ridsdale@sfucmpt (Gary Ridsdale) (12/14/83)
I recently purchased an 80-col interface for my C64 from Protecto. (It's actually made by DATA-20). It produces an 80X24 display on any monitor (NOT T.V.), and can be switched in software between the C64 display(for graphics) and its own high-resolution display. The thing arrived about when I expected it to (about 3 weeks from Illinois to Vancouver, Canada). I've been using it for around a month now and it appears to work fine. (I have a relatively cheap BMC monitor, and the characters are as clear as on any medium-priced terminal.) For $159 US you get the interface (which plugs into the user port like a game cartridge) with some software on a diskette. This includes: 1. A full-screen editor with word-processing functions. These include line-fill, right-and-left margin adjust, tabs, auto underlining, and so on. It talks to both serial and parallel printers. I've written a few letters and reports on it, and it seems to work quite well. Biggest drawback: two-column output is impossible. 2. A spread-sheet program. Not as versatile as a true visi-clone, but does all the regular things you need in such a program. Biggest drawback: you can't swap or duplicate rows (or columns). 3. A terminal program that works in conjunction with the VICMODEM. Really awful. Biggest drawback: Works in upper-case by default, and you have to SHIFT to get lower-case! You can easily write a new one in BASIC that's much better. In general, I think the whole package is not a bad deal for $159. Biggest Overall Drawback: doesn't work with all machine-language programs (but does work with any program that uses the KERNAL I/O routines, such as any BASIC program.)