Commodore History

Commodore is known and remembered for producing their 8-Bit line of computers such as the PET, VIC-20, and most of all the famous Commodore 64.

If you’ve watched the series or read the posts so far, you’ll know that Commodore had released a new computer design about every 2 years or so, each one being more successful than the last, until 1984 when they came out with the Plus/4 which was a market failure.

So, looking at Commodore’s 3 computers so far, the PET, which had been a success in education and business, and the VIC-20 which had been a great success as a low-cost, entry level home computer and gaming platform, and then the C64 which was a high end home computer and gaming platform, there was sort of a problem, though. The PET had already been discontinued by this point.

The Commodore VIC-20 was a big hit with consumers. They could have just continued making that computer and reaped the profits for years. But instead, they did what any good technology company should have done. They kept innovating.

Summer of 1980 marks the birth of the Commodore VIC-20, however the story goes back to 1977! At the same time that Commodore was releasing the PET onto the market, MOS Technology had designed a video chip known as the 6560.

In December of 1977 Commodore released the Commodore PET! It was priced quite competitively with the Apple II and the TRS-90 computers, the computers released similar times to the release of the Commodore PET. In actuality the Commodore PET was actually the Commodore PET 2001 as Commodore released more variations of the PET. The original 2001 model featured an inbuilt CRT display measuring at a mere 40 columns of characters by 25 rows, 4K of RAM (with only around 3K usable memory for the user) and included an integrated cassette recorder.

1976 was a historic moment for both the 6502 processor and Commodore’s start into developing computers. The Commodore KIM-1 computer is widely regarded as the first true computer (by today’s definitions) produced by Commodore. It was a simple computer with 1k of memory and a basic bare PCB designed for engineer’s and hobbyists that love to tinker.

October 10, 1958 marks the day that Jack Tramiel founded Commodore. They began their journey by selling and reconditioning typewriters overseas. Later in during the 60s they purchased a factory in West Germany to produce their own typewriters. They did dip their toes into audio equipment and office furniture but this was never going to be their legacy.