Glen's archived blog 2009/10

	RS232 port closed.....
January 2009 February 2009 March 2009 April 2009 May 2009 June 2009 July 2009 August 2009 September 2009 October 2009 November 2009 December 2009 January 2010 February 2010 March 2010 The "New" Lounge PET VIC TED LAB STORE My Collection ABOUT ME coming soon Disclaimer: All the information presented here, was taken from the following sources: Brain Bagnal's Book On the Edge: The Spectacular Rise and Fall of Commodore. Available at Amazon.ca The new edition had been delayed at Amazon until Feb.2010 Also, a lot of information has come from Video interviews with Bil Herd and Dave Haynie. Dave has a lot of videos on You-Tube. Search them out.. I wish I could post them here, but I don't have permission. Lastly, more sites on the net have information. There are even a few dedicated sites to the C16. Do a Goggle search, because Bing is just a flash in the pan.:) Please help keep the lounge alive and donate Today.Your donation helps keep an Computer from ending up in a Landfill, and keeping the history Alive for future generations!	Friday, October 23, 2009 Plus /4 No go's This week has been almost a total failure on the plus/4 front. Both of my machines do not work. My "new" Plus/4 had no power and the Canadian Plus/4 had a messed up display. I took both units apart, thinking the fuse needed to replaced on the "new" unit. What I found was that the RF shield obviously had been removed and because the solder points are right beside the power plug, and the Video plug, both were melted from repair. I know - I COULD replace the plugs, but with the price of these units, I can just get another one. I then swapped all the chips on the Canadian unit, and still an no go. But, all is not lost. I plan to mount these 2 units on a back board and hang them on the wall. I also got in more stuff from E-bay: First, was my 99 cents Commodore C2N Dattasette. This will work with the VIC 20 and C64/128. You can not have the true retro experience without using the Dattasette. I know what you are thinking: It's true, the C2N WILL NOT work with the Plus /4. You need a 1531 Datasette. (That is on its way). Next, I received in 10, that's right 10 cassette games for the C16-Plus /4. These were only $9 bucks Canadian from the UK. They Might be PAL games and no work on my unit, but I thought I would try . The last thing I got was a T-1341 Boxed joystick for the Plus/4. I paid about 18 bucks for this, which was a bit above my budget, but no TED collection is complete. Monday, October 12, 2009 Happy Turkey Day Canada So, I have been rather lax on the blog lately, but their is not much to say yet. I am still waiting on Various parts for the Amiga, and the Plus/4 , so those are put aside until they come in. Also, work has been throwing me around between stores like a Yo-Yo, and I am working both Day and night Shifts. I suspect they are trying to make me quit, but so far I am too tired to make that decision. Even today, the holiday, I am working. Yesterday was a double shift, tonight, I work until 11pm and tomorrow I am on the bus at 7 am to make it to work on time. So no real chance of sitting down to work on anything. This week (for those that are interested) I got in my $5 Vic 20 system. Yea, I know a Vic, but it was boxed and only 5 bucks. But like usual, it looked like it had been buried in a pit for 20 years. One of my endless peeves with people, is they can't take 5 minutes to clean the stuff they are selling on Ebay. The pictures don't show the grime layer or the amount of dirt in the box. I swear they would get more money if they just took 5 minutes to clean the darn thing, even just wipe a damp cloth over it. So , as usual, I spent a few hours cleaning that up. For those few Vic 20 collectors out there, here are some Specs on my unit. First its a Canadian unit (made in Canada) and, I suspect it its a "Mid-run" unit. It has the "rainbow" label The power supply Part No. 251053-02 (early version) Rectangular black plastic case with few ridges Sticky label on top.) 110V, 60Hz for N. American / Japanese market Openable: NO Replaceable fuse: NO Input: 117V, 50/60Hz Output: 5V DC-8.5W, 9VAC-9.0VA Made in Singapore The label on my power supply is curling off, and is dated 10-83. The RF-modulator is also an early one,pictured below. The box is not in that great of shape, and has a hole in the middle of the lid. Also it is an early model, because the Styrofoam inserts is top and bottom encasing all the contents, not just on each side. The top half is missing. What is interesting, is the box is totally in English and so is the manual, so I suspect either this unit was exported just to English only Canada or it infact was made in Canada and sold to the US. Even the manual is the later "US" manual. Incidentally this unit was bought from within Canada, as Canadian Ebay auctions generally go for MUCH cheaper then a similar unit it the US. For example, a similar VIC 20 unit would fetch $35 -$40 on the US Ebay. I did spend a few hours, taking it apart and cleaning and scrubbing the case of of all the filth. Before you ask, no, I did not have to take apart the keyboard, as it look relatively clean, compared to the rest of the unit. Next, I got in a 1541 floppy disk drive. I can use it on the Plus/4 and the Vic, and later on the C64/128. I have yet to receive the Serial Cable which is really needed to hook the unit up. Again, I paid $10 for this. It did not come with a box or manual, but again from here in Canada. This unit was actually Clean . The above photo is just a stock unit, what is interesting on my unit, is that the drive is beige, not black like 99% of units I have seen. It falls in like with the later units shown bellow: Which leads me to suspect that my unit may have been repaired at one time and the actual drive been replaced. Last, I got in my RCA cables that I need for the Plus/4. Now I can ditch the emulator and actually use the real thing. God, how I despise emulation. The cool thing is this cable will work on all the Commodore computers, so I don't have to screw around when switching from unit to unit.	SPONSORS OF THE LOUNGE ADVERTISE Your Company Here: E-mail the lounge for more information

Friday, October 23, 2009

Plus /4 No go's

This week has been almost a total failure on the plus/4 front. Both of my machines do not work. My "new" Plus/4 had no power and the Canadian Plus/4 had a messed up display. I took both units apart, thinking the fuse needed to replaced on the "new" unit. What I found was that the RF shield obviously had been removed and because the solder points are right beside the power plug, and the Video plug, both were melted from repair. I know - I COULD replace the plugs, but with the price of these units, I can just get another one. I then swapped all the chips on the Canadian unit, and still an no go.
But, all is not lost. I plan to mount these 2 units on a back board and hang them on the wall.

I also got in more stuff from E-bay:

First, was my 99 cents Commodore C2N Dattasette. This will work with the VIC 20 and C64/128. You can not have the true retro experience without using the Dattasette.
I know what you are thinking: It's true, the C2N WILL NOT work with the Plus /4. You need a 1531 Datasette. (That is on its way).

Next, I received in 10, that's right 10 cassette games for the C16-Plus /4. These were only $9 bucks Canadian from the UK. They Might be PAL games and no work on my unit, but I thought I would try
.

The last thing I got was a T-1341 Boxed joystick for the Plus/4. I paid about 18 bucks for this, which was a bit above my budget, but no TED collection is complete.

Monday, October 12, 2009

Happy Turkey Day Canada

So, I have been rather lax on the blog lately, but their is not much to say yet. I am still waiting on Various parts for the Amiga, and the Plus/4 , so those are put aside until they come in. Also, work has been throwing me around between stores like a Yo-Yo, and I am working both Day and night Shifts. I suspect they are trying to make me quit, but so far I am too tired to make that decision. Even today, the holiday, I am working. Yesterday was a double shift, tonight, I work until 11pm and tomorrow I am on the bus at 7 am to make it to work on time. So no real chance of sitting down to work on anything. This week (for those that are interested) I got in my $5 Vic 20 system. Yea, I know a Vic, but it was boxed and only 5 bucks. But like usual, it looked like it had been buried in a pit for 20 years. One of my endless peeves with people, is they can't take 5 minutes to clean the stuff they are selling on Ebay. The pictures don't show the grime layer or the amount of dirt in the box. I swear they would get more money if they just took 5 minutes to clean the darn thing, even just wipe a damp cloth over it. So , as usual, I spent a few hours cleaning that up. For those few Vic 20 collectors out there, here are some Specs on my unit. First its a Canadian unit (made in Canada) and, I suspect it its a "Mid-run" unit. It has the "rainbow" label

The power supply

Part No. 251053-02 (early version)
Rectangular black plastic case with few ridges
Sticky label on top.)
110V, 60Hz for N. American / Japanese market
Openable: NO
Replaceable fuse: NO
Input: 117V, 50/60Hz
Output: 5V DC-8.5W, 9VAC-9.0VA
Made in Singapore

The label on my power supply is curling off,
 and is dated 10-83.

The RF-modulator is also an early one,pictured
 below.

The box is not in that great of shape, and has a hole in the middle of the lid. Also it is an early model, because the Styrofoam inserts is top and bottom encasing all the contents, not just on each side. The top half is missing.

What is interesting, is the box is totally in English and so is the manual, so I suspect either this unit was exported just to English only Canada or it infact was made in Canada and sold to the US. Even the manual is the later "US" manual. Incidentally this unit was bought from within Canada, as Canadian Ebay auctions generally go for MUCH cheaper then a similar unit it the US. For example, a similar VIC 20 unit would fetch $35 -$40 on the US Ebay. I did spend a few hours, taking it apart and cleaning and scrubbing the case of of all the filth. Before you ask, no, I did not have to take apart the keyboard, as it look relatively clean, compared to the rest of the unit.

Next, I got in a 1541 floppy disk drive. I can use it on the Plus/4 and the Vic, and later on the C64/128. I have yet to receive the Serial Cable which is really needed to hook the unit up. Again, I paid $10 for this. It did not come with a box or manual, but again from here in Canada. This unit was actually Clean
.

The above photo is just a stock unit, what is interesting on my unit, is that the drive is beige, not black like 99% of units I have seen. It falls in like with the later units shown bellow:

Which leads me to suspect that my unit may have been repaired at one time and the actual drive been replaced.
Last, I got in my RCA cables that I need for the Plus/4. Now I can ditch the emulator and actually use the real thing. God, how I despise emulation. The cool thing is this cable will work on all the Commodore computers, so I don't have to screw around when switching from unit to unit.