Commodore Free 4/Commodore_Free_Issue_04_2007_Commodore_Computer_Club.d64/t.commodores 2

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The 906114 PLA (logic array) chip
(sometimes labelled with the number
82S100N or PLS100N) would sometimes
fail spontaneously causing the computer
to no longer have a picture. The 6581
SID sound chip would sometimes go out--
usually due to a monitor being
connected improperly. On rare occasions
the 6510 microprocessor, the 6567 NTSC
VIC (video chip), the 901227 Kernal
ROM, the 901225 Character ROM, or
the 901226 BASIC ROM would fail.
The Commodore disk drives would
periodically need alignment and
cleaning and an occasional chip
replacement or bridge rectifier or
such.

Keyboards would likewise need to be
cleaned infrequently. Because of the
interdependency of each of the
internal components of the Commodore
computers it is not unusual for
Commodore computers to have similar
symptoms while actually having
different underlying problems.

Even when experiencing occasional
hardware problems the Commodore users
rarely felt like they were at the
mercy of the service wolves due to
the many options which they had.

Oftentimes there were simple and easy
to implement solutions for Commodore
malfunctions. Fuses (which were usually
easy to replace) would get blown out in
the computer, drive, or power supplies
periodically, but they were all usually
available at Radio Shack stores. New
cables or external cleaning of contacts
was sometimes all that was required.

Some seemingly complex problems
(especially with the Commodore 128
and Amiga) stemmed from the fact that
various chips sometimes became loose
in their sockets and could be easily
pushed in tighter or removed and
reseated. The good news was (and still
is) that (even in a worst-case
scenario) the Commodore computers and
peripherals could usually be totally
replaced with a new replacement unit
for less than the average minimum
repair fee for most IBM & Apple
systems.

As used Commodore computers
became widely available at amazingly
low prices during the late 1980's and
throughout the 1990's many of the
Commodore repair centers had
difficulty staying in business.
Despite this, there are still a few
local and several national places who
do Commodore repair work, sell parts &
manuals, and have diagnostic software
and hardware tools and information
available.

Commodore had to constantly work to
develop peripherals to go along with
the blossoming market during the
1980's. Because Commodore was
marketed so widely in so many large
national department stores and in so
many foreign countries there began to
be a big demand for these accessories
and peripherals. During the mid to late
1980's individuals walking into most
major department stores which sold
computer products would typically
have seen software and hardware for
IBM, Apple, Commodore, & oftentimes
Atari side-by-side or in close
proximity.

VIC 1525 PRINTER

The Vic 1525 printer and a higher
quality model 1526 had replaced the
early Vic 1520 printer. The Vic 1540
disk drive was replaced by the model
1541 drive.

Commodore also continued to work
behind the scenes to develop new
computer models. Commodore unveiled the
Commodore SX-64 portable computer
around 1984 which was incredibly nice
&
affordable for its time period. The
SX-64 computer had a detachable
keyboard and a 5" color monitor and a
floppy drive built-in. It needed to be
plugged into an AC outlet, but for its
time it was amazing.

It is still considered to be one of
the nicest collector's items available.
The SX-64 did not become as popular as
the Commodore 64 did, but the fact that
it had almost total compatibility
with the desktop Commodore systems
made it quite popular-- especially to
those who needed to travel and/or go
to Commodore User Group meetings.

C 128 COMPUTER + 1571 DISK DRIVE

Then in about 1985 Commodore
released the beautiful Commodore 128
computer (utilizing the Commodore
8502 microprocessor) which had three
different modes of operation and two
different display options. One of the
reasons the 128 was quite successful
was that it had the advantage of being
able to use virtually all Commodore 64
software (while in the Commodore 64
40-column mode), peripherals, and
accessories and yet also had a
(rarely used) CPM mode and a fairly
popular Commodore 128 mode which
allowed an 80-column display, as well
as the 128k of memory, BASIC 7.0, a
numeric keypad, and a faster higher
capacity disk drive-- the 1571 floppy
drive. Therefore, the Commodore 128
overcame many of the weaknesses and
drawbacks which the Commodore 64
had with regards to business
applications. All of the Commodore
disk drives at this time were 5 1/4"
floppy drives. However, Commodore
eventually also released a 3.5" disk
drive-- the Model 1581 which had
significantly higher storage capacity
(800k).

The Commodore 128 could use the
monitors and disk drives designed for
the Commodore 64 quite well.
However, to take advantage of the
increased disk speed and storage
capabilities of the 128 the 1571 or
1581 disk drive was required. Also, to
take advantage of the 80-column mode
an RGB monitor was required.
Therefore Commodore made several
monitors which had both an RGB
mode and a composite (audio/video or
audio/chroma/luma) mode.

Other manufacturers such as Philips
(Magnavox), Thompson, Teknika,
Amdek and a few others also made
monitors which could support both the

40 and 80-column mode of the
Commodore 128. Most of these same
monitor manufacturers (and others
such as Sakata and BMC) had also
previously made models for the
Commodore 64 and wanted to continue
profiting from the Commodore
consumers. In fact Philips (Magnavox)
actually made many of the Commodore
brand monitors for the 128.

In fact, it was not uncommon for
Commodore to subcontract with other
manufacturers to produce peripherals
with the Commodore name on them.
Most of Commodore's printers, floppy
drives, and monitors were actually
made by other manufacturers to
Commodore's specifications. Most of
these Commodore branded printers and
monitors were essentially identical to
existing or subsequent models made
and distributed with the OEM (original
equipment manufacturers) brand name-
- except that the Commodore version
almost always had special Commodore
features and/or interfacing.
Commodore compatible floppy drives
made by other manufacturers also
emerged, but they were independently
developed (for the most part) due to
the fact that the Commodore 64 and
128 drives were "intelligent
peripherals" possessing chips that
Commodore had decided not to license
or supply to its competitors.Hard
drives were not common (or
affordable) back then, so virtually
all Commodore programs had to be run
off of floppy disks, datasette
cassette tapes, or cartridges.

The Commodore drive was fairly slow in
loading programs so many different
utilities, cartridges, & hardware
modifications became available on the
market for speeding up disk access.

By the mid and late 1980's a staggering
selection of software was available for
the Commodore 64 and 128. Literally
thousands-- if not tens of thousands--
of different commercial titles had been
marketed and an equal or greater
quantity of public domain and
shareware programs were available.

Unfortunately, not many games or
educational programs took advantage
of the 128's advanced modes because
software developers chose to write
programs for the larger base of users
who owned Commodore 64 machines-
- knowing that their programs would
automatically work in the 128's C-64
mode. There were, however, numerous
business, word processing, and
developmental programs and some
telecommunications programs written
to take advantage of the Commodore
128 mode. Many of these features and
programs became useful as businesses,
writers, programmers and modem and
BBS (electronic bulletin board
services) began to see the advantages
of using the Commodore 128 for
serious professional applications.

We owe quite a debt of gratitude to
many of these early developers and
computer users who began to develop
and utilize the fledgling computer
software and telecommunications
industry. Fortunately, Commodore and
other manufacturers provided a good
selection of software and telephone
modems such as the model 1600, the
1650, the 1660, the 1670, & the 1680
modem. If it had not been for
pioneering efforts of individuals
like this we may not have had the great
capabilities which we have now with
computers and the Internet.

COMMODORE 64C

Around 1986 or 1987 Commodore
released the Commodore 64c computer
which was essentially functionally
identical to the original Commodore 64
except it was more sleekly designed
and more attractive. Commodore also
released the 1541c and the 1541-II
floppy drives to go along with this
nicer looking Commodore 64c.

The Commodore 1541-II floppy drive
Many people's lives have been greatly
blessed by the advent of the Commodore
computers. Many handicapped individuals
& shut-ins have had great opportunities
open up to them from these computers.
Many slow learners and children who may
not have taken an interest in learning
found that learning can be fun because
of the Commodore computers. Many
family gatherings, birthdays,
Christmasses, parties, & other social
events have been enriched by the
creative fun involved. By being
addicted to something as enjoyable & of
such a positive nature as this many
have been lured away from (or spent
less time and money on) harmful
addictions such as drugs and alcohol.

Many lifelong and job-related skills
such as typing, programming, and
word processing were acquired via
these computers.

Many computer retailers, department
stores, manufacturers, & programmers
have profited financially from the
Commodore computers. Many other
businesses, researchers, students, and
other ventures have also benefitted
either directly or indirectly.
Undoubtedly the social and
technological spin-offs from these
computers have had a ripple effect
which has directly improved the lives
and strengthened the economy of our
entire nation and other nations.The
ability of people to have wholesome
and affordable recreation and a
diversion from everyday stresses and
pressures undoubtedly has helped the
mental health and outlook of many
individuals also.

Many of those who have gone on to
make huge contributions to the
computer industry began with the
Commodore home computers. Many
Commodore C-64, 128, and Amiga
computers are still used in schools,
businesses, production studios, & as
control devices. They are still some of
the best computers to learn computer
fundamentals on. The fact that these
Commodore computers have so many
built-in functions & capabilities still
makes them fun computers to experiment
with. Because you can still obtain many
hundreds of the original programs for
these computers they are still viable
choices-- especially for hobbyists and
home educators. The fact that the
Commodore 64 can connect directly into
a normal television makes it a good
choice still for those on a budget.

The fact that users of the Commodore
computers did not need to constantly
reconfigure, re-install, & uninstall
software or worry about viruses and
system crashes (as is common with our
more modern Windows computers)
allowed users to spend the majority of
their time actually using the computer
rather than spending so much time
fighting it.

During the mid to late 1980's a certain
amount of software piracy began to
hurt the Commodore software market.
Much of this piracy was likely induced
by unnecessarily high prices.

Fortunately, most people realized that
the programs were such a good value
for the money that it wasn't too big of
a problem. Several software
manufacturers developed sophisticated
software protection schemes to make it
difficult for people to duplicate
Commodore software. However, these
schemes seemed primarily to hurt the
honest users more than the dishonest
people some of whom became extremely
adept at defeating the protection
schemes. Many software manufacturers
finally decided to eliminate the
software protection or to use off-disk
protection schemes so that the
legitimate users wouldn't be hurt
and inconvenienced. Eventually many
of the software manufacturers began to
realize that the best way to discourage
software piracy was to make their
software more affordable.
Undoubtedly, however, the dishonesty
and greed of some individuals
contributed somewhat to the gradual
decline of the Commodore software
industry. Some of these individuals
never learned that it is not wise to
kill the goose that lays the golden
eggs. Some of these hackers probably
felt that they were just having harm-
less fun & felt somewhat challenged by
the prospect of trying to outsmart the
copy protection schemes.

As interest in the Commodore computers
began to decline Commodore Business
Machines and many other vendors of
Commodore compatible products lowered
their prices on both hardware and
software in an attempt to maintain
interest in their products. Commodore
also began bundling software with
hardware and making package deals as
did other producers.

GEOS 64

Just when many individuals felt that
the Commodore 64 may begin to lose
ground to the newer IBM & Macintosh
models of the mid 1980's a company
named Berkeley Softworks created a new
operating system for the Commodore 64
called GEOS which became immensely
popular and helped to rejuvenate
interest in the Commodore line.

GEOS (Graphic Environment Operating
System) was largely a takeoff of the
popular early Macintosh (icon based)
mouse oriented operating system. In
fact, GEOS came with Geowrite and
Geopaint-- much like Macwrite and
MacPaint. Commodore owners were
thrilled that they could have a
computer which could perform nearly
like the Macintosh-- for just a small
percentage of the price of a
Macintosh - while still having color
graphics and sound which surpassed the
capabilities of the Macintosh.

The fact that Berkeley was able to
squeeze so much power out of the C 64's
limited memory and disk capacity was
a tribute to the highly efficient
programming which Berkeley
implemented. Certainly Microsoft
could take a few lessons about
efficient programming from those who
wrote GEOS. A full line of GEOS-based
programs ensued.

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