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The Anatomy of the Commodore 64

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The Anatomy of the Commodore 64 is a Data Becker book by Michael Angerhausen, Achim Becker, Lothar Englisch and Klaus Gerits, translated by Detlev Keston and edited by Jeff Hanson, Kirby Hanson and Arnie Lee. The hosted scan is the British edition published by First Publishing of Pangbourne, Berkshire, in 1984; the copyright page also carries 1983-1984 copyrights for Data Becker of Düsseldorf and Abacus Software of Grand Rapids, Michigan. ISBN 0-948015-00-4.[1] The main text runs to p. 134, followed by a ROM listing paginated A-1 to A-149 and three short appendices.[2]

The authors wrote it because they found the Commodore 64 user's guide too thin. It is aimed at programmers who already know BASIC: machine language and the Kernal input/output routines (cassette, disk, RS-232 and serial bus), assembler programming, the SID and VIC-II registers, sprites, the BASIC interpreter's internals, converting programs from the VIC-20 and PET, and the 6526 CIAs.[3][2]

The book has some hardware reference material at chip level. Chapter 3 gives the 6510 pin assignments, the memory configurations selected by LORAM, HIRAM, EXROM and GAME, and the signal on each pin of the expansion port and the user port.[4] Chapter 8 gives the 6526 CIA pin assignments, a block diagram of the CIA (diagram 8-1), its registers, timers and real-time clock, and how the two CIAs are wired in the 64.[5]

Contents

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Page numbers are from the book's table of contents.[2]

  • Chapter 0: Introduction, p. 1
  • Chapter 1: Machine Language Programming on the Commodore 64, p. 4
  • Chapter 2: The Next Step: Assembler Programming, p. 35
  • Chapter 3: A Close-up Look at the Commodore 64, p. 43 (hardware overview, 6510, memory configurations, expansion port, user port)
  • Chapter 4: The Synthesizer and its Programming, p. 50 (SID 6581, paddles, SYNTHY-64)
  • Chapter 5: Graphics Programming, p. 62 (VIC 6567, colour and graphics, sprites)
  • Chapter 6: BASIC from a Different Viewpoint, p. 98
  • Chapter 7: VIC-20, Commodore 64, CBM/PET, p. 120
  • Chapter 8: Input/Output Control: CIA 6526, p. 124
  • Appendix A: ROM Listing, p. A-1
  • Appendix B: A Short Lesson in Hexadecimal Arithmetic, p. B-1
  • Appendix C: Summary of Capabilities, p. C-1
  • Appendix D: Bibliography, p. D-1

What this book does not contain

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It has no schematic of the Commodore 64, no parts list and no component values. For the circuit diagram use the Commodore 64 / 64C Service Manual; The Commodore 64 Kernal and Hardware Revealed reproduces Commodore's schematic.

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Download: The Anatomy of a Commodore 64.pdf

References

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  1. ↑ Michael Angerhausen, Achim Becker, Lothar Englisch and Klaus Gerits, The Anatomy of the Commodore 64 (First Publishing, 1984), title page and copyright page (PDF pp. 5-6).
  2. ↑ 2.0 2.1 2.2 Angerhausen et al., The Anatomy of the Commodore 64, Table of Contents (PDF pp. 9-10).
  3. ↑ Angerhausen et al., The Anatomy of the Commodore 64, Preface and Introduction, pp. 1-3 (PDF pp. 7, 11-13).
  4. ↑ Angerhausen et al., The Anatomy of the Commodore 64, chapter 3, pp. 43-49 (PDF pp. 53-59).
  5. ↑ Angerhausen et al., The Anatomy of the Commodore 64, chapter 8, pp. 124-134 (PDF pp. 134-144).
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