A Commodore Christmas

[RobertB]

     As usual, I've bought some stuff Commodore-related for Christmas.  This year it was a set of 6 classic Commodore and Amiga pinback buttons (with one Colecovision thrown in there), like the fairly common "I Adore My 64" and the harder-to-find "VIC-20 The Friendly Computer Commodore".  One button from Canada is in English and French and talks about Commodore and Young Astronauts (Jeunes Astronautes).
    Then there was my Dec. 17 purchase of the new Brian Bagnall book, "Commodore: a Company on the Edge", which arrived on Dec. 23.  Now all I have to get is some autographs on it, like Bil Herd's and Dave Haynie's, if ever I'm visiting the East Coast.  

         Truly,
         Robert Bernardo
         Fresno Commodore User Group
         http://videocam.net.au/fcug
         The Other Group of Amigoids
         http://www.calweb.com/~rabel1/
         Southern California Commodore & Amiga Network
         http://www.sccaners.org

[RobertB]

     Here's a photo capture of the buttons -


         Just one of each of the C= and Amiga buttons,
         Robert Bernardo
         Fresno Commodore User Group
         http://videocam.net.au/fcug
         The Other Group of Amigoids
         http://www.calweb.com/~rabel1/
         Southern California Commodore & Amiga Network
         http://www.sccaners.org

[RobertB]

     I just got back an hour and a half ago after a trip to the storefront, 4Jays, in Antioch, California.  I haven't been to the store in about 5 years, but they are stilll there in old town Antioch.  Lots and lots of NES, SNES, XBox, Playstation, Jaguar, Genesis, Atari 2600 and 5200, Colecovision, and Intellivision hardware and accessories, but my goal was Commodore and VIC-20 goods.  In the corner were the slide-out drawers with unpackaged cartridges -- Commodore 64 in 2 drawers and VIC-20 in 5 drawers.  There were many common carts in the C64 drawers; I was most interested in the Partner 128, Turbo Load & Save, and Warpspeed carts.  I decided on Warpspeed (can't have too many of those carts).
     Then it was time to dig through the VIC-20 drawers; once again, there were a lot of common carts, including VIC-20 3K and 8K ram expanders, the latter having a toggle switch installed on them.  I found a Synthesound cart to replace the one I sold to NaughtyBoy of 8-Bit Weapon, and a cart I have never heard of, Outworld from UMI.  In the drawer of VIC-20 tapes, I picked Reflections from Vegas Software and Road Test v2.0 from Computer Software Associates.
     Behind the counter, Roy tried and failed to get a current price on the Warpspeed, and I declined that buy.  However, the tapes came out at $3 each, Synthesound was $3, and the most expensive, Outworld, was $25.  For the SNES, I got a boxed Star Trek Starfleet Academy.  Total for everything plus tax - a bit over $41.
     Before I left, I asked Roy about why the 4Jays.net had not been updated in years (he said that it was hard to keep up with changing inventory), why my e-mail inquiries were not answered (he said that he'd look into it but also confessed about being busy), and whether they were doing shows like they had in the past (just can't make the big effort to move everything to something like Classic Gaming Expo).  He did say that the next time I came, I should give fair warning so that someone could bring me to the basement warehouse a few streets away.  That warehouse has lots of Commodore and Amiga hardware and floppies.
     I took a photo of the shop exterior before I departed.  I'll have that photo posted soon.

          Truly,
          Robert Bernardo
          Fresno Commodore User Group
          http://videocam.net.au/fcug

[RobertB]

I just got back an hour and a half ago after a trip to the storefront, 4Jays, in Antioch, California.  I haven't been to the store in about 5 years, but they are stilll there in old town Antioch.

Tomorrow I head for the Los Angeles area in order to spend the rest of my vacation there.  One of the things I want to do is visit Computer Station at 2254 Pacific Avenue in Long Beach.  I visited that place in the late 1990's, and it was stuffed up to the ceiling with Commodore and Amiga software/hardware up to the ceiling.  And the prices for that stuff had not dropped since the 1980's.  Well, in the early 2000's, I had thought Computer Station was gone, because when I went to visit it, it was empty... nothing at all in the storefront.  Now it seems to be back... just a few doors down from its old location!  I want to see how much of it is back.  They do have a website with outrageous Commodore/Amiga prices.  Perhaps I can grab a SCCAN member to accompany me to the store.

         Truly,
         Robert Bernardo
         Fresno Commodore User Group
         http://videocam.net.au/fcug
         The Other Group of Amigoids
         http://www.calweb.com/~rabel1/
         Southern California Commodore & Amiga Network
         http://www.sccaners.org

[RobertB]

They do have a website with outrageous Commodore/Amiga prices.  Perhaps I can grab a SCCAN member to accompany me to the store.

O.K., the other SCCAN members have been informed, should they choose to join me at the store on Friday at noon.  Filmmakers Rory M. and Jerold K. will be there, too.

         Computer Station website -- http://home.pon.net/amc/
         Robert Bernardo
         Fresno Commodore User Group
         http://videocam.net.au/fcug
         The Other Group of Amigoids
         http://www.calweb.com/~rabel1/
         Southern California Commodore & Amiga Network
         http://www.sccaners.org

[RobertB]

     I met filmmakers Rory and Jerold in front of the store today at 11:45, and we decided to have lunch first at the nearby Thai Boom Restaurant.  After that nice lunch, it was time to go in the store.  Rory and Jerold had obtained permission to film inside.  This time I was not wired with a mic; Jerold held a boom mic, and as usual, Rory was on the camera.
    I buzzed the door to get in.  Tony (the manager?) was not in the store when I arrived, but Jack was there.  I greeted him when I entered, explaining that I had not returned since the late 1990's/early 2000's.  When I asked him about the place closing for a while back then, he didn't seem to understand.  Well, the main thing was that it was all back.
    I seem to remember it being more organized years ago; this time, the store was more cluttered with things on the floor, maybe thrown there randomly.  I headed first for the GEOS section, looking for a certain video digitizer program that only worked with GEOS 1.3.  Though it was not there, among the many GEOS programs I found the series of DISKART disks from Those Designers.  Each clipart disk was $9.95.
    I found a drawing pad similar to an Animation Station pad, except bigger, and  boxed with the Animation Station disk (well, that wasn't right since the box advertised a different program called Finger Paint).  Then I found an unboxed, dusty PowerPad with connecting
cable.  I really wanted that, because I have the complete PowerPad at home *without* cable.  I asked for a price, but Jack wouldn't sell it to me, because his technician had to check it out and then it would go on eBay.  I copied the colors of the wires going into one of the
cable connections; now if I could only construct my own cable...
    Speaking of eBay, Jack couldn't stay too long in the store, because he had to go off to post office and ship off eBay goods.  Much of the software had a huge layer of black dust on it; fortunately, if they were not boxed, they were wrapped in plastic... all except the
shareware C64 and Amiga disks ($5 each) which sat in open files on a table.
    To the right and back of the store, Amiga software only occupied one vertical bookcase, C64/128 software occupied most of the right
bookcases, and really old PC software was in one or two bookcases to the right and front.  In the glass cabinets standing on the floor was hardware like C64 modems, loose datasettes (including the older PET-style datasette), C64 printer interfaces, and PC cards.  On top of the glass display cabinets were items like loose VIC-20 program casettes and cartridges.
    To the left were systems that looked to be set up, but I was told I couldn't use them to check software.  There were also various Commodore monitors set on the shelves.  Up above the bookcases were boxed C64s, C128s, and disk drives.  Loose disk drives were lower down to the left and back (hey, I saw a couple of Indus GT drives there and a 1581 for Charles).  On a chair, placed in antistatic foam were dozens of SID chips, all being 6581s except for one 8580 SID.  Price?  $37.50 each!  I asked about the L'Bow cart adapter sitting by a system, but without the manager being there, Jack didn't want to deal.  (The manager would have been in after 3:30.)  In fact, Jack invited me back when the manager was to be around, but I couldn't do it.  He said that they only have one or two walk-in customers per year, and most of their sales were through eBay.
    I saw more stuff down a hall which led far to the back, but I was not permitted to go that way (employees only).
    I asked about a Free Spirit disk package for the C64, a disk with English and Scottish songs.  Jack said it was $29.95!  No, I didn't
need it that badly.  However, I did buy Disk 1 of the DISKART series for GEOS, and then there was the prize!  I spotted it in an anti-static bag on a bottom shelf, and though it came without manual or software, I was willing to pay Jack's price of $49.95.  In the old days, this cartridge listed for $129.  It was a 64K Quick Brown Box cartridge from Brown Boxes, Inc. of Bedford, Massachusetts.  I had only seen such a thing once before when I visited C64/128 user Joe Fenn in Honolulu, Hawaii in 2006.  In this battery-backed device, you are supposed to be able to hold programs there within its memory.  This 64K QBB came with a slideswitch marked 64 and 128 (C64 and C128) and another button which I suppose is the
reset switch.  Now all I have to do is find the accompanying disk and maybe even the manual (hopefully, archived on-line).
    Jack didn't charge me any tax ; I guess that was my discount.  I said my good-byes, remarking I'd like to return one day.  With that, I left the store with my purchases, Rory and Jerold following behind.  Out in front of the store, they filmed my brief commentary about the store and my purchases.  They would catch me again some time in the future.

         Too bad I couldn't test out the QBB in the store,
         Robert Bernardo
         Fresno Commodore User Group
         http://videocam.net.au/fcug
         The Other Group of Amigoids
         http://www.calweb.com/~rabel1/
         Southern California Commodore & Amiga Network
         http://www.sccaners.org

[RobertB]

     I haven't talked about my New Year's Eve; it was Commodore-related, too.  On New Year's Eve, I left Stockton to go to the party of Amiga engineer, R.J. Mical.  I arrived early at 4:30 p.m..  R.J. was not there, but after a few minutes, he arrived with a van load of groceries.  After helping him to bring in the food for the party, he put me to work as a dishwasher; his fellow cooks in the kitchen would give me their used pots, pans, dishes, and utensils, and I would wash them.  That went on for quite awhile as more cooks invaded the kitchen to help out and as the other guests flowed in.  Afterwards, he put me to butterfly shrimp so that they would be ready to be stuffed by another person.  Finally, I worked by putting hors d'oeuvres on a cooking sheet, inserting the sheet into the oven, waiting for it to cook, removing it, and then inserting in another sheet of hors d'oeuvres.  All told, I spent many hour in the kitchen.  The food was not served until 9:30 to the hungry guests.
     Even though it was supposed to be a movie night, the only thing up on the big-screen t.v. was a Sony Playstation 3 motion-activated game.  The guests preferred to talk on.  I sensed a lull in the activity after dinner, and I took the chance that R.J. would be ready.  I went up to R.J. and asked him to sign my Amiga CDTV that I had brought along.  It had been previously autographed by Amiga engineers Dale Luck and Carl Sassenrath at the Amiwest Show 2010 a few months ago.
     R.J. gave me a sly look and said, "Later, Robert."  Oh-oh, with that expression on his face and that tone of voice, I took it to mean, "No, I don't want to sign it."  Disappointed, I sat down and tried to converse with the others at the party.  There was interest in the Amiga CDTV from the other engineers at the party (after all, this was the Silicon Valley filled with engineer types).  I had to explain what the CDTV was and after several explanations, I was started to get tired.  Fortunately, to my rescue came Amiga engineers, Leo L. Schwab and David N. Junod.  Leo especially liked to explain the CDTV and his role in the development of its CD player software.  In fact, I videotaped a few minutes of his explanation to the small group gathered around the CDTV.  Leo and David were glad to autograph my CDTV.
     I didn't leave the party until 2:30 a.m., but before I left, R.J. chided me for not staying longer, for not spending the night in the house.  I told him that I had a room at the Good Nite Inn a few miles away.  He also said that one day he would make it to the Commodore Vegas Expo in Las Vegas or the Amiwest Show in Sacramento and that I should keep him up-to-date on the news of those shows.

          FCUG celebrating 30 years,
          Robert Bernardo
          Fresno Commodore User Group
          http://videocam.net.au/fcug
          The Other Group of Amigoids
          http://www.calweb.com/~rabel1/
          Southern California Commodore & Amiga Network
          http://www.sccaners.org

[RobertB]

     My Commodore Christmas came early this year.  A few weeks ago I was down in the Los Angeles area to attend the SC3 Arcade Party and go to a meeting of the Southern California Commodore & Amiga Network.  Before the Saturday SC3 party, I went to Computer Station in Long Beach, one of the last remaining storefronts that sell Commodore and Amiga in California.  It is slowly closing down, the owner, Tony Chai, wanting to retire.  Estimated time of closure - January, 2014.  Well, I had gotten notice of his closure back in June, 2013.
     I had told Tony I would be there at 11 a.m., but due to traffic, I got there about 20 minutes late.  Tony was waiting for me, and he buzzed me past the entrance door.  I had first visited Computer Station back in the 1990's, and it hadn't changed much in all those years -- bookshelves and bookshelves of software, small hardware in the display cases, and big hardware along one wall.  With all those years of sitting there, many of the software boxes had a layer of black dust on them.
     First, Tony and I talked about what's going on in the Commodore world.  He hadn't kept up with the current clubs and the current state of the hobby.  He was surprised that there were pockets of C= activity.  He was very interested in SCCAN and FCUG and even San Jose's TOGA (since he visited San Jose often).  He was interested in the SC3 Arcade Party and in the Commodore Vegas Expo.  Perhaps he was thinking of more sales...
     After we talked, I got down to business and searched each shelf diligently for interesting software.  I was also hoping that SCCAN members would join me at the store (they never showed up).  Every so often, I would pause in my search and talk to Tony about any C= observation which would cross my mind.  I would also help him find certain C= websites on the Net-connected PC desktop he had in the store.
     After nearly 3 hours in the store, I had gathered quite a bit of software for the C64, VIC-20, Plus/4, and event the Amiga CDTV.  I stacked everything in front of Tony, and he told me how much each piece was worth, usually 5 or 10 dollars.  Even with these low close-out prices, my total was $165!  I wanted to buy more, but I need some money for the party later on.
     Before I left, I promised that I would keep Tony informed about the club meetings and any shows.  Then I left, heading out of Long Beach and toward Riverside in the California desert.  There would be no time to check into my hotel first; I would go directly to the party.

          Truly,
          Robert Bernardo
          Fresno Commodore User Group
          http://videocam.net.au/fcug
          The Other Group of Amigoids
          http://www.calweb.com/~rabel1/
          Southern California Commodore & Amiga Network
          http://www.sccaners.org