Just picked up a free Commodore 128

[Chuck D. Head]

I was given a free Commodore 128 today. It is the all-in-one version and it came in a very nice box, but is very yellowed. It came with a 1541 floppy drive, and a crap-ton of discs. Lots of misc program and data discs, but there was some cool stuff. There were about 50 of the Loadstar software subscription discs and newsletters and a good stack of games, including:

 

- Bards Tale II

- Pole Position

- Zaxxon

- Master of the Lamps

- Road Rally USA

- The Last V8

- Dragonriders of Pern

 

Everything seems to work good. Booted up in C64 mode and played a little Pole Position with the dinky little game controller. Due to space issues, I gonna have to pack this one away to play with after I get a new house / game room. Besides, my newly acquired Aquarius was looking pretty jealous earlier, so I need to put her mind at ease. Anyway, is there anything cool I should try next when I get time to mess with the c128? Morgan

[ApolloBoy]

Pick up one of these if you can.

[Chuck D. Head]

Pick up one of these if you can.

Wow, that is cool...and not easy to find it seems. Why is it that everything I get free makes me want to spend money? Morgan

[nathanallan]

The free kind is the best kind! I know what you mean, too, whenever I get a free anything I want to start accessorizing all over it.

 

Excellent haul! I am after a C128 locally myself, hopefully I can get it for next to free.

[Hatta]

Since you already have a drive and discs you might pickup an x1541 device for dumping disk images from your PC to the 1541. Cheaper than the 1541-U for sure.

 

Unfortunately, there's not a whole lot that the C128 can do that the C64 can't. There are some 80 column versions of Scott Adams adventure games, and that's about it I think. You need an RGB (CGA) monitor to run the 80 column modes. It is better for GEOS I hear, but I haven't tried that yet since I don't have a mouse. There's also CPM mode, but as far as I can tell all it was used for was boring business software.

 

And yes, the 1541U is an amazing piece of equipment. It has more features than I know what to do with.

 

Also, you know about retrobrite? It'll whiten that case right up for you.

[Chuck D. Head]

Since you already have a drive and discs you might pickup an x1541 device for dumping disk images from your PC to the 1541. Cheaper than the 1541-U for sure.

 

Unfortunately, there's not a whole lot that the C128 can do that the C64 can't. There are some 80 column versions of Scott Adams adventure games, and that's about it I think. You need an RGB (CGA) monitor to run the 80 column modes. It is better for GEOS I hear, but I haven't tried that yet since I don't have a mouse. There's also CPM mode, but as far as I can tell all it was used for was boring business software.

 

And yes, the 1541U is an amazing piece of equipment. It has more features than I know what to do with.

 

Also, you know about retrobrite? It'll whiten that case right up for you.

I'll look into Retrobrite. There was also a mouse and the manual for GEOS, but I would have to go through the discs again to see if Geos discs were there.

[the-topdog]

Is it a 128 or a 128D? Either way

 

Gotta love about any Commodore unit. The best thing is that you will NEVER run out of programs to run on it as there are literally tens of thousands of C64 programs and a few good 128 programs to run on it.

[Chuck D. Head]

Is it a 128 or a 128D? Either way

 

Gotta love about any Commodore unit. The best thing is that you will NEVER run out of programs to run on it as there are literally tens of thousands of C64 programs and a few good 128 programs to run on it.

Its a regular 128. When my wife called me to ask if I wanted it, I was hoping it the metal case 128D, but I really like the look of the regular 128 (or I will when it is grey again). The sleek look kind of dissapears with a giant disc drive sitting next to it though. Like I said, it will be stored for awhile until there is room for it. I got quite the raised eyebrow when my wife came home and found the setup extending throughout the living room, behind the three systems setup on the floor in front of the TV. This is in addition to the little TV next to my chair that has the Aquarius hooked up to it. I knew I was on thin ice and packed it nicely away out of sight - for now.

[TMR]

Unfortunately, there's not a whole lot that the C128 can do that the C64 can't. There are some 80 column versions of Scott Adams adventure games, and that's about it I think.

 

The 80 column adventures were by Infocom and include Hitch-Hiker's Guide, Leather Goddesses of Phobos and the C128-specific Trinity. After that, there's a handful of commercial titles that have a C128 specific version; Stratton, Last V8 (which has an extra level tacked on at the start and better samples), Rocky Horror Picture Show, Kikstart 2 (usually referred to as Kikstart 128 since there's another Kikstart 2 and it has since been modified to run on a stock C64), Ultima 5 (has music which there wasn't room for on the C64)

 

Andrew Braybrook's C64 games from Alleykat onwards will detect a C128 at startup and use 2MHz mode in the upper and lower borders for some more CPU grind, usually meaning they'll add a few more objects or up the maximum scrolling speed. There's also a modded version of Elite that utilises the same feature.

[Chuck D. Head]

Unfortunately, there's not a whole lot that the C128 can do that the C64 can't. There are some 80 column versions of Scott Adams adventure games, and that's about it I think.

 

The 80 column adventures were by Infocom and include Hitch-Hiker's Guide, Leather Goddesses of Phobos and the C128-specific Trinity. After that, there's a handful of commercial titles that have a C128 specific version; Stratton, Last V8 (which has an extra level tacked on at the start and better samples), Rocky Horror Picture Show, Kikstart 2 (usually referred to as Kikstart 128 since there's another Kikstart 2 and it has since been modified to run on a stock C64), Ultima 5 (has music which there wasn't room for on the C64)

 

Andrew Braybrook's C64 games from Alleykat onwards will detect a C128 at startup and use 2MHz mode in the upper and lower borders for some more CPU grind, usually meaning they'll add a few more objects or up the maximum scrolling speed. There's also a modded version of Elite that utilises the same feature.

Good info; I will check my Last V8 disc. Hopefully it is the C128 version. I think that I will need to look for a proper monitor for this as the rf output doesnt look that great. Any tips for what to look for?? Morgan

[nathanallan]

As always, the 1702 or 1902 are the greatest, but if you can't find one get a composite out cable and hook it up through AV ports onto your TV. Or Commodore to S-video, both give pretty good results.

[Chuck D. Head]

 

 

Good info; I will check my Last V8 disc. Hopefully it is the C128 version.

 

Nope, apparently it is the C64 version; it sez: Side A - Commodore 64 / 128 and Side B - Atari 800XL / 130XE which is kind of cool. Were there many cross platform titles that took advantage of the two sided discs this way?? Morgan

[Cliff Friedel]

 

 

Good info; I will check my Last V8 disc. Hopefully it is the C128 version.

 

Nope, apparently it is the C64 version; it sez: Side A - Commodore 64 / 128 and Side B - Atari 800XL / 130XE which is kind of cool. Were there many cross platform titles that took advantage of the two sided discs this way?? Morgan

 

Yeah, there were a bunch of them. I can't recall any right now, but I can remember getting a lot of disks that had one platform on one side and another on the back. Always sucked when you grabbed the disk and put it in on the wrong side. =)

 

Cliff

[The Usotsuki]

I've seen Apple ][/C64 dual disks.

[Ze_ro]

Ultima 5 (has music which there wasn't room for on the C64)

When I first found out about this years ago, I was really excited... while the music is awesome, unfortunately, it has very tiny pauses any time you move, which really gets annoying after a while.

 

I think that I will need to look for a proper monitor for this as the rf output doesnt look that great. Any tips for what to look for??

Ideally, you should get something with an RGBI port on it so that you can take advantage of the VDC video modes... Commodore made the 1902 specifically for the 128, and they look great paired together. I think the 1084S also has appropriate ports, and maybe some other later monitors made by Commodore.

 

Nope, apparently it is the C64 version; it sez: Side A - Commodore 64 / 128 and Side B - Atari 800XL / 130XE which is kind of cool. Were there many cross platform titles that took advantage of the two sided discs this way??

Yeah, there were a bunch of games that were released like this, and not necessarily limited to just C64/A8 mixes. Things got even more interesting later on... there's at least one game that came out on a 3.5" disk that worked in IBM PC's, Amiga's, AND Atari ST's! The logistics get pretty interesting.

 

Anyways, the 128 has a lot of really interesting features... but most of them are directed at productivity applications or programmers. The machine came out at a time when IBM PC's were getting popular, and the C64 seemed more like a game machine, so Commodore designed the 128 to seem more like a real computer. On the development side, the machine has a much more advanced BASIC with lots of helpful functions, a built-in Machine Language monitor, and a sprite editor. The VDC chip provides an 80-column mode that was incredibly useful for stuff like word processors and telecommunication software, and CP/M opened the door to mountains of existing business software (albeit a little late, as CP/M was pretty long in the tooth by the time the 128 hit the scene). Combine this with a real keyboard, twice as much memory, a 2MHz mode, GEOS, and the much faster 1571 disk drive, and suddenly you had something that looked like a lot more than just a game system.

 

If you just want to dick around without spending a fortune, I'd recommend at least picking up a 1571... it's faster, it can do double-sided disks, it's required for CP/M, and it makes GEOS a whole hell of a lot more fun (180k per side is rough). You can also use it to read PC formatted disks using Little Red Reader, which can be an interesting way to transfer files... though an X1541 cable is probably a better choice overall. It would also be worthwhile to buy a fastload cartridge. There are a ton of different ones out there, and the faster and more compatible ones are more expensive... but even a cheap one like the Epyx Fastload will help out with C64 stuff. RAM Expanders and 1581 drives are really nice, and help a lot with GEOS, but they're pretty expensive, and not all that useful outside GEOS.

 

If you want to get the most out of the 128, the 1541-Ultimate is the way to go. Yeah, it's expensive, but the list of features is tremendous, and it really is worth the money if you get a lot of use out of the machine. It replaces all your disk drives, tape drives, cartridges, and REU's (In fact, all the hardware I mentioned in the previous paragraph), and does a far better job at all those tasks than any official hardware you'll ever find.

 

--Zero