Next FCUG meeting - Sunday, January 16

[RobertB]

Happy New Year, C= and Ami aficionados!
     The Fresno Commodore User Group has its next meeting from 11 a.m. to 1+ p.m., Sunday, January 16, at

     The Pizza Pit Restaurant
     2705 N. Blackstone Ave. (corner of Blackstone and Princeton)
     Fresno, California

     We now have Wi-Fi at the Pizza Pit!  If you have a laptop computer, bring it along.  This month we'll check out various Commodore and Amiga forums on the Net.  Then we'll go through some of disks from the disk library of the Fort Ord Commodore UserS (FOCUS) of Seaside, California.  (FOCUS was a user group which existed from the late 1970's to the mid-1980's.)  I can see that we'll be running out of meeting time, but I'll try to squeeze in the following --

* a first look at A1000 IDE adapter (Amiga hard drive on CompactFlash, bought from Tom Thul)
* Outworld game cartridge for the VIC-20 (bought from 4Jays.net in Antioch, California)
* the 64K Quick Brown Box for the C64 and C128 (bought from Computer Station in Long Beach, California)
* various C64 and VIC-20 bits and bobs
* more CommVEx 2011 talk

          FCUG celebrating 30 years,
          Robert Bernardo
          Fresno Commodore User Group
          http://videocam.net.au/fcug

[RobertB]

     Just got off the phone with FCUG member, Roger V., and asked him to bring some VIC-20 ram expanders and a cart expansion board so that we could play the VIC-20 game, Outworld, at the meeting.  During our conversation, we got onto the topic of the Colecovision game system.  He has a (hopefully) working Colecovision board, and my Colecovision has been dead for some time.  So, we will have a trade; he will get a 1701/1702 monitor which he needs, and I will get a Colecovision board to install in the Colecovision box.  We'll do the Colecovision operation at the meeting.  Looks as if I'm bring some game carts to try out with the replacement board!

          FCUG celebrating 30 years,
          Robert Bernardo
          Fresno Commodore User Group
          http://videocam.net.au/fcug

[RobertB]

     The members were impressed with the good-looking condition of the Quick Brown Box 64K cart.  They were less impressed when they saw that when you move the QBB's slideswitch to C128 mode, it just makes the cart seemingly invisible, i.e., it won't autoboot to C64 mode.  With certain direct commands though, you can access the programs held within the cart when in C128 mode.  Too bad there is no QBB Manager available in C128 mode.
     The Wi-fi in the restaurant was very convenient, especially when we had to verify information discussed at our meeting.

He has a (hopefully) working Colecovision board, and my Colecovision has been dead for some time.  So, we will have a trade; he will get a 1701/1702 monitor which he needs, and I will get a Colecovision board to install in the Colecovision box.  We'll do the Colecovision operation at the meeting.  Looks as if I'm bring some game carts to try out with the replacement board!

Like last month's meeting, this one went 3 hours overtime!  Two of those 3 hours were devoted to the Colecovision.  After some hassle taking apart the Colecovision casing (Wi-fi to the rescue... we had to refer to a YouTube video in which a repairperson took apart his CV), we found that the metal shield covering the board was soldered on.  Ack!  No one brought a soldering iron.  Well, that didn't prevent us from testing out the replacement board.  We connected it to a t.v., attached the joysticks, and hooked in the power.  Success!  The replacement board worked perfectly with every game cart we gave it, unlike the old board which gave power-up problems and graphic glitches.  The replacement board's graphics chip (a TMS9928A) grew very warm after 10-15 minutes of being on; it was missing its oversize, silvery heatsink (which the old board had).  For safety's sake, we decided to turn it off and not damage the replacement board.  For the replacement board, either we would have to use the heatsink off the old board or just buy a new one.  The heating-up of the graphics chip reminded me that I haven't yet heat-sinked the chips in my main C128DCR or Plus/4's.
      On a side note, I spoke on the phone with CBM engineer Bil Herd on Monday.  Somehow, we got onto the topic of Colecovision.  He related the story about how the CBM engineers, including himself, were all brought into a room to look at the Coleco Adam computer when it was first released.  After 15 minutes, they left the room, laughing.  In that brief time, they concluded that the Coleco was no threat to Commodore. 

          FCUG celebrating 30 years,
          Robert Bernardo
          Fresno Commodore User Group
          http://videocam.net.au/fcug

[Hydrophilic]

Ah, the Colecovision.  Seems like I had one once upon time, as I remember playing Turbo with the stearing wheel adapter.  I don't know what happened to it, haven't seen it years.  I didn't sell it... who knows, I move around so much, it could be in any state.  Well, not Hawaii or Alaska

I also remember thinking about buying the Adam.  Now I'm glad I didn't.  But still, I wonder what it would be like to program?  As I recall, the graphics seemed comparible to the C64, but don't remember much about the audio.

I'm glad the replacment board worked, and I think it was a good call on shutting down due to un-heat-sinked video chip.  If it's anything like the VIC-II, it gets REAL hot and definately needs the metal shield / heat sink.

[RobertB]

Ah, the Colecovision.  Seems like I had one once upon time, as I remember playing Turbo with the stearing wheel adapter.

Hey, I have the steering wheel and accelerator adapter (expansion module #2)!  And the Atari 2600 adapter (expansion module #1) for it... and a pair of Super Action Controllers, too.

I also remember thinking about buying the Adam.  Now I'm glad I didn't.

Me, too.  I remember when my best friend and I visited a store to try out the demonstrator Coleco Adam.  I was turned-off by the shoddy, thin plastic of the cassette drive doors on the main case.  The keyboard was all right, though.

But still, I wonder what it would be like to program?  As I recall, the graphics seemed comparible to the C64, but don't remember much about the audio.

Yes, the graphics seem comparable.  The audio is from a 3-voiced TI SN76489AN.

If it's anything like the VIC-II, it gets REAL hot and definately needs the metal shield / heat sink.

The old, failing board had graphic glitches which I attributed to a failing graphics chip (and possibly failing RAM), and that graphics chip was covered with an oversize heatsink.  Perhaps an even bigger heatsink is needed to protect the chip.  (I found a place with replacements that cost $24+ each!)

          FCUG celebrating 30 years,
          Robert Bernardo
          Fresno Commodore User Group
          http://videocam.net.au/fcug