LOL... We included spider eggs, nasty ones, but I assume that they, and their children, are long dead. WOOT! How much do I owe you? Also I didn't know if the RF modulator actually worked, your the first I have seen to use it. XP Now if I could just remember where I have seen that keyboard layout before... :P

As a kid, I always wanted to have a C128 after my Plus/4. Thirty years later I finally have one! Love your videos!

Your 1541 can be saved ... the likely culprit for putting on a fireworks display and letting out the magic smoke is C15 a 10uf 25v Tantalium capacitor (from the front of the drive, this is located on the right hand side of the PCB closest to the front) . Good Luck!

CP/M, the OS for distinguished connoisseurs

Because the 40 and 80 column video signals are generated by two different chips using different APIs, it's technically possible to use both simultaneously in a dual monitor setup. Attack of the Petscii Robots has gameplay on the 40 column VIC II monitor and a map on the 80 column VDC monitor.

I remember when the magazines had pages of programs you could type in. Typing in those hundreds of peek/poke numbers was maddening. Get just ONE digit wrong, and your eyes would cross trying to find where you made the mistake!

Congratulations on obtaining the greatest 8 bit computer of all time! I still feel equally excited every time I set my own Commodore 128 up.

1:09 "🎶8502 🎶 ..we're not doing that" Love the SID music!

This might be my favorite computer. Three in one!

“So much power!” “So much brick.” I died. 😂😂

I'm 1:30 in, and I just wanted to pause and say how excited I am to watch the rest. I grew up in some poverty, but I had some friends that had the C64 and would occasionally take pity on me and let me play with theirs. However through all my friends, and even my school, I never got to see a C128 live and in person. So, this should be interesting and educational for me.

Wonderful! I loved my 128 for the 80 column mode word for word processing. Even used *WordStar* on CP/M. Good times! Thanks for being awesome.

This was back when computer users did a lot more than just turn it on and browse the internet. I used to spend a lot of late nights working on the Commodore 128 with 1571 drives and a Jiffy DOS module and installed case switch to toggle between Basic 7.0 and Jiffy DOS, it was a lot of fun!!!

Your excitement over seeing the A> prompt appear on a Commodore 128 was similar to mine when I first got CP/M booting on my Apple IIe with Z80 co-processor card. 🙂 After a lifetime of associating that kind of command line with IBM compatibles (and later), seeing it on a machine with a 6502 main CPU is somehow very novel.

Such a great way to start the week, thank you!

I remember at the local university's open day playing "Star Trek" on a terminal attached to a VAX minicomputer. That took me back... On another note, does Amy ever actually look through her spectacles? I've only seen them on her forehead, never over her eyes ;-)

I just happened to find this video from your girls channel and I loved it. I am convinced that the Commodore 128 is a little-known and underrated computer today. I love it. I discovered it a few years ago, and I loved it when they managed to run CP/M 80 on that Commodore 128. Try running GEOS for C128. It's slow but interesting.

Hands down, this is your finest 8502/Z80 episode ever. A masterwork!

Fun one! Cool to see the excitement of booting up cpm on it. 😀

Great show, im subscribed! I had a C128 and never really used the CP/M mode, but booted into C64 mode a LOT for the games! Didn’t know there was a Star Trek game!

Your excitement with the new toy comes through the screen so well 🙂 Yay Commodore 128! There are a handful of C128 specific programs, but most seem to be business applications, which probably explains why my C128 sits on the shelf most of the time.

Hooray!! My favorite computer!! When i was a kid, my dad bought a 128 from an unclaimed freight / salvage store after our C64 stopped working. The c128 has some cool features like its 'advanced sound and music' in basic - I hope you enjoy it! Also, if the disk is formatted right, the 1571 can read both sides without taking it out and flipping it!

The computer I have the fondest memories of, by far.

Let's go, a new episode! I love your videos so much, keep them coming!

Yay! I remember a childhood friend who got a C128. I'm pretty certain he used it in 64-mode, like... 90% of the time Was PacMan really this noisy?! Wow.. I don't recall that🤣

Sorry to hear about the Magic Smoke, but WOW! You got it working *with* the disk drive. Very cool. Awesome video!

I had a permanent smile on my face for 18 minutes while watching this video😄

Ha haa, loved Amy backing up before drive no.2 way switched on 😂

I’m so geeked that you are so geeked about CP/M. One of the programing environments on my bucket list! And, bring on the rap!

Yay! Another episode of the Taylor and Amy Show!!!!!!

Thank you for showing CP/M. This machine is part of my youth. Thanks for bringing the C128 alive again in a fun way.

I remember the smell of the fresh openbox ....... sold a lot . . . great keyboard loved my speccy....and its little interupt button......FREEZE time for a coffee

CP/M was never going to work on that 1541 anyway 🙂 The 1571 was pretty unique in that it could read both GCR and MFM disk formats, the former was Commodore and the later CP/M and other PC formats.

OMG I LOVE your vids. This is all stuff like so not even "late" last century and so beyond my imagination... but you two ladies make it SOOOOOOO fun and interesting. I love this ancient tech stuff- how did you like get on the internet with a computer this slow or primitive? (total GenZ troll joke, of course! LOL)... Seriously though... LOVE this cool retro tech stuff and your presentation. I learn so much.

"A legitimate A: prompt..."

The C64 and C128 were a bit before my time, but it's always fun seeing old hardware get explored!

You let the magic smoke out!

Awesome those 8 bit computers were so popular in the day

12:15 y’all are so damn adorable 😊

I like your videos and the sharp humour. The 128 was a good idea on paper, but around that time, people were gradually buying an ST, Amiga etc... Also, the business market was very competitive, with machines with higher specs. Then there were so many IBM clones. It's great to see the 128 in action. Thanks :)

While I'm an Atari guy, I was still smiling and giggling the whole way through this.

Nice find ladies :D Most people used the Commodore 128 in Commodore 64 mode. The box is in really nice condition too!

First thing I do, if I start in the 80 columns mode - typing "fast" to switch the CPU in 2 MHz mode. 😁 You can you use dual monitors. Start in 40 columns mode and then type "graphic 5" to switch the output t0 80 colmuns screen. Now you can program and using the basic 7.0 commands: 10 graphic 1 : rem set 40 col to graphic mode 20 circle 1,50,50,50 : rem make a circle Great video! 😀 P.S.: To use CP/M you have to use a 1570 (only one side) or 1571 (two sides) or 1581. And the best command: GO64

I love that Star Trek game, and it was awesome to see Taylor completely obliterate that Klingon starship right away! There were a lot of different versions of the classic Star Trek on the C64. I tried to program one in BASIC from vague memories, but it was not very good. Still, it's a fun programming project!

The C=128 case is almost Amiga like.

Soon after leaving school, my best friend from school got himself a C128 to replace his Acorn Electron. Don’t think at the time I’d have swapped it for my beloved Plus/4 even though the C128 was more capable. It did mean he could nab some of the BASIC programs I’d written.

I was under the impression that the C128 marked the end of Commodore's 8-bit era, with the Amiga line set to take center stage.

BTW, you can use dual monitors, switching freely between using the 40 column screen and 80 column screen. It's great for programming, since you can have one screen with your code while running the program on your other screen.

When Commodore wanted to put everything in the same product, 3 computers in 1, but they missed the target! The main drawback of the C128 is that the C128 mode is a different machine, with a video chip less powerful than the VIC2, lacking sprites and is incompatible with the C64 software. The C128 mode is like a Plus4 with 80 columns mode and 128K of RAM. Weird machine that didn't convinced.

5:27 that was an aggressive punch of Run/Stop

You did a thing!!!!

Unless I'm mistaken, I think pretty much all the Commodore floppy drives are compatible with all the various Commodore systems. The 1571 is a double-sided drive, so it has heads on the top and bottom, which come together on each side of the disk when you turn the latch. The fake disk is there to make sure that the heads don't hit each other. Actually, all the Commodore floppy drives came with at least a cardboard disk in them. I never had smoke come out of a floppy drive, but typically the first thing I do before trying one, is to open it up and clean the heads, They can tend to accumulate gunk off the disk. As for the monitor connection, I don't know about the C128 as I never had one, but on the C64, the monitor connection was basically S-Video. If I recall correctly, my 1080 monitor only had RGB and separated composite inputs. I don't remember what it was from, but I had a cable with a DIN plug on each end that fit the monitor port. I cut the other end off and connected the appropriate wires to three phono plugs. That gave a great picture with the C64. Of course I used that monitor primarily on the Amiga with the RGB input. The Star Trek alien race is pronounced Or-gain-nee-ans. They appeared in the 26th episode of the first season of the show. They appeared to be a simple, helpless people, but they were really quite powerful and forced a truce between the Klingons and the Federation. If you liked that Star Trek game, there are other versions of it on the C64. One is a little more graphically polished, one has a manual docking with a starbase, etc. The most polished version is Space: The Ultimate Frontier, which is an unlicensed clone. It's like a more advanced version, but without the Star Trek license. BTW, you probably know this, but you can get a USB interface that will let you read from and write to a Commodore floppy drive using a modern computer. You can then download games off the net, write them to real floppies and load them on your C64 or C128. The only downside is that a lot of stuff is meant for PAL regions (UK, Europe) and may either not work correctly on an NTSC (American) machine, or even not work at all.

Wow! I bought one of these when they were first available. Also had a 64 and a plus4

Simply the koolest komputer from Commodore, and I think you ought to try playing "Volley for Two" on it. It's great fun!

That is my favorite computer of all time. I really wish I’d hung on to mine. (And if you ever want to unload that thing, I’m there!)

Would love to see these two gorgeous ladies unbox an Amstrad CPC 464 home computer.

"Time Elapses" LOL!

A real manual, nice...

You should do an episode on GEOS. I always thought it was underrated and overshadowed by the Amiga and Atari ST. But for an 8bit GUI, it was pretty good. Im curious how it compares to the Apple IIgs GUI.

You two are dream girls. Y'all are the cat's pajamas, the literal knees of bees. I would totally call your BBS if ya had one. Just saying. 🤓

In 1997, I had one. I had it for several years, but then got rid of it. In the 2010's, I grew nostalgic and bought another (probably from eBay). It started having random halt and reboot issues. Probably a bad cap on the motherboard. I ended up getting rid of that one too. I guess it's time to find another, eh? ;)

I remember that ST game is got very hard quick.

Yay! It's my favorite ladies of retro! With a C128! Serendipitous!

Nice! I just can't keep up with all of these cool Commodores! But they are keeping up with me.

Your episodes openings are epic 😎

I so badly wanted one. I still do. My hope for a VR afterlife is to code on a C128.

Isn’t it fun when you see something work for the first time.

That was so my dream computer back in the day, which I could never afford.

I had a C128 back in the 90’s. Sold it to get an Amiga. Just recently got a C128 again. I love it. Installed c0pperdragon component upgrade to get jailbar free 40 column. I also got RGB2HDMI TTL for 80 column. Works well.

Oh, and I vote yes for the 128 song being the next music video.

0 spiders. Already disappointed. :)

dat refresh rate on the commodore monitor

I liked that Batman speed run.

Save the 1541! You only need to replace a capacitor

Great machine!

One thing worth pointing out is, when powering on an untested C64 or C128 is to check the health of your power brick... The reason why it is so important, is because the way the "brick" works, is there is a good ol' coil transformer, wich is basically eternal, wich is good. But that outputs 9 VAC, and the 64 & 128 need 9 VAC. But most of the electronics is povered by 5 VDC and the way the brick does this is it has (obviously) a rectifier to make the AC to DC and then a voltage regulator of sort to adjust the voltage down to nice and smooth ('ish, hopefully)... But if (and when) the regulator fails, it often basically shorts out... And with a shorted out regulator the brick will be pushing 10 volts down the 5 volt line, wich can fry a whole bunch of chips in a hurry. And unfortunately the Commodore PSU's really don't have much (any) safety features... So I really recommend people, if you are going to use original PSU's, do check them and adding some safety devices (like fuse and overvoltage protection) is a good practice.

Love the floppy drive software! My first computer ONLY had two 5 1/4 floppy drives. No hard drive at all. Super powerful!

5:50 is baby Commodore!

In the past .... when the earth was cooling!!! hahaha! good one!

Is it bad that I always see y'all as a hip-hop duo? Like, Taylor is the MC and Amy is the hype man. Let's start a gofundme to get Amy a giant Pulsar LED watch pendant.

There is a way to use both video chips on the C128 simultaneously, though I have no idea how to do it. The Commdore 128 version of Attack of the PETSCII Robots displays the game on one screen and it also draws an overview map on the other screen that updates live as you play the game.

🤣 not bitten by spiders but stung by the 'mains filter capacitors on fire' bug... Happened to me last week with a BBC computer.. It stinks...

Wasn’t the C64 basic never updated because Tramiel was too cheap to pay MS for a newer version? He apparently got a great deal on a one-time, unlimited use license from MS.

In fact the C128s two video chips can operate at the same time. Just press ESC X (thats first pressing ESC, then letting go, then press X, not press ESC+X together .. yes it is strange ;) ), then the cursor will appear on the other screen ;)... Some games like PETSCII ROBOTS 128 do use both at the same time.

oh look at that a space and rocket center shirt!!! (I drive by there a lot). I live in huntsville.

oh no Taylor/Amy !!! you didn't type in GO64 !!!!or power on whilst holding down the commodore key!!

so much power SO MUCH BRICK I loved my C128. 80 column plus FAST mode was the best thing in the world, particularly for GEOS but not just. I was so mad at all the terrible terminal emulation software (most of which didn't even do 80 columns, and that which did couldn't manage 1200 baud. So I decided to write something to demonstrate the C128 in FAST mode could manage 1200 baud in uncompiled BASIC... and succeeded. It got published. :D Also also you can totally use both 40 and 80 column displays at the same time. From BASIC even. Maybe not with the RF modulator but with luma/chroma and 9-pin output at once. CP/M for the 128 wasn't bad. It was slower than the Z80 would lead you to believe because it could only access memory at 2mhz. With a 1571, you could also read and write Kaypro diskettes (and run most of the software), and several other CP/M formats as well, like the Osborne, I think? And maybe some others. But the Kaypro format support was what mattered for CP/M.

Mi primer ordenador fue ese! C128 Saludos

How to we spread to this enthusiasm ? Enjoy the retro talk.

Holy Crap, you two are adorable from the Get Go.

If you have any kaypro software disks, cp/m on the 128 can read them, and other cp/m formats too. The 128 wil run software slower than other cp/m machines though.

I still have not yet cracked open my C128's CP/M floppy sticker either.

Nerd Queens return!

the vic 2 output port should have the same pinnout as the C64. So if you have a C64 AV cable that should work.

Oh look, it's yet another system that is avalable on the MiSTer FPGA. :)

The native output wont' do both monitors at the same time, but the hardware can. It's just not programmed that way. I believe there is some software that does, but not very much.

Commodore 128 Rap Clap your hands everybody, and everybody clap your hands!
We're The Taylor and Amy Show with... The Commodore 128
We come here on stage tonight to do a show that’s great We've got a rockin rhythm and a high tech sound
That'll make you move your body down to the ground We've got CP/M on the 128
And BASIC will be joinin' in We've got Bill Hurd on a mean keyboard 
And a rap to record We've got Zork, Ultima, and Trek, you can’t go wrong Blinky, Pinky, Inky, and Clyde are chomping along And just when you thought you'd seen it all
Along comes a joystick 4 ft tall! So won't you come on out here, on the floor,
so we can work our bodies like never before
Break!

Press ESC and then X to switch screens.

You're silly ladies lol

So jealous right now :D