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|    CBM    |    Commodore Computer Conference    |    4,328 messages    |
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|    Message 2,240 of 4,328    |
|    Martijn van Buul to All    |
|    Re: Commodore history - The Commodore 12    |
|    23 Oct 18 09:40:57    |
      * Etienne von Wettingfeld:              > IIRC it has to do with the ability to auto-boot CP/M.              Well... Close :)              The C128 was designed to be compatible with all official C64 addons -       which included the C64 CP/M cartridge, which had compatibility issues       on later revision C64s already. Designing in the Z80 (so the CP/M cartridge       would be redundant, and no longer an issue..) was cheaper than trying to work       around the issues.              There were other problematic cartridges: Cartridges that (ab)used Ultimax       mode to hijack the reset-, NMI- and interrupt vectors. This included some       of Commodore's own (including the Magic Voice). These would cause problems,       since the system hadn't been configured for C64 mode yet.              This is the real reason the c128 initially boots using the Z80: It probes       whether the system needs to boot in CP/M, 128 or 64 mode, while the 8502       was still halted.              Get it from the horse's mouth (Not that I'd call Bil a horse, mind):              https://www.reddit.com/r/c128/comments/682da4/c128_ama_from_bil_herd/              --       Martijn van Buul - pino@dohd.org              --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05        * Origin: Agency HUB, Dunedin - New Zealand | Fido<>Usenet Gateway (3:770/3)    |
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