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Commodore Trivia 26
-------Commodore Trivia Edition #26 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
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I try to post the answers for the questions shortly after the monthly
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I may have made to be worked out before scoring the contest.
-------Commodore Trivia Edition #26 Questions and Answers (BEGIN)--------
Q $190) In reference to Commodore, what does TOI stand for?
A $190) The Other Intellect. Evidently, it was the computer the CBM
engineers were working on before the VIC-20 project. The name
sounds like it was dreamed up after the fact. In either case, this
machine might have been the "Color PET" mention in _The Home
Computer Wars_ that Chuck Peddle was designing before company
shifted to the VIC architecture.
Q $191) Name two values that, when poked to the screen, will yield the
identical character appearance.
A $191) 32 and 96 or 160 and 224. Space and Reverse space.
103 and 106 or 101 and 116. Left and right lines.
Q $192) What chr$ codes lock out and re enable the shift/commodore keyboard
flip from uppercase to lowercase on the VIC-20?
A $192) chr$(8) and chr$(9), respectively.
Q $193) What chr$ codes lock out and re enable the shift/commodore keyboard
flip from uppercase to lowercase on the C64?
A $193) chr$(8) and chr$(9), respectively.
Q $194) What chr$ codes lock out and re enable the shift/commodore keyboard
flip from uppercase to lowercase on the C128?
A $194) chr$(11) and chr$(12), respectively, while in 128 mode.
Q $195) On CBM machines prior to the VIC-20, what chr$ code outputs the
same character as chr$(44), the comma.
A $195) 108.
Q $196) Is the character described in $195 of any use?
A $196) To put commas in strings read via INPUT. Remember, INPUT treats
a comma (chr$(44)) as a delimiter between input fields, but chr$(108)
does not produce the same effect, so you could replace 44 with 108 in
data written to disk, and read it in with INPUT.
Q $197) The speed of Commmodore BASIC increased dramatically after the first
OS upgrade in 1979. Why?
A $197) Jim Butterfield supplies us the answer:
"The original PET 2001 suffered from the same kind of "screen
sparkle" that was later seen in the early Commodore 64. So
the original code would write to screen memory only during
the "refresh" period; that really slowed down the speed of
output to the screen. By the time the first revised PET came
out, the screen sparkle was solved, and characters were
delivered to the screen with no wait. (The new operating
system also did a massive relocation of system variables,
and used zero page very heavily, to the dismay of home
programmers. When asked about this, Commodore pointed
proudly at the "new, higher speed". But in fact it was
the screen reorganization that caused 95% of the
improvement)."
--Jim
Related to this question is $00C, which implies that the
"sparkle" problem was fixed in the original PETs, so some people
increased the performance of the original PET by setting the RETRACE
line mentioned above to an output, which fooled the system into
thinking the video was ALWAYS in RETRACE mode.
Q $198) COMAL, a programming language available for Commodore computers, was
created by whom?
A $198) Borge Christensen and Benedict Lofstedt, although Borge is given
the most credit.
Q $199) At the 1980 COMDEX, Commodore PETs proved instrumental during a
crisis. What happened?
A $199) The following is excerpted from _The Whole PET Catalog_, page 21:
"PET PROVEN USEFUL" During the 1980 MGM Grand fire in Las
Vegas, Commodore moved its entire COMDEX '80 booth dowstairs
to help track rooms, guests, etc. According to _InfoWorld_,
7 PETs with OZZ data-bases (predecessor to SILICON OFFICE)
were used for two straight days. Local police agreed they
could not have kept of the guests as well as the PETs did.
Also, untrained operators quickly learned the system. In the
crisis, PET was both powerful and useable.
Q $19A) Who designed the PET/CBM 8032 computer?
A $19A) Bill Seiler, the able assistant to Chuck Peddle, designed the unit.
Q $19B) What was the "cursor gone out to lunch" bug in the first PETs?
A $19B) No answer available yet (I can't find my notes!)
Q $19C) On a PET/CBM (early models), what will "POKE 14,1" do?
A $19C) If done immediately prior to an INPUT, the poke will suppress the
question mark prompt.
Q $19D) What version of BASIC would not utilize disk drives?
A $19D) BASIC 1.0
Q $19E) Who is Lyman Duggan and why is he important?
A $19E) He is one of the founding fathers of the Toronto PET User's Group
(TPUG), along with Jim Butterfield.
Q $19F) Jim Butterfield notes to me that he received plenty of help in
creating the first PET memory map (Q $0D8) from the Sphinx group,
who published critical information in their early newsletters. How
did Commodore influence the name of the group?
A $19F) The name "Sphinx" was chosen because of the way early PETs resembled
the Great Sphinx, the Lion with the head of a pharoah.
The information in this between the lines marked by (BEGIN) and (END)
is copyright 1996 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 #26 Questions and Answers (END)---------
