Interesting Ebay items

Vic 20 Item Exchange

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Jeff-20
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Interesting Ebay items

Post by Jeff-20 »

"COMMODORE vic multi switch 8 port network switch box "
Item number: 4128794830

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?Vi ... 94830&rd=1

Why?

--------------------------
"RARE MINT WORKING PT-502 HEKTOR 2 COMPUTER SYSTEM 1981"
Item number: 4128844344

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?Vi ... 44344&rd=1

Odd computer. I've never seen one in the states.
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aneurysm
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Post by aneurysm »

was that computer a kit or something?
carlsson
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Post by carlsson »

The VIC Switch is, just like the eBay seller writes, meant for sharing drives, printers etc over a network of VICs, C64s or other compatible computers. Quite useful in a school, computer lab or maybe even office, at least for sharing printer.

The Hektor (Home Electronic Kit compuTOR) it says is a UK single board computer from Open University. The 8085 was the immediate predecessor to the 8086 IIRC.
Anders Carlsson

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Zeela
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Post by Zeela »

I remember using a VIC Switch when I was teaching Basic programming on the C128 in the late 80's.

We used 4 C128's connected to a single 1541 through the VIC Switch. The only thing you needed to make certain was that only one computer accessed (read or write) the disk drive at any time, other wise bad stuff would happen...

// Zee
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Jeff-20
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Post by Jeff-20 »

Commodore Vic-20 system, mod w/20k

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?Vi ... 10108&rd=1

Interesting mod, but I really just want that user guide.. I really want to know what's inside it!
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Post by Jeff-20 »

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?Vi ... 29288&rd=1

What's so special about this "MSD Super Drive". I've seen it listed for $200. Is it just the ability to quickly copy disks?

And check these out:
http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?Vi ... 80846&rd=1
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Post by carlsson »

The MSD has both serial (IEC) and IEEE488 interface, so just like the seller says, it would work on virtually all Commodore computers from the PET/CBM to C128 (imitating only a 4040 or 1541, not any high density formats from what I understand). Being a dual device unit, it at least simplifies duplication - not sure about speed.
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Jeff-20
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Post by Jeff-20 »

I don't see these come up every often.. you only have 5 hours as of this posting. Every VIC owner should have it.

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?Vi ... 85330&rd=1

ML Cart.
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Post by Schema »

Jeff-20 wrote:I don't see these come up every often.. you only have 5 hours as of this posting. Every VIC owner should have it.

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?Vi ... 85330&rd=1

ML Cart.
Neat! I don't think he'll ship outside the US, though :cry:
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Post by 36877 »

I recently won this auction -

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/ws/eBayISAPI.dll? ... 8128290184

just wanted to see what the Red AM cartirdge was - having not seen one before (I'm relatively new to collecting again - so apologies if it's actually common). Turns out it's a "3K Static RAM/EPROM Cartridge" as it says on the side.

It has two empty chip sockets inside - any thoughts on what I now need to get in order to put this to some sort of use?[/url]
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Post by Schema »

36877 wrote: just wanted to see what the Red AM cartirdge was - having not seen one before (I'm relatively new to collecting again - so apologies if it's actually common). Turns out it's a "3K Static RAM/EPROM Cartridge" as it says on the side.[/url]
There was one on display at the SWRAP Expo in Chicago, but the owner didn't know what it did, either. The things looked pretty cool. Does yours have switches on the side?
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Post by 36877 »

No - no switches. It does work as a 3K expansion.

I've put a picture of the inside here

http://www.ellipses.co.uk/images/vic/AMInside.jpg
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Post by Jeff-20 »

I have one of those. It is great. Mine has 2 switches on the side. It is a switchable 16k ram cart. I use it to rum games from disk.
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Post by carlsson »

Were there single 8K RAM chips with the same pinout as the (EP)ROMs? My thought would be that those two sockets either take ROMs or RAM mapped into some memory block, as well as the 3K already available.

What about the black one with numbers all over - it is a switchable 16K expansion? 19967, 11775, 6655 and 3583 all look familiar.
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Post by 36877 »

The black one with numbers all over it is indeed a switchable 16K RAM expansion. That does have two switches on the front. It's the exact one I used to have as a kid, which is nice...

I guess the idea with the other cartridge is that if I could burn some EPROMs, I could insert these in the sockets and use it just like a normal cartridge. Is that right?

If so, then an EPROM burner is what I need to look out for next!
Matt Baker
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