30 Aug
2007
30 Aug
'07
8:56 p.m.
Got one here. Is it worth anything or is it landfill?
Cheers,
Chuck
30 Aug
30 Aug
9:01 p.m.
Got one here. Is it worth anything or is it landfill?
It's an interesting machine, sort of a "nice idea at the time" box -- good
graphics, so-so sound, nice concept, but badly executed and marketed.
I used the built-in spreadsheet for my apartment budget while I was in
medical school, so it's very useable, but without 64 compatibility most
people considered them doorstops.
The colour palette is very nice, however. (121 colours)
--
------------------------------------ personal: http://www.cameronkaiser.com/ --
Cameron Kaiser * Floodgap Systems * www.floodgap.com * ckaiser at floodgap.com
-- Life's tough. It's tougher if you're stupid. -- John Wayne
-----------------
31 Aug
31 Aug
5:07 p.m.
Cameron Kaiser wrote:
The colour palette is very nice, however. (121
colours)
That's an interesting number -- how was that number reached? 11 x 11?
--
Jim Leonard (trixter at oldskool.org) http://www.oldskool.org/
Help our electronic games project: http://www.mobygames.com/
Or check out some trippy MindCandy at http://www.mindcandydvd.com/
A child borne of the home computer wars: http://trixter.wordpress.com/
8:52 p.m.
The colour
palette is very nice, however. (121 colours)
That's an interesting number -- how was that number reached? 11 x 11? 
10 p.m.
Cameron Kaiser wrote:
No, 16 colours x 8 luminances, but one of the colours is black. (The greys
are under the 'white' colour.)
Must be the same designer as in the Hitch-hikers guide the the Galaxy.
"You mean the blinking back light on the black background !?"...
The colour palette is very nice, however. (121
colours)
That's an interesting number -- how was that number reached? 11 x 11?
9:56 p.m.
Jim Leonard wrote:
Cameron Kaiser wrote:
I asume
the other 7 colors where reserved as some sort of default colors
for your text display.
Ben alias woodelf
The colour palette is very nice, however. (121
colours)
That's an interesting number -- how was that number reached? 11 x 11?
30 Aug
30 Aug
9:04 p.m.
It's an interesting machine, sort of a "nice
idea at the time" box -- good
graphics, so-so sound, nice concept, but badly executed and marketed.
... the execution of which I mean the whole 264 line, sorry. Technically, the
264's are a nice design, but none of them (+4, 16, 116, etc.) were
well-positioned or well-marketed.
Bil Herd may be out there and could say more about it (he was one of the
architects, along with Dave Haynie).
--
------------------------------------ personal: http://www.cameronkaiser.com/ --
Cameron Kaiser * Floodgap Systems * www.floodgap.com * ckaiser at floodgap.com
-- BOND THEME NOW PLAYING: "Never Say Never Again" ----------------------------
9:46 p.m.
At 8:56 PM -0700 8/30/07, Chuck Guzis wrote:
Got one here. Is it worth anything or is it landfill?
I'd say save it. I remember reading about them in a catalogue, but
have never seen one in person.
Zane
--
| Zane H. Healy | UNIX Systems Administrator |
| healyzh at aracnet.com (primary) | OpenVMS Enthusiast |
| MONK::HEALYZH (DECnet) | Classic Computer Collector |
+----------------------------------+----------------------------+
| Empire of the Petal Throne and Traveller Role Playing, |
| PDP-10 Emulation and Zane's Computer Museum. |
| http://www.aracnet.com/~healyzh/ |
10:01 p.m.
On 8/30/07, Chuck Guzis <cclist at sydex.com> wrote:
Got one here. Is it worth anything or is it
landfill?
Cheers,
Chuck
Definitely not landfill, though possibly only interesting to Commodore
completists. I remember playing with them, along with the C-16,
SX-64, etc at K-Mart. That was before I even had my Vic-20. I was a
little behind the curve, but hey, I was 9 :)
I do not yet have one in the CBM wing of the collection, if you'd
otherwise pitch it...
31 Aug
31 Aug
8:21 a.m.
On 8/30/07, Chuck Guzis <cclist at sydex.com> wrote:
Got one here. Is it worth anything or is it landfill?
Like other people have said -- they're interesting, but really were badly
executed and marketed. On the upside, it's faster than the C64 and has more
colors, but on the major downside, it's got no sprite support and doesn't
have the SID chip, which meant that software support was marginal. In a lot
of respects, it's more of a scaled up VIC-20 than a C-64. The built-in
applications are mostly a curiosity. (And why on earth did someone think
that the arrow-*shaped* arrow keys would be a good idea?)
In terms of "worth", my impression is that they sell on eBay for just a
little more than the average C64-with-1541 combination.
(This is my long overdue de-lurking, by the way. Pleased to meet you all.)
8:40 a.m.
----- Original Message -----
From: "Chuck Guzis" <cclist at sydex.com>
To: <cctalk at classiccmp.org>
Sent: Thursday, August 30, 2007 9:56 PM
Subject: Any interest in a Commodore Plus 4?
Got one here. Is it worth anything or is it landfill?
It's not worth a lot, but it is of interest.
If you're in North America, I'm interested, but I'm leaving for the UK
tonight and won't be back for a month, so I'd need awhile to complete the
transaction.
Jim
2:10 p.m.
If noone here takes it, perhaps you should email the folks at the ACUG0477 (Anything
Commodore User Group - I have no idea what the numbers are for (April 1977??)) yahoo
group:
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/acug0447
Robert Bernardo, Paul Panks (aka Dunric) among others reside there.
Regards,
Andrew B
aliensrcooluk at yahoo.co.uk
Chuck Guzis <cclist at sydex.com> wrote: Got one here. Is it worth anything or is
it landfill?
Cheers,
Chuck
5:29 p.m.
I have 3 (I think that's what they are) sans cpus.
What I really want, which in reality is a close
cousin, is the 16, which is a blackish Commie 64. Love
that case. I'll take one working or not :)
--- Chuck Guzis <cclist at sydex.com> wrote:
Got one here. Is it worth anything or is it
landfill?
Cheers,
Chuck
____________________________________________________________________________________
Be a better Heartthrob. Get better relationship answers from someone who knows. Yahoo!
Answers - Check it out.
http://answers.yahoo.com/dir/?link=list&sid=396545433
5:58 p.m.
On 31 Aug 2007 at 17:29, Chris M wrote:
I have 3 (I think that's what they are) sans
cpus.
What I really want, which in reality is a close
cousin, is the 16, which is a blackish Commie 64. Love
that case. I'll take one working or not :)
I've got the CPU in its original box, as well as a 1541 and the MPS-
801 printer. I haven't fired any of this up yet, so I can't even say
that it all works...
Cheers,
Chuck
6:09 p.m.
--- Chuck Guzis <cclist at sydex.com> wrote:
On 31 Aug 2007 at 17:29, Chris M wrote:
You can get into trouble by using *cpu* on this list
I see. I should know better. I should have said mine
don't have the uP's. That's what I was told anyhoo.
These come with rom based word processor, spread-
sheet, etc., and are said to be worth less then the
silicon they're *printed on*. So I guess there's no
point in inquiring whether a 6510 or such could be
hacked in. But you got to admit, it would be fun regardless...
____________________________________________________________________________________
Be a better Heartthrob. Get better relationship answers from someone who knows. Yahoo!
Answers - Check it out.
http://answers.yahoo.com/dir/?link=list&sid=396545433
I have 3 (I think that's what they are) sans
cpus.
What I really want, which in reality is a close
cousin, is the 16, which is a blackish Commie 64.
Love
that case. I'll take one working or not :)
I've got the CPU in its original box, as well as a
1541 and the MPS-
801 printer. I haven't fired any of this up yet, so
I can't even say
that it all works...
2 Sep
2 Sep
10:53 p.m.
On 31 Aug 2007 at 18:09, Chris M wrote:
You can get into trouble by using *cpu* on this list
I see. I should know better. I should have said mine
don't have the uP's.
MPU would have done just fine. An MPU does not necessarily a CPU
make.
These come with rom based word processor, spread-
sheet, etc., and are said to be worth less then the
silicon they're *printed on*. So I guess there's no
point in inquiring whether a 6510 or such could be
hacked in. But you got to admit, it would be fun regardless.
It depends on how determined you are. I suspect that even a 65C02
with an appropriate amount of external "glue" to provide the 7 I/O
port pins could be pressed into servce. I haven't had the cover off
on the one that I have (and may not bother), but I understand that a
7501 MPU was used. As I understand it, location 0000 was used for
the port data and 0001 was used to set the direction on the port
pins.
BTW, the original owner of mine seems to have had the reaction that I
did when powering this one up--"ho hum". Mine appears to have been
tried once or twice then put away--the box has all of the original
packing right down to the twist-ties on the PSU cables. I've also
got a 1541 drive that has a game (name escapes me) diskette for the
box.
The 40x25 text limitation really is too bad. Better keyboard than
most modern notebook computers with an odd layout.
If you want to buy or trade for my Plus 4 and 1541, drop me a line.
I'll even toss in the printer.
Cheers,
Chuck
6320
days inactive
6323
days old
15 comments
10 participants
participants (10)
-
aliensrcooluk＠yahoo.co.uk -
bfranchuk＠jetnet.ab.ca -
cclist＠sydex.com -
chaosotter76＠gmail.com -
chrism3667＠yahoo.com -
healyzh＠aracnet.com -
jim＠photojim.ca -
silent700＠gmail.com -
spectre＠floodgap.com -
trixter＠oldskool.org