Glen's archived blog 2009/09

	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!	Thursday, September 24, 2009 Cleaning the PLUS/4 So I got in today, my "NEW" NOS Boxed Plus /4. The only difference between to two units is the label. The US Plus/4 has a metal label, that the words "Commodore" and Plus /4" are raised and sharp. you could probably cut yourself on it, in contrast to the Cheap Vinyl sticker on the Canadian plus /4. Otherwise, on the outside they are exactly the same. I have not Cracked open the new one yet, as I was up at 6 am today working on the TED site. Its almost complete, all the models have their own page now. Here are some pictures of the inside I took while cleaning it. What is note worthy from a bazaar point of view is that every old computer I have ever cracked open from Commodore has finger prints corroded into the top metal cover of the RF modulator box. I am not sure if the assembler had a grease on their hands or if the metal composite of the lid part, after 30 years just corrodes the natural oils on the hands, but it is crazy. You will also notice the top of the CPU cover is also a make-shift heat sink. After 30 years the thermal paste is still moist. I don't think this CPU is a 7501, but a later 8501, because without cleaning the thermal paste off, I could see an "85" on the CPU. I then started on the keyboard, again removing all the keys and meticulously cleaning and scrubbing everything. It must be my lot in life to get filthy keyboards. I just though the arrow keys were cool so I took a pick. I know, I posted it before, but its such a cool picture. And to think the Plus /4 has a million times more power than that Rand. I want the wheels for my system. Tuesday, September 22, 2009 Opening the Plus /4 Today I received my Canadian Plus /4 in. Again, people who sell stuff on E-bay should take 5 minutes and clean the items they are selling. It's only common curtsy,but no one wants to clean the stuff they are selling. Needless to say, this Plus /4 was filthy. It also had seen better days and obviously it had been repaired at one time. It also apears to have had it's keyboard replaced with a UK keyboard. I could be wrong though. Maybe, unlike the Amiga, they just had one keyboard and the "£" key is present on all the keyboards. I have some work set out in front of me. I will take it to work and clean it there. The label is falling off. Unlike the earlier Commodore labels like on the VIC -20 and C64, this label is not metal, but just a vinyl sticker. As a result of age and cheap glue, it is bulging, and is letting go on one side. You can see from the very bad photo above that the Amiga 600 is actually a few inches bigger all around. I did not get a power supply, or cables with this Auction, but I did pick up a brand new Plus/4 in another Auction and a spare power supply, so within the next week I can test this baby to see if it actually works. Hopefully by then, I will have my good camera back. Monday, September 21, 2009 BUSY Weekend I have had a full plate this weekend. Not only have I been down sick with a stomach flu, Saturday, I still went out to the Amicue meeting, and then put in my 8 hours at work. Got home, did some work on the TED site, and then slept and wend back to work for my normal 12 Sunday shift. So between the website, Work, and Amicue, I also watched the complete 24 episodes of the Witchblade Amime'. I was expecting A bit of Ghost in the Shell/ Appleseed Action mixed in with a bit of T&A, but what I got was very unexpected. I won't spoil the show, but I don't think an American writing team could put out that story. I can't really describe how I fell about it, but I must be getting a bit sentimental and soft in my old age, because the ending did move me. I can best describe it as Ghost in the Shell, meets and mixes with "Spirited Away". I will now have to go out and Buy the unrated DVD's. I really kind of hate how some Anime' can suck you in on that emotional level, and we just have to wait an see if they will continue it with a new series or just leave you like that. Then again, maybe it was because I was sick and mentally exhausted. Sunday, September 20, 2009 TED Domain is up I have been busy making a down and dirty SUBDOMAIN for the TED computers. You can Click here or go to ted.amigalounge.com be warned its not finnished yet. Saturday, September 12, 2009 Let's Talk about TED,Baby......or those wacky Canucks Today, I am going to take a break from Amiga and talk about TED. I don't have to remind you that Dave Haynie worked on TED with Bil Herd before Amiga and the 128. You all know, I have been looking somewhat for a TED. The stuff I collect, Usually finds me, I really don't fight for all that much on e-bay, because I don't believe in snipping programs. Last night, I was looking at some Commodore Auctions, when I came across the following +4. Instantly, I knew something was different about this machine. The seller had no clue, for he couldn't power it up for it had no power supply with it, but it was only $20 BIN, so I knew I had to get it. What is different you may ask? At first glance it looks like any other +4 machine, but if you look closer this one is different. Look at the label. EVERY plus 4 I have ever seen has on the label the words "plus/4" like the picture above. Except this one. I did a google search, and sure enough, every one, all over the world had the same logo. I then e-mailed Bil about it. I didn't expect any reply, but he got back to me almost immediately. He said he wasn't sure, but to check the Serial numbers, it could be from another country. After about an hour of searching, I came across a couple of sites dedicated to the plus/4. It seems like there are people out there like us Amiga users and have documented as much as possible on the TED computers. I must say, I was hoping this was not a plus 4 but rather a 264 (like right). On a site called "plus 4 world", There was the answer: These are actually Canadian Plus 4's. Canada was the ONLY country to change the labels and they also sponsored the '85 Olympic team. I am not sure if the label re-design was just for the Olympics, but it looks cool. You can just make out on the bottom of the box, the Olympic sponsorship. Bellow is the US Version (and more familiar) Box: Now, you may also be surprised that there are a ton of games for the plus 4 (I was shocked) and some of them actually have very good graphics for an 8 bit machine Friday, September 11, 2009 39 It's September 11 , 2009. I have to face the facts, I am 39 today. I have been officially out of school longer now than I was in School. It took forever to get through school, and it seems like just yesterday I finished grade 12, and now the last 21 years have just flew by, but I was there! I remember the PET! I remember Commodore, and the "I adore my 64!" song. My cousins had a C64, We had a CoCo! Now a days, kids just don't know even what a C64 is, never mind the Amiga. Lost is the VIC -20. In my mind was a horrible home computer. My Intellivision had better graphics. Then the C64- at first,it looked exactly like a VIC, so not many kids like me paid attention to it. In the PET days, I saw the future, I had imagined the graphics that we are just doing now with computers. I remember trying for hours to make graphics look great (and failed). It wasn't until way later, that the C64C looked great. Then the Ted series came out and I turned my back on Commodore and only this year looked back, for the TED was worse than the VIC (or so we thought) So, Why no computer history courses? Why are people ashamed of the pioneers that Commodore was? I am not sure, but it seems like the more it dies, the more excited I become of them. 2 years ago I would not even look at a TED, now I can see the hard work put into them, and I am looking into getting a nice mint Plus/4. So, tonight I will have a drink and get drunk. Because of my stomach, I have NO alcohol Torrence, so one drink will put me out. I am not sure what the future Will hold, but I got another Boxed A500 last night and a ton of games, so today I will go through all of that. Anyways, enough rambling from a crazy old man. Saturday, September 5, 2009 It's A DESK! Just a fast update today. I am on my way to the Amiga/Commodore user group meeting, then off to work tonight, but I did manage to get a few pictures of the beast with my Camera Phone. I went to the thrift store yesterday in the pouring rain and the unit wasn't sold, so I bought it and picked it up this morning. I have to clean it, it sticks and looks like the previous owner had a fish tank in it, but when I got the keys, and oppened it, it turned out to be a desk! The bottom drawer is a flie drawer though (the whole reason I wanted it). Here, you can pick up cheap 2 drawer file cabnets for $50 al the local Wal-mart. I paid $40 and it went to charity!. For those that want specs: it's 48 inches high, 29 inches long and 18 inches wide. I think I will put my A600 in here. I will post better pictures later. Wednesday, September 2, 2009 THE AFTERMATH So, I promised yesterday that I wouldn't comment any more about the past "bomb" I sent through the Amiga Community and I really won't, BUT I did get over a hundred e-mails about it this morning- ranging from calling me every name in the book and "how dare I past judgement on prices" etc.But, surprisingly, there was a lot of supportive e-mails and at least 60% share my view, but are not willing to voice their opinion on Amiga.org, because of all the assholes that hang out there. The funnest thing is that a few people have nick-named the card ,"The Indivision ECS LISA " in LOVING memory of the Apple Lisa (AGAIN $10,000 computer). LOL. I do nether support this or condone it, but it sure is and would be hilarious if it caught on. It kind of reminds me how the Commodore guys called the 600 "junior" during the development phase. (if you don't know, it was a sarcastic plug to the manager, who also developed the IBM PC Junior, and we all know how that turned out). On my way to work last night, I quickly jumped in the Thrift shop down the block. They had a Commodore wall unit for sale for only $4o. For those of you that don't know, Commodore, besides selling Typewriters, Calculators, watches and computers, Here in Canada, Sold Office furniture. Filling Cabinets and wall units. This is why the CBM Pet Computer had a metal case, because Jack didn't want to spend the money on a plastic case when he had a perfectly good steel manufacturing plant in Canada to produce the cases and save MONEY (oh no here we go again!) , this is a nice big one with a hanging file system, six drawers and a place for stacked items, all of it lockable with keys. I get paid on Friday, so if it is still there (I doubt it), I will grab it. Funny thing is there are lots of pictures of Commodore File cabinets on the net, but no wall units. Tuesday, September 1, 2009 No wonder the enconomy is in the tank Its Tuesday morning and boy am I tired. I had to work double shifts all weekend and now I am even getting a new asshole ripped by Jens, the creator of the Indivision. So, this will be the very last blog on the subject. No wonder the Economy is all screwed up. Everyone wants immediate short term profit NOW, and who the hell cares if a product is selling six months down the line. No one looks at long term sales now. No wonder the economy is in the tank. It's kind of sad. 6 month ago GM went bankrupt and both the Canadian government and US spent Billions of tax payers money to bail them out. Here in Edmonton, the paper shows at least 2 new cars for sale for every one living in Edmonton. Yet - NOTHING has changed. The cars still are outrageously priced and the prices have not dropped. The car companies and dealers have not changed anything and still are trying to flog the cars the same way that they did before the bail out. WHY? Because they want the profit now. They would rather sell only 2 cars a month and have thousands sitting then sell a thousand and have 2 sitting. People's biggest argument is that the numbers are just not there to produce Amiga hardware in any sort of quantity. Did they ever stop to think that maybe, just maybe, the numbers ARE there, but when the prices are so high that nobody will by them? Makes me think of Apple creating the LISA computer -oh yes! people WILL pay $10,000 for an Apple computer. I think not. But hey what the fuck do I know? I am not rich, so I might as well shut the fuck up on the whole thing. BTW I am quoting my last blog AGAIN here "Now, it may have looked like I was bashing AmigaKit yesterday solely on the pricing. For that I apologize. AmigaKit is just a retailer, and their prices are dictated by the manufacturer's cost. I still say that the price is outrageous, but this is not AmigaKit's fault, they have to make money also. " I had thought that Red's was selling them for 15 cheaper, but It was just a mistake in the currency display. Red sells them for a buck more than AmigaKit. I apoligise again to Amigakit.	SPONSORS OF THE LOUNGE ADVERTISE Your Company Here: E-mail the lounge for more information

Tuesday, September 22, 2009

Opening the Plus /4

Today I received my Canadian Plus /4 in.
Again, people who sell stuff on E-bay should take 5 minutes and clean the items they are selling. It's only common curtsy,but no one wants to clean the stuff they are selling. Needless to say, this Plus /4 was filthy. It also had seen better days and obviously it had been repaired at one time. It also apears to have had it's keyboard replaced with a UK keyboard. I could be wrong though. Maybe, unlike the Amiga, they just had one keyboard and the "£" key is present on all the keyboards. I have some work set out in front of me. I will take it to work and clean it there.
The label is falling off. Unlike the earlier Commodore labels like on the VIC -20 and C64, this label is not metal, but just a vinyl sticker. As a result of age and cheap glue, it is bulging, and is letting go on one side.

You can see from the very bad photo above that the Amiga 600 is actually a few inches bigger all around. I did not get a power supply, or cables with this Auction, but I did pick up a brand new Plus/4 in another Auction and a spare power supply, so within the next week I can test this baby to see if it actually works. Hopefully by then, I will have my good camera back.

Monday, September 21, 2009

BUSY Weekend

I have had a full plate this weekend. Not only have I been down sick with a stomach flu, Saturday, I still went out to the Amicue meeting, and then put in my 8 hours at work. Got home, did some work on the TED site, and then slept and wend back to work for my normal 12 Sunday shift. So between the website, Work, and Amicue, I also watched the complete 24 episodes of the Witchblade Amime'.
I was expecting A bit of Ghost in the Shell/ Appleseed Action mixed in with a bit of T&A, but what I got was very unexpected. I won't spoil the show, but I don't think an American writing team could put out that story. I can't really describe how I fell about it, but I must be getting a bit sentimental and soft in my old age, because the ending did move me. I can best describe it as Ghost in the Shell, meets and mixes with "Spirited Away". I will now have to go out and Buy the unrated DVD's. I really kind of hate how some Anime' can suck you in on that emotional level, and we just have to wait an see if they will continue it with a new series or just leave you like that. Then again, maybe it was because I was sick and mentally exhausted.

Sunday, September 20, 2009

TED Domain is up

I have been busy making a down and dirty SUBDOMAIN for the TED computers. You can Click here or go to ted.amigalounge.com be warned its not finnished yet.

Saturday, September 12, 2009

Let's Talk about TED,Baby......or those wacky Canucks

Today, I am going to take a break from Amiga and talk about TED. I don't have to remind you that Dave Haynie worked on TED with Bil Herd before Amiga and the 128.
You all know, I have been looking somewhat for a TED. The stuff I collect, Usually finds me, I really don't fight for all that much on e-bay, because I don't believe in snipping programs.
Last night, I was looking at some Commodore Auctions, when I came across the following +4.

Instantly, I knew something was different about this machine. The seller had no clue, for he couldn't power it up for it had no power supply with it, but it was only $20 BIN, so I knew I had to get it.
What is different you may ask? At first glance it looks like any other +4 machine, but if you look closer this one is different.

Look at the label. EVERY plus 4 I have ever seen has on the label the words "plus/4" like the picture above. Except this one. I did a google search, and sure enough, every one, all over the world had the same logo.
I then e-mailed Bil about it. I didn't expect any reply, but he got back to me almost immediately. He said he wasn't sure, but to check the Serial numbers, it could be from another country.
After about an hour of searching, I came across a couple of sites dedicated to the plus/4. It seems like there are people out there like us Amiga users and have documented as much as possible on the TED computers. I must say, I was hoping this was not a plus 4 but rather a 264 (like right).
On a site called "plus 4 world", There was the answer:
These are actually Canadian Plus 4's. Canada was the ONLY country to change the labels and they also sponsored the '85 Olympic team. I am not sure if the label re-design was just for the Olympics, but it looks cool.

You can just make out on the bottom of the box, the Olympic sponsorship.

Bellow is the US Version (and more familiar) Box:

Now, you may also be surprised that there are a ton of games for the plus 4 (I was shocked) and some of them actually have very good graphics for an 8 bit machine

Friday, September 11, 2009

39

It's September 11 , 2009. I have to face the facts, I am 39 today. I have been officially out of school longer now than I was in School. It took forever to get through school, and it seems like just yesterday I finished grade 12, and now the last 21 years have just flew by, but I was there! I remember the PET! I remember Commodore, and the "I adore my 64!" song. My cousins had a C64, We had a CoCo!
Now a days, kids just don't know even what a C64 is, never mind the Amiga. Lost is the VIC -20. In my mind was a horrible home computer. My Intellivision had better graphics.

Then the C64- at first,it looked exactly like a VIC, so not many kids like me paid attention to it. In the PET days, I saw the future, I had imagined the graphics that we are just doing now with computers. I remember trying for hours to make graphics look great (and failed).
It wasn't until way later, that the C64C looked great.

Then the Ted series came out and I turned my back on Commodore and only this year looked back, for the TED was worse than the VIC (or so we thought)
So, Why no computer history courses? Why are people ashamed of the pioneers that Commodore was?
I am not sure, but it seems like the more it dies, the more excited I become of them. 2 years ago I would not even look at a TED, now I can see the hard work put into them, and I am looking into getting a nice mint Plus/4.
So, tonight I will have a drink and get drunk. Because of my stomach, I have NO alcohol Torrence, so one drink will put me out. I am not sure what the future Will hold, but I got another Boxed A500 last night and a ton of games, so today I will go through all of that.
Anyways, enough rambling from a crazy old man.

Saturday, September 5, 2009

It's A DESK!

Just a fast update today. I am on my way to the Amiga/Commodore user group meeting, then off to work tonight, but I did manage to get a few pictures of the beast with my Camera Phone.
I went to the thrift store yesterday in the pouring rain and the unit wasn't sold, so I bought it and picked it up this morning. I have to clean it, it sticks and looks like the previous owner had a fish tank in it, but when I got the keys, and oppened it, it turned out to be a desk!

The bottom drawer is a flie drawer though (the whole reason I wanted it). Here, you can pick up cheap 2 drawer file cabnets for $50 al the local Wal-mart. I paid $40 and it went to charity!.

For those that want specs: it's 48 inches high, 29 inches long and 18 inches wide. I think I will put my A600 in here. I will post better pictures later.

Wednesday, September 2, 2009

THE AFTERMATH

So, I promised yesterday that I wouldn't comment any more about the past "bomb" I sent through the Amiga Community and I really won't, BUT I did get over a hundred e-mails about it this morning- ranging from calling me every name in the book and "how dare I past judgement on prices" etc.But, surprisingly, there was a lot of supportive e-mails and at least 60% share my view, but are not willing to voice their opinion on Amiga.org, because of all the assholes that hang out there.
The funnest thing is that a few people have nick-named the card ,"The Indivision ECS LISA " in LOVING memory of the Apple Lisa (AGAIN $10,000 computer). LOL. I do nether support this or condone it, but it sure is and would be hilarious if it caught on. It kind of reminds me how the Commodore guys called the 600 "junior" during the development phase. (if you don't know, it was a sarcastic plug to the manager, who also developed the IBM PC Junior, and we all know how that turned out).

On my way to work last night, I quickly jumped in the Thrift shop down the block. They had a Commodore wall unit for sale for only $4o. For those of you that don't know, Commodore, besides selling Typewriters, Calculators, watches and computers, Here in Canada, Sold Office furniture. Filling Cabinets and wall units. This is why the CBM Pet Computer had a metal case, because Jack didn't want to spend the money on a plastic case when he had a perfectly good steel manufacturing plant in Canada to produce the cases and save MONEY (oh no here we go again!) , this is a nice big one with a hanging file system, six drawers and a place for stacked items, all of it lockable with keys. I get paid on Friday, so if it is still there (I doubt it), I will grab it. Funny thing is there are lots of pictures of Commodore File cabinets on the net, but no wall units.

Tuesday, September 1, 2009

No wonder the enconomy is in the tank

Its Tuesday morning and boy am I tired. I had to work double shifts all weekend and now I am even getting a new asshole ripped by Jens, the creator of the Indivision.
So, this will be the very last blog on the subject.
No wonder the Economy is all screwed up. Everyone wants immediate short term profit NOW, and who the hell cares if a product is selling six months down the line. No one looks at long term sales now. No wonder the economy is in the tank.
It's kind of sad. 6 month ago GM went bankrupt and both the Canadian government and US spent Billions of tax payers money to bail them out. Here in Edmonton, the paper shows at least 2 new cars for sale for every one living in Edmonton. Yet - NOTHING has changed. The cars still are outrageously priced and the prices have not dropped. The car companies and dealers have not changed anything and still are trying to flog the cars the same way that they did before the bail out. WHY?
Because they want the profit now. They would rather sell only 2 cars a month and have thousands sitting then sell a thousand and have 2 sitting.
People's biggest argument is that the numbers are just not there to produce Amiga hardware in any sort of quantity. Did they ever stop to think that maybe, just maybe, the numbers ARE there, but when the prices are so high that nobody will by them?
Makes me think of Apple creating the LISA computer -oh yes! people WILL pay $10,000 for an Apple computer. I think not.
But hey what the fuck do I know? I am not rich, so I might as well shut the fuck up on the whole thing.
BTW I am quoting my last blog AGAIN here
"Now, it may have looked like I was bashing AmigaKit yesterday solely on the pricing. For that I apologize. AmigaKit is just a retailer, and their prices are dictated by the manufacturer's cost. I still say that the price is outrageous, but this is not AmigaKit's fault, they have to make money also.
"
I had thought that Red's was selling them for 15 cheaper, but It was just a mistake in the currency display. Red sells them for a buck more than AmigaKit. I apoligise again to Amigakit.

Thursday, September 24, 2009

Cleaning the PLUS/4