Good Morning, Everyone!
Today it is my pleasure to present to you another notable #commodore #8bit machine - the #commodore16 !!
And once more it's a low-entry system: the third model of the "264" product line (along with the C116 and the Plus/4).
It features a 7501 or 8501 CPU (depends on model), a 6510 compatible chip, 16KB of DRAM (faster than the C64 DRAM), the TED video chip (320x200 pixels with 121 colors). The ROM contains BASIC 3.5 as well as a machine monitor. Sound capabilities are quite limited: 2 "Voices", one of them can only produce square waves, but 3-bit digital sound was possible.
But let's face it, one of the most remarkable features of the C16 is the dark gray case witht the lighter gray keys! I mean, this is what the C64 should've looked like!!
@stirz @Wintermute_BBS I believe that black color is coming from the ZX Spectrum because commodore TED machines (plus/4, 16) was intended to compete with ZX Spectrum machine :)
@stirz @Wintermute_BBS Yes, more powerful BASIC and they do have a dedicated rs232 chip and that means higher speeds but they have locked GPIO pins on the user port for a specific application; if not for that, these would be a great retro embedded platform from the '80s :)
@josipretrobits @Wintermute_BBS oh, I did not know that! Cool feature!
@josipretrobits @Wintermute_BBS Valid point. Commodore management was not aware of the inportance of compatibility, as Brian Bagnall has pointed out. That let the 264 series fail.
I personally had embraced a compatible machine with more than 16 colours (like the C64), capable to use a fast floppy like the 1551, having a sophisticated BASIC and nice cursor keys (like the Plus/4)