Back to index |
Info for c16 |
Remember also the following functions:
* "Shift-cbm" switches between upper-only and normal character set (if wrong characters are on screen this may help).
* "Run" (shift-stop) loads the first program from device 8 (dload"*) and starts it.
If you run into difficulty, be sure to start the emulation with the -log switch, and look into the error.log file that is created in your MESS directory.
===== Known Issues =====
* Memory check by C16 kernel will not recognize more memory without restarting MESS.
* CPU clock switching/changing.
* Imperfect colors; should be enough for 95% of the games and programs.
* Imperfect scrolling support (when 40 columns or 25 lines)
* Lightpen support missing.
* Some PC-Keyboards do not behave well when special two or more keys are pressed at the same time (with my keyboard printscreen clears the pressed pause key!)
* Expansion modules other than the 1551 floppy drive are not supported.
* The rs232/v.24 interface is not supported, nor are printers and other parallel devices.
* The Plus 4's userport is not supported.
* Note if a game runs too fast with the NTSC version, try the PAL version!
* The following features are emulated: rasterline based video system, keyboard, joystick 1 and 2, simple tape support, serial bus, simple disk drives, expansion modules, rom cartridges, simple ieee488 floppy support (c1551 floppy disk drive), quickloader
===== History and Trivia =====
When the first Commodore 264 prototype unofficially debuted at the Winter Consumer Electronics Show (CES) in January (?) 1984, the developers had obviously not yet agreed about the keyboard layout; some keys are unlabeled, the right shift key was missing, instead having a key which seems to be meant as a line feed key.
It was planned that when buying a C264, you could have chosen between these programs:
* 3 plus 1 (word processor, data base, spread sheet, windowing)
* Superscript (professional word processor)
* Magic Desk (word processor, data base, spread sheet, calculator)
* Logo
* Pilot
* Easycalc 264 (spread sheet)
* COM 264
* Financial Advisor
The C264 should then be delivered with the selected program built in. The remaining programs could only be used with cartridges for the expansion port.
The official presentation of the C264 series took place on the Hannover fair in 1984. Luckily, the developers didn't eliminate the right shift key in the final keyboard layout. The formerly unlabeled keys bear a label now: the key that used to be the left arrow key on the C64 and the VC20 says 'Esc', the key between '@' and '*' bears the English pound sign, and the key that was labeled 'SHIFT LOCK' on all 8-bit computers Commodore ever produced now says - guess what - 'SHIFT LOCK' :-) (must have been a hard decision between SHIFT and CAPS lock).
A word about the C364 : This prototype was a C264 with a bigger keyboard (86 keys incl. a numeric keypad) and with a builtin speech synthesizer with a vocabulary of 250 words (which could be expanded by either diskettes or modules). Commodore dropped this model and decided to sell a separate speech module (Magic Voice) for the C64.
Among the Commodore news from the Summer CES 1984 was the renaming of the C=264 to Plus/4. This renaming came along with a slight change in the builtin software: you could not choose between many different programs anymore, but each Plus/4 was delivered with the 3-plus-1
software.
The built-in software was really limited: a word processing (only with 40 columns and can manage documents with only 99 lines of 77 columns), a very small spreadsheet (only 17 columns and 50 lines), a poor graph generator program (which can display graphically data
from the sheets but only in text mode) and a small database (999 record with 17 fields each and only 38 characters by field). Most of these programs can only be used with a floppy disk unit.
The Plus 4 can use peripherals of the C64 or the Vic 20, like the famous MPS-801 dot-matrix printer and the Disk Unit 1541 run well with it but it can't use C64 software (nor the same joysticks & Datasette as the C=64/VIC-20).
This machine wasn't built to be a competitor of the C64 nor to replace it. It has an improved BASIC in relation to the C64, with graphic and sound instructions and a built-in assembler, but has lost lots of interesting C64 features like great soundchip or hardware sprites.
The Commodore Plus/4 was an error in the Commodore marketing policy and had no success.
The Commodore 16/116 belongs to the Commodore 264 series (with the Commodore Plus/4). It was designed to replace the Commodore VIC-20, but was not compatible with it, nor with the C64.
It had the same characteristics as the Commodore Plus/4 : same graphic resolution, same sound system, same CPU and speed, just less memory. It featured a version of the original 6502 CPU named 7501, and a new video chip named TED. With 16 colours, and 16 shades of colour, it had an amazing 128 colours available. But it had no hardware sprites like the ones on the VIC II
chip, so animated games and collision detection were very hard to do.
It has a powerful basic language (contrary to the VIC-20 or the C64) which makes graphics and sounds easy to program. The C16, like the Commodore Plus/4 was a commercial failure.
It seems that the first C16s had the two control ports labeled JOY 0 and JOY 1 instead of JOY 1 and JOY 2, just as a hint for collectors :-)
The C116, revealed at the 1984 Summer CES, was a cut down version of the C16 using a cheap case - same but smaller as the +4, and a rubber keyboard. It was the cheapest Commodore computer ever made. It was sold only in Germany, in Austria and a few East European countries.
It came comes with 32 KB of ROM, only 16 KB of RAM and without any built-in software.
Commodore's hatred for shift keys finds expression in the very early C116's keyboard layout. This time, they made it even worse and removed the LEFT shift key and placed an Esc key there! Not to mention the Inst/Del key which resided at the SHIFT LOCK key's place. The versions sold later had the Inst/Del key next to the Home/Clear key in the top row next to the function keys, the Esc key where you would want it, and thank God, a left shift key again.
Note that both the C116 and the C16 lack a user port.
Final assembly was done in Mexico by a company named Sigma.
//(info from old-computers.com)//
===== Links =====
* Commodore16.com -- http://www.commodore16.com/
* The C16 - Plus 4 Retro Page -- http://yape.plus4.net/
* Commodore Plus/4 World -- http://plus4.emucamp.com/
* Plus/4 at vintage-computer.com -- http://www.vintage-computer.com/commodoreplus4.shtml
* C16 at old-computers.com -- http://old-computers.com/museum/computer.asp?c=97
===== Other Emulators =====
* Minus4 -- http://minus4.plus4.net/
* YAPE -- http://yape.plus4.net/
* VICE -- http://www.viceteam.org/
* WinEMU -- http://winemu.emuunlim.com/