MACHINA
neura8NEURA/8 · OUR CHIPS, OUR ROMS
NEURA/8 is the Commodore 64 rebuilt entirely in software!

User's Guide

Using the machines: switching on, the keyboard, loading software.

2. Switching a machine on

The C64

NOT YET The C64 opens to visitors when it is finished. This is how it works when it does.

On neura8.nw, open C64 in the menu. The machine has the page to itself and switches itself on as the page opens: Core64+ with our own ROMs, NexusROM+ 64, running in your browser at the speed of a real C64. Its screen is sized to your window, so the whole machine is in view without scrolling.

After about two seconds, the time the real machine takes to test its memory, the power-on screen comes up:

    **** NEXUSROM+ 64 BASIC V2 ****

 64K RAM SYSTEM  38911 BASIC BYTES FREE

READY.

The flashing square is the cursor. Click the screen, and a green ring shows the machine has your keyboard. Then type.

The bar above the screen

One bar holds everything, left to right:

On the barWhat it does
Run a program, Type it in, Write your own, Stop itReady programs to run, or your own, typed in a key at a time (below)
PowerSwitches the machine off and on again: everything in memory is gone, as on the real one (the disk and the tape stay in)
RESTOREThe C64's RESTORE key. With RUN/STOP (Esc) held down, it is the warm start: the screen clears, READY., and the program in memory is kept
PauseStops the machine where it is; press it again to go on
Sound on / offThe sound. A browser lets a page make sound only after a click or a key, so it starts with your first one
DiskDrive 8, with its light: put in a disk, a tape or a cartridge, take the disk out, write protect, save the disk (chapter 4)
TapeThe Datassette: a blank tape, PLAY, RECORD, STOP, REWIND, save the tape (chapter 4)
ChipsOpens the machine up: each chip beside the screen, live (the Test Bench, below)
MoreStep and Frame; Freeze (a freezer cartridge's button); Sound check (a few notes, played by writing the SID's registers as a program would); SID 6581 or 8580 (changing it switches the machine off and on); which port the joystick drives; the arrow keys as cursor keys or a joystick; Scanlines
?The keys, the joystick, and how to load from a disk or a tape

At the end of the bar, how fast the machine is running (100% is a real C64) and how much faster your computer is than it needs to be. Under it, one line says what is in the drive and the Datassette. A file dropped on the screen goes where it belongs. On a phone or tablet, a joystick and a FIRE button come up under the screen.

BASIC runs in full: type a program, RUN it, and RUN/STOP (Esc) stops it.