commodore Archives

Greenberg’s Marx Trains Pocket Price Guide, 9th edition: A review

Dave Farquhar Toy trains November 7, 2011November 25, 2018Classic Toy Trains, commodore, estate sales, greenberg, KCS, lionel, marx, marx trains, New York, New York Central, Pocket Price Guide, reference book, tin, toy train, train show, Veteran Marx, yahoo

I received my copy of the new 9th edition of the Greenberg Pocket Price Guide for Marx trains this past weekend. Marx used to print on its packages, “One of the many Marx toys. Have you all of them?” This book won’t completely answer that question, but at the very least, it gives you a start, and helps you avoid paying too much for the ones you don’t have yet.

Dave Farquhar

David Farquhar is a computer security professional, entrepreneur, and author. He has written professionally about computers since 1991, so he was writing about retro computers when they were still new. He has been working in IT professionally since 1994 and has specialized in vulnerability management since 2013. He holds Security+ and CISSP certifications. Today he blogs five times a week, mostly about retro computers and retro gaming covering the time period from 1975 to 2000.

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Steve Jobs and the Commodore PET

Dave Farquhar Retro Computing November 5, 2011October 11, 20171980s, 1990s, 6502, amiga, amiga os, apple, apple ii, Chuck Peddle, commodore, commodore 64, intel, irving gould, jack tramiel, KIM, macintosh, Mehdi Ali, MOS, motorola, pixar, Steve Jobs, Steve Wozniak, tape drive, Texas Instruments

There’s a nasty rumor floating around that in Walter Isaacson’s bestselling biography, Steve Jobs, Jobs alleges that Commodore copied the Apple II when making its first computer, 1977’s PET. Here’s the story of Steve Jobs and the Commodore PET.

The book doesn’t come right out and say it, but it insinuates it. I know how the PET came to be, and the PET would have happened whether the Apple II ever existed or not.
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Dave Farquhar

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Was CP/M overrated?

Dave Farquhar Retro Computing September 27, 2011October 1, 20181980s, atari, atari st, Bill Gates, commodore, commodore 128, DEC, Gary Kildall, IBM, PIP, unix, vector, windows nt

Veteran tech journalist Dan Tynan recently published a list of 10 overrated technology products, and CP/M was on his list. But was CP/M overrated? I want to dig into that question a bit.

I think everyone knows the story of how IBM almost used CP/M as the operating system for its PC, but ended up using an upstart product from a small company named Microsoft instead. We’ll probably never know exactly what happened, seeing as the author of CP/M is dead and his business partner is no longer able to recollect those events from the 1980 timeframe, and IBM and Bill Gates have no reason to embarrass themselves by revisiting the story.

But CP/M was the first and most popular operating system for early 8-bit computers, so people who used it remember it fondly, and the way Microsoft steamrolled it made Gary Kildall and his operating system folk heroes to underdog lovers everywhere. Even people who never used it and weren’t even born when Kildall’s company ceased to exist have at least a vague idea of what it was.
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Dave Farquhar

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So Amazon’s tablet is a go

Dave Farquhar Hardware September 5, 2011September 5, 2011android, apple, Apple Ipad, atari, christmas, commodore, hp, ipad, kindle, TSA

Reports of Amazon’s tablet plans are trickling out. Basically, it’s going to be a 7-inch tablet running a very customized version of Android, tweaked to play media purchased from Amazon, and priced at $250, half the price of an entry-level Apple Ipad. (In English, we capitalize the first letter of proper nouns, and my native language is English, not C++, if you’re wondering.) Techcrunch and The Register have some of the details. The name: Amazon Kindle. The release date: end of November.

I wouldn’t call it a can’t-miss, but it’s clear Amazon’s thought a lot of things through here.

Dave Farquhar

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Commodore 128, top-12 dud? By what measure?

Dave Farquhar Retro Computing August 17, 2011September 15, 20251980s, amiga, apple, apple ii, Apple Macintosh, atari, atari 2600, atari st, commodore, commodore 128, commodore 64, Commodore Amiga, IBM, ibm pcjr, macintosh, motorola, NES, nintendo, nintendo nes, pc magazine, video game

PC Magazine presented a list of 12 computer duds, and while I agree with most of them, my old friend the Commodore 128 makes an appearance. Commodore released several duds over the years, but calling the 128 one of them doesn’t seem fair.
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Dave Farquhar

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Happy birthday, IBM PC!

Dave Farquhar Hardware, Retro Computing August 12, 2011December 24, 20251980s, 1990s, amd, apple, apple ii, commodore, commodore 64, compaq, dell, Gary Kildall, hp, IBM, intel, lenovo, macintosh, Maxtor, pc magazine, Personal Computer, radio shack

The IBM PC 5150 turns 30 today.

IBM didn’t invent the personal computer, but if your computer has an Intel or AMD CPU in it, it’s the direct descendant of the beige box IBM unleashed on the world on August 12, 1981. Without a huge amount of effort, it’s even possible to run most of that old software on your shiny new PC. You probably wouldn’t want to, except out of curiosity, but you can do it.

I wasn’t one of the people who rushed out and got one. At the time, I was still watching Sesame Street and Mr. Rogers. I had my first experience with a computer–a Radio Shack TRS-80–in 1982, and the first computer my family bought was a Commodore 64 in 1984. Even in 1984, there were still plenty of people who questioned why anyone needed a computer in their home. My introduction to the IBM PC and PC-DOS didn’t happen until 1987.
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Dave Farquhar

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Meet the new malcontents. Same as the old malcontents.

Dave Farquhar security June 30, 20111990s, commodore, juvenile detention, nirvana, out of the blue, video game

The Guardian presents an interesting perspective, that hacktivists are bored teenagers driven by their hatred of government policy.

If that’s the case, it’s nothing new. They’re just able to make bigger messes today than their counterparts could 20 years ago. Read more

Dave Farquhar

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Review: GT Max Playstation-USB converter

Dave Farquhar Hardware June 26, 2011commodore, commodore 64, KIM, malware, NES, nintendo, nintendo nes, playstation, usb port

After my disappointing experience with an inexpensive–perhaps I should just say cheap— X-Kim USB gamepad, I decided to give the GT Max Playstation-USB converter a try. This inexpensive (under $5) adapter lets you use Playstation and Playstation 2 (PS2) controllers with a PC.

I’m just interested in being able to use it with emulators for older systems, so I can’t comment on its suitability for using Playstation dance pads with PC games, or using inexpensive PS2 controllers with PS3s. Other users report some degree of success for that.

I’m happy to report that I can now play five or six levels of Jumpman or 9 innings of Baseball Stars without my hands hurting.

Dave Farquhar

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Floppy disks for Commodore and other vintage computers

Dave Farquhar Retro Computing June 12, 2011September 9, 20181541, 1571, 1980s, apple, atari, commodore, IBM, vintage computer

It’s been many years since 5.25-inch floppy disks suitable for Commodore, Apple, Atari, and other vintage 8-bit computers (not to mention IBM PCs and PC/XTs) have been something you can buy at the store down the street. I found some 360K DS/DD disks on Amazon, but they aren’t available in huge quantities.

Dave Farquhar

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Compress Commodore programs with Exomizer

Dave Farquhar Retro Computing May 30, 2011January 4, 20241541, 1980s, commodore

Exomizer is a compression program for Commodore and other 8-bit computers. The compressed program still runs, but it takes up less space on disk. Decompressing takes some time, but usually less time than reading more data off a 1541 disk. And unlike native packers which sometimes take all night to run, Exomizer runs on modern PCs, so it runs extremely quickly.

The space savings isn’t as much of a consideration now as it was in 1986, but being able to cram as many programs as possible on a single disk image makes access more convenient.

Dave Farquhar

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