Changes

Commodore 64

1 byte added, 04:42, 9 March 2017
/* 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==
17
edits