Reprinted from Commodore World Issue #2
First of all, you'll want to make sure that the place you've selected for your computer has enough grounded outlets (the ones with three holes). A very handy way to take care of this requirement is to use a power strip with a built-in surge protector. Using a power strip is more than just convenient, however. It's common sense. That surge protector will can prevent a lot of problems and repairs down the road. Since Commodore equipment is scarce and knowledgeable repair personnel scarcer still, the surge protector can mean the life or death of your system. You'll also want to find a place well ventilated and relatively free of dust. A phone line is essential if you plan to do anything on line (with a modem, that is, like on the Internet or GEnie).
Once you have a place selected, you can begin hooking things up. The computer unit itself has a power pack, one end of which plugs into the wall and the other into your computer. It's a good idea to keep this power pack away from the rest of your equipment, since it could damage disks and cause interference in the monitor. The monitor, disk drives, and printer also have power cables. Plug in each of these components (with the power off to the power strip) and arrange things so that you can reach everything easily. If you want to be able to turn the whole system on at once with a switch on the power strip, make sure that switch is going to be accessible as well.
At this point, you have a whole bunch of separate pieces with no way for them to talk to each other. Let's hook them up one at a time, starting with the monitor. If you have a Commodore monitor, there are several ways that you might need to hook it up, depending on the screen modes of which your system is capable. On the back of your computer you'll find several places, often called ports, where you can plug in different sizes and shapes of cables. The small round one will let you connect your 64 or 128 to a monitor or to a television set by way of a TV/COMPUTER switch box. There are two larger round ports, one of which is for a video cable and the other for your disk drive. Make sure you don't force a cable into one of these ports; that cable might actually be intended for the other port. The 128 also includes a vaguely rectangular port which hooks the computer up to an 80-column monitor.
Once you've determined how to hook up the monitor, the rest is easy. Your disk drive connects to the computer using the other round port and that rather thick cable with the large round plug on either end. You'll notice when you look at the back of the disk drive that there are two identical ports to chose from. It makes no difference which one you use; the other can be used to run another cable on to another disk drive if you have one. Commodore printers also can be connected to your system this way, into the extra port on the back of the last disk drive in the line. Running drives linked together like this is called "daisy-chaining."
If you don't have a Commodore or Commodore-ready printer, you will need some kind of an interface to connect your computer to it. For a discussion of printers and connection options, check out the article in last month's issue of Commodore World.
Other devices, such as modems, RAM devices, cartridges, and so on also need to be attached to your system before you power up. Check the documentation for each device to find out how it should be installed.
There has been a friendly debate running for years in the Commodore community about the best order in which to start up your system's various components. Some people are convinced that the drives and monitor should be turned on before the computer itself; others are just as certain that it's the other way around. I personally just hit the switch on my power strip and kick everything on at once. One thing to remember: never switch on a 64 and 1541 with a disk in the drive.