I just wanted to let all of you know about some great products that I just got from Charles of 8-Bit Designs!
The first, and by far the best of all, is the "User Port Commander". I believe this was called a "4-in-1 Plus" by the previous owner of 8-Bit Designs, but it's now been renamed. This is a great little gadget that, quite frankly, no Commodore owner should be without! It connects to your User Port (obviously), and has a parallel port to connect an IBM-style parallel printer, a system/serial bus reset switch, a printer reset switch, a toggle switch to change between BASIC 7.0 mode on a C128 and GeoCable compatibility mode, and a +5V DC power-tap. It's fully GeoCable compatible, and even comes with a disk full of GeoCable printer drivers for GEOS/Wheels. The reset button will reset the computer without resetting your serial devices on C64 rev. 3 kernal and higher, all C64c's, and C128's. On C64's with rev. 2 kernal and lower, it will reset both the computer and serial devices.
The second thing is a handy little device called "The Bus Reset". This plugs into any available serial port, and has a button on the end of a cable. Pressing this button on a C64 with rev. 2 kernal and lower, and VIC-20's, will reset both the computer and serial devices. On a C64 with rev. 3 kernal and higher, all C64c's, C128's, 16's, and Plus/4's, this will reset your serial devices without resetting your computer. So on the later 64c's and 128's, this little device makes a great partner with the User Port Commander, as you can use one to reset only the computer, and the other to reset only your serial devices, as the need may arise.
Finally, the last thing is called the "Bus-Y Port Splitter". This plugs into any available serial port, and it's a Y-cable... So basically, you can plug two serial devices into a single serial port. I use this plugged into the serial port on my C64, then plug my Bus Reset swtich into one side and my disk drives into the other side, so I can keep the Bus Reset switch close to the keyboard. You can also use this if you have a device, such as a printer, which has only one serial port, and you want to add another device onto your serial chain, like perhaps an XE1541 or another such cable to connect your drives to a PC.
Charles also got fresh cable in to make new X1541, XE1541, and XM1541 cables. I already have an XE1541 cable of my own, so I didn't need one of those, but maybe you do! Oh, and he still has one or two C128's with 64K Video RAM upgrades installed available.
Anyway, I just wanted to pass this information on to all of you, and let you all know that 8-Bit Designs is still in business, and Charles is producing some quality products. It's nice to know that there are still people out there who are actively supporting the Commodore community, unlike people "whose name I shall not speak"...
If any of you are interested in checking out 8-Bit Designs products, you can find the web page at http://www.8bitprodserv.spaces.live.com ... To order any of 8-Bit Design's products for yourself, just e-mail Charles at shifty_butch@hotmail.com. He's a very friendly guy, and he won't do you wrong!
Take care!
-Andrew
Cottonwood BBS
(951)242-3593