Phill's Commodore Page

Machine Name    : Commodore PET
Processor       : Rockwell 6502 at 1MHz
Memory          : 4k,8k,16k,32k
Backing Store   : Cassette at 300baud 
                  Floppy Disk, 5.25" up to 1Mb.
                  Hard disk, yes via IEE488
Firmware        : Comodore Basic V1
Screen          : Text 40x25, 80x25 on 8000 series.
                  Graphics block characters.
Other I/O       : Two 300 baud cassettes
                  IEEE488 pheripheral interface
                  Expansion port.
    

Commodore's first real machine was the Pet, it had a 40x25 monochrome text only screen. The origanal model had between 4 K and 16K of memory a cash-register type keyboard and a built in 300baud cassette deck. Later models had an 80x25 screen and up to 32K of memory and twin disk drives connected via an IEEE488 interface. This was one of the main business machines in the late 70's

Machine Name    : Commodore Vic 20.
Processor       : Rockwell 6502 at 1MHz
Memory          : 5k expandable via Rampacks to 29k
Backing Store   : Cassette at 300baud 
                  Floppy Disk, single sided 5.25", 170k 
                  Hard disk, No.
Firmware        : Comodore Basic V1
Screen          : Text 22x23x16.
                  Graphics 176x158x8 ???
Other I/O       : Two 300 baud cassette
                  Serial port for disk drive (slow !)
                  Expansion port
                  Digital Joystick/Lightpen/Paddle
                  Composite Video/Sound socket.
    

Comodore's entry into the home computer market took place in 1981 with the Vic 20. This machine unlike the Pet had a 22x20 colour text mode screen, along with 180x160 graphics, three channel sound via an internal speaker and connected to a telivision set for it's video display. Main memory was 5K, though this was shared between programs and video, so only about 3K was available for writing programs in. Used a similar cassette deck to the Pet for storing programs on.
Could be expanded by addition of a single sided disk drive connected via a serial cable and so it was quite slow !

Machine Name    : Commodore 64.
Processor       : Rockwell 6510 at 1MHz (enhanced 6502).
Memory          : 64k (29k available to BASIC).
Backing Store   : Cassette at 300baud 
                  Floppy Disk, single sided 5.25", 170k 
                  Hard disk, No.
Firmware        : Comodore Basic V1
Screen          : Text 40x25x16.
                  Graphics 320x200x16
Other I/O       : 300 baud cassette
                  Serial port for disk drive (slow !)
                  Expansion port
                  2xDigital Joystick/Lightpen/Paddle
                  Composite Video/Sound socket.
    

Commodore's next machine was one of it's most sccsessful to date the Commodore C64, this machine was in effect a development from the Vic 20, but with much enhanced facilities. It was one of the first home computers to boast 64K of memory, though due to hardware design only about 38K of it was available from basic, less than the free memory that you got with a 48K Sinclair Spectrum !, though all of the 64K could be accessed from machine code. The screen was 40x25 as on the origanal Pet, but in colour, and also had a 320x200 graphics mode also in colour. Sound was again 3 channel and via an internal speaker. Backing store was provided by the samecasette deck as used by the Pet and Vic 20, though for 64K of data it took about 20 minutes to load ! The Commodore 64 though in some ways technically a good machine was in my opinion crippled by it's out of date BASIC which hadn't changed since the days of the Pet, so if you wanted to use any of the graphics or sound you had to resort to machine code, or loads of un-readable Poke statements !

Machine Name    : Commodore Plus 4.
Processor       : Rockwell 6510 at 1Mhz ? (enhanced 6502).
Memory          : 64k (60k available to BASIC).
Backing Store   : Cassette at 300baud 
                  Floppy Disk, single sided 5.25", 170k 
                  Hard disk, No.
Firmware        : Comodore Basic V4, 4 built in Apps.
Screen          : Text 40x25x16.
                  Graphics 320x200x8 ???
Other I/O       : 300 baud cassette
                  Serial port for disk drive (slow !)
                  Serial RS232 port
                  Expansion port
                  2xDigital Joystick/Lightpen/Paddle
                  Composite Video/Sound socket.
    

The machine Commodore produced next was the Plus 4, which had similar specifications to the C64, but it had a proper version of BASIC that allowed you to access the machine's graphics and sound, without having to resort to loads of poke statements. The machine also had four built in 'application' programs. Again the machine used the same cassette deck as the previous models but with the disadvantage of different connectors on the cables !

Machine Name    : Commodore 16.
Processor       : Rockwell 6510 at 1MHz ? (enhanced 6502).
Memory          : 16k (14k available to BASIC).
Backing Store   : Cassette at 300baud 
                  Floppy Disk, single sided 5.25", 170k 
                  Hard disk, No.
Firmware        : Comodore Basic V4.
Screen          : Text 40x25x16.
                  Graphics 320x200x8 ???
Other I/O       : 300 baud cassette
                  Serial port for disk drive (slow !)
                  Expansion port
                  2xDigital Joystick/Lightpen/Paddle
                  Composite Video/Sound socket.
    

Much the same as the plus 4 was the Commodore 16, which was a cut down Plus 4 with only 16K of memory, and without the four built in applications programs.

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