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Decades ago I bought a database cartridge for my C64. IIRC it was a no-name brand being sold as close-out or from a bargain bin. It may have been the slowest program I ever bought. It wasn't too bad for the first few entries, but by the time the database had 25 or so entries, adding a new entry would literally take minutes. Once you felt the slowdown, each new entry would take even longer to be accepted. I built an address book, but it became unusable due to the database speed problem.

Does anybody else remember what this thing was called? As far as its progressively slower performance as entries were added, I decided it was poorly designed. I'm thinking they used some sort of recursive method, but not really knowing what they were doing.

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  • There where several, like MicroFiler or VizaStar. Hard to decide without more information.
    – Raffzahn
    Commented Nov 22, 2017 at 23:47
  • @Raffzahn I just looked both of them up. It was not VizaStar -- that offered multiple applications, which my cartridge did not. The picture I found of the MicroFiler box did not seem familiar, although it did have the generic feel to it which I sort of remember.
    – RichF
    Commented Nov 22, 2017 at 23:55
  • they where just two names that poped up in my memory. There may be many more, but without more information, we may have a hard time to find the right one. Not to mention, that there have been bazillions of C64 applications and promising startups dreaming of becoming the next Microsoft or VisiCorp, just to fade away again. -- That's why I wrote a comment, and not an answer.
    – Raffzahn
    Commented Nov 23, 2017 at 1:06
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    @Raffzahn Because I only ever tried to use it for that one thing (address book), I don't remember a lot. The only facts I remember are that it was really cheap and really slow -- and it got slower with each new added entry. Search, etc. wasn't that bad, just adding a new entry itself is what got progressively slower. With minutes per add, you had plenty of time to think, "What am I doing with this piece of junk?" I'm thinking other people might remember that slowness, at least if they were as dumb as me and bought the thing in the first place.
    – RichF
    Commented Nov 23, 2017 at 14:57
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    @RichF do you remember the color of the cartridge? Was it unusual in any way?
    – PhasedOut
    Commented Nov 30, 2017 at 18:45

2 Answers 2

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It's either:

Microfiler (Atari, C64)

enter image description here

enter image description here

or, Vizastar (C64)

enter image description here

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Is it perhaps Delphi Oracle? It came with a copy-protection dongle that plugged in the cassette port.

It was kind of silly because it would be easily reproduced by putting a paperclip on pins 4,5.

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    No, it was not Delphi Oracle. That was a well-known, advertised, product. What I had was not produced by a company I had heard of. Plus, the program was in ROM and I don't think it required a disk drive. (I.e., you could save/read to tape or disk IIRC.) Thanks, though.
    – RichF
    Commented Nov 23, 2017 at 14:51

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