RetroTechCollection

COMPUTE!'s First Book of Commodore 64 Sound and Graphics

COMPUTE!'s First Book of Commodore 64 Sound and Graphics is a 1983 collection of tutorials, utilities and programs for the Commodore 64 from COMPUTE! Publications of Greensboro, North Carolina, several of them reprinted from COMPUTE! and COMPUTE!'s Gazette. ISBN 0-942386-21-3.[1] The Library of Congress record gives the extent as v, 275 pages (call number T385 .C5993 1983).[2]

The articles cover character graphics, bitmapped and extended background colour modes, mixing graphics modes, redefining character sets (Charles Brannon's Ultrafont character editor), sprites and sprite animation, and programming the SID for sound effects and music. Contributors include Sheldon Leemon, C. Regena, Gregg Keizer, Orson Scott Card and Chris Metcalf. The appendices are screen, colour and character code tables and the MLX machine language editor.[3]

Contents

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Page numbers are from the book's contents list.[3]

  • Foreword
  • Chapter One: Getting Started, p. 1
  • Chapter Two: Graphics Modes, p. 41 (including High-Resolution Sketchpad, p. 91)
  • Chapter Three: Redefining Character Sets, p. 137 (including the Ultrafont Character Editor, p. 153)
  • Chapter Four: Action, p. 181 (Sprite Editor, p. 183; Creating Sprite Animation, p. 187; Moving Maze, p. 198)
  • Chapter Five: Sound, p. 207
  • Chapter Six: Music, p. 229 (Songster, p. 231; MusicMaster, p. 238)
  • Appendices A-I: typing in programs, screen location and colour memory tables, colour values, ASCII codes, screen codes, keycodes, and the MLX machine language editor
  • Index, p. 274

What this book does not contain

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It is a programming book. It describes the VIC-II and SID from the programmer's side only and has no schematics, parts lists or component values; for those use the Commodore 64 / 64C Service Manual. The first general volume in the series is COMPUTE!'s First Book of Commodore 64.

Download: Computes Fist Book of Commodore 64 Sound and Graphics.pdf

References

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  1. ↑ COMPUTE!'s First Book of Commodore 64 Sound and Graphics (COMPUTE! Publications, 1983), front cover, title page and copyright page (PDF pp. 1, 3-4).
  2. ↑ Open Library, Compute!'s first book of Commodore 64 sound and graphics, record OL2879497M, from Library of Congress catalogue data (LCCN 84-102030). Retrieved 2026-10-01.
  3. ↑ 3.0 3.1 COMPUTE!'s First Book of Commodore 64 Sound and Graphics, Contents, pp. iii-iv (PDF pp. 5-6).
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