PETSCII News · THE MACHINES
The Machines: ten Commodores you can switch on
From the PET 2001 to the C64 Ultimate, each machine boots to its own screen on a monitor of its day.
Go to The Machines and switch one on. Ten Commodores wait there: the PET 2001, the VIC-20, the 64 in its first breadbin case, the 64C, the SX-64, the Plus/4, the 128, the Amiga 1000, the PC20 and the C64 Ultimate. Each boots to the screen it had: READY. on the 8-bits, a request for the Workbench disk on the Amiga, a DOS prompt on the PC.
The Right Monitor
Every machine sits on a monitor of its day, and you can swap: a 1701, a 1702 or the family TV for the 64, the 1902 for the 128's 80 columns, a 1084S, a 1080 for the Amiga, green or amber or CGA colour for the PC20, a flat panel for the Ultimate. Pick the TV for the 128 and it drops to 40 columns, as it would have.
More Than One At A Time
Each machine you switch on gets a pill along the top of the screen, and each keeps its own state while you visit another. Full screen puts the whole desk in a room of its period.
And Then Call Out
Every machine can load PETSCIITerm and dial a board, at the speeds its modem could manage.