Commodore pc

[lassie]

Hi found this when surfing the net, never knew Commodore made PC.

Many people remember Commodore for their 8-bit and Amiga machines, but many forget that they also made PC's as well. These were fairly non-descript machine ranging from the 8088 to the 486 processors. Commodore first began to produce PC's around 1987 and continued until 1993. When the company reorganised the PC division was one of the first to be cut. Their PC sales never compared to the number of Amigas sold and towards the end they were allegedly making a loss. A rumour circulated after Commodore's demise suggested that the company ordered their engineers to alter the A4000 design, allowing it to be sold in their existing supply of PC cases. For more information on Commodore PCs visit Home Computer.de

[lassie]

Wait what? I though the last one was the PC-60 386 and no 486 ones?

I got an mint condition Commodore PC-20 III including the monitor/keyboard and mouse that I bought new

It's this one, tho this picture is from google.

That is quite cool that you have that Are it Commodore games you can play on it or pc games? never knew they made PC

[lassie]

Well since it's an PC compatible with an 8088 CPU it runs PC games.
Mine has Windows 2.0 installed and the screen is a monochrome screen

Yes of course it runs PC games when i think about it :-) Did you buy it in Sweden?

[lassie]

Yepp, it has a Swedish keyboard, I start it once a year maybe to check if it works as it should other then that I never use it.

These are quite rare here now days, mine has no yellowing what so ever, it was used in my radio room so little to no light on it ever

Have been thinking of selling it from time to time since I never use it, but ive kept it

Well i think you will regret it if you sold it i have never seen one before.

[lassie]

Yeah I am glad I kept it Ill bring it out some day and take a few photos and post here
I know many that never seen one before they saw mine

Yes you should do that it could be nice to see.

[lassie]

I used to sell the Commodore branded PC clones and laptops right next to the Amigas in our store.  Their cases were built like tanks.  I think the earliest models actually shared a bit of their main board technology with the A2088XT and A2286 bridgeboards.  Just like the Atari PC clones of the day they had credibility issues with the general public.  Half of the people told me they were happy buying a PC from a company they trusted (CBM) and the other half just couldn't get past CBM making a serious business machine.  Sad really, as I thnk that if CBM had invested a bit in this end of their business it could have been a money maker as well.

Hi yes if they were made of the same quality as the early Commodore/Amiga then they were build to last 20 years easy, they could have been a susses

[lassie]

If you remember at the time more people wanted a PC, It had better marketing.
Without the necessary upgrades the Amiga got adandoned.
The Amiga was very popular in the UK till at least the late 90's, but no one took advantage.

Yes they must have been quite popular in uk. Were there not an Amiga Magazine that keep up until around 2000?

[lassie]

True, my PC-20 III is a sturdy build, heavy and the build quality is nice, still works and have not been used more then started since early 90s.
Maybe time for me to look over all caps

Yes that was mayby a good idea to look at them Think i have around 30 old computers/Conosles but i do not know how to fix/change the caps and it will cost a lot if i had to send them all to someone who could. Is it hard to change myself? Do i need some special tools or a solder iron

[lassie]

My high school had a lab full of Commodore 286 desktops.  They were quite slim for the time.

That is quite cool. Where are you from? I am from Denmark and i have never seen or heard about Commodore made PC before 2 days ago, and i have been an Amiga and Commodore fan since 1992

[lassie]

I'm from Ontario, Canada....and my high school also had a computer lab full of Commodore PCs (I remember some of them were Commodore Colts).  Before that it was full of Commodore C64s and PETs.

Commodore Canada had a really successful connection with the school boards in Canada.  I think in the US Apple computers were more common in schools, but here in Canada, Commodore had the educational market (elementary and high school) sewn up.

The funny thing was that they seemed to have skipped the Amiga line altogether (going from 8-bit Commodores to Commodore-made PCs) BUT all the Commodore PCs were equipped with 1084 monitors (what a waste to use them only on EGA graphic PCs!).

The only thing we had in high school was a Commodore 64 and nothing more. Sounds like Commodore had much success in Canada

[lassie]

One of the first things newcomers (and others who may be on the edges) to the Commodore (and by default Amiga) world should do is to read the two Brian Bagnall books and to visit  http://www.zimmers.net/commie/docs/cbm-products.txt

The Zimmers site will tell you about 99.9% of all the Commodore products ever made -   PCs included as well as all the non computer items.

If anyone ahas any Commodore branded material not on the Zimmers site please submit it for future inclusion.

Ernie

Thanks i will read that