The Amiga Lounge's PLUS /4 Page


MODELS CV 364 C264 C232 C116 C16 Portable 116? My Collection TECHNICAL DATA Hardware Software FACES The People Behind TED Disclaimer: All the information presented here, was taken from the following sources: Brain Bagnal's Book On the Edge: The Spectacular Rise and Fall of Commodore. Available at Amazon.ca The new edition had been delayed at Amazon until Feb.2010 Also, a lot of information has come from Video interviews with Bil Herd and Dave Haynie. Dave has a lot of videos on You-Tube. Search them out.. I wish I could post them here, but I don't have permission. Lastly, more sites on the net have information. There are even a few dedicated sites to the C16. Do a Goggle search, because Bing is just a flash in the pan.:) Please help keep the lounge alive and donate Today.Your donation helps keep an Computer from ending up in a Landfill, and keeping the history Alive for future generations!	Last Update : Sept 21,2009 The Plus /4 was the Best Ted computer ever released. It had an impressive 64K and had an upgraded Basic 3.5 Made just for the Plus/4. The Plus /4 was a low profile system, meaning that it was too small to support the "D" connectors for joysticks and mice, so they put a proprietary plug on and later came out with adapters, so the C64 peripherals could be used. Later 3rd parties made adapter cables so the joysticks could be used like the one shown above. The sides and ports of the Plus /4: You will notice that there is no "standard" RS232 port. One could conclude that there are two reasons for this: There was no "standard" port specifications in 1984, and the Modern Standard is a 9 pin "D" connector, the same ones they used for joysticks. This would confuse many novice users back in the day, and the also had no room. One could conclude that all RS232 communication went through the serial port. The plus /4 is reported to include a "real" ACIA (MOS 6551) chip. The C64( and VIC-20) had the ACIA emulated in the software. Inside the Plus 4 PLUS /4 Variations: As of this writing, all the Plus/4 around the world look exactly the same, except the labels for the Canadian Plus/4. In 1985, Commodore Canada, was a sponsor of the Canadian Olympic Team. As a result the label and the packaging on the boxes of the Plus /4 had the Canadian Olympic team logo, and a new Plus /4 label. It is unknown if this "re badge" of the plus /4 was limited to those Olympic boxes, or every Plus /4 ever sold in Canada had this "re-badge". There are many Emulators available on the web for the Plus /4 including one for the Amiga. As of this writing, the Plus 4 is easily obtainable on E-bay. A near mint boxed Plus /4 typically goes for under $50 USD. Pick one up and have fun with these all but forgotten cool machines. Best Line ever: Bil Herd was asked the difference between the 264 and the Plus /4. His answer;" Millions of dollars in lost sales and revenue".

MODELS

My Collection

TECHNICAL DATA

Hardware

Software

FACES

The People Behind TED

Disclaimer:
All the information presented here, was taken from the following sources:
Brain Bagnal's Book
On the Edge: The Spectacular Rise and Fall of Commodore.

Available at Amazon.ca
The new edition had been delayed at Amazon until Feb.2010

Also, a lot of information has come from Video interviews with Bil Herd and Dave Haynie. Dave has a lot of videos on You-Tube. Search them out.. I wish I could post them here, but I don't have permission.

Lastly, more sites on the net have information. There are even a few dedicated sites to the C16. Do a Goggle search, because Bing is just a flash in the pan.:)

Please help keep the lounge alive and donate Today.Your donation helps keep an Computer from ending up in a Landfill, and keeping the history Alive for future generations!

Last Update : Sept 21,2009

The Plus /4 was the Best Ted computer ever released. It had an impressive 64K and had an upgraded Basic 3.5 Made just for the Plus/4.

The Plus /4 was a low profile system, meaning that it was too small to support the "D" connectors for joysticks and mice, so they put a proprietary plug on and later came out with adapters, so the C64 peripherals could be used.

Later 3rd parties made adapter cables so the joysticks could be used like the one shown above.

The sides and ports of the Plus /4:

You will notice that there is no "standard" RS232 port. One could conclude that there are two reasons for this: There was no "standard" port specifications in 1984, and the Modern Standard is a 9 pin "D" connector, the same ones they used for joysticks. This would confuse many novice users back in the day, and the also had no room. One could conclude that all RS232 communication went through the serial port. The plus /4 is reported to include a "real" ACIA (MOS 6551) chip. The C64( and VIC-20) had the ACIA emulated in the software.

Inside the Plus 4

PLUS /4 Variations:

As of this writing, all the Plus/4 around the world look exactly the same, except the labels for the Canadian Plus/4.

In 1985, Commodore Canada, was a sponsor of the Canadian Olympic Team. As a result the label and the packaging on the boxes of the Plus /4 had the Canadian Olympic team logo, and a new Plus /4 label. It is unknown if this "re badge" of the plus /4 was limited to those Olympic boxes, or every Plus /4 ever sold in Canada had this "re-badge".

There are many Emulators available on the web for the Plus /4 including one for the Amiga.
As of this writing, the Plus 4 is easily obtainable on E-bay. A near mint boxed Plus /4 typically goes for under $50 USD. Pick one up and have fun with these all but forgotten cool machines.

Best Line ever:

Bil Herd was asked the difference between the 264 and the Plus /4. His answer;" Millions of dollars in lost sales and revenue".