The
Commodore 65 (also known as the
C64DX, not to be confused with the
Commodore SX-64The Commodore SX-64, also known as the Executive 64, or VIP-64 in Europe, was a portable, briefcase/suitcase-size "luggable" version of the popular Commodore 64 home computer and holds the distinction of being the first full-color portable computer....
portable unit) was a
prototypeA prototype is an original type, form, or instance of something serving as a typical example, basis, or standard for other things of the same category...
computer created by Fred Bowen and others at
Commodore Business Machines (CBM)Commodore, the commonly used name for Commodore International, was a US electronics company based in West Chester, Pennsylvania which played a vital role in the development of the home/personal computer industry in the 1980s. The company is also known under the name of its R&D operation, Commodore...
(part of Commodore International) in 1990–91. The project was cancelled by CEO
Irving GouldIrving Gould was a Canadian businessperson credited with both saving and sinking Commodore. He gave the necessary funding to Jack Tramiel to keep Commodore running during several periods of financial problems...
.
The C65 was an improved version of the
Commodore 64The Commodore 64 is an 8-bit home computer introduced by Commodore International in January, 1982. Volume production started sometime in the spring of 1982, with machines being released on to the market in August at a price of US$ 595...
, and it was meant to be backwards-compatible with the older computer, while still providing a number of advanced features close to those of the
AmigaThe Amiga was a family of personal computers originally developed by Amiga Corporation. Development on the Amiga began in 1982 with Jay Miner as the principal hardware designer. Commodore International bought Amiga Corporation and introduced the machine to the market in 1985...
.
The
Commodore 65 (also known as the
C64DX, not to be confused with the
Commodore SX-64The Commodore SX-64, also known as the Executive 64, or VIP-64 in Europe, was a portable, briefcase/suitcase-size "luggable" version of the popular Commodore 64 home computer and holds the distinction of being the first full-color portable computer....
portable unit) was a
prototypeA prototype is an original type, form, or instance of something serving as a typical example, basis, or standard for other things of the same category...
computer created by Fred Bowen and others at
Commodore Business Machines (CBM)Commodore, the commonly used name for Commodore International, was a US electronics company based in West Chester, Pennsylvania which played a vital role in the development of the home/personal computer industry in the 1980s. The company is also known under the name of its R&D operation, Commodore...
(part of Commodore International) in 1990–91. The project was cancelled by CEO
Irving GouldIrving Gould was a Canadian businessperson credited with both saving and sinking Commodore. He gave the necessary funding to Jack Tramiel to keep Commodore running during several periods of financial problems...
.
The C65 was an improved version of the
Commodore 64The Commodore 64 is an 8-bit home computer introduced by Commodore International in January, 1982. Volume production started sometime in the spring of 1982, with machines being released on to the market in August at a price of US$ 595...
, and it was meant to be backwards-compatible with the older computer, while still providing a number of advanced features close to those of the
AmigaThe Amiga was a family of personal computers originally developed by Amiga Corporation. Development on the Amiga began in 1982 with Jay Miner as the principal hardware designer. Commodore International bought Amiga Corporation and introduced the machine to the market in 1985...
. When Commodore International was liquidated in 1994, a number of
prototypeA prototype is an original type, form, or instance of something serving as a typical example, basis, or standard for other things of the same category...
s were sold on the open market, and thus a few people actually own a Commodore 65. Estimates as to the actual number of machines found on the open market range from 50 to 2000 units .
As the C65 project was cancelled, the final
8-bitEight-bit CPUs normally use an 8-bit data bus and a 16-bit address bus which means that their address space is limited to 64 KB. This is not a "natural law", however, so there are exceptions....
offering from CBM remained the triple-mode, 1–2 MHz, 128
KBThe kilobyte is a unit of digital information storage equal to either 1,000 bytes or 1,024 bytes , depending on context....
(expandable), C64-compatible
Commodore 128The Commodore 128 home/personal computer was the last 8-bit machine commercially released by Commodore Business Machines . Introduced in January of 1985 at the CES in Las Vegas, it appeared three years after its predecessor, the bestselling Commodore 64...
of 1985.
Technical Specifications
- The CPU
The Central Processing Unit or processor is the portion of a computer system that carries out the instructions of a computer program, and is the primary element carrying out the computer's functions. This term has been in use in the computer industry at least since the early 1960s...
named CSG 4510The MOS Technology 4510 was the MOS-manufactured microcomputer chip used in the Commodore 65 8-bit home/personal computer. The 4510 was essentially a 65CE02 CPU with two 6526 CIAs on-chip....
R3 (codenamed Victor) was a custom CSGMOS Technology, Inc., also known as CSG , was a semiconductor design and fabrication company based in Norristown, Pennsylvania, in the United States. It is most famous for its 6502 microprocessor, and various designs for Commodore International's range of home computers.-History:MOS Technology, Inc...
* 65CE02The 65CE02 is a CPU core developed by Commodore Semiconductor Group that has been used in the CSG 4510 micro controller in the Commodore C64DX/C65....
(a MOS 6502The 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...
derivative), combined with two MOS 6526 complex interface adapters (CIAs)
- A new VIC-III graphics chip named CSG* 4567 R5 (codenamed Bill), capable of producing 256 colors from a palette of 4096 colors; available modes include 320×200×256, 640×200×256, 640×400×16, 1280×200×16, and 1280×400×4 (X×Y×colordepth i.e. number of colors/bit planes)
- Two CSG* 8580R5 SID
The MOS Technology 6581/8580 SID was the built-in Programmable Sound Generator chip of Commodore's CBM-II, Commodore 64, Commodore 128 and Commodore MAX Machine home computers...
sound chipA sound chip is an integrated circuit designed to produce sound . It might be doing this through digital, analog or mixed-mode electronics...
s producing stereoStereophonic sound, commonly called stereo, is the reproduction of sound using two or more independent audio channels through a symmetrical configuration of loudspeakers in such a way as to create the impression of sound heard from various directions, as in natural hearing...
sound (the C64 had one SID)
- 3.54 MHz clock frequency (the C64 ran at 1 MHz)
- 128 KB
The kilobyte is a unit of digital information storage equal to either 1,000 bytes or 1,024 bytes , depending on context....
RAMRandom-access memory is a form of computer data storage. Today, it takes the form of integrated circuits that allow stored data to be accessed in any order...
, expandable to 8 MBThe megabyte is an SI-multiple of the unit byte for digital information storage or transmission and is equal to 10
6 bytes. However, due to historical usage in computer-related fields it is still often used to represent 2
20 bytes. In rare cases, it is used to mean...
using a RAM expansion port similar to that of the Commodore Amiga 500The Amiga 500, also known as the A500 , was the first “low-end” Commodore Amiga 16/32-bit multimedia home/personal computer. It was announced at the winter Consumer Electronics Show in January 1987, at the same time as the high-end Amiga 2000, and competed directly against the Atari 520ST...
- Heavily improved BASIC: Commodore BASIC 10.0
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...
(the C64 had the relatively feature-weak BASIC 2.0, which was almost 10 years old by this time.)
- Proposed feature, not implemented in the final prototype: one internal 3½" floppy disk
A floppy disk is a data storage medium that is composed of a disk of thin, flexible magnetic storage medium encased in a square or rectangular plastic shell. Floppy disks are read and written by a floppy disk drive or FDD, the initials of which should not be confused with "fixed disk drive," which...
drive
External links