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What is a Commodore Computer?

A Look at the Incredible History and
Legacy of the Commodore Home Computers
Copyright 1999
(May be used without modification for
non-commercial purposes)
Reid C. Swenson, M.S.

There are many individuals who have
probably never heard of the Commodore
home computers and are
unaware of their incredible legacy &
the tremendous impact which they
have had upon the evolution of
computers. Some of the younger
generation who are too young to
remember the 1980's may still not have
seen or heard much-- if anything--
about Commodore computers & likely have
very little sense of their
significance. Likewise, many of the
middle aged and older generation who
did not develop an interest in
computers until recently may be
equally uninformed. However, most
individuals who were involved in the
home computer and electronics fields
during the 1980's are probably
somewhat familiar or quite familiar
with the Commodore products and
their history.

COMMODORE 64

Commodore's most popular model, the
Commodore 64, was the Model T Ford
of the home computer movement. As
you may recall the Model T Ford was
the first automobile that the average
person on an average income was able
to afford or justify buying because of
its low price, extensive consumer-
oriented marketing, and usability.

The Commodore 64 is an 8-bit
computer that uses Commodore DOS
instead of MS Dos or Windows. In
fact, for the most part it cannot run

IBM or Macintosh computer programs.
The Commodore 64 has BASIC 2.0
and 64k of memory although when you
turn the computer on it indicates only
38,911 bytes available because nearly
half of its memory is used for internal
functions. The Commodore 64 was
actually part of the evolution of
computers marketed by CBM
(Commodore Business Machines)
which had previously proliferated the
CBM and PET business computers
into business and academic settings
and who had then subsequently
developed the VIC-20 computer which
was the predecessor to the Commodore
64.

COMMODORE VIC-20

The Vic-20 (named after its
revolutionary Video Interface Chip)
had captured the imagination of many
enthusiasts around 1981 because of its
very user-friendly BASIC language,
nice color graphics, programmable
sound, comfortable keyboard, and the
fact that it could directly connect to
compatible disk drives and printers
without expensive expansion modules
and interfaces. The Vic 20 had been
affordably marketed for around $400
when it first came out and it quickly
caught the imagination of many
consumers and educators with several
user-friendly and affordable
peripherals (such as joysticks, a
"datasette" cassette storage device,
modems, printers, and shortly
thereafter the VIC-1540 floppy drive,
etc.) being released.

1530 (C2N) DATASSETTE

During the early 1980's IBM was
promoting the PC Jr. computer which
was radically inferior (in most ways)
to the rest of the home computer
systems on the market and vastly more
expensive. Commodore was, therefore,
really receiving more competition from
the Atari 400 and 800, the Texas
Instruments 99, the Radio Shack Color
Computer and the Apple 2 computer.
Despite the rivalry between these 8-bit
manufacturers much of the credit for
innovation goes to Commodore largely
because Commodore consistently pushed
the price down and because the Atari &
Apple computers used the Commodore
6502 processor as their main micro-
processing chip.

In the very early 1980's unique
marketing schemes were developed by
different firms trying to cash-in on
the developing computer craze. The
fascination that many people had
begun to experience with the
fledgling computer video game,
educational, business, and word
processing capabilities of these
computers quickly led to various multi-
level marketing groups trying to
involve people in selling these
machines. There were few computer
stores at the time and most of
them were small. Computers were
somewhat of an uncertain novelty item
which many of the larger electronics
and department stores were a little
slow to embrace because of the
uncertainty and lack of experience in
dealing with such products. Consumers
were often equally tentative and
uncertain although there was a great
deal of enthusiasm on the part of
those who were keenly interested in
such products. Many factors such as
these created opportunities and schemes
for the smaller and more venturous and
creative individuals who wanted to get
involved-- sometimes in unconventional
ways. Oftentimes young and penniless
entrepreneurs developed some hot
selling Commodore software or hardware
on a very low budget resulting in
overnight fame and fortune.

Just as the Commodore Vic 20 was
beginning to become fairly popular &
many stores and some multi-level
marketing programs had acquired
significant inventories of Vic products
rumors began to emerge that Commodore
was working on a vastly more powerful
version of the Vic 20 to be called the
Vic 64 and eventually called the
Commodore 64 (many came to casually
refer to it as the "C-64" or just the
"64"). As the rumors of the impending
release of the Commodore 64 continued
they sparked excitement and uncertainty
in the Commodore market. Those who had
invested quite a bit of money into the
Vic 20 line found themselves with
ambivalent and mixed emotions. This was
probably the first experience which
many individuals had ever encountered
with the phenomenon we now refer to
"upgrading". Undoubtedly some became
resentful. Some of those who had
developed their marketing strategy
and acquired large inventories of Vic
20 products found themselves
scrambling around to modify their
plans or to obtain price-protection as
the value of Vic 20 products began to
plummet rapidly.

Commodore had originally planned to
release the Commodore 64 for nearly
$1000 (without any floppy drive or
monitor) but by the time it actually
hit the market they had already decided
to reduce the suggested retail price to
just under $500. This was still a lot
of money back then-- keep in mind that
$500 back then was about the equivalent
of $1000 today. Still, it was the best
deal on the home computer market--
especially since it had a built-in RF
modulator for connecting directly to a
regular television set.

Amazingly, the price of the Commodore
64 plummeted to under $300 within a
matter of months, and a few months
later was down to $200.

Suddenly customer interest in these
amazing new computers began to heat
up.

About this time many sizeable chain
stores (some of which had already
been carrying Vic-20 merchandise)
began to carry Commodore 64 items.
Regional electronic superstores got
involved as did a significant number of
smaller computer dealerships.
Eventually Commodore 64 and Vic-20
software and hardware was carried by
such national department stores as
Sears, Montgomery Ward, Fred Meyer,
LaBelles, K-Mart, and many others.
Also, many toy stores such as Lionel
Play World and Toys'R'Us began to
sell these computers. The price
dropped by another $50 and dealers
were buying the Commodore for just
over $100. Commodore became so
popular that Commodore even offered
shares of stock on the stock market
for several years.

As the competition among retailers
heated up it was not uncommon to see
retailers willing to sell the
Commodore 64 systems at cost or even at
a slight loss in order to lure people
into their stores. The strategy (which
usually paid off) was that customers
would see the computer selling at an
incredibly low price of near $100 and
come to buy the computer and end up
buying the 1541 disk drive, a Commodore
printer, Commodore modem, a 1702
Commodore monitor and a bunch of
educational software, games, supplies
and accessories to go along with it.
By the time the customer walked out the
door the purchase usually resulted in
significant profit to the retailer.

Many after-market and 3rd party
manufacturers subsequently began to
create and market Commodore-
compatible software, hardware, books,
and accessories in an effort to get
in on the blossoming industry. Many
Commodore magazines also became
established-- some of which even
included monthly disks with many free
programs on them. Many of our present
software and hardware giants got their
humble start during this period.
Microsoft's Multiplan became a very
popular spreadsheet for Commodore.
Other companies such as Electronic
Arts, Accolade, Activision, Cinemaware,
Cosmi, Batteries Included, Sublogic,
Epyx, Access, Infocom, Mastertronic,
etc. soon became household words.

Commodore service and repair centers
became quite common. Training
centers taught computer fundamentals &
programming using Commodore computers.
Many schools, universities, research
centers and educational enterprises
began using Commodore computers. A
significant number of small and medium
size businesses used Commodore
computers as well.

Unique marketing approaches continued
to develop as smaller companies and
private individuals began developing
the concept of shareware or freeware.
This new concept was based on the idea
that a programmer could write and
copyright a useful or fun program and
then freely distribute copies of it to
the public on the condition that end
users would pay a registration fee to
become an official user of the program.
Usually a relatively small fee was
supposed to be sent directly to the
program's author. Oftentimes the author
would provide an updated or more
complete version or accompanying manual
or program add-on or other benefit as
an incentive to pay the registration
fee. This kept overhead, production, &
marketing costs down by relying on
grass roots distribution and the "honor
system" of marketing. Several shareware
and freeware programs became fairly
famous during this time, but
undoubtedly a great many programmers'
dreams never quite lived up to
expectations. The idea of try-before-
you-buy software has continued to
evolve up to this day-- becoming more
and more sophisticated and creative.

Also, during this same time period a
great number of public domain programs
began to emerge. There were many
programmers who had written and not
copyrighted their programs for
various reasons whose programs began
to be freely distributed without any
registration fee being required. This
greatly added to the availability of
affordable software.

Another interesting phenomenon--
Commodore User's Groups-- began to
unfold during this time. This
phenomena was a result of the need
and desire of people to share
information regarding their computers
and interests. User's groups were
popular among other brands of
computers, but probably not to the
extent that they were popular among
Commodore users. The Commodore
was seen by many as the ideal hobby
computer and many of those who had
lower budgets had been attracted to
the Commodore because of its price.
Frequently these individuals (who
often had more time than money)
developed an incredible loyalty
toward the Commodore computers. It was
amazing that many of these
Commodore users often showed more
commitment to the Commodore 64
than Commodore Business Machines did.

A large factor in the success of the
Commodore 64 was its amazingly
versatile, futuristic & user-friendly
design. The fact that this amazing
computer had more memory, a nicer
keyboard, and was easier to interface
with peripherals than most computers
of that era made it so it was & still
is (in many ways) an ideal computer for
educators, hobbyists, game players,
beginning programmers and musicians.
For the money it was also hard to beat
as an affordable home word processing
system. Its only weakness was in the
area of larger business applications
because of its 40 column video display,
limited disk storage and slow disk
access.

The powerful combination of Commodore
chips allowed some amazing
capabilities. The Commodore 64 utilized
the Commodore 6510 microprocessor chip
which was an advanced version of the
Commodore 6502 microprocessor which had
been used in the Vic 20, Apple 2, and
Atari models. The 64 had revolutionary
sound via the 6581 Sound Interface
Device (SID) chip and was probably
the first home computer to be able to
emulate the human voice without
additional hardware. This SID chip
provided for 4 different voices and
many sophisticated sound forms. The
C-64 had superior 16 color graphics
with sprite capabilities due to its
6567 Video Interface (VIC) Chip. The
other support chips in the Commodore 64
were equally impressive for that time
period. At the same time the early
IBM home computers were non-color and
non-graphic machines with sound that
amounted to little more than beeping.

The Commodore home computers were
fairly reliable considering their low
price tag and sophistication. Many
individuals went for years with very
little maintenance and repair work
required. However, certain problems
with the hardware did manifest
themselves periodically and somewhat
predictably. Many of the repairs
required for these computers stemmed
from static electricity discharges
blowing out the 6526 CIA chip--
usually from touching the joystick or
game port after picking up static
electricity from walking across
carpet or touching the front of the
television or monitor. This would
result in some keyboard or joystick
control malfunctions. Power supplies
would occasionally fail or develop
deceptive heat-related problems
sometimes blowing out ram chips in the
process or causing strange looking
colored blocks or characters to appear
on the screen.

     CONTINUED IN PART 2