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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.

Part of its success was because it was sold in retail stores instead of electronics stores. Commodore produced many of its parts in-house to control supplies and cost. It is sometimes compared to the Ford Model-T automobile for its role in bringing a new technology to middle-class households via creative mass-production.

Approximately 10,000 commercial software titles were made for the Commodore 64 including development tools, office productivity applications, and games. Various C64 emulators allow anyone with a modern computer, or a compatible game console, to run these programs today. The machine is also credited with popularizing the computer demoscene|demo scene. The C64 is still used today by some computer hobbyists

In Europe, the primary competitors to the C64 were the British-built [[ZX Spectrum|Sinclair ZX Spectrum]], BBC Micro computer and the [[CPC|Amstrad CPC 464]]. In the UK, the Spectrum had been released a few months ahead of the C64, and was selling for less than half the price. The Spectrum quickly became the market leader and Commodore had an uphill struggle against the Spectrum as it could not rely on undercutting the competition. The C64 debuted at £399 in early 1983, while the Spectrum cost £175. The C64 would later rival the Spectrum in popularity in the latter half of the 1980s, eventually outliving the Spectrum, which was discontinued in December 1990.

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.

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 1986, Commodore released the Commodore 64C (C64C) computer, which was functionally identical to the original, but whose exterior design was remodeled in the sleeker style of the Commodore 128 and other contemporary design trends. The modifications to the C64 line were more than skin deep in the C64C with new versions of the SID, VIC and I/O chips being deployed—with the core voltage reduced from 12 V to 9 V. In the United States, the C64C was often bundled with the third-party GEOS GUI-based operating system. The Commodore 1541 disk drive received a matching face-lift resulting in the 1541c. Later a smaller, sleeker 1541-II model was introduced along with the 800KB 3.5-inch capable 1581.

In 1990, the C64 was re-released in the form of a game console, called the C64 Games System (C64GS). A simple modification to the C64C's motherboard was made to orient the cartridge connector to a vertical position. This allowed cartridges to be inserted from above. A modified ROM replaced the BASIC interpreter with a boot screen to inform the user to insert a cartridge. It was designed to rival the Nintendo Entertainment System and the Sega Master System but it suffered from very low sales compared to its rivals and it was another commercial failure for Commodore, and it was never released outside of Europe.

==Software==

[[Image:C64 IKPlus.png|thumb|Screenshot of ''International Karate +'']]

At the time of its introduction, the C64's graphics and sound capabilities were rivaled only by the Atari 8-bit family. This was at a time when most IBM PCs and compatibles had text-only display adapter cards, monochrome monitors, and sound consisting of squeaks and beeps from the built-in tiny, low-quality speaker.

During the 1980s, the Commodore 64 was used to run numerous Bulletin Board Systems using software packages such as Bizarre 64, Blue Board and Color 64, often with sysop-made modifications. These boards often were used to distribute cracked software.

===BASIC===

As was common for machines of the time, the C64 incorporated a ROM based version of the BASIC programming language. Commodore BASIC 2.0 was used instead of the more advanced BASIC 4.0 from the PET series, since its users were not expected to need the disk-oriented enhancements of BASIC 4.0. "The choice of BASIC 2.0 instead of 4.0 was made with some soul-searching, not just at random. The typical user of a C64 is not expected to need the direct disk commands as much as other extensions, and the amount of memory to be committed to BASIC was to be limited. We chose to leave expansion space for color and sound extensions instead of the disk features. As a result, you will have to handle the disk in the more cumbersome manner of the 'old days'."

===Graphics===

The graphics chip, VIC-II, features 16 colors, eight hardware sprites per scanline (enabling up to 112 sprites per PAL screen), scrolling capabilities, and two bitmap graphics modes. The standard text mode features 40 columns, like most Commodore PET models; the built in character encoding is not standard ASCII but PETSCII, an extended form of ASCII-1963.

Most screen shots show borders around the screen, which is a feature of the VIC-II chip. By utilising interrupts to reset various hardware registers on precise timings it was possible to place graphics within the borders and thus utilise the full screen.

===Sound===

*[[Comparing C64 to CPC]]

Image:Commodore 1541 front cropped.jpg|Commodore 1541 Floppy Drive, 1st model.

Image:Commodore 1541 white.jpg|Commodore 1541C Floppy Drive, 2nd model.

Image:C64-IMG 5372.jpg|Commodore 1541-II Floppy Drive, 3rd model.

Image:Commodore-Datassette.jpg|Commodore 1530 Datasette

Image:Commodore_1702_(made_by_JVC)_front.jpg|Commodore 1702 video monitor

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== Links ==

* [[Media:C64C Service Manual.pdf]]

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[[Category:Non CPC Computers]]