Sunday, February 13, 2011

Found: Heavily Modified Commodore 128D

It seems that I've been quite lucky with finding old Commodore computer stuff over the past little while. Today I picked up some Vic-20 stuff from a friend on Facebook. But a couple weeks ago, I found something quite special, unique, and incredibly cool behind the big bad recycling depot...



For those of you who know what Commodore computers look like, you'll see that this does NOT look like a Commodore computer. But it truly is. It's a Commodore 128D. This is what it's SUPPOSED to look like:



Somebody took this machine and put it into a PC-style case. But that's not all they did. They also jammed in a 1571 floppy drive, a 1581 floppy drive, a Modem, a home-made internal cartridge bay which includes a Fast Load cartridge, The REU expansion, and the Super 81 utilities. The Jiffy DOS upgrade has also been added, and it seems the ROM has been customized since the guy's name, address, and phone number are displayed whenever the computer is turned on in 128 mode. (I edited out the sensitive information)



To change between different modes and settings, there is a flip-down door on the front panel which exposes a bunch of custom knobs and switches to tweak the 128 to your personal needs!



Even the original LEDs on the front panel of the case have been wired up!



All the ports on the machine (except the tape drive connection) have been mounted on the left side of the case. Also included is an electrical outlet where you can easily plug in your monitor and printer!



I believe that the main power supply in it is NOT a Commodore supply, but something that was hacked together.



Here are the reset button and power switches for the Computer and Floppy Drives. I'm guessing the square hole is where the modem connector was originally supposed to go.



And now, here's some pictures of what the inside looks like. The actual C-128 mother board is sadly buried right at the bottom of everything.











And here's me, enjoying this fantastically modified Commodore 128D by watching the Britney Spears slideshow! (WARNING: Link NSFW)

4 comments:

Markus said...

HO-LY shit. awesome find!

Eivind said...
This comment has been removed by a blog administrator.
Ben Century said...

Sorry dude, didn't want people phoning him up randomly LOL.

LocalH said...

Thank god you were able to save it from destruction. Recycling of dime-a-dozen beige box PCs from the 90s is one thing, but recycling a one-of-a-kind vintage artifact is mind-boggling