Commodore Rare Hardware – Commodore Computers: C64 VIC20 PET C128 Plus4 – 8 Bit PC's

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Last Updated Jan 3 2025

: COMMODORE MAX MACHINE: The Max Machine was announced in Germany and Canada it was only released only in Japan. It was effectively a Commodore 64 with only 8K of RAM and a very bad keyboard. This combination makes it one of the rarest production Commodore computers in the world. The system has two joystick ports, a cartridge and cassette port, RF out, audio out, channel select and power input.

: COMMOCOFFEE 64: The Commocoffee-64 is an Espresso maker that is controlled by your Commodore 64. From 1985 Italian Magazine Microcomputer, the text translates to “We Connect The Coffee Machine to Your 64” The software ask prompts: “Che ore sono?” “What time is it? “Sveglia alle?” “Wake up at?” and then concludes with a polite: “Buonanotte …” “Goodnight …” It turns on the machine whenever you told it to and made a decent cup of expresso.

: Golden Commodore 64Very limited “production” to celebrate 1 million units being productions. These units are supposed to be fully functional, but in fact Commodore staff simply took problem 64’s that had been returned / warrentied and turned them into these highly collectable units.

: Commodore V364 Prototype

: Found in a Japanese thrift store in March of 2021. This Commodore PET 2001 S is likely just a normal 2001 with an added key lock. Perhaps the “S” stands for Secure. You can see where the original factory Commodore sticker was (to the right of the blue plastic). The new label is a piece of plastic that some company has made with a lip on it (good idea for pens!) and is not from Commodore. Commodore did sell 2001’s in Japan but this one was likely modified somewhere else and shipped to Japan. The label says Systems Formulate Corporation and the stork logo makes us think the company may have made baby formula, but we cannot find any information on SFC. In 2021 44000 Yen is about USD$400 but the machine is in rough condition and we don’t know if it boots up or even if the motherboard is still inside the system. Courtesy of Joseph Stratton

: COMMODORE 64 TERMINATOR 2 RETAIL PACK: Well, the machine was exactly the same as the other late model Commodore 64C’s but it had a Damn cool box!

: COMMODORE EDUCATOR 64 / PET 64: Commodore 64 in a standard PET chassis used primarily by teachers in the class. The documentation on this history of this product is not clear but it the rumour was that Commodore did not want to throw out 64’s that were coming back on warrenty so they stuffed the used C64 motherboards inside the PET type chassis and bingo bongo, Commodore had a whole new product line to make teachers feel important.

: CMD SUPERCPU FOR C64: I believe this used a Motorola chip to have your Commodore 64 run at about 20Mhz. C64’s run at about 1Mhz without this add-on. CMD was a builder of peripheral hardware for Commodore computers and had a very good reputation.

: COMMODORE 16 STARTER PACK: The C16 was 16K Computer with a lofty 121 Colours, and 75 Basic Commands. It was part of the very short lived TED series which was incompatible with everything but the Plus/4.

: COMMODORE 116 – EXTREMELY RARE: Part of the TED series, the C116 was released in 1984 as the little brother to the C16. In a cost saving move Commodore provided the C116 with rubber keys, very much like those of the Spectrum. The C116 was even more of a sales failure than the other TED products (like the Plus/4). As you would expect the C116 is compatible with all C16 software and peripherals. Specifications: CPU 7501 SPEED 0.89 MHz or 1.76 MHz, COPROCESSOR VIC-II (video & sound), RAM 16 KB (12 KB free for user), ROM 32 KB, TEXT MODES 40 x 25, GRAPHIC MODES 320 x 200 / 320 x 160 (with 5 lines of text) / 160 x 200 / 160 x 160 (with 5 lines of text), COLOURS 121, SOUND Two channels; 4 octaves, I/O PORTS Tape, Cartridge, Joystick (2), serial, Composite Video, TV

: COMMODORE 232 – EXTREMELY RARE: One of the rarest and most sought after Commodore computers ever mass produced! Developed as part of the planned Commodore TED series (264 line) this computer never made it out of the development lab. Very few examples of the 232 exist and they have achieved a nearly legendary status in the Commodore collecting community! For Commodore collectors, this is perhaps the rarest model of all (that is actually known to exist…)! It’s much rarer than the c65 – only three or four are known to exist in the world – plus this one is BOXED! This particular unit is labelled serial Number #000007 and at last check was available for sale for US$4000 from Dan Benson.

: Commodore 128D from Europe

: COMMODORE TELEPHONE: These very sturdy phones were manufactured by Canada’s Northern Telecom (formerly part of Bell Canada, which spun off to Nortel Networks, which is now [2013] Avaya). Ontario’s Tim Foley has confirmed (Nov 2002) that these phones shipped with some VIC modems in standard packaging: $399 = Vic-20 silver box with a clear window on the front to show the Telephone, Vicmodem, Dow-Jones News Retrieval Sub, CompuServe Sub and Genie.

: COMMODORE 364 – ONLY TWO PRODUCED: At the top of the TED (264 Series) was the V364. The Commodore V364 was touted inside Commodore as ‘TED speaks’, as it had an INTEGRATED voice sound chip that could reproduce 261 different words. It was basically an integrated Magic Voice unit – but has the word ‘Pink’ – not found in that add on! These products were touted in numerous pre-release press articles and advertising circulars. But, typical to Commodore, just prior to beginning production, the entire line was canned, and only the 264 was retooled into the Plus/4 – the only model with the TED to hit the store shelves. This V364 is fully socketed (it’s a prototype), and unlike a C65 for example, can be kept running indefinitely – as all of the chips except the voice module can easily be pulled from a working Plus/4! The speaking TED notion became the add on ‘Magic voice module’, and the V364 demo units (2 mock ups, 1 production grade without a serial #) this one!) disappeared. Unlike the Plus/4 the V364 has a std C64 power connector. Thanx to Dan Benson (again!)

: COMMODORE (C64 DX64) PROTOTYPE: The C65 was developed in 1989 and 1990 by Commodore engineers, initially without the blessing of the company. It had an integrated floppy, Amiga like graphics and sound. This particular machine came from an auction at Commodore’s Toronto design center when Commodore Canada went bankrupt in late 1994. In December 2002 this prototype C65 DX64 which was missing chips and did not boot, sold on EBay for US$800.

: COMMODORE GOLDEN JUBILLEE 64: The fully functional Golden Jubilee Commodore 64 was issued to celebrate the 1,000,000th C64 sold in Germany. This unit has the serial number 1,000,212 . According to Retrobits, the Gold 64 first appeared at CES in 1984 when US Sales of the 64 topped One Million Units. I read a site that claimed this units had their chassis dipping in gold and then assembled, however, I would think the plastic would melt.

: COMMODORE AMIGA 5000 CARTOON CLASSICS: This is one of the last 500’s to be manufactured in 1991, and is the “500 PLUS” version. This Amiga edition is the “CARTOON CLASSICS” outfit including AMIGA 500 PLUS CONSOLE, PSU+MOULDED MAINS PLUG, TV MODULATOR, TV LEAD, STEREO TO MONO CABLE, TWO MANUALS “Introducing the A500 and A500 Plus” and “Using the Amiga Workbench”, THREE FLOPPY DISKS “Workbench Version 2.04”, “Extras Version 2.02” and “Fonts Version 2.04”, MOUSE, MOUSE MAT (not pictured), THREE BOXED GAMES – “Lemmings”, “Captain Planet” and “The Simpsons”, and lastly THREE DISK GRAPHICS PACKAGE “Deluxe Paint III” INCLUDING INSTRUCTIONS.

: COMMODORE 64 COMPENDIUM: Released in the UK as a C64 complete bundle.

: COMMODORE 64 TV QUIZ PACK: Another c64 bundle designed to catch your eye walking through the hardware store or Sears or … ok… they sold C64 bundles absolutely everywhere imaginable and the really needed something to make them stand out from the noise of the store.

: COMMODORE 64GS – GAME SYSTEM: These 64’s were released in the late 1980’s as a cheap version of the C64 that only accepts cartridges… ya… it has no keyboard. Now that is Plug and Play!

: VIDEO PACK 80: The Video Pak 80 switches Commodore 64’s between a 40 or 80 column monitor in black and white, or back to the standard color screen. All switching is done through software and no cables need to be moved. The Video Pak 80 includes a terminal mode, which brings communication with central data bases, at no extra cost. It also supports the advanced screen handling features of all Video Pak models such as erase to end of line, erase to end of screen, and dump screen to printer.

: COMMODORE 64 CP/M OPERATING SYSTEM CARTRIDGE: This cartridge contains a Zilog Z80 CPU which allows Commodore 64 owners to run a vast amount of CP/M programs that were in existance at the time. Prior to 1982 (ish) CP/M was THE operating system. CP/M is an acronym for Control Program for Microcomputers and a re-written version of it became MS DOS. CP/M was written by Gary Kildall in then mid 1970’s for Intel 8080 CPU’s. The 8080 was cloned and improved upon by the man that invented the 8080 for Intel when he started Zilog and produced the Z80 CPU. The Z80 is found in many many many devices ranging from the Commodore 128 and the First Nintendo Game Boy. See our GALLERY, MAGAZINE article section for more CP/M information.

: MOS 6501 CPU EXTREMELY RARE: Purchased directly from MOS’ Norristown Fab in late 1975, This historically important CPU should not exist. Chuck Peddle, engineer of the fabled 6501 and famous 6502, said that none of the 6501’s should have ever left the factory because they were not for sale. It is likely that this the sole survivor.

: COMMODORE VIC-20 PROTOTYPE – EXTREMELY RARE: This photo was provided by Michael Tomczyk in November of 2004. As noted on the picture this early prototype was used to create manuals for the VIC! Note the colourless VIC-20 name plate. I believe the colorful VIC-20 and COMMODORE stickers were added by Mr Tomzcyk personally and had nothing to do with the original design. See our HISTORY section for more information on Mr. Tomczyk.

: COMMODORE CBM 1020 EXTREMELY RARE: This is a Commodore VIC 20 Docking Station the CBM 1020 made from steel like the Commodore PET.

: COMMODORE VIC 1001: A VIC20 Sold only in Japan

: VICONTROLLER: This controller plugged into the Commodore VIC 20 user port to control upto 256 lights and other electric devices in your house. COMPUTE! June 1983

: VIC RELAY: The cartridge plugs into the VIC User Port allowing the machine to control burgerar alarms, garage doors, lights, telephones, and other household devices. It contains 6 relay outputs and 2 inputs. This unit was made in Stockhold Sweden.

: VIC-SWITCH – COMMODORE 4015: The VIC Switch can connect 8 VIC’s to a shared drive and / or printer. They were made in Sweden. Many of them carry the Commodore logo, they do not look very Commodore like so I think they were Branded by Commodore but not manufactured by Commodore. I believe there is a 16 port model as well but I have never seen one.

: COMMODORE VIC-1213 MACHINE LANGUAGE MONITOR CARTRIDGE: Yes, with this cartridge you could write your programs in HEX and with the amount of memory the VIC had available to it, commercial programmers really needed to keep their code clean and small.

: COMMODORE VIC-1210 3K RAM PACK: Well, the name says is all. 3K UPGRADE cartridge! Yes, that is just 3000 characters you could add to your VIC’s system memory; My 10 year old writes longer essays than that is school. The very fact that this device made it to mass production tells you just how expensive RAM memory was in the early 1980’s.

: VIC 20 EXPANSION BOARD: This appears to be a hand made unit that allows you to swap out/in various ROMs. New Zealand’s Bob Gorczynski has confirmed that these were exclusively for the VIC20.

: VIC-20 C128 EPROM PROGRAMMER: Very nice indeed! This tool allowed you to ‘burn’ your programs onto EPROM (Electronically Programmable Read Only Memory). The EPROM could then be placed into a cartridge which could be easily used like any other cartridge program.

: TULIP COMMODORE KEYBOARD & MIDI: These devices were produced and sold by Tulip of Holland (www.tulip.com) who has owned the Commodore brand from about 1999 when Gateway dumped it through to about 2005 when they got into serious financial trouble. (See our HISTORY tab, CHRONOLOGY section for details.) They are actually Microsoft Windows devices for a PC and completely unrelated to real Commodore equipment.

: MUSIC MAKER: Keyboard overlay and software for the Commodore 64

: SUPERCOARD: Connect your standard electric typewriter to your Commodore PET or other computer.

: COMMODORE MAGIC VOICE: This device was inspired by the Matell SPEAK & SPELL device but has no relation to it. Magic Voice could be used Commodore 64 and by extension the Commodore 128. It was built into the amazing V364 that did NOT go into mass production – see the top of this page for information on the V364.

: COMMODORE SOUND SAMPLER: This an 8-bit sound sampler with D/A and A/D capability which plugs into the expansion port at the rear of the CBM 64. The sampler allows the capture of audio via the line in and the replay of the sampled audio via the line out. The sampler comes with software (on cassette) which allows the user to capture either a single sample which can be played over 10-octave range or four separate samples that can be sequenced together.

: S’MORE RAM CARTRIDGE FOR THE C64: Manufactured by Cardco Inc in the early 1980’s (see our GALLERY, OTHER ADVERT section for more on Cardco). Description on the back of the package: – 61,183 bytes of C-64 RAM memory freed for Basic Programming (57% more than the 38,911 now free). This gain is not restricted in any way, and can be used for arrays, variables, and basic programs which would overload the un-expanded C-64’s capacity. – Over 60 new and enhanced basic commands and functions…. -Full error trapping, and an automatic error help…. -Full up-down scrolling through program listings for easier program editing

: KOALA PAINTER TOUCH PAD: This Koala Pad was used with Commodore 64’s and Commodore 128’s to create graphics and art. Yet another… ‘Apple did not invent this stuff’ moment.

: GOES PRINTER CONNECTOR: The problem with using a PC Centronics-port printer on a Commodore system has been a lack of port compatibility. The Centronics port is a parallel connection, while the Commodore 64/128 is used to communicating with a printer over its serial port. Traditionally, this problem has been solved with third party adaptors (such as The Card?, Super Graphics Jr., etc) which make the PC printer appear as a printer on the serial bus. This is a fine solution for generic text printing, but is not quite good enough for the more advanced graphics printing done in GEOS. However, if text printing is your only concern, a CBM Serial->Centronics adapter, along with a generic GEOS printer driver, may be good enough. The best solution to this problem, however, is a special cable called the geoCable. It connects from the Commodore 64/128’s user port to the Centronics port on the PC printer. Since both ports are parallel, this is also the fastest solution. Today (2013) of course this technology has been replaced with USB and that will be replaced with Thunderbolt… Connectors, adaptors and benders will always be with us!

: FOOT PEDALS FOR COMMODORE AND ATARI: This item enables you to transfer any 3 controls from “joystick” to “foot pedal”. It is for use with all Atari computers including ST. Commodore 64, 128, VIC20, Amiga Amstrad/Schneider CPC Spectrum and Spectrum PLUS (with suitable interface) BBC and Electron (with suitable interface).

: COMMODORE TYPEWRITERS: I am guessing the machine at the top was produced around 1960 but I have no way of knowing for sure. The unit at the bottom was likely produced in the late 70’s. Because this is not electronic, this device does not fit into this category but I thought it was neat enough to add anyway.

: VOICE MASER FOR C64: From Covox of Eugene, Oregon in 1984 and 1985, this is one of the earliest speach recongition and playback devices. Made for the Commodore 64.

: TECHSKETCH LIGHT PEN FOR C64: … just that

: PASSPORT DESIGNS MIDI INTERFACE: The Passport Designs MIDI Interface is one of three different Midi Interface units that were made for the Commodore. It’s said that the Passport was the Best design and was the most Software-supported model available.

: COMMODORE AUTO SWTICH BOX: This is a rare Commodore auto switch box. It connects the Commodore computer to a coax cable on the back of a modern TV set. It will automatically switch from the cable signal to the computer signal, when the computer is turned on. This product is very unique and very rare.

: EXTERNAL CASSETTE INTERFACE FOR THE PET: I don’t know who made this device but you would connect the box to the expansion port on the back of your Commodore PET and plug the two audio jacks into your cassette player… if you don’t know what a cassette player is, well… this is going to be a long conversation so hit Google or Bing first 🙂

: COMMODORE MOS KIM-1: The worlds first fully assembled single board production computer. Originally produced by MOS Technologies with their 6502 CPU. The 6502 was designed in 1975 by Chuck Peddle (see our HISTORY tab for more info on Chuck Peddle) and the MOS KIM1 kit computer was released in 1976. Commodore bought MOS in 1977 and continued to sell these kits through 1981. The unit shown is less rare than some because it is a Commodore KIM-1, not a MOS KIM-1. Notice the C= Logo in the top right corner of the board, beside the MOS logo. Click PRODUCTS at the top to see our KIM1 Page.

: COMMODORE MAX MACHINE / ULTIMAX PROTOTYPE: This photo was provided by Michael Tomczyk in November of 2004. It is part of his personal collection. This chassis appears to be the same as the production model.

: COMMODORE MAX MACHINE / ULTIMAX PROTOTYPE: For more information contact the former owner of a Max Machine [email protected]

: COMMODORE MAX MACHINE – EXTREMELY RARE: The MAX was released only in Japan which makes it rare, but this unit has the original retail packaging… VERY nice.

: COMMODORE BRANDED FLOPPY DISKS and BOX: This disks are rare, the box is rarerererer

: COMMODORE GAME CONSOLE: This Commodore TV 3000H console was produced sometime in the mid to late 1970’s for the UK market. The game system has a COLOUR display, and features four games – FOOTBALL, TENNIS, SHOOTING and SQUASH. The console is complete, and comes with 3 paddles (fourth player uses control on main console), original instructions and original box. The console runs of batteries or standard DC mains adapter.

: COMMODORE CHESSMATE: Console game from late 1970’s, Germany’s Doc Phura explains, You have to use a real chess board to play the game. You enter the move you have chosen. The MOS6504-driven Chessmate answers by displaying its move by means of chess notation codes.

: COMMODORE PROGRAMMABLE THERMOSTAT: Yes, Commodore took a crack at using their technology almost everywhere. I have no detail on this product but I assume it was engineered and marketed by a third party who paid to license the Commodore brand name and possibly used some Commodore components.

: COMMODORE ACCOUSTIC COUPLER: Yes… This is how is was done in the old days. Jam your telephone handset into two rubber holders to allow the sound from the ‘modem’ to transfer to your phone line. WOW this was bad technology… but there were no options for most people and companies in the late 1970’s and early 1980’s because most phones did not have ‘jacks’; phones were hardwired into the wall just like a light switch.

: EKHARD DATABASE PET: It would seem that this is a custom 2001 PET that functions primarily as a database workstation (via custom roms), plus it has Wordcraft installed as well. Upon booting the machine, the ‘Ekhardt Database’ program immediately becomes active, allowing the user to utilize that program. The internal board, aside from the custom roms is a stock Commodore 2001 board, but the casing isdefinitely not by Commodore. My only guess is that the database manufacture was selling these custom units to business, based on the underlying PET hardware. It was also suggested that this was a PET that was customized by/for a particular company for it’s own exclusive use, which might also be possible. In any event, it is in excellent condition, works, and is unique as far as I know! Description & Photo’s courtesy Dan Benson. [email protected]

: CBM-II – COMMODORE B128-80: The B128 was the only 6509 based system to achieve any serious, albeit modest production in the United States. This particular unit is serial number #5553! Sporting 128k of memory and the advanced 6509 microprocessor, this model was a part of the CBM-II series which were Commodore’s planned replacement line for the aging PET line. This particular model was the only model in the line to see serious production and it did not fair well in the business community. After a relatively short run, the line was ended and the remaining B-128’s were liquidated at ‘rock bottom’ prices through companies like Protecto Industries. (see our OTHER ADVERTS gallery for pricing). Courtesy of Dan Benson… again!

: COMMODORE CBM 610: The only 6509 based system to achieve any serious, albeit modest production in Europe. See the B128 item for more details. Courtesy of Dan Benson.

: COMMODORE CBM C710: The rare 710 was part of the CBM-II line C= developed in the mid ’80s as a successor to the Commodore PET. This computer was state of the art. It contains a 6509 processor, which allows for access of up to 1mb of ram in a unique ‘banking’ method – much more advantageous than the 6502 banking schemes. It also it contains a SID sound chip – highly unusually for what was billed as a business machine! The CBM-II models were Commodore’s last effort to capture the business market with it’s superior proprietary technology. It contains Commodore BASIC 4.0 IEEE-488 peripheral compatibility, an RS232-C port, and 80 column text video capability. This particular model has a whopping 128k, and according to Commodore literature, is expandable to over 700k. The CBM 710, along with its equally rare stable mate the CBM 720, represent the top of the CBM-II line. The stylishly curved plastic case with detachable keyboard and built in monitor are a contrast to the rest of the line.

: COMMODORE PET 200: The Commodore PET 200 is rebaged PET 8096 SK. This particular unit is the S model which designates a Swedish keyboard to enable characters like Å, Ä and Ö. According to Anders G. who is the proud owner of this unit (and provided these pictures, thank you) the S was only sold by two stores in Sweden for a very short time (i.e. it is one of the most rare production models around)

: COMMODORE PET 8296SK: This was the end of line for the Commodore PET. Clearly the best looking computer ever made, its round chassis was designed by Porche! The round chassis was introduced on some 8032 models and was contined on in the B and P Series Commodore PET II lines. The SK designation indicates Separate Keyboard. The end of this line signified the end of Commodore’s work in the business market, which many reviewers believe was one of many serious errors in strategy which eventually lead to the companies demise.

: COMMODORE PET 510: Also very rare PET using MOS 6509 CPU, 6581 SID and 128K RAM. The 510’s used the VIC-II 40 column Hi-Resolution colour graphics video chip.

: DAVIDSON-RICHARDS LIMITED’s PET EPROM PROGRAMMER: Used to burn ROM chips for the Commodore PET.

: QUESTSTAR INTERNATIONAL DISKSHARE 9000: This device was used to allow Commodore PETs to share a floppy drive between systems. My high school bought a MUPET system to do the same thing and after a year or so gave up because of reliability problems.

: SOFTBOX BY SSE FOR COMMODORE PET / CBM: There were several products like these in the early 80’s. They were the core basic building block of what today would be called a LAN (Local Area Network… or now in 2013 just called a Network). It allowed users (typically to a maximum of 8 machines) to share a floppy drive and in the unlikely event a user could afford a hard drive (typically 5MB to 10MB – not GB!) they could share that to. Compute August 1982

: COMMODORE 64K UPGRADE: Yes… you read it correctly… just 64K required all this equipment and space. I have not seen a price list for this unit but I expect that when it was new (likely around 1980) it likely would have sold for US$750. I own this board along with an 8K 2001 which has a similar expansion board which for 24K (bringing the total to 32K). This was a HUGE amount of memory for 1980.

: COMMODORE CBM 2023: This dot matrix printer was designed for the PET 2001-8. It’s definitely a rare one.

: COMMODORE VIC 1515 DOT MATRIX PRINTER: The VIC 1515 is was a real production printer so it really does not belong on this list, however, there seem to be precious few of them around today (2002) so here it is!

: GORILLA BANANA PRINTERS FOR COMMODORE COMPUTERS: These were actually pretty popular printers for their time. Unfortunately the company that produced these, Leading Edge, was bought sometime in the early-mid 1990’s by Packard Bell, which merged with NEC, and as of May 2002 was just called NEC. Compute August 1983.

: AMAZING COMMODORE SFD 1001: What is so unusual about this drive, you ask? Well simply put, this drive allows you to store a full meg of data on regular single density disks!! Pretty amazing when you consider when these drives were made!! (early 1980s.) There were hard drives at this time with 1 meg capacities and this drive manages to do it on cheap single density disks!! We can only put 1.44MB on High Density floppies even today (2002). There are probably only a few hundred of these left in the world. The last two sentences are courtesy of Paul Gable. The SFD-1001 which was sold mostly through liquidators was an IEEE-488 based drive. Back in the days when these were being sold I heard it said that SFD stood for ‘Super Fast Drive’ because it was parallel. At the time when 1541’s reigned, C= drive speed was incredibly slow. The last two sentences are courtesy of Daniel Bingamon The SFD1001 works on C64/128 & possibly the PET.Australia’s Trevor Roydhouse indicated that he paid $80 just for the cable required to get it connected to a C64 and that with some mods, he got it working on a VIC!

: COMMODORE 1570 FLOPPY DRIVE: This 1570 is rare enough that I have never seen one up close. When Commodore introduced the C128, the 1571 double sided drive wasn’t quite ready, as a stop-gap measure, the 1570 was shipped. The 1570 is functionally the same as the 1571, except that it is single sided only. It does, however support the 1571’s burst mode of operation. Courtesy of Australia’s Lance Lyon

: COMMODORE 1570 FLOPPY DRIVE: This 1570 is rare enough that I have never seen one up close. When Commodore introduced the C128, the 1571 double sided drive wasn’t quite ready, as a stop-gap measure, the 1570 was shipped. The 1570 is functionally the same as the 1571, except that it is single sided only. It does, however support the 1571’s burst mode of operation. Courtesy of Australia’s Lance Lyon

: COMMODORE 8280 FOR THE PET: This ultra-rare dual 8″ floppy drive runs on 220V which means it almost certainly came from Europe. I have never seen one of these in person.

: COMPUTHINK FLOPPY DISK DRIVE & RAM BOARD: The CompuThink ‘ExpandaPET’ system required the board you see here to be installed in the PET chassis. In addition to allowing a PET 2001 to use the drive, it added 32K of RAM to the system. This drive is historically important because it was the very first PET drive beating Commodore to market by nearly a year. It uses a proprietary DOS so the disk format and commands are incompatible with Commodore branded drives. However, it was substantially faster the Commodore units. Richard Tobey designed the ExpandaPET and disk drive interface hardware and Mike Korns wrote the DOS for the drive system. Compu/Think went on to create their own product that was also 6502 based called The MiniMax. This was a 2mhz 6502 with a 12″ 80×25 screen, full keyboard and numeric pad, plus 2 8″ or 5.25 floppy drives.. It was introduced in 1979. LAter they changed their name to Momentum Computer and introduced one of the early 68000 + Unisoft Unix servers that would serve up to 16 terminals.

: CBM D9060 HARD DRIVE: The 9060 was a then staggering 5MB hard drive. 9060’s connected via the PET IEEE 488 interface. The weighed about 4 million pounds, took a full minute to spin up, and put an massive strain the electrical circuit it was plugged into. It was based on Winchester technology and contained a hard drive from JTS. This technology was later sold to Western Digital. Commodore Also produced a 9MB version called a 9090. Technical manuals for these drives are available in our manuals section.

: DATALOCK ‘DIGITAL’ TAPE: Remember that cassette tapes were designed for music and not for squeals and squelches of a Commodore PET or VIC20 data. I doubt this was much better than audio tape but there is some logic to their sales pitch. Compute! June 1983

: CMD RAMLINK FOR C64 / 128: Used to dramatically expand the memory upto 16MB using 4 x 4MB SIMMS, for a Commodore 64 or 128. The memory was not used for programs but for RAM Drives. These were very expensive and quite rare. Creative Micro Designs (CMD) was a major builder of peripheral hardware for Commodore Equipment and had a very good reputation.

: CMD 512K RAMDRIVE: Portable 512 K RAM Disk for the C64/C128 line of computers. Software drive swap between drive 8 and 9, defaults to 16. Compatible with GEOS, BASIC, and most 64 or 128 software. Built in JiffyDos and RD DOS. It loads off of diskette, and from then on retains JD kernal until batteries are drained, 9volt wall wart included. Emulates 1541 drive, or Native partitions.

: BRACHMAN ASSOCIATES SERIAL BOX PRINTER BUFFER: By default a Commodore VIC 20, C64 or C128 computer will be tied up until the printer (on the IEC bus) has accepted all of the data for printing. The Serial Box 64K Printer Buffer is a transparent printer buffer for the IEC bus. This device buffers data in RAM and then spools the data to the printer as it will accept it, allowing the computer to be freed more quickly. LEDs on the top of the unit alert when it is running, paused, or when the 64K buffer is full. A brief push and a button would pause the printing or reset the unit.

: C64 C128 KEYPAD BY ATARI: Released in the spring of 1983 it had previously only come bundled with some accounting software.

: COMMODORE AMIGA CDTV: This CDTV console was basically a stripped console version of the Amiga 500(?). Most of the stripped components (hard drive, keyboard…) could be readded for additional money. This unit has: Commodore Amiga CDTV Unit with upgraded 2MB fat Angus Chip – Commodore CDTV SCSI Controller card (fitted) and 60 MB Hard Drive – Keyboard, mouse, remote control, floppy disk drive (all corret cdtv add-ons) – CD Caddy and a load of software. If you go to our VIDEO page in the GALLERY you can see a long presentation on the CDTV.

: Commodore PET Prototype

: Tape Drive for 64

: Commodore 128CR Motherboard courtesy of Steve Gray

3 Comments

Sven Jarge · March 16, 2020 at 3:58 pm

The Commodore 16 protoype is not listed as well.

Michael Tomczyk · October 6, 2019 at 10:01 am

The Commodore 264 is not listed. A few prototypes were produced. I own one.

Ian Matthews · November 18, 2019 at 8:28 pm

Hi Michael;

Long time, no talk! We have details on the 264 about 20% of the way down the https://www.commodore.ca/commodore-products/commodore-264-plus4-ted-series-the-beginning-of-the-end/ page.

Let me know if you ever want to sell that unit, I am interested. You have my private email already.

Thanks for checking in!

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