Fair point on transparency. I've updated the README to credit Claude Code for the assembly. I directed the architecture, feature set, and all version decisions - Claude wrote the code under that direction. Seven releases over about 6 weeks, commit history and changelogs document the progression. Happy to discuss the design decisions if you're curious.
Around 1987 I mostly completed a Unix-like OS for the C-64 called MATRIX. I was probably around six weeks away from burning it to a PROM when I got a new girlfriend and completely lost interest in the project.
I don't remember too much about it, other than:
- Because Commodore drives had ludicrously long file names for the era, paths like /etc/dev/joy1 didn't need any weirdness.
- Password encryption? What's that?
- What we would call "metadata" today was stored in USR files.
- Directory listing was agonizingly slow. I remember commandeering tracks 16 and 17 for my own hair-brained directory structure in an effort to speed things up.
This is a great story, and you're further along than I ever got in 1987! I had a C64 back then, too, and was fascinated by it, but never attempted anything this ambitious. Girlfriends, too, got the best of me! Fast forward nearly 40 years, and I finally built my Unix-inspired shell for it, just with a very different kind of assistant helping with the assembly. :)
The directory speed problem is real. I sidestepped it entirely by keeping the filesystem RAM-resident (max 8 entries, heap at $6000), which makes LS instant but obviously volatile. Your track 16/17 commandeering approach is incredible and fascinating. MATRIX sounds amazing, and you should dig it up and finish it now! :)
sargstuff|3 days ago
?? future options ?? : Unix bootable from a cassette tape drive? :-)
?? c-64 unix server with ports to hook up one or more c-64's via CaTer (Cartridge Terminal) -- perhaps best done via tcp-ip 'ports'.
?? fuse[1] for c-64 to be able to 'read' other floppies / c-64 unix swap space over tcp-ip.??
?? "modern" 5.25" for c-64 via c-64 variant of greaseweazle[2] ??
-----
[0] "The Many Operating Systems of the Commodore 64" : https://lunduke.substack.com/p/the-many-operating-systems-of...
[1] c64-fuse (perhaps over c-64 tcp-ip) : https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Filesystem_in_Userspace
[2] greaseweazle : https://github.com/keirf/greaseweazle
rasz|4 days ago
ascarola|3 days ago
the_biot|4 days ago
reaperducer|4 days ago
I don't remember too much about it, other than:
- Because Commodore drives had ludicrously long file names for the era, paths like /etc/dev/joy1 didn't need any weirdness.
- Password encryption? What's that?
- What we would call "metadata" today was stored in USR files.
- Directory listing was agonizingly slow. I remember commandeering tracks 16 and 17 for my own hair-brained directory structure in an effort to speed things up.
ascarola|3 days ago
The directory speed problem is real. I sidestepped it entirely by keeping the filesystem RAM-resident (max 8 entries, heap at $6000), which makes LS instant but obviously volatile. Your track 16/17 commandeering approach is incredible and fascinating. MATRIX sounds amazing, and you should dig it up and finish it now! :)