[kronholm]

Very good story, very good read. My story is with the good old breadbox - the Commodore 64. Things are very foggy about that period in my life, I was 8, so if anyone can fill in the blanks, that could be fun.

I didn't do much programming on the c64, but things got fun when I somehow acquired a book full of SYS codes. Apparently you could cheat if you loaded the game, did a soft-reset, so the game was still in memory, and entered a SYS code.

Doing a soft-reset required a cartridge though, like the later popular Action Replays for the Amiga. I didn't have access to these fabled cartridges, so I did the next best thing; A bent paper clip, short circuiting some random holes in the cartridge slot. This caused the desired reset, sometimes, allowing me to pass in the SYS codes, and RUN the game again, various cheats applied.

Today I wish I had access to this "bible" of SYS codes, if only for the nostalgia. It provided me with many hours of fun, and breathed new life into old games. All I remember is that the front of it had a sort of robotic character on it, and some purple colours.

[gdr]

Your bible was the memory map, probably. This is a very basic one (this one is rather for POKE than SYS):

http://www.c64-wiki.com/index.php/Memory_Map

You'd have to look for kernal memory map with entry points or BASIC memory map.

Like, perhaps, this one here: http://unusedino.de/ec64/technical/aay/c64/krnromma.htm

[gallonofalan]

I did the same paperclip trick ... Worked fine until one day I hit the wrong pin and connected the power line to one of the chips ... Bang. Big deal because I grew up in rural Ireland and a new C64 or a repair meant a road trip and big expense.

[kronholm]

Ouch, could have as easily happened for me as well. As time passed I became more careless on hitting the proper holes, and I must've ended up trying quite a lot of different combinations. I'm very happy your experience didn't happen to me, I'd have been heartbroken.