Amstrad User Group
Amstrad User Group
Colour Personal Computer CPC 464 Plus
The successful CP 464 has an indirect successor, appropriately named the CPC 464 Plus. This is the latest addition to my collection and has been photographed with the new digital camera (with enhanced resolution) that I will use in the future for the other photographs too. With some software compression, to keep the download times to a minimum. An experiment therefore, that is to be continued.
The machine itself is an experiment too because I have experience nor a manual. The Plus series (which also features a 6128, no 664, though) has not been put on the Dutch market.
The CPC 464 Plus is fully compatible with it's older brother and also features 64 kilobytes of memory and a data recorder. But the successor has a higher resolution and more possibilities. Apart from a more modern (plastic) housing with the name in relieved surface, the computer features a cartridge system, visible in the left upper corner with a yellow edge on the cartridge. This slot system accepts programs (mostly games) that can be loaded considerable faster than using the common cassette tapes.
This cartridge system comes from the GX4000 console and is also used in the CPC Plus-series. It never became popular or a market standard.
The left side of the 464 Plus with the cartridge slot system in close-up, along with the cartridge that comes standard with the computer: "Burning Rubber".
Cartridges are considerably more expensive and rare than tapes, because they never became popular. Apart from the higher price (when compared to cassette tape) and the reduced compatibility another problem plagued this system: you are unable to make a copy, or change the code on the cartridge. On the other hand floppy discs continued to become cheaper and cheaper. Those were the reasons why no other machine, besides the CPC 464+, CPC 6128+ and GX 4000 adopted this slot system. The computer has plenty of ports, some of which I have not yet identified (on the to-do list). What I have identified are two joystick or game pad ports, which is also an enhancement compared to the original.
The front, from the left to right (i.e. right to left in the picture) power supply, monitor, parallel and serial port. The Centronics parallel port has been implemented a a standard female Centronics connector.
A cable for this (double Centronics) is a bit hard to find, as the present parallel standard uses a combination of Centronics (mail, for the printer) and IBM (PC side) connectors.
A fault from which most of the parallel printer interfaces of the PCW-series also suffer - finding a suitable cable is more expensive and difficult.
To the main CPC-page.
