CBM engineer Bil Herd - virtual guest

[RobertB]

Hello to all,

At this month's Nov. 20 FCUG meeting, CBM engineer Bil Herd will be our "virtual" guest as he comes on-line to video-chat with us.  Bil Herd was instrumental in developing the Plus/4 and was the lead engineer for the C128.

If you have any questions or comments for Bil, post them here, and we will relay them to him at the meeting.  We hope to videotape the session for everybody to see later.

          Truly,
          Robert Bernardo
          Fresno Commodore User Group
          http://videocam.net.au/fcug

[RobertB]

At this month's Nov. 20 FCUG meeting, CBM engineer Bil Herd will be our "virtual" guest as he comes on-line to video-chat with us.

Also Bil will be broadcasting live from his end of the feed (cross your fingers that errors don't pop up). He writes, "...we will be broadcasting live on

http://www.ustream.tv/channel/bilherd ..."

Bil will be trying to record the session at his end of the feed, too.

Send your questions in,
Robert Bernardo
Fresno Commodore User Group
http://videocam.net.au/fcug

[Digiman]

Awesome, very entertaining guy as well as a talented engineer. Could you ask Bill his thoughts on

1. the requirement of running in 128 mode at 1mhz due to VIC-II and SID design restrictions. Could/should there have been a VIC-III with bigger palette and more powerful sprites with dual SIDs to improve the gaming experience for 128 mode games not VDC for 2mhz mode?

2. whether the C128 was closer to a Super PET replacement with C64 compatibility than a true successor to the C64 with greater gaming features as the C64 was to the VIC-20?

3. how things would have turned out (ie for Plus4/128/Amiga 1000) if Jack Tramiel wasn't forced out of Commodore?

Thanks

[RobertB]

Also Bil will be broadcasting live from his end of the feed (cross your fingers that errors don't pop up). He writes, "...we will be broadcasting live on

http://www.ustream.tv/channel/bilherd ..."

Estimated time of the start of the chat - 11:30 a.m. Pacific Time.

We are still gathering questions for Bil, and even if you can't make the meeting, send those questions in, and we'll ask Bil.

Naturally, in keeping with the nature of our special guest, we'll have a presentation of the C128 Video DAC, the hardware which connects the C128 to a VGA monitor in 80-columns and in all of its 16 colors.  We'll have a repeat presentation of the Megabit ROM adapter which adds 32K of programs into the empty socket of the C128.

Truly,
Robert Bernardo
Fresno Commodore User Group
http://videocam.net.au/fcug

[RobertB]

Bil recorded the chat at his end of the feed.  It is on line at

http://www.ustream.tv/channel/bilherd

In Bil's video-recording, there were some audio problems with trying to hear our questions.

Recorded from our side of the chat, our version of the Bil Herd chat is also on-line.  Audio is much improved, i.e., more understandable, and video gaps on our side of the chat have been filled in with clips from Bil's video recording.

To see our recording, go to

Bil Herd speaks to the Fresno Commodore User Group, part 1
http://blip.tv/file/5814094

Bil Herd speaks to the Fresno Commodore User Group, part 2
http://blip.tv/file/5814249

          Merry Christmas!
          Robert Bernardo
          Fresno Commodore User Group
          http://videocam.net.au/fcug

[RobertB]

In a kind of follow-up to the above chats, Bil Herd has posted a new video about the Commodore 116, the $49 computer he and the other CBM engineers hoped would be good seller for Commodore Business Machines.

To find out what happened to the C116, see Bil's video at

http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=xPD5N43VIsk

          Happy New Year!
          Robert Bernardo
          Fresno Commodore User Group
          http://videocam.net.au/fcug

[A1260]

thanks for sharing this info..