Cassette Tape (Commodore 64)

the commodore 1530 (c2n) datassette, later also datassette is commodore's dedicated magnetic tape data storage device types of drive there were several versions for example here is an early model and here is a later model 3 they all function basically the same you connect it up to the rear of the c64 in the cassette interface the connector is keyed so it cannot be inserted the wrong way cassettes once conneceted, insert a cassette tape into the drive they come in many shapes and style packaging rewind the tape to the start (remember the cassettes have 2 sides so they have different data on each side) once rewound to the start, press the button on the counter to reset it to the start (this is good for keeping track of tape position then) loading from cassette if all goes well, you can now read from the cassette simply type load and press enter alternatively, press shift + run/stop this should prompt you to press play on the cassette drive once you do the screen should turn a light blue (so the inner dark blue disappears) and after a 40 seconds to a minute at around 13 on the counter (for this particular game, wonderboy) you are presented with the dark blue screen again saying something like searching then found wonderboy or the name of your game after another minute at counter 33 it takes you to a loading splash screen after 5 minutes and at around 90 on the counter wonderboy splash screen disappears and goes to horizontal white lines until around counter 100 at which point the game starts playing music and is fully loaded to the title screen total load time was around 5 minutes 30 seconds and the counter sits idle at 102 every game loads slightly different but this is the general experience other tapes such as crazy kong will show the word crazy kong at around counter 13 like most games, but then take until around counter 48 without showing anything more after this it says please wait do not stop tape and then continues to load again withh a blank white screen several more minutes frogger64 is a great example of a different load experience it takes about 30 seconds to say frogger64 searching ready and then you have to type run and press enter, then wait at a black screen for several minutes until about counter 100 when the game then starts a failing game load would load in a different way a failed load will usually not show anything for a while and then then searching found part1 found part 2 and so on until it goes back to basic and says ready this is usually a failed load so you need to try again, or it could be can be how the game/tape loads in (for example frogger64 does actually load this way and it is normal to see searching then ready and typing run to continue loading the rest of the game if it says ready and you type run and press enter then it fails with some memory or error or nothing happens, then its a sign it was a failed read saving to cassette if you have written a program and want to save it to cassette, simply type save "filename" where filename is the name you want to save it as c64 cassette filenames have a 16 character limit play/rewind / forward commands a little fact to remember is simply having power and pressing the play, rewind or forward buttons will not make the cassette move, it has to wait for the command back from the c64 to do so this means if the buttons do not work it isn't necessarily the tape drive at fault, it could be the c64 servicing the cassette if you have troubles loading cassettes it could well be the cassette tapes are bad, or it could be your cassette drive there are a few things you can do to service and improve your drive pinch roller this is the roller that rolls the tape to move it this gets dirty over time and needs a good clean with ipa first to remove any grease and dirt, followed by a light diamond file to bring back the grip drive belt on the bottom of the drive there is a belt that drives the motor to turn the cassette tape rollers this belt weakens and stretches over time leading to failed loads as the drive doesn't spin consistently capacitors if you lift up the pcb on the tape drive you will usually find two 47uf capacitors that are worth replacing note the old ones are grey i replaced them with new rubycon 47uf 25v capacitors rewind / fast forward full tape a good trick is to fully fast forward and rewind the tape you are having trouble loading a few times this rubs it against the roller and head to clean off any dust or dirt, and realigns it on the sindles demagnitize head although rarely beneficial you can use a demagnitizing wand over the tape read/write head (the metal head that goes into the center of the tape that makes contact with the tape) to remove any residual magnetism azimuth alignment the final step you can perform is aligning the read/write head angle with the magnetic tape so when it passes over it is correctly aligned this is done at factory and rarely needs to be changed unless the drive has already been worked on and re aligned the best way to do this is using a kung fu flash cartridge to load the azimuth head alignment program https //archbee doc uploads s3 amazonaws com/j28kvka0c jxcfzcoqq29 kdap1jjll6neh tikwjjy 20250516 145208 d64 boot up the program, insert a tape, press play and watch for the black dots going down the screen you want to turn the azimuth adjustment screw (usually the left screw on the metal head) until the black lines form the tightest configuration and make the strongest but least number of lines here is a poorly aligned head notice the dispersion of dots not solid lines as we adjust the screw located on the head we can tighten those lines in this still isn't tight enough but its getting close now if we adjust further you see at the top the lines are solid, and at the bottom is where i tuned it too far and it opened up again here is a perfectly aligned head solid thin bars after this visual alignment, you can then do the final alignment by loading the tapes and if they fail turn the screw up to at most one full turn in either direction, in increments of 1/4 turn and testing again this can make the difference between successful loading and failing