The Commodore 16 was a home computer

Home computer

Home computers were a class of microcomputers entering the market in 1977, and becoming increasingly common during the 1980s. They were marketed to consumers as affordable and accessible computers that, for the first time, were intended for the use of a single nontechnical user...

 made by Commodore

Commodore International

Commodore is the commonly used name for Commodore Business Machines , the U.S.-based home computer manufacturer and electronics manufacturer headquartered in West Chester, Pennsylvania, which also housed Commodore's corporate parent company, Commodore International Limited...

 with a 6502

MOS Technology 6502

The MOS Technology 6502 is an 8-bit microprocessor that was designed by Chuck Peddle and Bill Mensch for MOS Technology in 1975. When it was introduced, it was the least expensive full-featured microprocessor on the market by a considerable margin, costing less than one-sixth the price of...

-compatible 8501 CPU

Central processing unit

The central processing unit is the portion of a computer system that carries out the instructions of a computer program, to perform the basic arithmetical, logical, and input/output operations of the system. The CPU plays a role somewhat analogous to the brain in the computer. The term has been in...

, released in 1984. It was intended to be an entry-level computer to replace the VIC-20

Commodore VIC-20

The VIC-20 is an 8-bit home computer which was sold by Commodore Business Machines. The VIC-20 was announced in 1980, roughly three years after Commodore's first personal computer, the PET...

 and it often sold for 99 USD

United States dollar

The United States dollar , also referred to as the American dollar, is the official currency of the United States of America. It is divided into 100 smaller units called cents or pennies....

. A cost-reduced version, the Commodore 116, was sold only in Europe

Europe

Europe is, by convention, one of the world's seven continents. Comprising the westernmost peninsula of Eurasia, Europe is generally 'divided' from Asia to its east by the watershed divides of the Ural and Caucasus Mountains, the Ural River, the Caspian and Black Seas, and the waterways connecting...

.

Intention

The C16 was intended to compete with other sub-$100 computers from Timex Corporation, Mattel

Mattel

Mattel, Inc. is the world's largest toy company based on revenue. The products it produces include Fisher Price, Barbie dolls, Hot Wheels and Matchbox toys, Masters of the Universe, American Girl dolls, board games, and, in the early 1980s, video game consoles. The company's name is derived from...

, and Texas Instruments

Texas Instruments

Texas Instruments Inc. , widely known as TI, is an American company based in Dallas, Texas, United States, which develops and commercializes semiconductor and computer technology...

 (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

Texas Instruments TI-99/4A

The Texas Instruments TI-99/4A was an early home computer, released in June 1981, originally at a price of USD $525. It was an enhanced version of the less-successful—and quite rare—TI-99/4 model, which was released in late 1979 at a price of $1,150...

 was priced in-between Commodore's VIC-20 and Commodore 64

Commodore 64

The Commodore 64 is an 8-bit home computer introduced by Commodore International in January 1982.Volume production started in the spring of 1982, with machines being released on to the market in August at a price of US$595...

, 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.

Commodore president Jack Tramiel

Jack Tramiel

Jack Tramiel is an American businessman, best known for founding Commodore International - manufacturer of the Commodore PET, Commodore 64, Commodore 128, Commodore Amiga, and other Commodore models of home computers.-Biography:...

 feared that one or more Japan

Japan

Japan is an island nation in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean, it lies to the east of the Sea of Japan, China, North Korea, South Korea and Russia, stretching from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea and Taiwan in the south...

ese companies would introduce a consumer-oriented computer and undercut everyone's prices. Although the Japanese would soon dominate the U.S. video game console

Video game console

A video game console is an interactive entertainment computer or customized computer system that produces a video display signal which can be used with a display device to display a video game...

 market, their feared dominance of the home computer field never materialized. Additionally, Timex, Mattel, and TI departed the computer market before the C16 was released.

Description

Outwardly the C16 resembled the VIC-20 and the C64, but with a Dark Grey case and light gray keys. The keyboard layout differed slightly from the earlier models, adding an escape key and four cursor keys replacing the shifted-key arrangement inherited from the C-64 and VIC. Performance-wise located between the VIC-20 and 64, it had 16 kilobyte

Kilobyte

The kilobyte is a multiple of the unit byte for digital information. Although the prefix kilo- means 1000, the term kilobyte and symbol KB have historically been used to refer to either 1024 bytes or 1000 bytes, dependent upon context, in the fields of computer science and information...

s of RAM with 12 KB available to its built-in BASIC interpreter, and a new sound and video chipset

Chipset

A chipset, PC chipset, or chip set refers to a group of integrated circuits, or chips, that are designed to work together. They are usually marketed as a single product.- Computers :...

 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

MOS Technology TED

The 7360 Text Editing Device was an integrated circuit made by MOS Technology, Inc. It was a video chip that also contained sound generation hardware, DRAM refresh circuitry, interval timers, and keyboard input handling. It was designed for the Commodore Plus/4 and 16...

 (better than the VIC

MOS Technology VIC

The VIC , specifically known as the MOS Technology 6560 / 6561 , is the integrated circuit chip responsible for generating video graphics and sound in the Commodore VIC-20 home computer...

 used in the VIC-20, but lacking the sprite capability of the VIC-II

MOS Technology VIC-II

The VIC-II , specifically known as the MOS Technology 6567/8562/8564 , 6569/8565/8566 , is the microchip tasked with generating Y/C/composite video graphics and DRAM refresh signals in the Commodore 64 and C128 home computers.Succeeding MOS's original VIC , the VIC-II was one of the two chips...

 and advanced sound capabilities of the SID

MOS Technology SID

The MOS Technology 6581/8580 SID is the built-in Programmable Sound Generator chip of Commodore's CBM-II, Commodore 64, Commodore 128 and Commodore MAX Machine home computers...

, both used in the C64). The ROM

Read-only memory

Read-only memory is a class of storage medium used in computers and other electronic devices. Data stored in ROM cannot be modified, or can be modified only slowly or with difficulty, so it is mainly used to distribute firmware .In its strictest sense, ROM refers only...

 resident BASIC 3.5

Commodore BASIC

Commodore BASIC, also known as PET BASIC, is the dialect of the BASIC programming language used in Commodore International's 8-bit home computer line, stretching from the PET of 1977 to the C128 of 1985...

, 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 pixel

Pixel

In digital imaging, a pixel, or pel, is a single point in a raster image, or the smallest addressable screen element in a display device; it is the smallest unit of picture that can be represented or controlled....

s), as well as simple program tracing/debugging.

From a practical user's point of view, three tangible features the C16 lacked were a modem

Modem

A modem is a device that modulates an analog carrier signal to encode digital information, and also demodulates such a carrier signal to decode the transmitted information. The goal is to produce a signal that can be transmitted easily and decoded to reproduce the original digital data...

 port and VIC-20/C64-compatible Datassette

Datassette

The Commodore 1530 Datasette , was Commodore's dedicated computer tape drive.It provided access to an inexpensive storage medium for Commodore's 8-bit home/personal computers, notably the PET, VIC-20, and C64...

 and game ports. Commodore sold a C16 family-specific cassette player (the Commodore 1531) and joystick

Joystick

A joystick is an input device consisting of a stick that pivots on a base and reports its angle or direction to the device it is controlling. Joysticks, also known as 'control columns', are the principal control in the cockpit of many civilian and military aircraft, either as a center stick or...

s, 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

Radio frequency

Radio frequency is a rate of oscillation in the range of about 3 kHz to 300 GHz, which corresponds to the frequency of radio waves, and the alternating currents which carry radio signals...

 interference. The C16's serial port (Commodore's proprietary "serial IEEE-488

IEEE-488

IEEE-488 is a short-range digital communications bus specification. It was created for use with automated test equipment in the late 1960s, and is still in use for that purpose. IEEE-488 was created as HP-IB , and is commonly called GPIB...

 bus", no relation to RS-232

RS-232

In telecommunications, RS-232 is the traditional name for a series of standards for serial binary single-ended data and control signals connecting between a DTE and a DCE . It is commonly used in computer serial ports...

 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. Commodore modems connected to the User port, which was intended for a variety of technical interfacing uses. Since telecommunications was in general highly technical at this time, Commodore left this feature out of the beginner-oriented C16.

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

Chiclet keyboard

A chiclet keyboard or island-style keyboard is a computer keyboard built with an array of small, flat rectangular or lozenge-shaped rubber or plastic keys that look like erasers or "Chiclets", a brand of chewing gum manufactured in the shape of small squares with rounded corners...

 and was only available in Europe. The family's flagship, the Commodore Plus/4

Commodore Plus/4

The Commodore Plus/4 was a home computer released by Commodore International in 1984. The "Plus/4" name refers to the four-application ROM resident office suite ; it was billed as "the productivity computer with software built-in"...

, was shipped in a similar 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 inherited from the PET

Commodore PET

The Commodore PET was a home/personal computer produced from 1977 by Commodore International...

), 64 KB of RAM, a modem port, and built-in entry-level office suite

Office suite

In computing, an office suite, sometimes called an office software suite or productivity suite is a collection of programs intended to be used by knowledge workers...

 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 built-in office software of the Plus/4. For games however, this expansion created full compatibility.

Hardware designer Bil Herd

Bil Herd

Bil Herd was a designer of 8-bit home computers while working for Commodore Business Machines in the early-to-mid 1980s. After first acting as the principal engineer on the Commodore Plus/4, C16/116, C264, and C364 machines, Herd designed the significantly more successful Commodore 128, a dual-CPU,...

 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 the 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 and Mexico as an initiation computer.

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 at a reduced price on the European market, chiefly Hungary

Hungary

Hungary , officially the Republic of Hungary , is a landlocked country in Central Europe. It is situated in the Carpathian Basin and is bordered by Slovakia to the north, Ukraine and Romania to the east, Serbia and Croatia to the south, Slovenia to the southwest and Austria to the west. The...

, in the late 1980s, and this created a fan base that contributed several unofficial ports of popular Commodore 64 programs.

Mexico

In Mexico, the C16 was sold as an initiation computer from early 1985 to 1992. Aurrerá

Aurrerá

Aurrerá is a defunct grocery chain in Mexico. It started operations in 1958 in Mexico City, and folded in 2001 after being acquired by Wal-Mart....

supermarkets distributed them with Grupo Sigma S.A. a local distributor of Commodore USA. The computer was marketed as "Sigma-Commodore 16" (all other Commodore computers sold in Mexico had the same moniker), basically this model is the same American/European C16; as it doesn't have the "Ñ" key needed for write Spanish language, the only difference is just the custom label.

Aurrera Supermarket also sold software, peripherals and books about to how to program Commodore Computers. All these merchandise were displayed in special modules at electronics department called "El Universo de la Computación" (The Universe of the Computer Science). The success of Commodore in Mexico were in granted by the fact that Aurrera Supermarket let any people test the machines in store, so people gather to play games and exchange programs in unofficial computer clubs.

At least four annual software writing contests were held sponsored by Aurrera Supermarket, Grupo Sigma and Commodore between 1985 and 1989. These contest had entries for programming, custom hardware and computer graphics for the C16, C64, C128 and Amiga. Prizes included money, Commodore software and hardware and the right to have the software published by Grupo Sigma for the local market. The contest winners had limited sales restricted only to Mexico, so the resulting original software is almost impossible to find.

Grupo Sigma stopped supporting the brand in mid-1993, in favor of the growing (and more profitable) IBM market.

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