by Jim Brain (j.brain@ieee.org)As some may know, these questions are part of a contest held each month on the Internet, in which the winner receives a donated prize. I encourage those who can received the newest editions of trivia to enter the contest.
Introduction
This article contains the questions and answers for trivia editions #27-28, with questions for edition #29 and the current contest, #30. Why two sets of questions? Well, as some may know. I have recently moved, and that has put me behind in posting answers. At present, my reference books are still packed in storage, so I can't finish the answers.
If you wish, you can subscribe to the trivia mailing list and receive the newest editions of the trivia via Internet email. To add your name to the list, please mail a message:
To: brain@mail.msen.com Subject: MAILSERV Body: subscribe trivia Firstname Lastname help quit
| Q $1A0) | Commodore produced an assembler for the 128 called HCD65. What does HCD stand for? |
| A $1A0) | Hedly C. Davis, the writer of the assembler.
|
| Q $1A1) | Who wrote most of RAM DOS?
|
| A $1A1) | Although many assume Fred Bowen wrote RAMDOS, Hedly Davis actually
wrote the bulk of it.
|
| Q $1A2) | What is the name of the first C64 disk copy program? (hint: it sported a "gas gauge".) |
| A $1A2) | 1541 Backup.
|
| Q $1A3) | What was the case color of the original Commodore 64s? |
| A $1A3) | Ivory, just like the case color of the VIC-20. In fact, early
cases WERE VIC-20 cases.
|
| Q $1A4) | There are at least two ways to enter 64 mode from 128 mode on a C128: go 64 and sys 65357. They produce the same result (64 mode), but they differ in at least one noticeable way. How? |
| A $1A4) | sys 65357 doesn't ask the "Are You Sure?" question.
|
| Q $1A5) | What CPU powers the B-128 computer system? |
| A $1A5) | The 6509 CPU.
|
| Q $1A6) | What type of drive mechanisms are in the D series hard drives from Commodore? |
| A $1A6) | The D9060 and D9090 drives used "Winchester" hard drive mechanisms.
|
| Q $1A7) | Commodore produced a 16kB RAM expander for the Commodore VIC-20. What is its model number? |
| A $1A7) | The VIC-1111.
|
| Q $1A8) | Commodore produced at least one disk drive with an optical track one sensor. Which drive? |
| A $1A8) | Certain early versions of the 1541C drive had a functional track
1 sensor. Later, due to compatibility problems, it was disabled,
and then later, the sensor was removed from the mechanism. In
addition, 1571 drives and 1581 units have optical track sensors.
|
| Q $1A9) | The Commodore PET series used the IEEE bus to communicate with peripherals. Each peripheral had a unique ID. What range of IDs are supported by the PET? |
| A $1A9) | IDs 4-15 are supported, although you cannot connect all 12 devices
up at one time.
|
| Q $1AA) | Many people have developed Commodore software with the PAL assembler. What does PAL stand for? |
| A $1AA) | Personal Assembly Language (PAL).
|
| Q $1AB) | Many people remember Compute's Gazette. This magazine is best known for the word processor program it shared with thousands of subscribers. Name the program? |
| A $1AB) | SpeedScript.
|
| Q $1AC) | In some 6502 assemblers, the opcode "bge" is available. It stands for "branch if greater than or equal to". What more common opcode is this opcode referring to? |
| A $1AC) | bcs (Branch Carry Set)
|
| Q $1AD) | If I wanted to do a "blt" (branch if result less than), what 6502 opcode would I use? |
| A $1AD) | bcc (Branch Carry Clear)
|
| Q $1AE) | Each Commodore peripheral has a device number, which is associated with a type of device. 8-15 implied disk drive, 4-5 implies printer. These have remained constant from the PET to the C128. However, one peripheral in the PET was phased out and its device number was reused. What device number was reused? |
| A $1AE) | Device #2. The PET systems used #2 as a second tape drive, but in
the newer computers, #2 refers to the RS-232 port.
|
| Q $1AF) | What is the maximum amount of general purpose RAM can one utilize in a stock C64? (I need an exact number here) |
| A $1AF) | In the Ultimax memory configuration, if you guarantee no interrupts
can occur, one can utilize all but the first two memory locations
for general purpose RAM, giving 65534 bytes of RAM. If you can't
guarantee you'll never receive an NMI, you lose 2 more bytes for that
vector, giving 65532 bytes available.
|
| Q $1B0) | What was COMPUTE!'s original sub title? |
| A $1B0) | "The Journal for Progressive Computing".
|
| Q $1B1) | After COMPUTE! was absorbed by General Media, how did the name change? |
| A $1B1) | The name, having gained an exclamation point and lost a period many
years before, reverted back to the period as the ending punctuation.
|
| Q $1B2) | What Commodore content magazine was named after a nautical term? |
| A $1B2) | "Ahoy!"
|
| Q $1B3) | What Commodore content magazine was named after a BASIC keyword? |
| A $1B3) | "RUN"
|
| Q $1B4) | What CPU gets control first when a Commodore 128 is booted? |
| A $1B4) | The Z80 CPU has control first.
|
| Q $1B5) | What CPU powered the Commodore C900? |
| A $1B5) | The Zilog Z8000, from the company who brought us the popular Z80.
|
| Q $1B6) | How large is the monitor installed in the SX64? |
| A $1B6) | 5" diagonal.
|
| Q $1B7) | What color scheme does the SX64 boot up into? |
| A $1B7) | White screen with cyan border and blue text.
|
| Q $1B8) | What is printed as the stock SX64 boot up screen? |
| A $1B8) |
***** SX-64 BASIC V2.0 *****
64K RAM SYSTEM 38911 BASIC BYTES FREE
READY.
|
| Q $1B9) | The SX64 has a reset switch behind the door that holds the monitor controls. What is strange about the reset switch? |
| A $1B9) | The reset switch only resets the disk drive. Most people assume it
resets the entire computer system.
|
| Q $1BA) | What common port is not included on the SX64? |
| A $1BA) | The Cassette Port.
|
| Q $1BB) | In the mid 1980's, a company called Berkeley Softworks created a graphical user environment for the Commodore 64. What was it called? |
| A $1BB) | Graphical Environment Operating System (GEOS).
|
| Q $1BC) | Berkeley Softworks eventually changed their name to what? |
| A $1BC) | GEOWorks. They now develop the GEOS OS for Personal Digital
Assistants (PDA).
|
| Q $1BD) | Most everyone is familiar with MSD disk drives. What does MSD stand for? |
| A $1BD) | Micro Systems Development, Inc.
|
| Q $1BE) | On the NMOS 6502, what two addressing modes have but one opcode each that can operate in that mode? |
| A $1BE) | Actually, there is only one such mode, indirect. jmp (xxxx) is
the only opcode that can utilize that addressing mode.
|
| Q $1BF) | How many transfer register opcodes are there on the NMOS 6502? |
| A $1BF) | 6 (TAX, TAY, TSX, TXA, TXS, TYA).
|
| Q $1C0) | What are the two configurations for the LORAM, HIRAM, GAME, and EXROM
pins that will allow the use of a full 64kB of RAM in the C64?
|
| Q $1C1) | What is the first thing that the C64 (and VIC) KERNAL does upon
powerup?
|
| Q $1C2) | What KERNAL routine is used to set a DOS channel to input?
|
| Q $1C3) | What KERNAL routine is used to set a DOS channel to output?
|
| Q $1C4) | Before calling the routines in $1C2 and $1C3, what register must
you load?
|
| Q $1C5) | What 3 devices can the KERNAL NOT load from?
|
| Q $1C6) | In the Commodore KERNAL, there are "high" and "low" level routines.
To which class of routines does "SECOND" belong?
|
| Q $1C7) | If a programmer calls the KERNAL routine "STOP" and the RUN/STOP
key is NOT pressed, what is returned in the .A register?
|
| Q $1C8) | The Commodore KERNAL routines are all accessed via a jump table.
What routine is used to change the values in the KERNAL jump table?
|
| Q $1C9) | A call is made to a KERNAL routine, the call returns with the C
bit set and the .A register holds $02. What error does this
indicate?
|
| Q $1CA) | If a call to READST is made, and a $40 is returned in .A, what
does this indicate?
|
| Q $1CB) | What routine can be called to determine the physical format of the
Commodore 64 screen in characters?
|
| Q $1CC) | The Commodore 64 starts a non-destructive RAM test at what location?
|
| Q $1CD) | Which way does the RAM test proceed: up or down?
|
| Q $1CE) | Which KERNAL routine is used ONLY in conjunction with a Commodore
IEEE card?
|
| Q $1CF) | Many hybrid BASIC/ML programs use SYS to transfer control from BASIC
to ML. However, a few use USR(X). When using the latter function,
where does BASIC fetch the ML routine's starting address from?
|
| Q $1D0) | To load a program from the current location on a cassette tape, what
two key combination must a user press on a VIC-20 or C64.
|
| Q $1D1) | If I issue the BASIC statement OPEN "JIM,S,W", What type of file
am I opening?
|
| Q $1D2) | Is BASIC in the Commodore computer systems an "interpreted" or
"compiled" language
|
| Q $1D3) | What type of variable is A%?
|
| Q $1D4) | If I issue the BASIC line PRINT:PRINT "A","B" what column does
the "B" show up on when run on a C64?
|
| Q $1D5) | What column does "B" show up on if I run the BASIC line in $1D4 on
a VIC-20?
|
| Q $1D6) | Alphabetically, what is the first BASIC 2.0 to have a 3 letter
abbreviation?
|
| Q $1D7) | How many times does the statement FOR T=1TO0 execute?
|
| Q $1D8) | What base does the BASIC LOG command use for its logarithm
function?
|
| Q $1D9) | A = NOT B can be written as which expression:
a) A = -B b) A = -(B+1)
|
| Q $1DA) | What does INT(-15.43) return?
|
| Q $1DB) | What does ASC$("JIM") return?
|
| Q $1DC) | What is the abbreviation for GET#?
|
| Q $1DD) | What is the largest integer value that Commodore BASIC can handle?
|
| Q $1DE) | What is the ONLY Commodore Editor key not affected by "quote mode"
|
| Q $1DF) | What is the range of RND? |
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Last Updated: 1997-03-11 by Jim Brain