16 Jul
1997
16 Jul
'97
6:50 a.m.
On Wed, 16 Jul 1997, Roger Merchberger wrote:
And I found a Commie B-128. I've heard of the
C-128... are these similar,
or is this actually the same thing, or what? I'm not big on Commie stuff
(goofiest basic I've ever played with... and slooooo disk drives) but I
collect for uniqueness, and this seemed rather unique.
The B-128 is a business-oriented machine that Commodore introduced in
about 1982. The numeric portion of the model number and the amount of
standard RAM are about all that it shares with the C-128. The standard
processor is a 6509, although an 8088 can be installed as well. The
display is 80-column monochrome. A version of BASIC is built in, and,
with the optional 8088, it can (supposedly) run CP/M-86.
As another B-128 owner, I'm interested in additional information on
this machine, as well. How about it, Commodore fans?
Also, they had a PET-style CBM-8050 (or was that
5080...) dual garage-door
style disk drives, and a printer that hooked up thru a funky
Centronics-like cable. Interested in those? I could go back tomorrow.
You may want to go back for the drive unit. There was a PET-style dual
drive unit at the store with my B-128 when I bought it, but I didn't see
the connection between the two items (which should have been obvious - a
Commodore with an IEEE-488 interface and a PET-style floppy disk unit) at
first and passed the drive unit up due to lack of space. Unfortunately,
it was gone when I came to my senses the next day and went back for it.
--
Scott Ware s-ware(a)nwu.edu