Commodore 16 & Panasonic JR-200U

[den68]

In the past couple of weeks I've picked up these 2 computers. I did a little searching on the web and didn't turn up too much info.

Here's what I know based on just hooking them up to test:

The Panasonic JR-200U has connections for a disk drive or cassette. no cartridge slot. it does have 2 joystick ports. It has the chicklit style keys.

The Commodore 16 came with a cassette drive. it has 2 joystick ports but they are not the Atari style like the 64 and the Vic. It has a cartridge slot and I got 3 carts with it, C16 Tutor, Strange Odyssey and Jack Attack.

From what I did find on the web it was described as a suped up VIC-20.

Does anyone have either of these? or know anything about them?

thanks in advance for any info.

[Flack]

The best thing about the C16 was the cool gray/gray color scheme, vs. the C64's less-then-stellar brown on brown combination.

The C16 is not compatible with either the C64 or the Plus4, either in hardware or software. To play games, you'll need a C16 tape drive, or the C16 disk drive (I've never seen either in the wild -- good luck). The C16 did not contain sprites, which is what made programming on the C64 so easy and made games so great, and also contained only 16k of RAM, making many programs impossible to run.

If you're wanting to get the C16 up and running, there are two adapters you should look for that might your life easier. One is a joystick adapter, that allows you to use Atari style joysticks on the C16. The other is an adapter that allows you to use the C64 Datasette on the C16. The C64 Datasette doesn't have any advantage to the C16 one except they're much easier to find, in case your current one craps out.

[den68]

when you say gray/gray are you referring to the keys and case?. they keys are gray but the case looks dark brown to me.

I've got the tape drive. the joystick adapter would be useful. 2 of the carts I have work with the keyboard but one appears to require a joystick.

[Flack]

http://www.etedeschi.ndirect.co.uk/museum/picts/C16.jpg

http://www.aceadvanced.org/computers/commodore/c16.jpg

Those are stock C16's. Does yours look like those?

I keep finding hits for those joystick adapters but they're all in German. I'll keep searching.

[Flack]

http://cgi.ebay.de/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=2790826603&category=8086

The short cables in the joystick photo are what you're looking for.

And remember ... "Viel Spaß beim Bieten!"

[den68]

yes, that's what I've got. but it still looks brown to me, but what do I know maybe it's a warm charcoal grey.

thanks for the pictures and the info!!!

[davidleeroth]

So the Panasonic came without a cassette or floppy drive?
I have 5-10 cassette games for the it but I've never ahd the chance to actually test them. :(

I don't know how hard/easy it would be to adapt a casual cassette drive for it but if you ever wanna sell/trade the computer, let me know.

[emucompboy]

I have both Commodore 16 and Panasonic JR-200U.

The Plus/4 is compatible with the Commodore 16, and the other way around, with a few limitations. The Commodore 16 is like a Plus/4 minus the built-in application software, minus the modem port and ACIA communications adapter chip, and with only 16K of main RAM. You can use a Commodore 1541 disk drive with it just fine (or a 1571 or 1581 for that matter).

The Panasonic JR-200U can use a standard mono cassette player. I've used the same cassette cable for loading, that came with a Radio Shack cassette player intended for use with the Radio Shack CoCo. There's a partially working emulator for the Panasonic JR-200U on my website, www.geocities.com/emucompboy

[sniperCCJVQ]

@emucompboy

thanks for the info, I also found a C16 this summer. Do you know where the + and - goes for the power supply ?

[icbrkr]

The best thing about the C16 was the cool gray/gray color scheme, vs. the C64's less-then-stellar brown on brown combination.

The C16 is not compatible with either the C64 or the Plus4, either in hardware or software. To play games, you'll need a C16 tape drive, or the C16 disk drive (I've never seen either in the wild -- good luck). The C16 did not contain sprites, which is what made programming on the C64 so easy and made games so great, and also contained only 16k of RAM, making many programs impossible to run.

If you're wanting to get the C16 up and running, there are two adapters you should look for that might your life easier. One is a joystick adapter, that allows you to use Atari style joysticks on the C16. The other is an adapter that allows you to use the C64 Datasette on the C16. The C64 Datasette doesn't have any advantage to the C16 one except they're much easier to find, in case your current one craps out.

Hate to disagree with you, but the C16 is absolutely software/hardware compatible with the Plus/4 and 116. Also, it'll use a standard Commodore monitors, and disk drives (1541/71/81/CMDHD). A great source of information would be to check out http://plus4.emucamp.com/ . If you're looking for joysticks, oldsoftware.com has 2 Plus/4 or 16 joysticks new for $7. The Plus/4 and 16 were very popular in Communist countries (Hungary, east Germany) due to their price. The only thing the the 16 is missing that the Plus/4 has besides the extra software and memory is a user port - ie, no modem. The Plus/4 uses standard Commodore modems too.

[video_game_addict]

I've found a total of two Plus/4's in my hunts & both were dead. :( Not like I needed another computer anyways, but they were neat looking things.

Damn Den's avatar looks like it's put on a little bit of weight! That must be what she looks like now 20 years later LOL

[emucompboy]

They (Commodore 16 and Plus/4) run hot. I've burned out a couple of the Programmable Logic Array chips, and one Plus/4 application software ROM.

BTW, the Plus/4 runs just fine without an application software ROM.
--
You might try swapping chips, to see if you can make one good computer from the two bad ones. Swap the PLA first.

[christianscott27]

went game hunting with a buddy of mine this summer and we found one of those brown (dark brown) commies. it was pretty mint, box and all but i passed and let my friend take it for $30. the lowdown he got on it was that it was commies in to the business world, he said that you'll still see them in some less developed countries being used as cash registers.

well thats my 2 cents

[Ed Oscuro]

Didn't find anything outside of what was on Old-computers.com in my (very short) search, sorry :/

eBay's dry, I can tell you that.

[Flack]

Didn't find anything outside of what was on Old-computers.com in my (very short) search, sorry :/

eBay's dry, I can tell you that.

I got a C16 in the box yesterday for $6!

eBay Link (http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&rd=1&item=5136909354&ssPageName=STRK:MEWN:IT)


Hate to disagree with you, but the C16 is absolutely software/hardware compatible with the Plus/4 and 116. Also, it'll use a standard Commodore monitors, and disk drives (1541/71/81/CMDHD). A great source of information would be to check out http://plus4.emucamp.com/ .

Wow, I wonder what crackhead site I was getting *my* information from! I'll check those links you provided, looks like I'mma need some accessories for my new toy!