rpiguy9907
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Everything posted by rpiguy9907
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Very little known fact - Quick Brown Fox was based on an earlier word processor called WP6502 for the Ohio Scientific line of computers. It was later renamed and adapted for the VIC-20 and C64. The author’s name was: Duo Quong Fok Lok Sow.
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That was fast. I was going to say C64s should be fairly common around Toronto! I hope you found a good local deal.
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I am going to the VCF East swap meet on 2/26 and am looking for: Cheap 286 or similar with working floppy. Need it for archiving disks, so HD floppy is fine. If the machine has a bad BIOS battery I am not interested unless it uses a coin cell or similar. Not looking to swap out a Dallas clock chip. Feeling low effort these days ? Maybe a CRT iMac if cheap enough. https://vcfed.org/wp/vcf-swap-meet/
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So-Called Lazy Spectrum Ports on the MSX
rpiguy9907 replied to DocFlareon's topic in Classic Computing Discussion
Yes I think this was the big driver. Games were cheaper in the UK and EC. No margin and the desire to capitalize on a property quickly. There were no online reviews back then - you had to stand in the bookstore and read magazines to hope to find a review, and most games were not reviewed. So releasing a quick and dirty port didn't earn the immediate ire that it would today. -
The Amiga: Why did it fail so hard in the United States?
rpiguy9907 replied to empsolo's topic in Commodore Amiga
They would have had a better shot at surviving if they had done more to entice C64 owners to upgrade to the Amiga. There was no official way to get files off your old computer, use your old printer and monitor. Commodore had some crappy rebate programs, but really they did not treat their C64 customer base well after the Amiga was launched. The A1000 was priced incredibly well compared to Macintosh's and PC's, but to C64 owners the high price was a betrayal of what Commodore was all about. If they had thrown the C64 folks a bone things might have worked out better for them. -
You will not find the dip-14 version being sold new. They are hard to find. This seller has 20+ at a low price. I’d buy a few just in case. https://www.ebay.com/itm/201866333408
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They aren't all on Asimov. I have been looking for a CP/M boot disk for the Apple IIGS 3.5" floppy for years and have never found one.
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The only danger is accidentally getting a Commodore 128 power supply, which looks identical but will fry your computer...
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What is your retro computing most "irrational want?"
rpiguy9907 replied to rpiguy9907's topic in Classic Computing Discussion
Ok well saying there are "No" use cases was probably too absolute, but I don't think there are enough of them to make an accelerator rational ? Like I am sure some flight sims would be smoother with a faster processor, etc. but the vast majority of games would be less playable/too fast. I can see using an accelerator on the IIgs for sure, which runs GS/OS pretty slowly, but I was referring to earlier Apple II models. -
What is your retro computing most "irrational want?"
rpiguy9907 replied to rpiguy9907's topic in Classic Computing Discussion
I would like an Apple II accelerator. There are no practical use cases for this, all games are optimized to run at 1Mhz, but for some reason having an accelerator just seems cool. No one is still running Visicalc or writing novels on Apple II's so accelerators are completely irrational, but I still want one. -
The 8-bit guy blows up IBM 7496 prototype(?)
rpiguy9907 replied to bluejay's topic in Classic Computing Discussion
And VWestlife -
Best Classic Computer for Word Processing TODAY
rpiguy9907 replied to doug0909's topic in Classic Computing Discussion
By far my favorite old computer for Word Processing is the Apple //c - Silent operation except when loading and saving files - Sharp 80 column monochrome display - Excellent ALPS mechanical keyboard - Relatively compact - Nice selection of Word Processors An old PC or Mac would be better for ease of file exchange using floppies, but if you run them with period correct hard drives and fans they will be noisy! -
Which classic computer was/is most fun to collect for?
rpiguy9907 replied to Keatah's topic in Classic Computing Discussion
What is an A8? Something not sold in the US? -
Long shot but maybe someone here has one sitting around. I am in NJ. Broken and yellowed is fine, I like fixing and retrobrighting.
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Which classic computer was/is most fun to collect for?
rpiguy9907 replied to Keatah's topic in Classic Computing Discussion
To be fair all of the more sophisticated systems require a lot of fiddling to use the whole software library (Macintosh, ST, IBM PC), but I guess I am just attracted to the simplicity of the C64 where a stock unit with a disk or tape drive can run the entire software library so long as a dongle wasn't required. No configuration, etc. From a collector stand point, extremely accessible. The Amiga is pretty tough for folks who never owned one. Even as a long time Amiga owner, I constantly rediscover things I knew about AmigaDOS back in the day that I had since forgotten. The biggest plus to Amiga collecting is some superb box art I suppose. -
Which classic computer was/is most fun to collect for?
rpiguy9907 replied to Keatah's topic in Classic Computing Discussion
The worst to collect for is the Amiga. So many incompatibilities. Want to run that public domain program? Oh it requires the AmigaDos Replacement Project libraries? What was that? AmigaDos 1.1 was so bad people took it upon themselves to write their own improved libraries. AmigaDos 1.3 and especially 2.0 made ARP unnecessary, but 2.0 broke a bunch of games. Oh you have an accelerator, out of luck half your programs won't work. You are pretty much stuck running cracked programs in WHDLoad. Blech. -
Decisive moment you had to get a PC.
rpiguy9907 replied to Keatah's topic in Classic Computing Discussion
To play Dark Forces of course! -
Technically it’s just a Sega (or Spectravideo).
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All it had were Character Graphics like the PET. The first model came out in 1979 so obviously they copied the graphics characters directly from Commodore.
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I have one currently on offer to eightbit, if he isn’t interested I will ping you. I have a 13” that is really convenient, it even has digital RGB for the C128/CGA.
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I live in central NJ and have a Sony PVM that accepts PAL and NTSC. It also has digital RGB if you want to hook it to a C128 or CGA card! I am reluctant to let it go, but I’m trying to reduce the number of CRTs I have. What do you have to trade?
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everything is falling into place
rpiguy9907 replied to airsoftmodels's topic in Commodore 8-bit Computers
Very nice setup. The difference the S-Video out makes is incredible. -
This is an amazing deal. Someone please jump on this so I don't have to drive to MD all the way from NJ.
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What is your retro computing most "irrational want?"
rpiguy9907 replied to rpiguy9907's topic in Classic Computing Discussion
I had a similar project to the Model III on hold as well - I was going to gut a broken Commodore 8032 and put my FPGA Spectrum Uno and my Raspberry Pi emulation SBC in it, but then someone told me the 8032 was more repairable than I had assumed and now I am too guilty to gut it and it is just taking up space. I actually did obtain a TransWarp GS clone from Ultimate Micro, but I was laid off after I received it so I haven't opened it yet. If I stay unemployed long enough I will have to sell it. I prefer original hardware in most cases. -
What is your retro computing most "irrational want?"
rpiguy9907 replied to rpiguy9907's topic in Classic Computing Discussion
I always wanted an Apple IIGS with a TranswarpGS card... I wanted to benchmark what a 7-16mhz 65C816 could do against a 68000 processor. I was never terribly excited about the IIGS until I learned this card existed.