
   A REVIEW OF THE NEW 4 COMMODORE

         By Michael LaPaglia


     The new +4 arrived at my home 1
week ago. Its arrival was greeted with
almost the same joy as the arrival of
my latest son. It was almost 9 months
to the day that I first heard about the
+4 (originally called the 264). My
initial reaction was one of caution,
caused no doubt by the feel and sound
of the keyboard. The +4 keyboard is of
the same color and type as the SX-64. A
bit loose and noisy for me. However, as
soon as I turned it on all my doubts
left me. The best news was that the
1541 drive and the MPS-801 printer work
perfectly with the +4. The datasette
and joysticks are not compatible
neither is the 1650 modem (drat).
however Commodore says that the rs232
cart. will work if I can just figure
out how to plug it in to the +4( the
case is too large).
     The first thing you notice is that
the screen and border colors are
different from any other Commodore to
date. Lt.blue border with white screen
and black letters. The next thing that
caught my eye was the 60671 basic bytes
FREE! This is a basic programmers dream
machine.
     The layout of the +4 is similar to
the 64 except that the function keys
are at the top of the machine on the
left side. The keyboard has been
slightly rearranged with the addition
of an escape key where the left arrow
used to be. The cursor keys have been
moved slightly down and to the right to
make room for two additional cursor
keys. The +4 has 4 cursor keys shaped
like arrows. One for each direction.
This is very nice once you get out of
the habit of reaching for the shift key
to go up or left.
     One of the nicest features on the
new keyboard is that the function keys
are programmed when you turn the +4 on.
F1 will put you into the built in
software(more on that later). F2 is the
basic3.5 command 'DLOAD"'. F3 will read
the disc directory to the screen with
out loading in to basic ram. F4 is a
new command for basic3.5 'SCNCLR' this
clears the screen even in graphics
mode. F5 is 'DSAVE"'. F6 is 'RUN'. F7






is 'LIST'. The F8 key is marked 'HELP'
this is a very nice command. when a
basic programme crashes do to an error
the 'HELP' key will display the line
and flash the error for you. The users
manual contains the info on how to
programme the Fkeys to be any command
or string that you want. Including a
one line programme to emulate the 64
Fkeys. Before we get into the heart of
the machine I would like to cover two
other additions to the keyboard. A
second CTRL key has replaced the
restore key. A 'FLASH ON' FLASH OFF'
function has been added to the
keyboard. This makes for some very nice
screen displays. I suggest you use this
sparingly as too much flashing can be
distracting.
     Commodore has called the +4 the
'PRODUCTIVITY MACHINE' due to the 4
built in software programmes. The +4 is
truly a wonderfull computer but not
because of the built in programmes. In
fact the onboard software is the
weakest part of the +4. Pressing the F1
key, then return, will place you into
the wordprocessor. This has to be the
most difficult wp to use in the world,
The commands are archaic. Total storage
is 99 lines of 77 chars each. The most
distressing thing is that while it
saves the text as a sequential file, it
is not a standard file! You can not
load a +4 wp file in to EASYSCRIPT nor
can you load a EASYSCRIPT file in to
the +4. That means that in order for me
to be able to get this review to you I
had to use my C-64 and EASYSCRIPT. To
get to the spreadsheet you press the
commodore key and the 'c' together then
type 'TC' (To calculator?). The
spreadsheet is adequate for most
purposes and not to hard to use. The
graphics package allows you to display
spreadsheet data on the wordprocessor
in a graph format. The Database
programme actually has some interesting
features. It will never replace
SUPERBASE 64, but it will work for most
people.
     That was the last of the negitives
about the +4. The rest is excellent.
BASIC3.5 is one of the finest versions
of Microsoft basic I have ever seen. It
incorporates the best of BASIC4.0,
PROGRAMMERS TOOL KIT, SIMONS BASIC, and
THE 64 EXPANDER. Basic2.0 is fully
supported so any programmes that do not
'poke or peek' are transportable from






the 64 to the +4. To cover all the new
commands would take another 10 pages so
I will just mention a few.
 COLOR: this command will set the
display colors much in the same way
that poke 53281,x will affect the 64
display.
 AUTO: automaticaly prints the next
line number when programming in basic.
 DELETE: this will delete a single line
or a range of lines from a basic
programme.
 RENUMBER: will renumber all or part of
a basic programme including the goto's
and gosub's.
 PRINT USING: (finally) aligns numbers
in a list right and justifies them.
 KEY: displays the current definitions
of the 8 function keys. also used to
programme them.
     The +4 has several commands to aid
the programmer in debugging a
programme.
 TRAP: this will send the programme to
a predetermined line if an error
occures.
 TRON: programme trace on. displays
current line# basic is working on.
 TROFF: programme trace off.
 EL: returns the line number where the
error happened.
 DS$: contains the disc error message
if any
 ER: contains the basic error message
number
 ERR$: returns the error message for
the error # given.
    Basic3.5 has several sound and
graphics commands such as DRAW, BOX,
GSHAPE, CIRCLE, VOL, SOUND and many
more. The programming commands that I
like the best are DO LOOP, DO UNTIL
LOOP, DO WHILE LOOP. These make
conditional loops very easy to
programme. Thats enough about basic3.5
for the moment.
     The best thing about the +4 is, in
my opinion, the fact that it is very
easy to programme in machine language
using the built in 'monitor'. You can
get to the monitor in several ways.
SYS3, type MONITOR, or hold the
'run/stop' key down and momentarily
press the reset key located next to the
power button. The monitor has 17
commands. All the ones I use with
HESMON except there is no HEX/DEC
conversion. This must be done from
BASIC3.5 using the commands HEX$ and
DEC. I find it very comforting to have






the built in monitor ready whenever I
need it. Some memory locations to get
you started are.
 CASSETTE BUFFER: $0333 to $03F2 ( 819
to 1010 dec)
 SCREEN: $0C00 to $0FFF (3072 to 4095
dec)
 COLOR RAM: $0400 to 0BFF (1094 to 3071
dec)
 START OF BASIC: $1001 (4097 dec)
 END OF BASIC: $???? (with 60k free who
cares?)
 END OF BASIC: $FD00 (64768 DEC)
 POINTER TO START OF BASIC: $002B,2C
(43,44 dec)
 POINTER TO START OF BASIC VARIABLES:
$002D,2E (45,46 dec)
 POINTER TO END OF BASIC RAM: $0037,38
(55,56 dec)
 POINTER TO BOTTOM OF STRING STORAGE:
$0033,34 (51,52 dec)
     As I learn more about the memory
map I'll let you know. The Kernal jump
table seems to be the same as the 64,
ie. $FFD2 is CHROUT in both machines. I
have had very little trouble converting
simple routines from the 64 to the +4.
     I mentioned the reset switch
briefly in the section about the
monitor. The switch is located just in
front of the power button on the right
side. The reset button performs a cold
reset, all pointers are reset and any
basic programme in, in  memory, is
'newed' However, with the monitor on
board it is simple to un-new the
programme. A soft-reset similar to
'run/stop restore' on  the 64 can be
achieved by holding the 'run/stop' key
down and momentarily pressing the reset
switch. (warning, DO NOT release the
run/stop key untill the monitor appears
on the screen) then type 'x' <return>
to exit the monitor back to basic.
     The last thing that I want to
touch on are the Windowing commands on
the +4 The 'escape' key lets you set up
a window on the screen similar to the
APPLE LISA! The escape key and the 't'
sets the upper left corner of the
window. The escape key and the 'b' set
the lower right corner. hitting 'home'
twice in a row will return you to
normal screen size.
     I'll save the expanded screen
editing commands along with an
explanation of the graphics modes for
next month.
    The +4 is an excellent buy at three
hundred dollars. It will never replace






the 64 but will coexist peacefully with
it as the top of the line computer for
the serious programmer.
    See you next month with more about
this wonderful computer.
I think I'm in love.

     Michael LaPaglia

*fp0

         C-64 / +4  Comparison


---------------------------------------
Features                 |  64  |  +4
---------------------------------------
Ram                      | 64k  | 64k
Rom                      | 20k  | 64k
Sprites                  | yes  |  no
Polyphonic sound         | yes  |  no
Voices                   |   3  |   2
Noise generator          |   1  |   1
Keys                     |  66  |  68
Programmed Function keys |  no  |   8
Basic                    | 2.0  | 3.5
Number of colors         |  16  | 121
Basic bytes free         |38911 |60671
Graphics commands        |  no  | yes
Window commands          |  no  | yes
Esacpe key               |  no  | yes
Restore key              |  no  | yes
Reset button             |  no  | yes
Number of CTRL keys      |   1  |   2
Built in ML Monitor      |  no  | yes
Built in software        |  no  | yes
---------------------------------------
Compatibility            |  64  |  +4
---------------------------------------
1541 disk drive          | yes  | yes
MSD single/dual drive    | yes  | yes
1525/MPS-801 printer     | yes  | yes
Datassette               |1530  |1531
1600/1650 modem          | yes  |  no
1660 modem               |  no  | yes
RS-1011A rs-232 cart     | yes  | yes
1701,1702/1703 Monitors  | yes  | yes
ATARI joystick           | yes  |  no
---------------------------------------
List price               |209.95|299.95

