Commodore plus 4, The oddball Commodore?

Рет қаралды 1,645

Күн бұрын

The commodore Plus/4 is a bit of a weird one. Built to be a cheap business machine, and based on the C16 TED machine, the Plus/4 and the TED lineup failed spectacularly. finding a Plus/4 is not easy, and finding a cheap one is more challenging. Luck was on my side, and I found this working (more or less) for just around €90. Can it be brought back to full health? Let's find out.
You can follow the Tech Dept on
Facebook: / techdeptwien
Instagram: @techdept_wien
And if you feel like supporting the channel, You can check out our Patreon account, where you'll find the usual extras and perks.
Patreon: patreon.com/Tech_Dept

Пікірлер: 17

@penfold7800 Ай бұрын

...also, with all those vents on the bottom, they werent thinking much about spilt office tea either. Its a mirracle some of these survived.

@jamesdecross1035 Жыл бұрын

Interesting tip on cleaning the carbon pads. I didn't know that one.

@techdept Жыл бұрын

It’s great right! I can’t claim credit for coming up with it, but it does work really nicely.

@46FreddieMercury91 10 ай бұрын

I changed my 64 for one of these back in 86. Whilst I liked the BASIC, the plus 4 never had the same aura as the former

@techdept 9 ай бұрын

I think if the C64 could have met the graphics capabilities of the Plus 4, it would have been a fantastic machine.

@3vi1J Жыл бұрын

I can't believe this machine strayed so far from the original vision and price-point. If I recall correctly, this started as a perfectly reasonable attempt to take Sinclair's market in Europe yet somehow went totally off-course and released years after it would have been a success. One of Commodore's many puzzling missteps of the 80's. :( Thanks for sharing - subscribed!

@techdept Жыл бұрын

Yeah, the Ted range of Commodore machines were odd. The C16 made a little sense maybe, but the plus/4 was never going to be a great business machine. On the plus side the Ted chip was incredibly advanced for its time, cramming the video and audio onto single package to save money and yet at the same time proving very capable compared to the Vic 2 for example. The joke at commodore for these machine was ‘at least we’ve made the in black, ready for their funeral.’

@matthiasbreiter4177 11 ай бұрын

I agree. When the "small" version, C16 (which was physically larger), got offered at Aldi Supermarket for a lowered price in Germany, a run on the machine started which even let to a local market of software vendors, a magazine and even forcing Commodore to build more C16s - despite the intent was to discontinue the machine.

@jamesdecross1035 Жыл бұрын

Yeah, I broke a couple of keys, too. Thankfully, I had a spare machine to get two others up and running. Job done!

@andygozzo72 Жыл бұрын

nice, if you ever get a spare INS/DEL keycap plus spring and plunger for these, that you dont want , let me know, i have a plus 4 thats missing its one ...

@joelawford5107 Жыл бұрын

Good luck finding some new keys! That mouse mat needs a good clean too!

@coffeeshangarworkshop8051 Жыл бұрын

Howdy Joe! Perhaps a fresh new one sent over would clean up those free product promos. ;)

@techdept Жыл бұрын

Actually I found the specific keys I needed and they’re in great condition. Now I just have to rely on the post!

@penfold7800 Ай бұрын

I wonder if they were trying unnecesarily to compete with the Sinclair ZXSpectrum and the impending (not very successful) Dragon 32 and SAMcoupe? Sinclair tried to do the Home Computer=Home Office too with the QL. That didnt work out well either.

@Mr.1.i 2 ай бұрын

Bill herd days it was the raspberry pi of its day....im not being funny but that ic count is higher than a spectrum

@tcfs 18 күн бұрын

Yeah, the presence of the "User Port" made the computer suitable for basic connection and controlling of external industrial hardware. Back in the time I created a software to animate an industrial robot with controlling its pneumatic valves.

@Mr.1.i 18 күн бұрын

@tcfs pressing the help key or one of the other function key to get the built in software to run was as about the only thing my plus 4 ever did