Retro Computers - Amiga 500 / Amiga 500 Plus - Retro Computer

Commodore Amiga 500
Sweet 16 (bit)

The Commodore Amiga 500, or A500 as it was known, was like the CBM 64's bigger, faster and luckier with the ladies, older brother. It became Commodore's best selling Amiga model and was the main rival to the Atari ST. The 16-bit A500 was launched in April 1987.

The Amiga 500 was powered by a Motorola 68000 CPU which ran at around 7 MHz. The 68000 was actually a 32-bit processor but had a 16-bit external data bus so had to transfer the 32 bits of data in two steps - known as multiplexing. The Amiga sported 512KB of RAM with graphics and sound powered by the OCS (Original Chip Set). The OCS consisted of 4 main chips - the brilliantly named Agnus, Denise, Paula and Gary.

It's hardware capabilities ensured that it would take over the classic games mantle from the trusty C64.

The RAM could easily be upgraded thanks to the trapdoor on the bottom of the machine. This trapdoor slot would allow you to insert a small board with an extra 512KB of RAM and a battery-backed up clock. With this upgrade you could then play all those cool '1 meg only' classic games you wanted - and if you hooked the machine up to a Barbie doll while wearing a bra on your head, Kelly LeBrock would show up in your bedroom*.

Due to its top notch graphics and sound the Amiga 500 was a fantastic machine for gaming with thousands of great titles released for the machine. Some of the classic games that appeared on the machine were: Another World, Sensible Soccer, Lemmings and Speedball 2: Brutal Deluxe.

If you owned an Amiga then I'm sure you will have your own personal favourite and if you owned an Atari ST, you'll (probably) be thinking how much better it looked/sounded/played on the ST than the Amiga. Oh that wonderful rivalry!

As well as classic games the Amiga also had a wide number of applications available including the hugely popular Deluxe Paint. I spent many, many hours trying to recreate the image of Tutankhamen's Mask showcased on the front of the Deluxe Paint 2 packaging - to no avail!

As well as its gaming and application running prowess the Amiga was successfully used for video and music production. Also with the huge public domain scene, there were plenty of demo disks around showing what the machine could really do.

Due to the wide commercial success of the Amiga 500, CBM later released the Amiga 500 Plus. The A500+ featured 1MB of RAM as standard, used the new Enhanced Chip Set (ECS) and had a new version of AmigaOS, which wasn't completely compatible with older software (bad move!).
There were a few classic games (I remember Full Contact being one) that just would not work on a 500 plus - to be fair it was only a handful of titles though.

This 'improved' model didn't stick around for long and was replaced after about six months with the Amiga 600.

So there we have the Amiga 500 - a great machine without a doubt. If you owned one, I'm sure, like me, you have countless memories of great times waggling your joystick sat in front of your trusty machine. So track down that emulator you have tucked away somewhere on your PC and relive the good old days of classic games. I'm off to do that now. :o)

The Commodore Amiga 500 - a fine retro computer.

See loads of amiga game info, reviews, screenshots and videos at Amiga Games

We recommend trying to pick up one of these machines.
Look at computers for sale online or even locally.

If you don't want to get hold of the real hardware then try and download an emulator and download those classic games. Alternatively you could try and play them online.

*not true

MACHINE NAME: Amiga 500 / Amiga 500 Plus
MANUFACTURER: Commodore
MACHINE TYPE: 16 bit Home Computer (classic games machine)
COUNTRY OF ORIGIN: USA
RELEASE YEAR: April 1987 (A500) / 1991 (A500+)
END OF PRODUCTION: 1991 (A500)/ 1992 (A500+)
KEYBOARD: Built-in keyboard, 95 keys
CPU: Motorola MC68000
SPEED: 7.09379 MHz (PAL) / 7.15909 MHz (NTSC)
CO-PROCESSOR: OCS based chipset: 8370/8372 Fat Agnus (memory controller and blitter), 8362R5/8362R6/8362R8 Denise (video control chip), 8364 Paula (sound & I/O), 5719R2 Gary (I/O) (A500)
ECS based chipset: 8375 Fat Agnus (memory controller and blitter), 8373 ECS Denise (video control chip), 8364 Paula (sound & I/O), 5719R2 Gary (I/O) (A500+)
RAM: 512 KB Chip RAM (A500) / 1 MB Chip RAM (A500+)
ROM: Kickstart 1.3: 256 KB (A500) / Kickstart 2.04: 512 KB (A500+)
GRAPHIC MODES: 320x256, 320x512, 640x256, 640x480, 640x512, 1280x200, 1280x256, 1280x400, 1280x512
COLOURS: Palette: 4096
SOUND: 4 channel 8 bit PCM, stereo output
SIZE / WEIGHT: Unknown
I/O PORTS: RS-232 serial port, Centronics parallel port, external disk interface, 2x RCA audio, cartridge interface, expansion interface, 2x Atari joystick / mouse ports
BUILT IN MEDIA: 3.5'' floppy disk drive
OS: Workbench 1.3 (Later models) (A500) / Workbench 2.04 (A500+)
POWER SUPPLY: External PSU
PRICE: £599 (UK, 1987) (A500) / ?

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Retro Computers - Commodore PET - Retro Computer

Commodore PET
Were you a teachers PET?

The Commodore PET (or Personal Electronic Transactor) was a home computer produced by CBM way back when huge sideys were king, purple flares reigned and chinzano bianco was considered acceptable. The year was 1977. It was CBM's first full featured computer and would form the basis for their future success.

If found a niche for itself in the Canadian and US markets, and was also put to use within the UK educational sector.

The first model was the PET 2001, including either 4KB (the 2001-4 model) or 8KB (2001-8 model) of 8-Bit RAM. It was essentially a single-board computer with discrete logic driving a small built in monochrome monitor with 40×25 character graphics. The machine also included a built-in Datasette for data storage located on the front of the case, which left little room for the keyboard.

The 2001 was announced at the 1977 Winter Consumer Electronics Show in January 1977. The first 100 units were shipped in mid October 1977. However they remained back-ordered for months, and to ease deliveries they eventually cancelled the 4 kB version early in the next year.

Although the machine was fairly successful, there were complaints about the tiny calculator style keyboard. This was addressed in upgraded 'dash N' and 'dash B' versions of the 2001.

The designers placed the cassette outside the case and included a larger keyboard with a full stroke non-click motion. Internally a newer and simpler motherboard was installed along with an upgrade in memory to 8KB, 16KB, or 32KB. These were known as the 2001-N-8, 2001-N-16 or 2001-N-32 respectively.

Sales of the newer machines were strong which prompted CBM to introduce the models into the European market. However there was already a machine called PET for sale in Europe from the huge Dutch company name Philips and the name had to be changed.

The result was the ominously titled CBM 3000 series ('CBM' standing for Commodore Business Machines), which included the 3008, 3016 and 3032 models. Like the 2001-N-8, the 3008 was quickly dropped in favour of the newer versions.

As time marched on, more and more people wanted a computer in their home. Machines soon became available that included bitmapped color graphics and sound (such as the Apple II which had been introduced later on in 1977). These features set the scene for development of arcade games on home computers.

As the power of Cinzano faded in 1979 Atari released the 400/800 and then in 1981 Commodore unleashed their bestselling VIC-20.

The mainstream business computer market of the time considered colors and graphics somewhat less of an issue, but the home user (an arcade gamer!) was intruiged by this sort of thing.

Due to the PET having no sound capability and only a monochrome display it never became known as a classic games machine and it was superceded by the glut of 8-bit machines that were released in the early 1980's.

Still, the Commodore PET is worth a look for what it acheived way back when we were all watching Star Wars. A fine retro computer.

We recommend trying to pick up one of these machines.
Look at computers for sale online or even locally.

If you don't want to get hold of the real hardware then try and download an emulator and
download those classic games. Alternatively you could try and play them online.

COMPUTER NAME: PET 2001
MANUFACTURER: Commodore (CBM)
MACHINE TYPE: Professional Computer (no classic games here!)
COUNTRY OF ORIGIN: USA
RELEASE YEAR: 1977
BUILT IN LANGUAGE(S): Commodore Basic 1.0
KEYBOARD: 73 key 'chicklet' keyboard with a numeric keypad
CPU: 6502
SPEED: 1 mHz
RAM: 4KB in early version, then 8KB
VRAM: 1KB
ROM: 14KB
TEXT MODES: 40 x 25
GRAPHIC MODES: None
COLORS: Monochrome
I/O PORTS: IEEE 488, Parallel port, second 'user port' for 8-bit I/O, cassette port inside the case, rarely used
BUILT IN MEDIA: Tape recorder
POWER SUPPLY: Built-in power supply unit
PRICE: £700 (8KB RAM model in 1978. No wonder mainly schools bought them!)

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Retro Computers - Commodore Plus/4 - Retro Computer

Commodore Plus 4
No-one looks good in Plus 4's.

The Commodore Plus/4 was an 8-bit home computer which was sold by Commodore Business Machines (CBM) and was released in 1984.

The 'Plus/4' name refers to the four application ROM resident office suite including a word processor, a spreadsheet, a database, and a graphing package.

Billed as 'the productivity computer with software built in', this snippet was soon laughed at as the shortcomings of the machine became apparent.

The Plus/4 was a total flop in the United States and it was jokingly labelled as the 'Minus/60', a pun on the difference between the Plus/4 and the dominant Commodore 64. The machine did gain some level of popularity in some parts of Europe though, but it never really took off in the UK.

Blessed with a decent amount of RAM (64KB with 60KB available to the user) and a 7501 CPU running at a 0.89 MHz (or 1.76 MHz depending on mode of use), the machine was not exactly total rubbish, it was just a strange piece of hardware for Commodore to put out there.

It was not meant to replace the C64, and in some ways it was an inferior machine (even though it was released two years later). It was just another machine out on the market, and there was nothing about it to really make it stand out from the crowd. It would never effectively compete against the likes of the Sinclair ZX Spectrum either.

It did not have the fantastic SID sound chip and was only capable of producing 2 channel sound over 4 octaves plus white noise. This did not go down well with fans of Commodore machines, especially C64 fanboys. None of the C64 hardware sprite generation was present either, so it lost yet more appeal because of this. Oh - and no-one could play the existing library of C64 classic games!

The software that was in-built was not worth memory it was stored in:
The 'word processor' only had 40 columns and could manage documents with only 99 lines of 77 columns. Not even enough to do your homework.

A miniscule spreadsheet with only 17 columns and 50 lines - you'd have been better off with one of those calculator watches.

A completely ridiculous graph generator program, which could graphically display data from the sheets. Only in text mode though.

A microscopic database that could hold a whopping 999 records with 17 fields each. 38 characters was the maximum amount you could put into a field too.
Sounds like something your local council would use.

If all of this wasn't bad enough, most of these programs could only be used with a floppy drive. All in all, it made about as much sense as sensless thing from planet flim-flam.

It wasn't all bad though. The keyboard was okay. The colour palette offered was very good providing 15 colors with 8 luminance levels plus a standard shade of black. Only Atari Computers offered similar colour choices at the time.

The 320×200 video resolution was competent enough and was standard for computers intended to be connected to a television. Also the Plus/4 could use some of the peripherals of the C64 or the VIC-20, such as the well known MPS-801 dot-matrix printer and the 1541 Disk Drive.

Mind you, in another moment of genious, it was not compatible for use with C64 programs (the hardware was too different), so any existing library that you may have had was of no use to you. C64 joysticks were not compatible and existing C64 classic games could not be played on it.

This was a bad move as the C64 already had a huge library of classic arcade games and text adventures.

One further 'Plus' point, was that it had an improved BASIC (version 3.5) when compared to the C64’s. This version featured graphic and sound instructions and a built-in assembler, but many home user's were not THAT interested in these features. Computer games is where it's at eh?
To top it all off, it never even had that 'Commodore look' to it. The grey brown case and cream coloured keys with the banded logo across the top looked kind of cheap and tacky - yet another slip up.

Due to the hardware deficiencies (poor graphics capabilities, average sound generation) games developers in the main, stayed away from the Plus/4. There were a few arcade games and text adventures released for the machine - but nowhere near enough.

The machine was not fancied by many people, and it disappeared off into the giant computer junkyard in the sky.

If you owned one, you really did not want to admit it. Unless you drove a Lada.

Not one of Commodores better offerings. A not so fine retro computer.

We recommend trying to pick up one of these machines.
Look at computers for sale online or even locally.

If you don't want to get hold of the real hardware then try and download an emulator and
download those classic games. Alternatively you could try and play them online.

COMPUTER NAME: PLUS 4 - C232/264/364
MANUFACTURER: Commodore
MACHINE TYPE: Home Computer or door stop
COUNTRY OF ORIGIN: USA
RELEASE YEAR: 1984
BUILT IN LANGUAGE(S): Commodore BASIC 3.5. Built-in machine code monitor with 12 commands
KEYBOARD: Full stroke 67 keys with 4 function keys and 4 'arrow design' cursor keys
CPU: 7501
SPEED: 0.89 MHz or 1.76 MHz
RAM: 64KB with 60KB free for user and 48KB free when used in high resolution mode
ROM: 64KB
TEXT MODES: 40 chars x 25 lines
GRAPHIC MODES: Several modes. The maximum was 320 x 200 dots
COLORS: 121 (15 colours x 8 luminances plus black)
SOUND: 2 channels over 4 octaves plus white noise
SIZE / WEIGHT: 42.3 (W) x 23.9 (D) x 6.7 (H) cm
I/O PORTS: Not bad. Tape, Cardridge, 2 Joystick ports, Floppy Disk, Printer, User port, RGB, expansion bus port, serial bus
BUILT IN MEDIA: Cassette unit. Provision for 170 KB 5.25'' floppy disc unit
PRICE: £249 - They should have paid you!

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Retro Computers - Commodore 128 - Retro Computer

Commodore 128

The wedge between the C64 and the Amiga.

The last of Commodore's 8-bit machines (the C128) was launched at the Las Vegas Consumer Electronic Show in 1985. It was presented as a competitor to the Apple Macintosh and the IBM PC, but things never really panned out this way.

Now marketed as the successor to the Commodore 64, it could use all the software (including those classic games!) and a lot of the hardware of the C64, being in the main compatible (unlike the Plus 4) .The MOS 8502 CPU that powered the machine could be clocked down from 2MHz to 1MHz for true C64 compatibility - impressive.

One of the main specialities of this machine was the additional Z80 CPU and Video chip, which means that you could attach two monitors. You felt like a world dominator if you used TWO monitors back in 1985! One screen for playing games, the other for your homework!

As you may have guessed, the machine was blessed with 128KB of RAM, which was becoming the norm by the mid-eighties. The RAM could be upgraded too, with up to a massive 640KB achievable with expansion. RAM size was important by now, the bigger, the better. People were starting suffer from 'RAM' envy.

Thanks to the Z80 chip, not only could you run 2 monitors, you could also select which mode to run the C128 under during boot up. The downside was that the 2 processors could not run concurrently, so it was not a true multiprocessing system.

But let us not focus on any downside, the inclusion of BASIC 2.0 and the C64 KERNELS made C64 compatible mode possible, and it was almost 100% reliable. A multi-mode machine. Clever stuff from CBM.

Modes of operation:

C128 Mode:

While the C64's graphics and sound capabilities were generally considered excellent, the popular home computer was subject to a number of criticisms. The 40-column VIC-II video display while excellent for use with computer games, was often considered inadequate for 'office' applications such as word processing. The lack of a numeric keypad was also an issue with some office suite software.

Commodore BASIC 2.0 that had been incorporated into the C64 was quite limited to serious programmers as it lacked keywords to handle the system's graphical and sound capabilities. These features had to be accessed via cumbersome PEEK and POKE commands or by machine language routines. Also criticized was the lack of a hardware reset button, which was an essential device when developing assembly language routines. The C64's 1541 disk drive was almost universally labelled as unreliable and slower than a Cliff Thorburn 147.

The designers of the C128 managed to rectify most of these 'downsides'. A new chip (the VDC) provided the C128 with an 80 column colour CGA compatible display (also snappily called RGBI for RGB plus Intensity).

The new 8502 CPU was completely backward compatible with the C64's 6510, but could run at double the speed if you so desired. However, the VIC-II chip which controlled the 40-column display could not operate at the faster clock rate, so the 40 column display was not available in 'Fast Mode'. A numeric keypad was also added to the keyboard to placate the officy types.

The C64's rudimentary BASIC 2.0 was replaced with the far more powerful BASIC 7.0, which included keywords designed specifically to take advantage of the machine's capabilities. It also incorporated a sprite editor (very useful when developing arcade games) and machine language monitor. The screen editor was further improved and an all important reset button was added to the system.

Three new disk drives were introduced in conjunction with the C128, the 1570, 1571, and 3.5 inch 1581 drives promising far faster transfer speeds via a new 'burst mode'. Gotta love those technical terms.

The 128KB RAM allowed a higher proportion to be available for BASIC programming. This was due to the new MMU bankswitching chip. This feature made it possible for BASIC program code to be stored separately from variables which greatly enhanced the machine's ability to handle more complex programs.

CP/M Mode:

The second CPU (the Zilog Z80), allowed the C128 to run CP/M. The machine came bundled with CP/M 3.0 also known as CP/M Plus which was backwards compatible with CP/M 2.2 and ADM31/3A terminal emulation. To allow a large application software library instantly available at launch, the CBM 128 CP/M and accompanying 1571 floppy disk drive was designed to run almost all Kaypro specific CP/M software without modification.

Unfortunately, the C128 ran CP/M slower than most dedicated CP/M systems, as the Z80 processor could only run at an effective speed of 2 MHz instead of the more common 4–6 MHz. Because it used CP/M 3.0 this versions complexity made it inherently slower than the earlier and more widespread, CP/M 2.2 system. CP/M never mode fully worked on the C128 - which was a bit of a bummer really.

C64 Mode:

By incorporating the original C64 BASIC and KERNAL ROMs in their entirety (16 KB total) the C128 achieved almost 100% compatibility with C64 software (since it was known as a games machine with a large library of arcade games this was a good move.)

The C64 mode was accessed in a number of ways:

• Holding down the Commodore logo key when the system was booting up
• Like a superhero's mantra, enter the 'GO 64' command in BASIC 7.0 immediate mode
• Boot it with a C64 cartridge plugged in
• By going right through Falkens Maze

Some of the few C64 programs that failed on a C128 ran correctly when the CAPS LOCK key was pressed (or the ASCII/National key on international C128 models). This has to do with the larger built-in I/O port of the C128's CPU. Interesting yet boring at the same time.

The 128D model:
The 128D was the direct successor of the Commodore 128. It had exactly the same characteristics as the C128 apart from its external case which contained the Commodore 1571 floppy disk unit. It did have a more professional look to it, akin to a desktop PC, but also lost some of that well known Commodore appeal.

The C128 sold reasonably well, but never reached anywhere near the popularity of it's predecessor. It was also hampered by the release of 16-Bit machines such as the Amiga and the Atari ST which quicky built a large library of text adventures and classic games.

A very good machine and a worthy one to close out the 8-Bit era. A fine retro computer.

We recommend trying to pick up one of these machines.
Look at computers for sale online or even locally.

If you don't want to get hold of the real hardware then try and download an emulator and
download those classic games. Alternatively you could try and play them online.

NAME: C128 - C128D
MANUFACTURER: Commodore (CBM)
MACHINE TYPE: Home Computer
COUNTRY OF ORIGIN: USA
RELEASE YEAR: 1985
END OF PRODUCTION: Unknown (possibly 1989)
BUILT IN LANGUAGE(S): Basic
KEYBOARD: Complete full stroke keyboard and numeric keypad
CPU: 8502 + Zilog Z80
SPEED: 1/2 mHz (for the 8510), 1.022 MHz (for C64 mode), 2.5 MHz (Z80)
CO-PROCESSOR: SID (sound), VDC & VIC-II (video)
RAM: 128 KB
VRAM: 16 KB
ROM: 48 KB
TEXT MODES: 40 or 80 chars x 25 lines
GRAPHIC MODES: Several although most popular were: 160x200, 320x200, 640x200 COLORS: 16
SOUND: 3 voices / 6 octaves
I/O PORTS: RGB, Video Composite, Joystick (2), Cardridge, Tape, User Port (RS232 compatible), TV, serial
BUILT IN MEDIA: C128D had a 1571 disk-drive OS: C128 mode, C64 mode or CP/M
POWER SUPPLY: C128 had an External PSU, the C128D had a Built-in PSU
PRICE: ?

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Retro Computers - Commodore 64 - Retro Computer

Commodore 64
The flagship of Commodores 8-bit fleet.

Who would have believed that the Commodore 64 (or C64) had originally been developed as a video game engine to be utilised in amusement arcades? The machine could be constantly re-programmed with newer and more exciting games without the need to change the cabinet. Change the software, keep the hardware.

This 'idea' goes some way to explain how this 8-bit micro had such good sprite capabilities coupled with fantastic music and sound. No wonder it would go on to be one of the premier classic games machines of the 1980's.

Released in August of 1982 with it's 'Arcade plans' cancelled, it was marketed to supercede the Commodore Vic 20 - and supercede the VIC it did.

At a glance, the C64 (as it became affectionately known) resembled the VIC 20. However; compared to it's ancestor, apart from the built in BASIC, it was far, far superior. It sported a large (at the time) 64KB of RAM allowing 38KB to be available to the built in BASIC V 2.0, and sound and graphics capabilities that were better than even any IBM compatible machine of the day.

The machine itself was powered by a MOS 6510 CPU running at just under 1MHZ (In the UK anyway). But let's get onto the sounds and graphics, which really set it apart from any of it's contempories.

The graphics chip the VIC-II featured 16 colors and eight hardware sprites per scanline, which could allow up to 112 sprites per PAL screen. Unprecedented! It also had in-built scrolling capabilities, and two bitmap graphics modes. Now these sort of features were the kind that turned developers on, especially games developers.

These hardware capabilities led to the smooth scrolling achieved by arcade games such as Uridium, which were to become a benchmark in home video gaming. 8 layers of graphics could also be created with the chip, which led to many classic games with interesting visual effects.

Perhaps the only down side to the sprite generation was that sometimes games characters (generated as sprites) would have a 'blocky' look to them. The sprites could not effectively generate smoothe edges, which could lead to sort of 'building block' little men on your TV screen.

Despite this shortcoming, the VIC-II graphics chip allowed the C64 to be a highly capable platform for playing arcade games in the comfort of your own home.

Character display was fine. The standard text mode featured 40 columns and like most Commodore PET models the built in font is not standard ASCII but PETSCII, an extended form of ASCII-1963.

Has anyone seen SID?
Ahh, the C64 sound. Orchestral. Soaring.

The sound chip known as 'SID' had three channels, each with its own ADSR envelope generator. With several different waveforms, ring modulation and filter capabilities, this piece of hardware was also very advanced for the time.

The SID was designed by Bob Yannes, who would later co-found synthesizer company Ensoniq. As more and more software titles were released, the music capabilities were really showcased. Quite often the game music became a hit of its own among C64 users.

Composers and programmers of game music on the C64 reached almost legendary status for their superb games soundtracks and menu music. C64'ers will hold in reverence names such as Rob Hubbard, David Whittaker, Martin Galway, Ben Daglish, Chris Hülsbeck and David Dunn.

Some of the music in the C64's classic games library is as well remembered as the game itself!

Due to the SID chip having 'only' three channel output, chords were generally played as arpeggios which let do the C64's characteristic lively sound.

There were two versions of the SID chip, the first version being the MOS Technology 6581 which was found in all of the original 'breadbox' C64s and early versions of the C64C, and the Commodore 128.

It was later replaced with the MOS Technology 8580 in 1987. The sound quality produced by the original chip is actually a little more crisp and many C64 fans still prefer its sound. The main difference between the 6581 and the 8580 was the voltage supply: the 6581 used a 12 volt supply, while the 8580 required only 9 volts. A voltage modification can be made to use a 6581 in a C64C board (which uses 9V), but that's a job for all you hardware nuts out there.

Event to this day, the SID chip has a distinctive sound which has retained a following of SID devotees. In 1999, Swedish company Elektron produced a SidStation synth module, built around the 6581 model SID chip (not using the newer 8580).

This was achieved by using remaining stocks of the chip. Several bands use these devices in their music. Now THAT is real longevity.

Apart from the technical sound and graphic capabilities, the machine was also relatively easy to program using the built in BASIC. It had the usual commands and was on a par with other 8-bit machines of the era, apart from the BBC Micro which led the way in BASIC programming.

The keyboard was also very good, typewriter style keys which were responsive to your commands.

On a visual level, the machine did look pretty cool. Nicknamed 'breadbox' and 'bullnose' in it's first incarnation (due to the shape of the case), the light brown box with the CBM logo emblazoned across the top was appealing.

The darker greyish brown keys finished the look off nicely, with the4 function keys down the right hand side of the machine giving it an air of professionalism. The design certainly evoked the right image.

As the years rolled by, more and more software titles (plenty of computer games) were released for use with the C64, and more and more C64's were sold. It became a prime buy for computer users due to it's expanding software library, and also it's compatibilty with VIC 20 hardware. Many VIC users made the step up to the C64.

All in all, it is estimated that roughly 10,000 titles were released for the C64, including development tools, office applications and many, many computer games (a lot of which are regarded as classic games).

To further make it a sound choice to the potential buyer, the hardware available to it was also very good. A C64 specific tape deck was available, which would cut any fiddling with volume and tone levels of a generic tape player when loading programs in from cassette.

Also available were peripherals including digital joysticks, analog paddles, light pens, the CBM 1351 mouse, and the C64 was could also be used with the KoalaPad, which was a graphics tablet.

Parallel printers and modems could also be attached to it - making the C64 a very good all rounder. In fact, you could probably have ran a small country with nothing more than one of these, a coffee percolator and an endless supply of garibaldis.

Due to it's large games base (with many classic arcade games and text adventures) and versatility, the C64 went on to become more popular than beer in a brewery. It had a producation run of around 11 years, from release in 1982 right through to 1993.

The popularity of this machine was only ever rivalled and equalled by one other: The ZX Spectrum. Playground arguments would regularly ensue over the merits of each machine, its games, in fact, everything. It was a classic rivalry akin to that of Borg and MacEnroe, Coe and Ovett. This was one factor that made computing in the 1980's such fun.

Will we ever have a home computer produced again that has a production run of eleven years? Nah - your modern day PC is obsolete 36 seconds after it has been released.

Along with the Apple II and the Atari XL computers, the C64 has a level of fame amongst home computer users. It has been argued that the C64 was the most prolific computing device ever manufactured. During its production run, about 30 million units were sold. To put this number in real terms, that is more than all of the Macintoshes in the world.

Everyone stand in front of the C64 altar, take a bow, and declare yourself not worthy. A fine retro computer.

We recommend trying to pick up one of these machines.
Look at computers for sale online or even locally.

If you don't want to get hold of the real hardware then try and download an emulator and
download those classic games. Alternatively you could try and play them online.

COMPUTER NAME: Commodore 64
MANUFACTURER: Commodore (CBM)
MACHINE TYPE: Home 8-Bit Micro (classic games machine)
COUNTRY OF ORIGIN: USA
RELEASE YEAR: 1982
END OF PRODUCTION: 1993
BUILT IN LANGUAGE(S): Basic
KEYBOARD: QWERTY Full stroke 66 keys with 4 function keys
CPU: 6510
SPEED: 0.985 MHz (In PAL Mode as in UK display) 1.023 MHz (In NTSC Mode as in US display)
CO-PROCESSOR: VIC II (For Video), SID (For Sound)
RAM: 64 KB
ROM: 20 KB
TEXT MODES: 40 columns x 25 lines
GRAPHIC MODES: Several but the most popular was 320 x 200
COLORS: 16 + 16 border colours
SOUND: 3 voices over 9 octaves plus 4 waveforms. The sound was output through the TV
SIZE / WEIGHT: 40.4 (W) x 21.6 (D) x 7.5 (H) cm / 1820 g
I/O PORTS: RGB (composite, chroma/luma and sound in/out), 2 Joystick ports, 1 cardridge slot, Tape interfarce (300 bps), serial, user Port, TV RF output
BUILT IN MEDIA: Cassette unit. Provision for 170 KB 5.25'' floppy disc unit (1541)
POWER SUPPLY: External power supply unit
PRICE: £229 (UK 1984)

Retro Computers and classic games

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Retro Computers - Commodore 16 - Retro Computer

Commodore 16

Coming along, Commodore.

The Commodore 16 was a home computer manufacured by Commodore (or CBM) which was released onto the market in 1984.

It was intended to be an entry-level computer to replace the VIC-20. A cost-reduced version, the Commodore 116 was also released but was only available in Europe.

The Commodore 16 (Or C16 as it would become known) was intended to compete with other computers at the 'budget' end of the market, such as those releasedby Timex Corporation, Mattel and Texas Instruments.

Timex's and Mattel's computers were cheaper than the VIC 20, and although the VIC offered better expandability, a full-travel keyboard and in some cases more memory, the C16 offered a chance to further enhance these advantages.

Machines by Mattel and Texas Instruments were not overly popular in the UK, so the C16 ended up competing against the ZX Spectrum (by now only 48k versions and the Speccy + being sold) and it's brother the Commodore 64. You may as well have put an Austin Metro against a Porsche 911.

As the name would suggest, the C16 had 16KB of RAM, with 12KB available to use through the built in BASIC interpreter. The video palette was superior to that of the VIC 20 (as would be expected by 1984) which offerred an eye popping 128 colours (mixed from 16 base colours and 8 shades - but still pretty good and useful for developing arcade games.)

The sound chip was an improvement over the VIC, giving two full channels over 4 octaves and a white noise generator (again useful for developing arcade games). It was still inferior to the SID chip that would be powering the C64's sound though.

Bizzarely, the BASIC installed in the ROM (3.5) was more powerful than the version (2.0) installed in the C64. BASIC version 3.5 actually had commands for bitmapped graphics and sounds. It also had simple tracing and debugging features. Many popular 8-bit machines at this point in time still did not have features such as these (BBC Micro and Master excluded).

Now, some bad points. Come 1984 - 16KB of RAM was nowhere near acceptable. Why would you have a machine with less memory than a goldfish? We needed more RAM for those classic games! There was no port to connect a modem, and no generic game ports to speak of whatsoever - about as much use as a swimming pool on the moon.

Commodore did provide a 'C16 specific' cassette player and joystick, but people wanted to use their existing and much cheaper peripherals that were available for the VIC 20 and the C64. Third party converters were released to allow users to do this very thing.

Outwardly the C16 resembled the VIC-20 and the C64, but with a reverse colour scheme of a black case and a white or light gray keyboard. Certainly not the best looking of the 8-bit machines, and it never really had the visual appeal of it's brothers and sisters.

The lack of commercial software and the problem with peripherals for the machine caused the C16 to sell poorly in it's country of origin, the USA. It was quickly discontinued over the pond, where the C64 (which already had a good library of computer games) was dropped down a notch to become Commodores entry level machine.

The C-16 did enjoy some popularity in Europe however, as a cheap games machine with an array of arcade games and text adventures released in 1531 cassette format. In a few Eastern Bloc countries such as Hungary, (which was still lacking a home computer industry of its own) remaining C16, C116 and Plus/4 stock was released onto the market at cheap prices in the late 1980s.

This created a fan base of its own for the computer that contributed among others, several unofficial ports of popular Commodore 64 programs to the line. I suppose this adds to the character and charm of the C16.

A machine that came and went without much of a bang. Anyone who had one of these generally kept quiet about it. A decent retro computer.

We recommend trying to pick up one of these machines.
Look at computers for sale online or even locally.

If you don't want to get hold of the real hardware then try and download an emulator and
download those classic games. Alternatively you could try and play them online.

MACHINE NAME: C16

MANUFACTURER: Commodore

MACHINE TYPE: Home 8-Bit Micro (including classic games)

COUNTRY OF ORIGIN: USA

RELEASE YEAR: 1984

END OF PRODUCTION: ?

BUILT IN LANGUAGE(S): Commodore BASIC 3.5 and a built in machine code monitor (12 commands)

KEYBOARD: 66 keys with 4 function keys and 4 cursor keys

CPU: 7501

SPEED: 0.89 MHz or 1.76 MHz

CO-PROCESSOR: TED (For video & sound)

RAM: 16KB (12KB free for the user - certainly not enough by 1984)

ROM: 32KB

TEXT MODES: 40 chars x 25 lines

GRAPHIC MODES: 320 x 200 / 320 x 160 (with 5 lines of text) / 160 x 200 / 160 x 160 (with 5 lines of text)

COLORS: 121 (15 colours x 8 luminances + black)

SOUND: Two channels over 4 octaves plus white noise

SIZE / WEIGHT: 40.7 (W) x 20.4 (D) x 7.7 (H) cm I/O PORTS: Tape, Cardridge, Joystick (2), serial, Composite Video, TV

BUILT IN MEDIA: Cassette unit. Provision for 5.25

OS: ROM Based

PRICE: The C16 starter pack retailed at £129.99

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Retro Computers - Commodore VIC 20 - Retro Computer

Commodore VIC 20

Is Vic there?

The Commodore VIC-20 was an 8-bit home computer which was sold by Commodore Business Machines (CBM). The VIC-20 was first announced around three years after Commodores first personal computer the PET in 1980.

Interestingly it became the first microcomputer to sell one million units - that's right, one million VIC-20's were sold. Commodore really hit the bulls-eye with this one. Many people did not even know why it was named 'The VIC' - it actually stood for Video Interface Chip.

Those sort of names really did sound cool back in the early 80's. Apparently the '20' part was conjured up as it was a 'friendly' number. The VIC was known as 'The Friendly Computer' mind.

Blessed with a whopping 5KB of RAM and a 6502A CPU running at approximately 1MHZ, the machine had around an average specification when compared to its competitors. The RAM was expandable, the machine could be upgraded to give an ample (at the time) 32KB to play with. It also had a co-processor under the hood (The VIC-I 6560) to help out when processing sound and graphics - which helped in the growing niche of computer games.

The sound chip, as in most Commodore machines was a decent one and was capable of producing three voices of sound over three octaves. This was pretty good for a home micro in 1981 and enhanced some of the earlier arcade games on Commodore machines.

It could generate very plain graphics and simple animations, but if you wanted detailed images and varying colours on your screen, you did not buy a VIC 20. Mind you, eight colours were available to use as character colours. The background and border area of the screen (many computers at thetime had the display setup this way), could be varied with up to 16 colours - similar to the classic games machine the ZX Spectrum.

It certainly had that 'Commodore look' to it, the off-white machine housing the darker brown keyboard, which became synonymous with Commodore 8-bit machines throughout the 1980's. Not a bad looker by any means.

With it being a popular machine, a good range of peripherals and software was available for it, including joysticks and the all important computer games (arcade games and text adventures). How in the name of Poseidon's Trident did they squeeze games with colour and sound into 5KB or RAM? A remarkable feat, whichever way you slice it. Some classic arcade games found their way onto the VIC 20.

Even good old Bill Shatner got in on the act, advertising the the machine and describing it as 'The wonder machine... of the 1980's!'. Good on ya Bill.

As the eighties rolled along, so did Commodore who became a major player in the 8-bit and 16-bit marketplace. The VIC 20 deserves a sideways glance at least. A decent retro computer.

We recommend trying to pick up one of these machines.
Look at computers for sale online or even locally.

If you don't want to get hold of the real hardware then try and download an emulator and
download those classic games. Alternatively you could try and play them online.

NAME: Commodore VIC 20

MANUFACTURER: Commodore (CBM)

MACHINE TYPE: Home 8 bit micro (even some classic games!)

COUNTRY OF ORIGIN: United States (Gained reasonable popularity in the United Kingdom)

RELEASE YEAR: (1980 production) (May 1981 release)

END OF PRODUCTION: 1985

BUILT IN LANGUAGE(S): CBM Basic V2

KEYBOARD: QWERTY full stroke keyboard with 4 function keys, 66 keys overall

CPU: Commodore Semiconductor Group 6502A

SPEED: 1.0227 mHz

CO-PROCESSOR: VIC-I (6560) used for graphics and sound

RAM: 5KB (3583 bytes free) which was expandable up to 32 KB

VRAM: The screen memory was shared with the regular RAM

ROM: 16KB

TEXT MODES: 23 rows x 22 columns

GRAPHIC MODES: 184 x 176

COLORS: 8 character colors and 16 background or border colors

SOUND: 3 voices over 3 octaves.

SIZE / WEIGHT: 40.3 x 20.4 x 7.2 cm / 1,8 Kg

I/O PORTS: Pretty good. 1 joystick port, 1 user port, 1 cartridge port, 1 serial port, composite video output and a tape interface

POWER SUPPLY: External 18 Watt power supply unit
PRICE: ?

Retro Computers and classic games

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