Back from the Grave: Commodore 128D (incorrect character and colour display)

Commodore's attempt to supersede the infamous Commodore 64, the C128 was designed to take the C64 and give it a significant boost in its general computing and business credentials.  The MOS 6510 was replaced with an MOS 8502 able to run at twice the speed (2MHz), the RAM was doubled to 128KB (expandable to 1MB), the BASIC interpreter was upgraded and a second, high resolution VDC was added - complete with its own video RAM - and even a numeric keypad was now standard on the keyboard.  Not only that, but a Zilog Z80 (running at 4MHz, though only really 2MHz effectively) was included to enable what is generally considered the best implementation of 8-bit CP/M.

Unfortunately, the juggernaut that was the Commodore 64 would ultimately prove its undoing.  As the C128 boasted near 100% backwards compatibility with its predecessor, most software was still developed for the older, cheaper system to ensure a broader user install base.  Between that and the rising popularity of x86-based systems in businesses, in 1989 the C128 was discontinued.

Back from the Grave: Apple //e (vertical white lines)

The penultimate version of the 8-bit Apple II - the Apple IIe (stylised //e) - was originally released in 1983.  In essence, it was little more than a standard Apple II with some of the optional extras built in, and many off-the-shelf chips replaced by fewer custom ASICs.  Powered by an MOS 6502 running at 1MHz and featuring 64KB of RAM, expandable to a staggering 1MB, along with expansion card facilities it was very much a home computer - but its lack of graphical acceleration, single channel "beeper" sound and limited input options heavily restricted its gaming capabilities (especially compared to the recently-released Commodore 64).

Including its later revisions (Enhanced and Platinum), the //e ultimately became the longest-lived version of the Apple II before finally being discontinued in 1993.

New series: Back from the Grave!

It's been a while between proverbial drinks, 'eh?  While I make no promises that this will signal some kind of massive influx of posts, I do know for certain that I've got some source material to go on this time which may take a while to get through.  As always I don't know the frequency with which I'll be posting, but this is hardly a super-popular blog - mostly just an outlet for myself, and perhaps some info for others.

So what do I mean by "Back from the Grave"?  My brothers are big on retro computers - gaming consoles and PCs alike.  As is to be expected from things which are sometimes pushing 30 years old or more, they don't always work as they once did so things need to be repaired, or even outright modified.  Since we've had a few successes recently, I feel this might be a good time to start documenting them online for reference.  And since I can't find anywhere better I'll be using this blog.

Hopefully there will be some useful information here for others.  But, as always, text only - so I'll try to be descriptive.