weekend additions

From: Bill Whitson <bill_at_booster.bothell.washington.edu>
Date: Sun Apr 27 14:32:26 1997

Well, I'm not an expert on these, but...

> Somebody please correct me if I'm wrong, but the Plus/4 (like the C-16) was
> intended as an upgrade, and total break, from the C-64 and is incompatible in
> both hardware and software to the C-64. I've seen it said that this was one
> of the main reasons the machine never caught on. As for the color scheme of
> the 1541 though, the later 1541's were the ones that matched the brown color
> of the C-64. The earlier 1541's, labled VIC-1541, matched the lighter color
> of the VIC-20. It is the VIC-1541 that I have in my collection.

The Plus/4, I think, was completely software incompatible with the C64 line.
The hardware was a different story - as it used the same serial bus as the
64. Most C64 peripherals were compatible. There was also a line of
hardware designed to go with the Plus/4 that was all done in black. The
black disk drive was not actually a 1541 but a 1551. There was at least
a printer and a modem designed specifically for this line. The C2N
cassette was also compatible I think and recased, for a brief period, in
black.

As for the 1541 disk drives - Commodore was always confusing with those.
Of the drives labelled 1541 there were at least 4 models - which were
called by different numbers internally. The drive labelled VIC-1541 which
is VIC in color is actually a 1540. There are also 2 models in original
C64 color which differ internally and are actually the 1541 and 1542.
Then, when the later slimline C64 came out they repackaged the drive and
made yet more revisions to it and called it the 1541-II.

Does anyone know if anyone other than Commodore ever got into writing
software for the Plus/4? Did Commodore ever make anything other than
the built-in apps?

Bill

----------------------------------------------------
      Bill Whitson - Classic Computers ListOp
bill_at_booster.u.washinton.edu or bcw_at_u.washington.edu
        http://weber.u.washington.edu/~bcw
Received on Sun Apr 27 1997 - 14:32:26 BST

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