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!!

@Wintermute_BBS I always wondered why Commodore chose this colour combination for this machine and not for the C64.

What would have been if this beast would have had 64K or even more from the start and excellent compatibility with the C64 (or even more machines)?

@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 :)

@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)

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@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 :)

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