For those of you who remember the Commodore 64/128 fondly, you may either celebrate the return of a PC compatbile version of the Commodore computer, or recognize the new Commodore computers as defacing the Commodore name. With that said, a company has licensed the Commodore name and is selling PCs shoehorned into a keyboard type chasis. Simply add mouse and monitor and you have an all-in-one PC similiar to the original Commodore form factor. Excluding the nostalgia, I can see a few practical applications for these PCs including PC based kiosks, point of sale (POS) systems, and situations where desktop or workspace room is minimal. And the prices aren't too bad either, particularly for the more powerful versions that are similar to the performance of a traditional desktop machine. With that said, in the age of the "netbook", you can find many of those for around $300 and they're considerably more portable and less expensive.

But the awesome factor comes in when you consider what operating system to put on these little babies. Of course there's FreeDOS when combined with Breadbox Ensemble and you'd have a great, compact little DOS based PC. Ubuntu and Windows are also options. And of course you could add any number of emulators (Commodore, Apple II, PC, DOSBox, etc.) to the system and really blow your friends and family away with a "new" Commodore that can run "old" Commodore apps through emulation. In fact they even mention these options on their site.

I fear for the company though, not too many independents have been able to survive the competition from the Dells, HPs and Lenovas, and this form factor isn't original, you'll find several different PC-in-a-keyboard manufacturers advertising online and at the back of PC magazines, not to mention the competition from netbooks and the benefits of portability.

Regardless, give them a look. There might be something there that piques your interest! And Breadbox, you may want to get in touch with these guys too and get FreeDOS/Breadbox Ensemble up as one of the OS options they advertise on their OS page as well!

Site: Commodore USA Website

Article: Operating System Options

Here's a good but brief review of FreeDOS over at OSNews.com. The take away, DOS is not dead! And for all you PC/GEOS, NewDeal Office and Breadbox Ensemble users, know that these versions of PC/GEOS run on FreeDOS as well. Since publication of this review note that FreeDOS has reached the 1.0 production ready version of the software. Also, if you decide to install FreeDOS, take a few moments to investigate the GEM graphical user interface and the Seal graphical user interface. I think you'll agree that PC/GEOS blows either of these GUIs away!

Source: OSNews.com

Article: FreeDOS 9 Review

Older versions of PC/GEOS (GeoWorks, NewDeal and prior versions of Breadbox Ensemble) have had complications in the past running on fast PCs. Breadbox has announce a fix with the release of Breadbox 4.13 and the fix is also available for download for prior versions as well.

Details: This file fixes the problem on most computers of running Breadbox Ensemble directly under Windows XP/Vista and other OSs on computers with fast CPUs (usually 1 Ghz or faster). All other Breadbox recommendations to change and/or modify other settings to run Ensemble under WinXP still apply. Please see the link to the applicable document for instructions, tips and tricks.

Download and replace the existing GEOS.GEO file found in the Ensemble/System folder. As a precaution we recommend you save the original GEOS.GEO file by placing it somewhere safe, like in your Document folder. Please note, you cannot replace the file while Ensemble is open. You can only replace the file from Windows. Also, as previously noted, all other Breadbox recommendations to change and/or modify other settings to run Ensemble under WinXP still apply. Please see the link to the applicable document for instructions, tips and tricks.

Source: Breadbox Computer Company

Article: Fast CPU bug fix

Download: GEOS.GEO.ZIP

Props go out to Hewlett-Packard. They are one of the first, and largest PC providers who offer their customers a variety of different pre-installed and supported operating systems. How does this related to PC/GEOS? Well, one of the supported, pre-installed operating systems is FreeDOS.

When cobmined with Breadbox Ensemble you have a modern, DOS/GEOS based platform from which to run critical business applications that have not been ported to Windows or Linux, legacy DOS games (which you may need to use a slow-down utility! on such a modern, fast machine) and without a doubt you know that Breadbox Ensemble would blaze on such a machine.

Here's a press release about HPs new line of small business PCs and note they're priced very competitively, and again can ship with FreeDOS pre-installed, and supported by HP.

Source: PCMag.com

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