[[Image:Commodore64.jpg|320px|right]]
''This entry is copied from english Wikipedia''
[[Image:Commodore64.jpg|320px|Hardware]] The '''Commodore 64''' is an 8-bit home computer introduced by Commodore International in January 1982. Volume production started in the spring of 1982, with machines being released on to the market in August at a price of US $595.Preceded by the [[VIC-20|Commodore VIC-20 ]] and Commodore MAX Machine, the C64 features 64KB (65,536 bytes) of memory with sound and graphics performance that were superior to IBM-compatible computers of that time. It is commonly known as the '''C64''' or '''C=64''' (after the graphic logo on the case) and occasionally as the '''CBM 64''' (for '''C'''ommodore '''B'''usiness '''M'''achines), or '''VIC-64'''. It has also been affectionately nicknamed the "breadbox" and "bullnose" due to the shape and color of the first version of its casing.
During the C64's lifetime, sales totaled between 12.5 and 17 million units, making it the best-selling single personal computer model of all time. For a substantial period of time (1983–1986), the C64 dominated the market with between 30% and 40% share and 2 million units sold per year, outselling the IBM PC clones, Apple Inc. computers, and Atari 8-bit family computers. Sam Tramiel, a former Atari president and the son of Commodore's founder, said in a 1989 interview "When I was at Commodore we were building 400,000 C64s a month for a couple of years."
Despite a few attempts by Commodore to discontinue the C64 in favor of other, higher priced machines, constant demand made its discontinuation a hard task. By 1988, Commodore was selling 1.5 million C64s worldwide. Although demand for the C64 dropped off in the US by 1990, it continued to be popular in the UK and other European countries. In the end, economics, not obsolescence, sealed the C64's fate. In March 1994, at CeBIT in Hanover|Hanover, Germany, Commodore announced that the C64 would be finally discontinued in 1995. Commodore stated that the C64's 1541 |disk drive was more expensive to manufacture than the C64 itself. Although Commodore had planned to discontinue the C64 by 1995, the company filed for bankruptcy a month later, in April 1994.
===The C64 family===
1982: Commodore released the Commodore MAX Machine in Japan. It is called the Ultimax in the US, and VC-10 in Germany. The MAX was intended to be a game console with limited computing capability, and was based on a very cut-down version of the hardware family later used in the C64. The MAX was discontinued months after its introduction, because of poor sales in Japan.
1983 saw Commodore attempt to compete with the Apple II's hold on the U.S. education market with the [[Educator 64]], essentially a C64 and monochrome monitor in a PET case. Schools preferred the all-in-one metal construction of the PET over the standard C64's separate components, which could be easily damaged, vandalized or stolen.
In 1984, Commodore released the SX-64, a portable version of the C64. The SX-64 has the distinction of being the first ''full-color'' portable computer. The base unit featured a CRT and an integrated 1541 floppy disk drive. The SX-64 did not have a cassette connector.
In 1990, an advanced successor to the C64, the Commodore 65 (also known as the "C64DX"), was prototyped, but the project was canceled by Commodore's chairman Irving Gould in 1991. The C65's specifications were very good for an 8-bit computer. For example, it could display 256 colors on screen, while OCS based Amigas could only display 64 in HalfBrite mode (32 colors and half-bright transformations); the HAM mode on the Amiga allowed all 4096 colors of the 12 bit color system, but it was awkward to use and had restrictions on color combinations between adjacent pixels. Although no specific reason was given for the C65's cancellation, it would have competed in the marketplace with Commodore's lower end Amigas and the CDTV.
==Software==
*Power supply:
**5V DC and 9VAC from an external "power brick", attached to a 7-pin female DIN-connector on the computer
====Comparison====
*[[Comparing C64 to CPC]]
====Peripherals====