A: You need to know 2 commands: LOAD and RUN.
LOAD["filename"[,device[,1]]] is the basic usage of the LOAD command. For tape drive access, you don't need
to specify the device; the C64 defaults to the tape. If you also omit the filename, the first file found is loaded. For
most tape-based games and programs, rewinding the tape and simply typing LOAD (followed by Return) will
load the first file off the tape. After the load is completed, typing RUN (followed by Return) will
execute the program.
For disk drive access, the device is usually 8. If there are multiple drives hooked up, they will be 9, 10, and 11. To
load the first file on the disk, "*" should be used as the filename. The optional ,1 tells the
C64 to load a file at whatever location is stored in the file, instead of the default load address (default load
addresses were implemented so that different computers could load the same programs and still work). This ,1
is essential for most game loading programs. Thus, a LOAD"*",8,1 should load most disk games, as it loads
the first file off of the disk at its programmed address. If the game does not automatically run, use the
RUN command. If nothing runs, or the computer crashes during the load, try omitting the ,1
to load it into the default C64 file area.
A lot of times, you'll have a disk with more than one program on it. To view the directory of the disk, load a file
called "$" (that would be LOAD"$",8), and type LIST (and press Return). The C64
will have loaded a mock program whose listing is the directory of the disk. Then you can load files using
LOAD"filename",8,1 and RUN them.
