[HN Gopher] Commodore 128D Computer (2001)
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Commodore 128D Computer (2001)
Author : indigodaddy
Score : 30 points
Date : 2022-12-01 03:46 UTC (19 hours ago)
(HTM) web link (www.zimmers.net)
(TXT) w3m dump (www.zimmers.net)
| rtp4me wrote:
| This was my first computer - way back in 1987. My friend had an
| Amiga, and I just didn't "get it" back then. Looking back, I
| should have spent a few $$$ for the Amiga :-)
| ruk_booze wrote:
| I have both the C128D and the C128DCR.
|
| Unfortunately, the DCR is missing its keyboard :(
|
| It was always a bit awkward with the far reach for accessing the
| Action Replay cartridge's (a freezer/turbo-loader) buttons since
| the cartridge port was way behind the monitor (or in my case, a
| small TV)
|
| Almost never used any of them other than in C64 mode. Booted CP/M
| like once. What a waste, all those poor Z80s must be the least
| utilized cpus ever.
| bronikowski wrote:
| 128D was my dream computer when I was still a C64 user. I loved
| the design, integrated floppy drive, 80 columns! I finally bought
| it few years ago, in top condition, just to donate it to computer
| museum.
| mromanuk wrote:
| I had a Commodore 128C with a 1571 drive when I was a little
| kid in 1987. Sadly, in the 90s I made the mistake of selling
| it. I would love to have it back, to play with my daughters.
| tiahura wrote:
| Weren't these almost as expensive as the Amiga?
| tyingq wrote:
| In the US, the intro price for the 128D was $499, the Amiga 500
| was $699. Though pricing was pretty volatile in that era.
| snvzz wrote:
| And the A500 was well worth the extra $200.
| kstrauser wrote:
| Is that literally an Amiga 1000 case?
| Keyframe wrote:
| sweet timing! Few weeks ago I finally got ahold of C128D(CR)
| again after many years. It with 1084s monitor is a bygone era
| that still fuels with inspiration. Few of the amigas on the side,
| SGIs, Spectrums, Amstrads, and an old PC or two is still source
| of inspiration and reminder of why I went into it all. It's easy
| to forget in daily routines of abundant javascript/youtube
| machines surrounding us.
| harel wrote:
| My uncle had this model. I had a Vic-20 at the time still and I
| can't say I wasn't a bit envious...
| jesuslop wrote:
| Wonder if a modern uP's register-bank is bigger than the whole
| vic's RAM.
| PM_me_your_math wrote:
| I still remember the first time I powered it up and caught the
| scent of ionized air.
| hdjjhhvvhga wrote:
| Yes! That was it! That was one of these several things that
| emulators are unable to give me...
| Joeri wrote:
| This was the computer I got as a kid, which I only ever used to
| play games on (maybe my parents should have just given me that
| nintendo I wanted). I still have it but it hasn't been turned on
| for decades. I wonder how likely it would be to turn on? I
| suspect it would need to be opened up for inspection first but
| since I don't know how to solder I doubt there's anything I could
| do on the inside and I wouldn't know how to find someone to help
| me with it.
|
| Same deal with my se/30. It hasn't been turned on for many years
| and I'm afraid to do so in case I damage it (further). IIRC it
| had a broken floppy drive anyway so it needs some repairs.
| krallja wrote:
| The 128 will probably work just fine today. They don't have the
| notoriously dangerous power supply of the C64. You might want
| to add a cooling fan to it, or some heat sinks on the rarer
| chips. To be safer, you could even test the voltages on the
| power supply before plugging it into the machine, and open it
| up to look for leaking capacitors, but it's not really a
| machine that fails much (yet).
|
| The SE/30 needs to have its PRAM battery removed, it is a bunch
| of lithium-acid waiting to leak all over the logic board. The
| electrolytic capacitors on it are also fairly notorious for
| leaking and destroying electrical traces, but there's not much
| you can do about that without learning to use solder.
| the_af wrote:
| So basically you used it in C64 mode? My childhood friend also
| had a C128 (her dad did, anyway) and we used it in C64 mode.
|
| Re: turning it on now, the consensus of the C64 fan community
| is that you should replace the original PSU with a new one,
| because the old ones were prone to failure and could ruin your
| computer. Maybe the same applies to the C128?
|
| edit: ah, a sibling commenter mentions the C128 PSU isn't as
| dangerous as the C64's.
| philipkglass wrote:
| This stylish machine brings back memories. My childhood best
| friend had one of these. My family had a Commodore 64. When I was
| in 4th grade I wrote a Caesar cipher encryption program [1] using
| a description of the cipher from an encyclopedia and hacked-
| together fragments of BASIC from magazines and the programmer's
| reference guide [2]. It took me a week to make it work at all. It
| was my first substantial program that I can recall. Afterward,
| instead of trading notes with my friend at school, we could trade
| floppy disks with our secret notes [3]!
|
| With neither of us being touch typists, and our computers being
| at home rather than school, this was altogether a far more
| expensive, cumbersome, and high latency method of communication.
| I think we traded notes maybe 2 or 3 times in total after I
| actually had the program working. I remember this project with
| fondness whenever I have written a script for a task that I
| repeat only once or twice, which still happens with some
| regularity.
|
| [1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Caesar_cipher
|
| [2] https://archive.org/details/c64-programmer-ref
|
| [3] That was once I wrote up a long handwritten note about how to
| actually use my invention.
| zerohp wrote:
| The author has an incredible Commodore collection. If you ever
| find yourself in the Austin area when there's a Central Texas
| Commodore Users Group meeting then it's worth a visit.
|
| You can find it on Meetup
| LargoLasskhyfv wrote:
| Hrrm. Flashback. Had these in school around 1985 with
| https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/COMAL
|
| Brr!
|
| Brought my Atari 520stm with SM124 black/white screen
| @640x400@70hz into class to the envy of the physics teacher, and
| did anything the others did in Comal in 68k macro assembly :-)
|
| Usually in less time btw.
| vardump wrote:
| 68k assembly is pretty high level and easy to program. The
| instruction set looks like made for C.
|
| Even things like post-increment (x++) and pre-decrement (--x)
| in addressing modes. So something like "d = *x++;" is just one
| instruction.
| tpmx wrote:
| I "inherited" one of these from a colleague about a decade ago
| whose partner _really_ wanted him to get rid of a "bunch of
| crap". I got his box of approx. 100 floppy disks from his
| childhood too.
|
| I had very mixed feelings accepting the gift from him. Both happy
| and sad for him. I figure I'll keep it and have fun with it, and
| if he ever brings it up again, I'll ask if wants it back.
| Maursault wrote:
| I'd say any C128 model was a smart buy in 1985, especially
| considering how much more expensive faster desktops were, and how
| quickly everything got faster. The 386 launched in October 1985.
| The first PC to use it, blazing at 16MHz, was the Compaq Deskpro
| 386 released in September 1986 for $6.5K for 1MB of RAM, MS-DOS
| 3.1, a 1.2 MB floppy drive and a 40 MB hard drive, but cost
| around $8K after you add a video card and monitor. The Compaq
| Deskpro 386/25 was released August 1988 for $10.3K, probably
| close to $12K with video. Knowing that, I don't feel as bad
| having spent ~$4K in 1989 on a Mac II w/ 5MB RAM, 800K 3.5"
| floppy drive, 80MB HDD, Apple video card, Apple 12" monochrome
| monitor and A/UX license, though I wish I had gotten the SE/30
| instead. I would have saved a little and had a machine that was
| twice as fast. I bought a couple in 2005 for $25/pc. I just
| picked up another about 6 months ago for $277 and recapped it.
| They're attractive furniture. I wish I had the room for a C128 of
| any flavor.
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