost (lunar taxi) that instantly reminded me of gorillas because of the colors and the 80 column mode: files.mega65.org?id=b3dc243a-ae5d-4ed8-8a0a-8c4443b602c3

[@anon_y_mousse]

@@drwuro Gives me an idea for a possible addition to the game. What if the gorillas are flying and dropping bananas on each other's troupes? Maybe change it to a jungle setting. Just for fun, they could be riding Pegasus'.

[@PaxHominibusBonaeVoluntatis]

has mega65 little bumps on J & F keys for touch typers ?

[@xxx-tk8xe]

Der Mega 65 hat doch eine höhere Grafik als der 64er . Wird es in Zukunft etwas in dieser Richtung zB. Grafik oder Videoeditor geben?

[@g04tn4d0]

The C64 mode and current core kinda suck. But I'm super excited and hopeful that people just start writing a bunch of native C65 games and utilities instead!

[@drwuro]

well, in their most recent video, the MEGA65 team said something about a possible "C65 purist scene" where people continue finishing the original C65 core/ROM and use the machine at 3.5 MHz, which is of course perfectly possible. to be honest, i'd be curious too what would have been really possible on the C65 if it ever had arrived. on the other hand, BASIC at 3.5 MHz is still somewhat slow (but not terribly slow like the C64 with 1 MHz - also, the improved BASIC commands like MOVSPR and so on make up a lot of the downsides of having a slow CPU). i would have preferred the MEGA65 to have the 3.5 MHz mode and a "turbo" mode with 7 MHz, to be a bit more in line with the original idea behind the C65. the 40 MHz indeed feel a bit arbitray and a bit high. on the other hand, that was their decision of course and without them, we wouldn't have anything at all. and for BASIC, 40 MHz is definitely useful. i might make another video soon where i talk about such things!

[@UltimatePerfection]

Is there a way to make autorun BASIC programs in Mega65? I know you couldn't do it on C64. What I mean is have program start right after loading, without user having to type in run.

[@drwuro]

well one thing you can do is to save the program under the name "AUTOBOOT.C65" on a disk, that way you can "boot" into your game just by inserting the disk and then turning the machine on, just like on an AMIGA :)

[@drwuro]

oh I just noticed that you can directly type e.g. RUN"*" instead of LOAD"*" and then having to type RUN :)

[@be236]

Could they add a Commodore-64 emulator mode with MEGA65, similar to Commodore-128?

[@drwuro]

basically this is what the MEGA65 (and also the C65) is doing. however, the architectural differences are too big (to my understanding) so that it's not 100% compatible.

[@whatamalike]

ok nw i want one of these haha

[@kargaroc386]

"Thou hast 4 lives"

[@CSIG1001]

I just don't get owning this computer if no games are available to use the power it has available to it. Especially having a 3.5 floppy drive

[@drwuro]

well, this is not a "game console"-type computer, at least not at this moment - and maybe never. it's more or less a computer for programmers and other Commodore enthusiasts

[@thetigerfelix279]

Einfach Deutsch-Akkzent Goldstandart 😄

[@drwuro]

klar, warum sollte man auch irgendeinen anderen akzent vorspielen ;)

[@thetigerfelix279]

@@drwuro Ich finds super :D

[@lordevyl8317]

I have no interest in the Mega65 (mainly due to the price point, why would I pay nearly as much for a realization of an unreleased prototype 90s computer as I would for a PS5?, hell I can get a low-end gaming PC for the same price) Plus, it's only a matter of time before someone develops a mister core anyway. There's already emulators for the Spectrum NEXT. It's a beautiful piece of hardware, but not worth the price point, at least in my opinion. At least the Spectrum NEXT (which I do own) had a decent price point.

[@drwuro]

Well, I have no interest in a PS5 or a gaming PC either ;) but I do have interest in this beautiful machine and I followed the project for over 7 years now, and it was always clear to me that I would buy it. I have the Spectrum NEXT too, btw, and while this machine is beautiful as well, I think the simple fact that the MEGA65 is bigger, has a mechanical keyboard and a built-in disk drive etc should make it obvious that the price can't be the same. But yes, I understand that the price may be a bit too high for some. In the end, everybody has to decide for themselves whether it's worth the price or not.

[@drwuro]

by the way, the mega65-core is open-source, so you can run it on other devices as well, for example it has been originally developed on a NEXYS FPGA board and can still run on it. that way, if the hardware is too expensive, everyone can use this cheaper alternative. i don't know whether it would run on a MiST oder MiSTer, though, as it depends on the size of the FPGA

[@brannkos]

Yeah, like why buy expensive record on vinyl when you can just download the song that you like... Well, there is a reason.

[@b213videoz]

Pascal is much better than Basic

[@drwuro]

BASIC isn't the best language, that's for sure - and there's lots of great alternatives out there - however, the great thing about BASIC is that it's already built-in in so many 8-bit homecomputers :)