Early C64’s used a 5 pin DIN video connector that would only output a composite video signal same as the VIC-20. Later revisions would have a 8 pin DIN that could output chroma and Luma signals giving a much better picture if you had a monitor that supported it. Most people would use a TV and RF connection to use it.
Yes, this one definitely has the 5 pin DIN. Back in the day (early 80s) I used my VIC-20 with a little 13” color TV. That RF option was pretty important. As a poor college student back then, the extra money for a monitor would have added too much expense.
One thing Commodore got right was including an excellent manual in the box. Atari included what amounted to a sales brochure. There was no usable programming guide. Their "The Programmer" kit contained a decent programming manual, but you couldn't get them without the cartridge so you had to by something excess for an XL model after the 1200XL which required the cartridge. The 600 and 800XL and later models had a built in Basic.
I never understood the purpose of the Atari 400 and 800 memo pad. Kind of like your Atari was a TV Typewriter. I loved the Commodore 64 Programmer Reference manual. CBM really did do an excellent job.
I grew up in New Jersey, we had a similar store called Consumers Distributing. I bought many games for my Atari 2600 & C64 there. They eventually went out of business some time in the 1990s. I'm not sure if any catalog stores even still exist.
My early C64 had the silver badge as well as yellowish F keys, much like the Vic-20. Also, I believe the carton on the original was thinner cardboard and the whole system was encased in styrofoam that slid in from the side (not a clamshell like this one). Since this is still an early example, I would bet it was bought and sold multiple times instead of just being marked down. As popular as the C64 was from the very beginning, I can't see this sitting around gathering dust until it reached $199.97.
Good point. The first reduction to $439 was on an official tag, but Jafco could have just done that because they previously sold for that price. The $199 does make more sense as an early “used system” price, especially with it written in pen. It seems like Jafco would have re-tagged it.
This is indeed a fairly early example. The earliest serial numbers start with "S" which includes the very early silver labels. The "S" designation (Stands for Santa Clara, CA) only went up to 100,000 at which point they switched to "P" (West Chester, PA). So "P00303535" is likely the 303,535th c64 ever made (actually, there's evidence that the S serial numbers started with 1000, not zero) since most of the other facilities were just starting up production at that point. That serial number puts yours into early '83 as the date of manufacture, which also matches the late '82 and early '83 date codes on some of the chips.
That's the same business model as Service Merchandise. The store floor was a showroom and your purchase was picked up at a conveyor from the back room. Service Merchandise is long gone.
Strangely, it has come back in a small way at my local Best Buy. Lots of shelf tags are going out where the merchandise used to be. It seems to be an anti-theft strategy.
What is the typical measured current into the C64 on the 5V line? The power brick is rated at 1.5A. You could then make a resistor dummy load attached to the leads on the C64's power jack to measure any voltage drop under load without turning the C64 on. If it doesn't drop enough, an in-series, forward biased Schottky diode of suitable current rating could be used to drop the voltage. As one example, the 9A 95SQ015 Schottky rectifier has a max forward voltage drop of 0.34V and costs $0.60.
Thanks for the info. I will rig up a load test and check it again. I’ll include that in Part 2. It seems from the comments so far that this is potentially a good serviceable PSU.
That power supply does have over voltage protection. That one can be serviced too. You have a good one! It reads higher voltage because is not under load. You can also adjust it to optimal voltage. It has a variable resistor inside. Very safe that one once serviced with new capacitors. Remove the sid and fire it up…totally fine. This model will need the reset mod, resistor mod and you can even do the chroma mod.
Great info @atarimex2643. I’ve seen conflicting info on that power supply, but now I’m interested to dig into it more. Looks like there is more tinkering to do with the C64 itself.
![АЛАУДИНОВ у Скабеевой: эти их ВСУ нас НЕ ДОГОНЯТ 😁 [Пародия]](http://i.ytimg.com/vi/an0anqU4WGQ/mqdefault.jpg)
Early C64’s used a 5 pin DIN video connector that would only output a composite video signal same as the VIC-20. Later revisions would have a 8 pin DIN that could output chroma and Luma signals giving a much better picture if you had a monitor that supported it. Most people would use a TV and RF connection to use it.
Yes, this one definitely has the 5 pin DIN. Back in the day (early 80s) I used my VIC-20 with a little 13” color TV. That RF option was pretty important. As a poor college student back then, the extra money for a monitor would have added too much expense.
One thing Commodore got right was including an excellent manual in the box. Atari included what amounted to a sales brochure. There was no usable programming guide. Their "The Programmer" kit contained a decent programming manual, but you couldn't get them without the cartridge so you had to by something excess for an XL model after the 1200XL which required the cartridge. The 600 and 800XL and later models had a built in Basic.
I never understood the purpose of the Atari 400 and 800 memo pad. Kind of like your Atari was a TV Typewriter. I loved the Commodore 64 Programmer Reference manual. CBM really did do an excellent job.
I grew up in New Jersey, we had a similar store called Consumers Distributing. I bought many games for my Atari 2600 & C64 there. They eventually went out of business some time in the 1990s. I'm not sure if any catalog stores even still exist.
My early C64 had the silver badge as well as yellowish F keys, much like the Vic-20. Also, I believe the carton on the original was thinner cardboard and the whole system was encased in styrofoam that slid in from the side (not a clamshell like this one). Since this is still an early example, I would bet it was bought and sold multiple times instead of just being marked down. As popular as the C64 was from the very beginning, I can't see this sitting around gathering dust until it reached $199.97.
Good point. The first reduction to $439 was on an official tag, but Jafco could have just done that because they previously sold for that price. The $199 does make more sense as an early “used system” price, especially with it written in pen. It seems like Jafco would have re-tagged it.
This is indeed a fairly early example.
The earliest serial numbers start with "S" which includes the very early silver labels.
The "S" designation (Stands for Santa Clara, CA) only went up to 100,000 at which point they switched to "P" (West Chester, PA).
So "P00303535" is likely the 303,535th c64 ever made (actually, there's evidence that the S serial numbers started with 1000, not zero) since most of the other facilities were just starting up production at that point.
That serial number puts yours into early '83 as the date of manufacture, which also matches the late '82 and early '83 date codes on some of the chips.
Great info, thanks.
That's the same business model as Service Merchandise. The store floor was a showroom and your purchase was picked up at a conveyor from the back room. Service Merchandise is long gone.
Strangely, it has come back in a small way at my local Best Buy. Lots of shelf tags are going out where the merchandise used to be. It seems to be an anti-theft strategy.
What is the typical measured current into the C64 on the 5V line? The power brick is rated at 1.5A. You could then make a resistor dummy load attached to the leads on the C64's power jack to measure any voltage drop under load without turning the C64 on. If it doesn't drop enough, an in-series, forward biased Schottky diode of suitable current rating could be used to drop the voltage. As one example, the 9A 95SQ015 Schottky rectifier has a max forward voltage drop of 0.34V and costs $0.60.
Thanks for the info. I will rig up a load test and check it again. I’ll include that in Part 2. It seems from the comments so far that this is potentially a good serviceable PSU.
That power supply does have over voltage protection. That one can be serviced too. You have a good one! It reads higher voltage because is not under load. You can also adjust it to optimal voltage. It has a variable resistor inside. Very safe that one once serviced with new capacitors.
Remove the sid and fire it up…totally fine.
This model will need the reset mod, resistor mod and you can even do the chroma mod.
Great info @atarimex2643. I’ve seen conflicting info on that power supply, but now I’m interested to dig into it more. Looks like there is more tinkering to do with the C64 itself.