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Found: Heavily Modified C-128D

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Bungo Pony

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This has got to be one of the coolest things I've ever found. It's a Commodore 128D which someone has transported into a new case and has built a bunch of cool accessories into it! Whoever built this thing put a LOT of work into making it the ultimate Commodore computer. I haven't powered it up yet to see if it works, as it's been sitting out in -25 degrees Celcius. I probably won't get to play with it until the weekend.

Anyway, what good would this post be without pictures of the outside and the inside of this thing. They mounted the motherboard right at the bottom of the case and stacked the floppy drive boards on top of each other. The power supply thankfully has a cooling fan which is probably necessary with all the heat this thing would generate.

On the front panel, there is a little door on the left side that you pull open, exposing a bunch of switches and knobs so you can set your Commodore to the exact settings you want.

I'm blown away by how many features are packed into this thing. The LEDs on the front panel are even wired up!

Anyway, I'll shut up and let you look at the pictures. Really amazing!

http://www.files.classicalgasemissions.com/imgs/c128-01.jpg
http://www.files.classicalgasemissions.com/imgs/c128-02.jpg
http://www.files.classicalgasemissions.com/imgs/c128-03.jpg
http://www.files.classicalgasemissions.com/imgs/c128-04.jpg
http://www.files.classicalgasemissions.com/imgs/c128-05.jpg
http://www.files.classicalgasemissions.com/imgs/c128-06.jpg
http://www.files.classicalgasemissions.com/imgs/c128-07.jpg
http://www.files.classicalgasemissions.com/imgs/c128-08.jpg
http://www.files.classicalgasemissions.com/imgs/c128-09.jpg
http://www.files.classicalgasemissions.com/imgs/c128-10.jpg
http://www.files.classicalgasemissions.com/imgs/c128-11.jpg

edit: Does anyone know what computer the case originally belonged to? The only thing identifying it is the name "Sperry"
 
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That certainly is an impressive homebrew creation, but posting 12 megapixel(!) photos is a bit excessive... next time try using a photo hosting site which can downsize the images to a more manageable size (no more than 1024x768).
 
Sorry about the size, I was anxious to get them up.

I found it in a cardboard box behind a computer recycler. It looked ancient and I didn't know what it was, so I grabbed it. I've never seen these accessories in real life, and I had never seen a C-128 until about 3 years ago. Now I own 4 of them.

The 3 1/2" drive is a rarity in itself, and it's great to finally have one even if it's morphed into a new box. I'm hoping the thing works so I can try out Jiffy DOS and maybe play with the Super 81 stuff.

edit: I reduced the size of the pictures.
 
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Very interesting. Looks like you got a lot of cool internals. If I had one criticism about the implementation it's that they probably could have done something better about the power supplies. A desktop PC supply probably would have been sufficient to power everything and left quite a bit of space.
 
I guess whoever threw it out didn't know much about Commodore. A C128D all by itself is pretty valuable, since not that many were made, and the 1581 drive is also somewhat rare and pricey. This kind of mod is most unusual too.

To judge from the hand-lettered labels and things and the somewhat ugly case, the maker was not building this to show off, but as a practical machine. Wish we knew who built it!
 
Bungo Pony said:
edit: Does anyone know what computer the case originally belonged to? The only thing identifying it is the name "Sperry"
Click to expand...

The logo in the first photo is that of Sperry Rand, the parent company of UNIVAC before they merged with Burroughs and became UNISYS. I don't know what the case might have been used for. UNIVAC wasn't a big player in the personal computer field.
 
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Looks like a Sperry disk controller enclosure. Not what I would have destroyed to build the mod, but we can't know what it originally came from (could have been an empty case, etc.)

That's quite an ambitious mod project, not to mention an amazing thing to find at a recycler. Makes you wonder why the original owner let it go (assuming he is still with us.)
 
Ken Vaughn said:
The logo in the first photo is that of Sperry Rand, the parent company of UNIVAC before they merged with Burroughs and became UNISYS. I don't know what the case might have been used for. UNIVAC wasn't a big player in the personal computer field.
Click to expand...

By the time the PC rolled around, it was all "Sperry" (as in the PCMicro IT) a lot of the mainframe-ish x86 B-series stuff was branded "Unisys".

I still think of the company as making gyroscopes, typewriters and electric shavers, though I did use a UNIVAC 1108 for a short time. A really strange machine that used a huge drum (FASTRAND II) instead of disks for secondary storage.
 
Chuck(G) said:
By the time the PC rolled around, it was all "Sperry" (as in the PCMicro IT) a lot of the mainframe-ish x86 B-series stuff was branded "Unisys".

I still think of the company as making gyroscopes, typewriters and electric shavers, though I did use a UNIVAC 1108 for a short time. A really strange machine that used a huge drum (FASTRAND II) instead of disks for secondary storage.
Click to expand...


And construction equipment (New Holland). I worked for UNIVAC for 4 years, back when they were a Division of Remington Rand.

I worked with FASTRAND II Drums on UNIVAC III,s and UNIVAC 1050's. Impressive looking device, but if one of those counter-balanced drums got out of balance, it would walk out of the computer room. Or so I was told -- never actually experienced that.
 
Very lucky the creator of this C128 amalgamation decided to meticulously label the connectors and switches, otherwise it might be damn near impossible to figure out without disassembling everything. :D

Pretty awesome, and a pretty awesome case. Looks ruggedized, like a luggable of some sort. Since it's a disk controller maybe it was some kind of early external storage? :D
 
In all honesty, I wouldn't say it's interesting. I would say "it's interesting...". In much the same way I would politely react to my elderly maiden aunt wearing an outrageously inappropriate outfit like lime green hotpants and a pink tube-top, or perhaps a carnival geek biting the head off of a chicken. It's fascinating to see in much the same way that a fatal accident in progress is.

I'm especially enamored by the usage of the relatively modern "decora" outlet as the the input point for the AC mains connection. It's kludgerific! Presumably, the power cord for this abortion is two standard AC cords with the ends cut off and the ends wrapped loosely together with duct tape.

It also appears that he is using Molex connectors, typically used for power, to transfer signal. That's an accident wating to happen.

It's too bad they couldn't have found a clone PC case and used it and a PC power supply. It would have been a lot more sanitary.

No offense intended to the OP, and I hope it works. (at least that way it will have something going for it, cuz it can't get by on looks!)
 
Ken Vaughn said:
I worked with FASTRAND II Drums on UNIVAC III,s and UNIVAC 1050's. Impressive looking device, but if one of those counter-balanced drums got out of balance, it would walk out of the computer room. Or so I was told -- never actually experienced that.
Click to expand...

On the system that I worked on, the 1108 was installed on the second floor of a fairly old building. Every time a heavy truck rolled by in the street outside, the FASTRAND heads would bounce off the drum. I understand that some serious reinforcement was added after I left. The system also had an FH-432 drum for fast storage and a couple of drum printers (the model escapes me) that produced some of the most illegible output I've ever seen.

Now that I think about it, there was a darned good reason that most data centers were situated either on the ground floor or in a basement...
 
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That is simply awesome. I love it. To all those that criticize this, remember that back on the tail end of the life of these things, they were not "collectible". Sure, the 128D was less common, but not particularly rare. Even today it isn't really all that rare. Same with the 1581.

Remember that a complete, usable system would take up a fair amount of the desk, include several external power supplies, and several cartridge or module swaps to change what you were doing. I recased my Tandy Color Computer 3 in a similar fashion in a PC tower case. Once you added all the upgrades to the thing, it just wasn't reliable because of all the connectors, power supplies, etc. By running it all from the PC supply, and putting it all in one box, it became signifigantly more useful.

Us hardware hackers made do with what we could get ahold of. Sure, 4 pin molex connectors for data lines aren't the best idea - that is why you label them. But they are available and easy to use. Yeah, he could have used a different PS, but he probably just used what was on hand.

That is a really well done mod. I am sure it works fine.

-Ian
 
dpatten said:
I'm especially enamored by the usage of the relatively modern "decora" outlet as the the input point for the AC mains connection. It's kludgerific! Presumably, the power cord for this abortion is two standard AC cords with the ends cut off and the ends wrapped loosely together with duct tape.
Click to expand...

Actually it has a standard pre-attached AC cord, visible in "c128-04.jpg". The two AC accessory outlets on the back were probably for the monitor and printer.
 
vwestlife said:
Actually it has a standard pre-attached AC cord, visible in "c128-04.jpg". The two AC accessory outlets on the back were probably for the monitor and printer.
Click to expand...


I stand corrected. Now, I will direct your attention to the upper right hand corner of c128-06.jpg where you can see the wiring for the "monitor and printer" power receptacle. The AC lugs on the receptacle are clearly unprotected. Simply sticking your hand in this machine and brushing them, while powered on or plugged in could be potentially fatal.

My objection isn't to the butchery of the hardware. I've cut some stuff up in my time too. I simply think this is as ugly as homemade sin and twice as dangerous.
 
dpatten said:
I stand corrected. Now, I will direct your attention to the upper right hand corner of c128-06.jpg where you can see the wiring for the "monitor and printer" power receptacle. The AC lugs on the receptacle are clearly unprotected. Simply sticking your hand in this machine and brushing them, while powered on or plugged in could be potentially fatal.
Click to expand...

Yeah, there's that, but IMOHO, the bare line filter on the other side of the case is more of a problem. Just don't work on this thing with the power on and you should be okay. Some heat-shrink on the AC lines in some strategic places could ameliorate the situation a bit.

One of my prime objections to the MITS Altair 8800 was the use of live AC traces on the front panel PCB. I got zapped by brushing them more than once.

FWIW, I'm not a fan of the wiring on this thing either.
 
That's the coolest Commodore project I have seen in a LONG time. Granted it might need a few qires pulled and replaced but the dedication it took to put that thing together into a modern looking *thing* is astounding.

Love it! Abortion? Accident waiting to happen? I beg to differ! Since it is a Commodore you can surmise the original owner was probably a tinkerer and knew what he knew from reading newsgroups, not schooling. Fine by me. He did a great job if he was an early student or somebody who looks at magazines.

I'd call that a Golden Age machine by a Golden Age tech!
 
NathanAllan said:
I'd call that a Golden Age machine by a Golden Age tech!
Click to expand...

I will have to politely disagree, unless you consider the mid 1990's the golden age. :p

Generally people don't start hacking machines up until they're a few years old and start to look dated. You don't take a brand new drive and a brand new computer and start cutting them up.

The 128D pizza box case didn't really start looking dated until the mid 1990's. The Mac LC series used a similarly sized case until 1995.

The Commodore 128D came out in late 1986/early 1987 and was sold until about 1990. One of my local PC shops still had NIB sets in 1992. The 1581 drive came out in late 1987 IIRC. You could get them at that time for slightly less than 5 bills.

If I had to hazard a guess as to when this was made I'd say sometime in the mid 1990's.

The kickers for me are as follows; First, in the mid '90s a 286 or 386 clone PC case would still have been useful. You could stuff a cheap, fast Taiwanese 486 board in it and keep going. So there wouldn't have been a glut of them sitting around like there was in the late 1990's after the ATX format made them nearly useless for upgrading. The fact that this ISN'T in an AT case points to the mid 1990's

Secondly, I cannot recall seeing that modern square Decora wall receptacle before the mid 1990's timeframe.

I suppose this IS interesting in a forensic sense, determining what drove the original owner to upgrade it.

Still, it is ugly.
 
Leviton Decora receptacles and switches go back at least 40 years. You used to see them mostly in institutional applications (I saw my first ones in a new hospital in the 70s). My house was built in 1980 and uses the Leviton GFIs in the Decora style.
 
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