From Old-computers.com
Among the Commodore news from the Summer CES 1984 was the renaming of the C=264 to Plus/4. This renaming came along with a slight change in the built-in software: you could not choose between many different programs anymore, but each Plus/4 was delivered with the 3-plus-1 software.
The built-in software is not worth the silicon it is etched in: a word processor (only with 40 columns and can manage documents with only 99 lines of 77 columns), a very small spreadsheet (only 17 columns and 50 lines), a poor graph generator program (which can graphically display data from the sheets, but only in text mode) and a small database (999 records with 17 fields each and only 38 characters by field).
Most of these programs can only be used with a floppy drive.
The Plus/4 can use some of the peripherals of the C=64 or the VIC-20, like the famous MPS-801 dot-matrix printer and the 1541 Disk Drive run well with it but it can't use C=64 programs (unfortunately, it cannot use the same joysticks & Datasette as the C=64/VIC-20).
This machine wasn't built to be a competitor of the C=64, but it wasn’t meant to replace it either. It has an improved BASIC compared to the C=64’s, this one features graphic and sound instructions and a built-in assembler, but has lost lots of interesting C-64 features like great sound chip (SID: Sound Interface Device) or hardware sprites.
The Commodore Plus/4 was an error in the Commodore marketing policy and had no success.
Very interesting extra information from Dave Haynie who designed the Commodore Plus-4:
I was one of priviledged few to actually help develop this little gem. I started work at Commodore in October of 1983, my second job out of college, after four months of boredom at General Electric. I was hired to help out on the "TED" project.
TED, you see, was an all-in-one cheap computer chip. It improved on a number of the things that were done in the C64, so you didn't need extra SRAMs, you got more color, etc. Ok, so the sound sucked. Anyway, this project was started by Jack Tramiel as an answer to the Timex Sinclair, as well as a replacement for the VIC-20 (eg, a real computer that sold for about $100). The basic idea was to sell a 64K computer, or close, to that market. The result was the membrane keyboard version called the C116.
By the time I was hired, big nonsense was in full swing. For unknown reasons, the TED project was split into several machines. There was the C264, which had the full complement of stuff, 64K of RAM, etc. The C232 was a scaled-down version, with 32K and no serial port (TED systems, unlike C64s, has a real 6551 hardware ACIA).
Eventually, there was the CV364, which I was in charge of for the two weeks between it becoming an official, for production unit, and it being cancelled forever. Take the C264, add a new version of the Magic Voice (we called it Tragic Voice) speech synthesizer module, add a numeric keypad, and you have your CV364. I think I still have one of the two units actually made with production plastic (it was shown at the '84 Winter CES, but with mock-up casework).
The TED systems had some advantages over the C64. BASIC 3.5 has real graphics commands in it. It used a dynamic ROM banking scheme, so you got nearly 64K in BASIC (this was later used on the C128). ROM cartridges, and an internal ROM slot, could also be banked. Orginally, the C264 was to be offered with Your Choice of ROM option; EasyCalc, LOGO, etc. Later, it got the horrible 3+1 package, and was redubbed the PLUS/4. Some time later, a scaled down 16K version was introduced as the C16.
All in all, the PLUS/4 wasn't a bad computer, when compared to others at the same price range. What was wrong with it? The C64. Why make an incremental, incompatible step above the C64. Everyone who tried to take on the C64 was laid to waste: Atari, Coleco Adam, Mattel Aquarius, etc. How could the PLUS/4 do any better.
The rational becomes clear when you look at the company politics. Summer of 1983, TED is the answer to Sinclair and replacing the VIC-20. Fall 1983, we have an explosion of TED models. Winter 1984, Jack Tramiel leaves Commodore. Summer 1984, his sons follow him, after pushing the PLUS/4 through. The result: Commodore is left confused about product.
