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Categories: Magazine, News & Rumors, Today

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Commodore VIC-20 (PET Style Keyboard)

December 12th, 2014 No comments

This is an old Commodore VIC-20 Home Computer (PAL) with a “Microgramma Extended Fonts” keyboard. The same keyboard is also used in the Commodore PET computer.

The “PET” style keyboard used on the VIC-1001 and early VIC-20s

The keyboards used in VIC-20 computers were manufactured for Commodore by Matsushita Corporation of Japan. Those used on the very first VIC-20s were almost completely flat-topped and identical in shape to that of Commodore’s PET computer (however, on the VIC-20 the PET’s number pad was replaced by four wide function keys).

The keyboards on later VIC-20s were manufactured with slightly concave tops. The concavity of the “F” and “J” keys was slightly more prominent to provide tactile feedback for touch-typists seeking the “home” position.

Commodore VIC-20 8-bit Home Computer

The VIC-20 (Germany: VC-20; Japan: VIC-1001) is an 8-bit home computer which was sold by Commodore Business Machines. The VIC-20 was announced in 1980, roughly three years after Commodore’s first personal computer, the PET. The VIC-20 was the first computer of any description to sell one million units.

The VIC-20 was intended to be more economical than the PET computer. It was equipped with only 5 kB of RAM (of this, only 3.5 KB were available to the BASIC programmer) and used the same MOS 6502 CPU as the PET. The VIC-20′s video chip, the MOS Technology VIC, was a general-purpose color video chip designed by Al Charpentier in 1977 and intended for use in inexpensive display terminals and game consoles, but Commodore could not find a market for the chip. As the Apple II gained momentum with the advent of VisiCalc in 1979, Jack Tramiel wanted a product that would compete in the same segment, to be presented at the January 1980 CES. For this reason Chuck Peddle and Bill Seiler started to design a computer named TOI (The Other Intellect).

Gallery:

source: sleepingelephant.com/denial/wiki wikipedia

December 10th, 2014 Comments off

Apple III (Apple ///)

December 9th, 2014 No comments

Repairs and calibrations made:

  • After a few days of normal use of the Apple /// is died the Keyboard Encoder (341-0035-00). I have replaced the chip with the Keyboard Encoder SMC KR3600-075B1 which fortunately is still available.
  • Removed the filter capacitor.
  • Replaced the bulb of the power-on that is embedded in the keyboard.
  • Replaced all rubber feets.
  • Calibration of the Floppy Drive.
  • Replaced some switches of the keyboard.

Repairing keyboard Apple ///:

It seems incredible but there is always a button that doesn’t work ;-D

I found on some keyboards of the TI-99/4A the same buttons but with the plunger much smaller. I have used the plunger of the Apple /// button on the TI-99/4a button and i have fixed the problem elegantly ;-D

Thank to my friend Ninetyniner Iuc for the donation of spare parts.

Gallery:

The Apple III (often rendered as Apple ///) is a business-oriented personal computer produced and released by Apple Computer that was intended as the successor to the Apple II series, but was largely considered a failure in the market. Development work on the Apple III started in late 1978 under the guidance of Dr. Wendell Sander. It had the internal code name of “Sara”, named after Sander’s daughter. The machine was first announced and released on May 19, 1980, but due to serious stability issues that required a design overhaul and a recall of existing machines, it was formally reintroduced the following autumn. Development stopped and the Apple III was discontinued on April 24, 1984, and the III Plus was dropped from the Apple product line in September 1985.

The Apple III could be viewed as an enhanced Apple II – then the newest heir to a line of 8-bit machines dating back to 1976. However, the Apple III was not part of the Apple II line, but rather a close cousin. The key features business users wanted in a personal computer were a true typewriter-style upper/lowercase keyboard (as opposed to the Apple II which was based on a teletype keyboard) and 80 column display. In addition, the machine had to pass U.S. Federal Communications Commission (FCC) Radio Frequency Interference (RFI) qualifications for business equipment. In 1981, International Business Machines unveiled the IBM Personal Computer (IBM PC) – a completely new 16-bit design soon available in a wide range of inexpensive clones. The business market moved rapidly towards the PC DOS/MS-DOS platform, eventually pulling away from the Apple 8-bit computer line.

Despite numerous stability issues and a recall that included the first 14,000 units off the assembly line, Apple was eventually able to produce a reliable and dependable version of the machine. However, damage to the computer’s reputation had already been done and it failed to do well commercially as a direct result. In the end, an estimated 65,000–75,000 Apple III computers were sold. The Apple III Plus brought this up to ~120,000. Apple co-founder Steve Wozniak stated that the primary reason for the Apple III’s failure was that the system was designed by Apple’s marketing department, unlike Apple’s previous engineering-driven projects. The Apple III’s failure led to Apple reevaluating their plan to phase out the Apple II, and eventual continuation of development of the older machine. As a result, later Apple II models incorporated some hardware, such as the Apple Scribe Printer, a thermal printer, and software technologies of the Apple III.

source: wikipedia

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