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First Commodore 64 LAN Party

Posted by timothy on Sun Jul 06, 2008 04:50 PM
from the dude-are-we-late dept.
Leif_Bloomquist writes "The world's first Commodore 64 LAN party was held at the Cincinnati Commodore Computer Club 2008 Expo last weekend, where the new multiplayer C64 game NetRacer was unveiled. The setup consists of up to eight Commodore 64s with Ethernet cartridges and a central server written in Java running on a PC. The game is also playable over the Internet."
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  • by spir0 (319821) on Sunday July 06 2008, @04:54PM (#24077715) Homepage Journal

    Is New Zealand a terrorist country or something? I got this:

    You are not authorized to view this page
    The Web server you are attempting to reach has a list of IP addresses that are not allowed to access the Web site, and the IP address of your browsing computer is on this list.

    Please try the following:

            * Contact the Web site administrator if you believe you should be able to view this directory or page.

    HTTP Error 403.6 - Forbidden: IP address of the client has been rejected.
    Internet Information Services (IIS)

    Technical Information (for support personnel)

            * Go to Microsoft Product Support Services and perform a title search for the words HTTP and 403.
            * Open IIS Help, which is accessible in IIS Manager (inetmgr), and search for topics titled About Security, Limiting Access by IP Address, IP Address Access Restrictions, and About Custom Error Messages.

    • I think since the C64 event is in the USA that it blocks out foreign IP addresses. Try using a Web proxy from the USA and see if that works, or Use Tor [torproject.org] to connect to a USA Tor server.

      I'll mirror the location of the event if you want information on it:

      "05/26/2008: To pre-pay admission and table fee(s) for the C4 Expo, please Paypal your payments to cmdreclub@iglou.com.

      When making payment, please ensure you put what you are paying for

      in the comments field of the Paypal transaction.

      The receipt for the Paypal transaction MUST be presented at the

      admission desk in order to gain entrance to the Expo!!

      Door Charges: $10/person or $15/family

      Selling tables: $15/table or 3 for $35 (The hotel charges $10/table in addition for power usage.)

      T-shirts: TBD

      The Cincinnati Commodore Computer Club is proud to present the 3rd annual C4 Expo.

      June 28-29 at the Drawbridge Inn

      located at:

      2477 Royal Drive
      Fort Mitchell, KY 41017"

      I think you can use that email address to ask them why they blocked your IP. Possible some IIS administration script that locks down security also blocked foreign IPs.

  • Hooray! (Score:5, Funny)

    by FlyingSquidStudios (1031284) on Sunday July 06 2008, @04:54PM (#24077723) Homepage
    I urgently await Jumpman deathmatches!
    • Re:Hooray! (Score:5, Interesting)

      You haven't played Bard's Tale, Pirates!, or Donkey Kong, until you played them on the C64 using the tape drive. :)

      Jumpman was great, but I liked a game called Wizard that let you design your own levels and your own spells on a custom floppy disk and challenge your friends to deathmatches on that. It was like Jumpman but you could throw fireballs or stop your enemies from moving, or become temporary invulnerable for a short while.

  • Yes but (Score:5, Funny)

    by eclectro (227083) on Sunday July 06 2008, @04:56PM (#24077741)

    Were there any girls there?

  • by fyrie (604735) on Sunday July 06 2008, @04:56PM (#24077743)

    I have one of those rrnet ethernet devices for the C64. They are great fun. I tried to make a post to a phpBB and it took me about 40 minutes to navigate to the thread I wanted to post in, then it crashed. O sweet glory.

    btw, http://www.c64web.com/ [c64web.com] is hosted on a c64.

  • by stevedmc (1065590) on Sunday July 06 2008, @04:58PM (#24077759)
    Vista must be pretty bad if people are switching to C64.
  • Yeow! I may have expected an Amiga club, but C64? Man, does that bring back memories!!!

    I did a lot of cool stuff on the 64 way, WAY back, using Forth (remember that language?).

    Some computers will never die. No matter how old. LONG LIVE COMMODORE!!!!

    • Re:Talk about retro! (Score:4, Informative)

      by hitmark (640295) on Sunday July 06 2008, @05:13PM (#24077885) Journal

      sadly, commodore of today is a shadow of its former self...

      http://www.commodoregaming.com/pcshop/home.aspx [commodoregaming.com]

      • Re: (Score:3, Insightful)

        That's not Commodore, it's a corporate body snatcher wearing the skin of the fallen Commodore.
    • C64 certainly never will die, not as long as people enjoy playing those old games. But the hardware will wear out eventually, and nobody's making any more, so it's off to emulation land. Or do true blue C64 hackers sneer at emulators?

      • That depends on what you mean by "making any more". There are 6510 compatible CPU's still being manufactured, and there are emulations of the rest available for FPGA's, and there's the C-One [c64upgra.de] based on FPGA's + a compatible CPU that aims for full compatibility with the C64 and a number of other old home computers.

        Personally I'll stick with emulation, though the C-One looks like something it'd be fun to own, so maybe if/when they get something a bit less beta...

          • Re: (Score:3, Informative)

            There's always the C64 DTV...

            That's based on a C64-on-a-chip, designed by Jeri Ellsworth... and has solder pads ready to go to add floppy drives and a keyboard.

      • Well the Wii can emulate the C64... If you live in Europe. Anyone else can't get the games.
  • Junis will be able to download that porn.

  • Networked C64? Cool, wake me up when you get a Beowulf cluster of these!
  • 64 Commodores ought to be enough for anyone.
  • by XO (250276) <{blade.eric} {at} {gmail.com}> on Sunday July 06 2008, @05:53PM (#24078133) Homepage Journal

    I can say that I have actually done this before, back in the 80's. Not using Ethernet, as I don't think there were any Ethernet hardwares available at the time for the Commodore .. but I've done it. Wired several Commodores together, and played multiplayer games.

    • by Captain DaFt (755254) <captain_daft.gmail@com> on Sunday July 06 2008, @06:32PM (#24078397) Journal

      Back about 1986, I actually surfed the net on a Commodore 128.
      The local community college got a spanking new server hooked up, and students were allowed to dial in in to get schedules, some class material, whatever. (I think it was still Arpanet back then, but it was years before World wide web)

      Anyway, I logged in (at a whopping 1200 baud), looked around (After a bit of tweaking, Commodore had lowercase and capitals switched in ascii, plus none standard characters) and actually made it to a few net sites. (IBM, some national Community college site, a couple of others)

      Wasn't interested, it was slower than most BBS's I could get to, had almost no graphics (and none that I could view), and no content I was interested in at the time, So I logged off and didn't get back to the net until 1998. Things sure changed in a dozen years!

      Oh, I wasn't a student there, just heard about it and was curious. Online security? Some things haven't changed much!

      • Re: (Score:3, Informative)

        It's amazing how things change in 10 years. Back in the mid 1990's, getting access to the university from home required a 14K baud modem with PPP, with a university modem pool of two modems.

        10 to 15 years later, and every student can just sftp or ssh to their university account through broadband internet. Some even have their own PC security cameras set up so they can watch their own room from anywhere on campus.

  • I'm happy for them (Score:4, Interesting)

    by blind biker (1066130) on Sunday July 06 2008, @06:03PM (#24078211) Journal

    I'm sure these guys (and gals?) had a ton of fun. I see a lot of comments of the "what a bunch of dorks"-kind. I don't think they're any more dorks than any person who has a hobby and likes to associate and share his experiences and passion with like-minded folks. Don't over think it - it's just socializing and fun, nothing else.

    As for the C-64: I have several of 'em, and as soon as it becomes crystal clear which Ethernet card is the dominant (we're close) I'll be picking up one. I have networked weird stuff into my network already (Sony NEWS, Netwinder, old DOS PC/packet driver etc.) why not add one of my C-64s.

    • Re: (Score:3, Insightful)

      I'm sure these guys (and gals?) had a ton of fun. I see a lot of comments of the "what a bunch of dorks"-kind. I don't think they're any more dorks than any person who has a hobby and likes to associate and share his experiences and passion with like-minded folks. Don't over think it - it's just socializing and fun, nothing else.

      Call me a dork -- I have three C64's, two of which were purchased in the mid 80s. So I was collecting them before it was even cool to do so. They are among some of my most preciou

  • by Penguinisto (415985) on Sunday July 06 2008, @06:16PM (#24078277) Journal

    * so I take it that no one could cough up the highest Crysis framerate figure? (yes, I know, I KNOW! ...but it seems to be all-to-common for LAN-goers to brag on framerates these days).

    * Finally! I can bring my machine-du-jour and not have everyone stare at it funny because it's not a Windows box! (I always brought either a Linux box or a Mac).

    * How d'ya taunt on chat in the thing? "'LOAD * 8,1' this, n00b!" doesn't quite have a ring to it, y'know?

    * How many LED's and uber-liquid-cooling heatsink rigs can you jam into a C-64 case, anyway?

    * Well, rebooting would still be just as common...

    /P

  • by anorlunda (311253) on Sunday July 06 2008, @07:25PM (#24078711) Homepage

    My first personally owned computer wasn't a C64, it was a Commodore Pet. That doesn't make me *that* much older than the C64 crowd, does it?

    The Pet was also the first computer I ever used that booted itself when I turned on the power. My reward for turning on the the switch was a HELLO? prompt. All other computers I used at work before the Pet required me to enter a bootstrap program in binary before they would start the OS.

    In Pet Basic one could do wonderfully fun things, especially with the character graphics. My kids loved the games I wrote. I don't recall ever buying any software for the Pet. Wrote it all myself. It was great fun.

    For some strange reason, the Commodore Pet is always forgotten when people write about the pioneering PC days.

  • Spectrum too soon! (Score:4, Informative)

    by Alioth (221270) <no@spam> on Monday July 07 2008, @02:45AM (#24081107) Journal

    Hopefully we can do the same with the Sinclair Spectrum soon - I've almost completed the prototype ethernet card for the Spectrum. The prototype is working - I've had it connect to IRC, but there are some things to finish on the library and the board's CPLD.

    Picture is here: http://spectrum.alioth.net/doc/index.php/Image:Itlives.jpg [alioth.net]

  • by glgraca (105308) on Monday July 07 2008, @08:32AM (#24082881)

    That proves that 64KB really ought to be enough for anyone.

    • Re:Eh (Score:5, Funny)

      by ya really (1257084) on Sunday July 06 2008, @06:16PM (#24078283)

      Eh (Score:0, Redundant)
      by Lulfas (1140109) on Sunday July 06, @05:52PM (#24077695)

      Eh

      Possibly one of the best uses of the Redundant mod tag I have yet seen.

    • 25 Poke 53281,6

      I stayed with Blue & Black Trim ever since.

    • I can see it now.

      "Hey that's an awesome color scheme, how do I do that?"

      "It's easy, just enter in 'SYS 64728'"

      "Hey sweet, thanks for tha... HEY YOU JERK WHAT THE HELL, oh wait nevermind I'm back on now anyway"