From: Ullrich von Bassewitz (uz_at_musoftware.de)
Date: 2002-07-11 18:11:48
On Thu, Jul 11, 2002 at 11:35:24AM -0400, Ethan Dicks wrote:
> If you _had_ a 32K PET, what
> does a B500 get you that you didn't already have? Was it simply
> the latest dressed up PET, or was it enhanced in some way over
> the basic features?
Advanced features of the Commodore 600/700/B128/B256/B500/... include
* a 6502 compatible CPU clocked with 2MHz (twice as fast as the PETs)
* an ACIA (6551) featuring baud rates up to 19200
* up to 960KB of adressable memory (up to 256KB on board)
* a BASIC that can use up to 256KB memory
* coprocessor capability (Z80 + 8086 boards were available or planned)
And maybe some more. IMHO the greatest drawback was the use of a 8 bit 6502
compatible CPU, which was no longer adaequate for a business machine at this
time. Another problem was the missing software compatibility with the PETs.
I've read an estimate that said, applications that make use of the new
features need 30-40% of the code to get rewritten - which is way too much in
my eyes.
Similar thing for the P500: It can do anything that the C64 can do plus a lot
more. But the C64 was already established and probably a lot cheaper.
Regards
Uz
--
Ullrich von Bassewitz uz@musoftware.de
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