pjm@spuxll.UUCP (PJ Maioriello) (08/20/85)
As you may have guessed from the header I have seen a real C128. In fact I am now the proud owner of one complete with its over-stuck FCC approval sticker. I have only had it for about 3 days so I ams still checking it out. If anybody has anything they would like to know, I can try to check it out for you. Perhaps it would be best to post such items since others may want the info too, and I will probably post the answers. Also any ensuing discussions should probably take place in net.micro.cbm. Maybe it can be squezzed in with the AMIGA talk in there. Here's a few tidbits that I have run acrross since buying my machine: EVERYTHING I have tried so far in 64 mode has worked flawlessly. This includes my fastload cartridge, various games, the original C64 demo, and some hi-res pictures. The Basic 7.0 is very nice. You can do some pretty nice graphics stuff with about a screenful of code. Things like allocating bit-mapped memory and protecting it are done automatically. You can write some BIG basic programs. You can play music as simply as: 10 vol 15:rem set volume to max 20 play "x":rem x is a note in the musical scale, can have multiple x's Thats enough to play music, but it is only the beginning. The play command is almost like a language in itself. You can think of it as a print command equivalent for music. Also the memory expansion is supported in the basic with commands like stash, fetch, and swap. Options include "host" bank number, espansion bank number, memory location, and number of bytes. The guide that comdes with themachine is fairly complete. It is actually thicker that the programmers refernce guide for the 64, and it refernces a programmers reference guide for the 128. I dont know that much about CP/M yet. It does boot from my MSD and 1541 drives. It is also always resident (the 64 version had to be rebooted after a tpa program ran). The TPA on the 128 is 59k. I think that is bigger than typical CP/M sytems. I got a program called DISK that looked like it was originally for an Osborne to run fine. Some other C64 specific CPM programs crahed the 128 CP/M. These programs seemed to try to take advantage of specific 64 features. One program for instance, does a software 80 column screen under the 64's basic kernal while the 64 is in CPM mode. Needless, to say I was not too surprised with it didn't work on the 128. The place I brought at was Crazy Eddie's in East Brunswick, but he is now out of stock. I payed $299. A local Caldor's had some but they are now out of stock. The guy there said their order was undershipped by 4000 units. He expected 1571 drives later in the day I was there, the 1670 modem and the 1902 monitor about a month later. All in all, I was favorably impressed. The machine seems to capture the best features of the 8 bit machines that have been around in the last couple of years. Thats all I have time for now, but I will attempt to get specific information if anybody wants it. Paul Maioriello spuxll!pjm 201-561-7100 x2328 work 201-431-2253 home