The Vintage Commodore 128 Personal Computer Handbook is written in easy to understand, non-technical language, to help answer your questions about the C-128. Aimed specifically at present day users, this book will teach you how to use and equip your vintage C-128, even if you don't have the original peripherals and software disks. Practical hands-on information is included, such as how to set up the computer, how to access and use the three operating systems, how to set up and use certain modern peripherals such as the SD2IEC, how to go online through Ethernet or by wireless or with a traditional modem. Also included are technical specifications, an introduction to BASIC 7.0, how to use CP/M, maintenance, troubleshooting, repair services, where to get modern day peripherals, where to look for sources of information on hardware, software, support, and communication with other Commodore computer users, among other topics of interest and need. This will be one of your main C-128 reference books, one that you will come back to again and again
Back into the Storm: A Design Engineer's Story of Commodore Computers in the 1980s brings you on a journey recounting the experiences of working at Commodore Business Machines from 1983 to 1986, as seen through the eyes of a young hardware engineer, Bil Herd. Herd was the lead design engineer for the TED series of home computers which included the Plus/4 and C16. He was also the lead designer for the versatile C128 that sold in the millions and was known fondly as the last of the 8-bit computers. In this book, Bil tells the inside stories that he and his extraordinary team, called "the Animals," lived through at Commodore. These were years when the home computer wars were at their height, technology moved ahead at a fast pace, and Commodore was at its pinnacle. The best-selling computer of all time, the Commodore C64, was in full swing and had blown past the sales numbers of its competitors, such as Apple, Tandy, Atari, and Sinclair, to name a few, in the home computer market. Commodore's founder, Jack Tramiel, was the head of the company when Bil began working there. This book describes with intricate detail how Herd and his team designed and built the computers that they were charged with creating for Commodore. It brings you through the design cycles of the computers that Herd headed up, categorized in the book in three stages--early, middle, and late--starting with the TED series of computers that he inherited in his first week at Commodore. The TEDs are known mostly as the Plus/4 and C16 computers, but there were other models that were designed, such as the C364 with a first-of-its-kind desktop interface that actually spoke, but which never made it into production. The TED series was followed by the Commodore C128, which was Herd and the Animals' invention from start to finish, and amazingly had an unheard of three operating systems. This was a high pressure time, a unique time in computer history, when a handful of (mostly) young individuals could craft a computer using the resources of one of the largest computer manufacturers at the time at their disposal, and yet there were no design committees nor management oversight groups to get in the way of true progress. As corny as it sounds (and it does sound corny), they designed from their hearts and for the five-month period that it took to get a computer from paper to the Consumer Electronics Show (the Super Bowl for the computer industry), they lived, breathed, and ate everything dealing with how to get their computers done. They added features that they thought were good ideas and did their best to dodge the bad ideas from middle management that were thrust in their direction. They had that cockiness that came from knowing that they would outlive these bosses in the Commodore corporate culture, if they were successful, and providing they survived the highwire, design cycle themselves. They worked hard, they played hard. Come for an insider's ride with Bil Herd and the Animals in this fun adventure!
A gloriously illustrated history of the videogame and its legacy for both our mindscapes and video technology. It was a time when technology was king, status was determined by your high score, and videogames were blitzing the world... From Pong to Pac-Man, Asteroids to Zaxxon—more than fifty million people around the world have come of age within the electronic flux of videogames, their subconscious forever etched with images projected from arcade and home videogame systems. From the first interactive blips of electronic light at Brookhaven National Labs and the creation of Spacewar! at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology; to the invention of the TV Game Project and the myriad systems of Magnavox, Atari, Coleco, and Mattel that followed; through the rise of the Golden Age of videogames and forward into the imagination of millions, Supercade is the first book to illustrate and document the history, legacy, and visual language of the videogame phenomenon. Exuberantly written and illustrated in full color, Supercade pays tribute to the technology, games, and visionaries of one of the most influential periods in the history of computer science—one that profoundly shaped the modern technological landscape and helped change the way people view entertainment. Supercade includes contributions from such commentators and particpants as Ralph Baer, Julian Dibbell, Keith Feinstein, Joe Fielder, Lauren Fielder, Justin Hall, Leonard Herman, Steven Johnson, Steven Kent, Nick Montfort, Bob Parks, Carl Steadman, and Tom Vanderbilt.
For nearly two decades, computer-based Bulletin Board Systems were the primary method of communication between computer users. As suddenly as they gained popularity, they were made obsolete by the next big thing - a newfangled system called the Internet.Commodork: Sordid Tales from a BBS Junkie takes its readers on an exciting journey through the BBS era. Through the author's personal tales and adventures, readers will discover more about these amazing times and what it was like to grow up online. With tales of copyfests, BBS parties and random acts of online debauchery, those who were there will find themselves reminiscing, while those who weren't will enjoy learning about life ""before the 'net.""You know, back when we used to modem uphill, both ways in the snow.
Concentrating on the 128 assembler, how it can be programmed and how to use its many features, topics include a review of 6510/8502 assembly language, mapping the C128 and more.
***NPR Books We Love selection*** “If you’re only going to read one Everest book this decade, make it The Third Pole. . . . A riveting adventure.”—Outside Shivering, exhausted, gasping for oxygen, beyond doubt . . . A hundred-year mystery lured veteran climber Mark Synnott into an unlikely expedition up Mount Everest during the spring 2019 season that came to be known as “the Year Everest Broke.” What he found was a gripping human story of impassioned characters from around the globe and a mountain that will consume your soul—and your life—if you let it. The mystery? On June 8, 1924, George Mallory and Sandy Irvine set out to stand on the roof of the world, where no one had stood before. They were last seen eight hundred feet shy of Everest’s summit still “going strong” for the top. Could they have succeeded decades before Sir Edmund Hillary and Tenzing Norgay? Irvine is believed to have carried a Kodak camera with him to record their attempt, but it, along with his body, had never been found. Did the frozen film in that camera have a photograph of Mallory and Irvine on the summit before they disappeared into the clouds, never to be seen again? Kodak says the film might still be viable. . . . Mark Synnott made his own ascent up the infamous North Face along with his friend Renan Ozturk, a filmmaker using drones higher than any had previously flown. Readers witness first-hand how Synnott’s quest led him from oxygen-deprivation training to archives and museums in England, to Kathmandu, the Tibetan high plateau, and up the North Face into a massive storm. The infamous traffic jams of climbers at the very summit immediately resulted in tragic deaths. Sherpas revolted. Chinese officials turned on Synnott’s team. An Indian woman miraculously crawled her way to frostbitten survival. Synnott himself went off the safety rope—one slip and no one would have been able to save him—committed to solving the mystery. Eleven climbers died on Everest that season, all of them mesmerized by an irresistible magic. The Third Pole is a rapidly accelerating ride to the limitless joy and horror of human obsession.
Ideal for PC owners looking for an accessible, easy-to-follow reference, this beginner's guide to PC hardware offers expert advice on every component--processors, motherboards, memory, BIOS, CD-ROM and DVD drives, video cards, and much more. You'll also get details on external devices, including monitors, printers, keyboards, and modems. The book covers both Intel and non-Intel CPUs and USB and AGP ports.
Computer manufacturing is--after cars, energy production and illegal drugs--the largest industry in the world, and it's one of the last great success stories in American business. Accidental Empires is the trenchant, vastly readable history of that industry, focusing as much on the astoundingly odd personalities at its core--Steve Jobs, Bill Gates, Mitch Kapor, etc. and the hacker culture they spawned as it does on the remarkable technology they created. Cringely reveals the manias and foibles of these men (they are always men) with deadpan hilarity and cogently demonstrates how their neuroses have shaped the computer business. But Cringely gives us much more than high-tech voyeurism and insider gossip. From the birth of the transistor to the mid-life crisis of the computer industry, he spins a sweeping, uniquely American saga of creativity and ego that is at once uproarious, shocking and inspiring.
