Future Crew was a Finnish demogroup that created PC demos and software , active mostly between 1987 and 1994.
144-550: The group was founded in 1986 by PSI (Sami Tammilehto) and JPM (Jussi Markula) as a Commodore 64 group, before moving to the PC demoscene in 1988; other members included, over time, Trug, Wildfire, Pixel , ICE, GORE, Abyss, Purple Motion , and Skaven , as well as several others. Noteworthy demos by Future Crew include Unreal (released at Assembly 1992), Panic (released at The Party 1992) and Second Reality (released at Assembly 1993). Second Reality may be considered one of
288-405: A TTL -level "user port" with both RS-232 and Centronics signals (most frequently used as RS-232, for connecting a modem ). The VIC has a ROM cartridge port for games and other software as well as for adding memory to the machine. Port expander boxes from Commodore and other vendors allow more than one cartridge to be attached at a time. Cartridge size ranges from 4–16 KB in size, although
432-583: A Timex Sinclair 1000 (TS1000) for as little as $ 10 with the purchase of a C64. This deal meant that the consumer could send the TS1000 to Commodore, collect the rebate, and pocket the difference; Timex Corporation departed the computer market within a year. Commodore's tactics soon led to a price war with the major home computer manufacturers. The success of the VIC-20 and C64 contributed significantly to Texas Instruments and other smaller competitors exiting
576-677: A Commodore engineer who came to Longwood, Florida , to assist in the effort, five of Adams's Adventure International game series were ported to the VIC. They got around the limited memory of VIC-20 by having the 16 KB games reside in a ROM cartridge instead of being loaded into main memory via cassette as they were on the TRS-80 and other machines. The first production run of the five cartridges generated over $ 1,500,000 in sales for Commodore. The VIC-20 went through several variations in its three-and-a-half years of production. First-year models (1980) had
720-503: A PET-standard Datassette tape drive. The VIC-20 did not originally have a disk drive; the VIC-1540 disk drive was released in 1981. There is one Atari joystick port , compatible with the digital joysticks and paddles used with Atari VCS and Atari 8-bit computers ; a serial CBM-488 bus (a serial version of the PET's IEEE-488 bus) for daisy chaining disk drives and printers;
864-554: A PET-style keyboard with a blocky typeface while most VIC-20s made during 1981 had a slightly different keyboard also shared with early C64s. The rainbow logo VIC-20 was introduced in early 1983 and has the newer C64 keyboard with gray function keys and the Revision B motherboard. It has a similar power supply to the C64 PSU , although the amperage is slightly lower. A C64 "black brick" PSU is compatible with Revision B VIC-20s; however,
1008-407: A TV set using the external modulator included with the computer. The VIC chip has three pulse wave generators and a white noise generator with overall volume control and mono output. Each pulse wave generator has a range of three octaves located on the scale about an octave apart, giving a total range of about five octaves. The VIC-20 shipped with 5 KB RAM , but 1.5 KB of this is used for
1152-542: A consistent group that's not growing... it's going to shrink as part of our business." One computer gaming executive stated that the Nintendo Entertainment System 's enormous popularity – seven million sold in 1988, almost as many as the number of C64s sold in its first five years – had stopped the C64's growth. Trip Hawkins reinforced that sentiment, stating that Nintendo
1296-572: A direct-connect modem-on-a-cartridge (the VICModem ), which at US$ 99 became the first modem priced under US$ 100. The VICModem was also the first modem to sell over 1 million units. VICModem was packaged with US$ 197.50 worth of free telecomputing services from The Source , CompuServe , and Dow Jones . Tomczyk also created a SIG called the Commodore Information Network to enable users to exchange information and take some of
1440-437: A disk drive, and using BASIC 2.0 simplified VIC-20 owners' transition to the 64. "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 were to be limited. We chose to leave expansion space for color and sound extensions instead of
1584-607: A free-to-download album titled "Metropolis" containing the most known songs of Future Crew in 24-bit remastered as a tribute. These are the members of the group at the time it released Second Reality: Future Crew released the following productions on the PC demoscene : Commodore 64 The Commodore 64 , also known as the C64 , is an 8-bit home computer introduced in January 1982 by Commodore International (first shown at
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#17327939830221728-484: A friendly number and the computer's marketing slogan was 'The Friendly Computer'. I felt it balanced things out a bit since 'Vic' sounded like the name of a truck driver." The graphics capabilities of the VIC chip (6560/6561) are limited but flexible. At startup, the screen shows 176×184 pixels, with a fixed-color border to the edges of the screen. Since a PAL or NTSC screen has a 4:3 width-to-height ratio, each VIC pixel
1872-492: A fully addressable screen, although slightly smaller than normal, by filling the screen with a sequence of different double-height characters, then turning on the pixels selectively inside the RAM-based character definitions. The Super Expander cartridge adds BASIC commands supporting such a graphics mode using a resolution of 160×160 pixels. It is also possible to fill a larger area of the screen with addressable graphics using
2016-677: A game console project that would use the new chips—called the Ultimax or the MAX Machine , engineered by Yash Terakura from Commodore Japan. This project was eventually cancelled after just a few machines were manufactured for the Japanese market. At the same time, Robert "Bob" Russell (system programmer and architect on the VIC-20 ) and Robert "Bob" Yannes (engineer of the SID) were critical of
2160-480: A keyboard, so any software that required a keyboard could not be used. 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 impressive for an 8-bit computer, bringing specs comparable to the 16-bit Apple IIGS . For example, it could display 256 colors on
2304-465: A lack of software; although most commercial CP/M software can run on these systems, software media is incompatible between platforms. The low usage of CP/M on Commodores means that software houses saw no need to invest in mastering versions for the Commodore disk format. The C64 CP/M cartridge is also not compatible with anything except the early 326298 motherboards. During the 1980s, the Commodore 64
2448-412: A large spike in 1984 when 2.6 million were sold. After that, sales held steady at between 1.3 and 1.6 million a year for the remainder of the decade and then dropped off after 1989. North American sales peaked between 1983 and 1985 and gradually tapered off afterward, while European sales remained quite strong into the early 1990s. Commodore itself reported a robust sales figure of over 800,000 units during
2592-475: A leftover feature of the unsuccessful MAX Machine. These cartridges map into $ F000 and displace the KERNAL ;ROM. If Ultimax mode is used, the programmer will have to provide code for handling system interrupts. The cartridge port has 16 address lines , which grants access to the computer's entire address space if needed. Disk and tape software normally load at the start of BASIC memory ($ 0801), and use
2736-653: A lower price and more flexible hardware, it quickly outsold many of its competitors. In the United States, the greatest competitors were the Atari 8-bit computers and the Apple II. The Atari 400 and 800 had been designed to accommodate previously stringent FCC emissions requirements and so were expensive to manufacture. Though similar in specifications, the C64 and Apple II represented differing design philosophies; as an open architecture system, upgrade capability for
2880-415: A market for the chip. While newer PETs had the upgraded BASIC 4.0, with disk commands and improved garbage collection , the VIC-20 reverted to the 8 KB BASIC 2.0 used on earlier PETs as part of another of the design team's goals: 20 KB system ROMs. There are no dedicated sound or graphics features. The VIC-20 has a composite output, which provides a sharper, cleaner picture if a dedicated monitor
3024-442: A mid-1984 conference of game developers and experts at Origins Game Fair , Dan Bunten , Sid Meier , and a representative of Avalon Hill said that they were developing games for the C64 first as the most promising market. By 1985, games were an estimated 60 to 70% of Commodore 64 software. Computer Gaming World stated in January 1985 that companies such as Epyx that survived the video game crash did so because they "jumped on
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#17327939830223168-463: A more dynamic allocation scheme if the contents are sparse or repetitive enough. This is used by the port of Omega Race . The VIC chip has readable scan-line counters but cannot generate interrupts based on the scan position. The two VIA timer chips can serve this purpose through an elaborate programming technique, allowing graphics to be mixed with text above or below it, two different backgrounds and border colors, or more than 200 characters for
3312-519: A new VIC accessory... We were as surprised as you." The VIC-20 was intended to be more economical than the PET computer. It was equipped with 5 KB of static RAM and used the same MOS 6502 CPU as the PET. The VIC-20's video chip, the MOS Technology VIC , was a general-purpose color video chip designed by Al Charpentier in 1977 and intended for use in inexpensive display terminals and game consoles , but Commodore could not find
3456-552: A new production process, and a shortage of 1541 disk drives, which also suffered rather severe reliability issues. During 1983, however, a trickle of software turned into a flood and sales began rapidly climbing. Commodore sold the C64 not only through its network of authorized dealers but also through department stores, discount stores, toy stores and college bookstores. The C64 had a built-in RF modulator and thus could be plugged into any television set. This allowed it (like its predecessor,
3600-601: A prototype with help from Al Charpentier and Charles Winterble. With the TOI unfinished, when Jack Tramiel was shown the MicroPET prototype, he immediately said he wanted it to be finished and ordered it to be mass-produced following a limited demonstration at the CES. The prototype produced by Yannes had few of the features required for a real computer, so Robert Russell at Commodore headquarters had to coordinate and finish large parts of
3744-443: A series of television commercials after the C64's launch in late 1982. The company also published detailed documentation to help developers, while Atari initially kept technical information secret. Although many early C64 games were inferior Atari 8-bit ports , by late 1983, the growing installed base caused developers to create new software with better graphics and sound. Rumors spread in late 1983 that Commodore would discontinue
3888-521: A small BASIC stub (such as 10 SYS(2064) ) to jump to the start of the program. Although no Commodore 8-bit machine except the C128 can automatically boot from a floppy disk, some software intentionally overwrites certain BASIC vectors in the process of loading so execution begins automatically (instead of requiring the user to type RUN at the BASIC prompt after loading). About 300 cartridges were released for
4032-477: A system lockup or other undesirable side effects if the restore key is accidentally pressed (which activates the NMI thread). The C64 retained the VIC-20's DE-9 Atari joystick port and added another; any Atari-specification game controller can be used on a C64. The joysticks are read from the registers at $ DC00 and $ DC01 , and most software is designed to use a joystick in port 2 for control rather than port 1;
4176-571: A video game?" and describing it as "The Wonder Computer of the 1980s". Television personality Henry Morgan (best known as a panelist on the TV game show I've Got a Secret ) became the commentator in a series of Commodore product ads. The VIC-20 was called VC-20 in Germany and was marketed as though it were an abbreviation of VolksComputer ("people's computer," similar to Volkswagen and Volksempfänger ). Describing it as "an astounding machine for
4320-419: Is Club Caribe . First released as Habitat in 1988, Club Caribe was introduced by LucasArts for Q-Link customers on their Commodore 64 computers. Users could interact with one another, chat and exchange items. Although the game's open world was very basic, its use of online avatars and the combination of chat and graphics was revolutionary. Online graphics in the late 1980s were severely restricted by
4464-771: Is 20 KB of ROM, made up of the BASIC interpreter, the KERNAL , and the character ROM. Because the processor can only address 64 KB at a time, the ROM was mapped into memory and only 38 911 bytes of RAM (plus 4 KB between the ROMs) were available at startup. Most " breadbin " Commodore 64s used 4164 DRAM with eight chips totaling 64K of system RAM. Later models, featuring Assy 250466 and Assy 250469 motherboards , used 41464 DRAM (64K×4) chips which stored 32 KB per chip (so only two were required). Because 4164 DRAMs are 64K×1, eight chips are needed to make an entire byte;
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4608-491: Is commercially available today and under active development. It features a full GUI in character mode, and many other modern features. A version of CP/M was released, but this requires the addition of an external Z80 processor to the expansion bus. Furthermore, the Z80 processor is underclocked to be compatible with the C64's memory bus, so performance is poor compared to other CP/M implementations. C64 CP/M and C128 CP/M both suffer
4752-582: Is compatible with the PET's, and the Datasette format is the same. Before the computer's release, a Commodore executive promised it would have "enough additional documentation to enable an experienced programmer/hobbyist to get inside and let his imagination work". Compute! favorably contrasted the company's encouragement of "cottage industry software developers" to Texas Instruments discouraging third-party software . Because of its small memory and low-resolution display compared to some other computers of
4896-434: Is much wider than it is high. The screen normally shows 22 columns and 23 rows of 8-by-8-pixel characters; it is possible to increase these dimensions up to 27 columns, but the characters would soon run out the sides of the monitor at about 25 columns. Just as on the PET, two different 256-character sets are included, the uppercase/graphics character set and the upper/lowercase set, and reverse video versions of both. Normally,
5040-504: Is present. The second revision is found on all C64s made from late 1982 through 1985. The final KERNAL ROM revision was introduced on the 250466 motherboard (late breadbin models with 41464 RAM), and is found in all C64Cs. The 6510 CPU is clocked at 1.023 MHz (NTSC) and 0.985 MHz (PAL), lower than some competing systems; the Atari 800, for example, is clocked at 1.79 MHz ). Performance can be boosted slightly by disabling
5184-501: Is reorganized if you plug in 8 KB and 16 KB cartridges, leading to a situation where some programs only work if the right amount of memory is present (the most significant divide being between a machine with no or 3 KB extra memory on one hand, and a machine with more extra memory on the other). Most expansion cartridges featured hardware DIP switches , allowing the RAM to be enabled in user-selectable memory blocks. Since
5328-538: Is used. The TRS-80 Color Computer and Atari 400 have only RF video output. An external RF modulator was necessary to use the computer with a TV set. The "20" in the computer's name was widely assumed to refer to the text width of the screen (although in fact, the VIC-20 has 22-column text, not 20) or that it referred to the combined size of the system ROMs (8 KB BASIC+8 KB KERNAL +4 KB character ROM). Bob Yannes claimed that "20" meant nothing in particular and said "We simply picked '20' because it seemed like
5472-560: The Commodore 64 , a more advanced machine with 64 KB of RAM and considerably improved sound and graphics. Initial sales of the C64 were slow but took off in mid-1983. The VIC-20 was widely available for under $ 90 by that time. Commodore discontinued the VIC-20 in January 1985. Perhaps the last new commercially available VIC-20 peripheral was the VIC-Talker, a speech synthesizer . Ahoy! wrote in January 1986, "Believe it or not,
5616-444: The Commodore 1702 monitor, providing even better video quality than a composite signal. Aggressive pricing of the C64 is considered to have been a major catalyst in the video game crash of 1983 . In January 1983, Commodore offered a $ 100 rebate in the United States on the purchase of a C64 to anyone that traded in another video game console or computer. To take advantage of this rebate, some mail-order dealers and retailers offered
5760-685: The Consumer Electronics Show , January 7–10, 1982, in Las Vegas ). It has been listed in the Guinness World Records as the highest-selling single computer model of all time, with independent estimates placing the number sold between 12.5 and 17 million units. Volume production started in early 1982, marketing in August for US$ 595 (equivalent to $ 1,880 in 2023). Preceded by the VIC-20 and Commodore PET ,
5904-469: The KERNAL went from two separate chips into one 16 KB ROM chip. The PLA chip and some TTL chips were integrated into a DIL 64-pin chip. The "252535-01" PLA integrated the color RAM as well into the same chip. The smaller physical space made it impossible to put in some internal expansions like a floppy-speeder. In the United States, the 64C was often bundled with the third-party GEOS graphical user interface (GUI)-based operating system, as well as
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6048-650: The TRS-80 Color Computer " and "is a much more valuable computer literacy tool than" other products like the TRS-80 Pocket Computer . Compute! concluded "VIC will create its own market, and it will be a big one". While also noting the small screen size and RAM, BYTE stated that the VIC 20 was "unexcelled as low-cost, consumer-oriented computer. Even with some of its limitations...it makes an impressive showing against...the Apple II ,
6192-578: The TRS-80 Model I , a relatively low-cost machine that was widely sold to novices and in 1980 released the Color Computer , which was aimed at the home and educational markets, used ROM cartridges for software, and connected to a TV set. In the meantime, new engineer Robert Yannes at MOS Technology (then a part of Commodore) designed a computer in his home dubbed the MicroPET and finished
6336-457: The Telnet protocol. There were major commercial online services , such as Compunet (UK), CompuServe (US – later bought by America Online ), The Source (US), and Minitel (France) among many others. These services usually required custom software which was often bundled with a modem and included free online time as they were billed by the minute. Quantum Link (or Q-Link)
6480-460: The 1980s. For a substantial period (1983–1986), the C64 had between 30% and 40% share of the US market and two million units sold per year, outselling IBM PC compatibles , the Apple II , and Atari 8-bit computers . Sam Tramiel, a later Atari president and the son of Commodore's founder, said in a 1989 interview, "When I was at Commodore we were building 400,000 C64s a month for a couple of years." In
6624-587: The 1991 fiscal year, but sales during the 1993 fiscal year had declined to fewer than 200,000 units. Throughout the early 1990s, European sales had accounted for more than 80% of Commodore's total sales revenue. In 1982, Commodore released the MAX Machine in Japan . It was called the Ultimax in the United States and VC-10 in Germany. The MAX was intended to be a game console with limited computing capability and
6768-569: The 40-pin IC package. These are used for two purposes in the C64: to bank-switch the machine's read-only memory (ROM) in and out of the processor's address space, and to operate the datasette tape recorder. The C64 has 64 KB of 8-bit-wide dynamic RAM , 1 KB of 4-bit-wide static color RAM for text mode, and 38 KB are available to built-in Commodore BASIC 2.0 on startup. There
6912-563: The 64C computer, which is functionally identical to the original. The exterior design was remodeled in the sleeker style of the Commodore 128 . The 64C uses new versions of the SID, VIC-II, and I/O chips being deployed. Models with the C64E board had the graphic symbols printed on the top of the keys, instead of the normal location on the front. The sound chip (SID) was changed to use the MOS 8580 chip, with
7056-479: The 64C, a redesigned 64, which Compute! saw as evidence that—contrary to C64 owners' fears that the company would abandon them in favor of the Amiga and 128—"the 64 refuses to die". Its introduction also meant that Commodore raised the price of the C64 for the first time, which the magazine cited as the end of the home-computer price war . Software sales also remained strong; MicroProse , for example, in 1987 cited
7200-415: The Apple II was granted by internal expansion slots, whereas the C64's comparatively closed architecture had only a single external ROM cartridge port for bus expansion. However, the Apple II used its expansion slots for interfacing with common peripherals like disk drives, printers, and modems; the C64 had a variety of ports integrated into its motherboard, which were used for these purposes, usually leaving
7344-580: The Apple II+ (upgraded within months of C64's release to 64 KB with the Apple IIe) and 48 KB for the Atari 800. At upwards of $ 1,200 , the Apple ;II was about twice as expensive, while the Atari 800 cost $ 899. One key to the C64's success was Commodore's aggressive marketing tactics, and they were quick to exploit the relative price/performance divisions between its competitors with
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#17327939830227488-439: The Atari or Apple, like the ability to change color of the character basis across the screen. That gave us a lot of color capability that had not been exploited. With sales booming and the early reliability issues with the hardware addressed, software for the C64 began to grow in size and ambition during 1984. This growth shifted to the primary focus of most US game developers. The two holdouts were Sierra , who largely skipped over
7632-418: The C128 would be 100% compatible with the C64, thereby raising the bar for C64 support. In a case of malicious compliance , the 128 design was altered to include a separate "64 mode" using a complete C64 environment to try to ensure total compatibility. The C64's designers intended the computer to have a new, wedge-shaped case within a year of release, but the change did not occur. In 1986, Commodore released
7776-606: The C64 and C128: the 1350 and 1351 . The 1350 is a digital device read from the joystick registers, and can be used with any program supporting joystick input. The 1351 is an analog potentiometer -based mouse, read with the SID's analog-to-digital converter . VIC-20 The VIC-20 (known as the VC-20 in Germany and the VIC-1001 in Japan) is an 8-bit home computer that was sold by Commodore Business Machines . The VIC-20
7920-644: The C64 because "it will sell the most on that system". In Europe, the primary competitors to the C64 were British-built computers: the Sinclair ZX Spectrum , the BBC Micro , and the Amstrad CPC 464 . In the UK, the 48K Spectrum had not only been released a few months ahead of the C64's early 1983 debut, but it was also selling for £175, less than half the C64's £399 price. The Spectrum quickly became
8064-466: The C64 in favor of Apple and PC-compatible machines, and Broderbund , who were heavily invested in educational software and developed primarily around the Apple II. In the North American market, the disk format had become nearly universal while cassette and cartridge-based software all but disappeared. Most US-developed games by this point grew large enough to require multi-loading from disk. At
8208-629: The C64 include Pascal , C , Logo , Forth , and FORTRAN . Compilers for BASIC 2.0 such as Petspeed 2 (from Commodore), Blitz (from Jason Ranheim), and Turbo Lightning (from Ocean Software ) were produced. Most commercial C64 software was written in assembly language, either cross-developed on a larger computer, or directly on the C64 using a machine code monitor or an assembler. This maximized speed and minimized memory use. Some games, particularly adventures, used high-level scripting languages and sometimes mixed BASIC and machine language. Many third-party operating systems have been developed for
8352-462: The C64 took its name from its 64 kilobytes (65,536 bytes ) of RAM. With support for multicolor sprites and a custom chip for waveform generation, the C64 could create superior visuals and audio compared to systems without such custom hardware. The C64 dominated the low-end computer market (except in the UK, France and Japan, lasting only about six months in Japan ) for most of the later years of
8496-539: The C64's 11 + 1 ⁄ 2 -year production. Claims of sales of 17, 22 and 30 million of C64 units sold worldwide have been made. Company sales records, however, indicate that the total number was about 12.5 million. Based on that figure, the Commodore 64 was still the third most popular computing platform into the 21st century until 2017 when the Raspberry Pi family replaced it. While 360,000 C64s were sold in 1982, about 1.3 million were sold in 1983, followed by
8640-450: The C64's price was $ 149 ; with an estimated production cost of $ 35–50 , its profitability was still within the industry-standard markup of two to three times. Commodore sold about one million C64s in 1985 and a total of 3.5 million by mid-1986. Although the company reportedly attempted to discontinue the C64 more than once in favor of more expensive computers such as the Commodore 128 , demand remained strong. In 1986, Commodore introduced
8784-484: The C64, but it was the only non-discontinued, widely available home computer in the US by then, with more than 500,000 sold during the Christmas season; because of production problems in Atari's supply chain, by the start of 1984 "the Commodore 64 largely has [the low-end] market to itself right now", The Washington Post reported. Some of the graphics modes on the 64 are really strange, and they have no analogs to
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#17327939830228928-457: The C64, avoiding the Plus/4's flaws. The successors had many improvements such as a BASIC with graphics and sound commands (like almost all home computers not made by Commodore ), 80-column display ability, and full CP/M compatibility. The decision to make the Commodore 128 plug compatible with the C64 was made quietly by Bowen and Herd, software and hardware designers respectively, without
9072-493: The C64, most arcade conversions were produced by UK developers and converted to NTSC and disk format for the US market, American developers instead focusing on more computer-centered game genres such as RPGs and simulations. In the European market, disk software was rarer and cassettes were the most common distribution method; this led to a higher prevalence of arcade titles and smaller, lower-budget games that could fit entirely in
9216-400: The C64, primarily during the machine's first 2 + 1 ⁄ 2 years on the market, after which most software outgrew the 16 KB cartridge limit. Larger software companies, such as Ocean Software , began releasing games on bank-switched cartridges to overcome the 16 KB cartridge limit during the C64's final years. Commodore did not include a reset button on its computers until
9360-516: The C64. As well as the original GEOS , two third-party GEOS-compatible systems have been written: Wheels and GEOS megapatch. Both of these require hardware upgrades to the original C64. Several other operating systems are or have been available, including WiNGS OS, the Unix-like LUnix, operated from a command-line, and the embedded systems OS Contiki , with full GUI. Other less well-known OSes include ACE, Asterix, DOS/65, and GeckOS . C64 OS
9504-558: The CBM-II line, but third-party cartridges had a reset button. A soft reset can be triggered by jumping to the CPU reset routine at $ FCE2 (64738). A few programs use this as an exit feature, although it does not clear memory. The KERNAL ROM underwent three revisions, mainly designed to fix bugs. The initial version is only found on 326298 motherboards (used in the first production models), and cannot detect whether an NTSC or PAL VIC-II
9648-573: The CBM-produced Commodore Power/Play , offered programming tips and type-in programs for the VIC-20. An estimated 300 commercial titles were available on cartridge and another 500+ were available on tape. A handful of disk applications were released. The VIC's low cost led to it being used by the Fort Pierce, Florida , Utilities Authority to measure the input and output of two of their generators and display
9792-525: The CPU. Because doing so necessitates swapping out the I/O registers, interrupts must first be disabled. By removing I/O from the memory map, $ D000 – $ DFFF becomes free RAM. C64 cartridges map into assigned ranges in the CPU's address space. The most common cartridge auto-starting requires a string at $ 8000 which contains " CBM80 " followed by the address where program execution begins. A few C64 cartridges released in 1982 use Ultimax mode (or MAX mode),
9936-630: The Commodore and IBM PC markets as its top priorities. By 1988, PC compatibles were the largest and fastest-growing home and entertainment software markets, displacing former leader Commodore. Commodore 64 software sales were almost unchanged in the third quarter of 1988 year over year while the overall market grew 42%, but the company was still selling 1 to 1.5 million units worldwide each year of what Computer Chronicles that year called "the Model T of personal computers". Epyx CEO Dave Morse cautioned that "there are no new 64 buyers, or very few. It's
10080-580: The Commodore bandwagon early". Over 35% of SSI 's 1986 sales were for the C64, ten points higher than for the Apple II. The C64 was even more important for other companies, which often found that more than half the sales for a title ported to six platforms came from the C64 version. That year, Computer Gaming World published a survey of ten game publishers that found that they planned to release forty-three Commodore 64 games that year, compared to nineteen for Atari and forty-eight for Apple II, and Alan Miller stated that Accolade developed first for
10224-508: The Commodore ;64, including development tools, office productivity applications, and video games . C64 emulators allow anyone with a modern computer, or a compatible video game console , to run these programs today. The C64 is also credited with popularizing the computer demoscene and is still used today by some computer hobbyists . In 2011, 17 years after it was taken off the market, research showed that brand recognition for
10368-530: The IEEE-488 interface on the PET, using smaller cables and connectors that allowed for a more compact case design, and also complying with newly imposed FCC regulations on RFI emissions by home electronics (the PET was certified as Class B office equipment which had less stringent RFI requirements). Some features, like the memory add-in board, were designed by Bill Seiler. Altogether, the VIC 20 development team consisted of five people led by Michael Tomczyk ,
10512-549: The January 1982 Consumer Electronics Show , as recalled by Production Engineer David A. Ziembicki: "All we saw at our booth were Atari people with their mouths dropping open, saying, 'How can you do that for $ 595? ' " The answer was vertical integration ; due to Commodore's ownership of MOS Technology's semiconductor fabrication facilities, each C64 had an estimated production cost of US$ 135 (equivalent to $ 350 in 2022). In July 1983, BYTE magazine stated that "the 64 retails for $ 595 . At that price it promises to be one of
10656-538: The MOS Technology 6564 chip. However, the chip could not be used in the TOI since it required very expensive static RAM to operate fast enough. As the new decade began, the price of computer hardware was dropping and Tramiel saw an emerging market for low-price computers, that could be sold at retail stores to relative novices rather than professionals or people with an electronics or programming background. Radio Shack had been achieving considerable success with
10800-604: The NES. Because of lower incomes and the domination of the ZX Spectrum in the UK, almost all British C64 software used cassette tapes. Few cassette C64 programs were released in the US after 1983 and, in North America, the diskette was the principal method of software distribution. The cartridge slot on the C64 was also mainly a feature used in the computer's first two years on the US market and became rapidly obsolete once
10944-431: The NMI and exits. Run/stop-restore is normally a soft reset in BASIC which restores all I/O registers to their power-on default state, but does not clear memory or reset pointers; any BASIC programs in memory will be left untouched. Machine-language software usually disables run/stop-restore by remapping the NMI vector to a dummy RTI instruction. The NMI can also be used for an extra interrupt thread by programs, but risks
11088-564: The PET over the standard C64's separate components, which could be easily damaged, vandalized, or stolen. Schools did not prefer the Educator 64 to the wide range of software and hardware options the Apple ;IIe was able to offer, and it was produced in limited quantities. Also in 1983, Commodore released the SX-64 , a portable version of the C64. The SX-64 has the distinction of being
11232-544: The Radio Shack TRS-80 , and the Atari 800 ". The magazine praised the price ("Looking at a picture...might cause you to think $ 600 would be a fair price...But it does not cost $ 600 —the VIC 20 retails for $ 299.95 "), keyboard ("the equal of any personal-computer keyboard in both appearance and performance. This is a remarkable achievement, almost unbelievable considering the price of the entire unit"), graphics, documentation, and ease of software development with
11376-641: The UK market, the C64 faced competition from the BBC Micro , the ZX Spectrum , and later the Amstrad CPC 464 , but the C64 was still the second-most-popular computer in the UK after the ZX Spectrum. The Commodore 64 failed to make any impact in Japan, as their market was dominated by Japanese computers, such as the NEC PC-8801 , Sharp X1 , Fujitsu FM-7 and MSX , and in France, where the ZX Spectrum, Thomson MO5 and TO7 , and Amstrad CPC 464 dominated
11520-429: The VIC's PSU is not recommended on a C64 if any external devices, such as cartridges or user port accessories, are installed, as it will overdraw the available power. Older Revision A VIC-20s cannot use a C64 PSU or vice versa as their power requirement is too high. The VIC-20 was a bestseller, becoming the first computer to sell over a million. In total, 2.5 million computers were sold. In summer 1982, Commodore unveiled
11664-400: The VIC-20 operates in a high-resolution mode whereby each character is 8×8 pixels in size and uses one color. A lower-resolution multicolor mode can also be used with 4×8 characters and three colors each, but it is not used as often due to its extreme blockiness. The VIC chip does not support a true bitmap mode, but programmers can define their own custom character sets. It is possible to get
11808-483: The VIC-20 was designed to use SRAM rather than DRAM , the system board has no provisions for DRAM refresh. RAM expansion cartridges ultimately allowed adding up to 24 KB to the BASIC user memory; together with the 3.5 KB built-in user memory, this gave a maximum of 27.5 KB for BASIC programs and variables. Memory not visible to BASIC could still be used by machine code programs. The VIC-20 has card edge connectors for program/expansion cartridges and
11952-670: The VIC-20) to compete directly against video game consoles such as the Atari 2600 . Like the Apple IIe, the C64 could also output a composite video signal, avoiding the RF modulator altogether. This allowed the C64 to be plugged into a specialized monitor for a sharper picture. Unlike the IIe, the C64's NTSC output capability also included separate luminance/chroma signal output equivalent to (and electrically compatible with) S-Video , for connection to
12096-513: The VIC-II's video output via a register write. This feature is often used by tape and disk fast loaders and the KERNAL cassette routine to keep a standard CPU cycle timing not modified by the VIC-II's sharing of the bus. The restore key is gated directly to the CPU's NMI line, and will generate an NMI if pressed. The KERNAL handler for the NMI checks if run/stop is also pressed; if not, it ignores
12240-484: The annual party until 1995, when the organization set up the Finnish company ASSEMBLY Organizing in order to "provide a solid financial basis for the events and a reliable partner for our sponsors". Long time Future Crew member Abyss is one of the party's main organizers. Future Crew did not release anything as a group after Scream Tracker 3 (July 1994). While it was never officially dissolved, its members parted ways in
12384-519: The cartridge port free. Commodore's was not a completely closed system, however, the company had published detailed specifications for most of their models since the Commodore PET and VIC-20 days, and the C64 was no exception. C64 sales were nonetheless relatively slow due to a lack of software, reliability issues with early production models, particularly high failure rates of the PLA chip , which used
12528-420: The category of home computers under $ 500 . Despite criticizing its "slow disk drive, only two cursor directional keys, zero manufacturer support, non-standard interfaces, etc.", the magazine said that at the C64's price of less than $ 200 "you can't get another system with the same features: 64K, color, sprite graphics, and barrels of available software". The Tandy Color Computer was the runner up. The Apple II
12672-403: The computer will not function without all of them present. The first chip contains Bit 0 for the memory space, the second chip contains Bit 1, and so forth. The C64 performs a RAM test on power-up and if a RAM error is detected, the amount of free BASIC memory will be lower than the normal 38,911. If the faulty chip is in lower memory, then an ?OUT OF MEMORY IN 0 error is displayed rather than
12816-445: The computer's memory without requiring multiloads. European programmers also tended to exploit advanced features of the C64's hardware more than their US counterparts. The Commodore 64 Light Fantastic pack was release in time for the 1989 Christmas holiday season. The package included a C64C, a Cheetah Defender 64 Light gun and 3D-glasses. This pack included several games compatible with the light gun, including some developed purely for
12960-419: The core voltage reduced from 12V to 9V. The most significant changes include different behavior in the filters and in the volume control, which result in some music/sound effects sounding differently than intended, and in digitally-sampled audio being almost inaudible, respectively (though both of these can mostly be corrected-for in software). The 64 KB RAM memory went from eight chips to two chips. BASIC and
13104-528: The cost of producing the disk drive. In March 1994, at CeBIT in Hanover , Germany , Commodore announced that the C64 would be finally discontinued in 1995, noting that the Commodore 1541 cost more than the C64 itself. However, only one month later in April 1994, the company filed for bankruptcy . When Commodore went bankrupt, all production on their inventory, including the C64, was discontinued, thus ending
13248-632: The current product line-up at Commodore, which was a continuation of the Commodore PET line aimed at business users. With the support of Al Charpentier (engineer of the VIC-II) and Charles Winterble (manager of MOS Technology), they proposed to Commodore CEO Jack Tramiel a low-cost sequel to the VIC-20. Tramiel dictated that the machine should have 64 KB of random-access memory (RAM). Although 64- Kbit dynamic random-access memory (DRAM) chips cost over US$ 100 (equivalent to $ 283.29 in 2023) at
13392-481: The design under the codename Vixen . The parts contributed by Russell included a port of the operating system (kernel and BASIC interpreter ) taken from John Feagan's design for the Commodore PET , a character set with the characteristic PETSCII , an Atari CX40 joystick -compatible interface, and a ROM cartridge port. The serial IEEE-488 -derivative CBM-488 interface was designed by Glen Stark. It served several purposes, including costing substantially less than
13536-508: The design. The VIC-20 was marketed in Japan as VIC-1001 before VIC-20 was introduced to the US. When they returned to California from that meeting, Tomczyk wrote a 30-page memo detailing recommendations for the new computer and presented it to Tramiel. Recommendations included programmable function keys (inspired by competing Japanese computers), full-size typewriter-style keys, and built-in RS-232 . Tomczyk insisted on " user-friendliness " as
13680-581: The disk features. As a result, you will have to handle the disk in the more cumbersome manner of the 'old days'." The version of Microsoft BASIC is not very comprehensive and does not include specific commands for sound or graphics manipulation, instead requiring users to use the " PEEK and POKE " commands to access the graphics and sound chip registers directly. To provide extended commands, including graphics and sound, Commodore produced two different cartridge-based extensions to BASIC 2.0: Simons' BASIC and Super Expander 64 . Other languages available for
13824-446: The earlier CBM/PET systems and the Atari 400 and Atari 800. This means that no memory space is dedicated to running a disk operating system , as was the case with earlier systems such as the Apple II and TRS-80 . Commodore BASIC 2.0 is used instead of the more advanced BASIC 4.0 from the PET series, since C64 users were not expected to need the disk-oriented enhancements of BASIC 4.0. The company did not expect many to buy
13968-407: The field. The price war with Texas Instruments was seen as a personal battle for Commodore president Jack Tramiel. Commodore dropped the C64's list price by $ 200 within two months of its release. In June 1983 the company lowered the price to $ 300 (equivalent to $ 900 in 2023), and some stores sold the computer for $ 199 . At one point, the company was selling as many C64s as all computers sold by
14112-459: The first commercial full-color portable computer . While earlier computers using this form factor only incorporate monochrome ("green screen") displays, the base SX-64 unit features a 5 in (130 mm) color cathode-ray tube (CRT) and one integrated 1541 floppy disk drive. Even though Commodore claimed in advertisements that it would have dual 1541 drives, when the SX-64 was released there
14256-406: The first modem to sell 1 million units. According to one of the development team, Neil Harris, "[W]e couldn't get any cooperation from the rest of the company who thought we were jokers because we were working late, about an hour after everyone else had left the building. We'd swipe whatever equipment we needed to get our jobs done. There was no other way to get the work done! [...] they'd discover it
14400-482: The hottest contenders in the under- $ 1,000 personal computer market." It described the SID as "a true music synthesizer ... the quality of the sound has to be heard to be believed", while criticizing the use of Commodore BASIC 2.0, the floppy disk performance which is "even slower than the Atari 810 drive", and Commodore's quality control. BYTE gave more details, saying the C64 had "inadequate Commodore BASIC 2.0. An 8K-byte interpreted BASIC" which they assumed
14544-462: The knowledge or approval by the management in the post Jack Tramiel era. The designers were careful not to reveal their decision until the project was too far along to be challenged or changed and still make the impending Consumer Electronics Show (CES) in Las Vegas. Upon learning that the C128 was designed to be compatible with the C64, Commodore's marketing department independently announced that
14688-506: The latter was uncommon due to its cost. The VIC-20 can be hooked into external electronic circuitry via the joystick port, the "user port," or the memory expansion cartridge port, which exposes various analog to digital, memory bus, and other internal I/O circuits to the experimenter. PEEK and POKE commands from BASIC can be used to perform data acquisition from temperature sensors, control robotic stepper motors , etc. In 1981, Tomczyk contracted with an outside engineering group to develop
14832-628: The market leader and Commodore had an uphill struggle against it in the marketplace. The C64 did however go on to rival the Spectrum in popularity in the latter half of the 1980s. Adjusted to the population size, the popularity of Commodore 64 was the highest in Finland at roughly 3 units per 100 inhabitants, where it was subsequently marketed as "the Computer of the Republic". By early 1985
14976-607: The market. Part of the Commodore 64's success was its sale in regular retail stores instead of only electronics or computer hobbyist specialty stores. Commodore produced many of its parts in-house to control costs , including custom integrated circuit chips from MOS Technology . In the United States, it has been compared to the Ford Model T automobile for its role in bringing a new technology to middle-class households via creative and affordable mass-production. Approximately 10,000 commercial software titles have been made for
15120-485: The memory count to five chips: 2× 2048-byte chips + 3× 2114 (the 1024 × 4 bits) chips. In April 1980, at a meeting of general managers outside London, Jack Tramiel declared he wanted a low-cost color computer. When most of the GMs argued against it, preferring Peddle's more sophisticated design, he said: "The Japanese are coming, so we must become the Japanese!" (in reference to the threats of low-cost systems from Japan). This
15264-491: The model was still at 87%. In January 1981, MOS Technology, Inc., Commodore's integrated circuit design subsidiary, initiated a project to design the graphic and audio chips for a next-generation video game console . Design work for the chips, named MOS Technology VIC-II (Video Integrated Circuit for graphics) and MOS Technology SID (Sound Interface Device for audio), was completed in November 1981. Commodore then began
15408-585: The more ambitious computers. As the amount of memory on the VIC-20's system board was very small even for 1981 standards, the design team could get away with using more expensive SRAM due to its lower power consumption, heat output, and less supporting circuitry. The original Revision A system board found in all silver-label VIC-20s used 2114 SRAMs and due to their tiny size (only 512 bytes per chip), ten of them were required to reach 5 KB of system RAM. The Revision B system board, found in rainbow logo VIC-20s (see below) switched to larger 2048-byte SRAMs which reduced
15552-545: The most influential PC demos ever made. Future Crew was also responsible for the popular MOD editor Scream Tracker , which was fashioned after the Amiga Soundtracker as well as the Advanced DigiPlayer sound editor, and later became itself inspiration for other trackers like Impulse Tracker . Future Crew was co-organizer of the first Assembly demo party in 1992. They continued organizing
15696-467: The need to support modem data transfer rates as low as 300 bits per second . Habitat's graphics were stored locally on floppy disk, eliminating the need for network transfer. The C64 uses an 8-bit MOS Technology 6510 microprocessor that is almost identical to the 6502 but has three-state buses , a different pinout , slightly different clock signals and other minor changes for this application. It also has six I/O lines on otherwise-unused legs on
15840-482: The new computer; the latter set a final deadline for the first weekend of January, to coincide with the 1982 Consumer Electronics Show (CES). The product was code named the VIC-40 as the successor to the popular VIC-20 . The team that constructed it consisted of Yash Terakura, Shiraz Shivji , Bob Russell, Bob Yannes, and David A. Ziembicki. The design, prototypes, and some sample software were finished in time for
15984-434: The packs release (Mindscape.) In the United States, demand for 8-bit computers all but ceased as the 1990s began and PC compatibles completely dominated the computer market. However, the C64 continued to be popular in the UK and other European countries. The machine's eventual demise was not due to lack of demand or the cost of the C64 itself (still profitable at a retail price point between £44 and £50), but rather because of
16128-682: The popular Apple II . The C64 is often credited with starting the demoscene subculture (see Commodore 64 demos ). It is still being actively used in the demoscene, especially for music (its SID sound chip even being used in special sound cards for PCs, and the Elektron SidStation synthesizer). Even though other computers quickly caught up with it, the C64 remained a strong competitor to the later video game consoles Nintendo Entertainment System (NES) and Master System , thanks in part to its by-then established software base, especially outside North America, where it comprehensively outsold
16272-429: The pressure off of Customer Support inquiries, which were straining Commodore's lean organization. In 1982, this network accounted for the largest traffic on CompuServe. Commodore's VIC-1010 Expansion allows the user to connect multiple devices to the VIC-20's cartridge port. It has its own power supply and six slots that can be used to connect memory extensions, game cartridges or other peripherals. The VIC-20's BASIC
16416-447: The price and reliability of 1541 drives improved. A handful of PAL region games used bank switched cartridges to get around the 16 KB memory limit. As is common for home computers of the early 1980s, the C64 comes with a BASIC interpreter, in ROM. KERNAL, I/O, and tape/disk drive operations are accessed via custom BASIC language commands. The disk drive has its own interfacing microprocessor and ROM (firmware) I/O routines, much like
16560-415: The price", Compute! in 1981 expected the VIC-20 would be popular in classrooms and homes with small children, with "excellent graphic and sound capabilities". While predicting the 22-column screen was "too small to support any but the most rudimentary business applications" the magazine observed that "at a price of $ 299 , that is hardly the point", stating that "the VIC will provide very stiff competition to
16704-423: The prime directive for the new computer, to engineer Terakura, and proposed a retail price of US$ 299.95 . He recruited a marketing team and a small group of computer enthusiasts and worked closely with colleagues in the UK and Japan to create colorful packaging, user manuals, and the first wave of games and home applications. Scott Adams was contracted to provide a series of text adventure games. With help from
16848-585: The product manager who recruited the group and dubbed them the VIC Commandos. Commodore founder Jack Tramiel initially gave Tomczyk the title VIC Czar and later appointed him product manager. Tomczyk insisted on several features including full-size typewriter keys, programmable function keys, and a built-in RS-232 interface. Michael later contracted and co-designed a $ 100 modem, the VICModem, which became
16992-419: The pseudo-high-resolution mode. The VIC chip can process a light pen signal via the joystick port, but few appeared on the market. The VIC chip outputs Luma +Sync and Chroma video signals, which are combined to create the VIC-20's composite video output. Commodore did not include an RF modulator inside the computer's case because of FCC regulations. It can either be attached to a dedicated monitor or
17136-517: The rest of the industry combined. Meanwhile, TI lost money by selling the TI-99/4A for $ 99 . TI's subsequent demise in the home computer industry in October 1983 was seen as revenge for TI's tactics in the electronic calculator market in the mid-1970s, when Commodore was almost bankrupted by TI. All four machines had similar memory configurations which were standard in 1982–83: 48 KB for
17280-560: The results on monitors throughout the plant. The utility was able to purchase multiple VIC and C64 systems for the cost of one IBM PC compatible . While the PET was sold through authorized dealers the VIC-20 primarily sold at retail, especially discount and toy stores, where it could compete directly with game consoles. It was the first computer to be sold in K-Mart . Commodore took out advertisements featuring actor William Shatner (of Star Trek fame) as its spokesman, asking: "Why buy just
17424-400: The same as the PET monitor but added a mini- assembler instead of requiring the user to enter hexadecimal opcodes . The VIC-20's RAM is expandable through the cartridge port via a RAM cartridge. RAM cartridges were available from Commodore in several sizes: 3 KB (with or without an included "Super Expander" BASIC extension ROM), 8 KB , and 16 KB . The internal memory map
17568-605: The screen, while OCS based Amigas could only display 64 in HalfBrite mode (32 colors and half-bright transformations). 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 Commodore CDTV . In 1982, the C64's graphics and sound capabilities were rivaled only by the Atari 8-bit computers and appeared exceptional when compared with
17712-521: The second half of the 1990s. Companies like Futuremark ( 3DMark ), Remedy ( Death Rally , Max Payne , Alan Wake ), Bugbear Entertainment ( FlatOut , Glimmerati , Rally Trophy ), Bitboys (a graphics hardware company) and Recoil Games ( Rochard ) were all started in whole or in part by members of Future Crew. Prior to their dissolution, they also contributed graphics to the game Ken's Labyrinth published by Epic MegaGames . Skaven contributed music to Unreal Tournament 1999. Future Crew
17856-531: The show, after the team had worked tirelessly over both Thanksgiving and Christmas weekends. The machine used the same case, same-sized motherboard, and same Commodore BASIC 2.0 in ROM as the VIC-20. BASIC also served as the user interface shell and was available immediately on startup at the READY prompt. When the product was to be presented, the VIC-40 product was renamed C64. The C64 made an impressive debut at
18000-486: The software needed to access Quantum Link . The 1541 drive received a matching face-lift, resulting in the 1541C. Later, a smaller, sleeker 1541-II model was introduced, along with the 800 KB 3.5-inch microfloppy 1581 . In 1990, the C64 was repackaged in the form of a game console, called the C64 Games System (C64GS), with most external connectivity removed. A simple modification to the 64C's motherboard
18144-459: The system ROMs and the I/O area at $ D000 . If the KERNAL ROM is swapped out, BASIC will be removed at the same time. BASIC is not active without the KERNAL; BASIC often calls KERNAL routines, and part of the ROM code for BASIC is in the KERNAL ROM. The character ROM is normally invisible to the CPU. The character ROM may be mapped into $ D000 – $ DFFF , where it is then visible to
18288-516: The time, he knew that 64K DRAM prices were falling and would drop to an acceptable level before full production was reached. The team was able to quickly design the computer because, unlike most other home-computer companies, Commodore had its own semiconductor fab to produce test chips; because the fab was not running at full capacity, development costs were part of existing corporate overhead. The chips were complete by November, by which time Charpentier, Winterble, and Tramiel had decided to proceed with
18432-551: The time, the VIC-20 was primarily used for educational software and games. However, productivity applications such as home finance programs, spreadsheets, and communication terminal programs were also made for the machine. The VIC had a sizable library of public domain and freeware software. This software was distributed via online services such as CompuServe, BBSs , as well as offline by mail order and by user groups. Several computer magazines sold on newsstands, such as Compute! , Family Computing , RUN , Ahoy! , and
18576-489: The upper bits of $ DC00 are used by the keyboard, and an I/O conflict can result. Although it is possible to use Sega gamepads on a C64, it is not recommended; their slightly different signal can damage the CIA chip. The SID chip 's register $ D419 , used to control paddles, is an analog input. A handful of games, primarily released early in the computer's life cycle, can use paddles. In 1986, Commodore released two mice for
18720-511: The usual BASIC startup banner. The C64 uses a complicated memory-banking scheme; the normal power-on default is the BASIC ROM mapped in at $ A000 - $ BFFF , and the screen editor (KERNAL) ROM at $ E000 – $ FFFF . RAM under the system ROMs can be written to, but not read back, without swapping out the ROMs. Memory location $ 01 contains a register with control bits for enabling or disabling
18864-473: The video display and dynamic aspects of the ROM -resident Commodore BASIC and KERNAL (a low-level operating system). Only 3,583 bytes of BASIC program memory for code and variables are actually available on an unexpanded machine. Unlike the PET, the VIC-20 does not include a machine language monitor , but Commodore offered them on disk, tape, or cartridge, with several different executables to load into various memory locations. The monitor programs were
19008-400: Was "the last hurrah of the 8-bit world". SSI exited the Commodore 64 market in 1991, after most competitors. Ultima VI , released in 1991, was the last major C64 game release from a North American developer, and The Simpsons , published by Ultra Games , was the last arcade conversion. The latter was a somewhat uncommon example of a US-developed arcade port as after the early years of
19152-675: Was a US and Canadian online service for Commodore 64 and 128 personal computers that operated from November 5, 1985, to November 1, 1994. It was operated by Quantum Computer Services of Vienna , Virginia, which in October 1991 changed its name to America Online and continued to operate its AOL service for the IBM PC compatible and Apple Macintosh . Q-Link was a modified version of the PlayNET system, which Control Video Corporation (CVC, later renamed Quantum Computer Services) licensed. The first graphical character-based interactive environment
19296-579: Was an influential pioneer of the PC demoscene and the PC as multimedia device in general, and achieved wide public recognition. Slashdot voted the Future Crew demo Second Reality as one of the "Top 10 Hacks of All Time". Tributes to Future Crew include a 3D graphics benchmark called Final Reality by Remedy Entertainment (shown at Assembly 1997), and a remake of Second Reality for the Commodore 64 by Smash Designs called Second Reality 64 (released at The Party 1997). Nectarine Records has released
19440-453: Was announced in 1980, roughly three years after Commodore's first personal computer , the PET . The VIC-20 was the first computer of any description to sell one million units, eventually reaching 2.5 million. It was described as "one of the first anti-spectatorial, non-esoteric computers by design...no longer relegated to hobbyist/enthusiasts or those with money, the computer Commodore developed
19584-458: Was based on a 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 US education market with the Educator 64 , essentially a C64 and "green" monochrome monitor in a PET case. Schools preferred the all-in-one metal construction of
19728-465: Was because "Obviously, Commodore feels that most home users will be running prepackaged software - there is no provision for using graphics (or sound as mentioned above) from within a BASIC program except by means of POKE commands." This was one of very few warnings about C64 BASIC published in any computer magazines. Creative Computing said in December 1984 that the C64 was "the overwhelming winner" in
19872-540: Was in keeping with Tramiel's philosophy which was to make "computers for the masses, not the classes". The concept was supported at the meeting by Tomczyk, newly hired marketing strategist and assistant to the president; Tony Tokai, General Manager of Commodore Japan, and Kit Spencer, the UK's top marketing executive. Peddle disagreed with the decision and left the company with other engineers, so an engineering team in Commodore Japan led by Yash Terakura helped finish
20016-431: Was made to allow 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. Designed to compete with the Nintendo Entertainment System and Sega's Master System , it suffered from very low sales compared to its rivals. It was another commercial failure for Commodore, and it was never released outside Europe. The Commodore game system lacked
20160-413: Was missing and they would just order more stuff from the warehouse, so everybody had what they needed to do their work." At the time, Commodore had a glut of 1 Kbit ×4 SRAM chips, so Tramiel decided these should be used in the new computer. The result was arguably closer to the PET or TOI computers than to Yannes' prototype, albeit with a 22-column VIC chip instead of the custom chips designed for
20304-526: Was only one and the other became a floppy disk storage slot. Also, unlike most other C64s, the SX-64 does not have a datasette connector so an external cassette was not an option. Two designers at Commodore, Fred Bowen and Bil Herd , were determined to rectify the problems of the Plus/4 . They intended that the eventual successors to the C64—the Commodore 128 and 128D computers (1985)—were to build upon
20448-455: Was the computer of the future." As the Apple II gained momentum with the advent of VisiCalc in 1979, Jack Tramiel wanted a product that would compete in the same segment, to be presented at the January 1980 CES . For this reason Chuck Peddle and Bill Seiler started to design a computer named TOI (The Other Intellect). The TOI computer failed to materialize, mostly because it required an 80-column character display which in turn required
20592-417: Was the winner in the category of home computer over $ 500 , which was the category the Commodore 64 was in when it was first released at the price of $ 595 . Commodore had a reputation for announcing products that never appeared , so sought to quickly ship the C64. Production began in the spring of 1982, and volume shipments began in August. The C64 faced a wide range of competing home computers , but with
20736-481: Was used to run bulletin board systems using software packages such as Punter BBS, Bizarre 64, Blue Board , C-Net, Color 64 , CMBBS, C-Base, DMBBS, Image BBS, EBBS, and The Deadlock Deluxe BBS Construction Kit, often with sysop -made modifications. These boards sometimes were used to distribute cracked software . As late as December 2013, there were 25 such Bulletin Board Systems in operation, reachable via
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