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From: Chicken (all posts)
Date: 1998-09-28
Subject: Voice, num pad and more!

Hi dudes and dudettes,

> I think we can assume the hardware in the 364 would have been the same as
> in the Magic Voice cartridge, which incidentally was on eBay a few days
> ago. The plus/4 may never have had speech, but it got the "fast" disk
> drive system originally planned for the '64 - I'm sure the planned
> peripheral for the other expansion line (CP/M being the first) is what
> eventually became the 1551. You win some, you lose some :-)

I remember a short note about the "speech thing" in 64'er magazine. It was a copy from a GEnie conference. Do you think that the plus/4's "fast" disk system was the one planned for the C64? What about the C128's "fast"
(Burstmode) disk system? Btw, has anybody ever implemented a "fast serial bus" on plus/4? (I'm not talking about an IEEE 488 Interface.)

> As for the numeric keypad, well - as far as I'm aware (and please check
> these, ROM disassemblers), there's no routines in the kernal for seperate
> keyboard hardware (whereas the $fd20 stuff is still there), so I suspect
> the keys on the number pad were wired to the same points on the matrix as
> the ordinary number keys, etc. This technique is used for the multiple
> Control and Shift keys in the plus/4, so I think it would have been
> extended to cover the whole number pad.

I'm not really into hardware but check the back of your manual... In my copy it says something like "Changes since REVISION X: lines Kxx and Kxx
..." (I'll look it up what it says exactly.) Since the K-predecessors are coming from the keyboard these two lines may have been connected to the number pad?
Talking abot manuals, does anyone own a real 1551 Manual? In Germany, most
(all?) 1551 drives came with a 1541/1540 manual with a "1551" sticker on it and an accompanying note sheet "How to connect the 1551 drive...". I wonder if the "new" 1551 commands are explained in the real one.

About the the "3-plus-1" software...
Well, I think everyone agrees that this is a sucker. Still, are there different (release) versions around? The "TURBO PLUS" cartridge by KINGSOFT patched the database of a certain 3+1 version. I remember checking the release date on my plus/4, I had the buggy version. Does anyone know if there's a different version? The TURBO PLUS manual suggested this...

So long,
Chicken