The Plus/4 is one of my favorite Commodore computers. Why do I like it and why does everybody else hate it so much? Well, my first experience with one was after my C64 had blown up and my parents wouldn't get it fixed (probably lack of money) and one day they went to look at some land and won the Plus/4 as a door prize or something of that nature. So I was thrilled to have a computer again. I spent most of the time just writing my own programs in BASIC. I think the unit had a really slick exterior design (for the time) and I loved the personality of the system. I liked the BASIC 3.5 commands and the built in machine language monitor. I liked the startup colors too. Not to mention the nice 128 color palette. The TED chip outputs a really crisp image to a monitor, just like the C64 and way better than a VIC-20. In fact, it is sharper that the C64's image. The unit is fast (unlike the C128, which has a SLOW BASIC) and fits most standard C64 peripherals. The memory map and kernel design is much more logical and planned out than the C64. THe cursor keys are also way better than the C64. Okay, so the sound isn't that great and no sprites. That is about the only two pitfalls it has. The image you see on the monitor of my pictures (minus missing scanlines due to photographing) is the Amiga Juggler demo which was ported from the C64. It's hooked up to my Commodore 1084 monitor and 1571 disk drive. Anyway, I love these computers. I eventually found a terminal program (higgyterm) and was able to start calling BBS's again using my 1200 baud modem from my C64. Eventually I got a C128 to replace my broken 64, but I still always liked the Plus/4.
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