Posted By
JamesD
on 2016-09-18
21:14:21
|  Re: What would I do differently in the Plus/4
Ok, first of all, we are in complete agreement. The tragic voice was a horrible idea. Voice was just the thing of the moment.
Had they included an 8 bit DAC with the TED, I think voice hardware would be redundant anyway.
S.A.M. or sampled voice would be much better.
I'm really not familiar with the SFD (did it make it to the US?) but from what I can read with google translate, it sounds like it was interfaced to the C64 by someone. So they could have placed the interface for the SFD-1001 on the cartridge just like the 1551. Why I didn't make that minuscule leap of logic I'm not sure.
Then there is no expense of the new chip unless you want the drive, no wider circuit board, and it's just a change to the kernel I/O which might even be on the interface.
That fits nicely with the concept and gives the SFD a larger role.
If the 264 is a success, then maybe intro the 364 which has at least 128K standard and the numeric keypad.
I still think the burst mode should have been implemented for the future 1571.
I see that as the budget alternative in the long run.
The SFD has two CPUs and a quad density drive. It had to be more expensive.
Supplying 3+1 on disk means the software doesn't load instantly. That was their big selling point for including it in the first place. Hey look, Lotus 1-2-3... sort of, at a key press! I just wonder if anyone at Commodore actually ran it first.
If it's not built in, then it's little more than a bonus pack in, but that makes no sense if you don't have disk drive... so maybe offered with the drive rather than the computer or if you buy both as a package.
I've never used the full version (or the built in version much for that matter) so I can't say if that is good or bad. It certainly would be a nice little bonus if you are spending $600 on a machine (thinking of intro prices).
I do think optional built in ROMs is a nice feature but it should have been aimed at future enhancements rather than a rushed software package.
If the information I found is correct...
Tramiel resigned right after the 264 and 364 were displayed, so development started sooner than I thought. I'm not sure that really matters at this point.
The 264 could already be upgraded to 80K RAM. So 16K instead of +4 ROMs?
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