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Commodore 128D


Tempest

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Well, the talk of the lawsuit has been for quite some time. And frankly, most of those people in the C= community wouldn't have the motivation to do anything about it anyway. Maybe it's more likely with a different group on a different thread than I've seen, but I doubt it. Various incidents and circumstances that I won't go into here have made it very difficult for them to get any recourse against Maurice, and what little they could do, most of them don't seem to have much backbone to actually pursue.

 

I don't know how anyone could ever trust Maurice again. He's singlehandedly done incredible damage to the C= community, locking up useful IP for the greater part of a decade now. He's put far more effort into stopping other people from attempting to fill the void (for items such as the great JiffyDOS especially) than he has in supporting the community. He shouldn't be welcomed back just due to that fact alone. He should have sold the IP etc long ago instead of stringing people along the way he has. He is the worst thing to ever happen to C= users, though he admittedly had a promising and useful start. Fortunately, there have been interesting products lately like the 1541ultimate to breathe a little life back into the almost-too-far-gone-for-life-support C= world. And to bring this back on topic, I will eat my 128D with Rickey's Hot Sauce and a spork if Maurice ever significantly and actively supports CMD products again, in action, not words.

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The 128D with the metal case has the 64kb video chip the more attractive 128D in the plastic case and the regular 128 keyboard only machine may have the 16kb or 64kb video chip but all are identical when it comes to C64 compatibility. Was a weird machine though as even in 128 mode the CPU was crippled back to 1mhz except if you didn't use the standard VIC-II chip of the C64 which limited it's appeal. You couldn't even use the damned Z80 built in on the motherboard as a co-processor. A terrible design that made little use of all the expensive hardware they shoved into the machine!

 

I would never have bought one at the time as it was way too close to the price of an Amiga 500 and because so few 128 specific games came out, but the 128D plastic models are lovely machines with fantastic keyboards and high build quality indeed. I think people are catching on now though as the keyboard alone on ebay goes for £30-40 let alone a 128D in good condition.

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I wouldn't believe a word out of Maurice's mouth even his tongue was notarized. Rather than returning items he took in for repair years ago and never repaired or returning money he took for orders he never filled or doing anything of substance, he's flapping his gums, again. It's all so much blah blah blah. He's a blight on the Commodore community.

 

Anyway, obtaining JiffyDOS is a non-issue. ROM dumps are available all over the place so you can burn your own EPROMs and if you don't have a burner, there are plenty of folks around who will hook you up for a few bucks.

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I'd recommend spending money on something like the 1541Ultimate instead of a 128D - it's incredibly more useful.

Indeed. I have a 1541 Ultimate, and I already can't imagine using the machine without it anymore! With the 1541U, you can basically throw all your disks, drives, REU's and freezer/speedloader cartridges in the garbage. It makes swapping disks and loading games so easy and painless... though I have to admit, it takes away from the nostalgia a bit.

 

Was a weird machine though as even in 128 mode the CPU was crippled back to 1mhz except if you didn't use the standard VIC-II chip of the C64 which limited it's appeal. You couldn't even use the damned Z80 built in on the motherboard as a co-processor. A terrible design that made little use of all the expensive hardware they shoved into the machine!

The design of the C128 makes for a very interesting story. The inclusion of the Z80 was actually a bit of a kludge in order to solve compatibility issues with the C64's CP/M cartridge and the Magic Voice.

 

I was always a little disappointed with the VDC. I was looking forward to being able to use 80 columns and high resolutions... but the chip simply doesn't have the nice features that the VIC-II has, making it a far less attractive choice for video games. It was only ever really useful for productivity software... but then, that was Commodore's intentions, so touche I guess. It's too bad the VIC-III never really came to light

 

--Zero

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though he admittedly had a promising and useful start.

Lets not overrate him now.

 

Regarding CMD, it was only smooth sailing at the start when all he was doing was selling off product stock that was already manufactured and ready to go. Everything went to shit after that was gone.

 

As far as before CMD. All I know him for is some, albeit good, Geos software, and he was a dick back then with some of that too. *cough* GeoFax incident *couch*. Right up there with being as equally pathetic as his threats against people selling unofficial eprom JiffyDos copies. Considering he has been commiting the federal crime of mail-fraud for years by accepting orders and collecting money for it (and other products) and not shipping them out at all. I fail to understand his position of legal morality & ethics on the issue. Not sure why he is bitching anyways since many of the people buying them are people who already bought one from his worthless ass and never got it. So he got his money already, which is more then anyone else got. Further, there are only a couple people making/selling them and they all offered to pay him royalties (as much as $10 per unit) which he refused.

 

People have offered him technical assistance. People have offered him manufacturing services. People have offered to work for him (some for free) to help out doing whatever needed to be done. He always refuses. CMD is all about HIM and no one else. God forfid he should have to share any glory, he can't be a martyr like that! But even that's not right as it assumes he actually gives a shit and is actually interested in doing anything. If that was the case, things wouldn't be as bad as they are. Things never had to get like this because he always had viable options presented to him. He just always rejected them. It makes no sense. That said, I think it might be a little closer to reality to say it really is just a scam at this point and that he's selling vaporware (atleast that would actually explain why he doesn't want anyone else invovled).

 

 

he's flapping his gums, again.

Just got done reading all 40 pages of that. Damn, past 6:00an already.

 

Tho where you linked into it at was pretty much the best part. He actually has the nerve to be cry about other people telling the truth about him? :roll:

 

Other interesting things I got out of all that reading was apparently he is also running a performance auto shop and auto insurance business out of the same address & phone # as his Click Here Software. :ponder: Seriously, how does he have the time to do anything.

 

 

With any luck, karma is real and he'll have a nice firey accident down at the track or something one day. I'm sorry, that was wrong --- a firey accident isn't a sufficient enough punishment to redeem him for his actions of the past decade.

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though he admittedly had a promising and useful start.

Lets not overrate him now.

 

 

Oh, I agree with everything you said and then some. That comment was just me wanting to say something decent. But in reality, I can't. Actually, I think one word summarizes him quite neatly: trash.

Edited by Mirage1972
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I wouldn't believe a word out of Maurice's mouth even his tongue was notarized. Rather than returning items he took in for repair years ago and never repaired or returning money he took for orders he never filled or doing anything of substance, he's flapping his gums, again. It's all so much blah blah blah. He's a blight on the Commodore community.

 

Wow, that thread was great. I haven't read anything on Lemon for a long while. I'm glad to see that there are people willing to stand against Maurice. After some discussions on Homestead about a year or so ago, and then again recently, I was so turned off to the C= community that I stopped paying any attention. I'm completely with you on this. Maurice has done irreparable damage to the entire community, and I join the ranks of wishing he would just turn over all the IP (and money and what amounts to stolen merchandise) and never show his face in any computing community again. After reading more posts/emails from him, I think it's fairly clear that the guy has some serious mental wellness issues. I don't mean that in a mean way, I'm serious -- someone who can do everything he's done (or, rather, made all the promises that he's made and then done nothing), has psychological problems. He should be ashamed and apologetic, but doesn't even hint at these things.

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I join the ranks of wishing he would just turn over all the IP

 

Maurice doesn't own the IP to the CMD products, it's CMD who still does. Maurice just purchased a license to make and sell the items. However, Mark Fellows (I believe I've got his name right) who still has some controlling say in CMD and it's IP is rumored to be rather ticked off at Maurice as of late.

 

Garak

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I join the ranks of wishing he would just turn over all the IP

 

Maurice doesn't own the IP to the CMD products, it's CMD who still does. Maurice just purchased a license to make and sell the items. However, Mark Fellows (I believe I've got his name right) who still has some controlling say in CMD and it's IP is rumored to be rather ticked off at Maurice as of late.

 

Garak

 

Okay, I thought I remembered something to that effect. Isn't it an exclusive license? Whatever the legal situation, he should turn over his exclusive rights if that's what it is, or have them taken away, or whatever. He just needs to get out of Dodge and not let the door hit him in the bum on the way out.

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Isn't it an exclusive license?

 

Most likely.

 

Whatever the legal situation, he should turn over his exclusive rights if that's what it is, or have them taken away, or whatever.

 

Completely agreed.

 

He just needs to get out of Dodge and not let the door hit him in the bum on the way out.

 

Lol, yes.

 

Actually I'm a little jealous I haven't had the privilege of getting a private email from Maurice like Golan and Andrew. I've been nearly as vocal against him. :twisted:

 

Garak

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Actually I'm a little jealous I haven't had the privilege of getting a private email from Maurice like Golan and Andrew. I've been nearly as vocal against him. :twisted:

 

Garak

 

After I read the thread where Golan and Andrew got emails from him, I have to admit I was secretly hoping my comments in this thread would earn me the honor. I could always use a good laugh.

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Garak! It's always nice to see a familiar face (even if it is that of a Cardassian).

 

By the way, for all you guys digging on the 1541 Ultimate, which is the say all, end all of Commodore peripherals, you might also want to check out the uIEC (more info here). It isn't as powerful as the 1541 Ultimate and doesn't emulate the 1541 but it does provide a great deal of convenience at a very affordable price and given the tiny size of the uIEC/SD, it is perfect for embedding. It's an exciting time to be a Commodore user.

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