PETSCII News · THE MACHINES
Keyboards that type, doors that open, and the back of everything
Every machine has its keyboard, every monitor its controls, every drive its lever, and every device turns round.
The Keyboard
Under each monitor sits the machine itself, with its own keyboard laid out as it was, from the 64's function keys down the side to the 128's number pad. Click the keys and they type. The power switch is on the side, where it was, and it really switches the machine off.
The Monitor
Open the little door on the monitor and its controls are behind it: brightness, contrast, colour and tint, and they work. The power button turns the picture off.
The Drive And The Modem
Flip the drive's lever open and the drive answers 74, DRIVE NOT READY. Switch the drive off and it isn't there at all: DEVICE NOT PRESENT. Switch the modem off and the call goes nowhere.
Turn It Around
Every device has a small turning arrow. Press it and you see the back: the 64's cartridge port and user port, the 1541's serial sockets and power switch, the 1702's luma and chroma jacks, the modem's phone and line. The switches back there work too.
Fits Your Screen
The monitor, the keyboard and the peripherals size themselves to your window, with the drive, the tape and the modem standing to the right of the monitor.