Yo, Dawgs!

So's you want geek bling? Having computer bling is just more thn stuff, it is also style. This page covers the 'bling' of the Commodore world and the posers and 'wanna blings.'

THE STUFF THAT BLINGS

Computers

Commodore 64 - The Commodore 64 in itself blings, it kicks it at all levels, 'homes. You bling if you have a Commodore 64 system working away in the corner, not so much if you don't even know how to use it. Better if you have the grey 'breadbox 64' as it has a better sound chip and looks real retro. The Poser for 64 bling would be using 64 emulator on a PC or the 'Web-it' 64 wannabe.

Commodore PET 2001 - The original PET blings for it's classic styling, built-in monitor, cassette drive and keyboard. The all-steel case even adds to the bling factor along with the hood prop to keep it open. Somewhat blingworthy would be a later PET/CBM if you have it in operation with software to make it show its stuff.

Commodore 65 - The hot rod that never made it into stores, if you have just a circuit board you get points, if you have a working model you got bling.

C-1 - The C-1 (aka Commodore One) designed by Jerri Ellsworth has bling, it's a Commodore 64 redesigned fgor the new millenium, it comes to the buyer as a circuit board which needs to be put into a PC case, and given it's still beta status is still a bit of software updating and troubleshooting. If you have one and use it you shine, bro.

Commodore DTV Joystick - Think of it as the C-1's baby brother it's a Commodore 64 on a chip all in a single joystick. Many posers will say they bling just because they have one or they know how to get to the hidden easter eggs; but to be righteous you have to do something with it - write a demo in BASIC or have it modded to use a disk drive or PC keyboard.

A rare or prototype Commodore computer - This could be a pre-production model like the Commodore 364 (related to the Plus/4 but with a larger keyboard and voice synthesis), the C-900 (an ill-fated unix based computer), the Commodore P-500 though it was produced not very many are out there. Some posers pass off a not too commonly heard about computer like the Plus/4 or Commodore 16 as bling when those machines Commodore practically couldn't give away in the U.S., though if you are a information guru or code killer demos on the Plus/4 then you get bling for your talent.

Killer modded computer - not all the moded Commodore computers would earn props from the homies, it's gotta shine. Such things of art like a complete Commodore system in a tower case rates, but a cheap ITX PC thrown into a 64 without making the original keyboard or joysticks work is just pure posing. Recently I saw the ultimate modded 128, the Gold 128 which was auctioned off at the Commodore Vegas Expo (Jul/2005) it was maxed out with extra VDC RAM, switches for everything and jiffyDOS all around, plus had a cherry gold paint job on all the cases.

Peripherals

You will note a lot of these peripherals are standard equipment for the long term Commdoore user, GEOS entusiast, or BBS Sysop; all of whom show thier coolness by thier dedication.

CMD HD, IDE 64, Lieutennant Kernel, Data Chief, etc. Hard Drives - Now this shows commitment to get a hard drive for your Commodore 8-bit, besides storing vast amounts of data, they are usually at least 3 times more expensive than PC equivalant hard drive due to thier custom electronic controllers running them.

RAMLink - Disk Drive in RAM, a popular device used by BBS Sysops and GEOS badasses.

Super CPU - What Commodore brother would not want to turbocharge thier 64 to up to 20 times the current 1mghz! This hefty cartridge adds major computing mojo power and RAM to a Commodore 64, Even the worst BASIC code running with the SCPU will outstrip the Best ML in an unaccellerated 64.

An Advanced Utility Cartridge - These babies show that you mean business, such cartridges as the Final Cartridge III, Super Snapshot v%, and Action Replay give the Commodore power user access to the inner working of thier computer and code, they can code and debug on the fly. These cartridges offer many different features and are not always popular in all areas (i.e. action replay is more popular in europe and Super Snapshot in the US (probably because some of AR's features only work on PAL based 64s).

Internet on the Commodore - Getting your Commodore on the net shows bling, any luser can get a windows box onto the net, but to browse or check your email regularly on a Commodore 64 or 128 shows style. There are several ways to get them on-line from modems to unix shell accounts, interfaces like the Retro Replay ethernet adapter or using a PC as a telnet interface shows you have determination and dedication.

COMMODORE MOJO

Even though all of that stuff is PHAT, what makes the bling really shine is the mojo of the person with the bling, be it a gui pro, a Commodore 8-bit programmer or demo coder, a hardware designer, information guru, 64/128 BBS sysop or history buff, the community is not about the things as much as the diversity and style. Any one could have any of those things above but it doesn't shine unless you give it some polish yourself.