>I've personally taken disks like WordStar for Kaypro, put it in the 1571 and ran directly.
> I've taken Dbase II for Televideo, put in 1571 and run it.

Aka, no point writing serious C128 native SW

> 80 column video (separate RGBi output)

Sounds as bad as the AtariST monitor situation

>The cost of a C128 with 1571 was still less than half of an A500.

The cost (to build) or the price (C= asked) ?
I'd guess it's the 2nd as C= had no prob slashing the A500*s price by 60% over time with no other cost savings apart from RAM (and maybe an even sweeter deal on those 7MHz 68000)

I'd say the A300/600 is a similar case, supposed to be a cheaper A500, turned out more expensive to build.
To incompatible for games (ECS,Kick2.0 missing numeric KBD) to weak for serious use.

Still it sold in numbers (below cost) and sure some just love the little bugger today.