Greeings!

[DigitalQuirk]

Greetings, everybody; brand new C128 owner here!  I'm a little late getting to these forums, but better late than never...

On EvilBay this past summer, I won a boxed C128 with all cables, a 1541c disk drive, and the Commodore 128 Programmer guide for $30 CAD.  I already have some Commodore monitors to use with it.  When I went hunting for a Warp Speed cartridge and a 1571 disk drive, I ended up getting another C128 computer!  So now I have two C128's with a 1571, a 1541c, and two 1541's.  I also have a 1084s, 1702, and 1701; as well as three datasettes, a Vic 20, one working C64, two semi-working C64's, and one non-working C16.  Then there's my two 1MB A500's and CD32.  Always good to have backups, just in case something fails.

Back in the 80's, I skipped over the C128.  My first computer was the Vic 20, which was replaced with a C64.  I had saved up for a C128, but by the time I had enough cash, the A500 came out for only a little more.  In retrospect, I think I might have been further ahead if I had gone with a C128; peripherals were much more affordable and I wouldn't have had to start over from scratch.  

I suppose it wouldn't hurt to put a question in with my greeting; so here goes: I've read that the C128 is better off without the RF shielding?  I opened one up, and see that it has fingers that are pasted to the chips.  Should I remove this, or is it okay to leave it intact?  How serious is this issue?

[Golan Klinger]

Welcome.

I would leave it intact because the RF shield also functions as a heatsink (hence the thermal paste) but if you do remove it you should consider putting heatsinks on the individual chips and avoid using it in extreme heat/humidity.

[hydrophilic]

Good to meet ya!

I wouldn't remove the shield unless I was doing some sort of upgrade / hack.  I usually won't put it back until I'm satisified which might be weeks.  It should run fine either way but play it safe like Golan recommends.

[DigitalQuirk]

Okay; this advice is contrary to what's posted at Wikipedia:

Some 128s suffered from a reliability problem caused by the electromagnetic shield over the internal board. The shield had fingers that rested on the top of the major chips to conduct heat into the shield which then acted as a large heatsink. A combination of poor contact and the fact that plastic encased chips do not lose heat that way plus the shield being made from mu-metal (a poor heat conductor) saw some chips overheat and fail. The SID sound chip was particularly vulnerable in this respect as it operated from a 9 volt supply. The situation could be vastly improved by removing the shield completely.

I consider the people here to be vastly more knowledgeable than those who write for Wikipedia.

[airship]

A better solution is to remove the RF shield and use these. Ray Carlsen has more on heat sinking Commodore equipment here.

You can also lay a fan over the louvers on the top of a flat 128. I've found that a small 12V PC fan will work when jumpered to the 9V power on the user port. But I assume no responsibility for fried components, etc., if you try this yourself.

[RobertB]

Okay; this advice is contrary to what's posted at Wikipedia:

Some 128s suffered from a reliability problem caused by the electromagnetic shield over the internal board. The shield had fingers that rested on the top of the major chips to conduct heat into the shield which then acted as a large heatsink. A combination of poor contact and the fact that plastic encased chips do not lose heat that way plus the shield being made from mu-metal (a poor heat conductor) saw some chips overheat and fail. The SID sound chip was particularly vulnerable in this respect as it operated from a 9 volt supply. The situation could be vastly improved by removing the shield completely.

Wow, who wrote that?  We've had lots and lots of C128's pass through our club and not one has had a reliability problem caused by the shield.

A reason I don't trust Wikipedia,
Robert Bernardo
Fresno Commodore User Group
http://videocam.net.au/fcug
The Other Group of Amigoids
http://www.calweb.com/~rabel1/