239
votes
Accepted
How did Commodore's anti-Microsoft Easter Egg work?
I'm the author of the TPUG article.
The "BILL GATES SUCKS" message isn't really an Easter egg; that was just a conceit of mine to make the article a bit more interesting and to turn it into a bit of ...
- 7,023
65
votes
Accepted
Why did Commodore fill their power supplies with epoxy?
Epoxy offers two advantages -- it is an electrical insulator, and it conducts heat better than air. Transformers and inductors are generally potted with epoxy for this reason. [ref] Perhaps the cause ...
- 8,663
63
votes
How did Commodore's anti-Microsoft Easter Egg work?
That's not a real easter egg. Someone just made an effort to find random seeds that produce the numbers to create the intended words. It would be an easter egg if the seed numbers were in some way ...
- 3,804
62
votes
Why did the VIC-20 and C64 have only 22 and 40 columns when the earlier PET had 80 column text?
One reason was likely that the VIC-20 and C64 did not have their own displays, but were designed to be connected to a television set. The interface between the computer and the television was not ...
- 6,849
50
votes
Why doesn’t my VGA-to-HDMI converter work with my 286 PC?
The manual says that the smallest resolution it can handle is 800x600.
That is almost certainly the key. Original VGA supported 640x480 16-colors and 720x400 (essentially a small step up from the ...
46
votes
Why does the Commodore C128 perform poorly when running CP/M?
(2017.03.03) I have added a second answer with diagrams and more technical details. This answer is already huge and self-contained; the other focuses on the complexities due to hardware.
Why does the ...
- 8,663
46
votes
Accepted
Why does the Commodore C128 perform poorly when running CP/M?
I'm Linards Ticmanis, the guy who put out the CPMFAST package in 1999 that has been mentioned several times in the other answers (although I go by the nickname TeaRex on here). While creating that, I ...
- 1,205
43
votes
Is this an Amiga? If so, which model?
I'm trying to identify what kind of machine this is. It looks like an Amiga of some kind,
It's a Commodore C64-II also known as C64C:
The mouse seams to be an Apple ADB mouse (Type A9M0331), sold ...
- 213k
42
votes
Accepted
What precautions to take when powering on old computer for the first time in years
There are several simple precautions that are always worth taking when powering up a vintage microcomputer after long periods of storage or non-use. The minimum, simple steps, should include:
Place ...
- 60.1k
38
votes
Accepted
Why was IBM BASIC so Huge?
The early versions of Microsoft BASIC required 4KB of ROM
The 4k versions lacked a number of major features, including string variables. These were added in the 8k versions. The equivalent 6502 ...
- 19.5k
38
votes
Why did the stock Amigas not have a battery for keeping the time/date?
You specifically mention the Amiga 1200 in your question, but your statement about real-time clocks is not true for Amigas, in general.
From 1987, the Amiga was offered in at least two versions aimed ...
- 60.1k
36
votes
Accepted
What was the release date of the MOS 8502?
I just talked to Bil Herd (the designer of the C128 hardware), and he said, "It was made specifically for the C128, design mods done by Dave DiOrio," and so was essentially "released&...
- 24.6k
35
votes
Accepted
Why did Commodore sell CPUs to its competitors?
The 6502 was designed and manufactured before Commodore bought MOS Technology, the creator of the 6502. MOS Technology didn't originally plan to build computers. They wanted to sell the 6502 to ...
- 4,643
31
votes
Why did the VIC-20 and C64 have only 22 and 40 columns when the earlier PET had 80 column text?
Use of TV as monitor is the reason for these low resolutions.
The issue is that the color resolution of TV is very low. While B&W TV could resolve pixel small enough for ~400 to ~600 pixels, color ...
- 3,609
28
votes
Accepted
What is the difference between the Commodore 1701 and the 1702?
The 1701 and 1702 are virtually identical. They have the same specs, tube, inputs, casing, and manufacturer. The only real difference is the 1701 is older (1982 to early '83, 1702 is late '83) and the ...
- 4,517
27
votes
Accepted
Are pixels on the Commodore 64 square?
The pixels are not exactly square, the actual aspect ratio depends on the TV system.
For PAL-B, the pixel aspect ratio is 0.937:1, the pixels are a bit higher than they are wide.
For NTSC, the ratio ...
- 4,437
25
votes
Accepted
Which 8-bit computers were used in German schools in the 1980s?
Which brand was most commonly used in West German schools? I know Commodore was big in Germany, which would make it a likely candidate, unless nationalistic pressure acted again?
There is no simple ...
- 213k
24
votes
Accepted
Who ended up owning Commodore's semiconductor IP?
TL;DR The ownership issue is really associated with the trademarked brand and product names, and the copyrighted ROM software, not the processor/co-processor hardware.
I think there are two ...
- 60.1k
23
votes
Accepted
How did Commodore drives produce program listings from disk directories?
TL;DR:
The computer, or rather its OS, has no idea about a directory, in fact not even what constructs a file. It can only open/read/write/close data streams from devices on the bus. Getting a ...
- 213k
22
votes
Why did Commodore fill their power supplies with epoxy?
Electricians some times (or used to) do similar techniques when configuring wiring -- once the wires were in place, they would fill the cavity with a non-conductive resin or epoxy, so that the chance ...
- 321
22
votes
Are pixels on the Commodore 64 square?
In standard bitmap mode the C64 outputs 320 pixels in 40µs.
The visible portion of a line is ~52µs; in 60Hz regions ~240 lines are considered 'visible', but in PAL regions it's ~288 lines.
So if ...
- 35.9k
22
votes
Accepted
Is it possible to boot C64/C128 from floppy
On the C64, no.
On power up, the drive is resetting and the motor may spin briefly, but the drive is not actually reading the disk.
And even if it were, it is an IEC slave device and cannot initiate ...
- 4,486
21
votes
Accepted
Why does the VICE "load" command skip the first two bytes?
Quote from VICE manual:
Load the specified file into memory. If no address is given, the file is loaded to the address specified by the first two bytes read from the file. If address is given, the ...
- 28.3k
21
votes
Accepted
What is this unusual syntax for the Commodore SYS command?
Line 40 looks like a typo. It should be SYS 65493 instead of SYS 65439. SYS 65493 ($FFD5) maps to the internal LOAD routine at $F49E
Line 10 calls the filename parsing routine PLSV at $E1D4. PLSV ...
- 641
20
votes
Accepted
Amiga floppy disks and GCR vs MFM
On a floppy disk, each 'bit' is a flux reversal — a magnetic event. If those bits are too close together, they'll leak into one another and data will be lost.
Disk controllers use a regular clock and ...
- 35.9k
20
votes
Accepted
Why was it not possible to cost-reduce the Amiga 500?
'Jeff Porter realized it would not be possible to significantly cost
reduce the Amiga 500 to get it into the $250 retail price range'.
They could have cost-reduced the A500 - perhaps even to $250 ...
- 6,635
20
votes
Commodore Mouse not recognized by a Commodore PC30-III 286 machine
Since your mouse has three buttons, it won’t use the same protocol as Microsoft mice (at least, in three-button mode), and won’t be fully supported by the Microsoft driver.
Presumably the mouse was ...
- 118k
19
votes
Accepted
Commodore BASIC and binary floating point precision
This example reveals a rounding error under Commodore BASIC V2.0:
A=0.3:B=0.6:IF A+B<>0.9 THEN PRINT A+B-0.9
Running this on a C64 yields a difference of 2.32830644e-10. Other pairs that ...
- 4,437
18
votes
Why does the Commodore C128 perform poorly when running CP/M?
My first answer attempts to answer all the OP's questions without going too deep into the hardware details. Since posting that answer, I have had the pleasure of corresponding for several days with ...
- 8,663
Only top scored, non community-wiki answers of a minimum length are eligible