History of a Commodore 128
Someone has to do this dirty work!…
I took this C128 with a serious dirty problem, well nothing serious, just a lot of elbow grease to make it return to its former glory.
After a first cleaning, you can also notice the yellowing of the keys and here too you need a little Retrobright..
The keys can be easily removed using a small tool with a wire, then you move on to cleaning with soap/degreaser and finally with hydrogen peroxide 30 volumes and lots of sun!!!
This also had a little rust on the iron base of the keyboard, so you need to remove it with sandpaper and leave the piece soaked in vinegar, once cleaned proceed with the painting.
After the Retrobright, here is the nice clean fretboard of the 128.
The problems don't end there...
After this cleaning here is a second problem.. the RAM! the computer had problems starting up caused by one or more defective RAM.
After some tests with the diagnostic cartridge I identified some rams and started removing them and testing them individually with Arduino and a project to test the rams..
Having no banks to replace, I had to use a larger RAM (4464) and adapt it to 4 banks, so I was able to restart the computer while waiting for the new banks to replace.
Finally all settled...
Even with the diagnostic cartridge for the C128 no problems found.
PS. To create the test cartridge I used the Ultimate 1541 II, you can load the roms in an instant without having to have a cartridge with eprom to program every time.
End!. Also this computer is safe and restored to its original splendour!!!
2 Comments
Hello, do you find commodore 128 keys or keyboards for sale?
Hi, no unfortunately I only have that one copy there. I had taken it broken and aware of the non-functioning drive only because it had the keyboard, sold separately they charge more than the whole computer and it is not easy to find them.