Mega65

[groepaz]

a sorry, forgot you define whats "a few". its still irrelevant and no programs worth mentioning exist. and who cares about what demo disk wasnt uploaded anywhere. they all basically contain the same crap anyway.

[RobertBe]

groepaz wrote:

there a couple...

More than a couple,
Robert Bernardo
Fresno Commodore User Group - http://www.dickestel.com/fcug.htm
Southern California Commodore & Amiga Network - http://www.portcommodore.com/sccan
June 9-10 Pacific Commodore Expo NW 2018 - http://www.portcommodore.com/pacommex
Aug. 11-12 Commodore Vegas Expo v14 2018 - http://www.portcommodore.com/commvex

[groepaz]

try harder

[RobertBe]

Die Hard, Die Hard 2, Die Hard with a Vengeance, Live Free or Die Hard, and A Good Day to Die Hard.

Way off-topic,
Robert Bernardo
Fresno Commodore User Group - http://www.dickestel.com/fcug.htm
Southern California Commodore & Amiga Network - http://www.portcommodore.com/sccan
June 9-10 Pacific Commodore Expo NW 2018 - http://www.portcommodore.com/pacommex
Aug. 11-12 Commodore Vegas Expo v14 2018 - http://www.portcommodore.com/commvex

[groepaz]

what a cute troll we have there

[orion70]

Enough. Please.

[RobertBe]

As for the 65 being something like a 128-style switchable machine, it's more a proper 64 evolved into the next step: no crappy CP/M or exotic processors. Only a 64 with more features, more RAM, two SIDs, and a 3"1/2 inorporated disk drive.

AFAIK, the 64 mode in the C65 prototypes is only about 70% compatible.

As far as I am concerned, the "improved 64 mode" is what should have been done circa 1984.

According to Brian Bagnall's book, "Commodore: The Amiga Years", (which also covers the C128 and more) in 1984 CBM lead engineer Bil Herd had the goal of complete compatibility with the C64. Any more features would have broken compatibility.

Back on topic,
Robert Bernardo
Fresno Commodore User Group - http://www.dickestel.com/fcug.htm
Southern California Commodore & Amiga Network - http://www.portcommodore.com/sccan
June 9-10 Pacific Commodore Expo NW 2018 - http://www.portcommodore.com/pacommex
Aug. 11-12 Commodore Vegas Expo v14 2018 - http://www.portcommodore.com/commvex

P.S. For those readers who missed it, photos of the C65 serial #1 are at

http://blog.retro-link.com/2018/01/the- ... -2017.html

[orion70]

Didn't know that. I only read Bagnall's first book .
Anyway, Herd was a good engineer, who eventually could have minimized incompatibility. Wouldn't a stereo C64 with incorporated 3" 1/2 drive and possibly a selectable REU represent a honey pot for potential buyers? And then, there was another new and exciting mode...

[RobertBe]

Herd was a good engineer, who eventually could have minimized incompatibility.

Possibly but Bil was out of CBM by February, 1986. CBM engineer Dave Haynie and others took over after Bil's departure.

Wouldn't a stereo C64 with incorporated 3" 1/2 drive and possibly a selectable REU represent a honey pot for potential buyers?

Another possibility but ideas such as those were shot down. Emphasis was given over to the Amiga.

As CBM engineer Paul Lassa told me, when it came down to which would go into production between the C65 and the Amiga 600, the A600 won out, given CBM's limited financial resources at that time,

Truly,
Robert Bernardo
Fresno Commodore User Group - http://www.dickestel.com/fcug.htm
Southern California Commodore & Amiga Network - http://www.portcommodore.com/sccan
June 9-10 Pacific Commodore Expo NW 2018 - http://www.portcommodore.com/pacommex
Aug. 11-12 Commodore Vegas Expo v14 2018 - http://www.portcommodore.com/commvex

[groepaz]

it had nothing to do with resources - the 8bit era was really over by that time, and the amiga was the (only) logical choice.

[orion70]

Agree. 1986 was another era compared to 1984, 8 bits were at their sunset.

[tokra]

Worse even, the C65 was developed in 1989 for a possible 1990 release. By that time a lot of people already upgraded from C64 to Amiga - the C65 was supposed to be priced in between C64 and Amiga. In my opinion a possible release would have either failed miserably or may have led to an en even quicker death of the Amiga-line. Commodore should have sped up the Amiga 1200-development, the next logical step in the Amiga-development.

The C128 was already the computer designed to be the swan-song for the 8-bit-area. Bil Herd once mentioned that Commodore thought it would be sold for about a year. In the end it was produced until 1989 I think and sold a very respectable 4 million units. Production was stopped only because it cost more to produce a C128 than an Amiga at that time and the C128 had to be sold for less.

So, essentially the C65 really made no sense from a business-standpoint in 1990. It may be an interesting piece of computer history, but I don't really get the excitement over the Mega65. There may be a handful of demos for it (like for the C64DTV and C128), but people shouldn't project all their hopes for fantastic software to it, they will be disappointed.

[groepaz]

It may be an interesting piece of computer history, but I don't really get the excitement over the Mega65. There may be a handful of demos for it (like for the C64DTV and C128), but people shouldn't project all their hopes for fantastic software to it, they will be disappointed.

yup

[orion70]

It may be an interesting piece of computer history, but I don't really get the excitement over the Mega65. There may be a handful of demos for it (like for the C64DTV and C128), but people shouldn't project all their hopes for fantastic software to it, they will be disappointed.

yup

Well, NOPE . The whole point about expectations and hopes is precisely described by your first sentence: it will be an interesting piece of computer history. Supporters of the "too bad there's no software, and never will" theory apparently cannot understand this.

[groepaz]

i totally understand that it might become an interesting artefact in history. however, if you look at what people are already dreaming up regarding the mega65 - its really obvious those things most likely will not happen, and they will be disappointed.