The Shadow for Commodore 64


I was recently given some Commodore items, and among them was an odd-looking circuit board that I didn't recognize. I found some markings on the board and began to google for information. What I found was very interesting.

Posting to comp.sys.amiga.emulations by Jim Drew, 03/14/1992

Newsgroups: comp.sys.amiga.emulations
From: ---Removed--- (Jim Drew)
Date: 14 Mar 92 00:46:24 PDT
Local: Sat, Mar 14 1992 2:46 am
Subject: MEGASOFT..

Since the message reply system to this net site is "broken", I would like
to address a question about a company called MEGASOFT and a product called
"The Shadow".  Someone obviously has their story wrong..

The Shadow was designed by a Portland engineer by the name of Jack
Cornelius.  He built this board to fit into 1541 disk drives to make
backup of protected software.  This board never worked...and it was never
intended to work!  The engineer was a con-artist.  MegaSoft spent $400,000
on advertising (4 full color/full page ads in all the C64 magazines).  
They went out of business because of the fiasco.  MegaSoft sued Jack
Cornelius for fraud...and won.  Mr. Cornelius is currently serving time in
an Oregon correctional institution for this crime.

*I* did not design The Shadow. *I* did not write software for it.  *I* did
not work for MegaSoft.  I did however, sell products to MegaSoft (as well
as other companies).  MegaSoft and Utilities Unlimited are completely
different companies, not spin-offs or the like.

Please, if you are going to flame me...get the facts straight...and if I
deserve to be flamed, that's ok by me.  :-)

-- 
      //     Jim Drew - Vice President, Utilities Unlimited of Oregon,  
     //                 --- Contact info removed ---  
   \X/                  --- Contact info removed ---  
                        --- Contact info removed --- 


Images of The Shadow


Click on the thumbnails for full-sized images
Shadow Top View Shadow Bottom View Shadow Side View Shadow Advertisement


Additional information

I have since discovered that I also had all the accompanying documentation for the Shadow in my possession. It came with a simple user manual and an apology letter that essentially tells the purchaser that he/she is an unwilling beta tester.
Shadow Beta Test Letter Shadow User Manual

Pete Rittwage dumped the 2764 EPROM from this board. It's available here if you're interested.