BBC NEWS | In Pictures | In pictures: Commodore computers

BBC NEWS / IN PICTURES
Graphics Version BBC Sport Home

Thursday, 15 March 2007, 14:30 GMT

In pictures: Commodore computers

1 of 11
Veteran technology firm Commodore has launched a new generation of high-end gaming computers at the Cebit trade fair in Germany.

Commodore PET computer

2 of 11
The company released its first home computer, the PET, in 1977. It had a monochrome display and a "datasette" for storing information.

Commodore Vic 20 computer

3 of 11
The Vic 20 arrived in the US and Europe in 1981, and was one of the first home computers to feature a colour display. Owners could expand its 5K RAM with expansion cartridges.

Commodore 64 computer

4 of 11
The C64 became a 1980s icon. It remains the biggest-selling computer model of all time, selling more than 17m units worldwide.

Commodore 64 screen

5 of 11
Despite its name, the Commodore 64 had only 38K of usable RAM for programming in the BASIC language.

Pitstop 2 game for the Commodore 64

6 of 11
Thousands of games were released for the Commodore 64 including the split-screen driving game Pitstop II.

Impossible Mission game for Commodore 64

Impossible Mission game for Commodore 64

7 of 11
Many veteran gamers still play Commodore 64 games like Impossible Mission on PCs using emulation software.

Commodore Amiga computer

8 of 11
1985 saw the launch of the Amiga. The successor to the Commodore 64, the Amiga was designed to compete with Atari's ST computers.

Commodore CD32 games console

9 of 11
Despite selling well in Europe, the Amiga CD32 did not perform well enough globally to stave off Commodore's 1994 collapse.

New Commodore gaming PC

10 of 11
The Commodore brand has been resurrected in recent years, and has now released a new range of high-end gaming PCs.

New Commodore gaming PC

11 of 11
The new machines have two video cards, up to 4GB of RAM and customised artwork on the outer case.

E-mail this to a friend