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4SALE: Commodore B Series Stuff, Xerox 820 II, Epson Geneva

billdeg

billdeg

Technician
Joined
Nov 18, 2003
Messages
3,885
Location
Landenberg, PA USA
I am posting as a favor for someone I know to be a reliable source of tested vintage computers who did not have much luck on Ebay. Do not contact me about these...please contact bfaierson AT comcast dot net directly, tell him "Bill D" sent you. I have purchased two B500's from this seller..they work like a charm. Seller has two left. You may be able to haggle on some items $$.
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Commdore B SERIES Stuff:

B-500 qty: 2 $75 refurb These units were bought on skids and generally weren't used but returned to Commodore for various reasons.
Includes Superscript II, Superbase II and the CABS Accounting GL, AP, AR, OE and IC, Prog Ref and User manual
B Hi-Boy monitor 1 $25 used Has some light screen etching but works

Superscript II 4 $7.50 New
Superbase II 6 $7.50 New
Superoffice 256k req ? $15.00 New This isn't the original Superoffice but the one we licensed. Includes Superoffice insert with Superbase and Superscript
CABS Accounting 6 $15 New Includes GL, AP, AR, OE and IC Disks included are last upgrades by Info Designs and Payroll myself


SPECIAL ITEMS

Xerox 820 II 1 $275 New This is a fairly fast Xerox CP/M Machine - 8 inch disks. Unit was opened originally to test it for funtionality
16/8-820 manual 3 $20 New These are fairly extensive manuals not included with the original machines covering CP/M and CP/M-86
Epson Geneva 1 $350 Used This includes PF-10, Dbase, Traveling Software, Calcstar, Wordstar, CX-10, Disks and operating manuals

Contact bfaierson AT comcast dot net directly.
 
I like to think I'm somewhat acquainted with Commodores. I have numerous C-64s, Vic-20s, some 128s including a 128D and 128DLC, I had a PET 2032 which I laborously entered Byte programs into, 4 Amigas, and even have 2 Commodore PCs.

What pray tell, is a B-series Commodore ? What may well be common knowledge to Commodore cogniescienti C64ers, means little to many of us even experienced users and collectors.

Some time ago I didn't even know what an Atari "Heavy-sixer" was, even tho I'm an Atari freak. "It's the early model 2600, Jim" say the dedicated gamers disgustedly. "Don't you even know that ? "

Please enlighten us. What is the Model B ?

Lawrence
 
I think the "B" was similar to the 128D, in that the drive is integrated to the case, but differing in that the keyboard is also integrated. All this is brought together in a "stylized" beige case (Porche-designed?). Tried google, but couldn't find a picture...

--T
 
What is a B Series Commodore?

What is a B Series Commodore?

There are a few sites on the web, I have found these to be useful:
http://users.adelphia.net/~shockley15790/b128.html
http://www.floodgap.com/retrobits/ckb/secret/b128.html

The B's are a failed line of Commodore business computers. Roughly, the B series was in development about the same time as the c64. While the C64 met with success, the B series was trounced by the IBM PC, Tandy TRS 80 model III/IV, and not to mention the C64 itslef as a business computer. Very few B series Commodores were produced and sold, and the line was cancelled pretty quickly.

B series Commodores are very rare, and even the B128-80's appear only every so often on ebay and the like. To find a B500 is much less likely. In fact I have never seen a B500 for sale until now.

The seller was a Commodore dealer and I guess he had access to demo units? I already bought 2, and they work perfectly, very clean.

I have been working on programming the SID chip of a B128-80 for kicks. See other posts on this subject or drop me a line.
 
Re: What is a B Series Commodore?

Re: What is a B Series Commodore?

billdeg said:
There are a few sites on the web, I have found these to be useful:
http://users.adelphia.net/~shockley15790/b128.html
http://www.floodgap.com/retrobits/ckb/secret/b128.html

The B's are a failed line of Commodore business computers. Roughly, the B series was in development about the same time as the c64. While the C64 met with success, the B series was trounced by the IBM PC, Tandy TRS 80 model III/IV, and not to mention the C64 itslef as a business computer. Very few B series Commodores were produced and sold, and the line was cancelled pretty quickly.

B series Commodores are very rare, and even the B128-80's appear only every so often on ebay and the like. To find a B500 is much less likely. In fact I have never seen a B500 for sale until now.

The seller was a Commodore dealer and I guess he had access to demo units? I already bought 2, and they work perfectly, very clean.

I have been working on programming the SID chip of a B128-80 for kicks. See other posts on this subject or drop me a line.
Click to expand...

Very informative links. That's the same computers I was thinking of, the "B"-series and the PET 200. Apparently, the case designer was someone named "Ira Velinsky" of Plainfeild, NJ, and not Porche, as I had thought.

--T
 
Earlier today, I was in contact with a man who used to run a Commodore computer store as well as engineering company. It is more than ten years ago I was in touch with him, and to my delight he told me that almost all the items still are in storage. A lot of computers and even more software.

However, he has (recently?) thrown away some stuff, including a couple of PET 600 and 700 series, printers and some software. If I understand correctly, a PET/CBM 600 equals a B128 and a 700 equals a B256. Are those units somewhat rare? I'm not about to buy one if he has more of them, but it would be a shame to know that he throw away a couple of rather sought after units, but kept a lot of VIC-20 and Commodore 64 still in their boxes.
 
The American B128 is the European 610 (low profile)
If there was a B256 it would be the European 620 (low profile)
The American CBM 128-80 is the European 710 (hi profile)
The American CBM 256-80 is the European 720 (hi profile)

There may be some 256K low profile European "620's", but there were no American B256's sold publically by Commodore. A few prototypes are known to exist.

The protoypes were
B500 became the B128/610 (some units labeled B500 are actually "B520's" with 256K factory installed RAM

B700 became the 710 (or 720). These were unlabled/no FCC sticker. You can identify the B700 this way: if it has the same blue painted "Commodore" on the front left like a low profile has, but the computer itself is hi profile AND does not have the normal hi-profile "CBM..." plate on the front like all hi profiles.

Units with an 8088 coprocessor card installed are "BX" models. Only hi-profile units could have the 8088 coprocessor due to power requirements. I don't know of any CBM 256-80BX's, but I think that there may be some CBM 720 BX's in Europe.
 
Bill,

I saw lots of informative replies to your posting, but none that indicated a want to purchase. I realize it's been quite awhile since your original post - but - are the B-500s and monitor still available? If so, what would S&H cost to zip 27101? Thanks!

--Timster--
 
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