https://dfarq.homeip.net/commodore-64-released-september-1-1982/
On September 1, 1982, the Commodore 64 launched. Its name referred to the amount of memory it had on board: 64 kilobytes. And it was the first computer with 64K of memory to sell for under $600.
When the C-64 first shipped is a bit of a mystery. Commodore showed prototypes at the January 1982 Consumer Electronics Show, but these weren't production-ready models yet. Some engineers quoted in Brian Bagnall's books say they shipped some units in August. Michael Tomczyk's book, The Home Computer Wars, says it launched September 1. Given that Tomczyk was writing in 1984, not long after the actual launch, I'm inclined to think Tomczyk's date is correct. Why the discrepancy? Commodore wasn't selling direct. So if they intended to sell any machines on September 1, they had to ship the first units in August.
Commodore built the initial units in Santa Clara, Calif., but ran into quality control problems, so they outsourced production to a Japanese company called Kentron. Kentron was mass producing C-64s by January 1983.
Within six months, they'd sold half a million units. And it quickly went up from there. By the end of its fiscal 1984 years, Commodore had sold about 5 million units.
(Score: 2) by looorg on Saturday September 05, @08:04PM (2 children)
That they can't agree on the release date is not odd. It's not even the most odd thing. Just wait until they come to serial and/or production numbers. Changing from different production facilities, countries and over time. This is probably also why they don't really know exactly how many machines were made and how many they sold, there are estimates from around 12-17-20 million machines. Nobody really knows. This number, probably, also doesn't count variants like the SX64 (even tho that didn't sell many) or the later C128 that sold a few million units (probably around 4-5). There was a few other variants but they probably sold even less then the C128.
There used to be a few projects online where people reported in serial numbers for their machines with some other data. But it never really matched up numbers-wise.
While it is still a fairly common machine. You can get a hold of real one and not just clones. One, or I, do sometimes wonder where they all went. After all we are talking about 20 million machines. I recon a lot went into landfills and recycling. Then there is probably still fair amount still living in parents attics in long forgotten dusty boxes. But still there should be more about the place.
(Score: 1, Informative) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday September 06, @10:16PM (1 child)
I’ve got one which I bought off a dude for $50 about 15 years ago. It still works and I get it out for my kids to use. They like to play games like Boulderdash. But it seems to only show in black and white so I’ve been meaning to take it out to the lab and check solder joints and electrolytics.
There’s still people selling C64s, they seem to fetch a bit of money these days.
I’d love to buy a C128, but have no real need for one. I also never used one as a kid so no nostalgia. But I’d really love to buy an Amiga. I only had friends who had them and I’ve good memories using them.
(Score: 3, Interesting) by looorg on Sunday September 06, @10:47PM
If everything else works, as in you get an image and it's stable but it's black and white then that is almost guaranteed to be a capacitor issue. I have repaired enough C64:s so that would be my first and best guess. The link below is probably your issue from the way you describe it.
https://www.pictorial64.com/fault.htm?id=ct1_1 [pictorial64.com]
A good working C64 with a working SID is expensive. If not you might as well just get a reproduction board and build a new one. It solves a lot of diagnostic problems, which can be solved by just building a testing harness -- but that might be overkill if you won't plan to repair a lot of them.
The Case is a bit of a personal taste. I like the old breadbin sort of style, some like the one with the wing. When people ask me I tell them to get a cheap broken one if they can or just build a new one. I'm not a fan of the new once where it's like all on a chip etc. Then you might as well just run an emulator on your normal computer.
There are so many things available as replacements these days and addons. Mechanical keyboards. Storage solutions. Expansions for memory. etc. Replacements for basically all chips. It might sort of destroy some aspects of it. But even if I have massive nostalgia for the machine, and own three, I would not want to load things from tape of floppy ever again.
I never formed any kind of bond with the C128. After all in 99% of the cases when you started it the first thing you type is GO64.
In some regard I have similar feelings for the Amiga. If you want to have an Amiga today you want a desktop one. A big box. Preferably a A3000 or A4000, unless if you go for the looks and get a A1000. But that is kind of useless as a machine. The problem is they are so expensive. Also they really have electrolytic capacitor issues. Big time. Buying a A500, A600 or A1200 is almost pointless. Unless you want to put it in a desktop case and add things to it. Otherwise emulate that to. It's fun building little hardware things for them. I still have my A4000 that I bought in the 90s. It's fun. I can't deny that. But I don't know how practical and useful it actually is, even if it now has all the bling-bling and more.
(Score: 3, Informative) by jman on Sunday September 06, @12:52PM
It was the last one in the store and the person who said there were going to buy it never showed, so I convinced the sales guy he should sell it to me.
Sure made things load faster than the VIC-20 with cassette.
Still have the 1702 monitor, which combined with a VCR and some rabbit ears was my TV for most of the 90's.
The drive and C64 itself are long gone. Wish I still had 'em!