Localizations (was: CBM-II 610 keyboard)

From: Anders Carlsson <anders.carlsson_at_sfks.se>
Date: Wed, 9 Jul 2014 17:14:28 +0200
Message-ID: <F131B4B50CCA41BBA7C826D40A59F598@ryds>
Steve Gray wrote:

> I assumed the localized machines came direct from the factory.

I can't speak for the German market, but when it comes to the Swedish 
localizations, I am 95% all of those were done by Datatronic/Handic. That 
would include all the PET/CBM, all the CBM-II and the pre-localized C64 sold 
as VIC-64S in 1984-85. There may even have been a couple pre-localized 
VIC-20. At least for the VIC and C64 there were DIY kits with keycaps, 
stickers and ROMs or EPROMs, not sure if there were DIY kits for the PETs 
too or if those belonged to a price category where the distributor or 
reseller did all the dirty work for the customer.

In the case of Swedish localizations, there existed both mask programmed 
ROMs (VIC and C64) and EPROM solutions (all machines). What strikes me as 
odd though is from where they got keycaps, if they partnered with Commodore 
Business Machines and ordered matching caps from the same factory, or if 
Commodore even produced them for respective distributor.

I suppose some of it also were due to volumes. If a distributor could safely 
have placed an order of let's say 10,000 units of a particular model, 
perhaps Commodore could have assembled the desired chips and caps from the 
beginning.

As for user guides and manuals, I am absolutely certain those were 
translated in just about every country where Commodore computers were sold, 
no matter if the actual machine was localized or not. Whether the user 
manual would be included with the computer or not seemed to differ over time 
and place though. I still have VERY strong memories of when my brother 
bought a brand new VIC-20 in February 1984 but the user manual was not 
supposed to be included. My mother insisted otherwise, and the seller had to 
run off to a competiting store to fetch a manual to include in the deal.

Best regards

Anders Carlsson


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Received on 2014-07-09 16:00:03

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