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The Anatomy of a Commodore 64

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The Anatomy of the Commodore 64 — the title as printed on the book's own title page; the page title here says "a Commodore 64" — is a 309-page book by Michael Angerhausen, Dr Achim Becker, Lothar Englisch and Klaus Gerits, translated by Detlev Keston and edited by Jeff Hanson, Kirby Hanson and Arnie Lee.

It is a Data Becker book (Data Becker GmbH, Merowingerstraße 30, Düsseldorf), copyright 1983 and 1984, published in the United Kingdom by First Publishing Ltd, Pangbourne, Berkshire. ISBN 0-948015-004.

What it contains

Eight chapters:

  1. Machine language programming on the Commodore 64 — the monitor, useful ROM addresses, data input and output, cassette and disk saving, the RS-232 interface and the serial bus
  2. Assembler programming — the 6510 instruction table and worked programs
  3. (chapters 3–5) the operating system, the SID synthesiser and graphics, including the full sprite treatment — enlarging sprites, backgrounds, sprite-to-sprite and sprite-to-background collisions, multicolour sprites
  4. BASIC from a different viewpoint — how the interpreter works, extending BASIC, HARDCOPY, RENEW and PRINT USING, and the interpreter's own routines
  5. VIC-20 / Commodore 64 / CBM-PET — a comparison table of ROM addresses and how to convert programs between the three
  6. Input/output control — the CIA 6526: general notes, register usage, I/O ports, timers, the real-time clock, the two CIAs as fitted in the 64, and using the joysticks

Appendices: A ROM listing, B a short lesson in hexadecimal arithmetic, C summary of capabilities, D bibliography.

What it is, and what it is not

It is a chip-level reference, not a board-level one. It documents the 6510 pinout and the 6526 CIA in detail, and carries a block diagram of the CIA — genuinely useful when a CIA is suspected. But its four appendices are a ROM listing, a hexadecimal primer, a capability summary and a bibliography: there is no schematic appendix, no parts list and no component values in this edition. If you are looking for the machine's circuit diagram, it is in the Commodore 64 / 64C Service Manual and in The Commodore 64 Kernal and Hardware Revealed, not here.

The ROM listing in appendix A is the book's single most substantial piece of reference material.

Download The Anatomy of a Commodore 64 here: The Anatomy of a Commodore 64.pdf

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