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A rare beauty found its way back home

Posted: Thu Dec 12, 2019 5:33 am
by 3D-vice
Hey guys,

I was recently clearing out the attic of my parents' house, remembering that I might have stored some of my old toys and computer stuff up there back then.

Well, I was right, I found a lot of stuff from my childhood and youth, such as a yet fully functional model of a steam engine. But: The coolest thing I re-discovered was my good old Commodore Plus/4 incl. accessories. I completely had forgotten about this beauty. Have a look:
Plus4_Beauty.jpg
Such a beauty...

Plus4_Full.jpg
The Plus/4 with all peripherals.

I'm sorry the pictures got a bit blurry, I'll try to take some better ones later on. The machine works perfectly, so does the 1531 Tape Drive.

The only thing not working propperly is the 1551 Floppy Drive. I can be switched on and it recognizes the insertion of a dirk, but I won't read from the disk "Device Not Present". I'll try to repair it, since the 1551 drives seem to be pretty rare these days. Now I "just" have to figure out how to check all of the components. I think I'll start with exchanging the 6525 in the drive itself and the 6523 and the PLA within the paddle...

If one of you guys out there have a recommendation on how to approach my 1551 repair quest, I'd be happy to get some advice.

Re: A rare beauty found its way back home

Posted: Thu Dec 12, 2019 2:13 pm
by intric8
Wow! It's sorta the CDTV looking machine for the C= 8-bits. Only thing you're missing is a black monitor to seal the deal. =)

Like the sexy 1703.

Re: A rare beauty found its way back home

Posted: Mon Dec 16, 2019 2:21 pm
by jost80
plus/4 is such a beautiful machine

Re: A rare beauty found its way back home

Posted: Tue Dec 17, 2019 3:25 pm
by A1-X1000
awesome find!

Re: A rare beauty found its way back home

Posted: Tue Dec 17, 2019 5:14 pm
by intric8
I just took a second look - is that a black modem, too?

Re: A rare beauty found its way back home

Posted: Wed Dec 18, 2019 3:57 am
by 3D-vice
intric8 wrote:
Tue Dec 17, 2019 5:14 pm
I just took a second look - is that a black modem, too?
Hey there!

Nope, that's the adapter plug of the floppy drive. It has some inbuilt electronics and slots into the expansion board like a normal cartridge, providing faster access than the C64/1541 combination via serial cable.

Also, the adapter plug does not block the expansion port when plugged in. It loops through the complete port, allowing to plug a cartridge right into it.

Edit: I have updated the pictures from the initial post, now without blur, lol. :D

Here are some more pics incl. some details:

Re: A rare beauty found its way back home

Posted: Wed Dec 18, 2019 5:40 am
by 3D-vice
intric8 wrote:
Thu Dec 12, 2019 2:13 pm
Wow! It's sorta the CDTV looking machine for the C= 8-bits. Only thing you're missing is a black monitor to seal the deal. =)

Like the sexy 1703.
Indeed! This one would fit awesomely well to the overall design of the Plus/4. <3

Re: A rare beauty found its way back home

Posted: Thu Feb 13, 2020 8:17 pm
by Crazyeights
What an Awesome setup! Thank you for sharing the pictures and your history with it. Any chance of some screen shots of it in action?

Re: A rare beauty found its way back home

Posted: Fri Feb 14, 2020 4:59 am
by 3D-vice
Crazyeights wrote:
Thu Feb 13, 2020 8:17 pm
What an Awesome setup! Thank you for sharing the pictures and your history with it. Any chance of some screen shots of it in action?
Sure! As soon as I get that floppy drive fixed. On the other hand, I can fire up one of those cartridges beforehand. :)

Re: A rare beauty found its way back home

Posted: Fri Feb 14, 2020 5:39 pm
by walldog
3D-vice wrote:
Fri Feb 14, 2020 4:59 am
Crazyeights wrote:
Thu Feb 13, 2020 8:17 pm
What an Awesome setup! Thank you for sharing the pictures and your history with it. Any chance of some screen shots of it in action?
Sure! As soon as I get that floppy drive fixed. On the other hand, I can fire up one of those cartridges beforehand. :)
Which Death Star was it taken from? I am thinking the first one that Luke blew up. Use the force Luke...

Nice machine... I don't know much about these... Very cool!