Hi,
recently I have got a commodore 128 with 1901 monitor, seikosha gp-100vc printer and 1571 disk drive. As I am only 14 years old, and that computer was manufactured in 87 ( i think ), it is older than me and I do not know basic very well... Now I want to do something with it !

So my questions are:
1. What OS (instead of basic editor) I can run on it? where to get one? ( I know only Lunix)
2. How to turn on 80 column mode on that monitor? (all i get is green borders. and without that mode I cannot get Lunix to work)
3. How can I change my screen colour?
4. Can i use my normal computer as commodore's hard drive? ( I know that with some hardware mod i can attach an IDE hard drive or floppy )
5. Can I do something useful with it?

Any one expirenced with those machines please tell me.


PS.:
And yes it is Lunix, not linux. A unix-like os for 8-bit machines .

Try this link
http://lng.sourceforge.net/

As I said I know about Lunix, but it demands 80 column screen mode, and all I can get is 40 . Any ideas how to do this with 1901 monitor ??

Edit:
And how do I copy it to my 1571 floppy disk?

The Commodore 128 used to be able to interface directly to a TV, like it's predecessor, the Commodore 64 (first manufactured circa 1982). I don't know if you have looked for the RF modulator hook-up on the thing, but try that. Of course, the C128 might have only been able to interface with American TVs...

Oh, and you might be able to get your hands on a copy of GEOS for the C128. It's a gui similar to the early MACs.

That monitor is specially built for c=128 and it is possible to connect it through standart tv ports, in that case it works like tv (40 column mode), but it also has a rgbi port. What cable do i need to build to connect my commodore to rgbi port of monitor? ( if I switch my monitor to rgbi mode it is just black)

According to this manuel that I found you have a 40/80 column key that can be pressed to convert from 40 column to 80 column.
http://www.commodore.ca/manuals/128_...de/sect-08.htm
Everything else that I looked at used software to convert from 40 to 80 columns.
This link may also give you some help
http://members.tripod.com/~rvbelzen/#ebooks

The Wave - "Now you can enjoy graphical web browsing on your Commodore 64 or Commodore 128. "The Wave" makes this all possible." "NOTE: The Wave requires a Commodore 64 or 128 running Wheels (GEOS upgrade) with a SuperCPU and at least 4mb of SuperRAM memory."

Contiki - "Contiki is an open source, highly portable, networked, multi-tasking operating system for memory-constrained systems." "Contiki provides a simple event-driven kernel with light-weight protothreads, per-process optional preemptive multi-threading, interprocess communication using message passing through events, a dynamic process structure with support for loading and unloading programs, native TCP/IP support using the uIP TCP/IP stack, and a GUI subsystem with either direct graphic support for locally connected terminals or networked virtual display with VNC or over Telnet.

Contiki runs on a variety of tiny systems ranging from embedded 8-bit microcontrollers to old homecomputers such the Commodore 64. Code footprint is on the order of kilobytes and memory usage can be configured to be as low as tens of bytes." (more) "The Commodore 128 ports runs in 80 column mode, but it is far from perfect as can be seen from the screenshot. There is TCP/IP over RS-232/SLIP support."

GEOS - "GEOS 64 and GEOS 128 V2.0 are now available for free downloading

You now have a choice... if you don't need the manual, you can download GEOS along with all the files normally included with it or you can still purchase it at a reduced price of $25 plus shipping. This price includes the complete manual along with 3 original disks which saves you the trouble of downloading and setting up your disks."

"Just click here to get your free download and start enjoying GEOS on us."

GEOS related Slashdot.org article & discussion entitled, "GEOS Available for Download After 18 Years" (02-13-2004)

Beyond those suggestions (of which I know nothing about so this info is FWIW YMMV) I don't remember, it's been a LONG time since I've used a Commodore.

Many thans furfurdemon666, I will try contiki. As I said many thanks .