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The Commodore 64 is the best selling single personal computer model of all time. more...

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Released in August 1982 by Commodore Business Machines, the Commodore 64 is commonly referred to as the C64 (sometimes written C= 64 to mimic the Commodore company logo) and occasionally known as CBM 64 (its model designation), C-64 or VIC-64 (a label used by some users, magazine writers, third party advertisements and also by Commodore in Sweden ). The original Commodore 64 casing has affectionately been nicknamed the "breadbox" and "bullnose" due to its shape. Introduced by Commodore Business Machines in August 1982 at a price of US$595, it offered 64 kilobytes of RAM with sound and graphics performance that compared favourably with IBM-compatible computers of that time. During the Commodore 64's lifetime (between 1982 and 1994), sales totaled around 17 million units.

Unlike computers that were distributed only through authorized dealers, Commodore also targeted department stores and toy stores. The unit could be plugged directly into a television set to play games, giving it much of the appeal of dedicated video game consoles like the Atari 2600. Its affordable pricing contributed to the video game market crash of 1983.

Approximately 10,000 commercial software titles were made for the Commodore 64 including development tools, office applications, and games. The machine is also credited with popularizing the computer demo scene. The Commodore 64 is still used today by many computer hobbyists, and emulators allow anyone with a modern computer (or even smartphones such as the sx1) to run these programs on their desktop (with varying degrees of success and functionality).

The Commodore 64 is commonly seen as an icon of the 1980s. An example is the introductory movie of the video game Grand Theft Auto: Vice City, which features a Commodore 64 screen which later reveals the Rockstar North logo.

History

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 (graphics) and MOS Technology SID (audio), was completed in November 1981.

A game console project was then initiated by Commodore that would use the new chips -- called the Ultimax or alternatively the Commodore MAX Machine, engineered by Yashi 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 Yannes (engineer of the SID) were critical of 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 true low-cost sequel to the VIC-20. Tramiel dictated that the machine should have 64KB of RAM. Although 64 kB of DRAM cost over US $100 at the time, he knew that DRAM prices were falling, and would soon drop to an acceptable level before full production was reached. In November, Tramiel set a deadline for the first weekend of January, to coincide with the 1982 Consumer Electronics Show.

Read more at Wikipedia.org