lncjb@cc.newcastle.edu.au (01/22/91)
A friend told me that the original CBM64's where released in white VIC-20
cases. Believe it or what?
--- }`oo'{
`'
Chris "Polar" Baird
Impoverished BSc Undergrad @ Newcastle Uni (OZ!)
LNCJB@cc.nu.oz.aumford@umaxc.weeg.uiowa.edu (Mark Ford) (01/23/91)
From article <7018.279c2b26@cc.newcastle.edu.au>, by lncjb@cc.newcastle.edu.au: > > A friend told me that the original CBM64's where released in white VIC-20 > cases. Believe it or what? > > --- }`oo'{ > `' > Chris "Polar" Baird > Impoverished BSc Undergrad @ Newcastle Uni (OZ!) > LNCJB@cc.nu.oz.au I seem to remember seeing such a thing. It was a Commodore 64 with a white case, and the dark color keys like the latter C64's have. I think the Vic-20's have light color keys if I remember right. Then Commdore went with the grey colored equipment, only to return to white with the C64c and C128, 1571, 1581, etc. etc. I believe the 1541 started out in a white case as well. Mark. mford@umaxc.weeg.uiowa.edu
rknop@nntp-server.caltech.edu (Robert Andrew Knop) (01/23/91)
mford@umaxc.weeg.uiowa.edu (Mark Ford) writes: >I seem to remember seeing such a thing. It was a Commodore 64 with a white >case, and the dark color keys like the latter C64's have. I think the >Vic-20's have light color keys if I remember right. Then Commdore went with >the grey colored equipment, only to return to white with the C64c and C128, >1571, 1581, etc. etc. I believe the 1541 started out in a white case as well. I've got an old C64 from way back when they used to cost ~$300 or even more (I bought it from a friend for $20 during one break a few years ago when my 128 was 500 miles away from me). It is very early, the logo is somewhat different, the font that is used on the keys on the keyboard is different- but it is, sure enough, grey. The Vic-20 had very dark brown keys- even darker than the 64's, if I remember correctly. I had one of these guys 8 or so years ago. (I've climed the Commodore ladder- I even started with a Pet that we rented one summer when I was in Jr. High!). Also, I think the Vics where whiter than the current 128's and 64c's, which are a sort of creamy off-white. The original 1541's were also white, and those were the guys that *really* had problems with misalignment. The "second-run" 1541's matched the 64's color, but still had the push-pop door instead of the lever found on current drives. On a related topics: Vic-20's in the movies!! In at least two movies where they needed computer keyboards to look technical and impressive, I've seen Vic-20's. The first was Airplane II, where there are three or four of them lined up with a bank of ground personnell types. The second was in The Philadelphia Experiment, where there was this big huge workstation screen with a Vic-20 keyboard below it, in top-secret high-tech military base. Has anybody seen Vics on the silver screen anywhere else? (If anyone remembers the TV show "Manimal," which ran about 6 episodes, I seem to remember in the Pilot episode that the hero had a C64 in his house somewhere.) -Rob rknop@tybalt.caltech.edu
treesh@vangogh.helios.nd.edu (01/23/91)
The TV show on NBC called Empty Nest, a c64 sits on the desk in the doctor's office. ctfm
nrossi@jarthur.Claremont.EDU (Nick Rossi) (01/24/91)
In article <4084@ns-mx.uiowa.edu> mford@umaxc.weeg.uiowa.edu (Mark Ford) writes: >I seem to remember seeing such a thing. It was a Commodore 64 with a white >case, and the dark color keys like the latter C64's have. If you bought a C-64 at least five years ago, your keyboard looked like the normal grey case and dark keys, but the box probably had a picture of the old white case and Vic-20 style keys. Seems like that's what my original package had on it..
llaria@cup.portal.com (Tracy M Wirs) (01/24/91)
I remember seeing them twice: ONCE on "Unsolved Mysteries" (not sure if that was a C64C or C128D) ......and in the series MAX HEADROOM which was on ABC. <btw...... I *do* wish they'd bring the latter back......but I guess it was playing too close to reality!> llaria@cup.portal.com
root@zswamp.fidonet.org (Geoffrey Welsh) (01/25/91)
>From: mford@umaxc.weeg.uiowa.edu (Mark Ford) >From article <7018.279c2b26@cc.newcastle.edu.au>, by >lncjb@cc.newcastle.edu.au: > > A friend told me that the original CBM64's where released in white VIC-20 > cases. Believe it or what? >I seem to remember seeing such a thing. It was a Commodore >64 with a white case, and the dark color keys like the latter >C64's have. I had one of the first C64s sold in Canada (I paid $C 895 for it!), and it was in the same colour case as the later 64s (with the exception of the 64c, of course). However, the colour of the keys has changed over the years, especially the function keys. The VIC keycaps, too, went through some colour changes. -- UUCP: watmath!xenitec!zswamp!root | 602-66 Mooregate Crescent Internet: root@zswamp.fidonet.org | Kitchener, Ontario FidoNet: SYSOP, 1:221/171 | N2M 5E6 CANADA Data: (519) 742-8939 | (519) 741-9553 MC Hammer, n. Device used to ensure firm seating of MicroChannel boards Try our new Molson 'C' compiler... it specializes in 'case' statements!
lncjb@cc.newcastle.edu.au (01/25/91)
> > On a related topics: Vic-20's in the movies!! > > In at least two movies where they needed computer keyboards to look technical > and impressive, I've seen Vic-20's. The first was Airplane II, where there > are three or four of them lined up with a bank of ground personnell types. The > second was in The Philadelphia Experiment, where there was this big huge > workstation screen with a Vic-20 keyboard below it, in top-secret high-tech > military base. > > Has anybody seen Vics on the silver screen anywhere else? > > (If anyone remembers the TV show "Manimal," which ran about 6 episodes, I > seem to remember in the Pilot episode that the hero had a C64 in his house > somewhere.) > I remember seeing a VIC as part of the 'military' equipment in the movie 'The Lost Caverns' (I think that's the title,BTW). A bunch of American Defence types where following Central American rebels into a deep & mysterious cave and stumble across a lost civilisation. They just used the keyboard in this case. Also, the video display on WOPR in 'War Games' had a very susipisous character font and screen size,,, --- }`oo'{ `' Chris "Polar" Baird Impoverished BSc Undergrad @ Newcastle Uni (OZ!) LNCJB@cc.newcastle.edu.au
<SYST8134@Ryerson.CA> (01/29/91)
I have seen a PET in one of the STAR TREK series of movies. I know it was the first or second one when the scene moved to Cpt. Kirks quarters or his actual home and there blinking away in the background was a PET. I also so a PET in a Maxi-Pad commercial some years ago. Richard Bradley
<OPERPRIN@Ryerson.CA> (02/01/91)
The Commodore 64 was indeed released in a brown case. The VIC-1541 disk drive as it was first known was in a white VIC case. When the brown version came out the drive was then brown. The same is true of the VIC-1525 printer that was put in a quieter brown case and called an MPS-801. The only 64 that I have ever seen in a white case was one that my brother put in a VIC case becuase his C64 Keyboard crapped out and an old VIC keyboard is exactly the same electronically as the 64. Richard Bradley
digdon@ug.cs.dal.ca (Mike Digdon) (02/03/91)
In actual fact, the 1541 was first known as the VIC-1540, which came in a white case. When the 64 came out, that's when the 1541 in the brown case came around.. -- +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+ + Mike Digdon: digdon@ug.cs.dal.ca + My 64 can still get the + + mike@ac.dal.ca + job at hand completed!! + +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+
<OPERPRIN@Ryerson.CA> (02/06/91)
To follow up, and I may have said this before. There was a VIC-1541 that followed the VIC-1540. The 1540 needed a ROM upgrade to be made into a 1541. Both the VIC-1540 and VIC-1541 were in white cases and when the VIC was dropped from the name the 1541 came out is brown. Richard Bradley
menace@fquest.fidonet.org (Dennis Little) (02/11/91)
digdon@ug.cs.dal.ca (Mike Digdon) writes: > In actual fact, the 1541 was first known as the VIC-1540, which came in a whi > case. When the 64 came out, that's when the 1541 in the brown case came aroun > You might want to recheck your facts then as the 1540 ran at a bit faster speed than the 41 if I remember correctly. If you want to go all the way back and see what a 1541 was, check out the older PET drives as the 1541 is a single drive out of a dual drive system (this is why you have the 0 in s0:filename etc). me ---------------------------------------------------------------------- The following opinions are my own and not those of anyone else who might be registered on fquest.fidonet.org. All flames can be sent to alt.flames since we don't read that here. ----------------------------------------------------------------------
<SYST8134@Ryerson.CA> (02/11/91)
The 1540 was did run at a different speed and had to have a rom upgrade to make it into a 1541. The reason that you have to say 0: when you load from many of the CBM single drives is that the ROMs were modified from earlier dual drives. Even the 9060 and 9090 hard drives from that late 70's and early 80's have to be addressed as 0:. If you do not use the 0: sometimes the disk drive will go looking for the imaginary drive 1 that does not exist. The only single floppy drive made for the PET series was the 2031 full height and the 2031 low profile. The 2031 was white and the low profile certainly was the same case as the VIC-1540. BUT, the 2031 was IEEE and not serial so the actual logic board was a completely different one to that in the VIC-1540. I would be interested to know if one could change a 2031 to a 1541 by transplanting the boards??? Richard Bradley
rwsoukoreff@trillium.uwaterloo.ca (Rob Soukoreff) (02/13/91)
In article <91042.155612SYST8134@Ryerson.CA> <SYST8134@Ryerson.CA> writes: >The 1540 was did run at a different speed and had to have a rom upgrade >to make it into a 1541. Indeed, the VIC-1540 ran faster because it was designed to work with the VIC-20, which ran faster than the Commodore 64. The 1541 had to be slowed down to accomodate the 64. Question: Is the VIC-20 the fastest 6502 based Commodore computer? Rob Soukoreff rwsoukoreff@trillium.uwaterloo.ca
rknop@nntp-server.caltech.edu (Robert Andrew Knop) (02/13/91)
rwsoukoreff@trillium.uwaterloo.ca (Rob Soukoreff) writes: >Question: Is the VIC-20 the fastest 6502 based Commodore computer? C-128 at 2 MHz beats it hands down. Of course, the 128 uses an 8510, but the 8500 series is effective in the 6500 family, just an upgrade from the C64's 6410 (and downwardly compatible, of course). -Rob Knop rknop@tybalt.caltech.edu
root@zswamp.fidonet.org (Geoffrey Welsh) (02/13/91)
Rob Soukoreff (rwsoukoreff@trillium.uwaterloo.ca ) wrote: >Indeed, the VIC-1540 ran faster because it was designed to >work with >the VIC-20, which ran faster than the Commodore 64. The >1541 had to be slowed down to accomodate the 64. More specifically. the serial bus timing had to be relaxed to accomodate the VIC II's DMA cycles. >Question: Is the VIC-20 the fastest 6502 based Commodore computer? At 1 MHz, most likely yes. However, the C128 can run at 2 MHz, and that more than makes up for the VIC-20's efficiency. -- UUCP: watmath!xenitec!zswamp!root | 602-66 Mooregate Crescent Internet: root@zswamp.fidonet.org | Kitchener, Ontario FidoNet: SYSOP, 1:221/171 | N2M 5E6 CANADA Data: (519) 742-8939 | (519) 741-9553 The mile is traversed not by a single leap, but by a procession of coherent steps; those who insist on making the trip in a single element will be failing long after you and I have discovered new worlds. - me
digdon@ug.cs.dal.ca (Mike Digdon) (02/13/91)
The VIC-20 was indeed the fastest 65xx based commodore computer. -- +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+ + Mike Digdon: digdon@ug.cs.dal.ca + My 64 can still get the + + mike@ac.dal.ca + job at hand completed!! + +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+