Path: utzoo!utgpu!jarvis.csri.toronto.edu!cs.utexas.edu!swrinde!zaphod.mps.ohio-state.edu!mips!apple!snorkelwacker!mit-eddie!uw-beaver!milton!khan
From: khan@milton.acs.washington.edu (I Wish)
Newsgroups: comp.sys.cbm
Subject: Re: Info on portable version of C-64 (SX-64 ??)
Summary: the down side
Keywords: cartridge rattletrap 1541
Message-ID: <2221@milton.acs.washington.edu>
Date: 2 Mar 90 02:09:54 GMT
References: <1990Feb28.123734.25288@jarvis.csri.toronto.edu> <44@tygra.UUCP>
Reply-To: khan@milton.acs.washington.edu (I Wish)
Organization: Barbarian Driving School, University of Washington, Seattle
Lines: 35

In article <44@tygra.UUCP> wbks@tygra.UUCP (Sean Burke) writes:

> In article <1990Feb28.123734.25288@jarvis.csri.toronto.edu>,
> ghfeil@white.toronto.edu (Georg Feil) writes:
>
>> - Are connection points such as the cartridge expansion port easily
>>   accessible?  I need to connect a fairly bulky and flimsy cartridge
>>   device.
>
> near the top of the computer case, so any large device would need
> something to prop it up at that height or it would probably break the
> connector on either the computer or the cartridge.

The cartridge port is on top facing up (nice easy access, but...).
Anything in it will be on top connected at the bottom and pointing
straight up.  This looks strange and dangerous for a modem, and I
wouldn't even consider anything larger, bulkier, or more expensive up
there unsupported.  (A multi-cartridge selector would be *great*
fun....)

>> - Is the disk drive built - in?
>
> Yes, a 1541 drive is built in, and it has a serial port for the
> addition of another drive.

It's an old-style 1541 (the rattletrap, I had one); I don't have any
idea how easy it is to realign, but since this is a *portable* disk
drive, and given the track record of the older series (with the pull-out
doors), have the alignment checked if you find one -- especially if the
owner used to haul it around without a head protector in it.
-- 
"indecipherable strangers handing out inexplicable humiliation and an
 unidentified army of horsemen laughing at him in his head ..."
                                                           -- Douglas Adams
Erik Seaberg (khan@milton.u.washington.edu)