Commodore 16

Commodore 16

Type	Home computer
Release date	1984
Media	ROM Cartridge, Casette tape
Operating system	Commodore BASIC 3.5
CPU	MOS Technology 8501 @ 0.89 MHz or 1.76 MHz
Memory	16 KB
Display	320x200, 320x160 (with 5 lines of text), 160x200, 160x160 (with 5 lines of text)
Input	Keyboard (66 keys, 4 function keys, 4 cursor keys), Joystick
Dimensions	40.7 x 20.4 x 7.7cm

The Commodore 16 was a home computer made by Commodore with a 6502-compatible 8501 CPU, released in 1984. It was intended to be an entry-level computer to replace the VIC-20 and it often sold for 99 USD. A cost-reduced version, the Commodore 116, was sold only in Europe.

Intention

File:Commodore 16 001.jpg

Original Commodore 16 box

The C16 was intended to compete with other sub-$100 computers from Timex Corporation, Mattel, and Texas Instruments (TI). Timex's and Mattel's computers were less expensive than the VIC-20, and although the VIC-20 offered better expandability, a full-travel keyboard, and in some cases more memory, the C16 offered a chance to improve upon those advantages. The TI-99/4A was priced in-between Commodore's VIC-20 and Commodore 64, and was somewhat between them in capability, but TI was lowering its prices. On paper, the C16 was a closer match for the TI-99/4A than the aging VIC-20.

Additionally, Commodore president Jack Tramiel feared that one or more Japanese companies would introduce a consumer-oriented computer and undercut everyone's prices. Although the Japanese would soon dominate the U.S. video game console market, the feared dominance of the home computer field never materialized. Additionally, Timex, Mattel, and TI departed the market before the C16 was released.

Description

A Commodore 16 home computer, shown with matching 1531 cassette tape recorder.

A Commodore 116.

Outwardly the C16 resembled the VIC-20 and the C64, but with a Dark Grey case and light gray keys. Performance-wise located between the VIC-20 and 64, it had 16 kilobytes of RAM with 12 KB available to its built-in BASIC interpreter, and a new sound and video chipset offering a palette of 128 colors (in reality 121, since the system had a 16 base colors and 8 shades but black always remained black, with all 8 shades), the TED (better than the VIC used in the VIC-20, but lacking the sprite capability of the VIC-II and advanced sound capabilities of the SID, both used in the C64). The ROM resident BASIC 3.5, however, was more powerful than the VIC-20's and C64's BASIC 2.0, in that it had commands for sound and bitmapped graphics (320×200 pixels), as well as simple program tracing/debugging.

From a practical user's point of view, three tangible features the C16 lacked were a modem port and VIC-20/C64-compatible Datassette and game ports. Commodore sold a C16 family-specific cassette player (the Commodore 1531) and joysticks, but third-party converters to allow the use of the abundant, and hence much less expensive, VIC-20/C64-type units soon appeared. The official reason for changing the joystick ports was to reduce RF interference. The C16's serial port (Commodore's proprietary "serial IEEE-488 bus", no relation to RS-232 and the like) was the same as that of the VIC-20 and C64, which meant that printers and disk drives, at least, were interchangeable with the older machines.

The Commodore 16 was one of three computers in its family. The even less successful Commodore 116 was functionally and technically similar but was shipped in a smaller case with a rubber chiclet keyboard and was only available in Europe. The family's flagship, the Commodore Plus/4, was shipped in a smaller case but had a 59-key full-travel keyboard (with a specifically advertised "cursor key diamond" of four keys, contrasted with the VIC-20's and C64's two + shift key scheme), 64 KB of RAM, a modem port, and built-in entry-level office suite software. A relatively simple internal ram expansion could make the C16 almost equivalent to the Plus/4, allowing it to run the same software, with the exception of comm programs requiring a modem and the very poor built-in office software of the Plus/4. For games however, this expansion created full compatibility.

Hardware Designer Bil Herd notes that the C116 was the original member of this family of computers and was the original vision as imparted by Jack Tramiel to the engineering department. It was designed to sell for $49-$79 dollars. The C16 and the Plus/4 came later and were mostly driven by a company trying to figure out what to do with the new computer family after Tramiel's departure from Commodore.

Market performance

The C16 sold poorly in the United States, where it was quickly discontinued, but enjoyed some popularity in Europe as a cheap games machine.

The C16's failure in the USA was likely caused by the lack of commercial software, reduction in price on higher end systems and the system's waning importance to Commodore as competitors withdrew from the market.

Remaining C16, C116 and Plus/4 inventories were dumped on the European market (chiefly Hungary) cheaply in the late 1980s and this created a fan base that contributed several unofficial ports of popular Commodore 64 programs.

See also

• C16 games

External links

• Commodore16.com – A C16 and Plus/4 website that offers a software database, documentation, busy forum, scanned books & Hardware shop
• Plus/4 World – A comprehensive C16 and Plus/4 Game and demoscene site along with books, manuals, PRG files and TAP images of C16 and Plus/4 files
• Commodore 16 information at Old-Computers.Com