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Commodore Trivia 21
-------Commodore Trivia Edition #21 Questions and Answers Preface--------
Not to leave you in the dark for too long, here are the trivia
answers to the previous edition of Commodore Trivia. I am posting the
answers at this time, and will post the scores and winners in a few
days. This time frame is set up to allow time for any discussions on the
correctness of these answers. By this time, the newest edition of
trivia has been posted. I encourage you to enter it.
This edition of trivia answers has been posted to the USENET newsgroups:
comp.sys.cbm, alt.folklore.computers, and comp.sys.amiga.advocacy. It
has also been posted to the FidoNET CBM Echo.
Feel free to use these trivia answers in newsletters, magazines, and other
publications (please see disclaimer). If you use the trivia, I would
appreciate knowing where it has ended up. If you intend to use this
information, please wait a few days after the posting date to allow for
major errors to be corrected.
Please mail any new questions for upcoming trivia (with answers) to my
address.
This edition and previous editions the trivia can be obtained from my
mailserver.
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This will retrieve the first edition of the trivia. Replace the
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Each new edition of the trivia will be automatically mailed to you when
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I try to post the answers for the questions shortly after the monthly
contest has ended. However, I usually wait a few days for any errors
I may have made to be worked out before scoring the contest.
-------Commodore Trivia Edition #21 Questions and Answers (BEGIN)--------
Q $140) What was the model number of the microprocessor used in the
first of the Commodore 264 Series?
A $140) The early Plus/4 units contained a 7501 microprocessor, and the
later units featured a 8501 microprocessor. The only differences
between the two units is the manufacturing process and die size.
Q $141) How fast could the microprocessor in the Commodore 264 Series
theoretically run at?
A $141) 1.76 MHz.
Q $142) How many colors can a Commodore Plus/4 display at once?
A $142) 8 shades each of 16 colors, but the 8 shades of black are still
still black, so a total of 121 colors are possible.
Q $143) What anomaly exists in the numbering of the BASIC interpreter
in the Plus/4 as 3.5?
A $143) This version contained almost all of the commands in Version 4.0,
plus some new commands for graphics and sound.
Q $144) After the very first 1581 disk drives were introduced, Commodore
found that the WD1770 disk controller chip in the drive could corrupt
the disk in some situations. So, Commodore offered a replacement
IC to fix the problem. What was the number of the replacement IC?
A $144) The Western Digital WD1772 IC.
Q $145) On some very early CBM 1541 drives, what would happen if the serial
bus CLOCK and DATA lines were high upon startup?
A $145) On the very first 1541 drives (I suspect the feature was also on the
1540 as well), On power-up, the drive would jump to a subroutine at
$E780 after performing the reset routine. The code there would check
for the high state of CLOCK and DATA. If found, the code would wait
until both go low and then store '*' into the filename buffer, sets the
filename length to 1, and then jumps to the & command, which loads
a USR file and executes it.
Since the Commodore computer never used this feature, and some machines
would boot with these lines randomly high, Commodore removed the
feature.
Q $146) In question $0F8, we learned that one must DIMension an array in
BASIC if it will have more than 11 elements. Which Commodore
produced reference book ncorrectly claims the need to DIMension
arrays for more than 10 elements.
A $146) The Commodore 128 Programmer's Reference Guide. Page 17.
Q $147) Why should serial device number 31 not be used?
A $147) While it is specified as a valid serial bus address, when "or"ed with
certain commands, it results in a bad command, hanging the bus and
the serial drivers.
Q $148) On most VIC game cartridges from VIC-1910 up, toggling interlaced
screen display can be done with a keypress. Which key?
A $148) Press the F7 function key.
Q $149) Which cartidge fitting the criteria in $148 does not toggle interlace
display with the same keypress as the others? How is it toggled
on this cartridge?
A $149) Gorf, VIC-1923. Pushing the joystick up toggles interlace mode.
Q $14A) The Commodore 64 KERNAL and BASIC code use every opcode in the 6510
CPU except three. Which three?
A $14A) BRK, CLV, and SED.
Q $14B) For what purpose does the BASIC interpreter in a Commodore 64
require the Complex Interface Adaptor (CIA) IC?
A $14B) In order to calculate random values for the BASIC function RND(0),
the first 4 registers of the CIA whose address is provided by the
IOBASE KERNAL routine are read.
Q $14C) On the Commodore 128, the 80 column output is output by the VDC
chip. What does VDC stand for?
A $14C) Video Display Controller.
Q $14D) By now, most people know about the ill-fated Commodore 65. What
were the specifications on the original Commodore 65 idea?
A $14D) A Commodore C64C with a built-in 1581.
Q $14E) When referring to the Commodore 4032, one usually states that
one has a "thin 40" or a "fat 40". What does "thin" and "fat"
signify?
A $14E) A "thin 40" had a 9" screen and could not be upgraded. The
"fat 40" had a 12" screen, and could be upgraded to a 8000 series
machine with some upgrade chips.
Q $14F) If you own a Commodore 4032, how can you tell which kind (thin
or fat) you have?
A $14F) If you hold down the cursor key and it repeats, you have a "fat 40".
The information in this between the lines marked by (BEGIN) and (END)
is copyright 1995 by Jim Brain. Provided that the information
between the (BEGIN) and (END) lines is not changed except to correct
typographical errors, the so marked copyrighted information may be
reproduced in its entirety on other networks or in other mediums. For
more information about using this file, please contact the address
shown below.
Jim Brain
brain@mail.msen.com
602 North Lemen
Fenton, MI 48430
(810) 737-7300 x8528
--------Commodore Trivia Edition #21 Questions and Answers (END)---------
