Hi Today we have the very wonderful C128D-plastic
For me this computer marked the real beginning of the collection. Up to this point I guess I had been simply playing at finding stuff, then one day I tripped across this amazing site and my eyes were fully opened wide.Home Computing Museum - New Zealand Museum
I felt a bit like Z in Antz finding 'Insectopia' For here was a glorious wonderful treasured collection of Commodore beyond the Amiga. I very quickly communicated with the owner of the site who mailed me several times Before long I was widening my search of Ebay and wandering into Germany where I came across two C128D's, the first being of the metal variety and then the second, more interestingly of the plastic variety. Seems that problems with shielding prevented this model from being sold in some countries. The metal version was a cost reduced version, known as the 128DCR. In addition to the metal case it had a new, cheaper motherboard and floppy drive. [ quote http://oldcomputers.net/c128d.html ] There was originally only one version of the 128D, with a plasic case and a carrying handle, but it failed the FCC regulations for RF emissions, so it was only sold outside of the U.S. This was in 1985. [ end quote ] I have pondered over this computer long and hard and cannot help but feel that there was some swapping of ideas with the Amiga 1000, what with the keyboard located below the machine. Saying that, the handle and wire tidy is pretty unique, but the machine was definitely trying to be more than the desktop version of the standard C128. The C128 in its various forms tracks very similarly the design lines of Amiga 1000 to 500 and as I say I do wonder who was looking in on who.. I realised when I got this machine that I needed more information and I ventured onto the groups and found a wealth of detail out there on the machines of Commodore. This opened the door wide open to even more machines and more importantly the world of floppy drive units that Commodore produced, and the rest was history. My Commodore retro collection was suddenly born, and I have never looked back. I would like to give a big thank you to Alan Gilchrist whose museum is a retirement project. Prior to this he served as both a Commodore Retailer and Authorised Service Centre for a number of years until the time when Commodore closed down. Do visit his site... Truly wonderful. [ information from Sothius ] http://www.sothius.com/hypertxt/welcome.html?c128d.html The C128-series was intended to be the C64's successor, after the 264-series had failed so miserably. And indeed, CBM avoided many mistakes they did with the 264s: the C128 was (almost fully) C64-compatible, came with a comfortable keyboard by default (in Germany even with DIN-layout) and 80 column mode. The C128D, introduced shortly afterwards, was the professional version with detached keyboard and integrated CBM 1571 Two versions of the C128D do exist: the first, 'plastic case' C128D has an internal fan, only 16 KBytes VDC-RAM and a carrying-handle. The integrated 1571 is a standard drive, so there's an additional board with its controller logic the second, cost-reduced C128D-CR (like this one) has a stable metal case, neither fan nor handle but 64 KBytes VDC-RAM instead, enabling higher resolutions (which were rarely used, by the way). The integrated drive is a 1571CR, with its controller logic integrated on the C128D-CR's board. The reason for using a metal case is not quite clear, maybe t was due to stricter EM regulations in some countries? Some interesting C128-prototypes did exist, e.g. a C128D with built-in 3.5" drive and one-button mouse, a C256 (with 256 KB RAM), machines with integrated hard disks and even some standard (flat) C128 with integrated 3.5" drives, looking quite interesting. However, none of these made it into production - not even samples seem to exist... One machine, however, existed in production quality: the C128-CR, which was a 'flat' C128 based on the C128D-CR's cost-reduced board (including 64K DVDC RAM) [ end detail from Sothius ]
Image courtesy of http://home.datacomm.ch/fmeyer/c64/c128.html
scuzz http://www.commodore-amiga-retro.com
[ historical retrospective ] http://bugclub.org/beginners/history/cp-m.html CREATIVE COMPUTING VOL. 9, NO. 11 / NOVEMBER 1983 / PAGE 206 The CP/M operating system so popular today has its roots in the very genesis of microcomputing. The designer of CP/M, Gary Kildall, in the early 1970's was a software consultant for Intel, one of the first manufacturers of integrated circuits, and the inventor of the first "microcomputer on a chip," the 8088. Kildall's everyday job was as a computer science professor at the Naval Postgraduate School in Monterey, CA. His two jobs put him in a unique position to observe and tinker with the fledgling microcomputer industry. http://www.dcast.vbox.co.uk/cpm_over.html [ quote ] CP/M was the first operating system for microcomputers in general use. Before MS-DOS gained dominance in the 16-bit microprocessor world, Digital Research's CP/M ruled the market for 8-bit machines. Although CP/M was created specifically for the Intel 8080 processor, actually, most users ran it on a Zilog Z80, the supercharged 8080-compatible chip that dominated hardware just like CP/M dominated the OS market in the late 70s and early 80s. [ try the emulator ] http://www.dcast.vbox.co.uk/cpm_over.html#Emulator
And what exactly is CP/M...
Control Program for Microcomputers...
.. alternatively Control Program / Monitor
Quoting Bernd Pol:
Even in micro computers, you can find operating systems
of all types and sizes, depending on computer type and
application. But none of them has achieved such an enormous
spreading as CP/M for micro computers, based on the CPU
types 8080, 8085 or Z80. Meanwhile, this Digital Research
product can rightfully be regarded as a standard.
("Vom Umgang mit CP/M", 1983)
[ end quote ]
My first experience of CP/M was with the PCW9512 as I
found the CP/M applications invaluable in the disk
management and data base programming side of keeping
my computer disks tidy. From a series of quite simple
commands, you were able to structure do all the
functions that later became the standard for DOS,
bringing very much into question just where DOS came
from... For me CP/M was much better.
scuzz
http://www.commodore-amiga-retro.com
Hi Hot from the pages of Micro Mart Shaun Bebbington has a few words with famed Speccy programmer Jonathan Smith. Joffa Speaks! Jonathan Smith, an ex-programmer for the likes of Ocean Software, is about to make a return to the 8-Bit world with two new games in the pipeline. In what could be the greatest come back since Lazaru, the demo of his game Saucer for the Sinclair ZX Spectrum has certainly caught the eye of many. [ ZX Shed exclusive preview ] scuzz http://www.commodore-amiga-retro.com
From the vault of the scuzz Amiga Format archive comes this retrospective of the magazine for Dec 89 So sit back with a cuppa tea and go back in time...
AMIGA FORMAT: Issue 5 Dec 1989
Britains Leading Magazine for Amiga Owners
How the Amiga has furthered man`s ventures
into the space and beyond the computer screen.
ITS SHOWTIME: Commodore come to Earls Court.
Commodore`s stand at the PC Show was
impressively large, white walled affair, with
plenty going on inside. There was everything
from a games arcade to DTP, graphics to music,
even helpful folks from Commodore`s technical
support department were on hand.
... Demos included Pen pal from Brown Wagh,
Music X from Microillusions, Arena from ASAP
and Ocean, Domark and Mirrorsoft showing off
their latest games.
One of the highlights on Commodore`s stand was
Discover from Xebec. It`s an interactive
information system aimed at providing point of
sale information. It consists of a touch
sensitive keypad linked to an A2000.
AMIGA TEACHES THE CLASS OF THE 90`s
A big announcement at the PC Show from
Commodore was of an educational bundle
for the A500 priced at £499. Including
a Midi Interface, DeluxePaint II, Superbase
Personal, Kindwords, Maxiplan 500 and Dr T`s
Midi Recording Studio.
AMOS DELAYED
Mandarin`s forthcoming game creation programme
Amos has been delayed until January 1990.
DRIVES REVIVED:
Cumana has re-styled, re-designed and re-released
two disk drives for the Amiga.The two drives are
3.5" and 5.25" models compatible with the A500,
A1000 and A2000. Costs £89 and £134.95.
COMM AGAIN
Kuma have launched a new comms programme called
K-Komm 2, at a price of £29.95. It comes with this
comprehensive list of features: baud rates from
75 to 9600, send and receive Xmodem files, log
files to disk, printer output, Viewdata emulation,
Hayes modem support, programmable function keys,
auto dialing and log-on sequences.
DIGIPRO
A590 Hard Drive with 2mb RAM £599.95.
8MB RAM boards cost £899
Amiga A2000 with XT 20MB HD 2MB RAM plus monitor
G2 Genlock and Pro-video plus cost £3218
ADVERT:
The Amiga 2000 v A Rubber Plant....
INSECT LIFE
The Sculpt-Animate series of 3D modelling and
rendering programs from Byte by Byte have been
available in Britain for just two years and it is
now the most popular 3D system.... full article
on the 3D creation of a moving flying insect.
BATMAN
Game review for new game by Ocean £24.99
Graphics 8 Sound 7 Intellect 3 Addiction 8
Overall 90%. The team.. Andy Smith was the
ace with Bob Wade and Pat McDonald.
GAMES
Tintin on the Moon by Infogrames £24.99 83%
Lancaster by Actual Screenshots £24.95 61%
Dragon Spirit £19.95... score 67%
Laser Squad by Blade £19.95 93%
BOOKS FOR BOFFINS:
JASON HOLBURN takes a look at Abacus` latest
books:
Amiga 3D Graphics Programme in Basic
Amiga C for Advanced Programmers.
Amiga Graphics Inside and Out.
RODENT RIVALRY: Jason Holburn checks out a
mouse with no balls.... £80 does seem a rather
lot for a mouse. BOING! Mouse Amiga Centre Scotland.
ON THIS MONTHS DISK:
Ghostbusters II, Iconizer, Acid Demo, Brushcon,
Memgauge, Word Count, Insect Life, XColour and
Workbench Hacks.. Esuom, Mischief and Leftymouse.
MORE HIGH QUALITY SOFTWARE TOOLS FROM HiSoft
HiSoft Basic £79.95, Lattice C Ver5 £299
PDUPDATE: Richard Monteiro checks out the best
public domain software:
COMIC ON A DISK: GTS. This features Nemesis Prologue
a comic on a disk starring a semi human killer.
SIMGEN: Fish 243 Very nice SimGen
COLOUR WINDOW Fish 238. Using colour window can
control the colour assignment of any Intuitions`s
custom screen.
3D EXTRAVAGANZA: GTS Time to fish out those 3D glasses.
TBAG 29: Another helping from the Tampa Bay Amiga Group.
DEPECHE MODEM:
Perhaps one of the most common feelings expressed
by modem users is that of lonliness. The long hours
spent tapping away at an impersonal keyboard, the
importance of finding that last little bug, the
tedium of slaving over a hot VDU.. Don`t believe
a word of it: they are having a whale of a time. And
here`s how. At the end of your telephone is a whole new
world just waiting to be discovered... COMMS. and
Compunet - online.
MICROBOTICS means Amiga-Power
Amiga HardFrame / 2000 DMA SCSI Interface £199
Amiga A500 M501 Memory and Clock .. half a meg £99
Amiga 1000 Starboard 2 The Expansion of Choice £199
WORKBENCH:
Jason Holborn answers...
Query on editing the RAM disk icon..
Query on writing a text based adventure game..
Language queries in C , Modula2 and Assembler..
How to transfer C64 software to your Amiga..
WHO YA GONNA CALL.. the Workbench Helpline.
Will a larger Agnus Chip make any real difference ?
HOW HEAVY IS YOUR AGNUS ? From guy with a B2000
DOS library routines Lock() Explained
LIBRARY "dos.library"
DECLARE FUNCTION Locks& LIBRARY
Naksha sell the universal mouse for Amstrad PC
Atari and the Commodore AMIGA.
GAMEBUSTERS: Rick Dangerous Handy hints and
helpful tips:
MUSICAL MASTERY: Jason Holburn checks out
Passports first Amiga offering: Master Tracks Pro.
MUSIC SECTION: Jon Bates cuts up and mixes in the
hi-tech world of sampling.
Feature on Pro-Sound Designer and
Advanced Midi Amiga Sampler and FutureSound 500.
HARD AND FAST: Xetecs Latest: The FastTrack drives
are available in several configurations depending
on your machine type and pocket. For 500 owners
there are external SCSI adaptors and seperate
drive enclosures containing a 40Mb drive, and for
the A2000 users there is the advantage of the
complete HardCard with 40MB HD.
SUBSCRIBE: To Amiga Format .. 12 action packed
issues for just £29.95.
GURU`s Meditation: Captain Whinge.... Our warm best
wishes to Andy Smith and his new arrival.
Editor Bob Wade: Production Editor Damien Noonan
Reviews Editor Andy Smith Technical Jason Holborn
Art Editor Trevor Gilham..
Published by Future Publishing Ltd. Issue 5 Dec 1989.
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Last updated 22nd December 2006
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