Commodore – **** THE HOMECOMPUTER GUY ****

The 64’er magazine turns 40!

Before I was able to hold my own C64 breadbox in my hands in 1985, I had already read several issues of the now legendary 64’er magazine from the Markt&Technik publishing house in Germany. March 20, 2024 marked the 40th anniversary of the publication of the first issue: Congratulations to one of the formative magazines of my youth!

And now, after 40 years, the first issues from back then are being published again. This time, however – in keeping with the times – online on the Internet and as a PDF download.

Commodore PET/CBM Series Overview

For some time now, I can call myself the happy owner of a Commodore CBM 8096-SK. Before I introduce my own computer in more detail, I would like to give a brief overview of the Commodore PET and CBM series that were available during the 8-bit era from 1977 until around the mid-1980s. As it turns out, a brief summary is not that easy, as there were a sometimes confusing number of series and model variants. Nevertheless, I will try to give as concise an overview as possible.

Very special season greetings

The Verein zum Erhalt klassischer Computer (VzEkC – www.classic-computing.org) did a super nice Christmas campaign on the initiative of our member Helmut (axorp) by releasing a Christmas tree plug-in card for the C64 in the Classic-Computing Edition. He was supported by another member Andreas (shadow-asc).

Commodore VC-1520 Plotter

The Commodore VC-1520 is a compact roller plotter with small ballpoint pens in four colors (black, blue, green, red) and a speed of 12 characters per second on average, with a maximum of 80 characters per line. The character count in CBM-ASCII mode is 96 characters and in plotter mode a maximum of 260 steps per second. The plotter prints on roll paper (cash register roll) with 114 mm width (96 mm printable), which is fixed on a spindle outside the plotter. The plotter mechanism comes from the company Alps Electric and was also used in other devices, such as the Sharp MZ-731 or Olivetti M10.

C64c against nuclear power with a to quiet sound chip

Sometimes it can be worthwhile to help with a move! As an active member it was clear for me to help when the office manager of the BN district group Bamberg asked me. After all, the move only took place within Bamberg. Out of a quaint old town apartment in Sandstraße, home to many pubs, bars and the famous smoked beer brewery “Schlenkerla” in the middle of the beautiful world cultural heritage.