Some finds and Commodore questions

[Sauza12]

I found a couple of things since I went on vacation last Wednesday including some things that have left me wondering a few things.  First some things that my mom found and got for me over the weekend:
all games loose
Excitebike
Festers Quest
Super Mario World
$1 a piece
Pokemon Gameboy color
$0.50
some random Mcdonalds handhelds
$0.10 a piece

I found these things at two different thrift shops, one in Michigan and one in South Carolina
Commodore Vic-20 with the box and all hookups
$5
Commodore plus/4 with box, all connections(I think) and all documentation
$6

The questions I have are this:
1)  How the hell do I hook up the Vic-20?  There are a dumb number of wires that came with the system and I don't know exactly how to hook it all up.  According to the Digital Press guide, Ward Shrake had instructions on how to hook it all up on his digital archeology site, but that appears to have disappeared.  If anyone can direct me to a site that has instructions, that would be cool
2)  Are any C64 games compatable with the plus/4?  A brief search said that very few C64 games if any are compatible with it and I was wondering if there is a list anywhere that could tell me which I could use.
3)  Is there a reliable list of plus/4 software anywhere on the net?  Once again I did a brief search and didn't come up with anything.

If any of you could direct me anywhere, I would appreciate it.

P.S.  I might get rid of the plus/4 if any of you want it.  It really depends on what I find out about the software available for it, and whether or not it looks like any fun.

[bum-man]

There are two different types of Vic-20 (that I know of).  With either one I'm sure I could help you thru it.  I know the one type has a special rf-adaptor cable and the other uses a standard tv game switch.  If you can let me know which yours uses I should be able to tell you what to plug where.  Also let me know if you got a tape drive, diskette drive, or printer.

I don't know of a list for plus-4 compatable software, but I do know that was one of the reasons it failed here in the states.

[den68]

I've got a few VIC-20's and have hooked them up. If you want to bring it over tomorrow we can try it out. I also may have a couple extra games. Vic Invaders comes to mind.

The plus/4 I believe is pretty much the same as the C-16. I have one of those and a couple games. I don't think any C-64 games are compatable with it. I do have a bunch of C-64 games if you want to try it out.

[Sauza12]

@Bum-Man,  I don't have any other hardware with it, just the computer itself.  It looks like it has a special RF adapter that a TV switch connects to.  There is also another wire that I can't figure out what to do with.

@Den, I think I will bring it by your house tomorrow.  God only knows when I will get around to testing it otherwise.  |D

Also, from what I've read, the list of C64 titles that would be compatible would be so small we would probably never find any compatible titles in a reasonable amount of time.  Thanks anyways though!

Thanks you guys!

[bum-man]

The extra cable could be a monitor cable (don't remember off the top of my head if the Vic supported that, I know the 64 did) or a SIO cable (used to connect diskette drives and some printers).  In either case you don't need it, just the p/s and rf adapter.  Good luck.

[den68]

I'm interested in the plus/4 if you do decide to get rid of it.

[yap]

While on the subject of Commodore.  I bought Ultima IV for the C64 recently.  I've never used my C64 once, but I'd like to try Ultima IV on it (played the PC version when it was new, whatever).

So I'm wondering:
a) is it possible to copy the original Ultima IV discs so I can put them back in the box. i only have 1 disc drive

b) would I need to purchase special blank discs?  Where from?

sorry if these questions are pedestrian.

[bum-man]

While on the subject of Commodore.  I bought Ultima IV for the C64 recently.  I've never used my C64 once, but I'd like to try Ultima IV on it (played the PC version when it was new, whatever).

So I'm wondering:
a) is it possible to copy the original Ultima IV discs so I can put them back in the box. i only have 1 disc drive

b) would I need to purchase special blank discs?  Where from?

sorry if these questions are pedestrian.

I believe it's possible but I think it would require software to do it.  Most of the diskettes in those days had some kind of copy protection on them.  The two programs that come to mind are Locksmith and CopyPlus, I believe both can copy those kind of diskettes.  You may be better off trying to run it in an emulator.

[den68]

So I'm wondering:
a) is it possible to copy the original Ultima IV discs so I can put them back in the box. i only have 1 disc drive

yes you can. there are many copy programs. I have a few that are different from the 2 bum-man mentioned. you can do it with one drive too. it's easy just time consuming. you have to keep switching the disks back and forth.

b) would I need to purchase special blank discs?  Where from?

any of those old 5.25 floppies can be reformatted for the C-64 I believe. any thrifts near you? those old discs turn up alot. sometimes still sealed. I may even have some extras, I'll look. if I do I can send you some and a copy of the copy program.

bear with me, I'll have to dig out the old C-64.

[yap]

Thanks a lot for the helpful replies.  I have random 5.25 discs from a PC So I'll just use those.  

But man, the thrift stores in Iowa suck.  There are never any VG related items in them when I check them out.  Moved here from Seattle where you could always find good stuff at the big Goodwill there.  Oh well.

[video_game_addict]

I think HD or is it 2HD 5.25" disks do not work with the Commodore drives. It's really low 5.25" disks like 360 kbytes or something another.  I think this was told to me, as I use to pick up 5.25" floppies all the time from local thrifts, but I don't believe all will work on the old disk drives.

[yap]

I'm just using the original discs for the time being, I'm afraid how many times I'd have to swap discs to copy 2 discs with 1 disc drive.

Tooling around with the C64 reminds me just how cool it really was for its day.  If you have away around the abysmal load times.

[yap]

I was using the C64 today and without me doing anything the L and the A keys just stopped working.  I know they worked earlier, because I had loaded a game: load "*".8.1  suddenly half the keys don't work.  What did I do wrong?  I'm a c64 novice.