Commodore pc

[ferrellsl]

Yeah, Commodore made tons of these back in the late 80s.  But it was too little, too late, to save them.  By the time they got around to making PC clones, there were already hundreds if not thousands of other clone makers out there producing better products at better prices.

[ElPolloDiabl]

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.

[glitch]

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.

[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?

[som99]

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.

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

[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

[kedawa]

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

[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

[Ral-Clan]

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!).

[glitch]

Yes, Commodore had a great presence in Canada.  Their head office building on Pharmacy Ave. is still in existence - logo and all.  Don't forget their relationship with the University of Waterloo - co-designing and building the SuperPET 9000 - awesome dual processor goodness!

[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

[Amigoat]

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

[kedawa]

I grew up in Southern Ontario as well.
I remember having VIC-20 and C64 computers in elementary school, and even a few Amigas in my high school art class.  I actually got a couple of joysticks and a bunch of pirated games(including Hollywood Poker Pro) from the art teacher, in exchange for teaching my fellow students how to use Deluxe Paint.  I even sold them some of my Amiga equipment before I graduated.

Before it went under, we always had Commodore computers in school, with the exception of those awesomely bizarre Unisys Icon terminals.  After that, it was all generic PCs or Dell.

[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

[glitch]

Ha!  The Icon - I remember that - the "bionic beaver" was the code name for model we had.  Ahhh good times, but our PET lab was much more fun.  We played Star Trek in ASCII on those.  I think we had about 10 PETs all connected to one pair of disk drives and a printer.  Each year we had a new teacher - most of us knew much more than they did about the setup.  One teacher I had later on was absolutely brilliant - she taught us FORTAN on an old donated DEC PDP/11 with terminals and a teletype machine (look it up young folk) and a paper card reader.  I credit her with sparking my interest in programming seriously and thusly my career!  You never forget the teachers like that.