1966 Mag: Build NE-2 Neon Bulb Computer - scan available

[Roy J. Tellason]

On Friday 27 July 2007 05:43, from at fu3.org wrote:
> 2007/7/23, Roy J. Tellason <rtellason at verizon.net>:
> > We did a lot of c64 repairs way back when.  When the machine sold for
> > $595 as it did at first,  then a $60 repair bill made economic sense. 
> > When they sold for only $99 (as they did later on),  it was a tossup.
>
> Didn't the new C-64 look somewhat like the Amiga500/600's? -You could
> imagine they were less friendly for repairing in a hobbyist/repairman
> sense, any experiences there?

There were two aspects to this.  One was the case,  including the keyboard 
with the different colored keycaps,  and that wasn't all that big of a deal 
once you got into it.  The other was the fact that they kept on changing the 
board inside,  there being a total of four or five different revisions that 
we saw a lot of .  Earlier units had differences in the video area,  the 
on-board 7805 regulator standing up rather than laying down,  and similar but 
the first three or four revisions were pretty similar.  Then they did stuff 
like combining the eight RAM chips into two,  combining two of the three ROMs 
(Kernel anb BASIC if I'm remembering right),  and combining the PLA with some 
other random logic to cut the parts count,  those were a bit more of a PITA 
to work on.

-- 
Member of the toughest, meanest, deadliest, most unrelenting -- and
ablest -- form of life in this section of space,  a critter that can
be killed but can't be tamed.  --Robert A. Heinlein, "The Puppet Masters"
-
Information is more dangerous than cannon to a society ruled by lies. --James 
M Dakin