PODCAST: Rando Rob 0031 – Commodore 16 and +4

[m00npie]

A couple of the less popular Commodore computers from my collection, on this throwback episode I dug out my C16 and my +4. Enjoy! Youtube: […]

Source: https://podcast.robohara.com/rando-rob- ... -16-and-4/

[Kid Ice]

I got a Commodore 16 for Christmas one year. Not sure why. I thought it would be compatible with my VIC-20 stuff. Nope. Not even the joystick! Returned the day after Christmas. Sheesh.

[Flack]

The only problem with the C16 is that none of the software and 99% of the hardware isn't compatible. And also it sucks. At least it looked cool.

[obliterator918]

I can remember when I was a kid reading about the C16 (and Plus/4). Even though I was like nine years old, I figured these had to be amazing new computers because why would they release anything that wasn't as good as the C64? Yeah, they were complete trash.

Turns out the TED line of Commodore computers was originally envisioned to compete with the ultra-cheap Sinclair, then the marketers got ahold of the project and tried to turn them into the next big thing, which they could never be. (You probably talk about this in the video.)

What's crazy is that they still managed to sell a million of those things!

[Flack]

I don't remember if I mention it in the episode but I first saw the C16 in a magazine and I thought it was the most awesome looking computer ever. Years after the C16 was discontinued, I tried finding a used or dead one so that I could swap my C64 into the black case. (The fact that the case was incompatible with the C64's ports would not have stopped me!)

I didn't at the time (at barely today) understand the business decision to release two computers that are less powerful than your current computer, which I think was selling for $199 or less at the time. I know people throw around the term, but you could literally teach a class on how to mismanage a company into the ground based on the moves Commodore made in the 1980s.

[obliterator918]

I didn't at the time (at barely today) understand the business decision to release two computers that are less powerful than your current computer, which I think was selling for $199 or less at the time. I know people throw around the term, but you could literally teach a class on how to mismanage a company into the ground based on the moves Commodore made in the 1980s.

Bil Herd still talks about this a lot. He came in after the C64 guys left and he designed the TED computers and the C128. (The C128 is a great machine in my view although an odd bird.) He says the soul of the company left when Tramiel left and it just slowly died after that. No way Jack would have UPPED the price on the TED computers. Jack would have sold the thing for a razor thin margin and it would have been a success as an ultra-cheap computer.

The C64 kept that company alive for a very long time. Hard to believe you could still buy new ones off the shelf when I graduated High School in 1993 -- and in fact was still in production in 1994!

[obliterator918]

You might find Bil's talk interesting. He says the original target price of the Plus/4 was $49.

https://youtu.be/-Zpv6u5vCJ4