root@zehntel.UUCP (01/06/84)
#N:zinfandel:19800001:000:541 zinfandel!dave Jan 4 15:42:00 1984 Does anybody know what the differences are between an 'old' C64 and a 'new' one? Is there any way to upgrade the old one? I've heard that the new ones have an 8 pin monitor/audio jack -- what are the extra three pins for? Net.micro recently had a review of 'Music Construction Set' which did not work properly on the older flavor of C64. Apparently, the 8 pin monitor/ audio cable was needed and there was a bug in the SID chip. Dave Funk decvax!sytek!zehntel Zehntel, Inc. 2625 Shadelands Dr. Walnut Creek, CA 94598 (415) 932-6900
miller@uiucdcs.UUCP (miller ) (01/11/84)
#R:zinfandel:19800001:uiucdcs:36100024:000:1149 uiucdcs!miller Jan 10 16:17:00 1984 I am aware of several changes between "old" c64's and "new" ones. First in hardware, the newer ones have a lot of the chips in sockets rather than connected straight to the pc board. Also, it draws less power so some of the resistors, etc., have been changed. There is a metal shield added on the bottom of the new ones, I guess to cut down on RF interference. In software, I know of three versions, all having to do with color memory. In version 1 and 3 you can POKE a char. straight into screen memory and see the char (although the default colors will be different between v1 and v3). In v2, the default char. color on a POKE is the background screen color. Thus, the char is there but is invisible since it is the same color as the background (pretty stupid, eh?). Thus, you either have to PRINT the char, or POKE in the char color separately into color mem in order to see it. How can you tell which version you have? Well, v1 has the "64" over near the power led on the right. V2 moved that over onto the left near the colored stripes. V3 made the four function keys a darker color than they were before. A. Ray Miller (a v2 owner)