Back from the Grave: Commodore VIC-20 (Part 2: blank, dark screen)

Contrary to popular (at the time) belief, the "20" in "VIC-20" wasn't actually a reference to any part of the system.  Speculation varied, from it being a reference to its horizontal text resolution (which was actually 22 columns), the total size of the system memory (16KB of ROM and 5KB of RAM, for 21KB total), revision numbers, IC count (the original version had 32 chips, the "CR" or D version had 26; both had 7 proprietary chips), speed references or all manner of other potential origins.

As it turns out, however, it was much less meaningful.  According to Michael Tomczyk (responsible for leading development on the VIC-20), in an interview in 1996, 20 was simply chosen as it was "a friendly number" to offset that VIC "sounded like a truck driver".  It was, after all, "the friendly computer".

Back from the Grave: Commodore 1571 (light stays on and the system locks)

To go along with the 128, Commodore also released a new floppy drive in the form of the 1571.  Much like the 128 itself, this drive was designed to replace and build upon its predecessor - the 1541 - while retaining near 100% backwards compatibility.  A second read head was added, enabling both sides of a disc to be accessed simultaneously (though the second side would be effectively backwards, making it incompatible with a 1541), and a new burst transmission mode doubled transfer speeds.  It even supported reading IBM-compatible MFM format discs and CP/M discs, among others.

Released as both a stand-alone drive and integrated into the C128D and C128DCR, the 1571 was all but retired with the C128 in 1989, and discontinued entirely with the C64 in 1994.

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.

Tech tip: Make sure you get what you paid for!

While your computer isn't normally the biggest expense you'll encounter in your life, nor is it generally the most important, it's still a large enough expense to warrant a lot of time and effort in making sure you do it right.  You'll ask around for comments, critique, opinions, feedback and all manner of other, similar terms before finally shopping around and finding a retailer - and a price - that you're happy with.

Sometimes, though, that happiness is short lived.  Not because you made the wrong choice, but because when you open the box there's something just not quite right.

An apology and an explanation

For the few people who were possibly hoping this blog would go somewhere, I can only apologise.  I originally started this page when I was going through a decent bit of PC gadgetry and hoped to share my experiences with other people, though as you can see it didn't exactly last long.

That having been said, I'm not giving up entirely.  I'm still planning to update this as I get more goodies - I just can't predict with any degree of accuracy how long it will be between posts, or even the topic of each post.  Since I have no idea what I'm going to be getting next or when I'll be getting it (since I have to pay for it myself) it's all up in the air.  I'll also refrain from posting more "opinion" posts, since they seem to be about as popular as a flat tyre; though I can't promise they'll be completely gone.

Hopefully things will pick up for a little bit.  I don't have anything new as yet, but I am looking into doing some things with liquid cooling in the near future.  Those who've done it will know that there's a whole heap of things which can (and do) happen when setting up your first loop, and those who haven't may benefit from my experiences; whether they're successful or not.