latest E-bay haul- yes I am stoked!

quarkx · March 02, 2010, 12:47 AM

I still have yet to actually get it in, but last night I won an auctionI am very excited about. One of my last acquisitions for my Commodore collection. (I still am looking for a CBM II), but I won for relativelycheap a Commodore PC-10. Other than the aforementioned CBM-II, I now havea representation of almost all the Computers Commodore made in the 80's.[/font][/b][/color]Now, other than small bits and pieces, I am on the hunt for a nice CBM II, a C116, and a 128 D. In a perfect world I could get a C900 and aC65, but we all know that the chances of that are slim to none.

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airship · March 02, 2010, 07:15 AM

Congratulations! BTW, a perfect application for a CBM PC is to install 64HDD and use it as a file server for your C64/C128!

quarkx · March 02, 2010, 05:57 PM

Quote from: airship on March 02, 2010, 07:15 AM
Congratulations! BTW, a perfect application for a CBM PC is to install 64HDD and use it as a file server for your C64/C128!

thanks for the link, but I don't think it's powerful enough, the minimum requirements on the PC side is a 386@66 mhz, but it will go on the network that I have here.

RobertB · March 03, 2010, 02:43 AM

Quote from: quarkx on March 02, 2010, 05:57 PM
...I don't think it's powerful enough, the minimum requirements on the PC side is a 386@66 mhz...

Then you need a Commodore PC-50 or PC-60.

Then there's the Commodore '486 laptop...

Truly,
Robert Bernardo
Fresno Commodore User Group
http://videocam.net.au/fcug

quarkx · March 05, 2010, 05:56 AM

So, Very surprisingly (shipping only took 3 days) I got my CPC-10 in today.
The first thing I did (even before turning it on) is take the cover off to see the inside. There was only a trace amount of dust on the back ofthe cards.
This is a very BASIC PC. In Typical Commodore fashion, there is no harddrive, or even a hard drive controller on the motherboard. The motherboard is a revison "A", dated 1985. There is no 287 Co-processor in this unit, but a socket for one.
All the pictures on Google show a battery on the motherboard, but this revision has none. When I can borrow a better camera, I will be documenting this machine more on the web site.
It has 2 cards, 1 in the AT slots for Video. This card has no markings,so I can't tell you if it is the Commodore Original or an after market.It also has a Ram expansion card. This is simply labelled "Commodore Ram Extension 1986". The motherboard itself is relatively small compared to most other Commodore Boards (about the size of a normal MoBO today).

I put it all back together and booted it up. The System disks are labelled DOS 2.11, and indeed the boot screen showed Dos 2.11. I am not sure why Dos 3.2 was not here, but the start disks state Commodore PC-10 boot disks (hand written copies- of course).
The monitor looks to be a 10 inch Commodore mono monitor, but even though it does say Commodore on the front, the back has no Commodore labels or model number.It's not that they have fallen off, it's just the original manufacturer's stickers are there instead. K.A.P Consumer Electronics for those that are interested.
The PC boots just fine. It was stated before that Commodore continued the PET boot up sound to the PC. This is very true. The POST screen shows Commodore PC bios 2.01. The unit just has 640k, I guess they originally came with 320K.
The back of the unit is sparse. Just an RS232 "c" port and a "Centronics" or printer port.-It's actually labelled "Centronics".
The only other thing worth mentioning is the keyboard. The function keys are running up and down the side, instead of across the top. This is kind of cool, and sets them apart from other PC clones.

Blacklord · March 05, 2010, 06:24 AM

No hard drive was standard in these early ones though some of them came equipped with 20mb ones instead of the dual floppy drive.

The PC5 came standard with one floppy & 512k ram (expanded on a daughterboard), the PC10 came in either configuration (512k or with the 128k daughterboard already installed).

The empty 8087 socket is normal for most XT clones of the day, these were fairly expensive at the time - even IBM didn't include it as standard (true of the 287 as well in later AT's). Also you can't put a 287 in there - they were for the 80286.

The BIOS revision is as far as I know the only one in the PC5 & PC10 - the collection I have here all have the same revision though later XT Commodore clone (Colt for example) had a later revision. These are bog standard Phoenix BIOS's.

The CPU should be an NEC V20 - these were 'standard' kit for the PC5 & PC10 - nice little chip, around 5% faster than the 8088 and could execute 8080 code - that means CP/M can be run on the machine quite easily.

The keyboard is a standard XT keyboard, less function keys and they were always on the left hand side - the top row only appeared after the 286 (AT) machines came out and keyboards went from 88 keys to 101 keys.

DOS 3.2 was provided with the machines that came with a hard drive only and it was an OEM version (has a couple of CBM written tools with it as well)

These are highly reliable machines - all mine still operate perfectly even though they are over 20 years old.

As these are standard clones, any 8 bit ISA will work in them. The one I keep in operation has been 'upgraded' with a Future Domain TMC850 SCSI card, 8 bit VGA card (these are very, very hard to find), 2mb EMS ram expansion (Intel Aboveboard) & a multi IO board with clock and additional serial port.

If you expand the system, be aware of the IRQ limitations (you only have 7 and they CANNOT be shared amongst devices).

Nice machines though, I love 'em

quarkx · March 05, 2010, 06:51 AM

Thanks Blacklord,
Thats some great Information! I know when I had my Tandy's, only certain ISA boards worked (it was real hit and miss). I will have fun upgrading this, I always do with the PC stuff. The 8 bit cards are really crazy in prices though, some venders want gold, some want nothing for them. Just insane! If you have the "Real" boot disk for this, PM me if you can squeeze a copy out. LOL

airship · March 05, 2010, 07:42 AM

Well, Lance, both Zimmer and Commodore's own brochures* from the time list the processor in the PC-5, PC-10, and PC-20 as an 8088. Not that I'm arguing with you (I'm sure you're right). I'm just saying that history disagrees with you.

*Go to 'LINKS' and scroll down.

Blacklord · March 05, 2010, 11:03 AM

Quote from: airship on March 05, 2010, 07:42 AM
Well, Lance, both Zimmer and Commodore's own brochures* from the time list the processor in the PC-5, PC-10, and PC-20 as an 8088. Not that I'm arguing with you (I'm sure you're right). I'm just saying that history disagrees with you.

*Go to 'LINKS' and scroll down.

May have been an Oz thing perhaps - all of the one I have are V20's.

PC20 released here was a 286 class machine (same box as the other two) - not an XT.