RE: C16/Plus4

Hi,

I worked from Procep from 1981 to 1981 I was working mainly on CBM 8032..8296
I was working on a procep hard disk / network based on commodore 8000 (10M fix + 10M cartridge
 + network up to 16 stations)

For the CBM keyboard, as Commodore was late to deliverer on, Procep made it's own solution.
All CBM received were opened, the ROMS with the charset and keyboard decoding were removed
And replaced by sockets, on these sockets, we placed the French version of the character set
And keyboard decoding.

For all printers, we had to ask the constructors for a special set of eprom
Mainly Tally Mannesman / Olympia

Later, Commodore produced an international keyboard (I think it was developed by Commodore Germany)
[I went there to finish the decoder for the French keyboard]

I don’t remember how it was done for the CBM II but it was probably produced by Commodore, using
The mapping defined for the CBM8032

For the plus/4 C16 they decided that these machine would not be sold in france. (at least by procep)

One of the biggest task, was to convert the software to use a French keyboard.
A lot of energy was spent in this domain.
(I never did this part of the job)

I left the company at end of March 1985. I don’t really know what was done after.

I just know that Procep became Atari France at the beginning of 1986
(not sure of the legal status of the company but one day the people were working for Procep
And the day after for Atari France).

For me, Commodore/Procep, was my first job and my best experience in my life.
Most of my friends comes from this epoch.

At that time the computer had some "genius", there was always something new.
It was a pleasure to use them, and program them, they had their own soul

It's not the case of the stupid PCs
What's the use of a PC ? install a compiler to write a emulation for a commodore :)

--
didier

-----Message d'origine-----
De : owner-cbm-hackers@musoftware.de [mailto:owner-cbm-hackers@musoftware.de] De la part de Richard Atkinson
Envoyé : mardi 1 novembre 2011 11:19
À : cbm-hackers@musoftware.de
Objet : Re: C16/Plus4

Bonjour Didier,

I've seen PAL to SECAM transcoder boards by the French company Procep 
installed in both C64s and VIC 20s. Also PAL to RGB (RVB) boards installed 
in C64s, and external PAL to SECAM transcoders also made by Procep and 
intended for Commodore equipment. Did you work for Procep? I would be 
interested in hearing any stories you have about adapting Commodore machines 
for the French market.

Richard

--------------------------------------------------
From: "Didier Derny" <didier@aida.org>
Sent: Monday, October 31, 2011 10:33 AM
To: <cbm-hackers@musoftware.de>
Subject: RE: C16/Plus4

> Hi,
>
> I think I missed something....
> I'll probably buy one on ebay to try
>
>> * Great keyboard - lower profile than C64, much easier to type on. And
>> it was about the only 8-bit Commodore machine that had cursor keys where
>> they should be :-)
>
> In 1984/1985 it was a problem, no room left to insert a quite large pal to 
> SECAM interface.
> At that time in France, PAL on TV was an expensive option...
>
> Thanks all, I check on ebay :)
>
> --
> Didier
>
>
> -----Message d'origine-----
> De : owner-cbm-hackers@musoftware.de 
> [mailto:owner-cbm-hackers@musoftware.de] De la part de Michal Pleban
> Envoyé : lundi 31 octobre 2011 09:29
> À : cbm-hackers@musoftware.de
> Objet : Re: C16/Plus4
>
> Hello!
>
> W dniu 2011-10-31 08:22, Didier Derny pisze:
>
>> What I saw of these machines was really negative, perhaps due to the 
>> amount of modifications
>> Needed to convert them to SECAM (It was hell for the C64).
>
> It was much easier to convert a SECAM television into a monitor (at
> least with my East Germany produced Vela TV set) ;-)
>
> The Plus/4 had really lots of positive sides:
>
> * Great keyboard - lower profile than C64, much easier to type on. And
> it was about the only 8-bit Commodore machine that had cursor keys where
> they should be :-)
>
> * Good to program - BASIC 3.5 allowed you to easily play with graphics,
> sound etc. Plus BASIC programs could utilize almost full 64k of RAM.
>
> * 121 colors :-P
>
> * Smaller size.
>
> * Interesting design, distinctive of dull breadboard cases of VIC-20 /
> C64 / C16. Black hardware is cool ;-)
>
> * Fast RS-232 (although still with TTL levels).
>
> Regards,
> Michau.
>
>       Message was sent through the cbm-hackers mailing list
>
>
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