--- title: Commodore C64C categories: - Computers types: - Home Computer origins: - U.S.A. years: - '1987' cpus: - 6510A params: name: C64C company: /companies/commodore company_name: Commodore specs: - label: NAME value: C64C - label: MANUFACTURER value: Commodore - label: TYPE value: Home Computer - label: ORIGIN value: U.S.A. - label: YEAR value: March 1987 - label: END OF PRODUCTION value: Unknown - label: BUILT IN LANGUAGE value: Commodore Basic V.2.0 - label: KEYBOARD value: Full-stroke 65 keys with 4 function keys - label: CPU value: 6510A - label: SPEED value: 0.985 MHz (PAL) / 1.023 MHz (NTSC) - label: CO-PROCESSOR value: VIC II (Video), SID (Sound) - label: RAM value: 64 KB - label: ROM value: 20 KB - label: TEXT MODES value: 40 columns x 25 lines - label: GRAPHIC MODES value: 'several, most used : 320 x 200' - label: COLORS value: 16 + 16 border colours - label: SOUND value: 3 voices / 9 octaves, 4 waveforms (sound output through TV) - label: SIZE / WEIGHT value: 41.4 (W) x 24.3 (D) x 5.9 (H) cm / 1710 g - label: I/O PORTS value: RGB (composite, chroma/luma and sound in/out), 2 x Joystick plugs, Cardridge slot, Tape interfarce (300 bps), Serial, User Port, TV RF output - label: BUILT IN MEDIA value: Cassette unit. Provision for 170 KB 5.25'' floppy disc unit (1541C) - label: OS value: GEOS - label: POWER SUPPLY value: External power supply unit - label: PRICE value: $229 tabs: - photos - hardware - emulators - links - videos photos: - title: COMMODORE 64C subtitle: '' text: '' image: null - title: LEFT SIDE subtitle: '' text: '' image: null - title: FRONT subtitle: '' text: '' image: null - title: DETAIL subtitle: '' text: '' image: null - title: REAR subtitle: '' text: '' image: null - title: 'REAR #2' subtitle: '' text: '' image: null - title: GREY CASE subtitle: '' text: '' image: null - title: KEYBOARD CLOSE-UP subtitle: '' text: '' image: null - title: RIGHT SIDE subtitle: '' text: |- From left to right:\ Dual joystick connector, power switch and socket. image: null - title: REAR SIDE subtitle: '' text: |- From left to right:\ • Cartridge slot\ • TV chanel selector\ • TV modulator output\ • Audio, video DIN socket\ • Serial DIN socket\ • Tape recorder connector\ • User I/O connector image: null - title: COMMODORE LABEL subtitle: '' text: Commodore label and warranty seal (intact!) image: null - title: MAINBOARD subtitle: '' text: Can you help us in describing the function of each chip? image: null - title: 'BOX #1' subtitle: '' text: '' image: null - title: 'BOX #2' subtitle: '' text: '' image: null - title: 'BOX #3' subtitle: '' text: '' image: null hardware: - title: 1530 C2N subtitle: Tape-recorder text: The classic Commodore tape-recorder ! image: /media/museum/hardware/commodore_c64_tape-recorder-1530-c2n_1.jpg - title: CMD SUPERCPU subtitle: '' text: |- The SuperCPU by Creative Micro Devices is an accelerator cartridge for the Commodore 64. It contains an W65C816S processor running at 20 MHz, providing 20 times the performance of the stock 6510 processor! CMD later added a SuperRAM Card option that could include up to 16 MB of additional memory. There is also a v2 version that offers native 128 mode support (also called SuperCPU/128). It is one of the most sought-after Commodore peripherals. Thomas Conté image: /media/museum/hardware/c64_supercpu.jpg - title: CMD RAMLINK subtitle: '' text: |- This RAM expansion unit by Creative Micro Devices was intended to be used as a RAM drive to accelerate disk access. It is externally powered, and thus will preserve the data even when the computer is turned off. Thomas Conté image: /media/museum/hardware/c64_cmd_ramlink.jpg - title: FLOPPY DISK UNIT 1540-1541 subtitle: '' text: |- It is connected to the C64 via a serial link.\ It is very very slow and can store 170 kb per disk. image: /media/museum/hardware/commodore-diskdrive_1540_1.jpg - title: QUICK DATA DRIVE subtitle: '' text: |- **Cheaper and faster than diskettes.** This Quick Data Drive from Dean Electronics is dedicated to Commodore 64 and <$252$>Vic 20 systems. It uses a special tape called 'Wafer', of 16, 64 or 128 Kb capacity. This wafer was also used by a product marketed for the <$223$>Sinclair Spectrum, called Wafadrive. Various tests proved that the Q.D.D. was approximately 20 times faster than a normal cassette recorder and 2 or 3 times faster than the Commodore 1541 disk drive. The reason : data transfer routines (called QOS) much more efficient than those of Commodore, and a file management operating system (FMU) much more modern and powerful. The Q.D.D. is however not more than an advanced tape recorder using a magnetic tape, and the delay to access a specific file still remains higher than with a normal disk drive. Despite its qualities, the Q.D.D. did not meet success because most C64 software was sold on disks or tapes and users had to acquire both Commodore peripherals before investing in a third powerful storage system. image: /media/museum/hardware/commodore_64_quick_data_1.jpg - title: CMD HD-20 subtitle: 20Mb hard-drive text: This is a hard drive for the C64 or 128. SWAP-Devicenumber-Buttons let the HD become drive 8 or 9. It can create sub-directories and partitions, including 1541 emulation. image: /media/museum/hardware/commodore_c64_cmd-hd20_1.jpg - title: VICMODEM subtitle: Advert text: You could already send emails !! image: /media/museum/hardware/commodore_vicmodem_pub_1.jpg - title: WERSIBOARD MUSIC 64 subtitle: '' text: Thomas Conté image: /media/museum/hardware/c64_wersiboard.jpg - title: MODEL 1525 subtitle: '' text: It can print all the semi graphic characters of the C64. (30 characters per second) image: /media/museum/hardware/commodore_printer_1525_1.jpg emulators: - title: CCS64 url: http://www.ccs64.com/ platform: Windows text: The best C64 emulator for the PC - title: Free64 url: http://www.umr.edu/~bmartin/ platform: Windows text: A Freeware emulator for MS DOS - title: MESS url: http://www.mess.org platform: Windows text: This fantastic emulator can emulate the mlost of the 8-bit Commodore systems - title: Win 64 url: http://www.geocities.com/SiliconValley/Park/6558/win64.htm platform: Windows text: The Best C64 Emulator for Win95 / WinNT - title: Win64 url: http://www.geocities.com/siliconvalley/park/6558/win64.htm platform: Windows text: Good Commodore 64 for Windows - title: Mac Frodo url: http://internetter.com/titan/macfrodo/ platform: Apple text: The MAC OS version of Frodo, one of the best C64 Emulator - title: Power 64 url: http://www.infinite-loop.at/Power64/index.html platform: Apple text: Emulator for PPC Macintoshes - title: SID PLay url: http://stud1.tuwien.ac.at/~e9426444/sidplay/ platform: Apple text: A player for C64 Musics - title: ccs url: http://www.funet.fi/pub/cbm/crossplatform/emulators/unix/ platform: Unix / Linux text: C64 emulator for Unix - title: Frodo for Amiga OS url: http://www.uni-mainz.de/~bauec002/FRMain.html platform: Amiga OS text: The best C64 Emulator for Amiga - title: VICE for Amiga OS4 url: http://amidog.se/amiga/vice/ platform: Amiga OS text: This AmigaOS4 version is ported by Mathias "AmiDog" Roslund - title: c64.gr url: http://www.c64.gr/ platform: Other platform text: C64 online emulator. Play favorite games in your browser! - title: C-ONE url: http://c64upgra.de/c-one/ platform: Other platform text: Hardware emulator (re-configurable computer) - title: Frodo for PalmOS url: http://frodopalm.sourceforge.net/ platform: Other platform text: Frodo for PalmOS - title: VICE url: http://viceteam.bei.t-online.de/ platform: Other platform text: Emulates the C64, C128, VIC20, all the PET models and the CBM-II under Unix, MS-DOS, Win95/NT, OS/2, Acorn RISC OS or BeOS !! - title: Web C64 url: http://www.dreamfabric.com/c64/ platform: Other platform text: The 64 as a Java applet in your Browser. Excellent ! - title: C=64 Emulator for OS/2 Full Screen url: http://home.hccnet.nl/w.m.brul/emulator/index.html platform: OS2 text: Freeware emulator for OS/2 links: - title: C64.COM url: http://www.c64.com/ text: Excellent and beautifully designed site, full of games to download. A must - title: c64.gr url: http://www.c64.gr/ text: C64 online emulator. Play favorite games in your browser! - title: 'c64files.com :: the ultimate C64 portal!' url: http://www.c64files.com/ text: News, Gaming, Music, Museum, Links etc. - title: Commodore 64 - url: http://folkvagn.commodore64.org text: Info about the C64 and successors, C64 emulators and the SID chip. Also contains C64 programs and a forum. In Swedish only. - title: Commodore 64 Game Endings url: http://www.c64endings.co.uk/ text: All your fave C64 game endings under one roof. - title: Commodore 64 Nostalgia url: http://www.staggs.pair.com/c64/ text: '' - title: Commodore Scene Magazine and Importing Service url: http://www.commodorescene.org.uk/ text: New publications, hardware and software for the Commodore 128/128d and C64 - title: Commodore Service Manuals url: http://www.devili.iki.fi/Computers/Commodore/ text: Commodore Service Manuals & other stuff - title: Commodore-64 Programmer's Library url: http://home.comcast.net/~c64proglib text: many of Robert Baker's early original magazine articles, programs and programming tips (not free) - title: Commodore-related Net Resources url: http://www.hut.fi/~msmakela/cbm/netresources.html text: '' - title: Good Old Games url: http://speccy.altervista.org/ text: Many games with screenshot comparisons, download and magazines - title: Greg and David's C64 Web page url: http://www.ozemail.com.au/~gvincent/ text: '' - title: HV C64 CD's - The ultimate CD set full of software for the C64 url: http://www.talent.demon.co.uk/64/ text: '' - title: LEMON 64 url: http://www.lemon64.com/ text: The source for all Your Commodore 64 Gaming and News needs ! Quite impressive !!! - title: Mayhem64 url: http://www.mayhem64.co.uk/main.htm text: For all your C64 cartridge needs... and more! - title: Remixes of music from C-64 games url: http://remix.kwed.org text: Hear the tunes from your fav C64 games like you've never heard them before! - title: Stadium 64 url: http://s64.emuunlim.com/ text: Are you a sportgaming fan? Then this site is definitely for you! Over 1000 sportgames available for download. Lots of manuals, reviews, covers, adverts, screenshots, hints&tips, world records + a lot more! - title: The Commodore 8-bit WWW server url: http://www.hut.fi/~msmakela/cbm/ text: '' - title: The Secrets Weapons of Commodore url: http://www.floodgap.com/retrobits/ckb/secret/ text: Awesome website ! Presents all the weird systems imagined by Commodore. - title: The Star Commander homepage url: http://sta.c64.org/sc.html text: '' - title: Web Wiz CAPTCHA url: http://www.webwizcaptcha.com text: This is a bulletin board run on a Commodore 64! videos: - title: Commodore 64c commercial url: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pST-xHh7pGc text: 'Length: 29 s' - title: C64 assembly line pictures! url: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6vzfJLVS2YI text: 'Length: 6 min 56 s' comments: - author: Gatton (US) date: Tuesday 17th November 2020 text: This was also my childhood machine. I miss turning our computers on and seeing a Ready prompt. Kids these days have it great though. I am typing this from a Raspberry Pi $35 computer. It can run all the old Commodores and Apples or anything else. Super fun! - author: Gatton (US) date: Tuesday 17th November 2020 text: This was also my childhood machine. I miss turning our computers on and seeing a Ready prompt. Kids these days have it great though. I am typing this from a Raspberry Pi $35 computer. It can run all the old Commodores and Apples or anything else. Super fun! - author: David from Hungary date: Thursday 1st August 2019 text: My childhood machine. My mom bought it second-hand around 1996, long after the decline of the 8-Bit era. After we moved on to Windows PCs, the C64C and its peripherals sat boxed in in the basement. This year, I refurbished them, retrobrighted their cases, added heatsinks to the sensitive components. Everything works like a charm, and it''s still a great experience to tinker around with them. - author: Fabio (Italy) date: Saturday 22nd April 2017 text: |- Fantastic Commodore 64C\ I play all day during ''80...\ I ''ve got C64C with old keyboard, see here:\ https://www.wemedia.it/commodore-64c-166.html - author: Julián (Argentina) date: Thursday 26th February 2015 text: C64C was my first step into the computer world. I was 12 (too old for a newbie nowadays) when my father and I went to the shop to buy it. Programming in Basic, playing games with friends, reading related books to learn something else... all was great with the Commodore64C!! - author: Pasquale (Italy) date: Wednesday 20th February 2013 text: |- This model has been the most selled in Italy up to 1994.\ I have got the mine on 1992/93 and that still works good now.\ I have wrote a lot of programs with it and after 20 years i am yet happy to make the same! Viva il C64! Regards from Italy / Un saluto dall''Italia - author: Dag date: Monday 5th November 2012 text: 'Marco: Try tinchens online shop on ebay !' - author: Andreas (Sweden) date: Thursday 3rd May 2012 text: This one is my favorite C64. It has better picture quality compared to my older C64:s and the sound chip does actually sound better except for old-style digitized sound. But if you have a look on the Vicious Sid demo, you will see that the 8580 chip is doing much better when playing samples using their mechanism. - author: Der Doktor (Germany) date: Friday 24th February 2012 text: |- The C64 was my very first computer and it still runs today - perfectly. I have many old computers but the Commodore machines are very special to me. I just love the very simple an classic design and the hardware capabilities.\ But no C64 and 128 is complete without GEOS, the best OS of all times. It''s still mindblowing what Berkeley Softworks has done. They really managed to run a GUI on a computer with only 64kB of RAM. It''s really amazing. - author: Marco (Croatia) date: Sunday 5th June 2011 text: I have C64C with the diskete unit etc, and everything works fine. The only thing I miss is one key on the keyboard. Anybody knows where to buy a keyboard for C64C? I would really like to have it in "one piece" again. - author: Jon (United States) date: Tuesday 31st May 2011 text: I had one of these. The only drawback was the sound chip itself. You couldn''t hear digitized speech very well. In my experience with one of these, the digitized speech were very faint. The chip used was a MOS 8580, which could be replaced with a MOS 6581, which worked better. Other than that, I liked the styling of the case. The board was very small, and used fewer chips than the previous model it replaced. - author: Simon Lyne (UK) date: Monday 11th April 2011 text: |- http://www.scribd.com/doc/40437/Commodore-64-Users-Guide Although this is aimed at a C64 the C64C is a C64 re-packaged. So the principle should still apply. I hope this helps, I just got mine powered up although there''s some repair work involved. - author: Shadow (USA) date: Friday 8th April 2011 text: Looked good with C-16 command keys by the way - author: Shadow (USA) date: Friday 8th April 2011 text: I have had several 64c''s over the years, I still have one in good working order, with stereo SID on-board and 1mb of RAM. Still have working 1581 and 1541-II drives as well, love to boot up old games now and then. I used to have a 2400 baud USR modem attached to an RS232C cable, but I can no longer find it, I do have a 1200baud automodem though, always wanted to fire it up and hit the old BBS''s again - author: MJ (Slovakia) date: Tuesday 4th January 2011 text: I own C64C bought at \~1989, but it has 8510 CPU (2MHz). I tried it yesterday after 12 years of its inaction plus 9 year of every day use with cassette dataset. All tapes run with no problem. Compare it with your CD carriers. My own have been unreadable after 3-4 years... - author: Antonio Alves date: Thursday 18th February 2010 text: |- I am a guy who had a machine like this one! I would want to think if the c64c form (with keyboard slope and other anti slope towards the grid) was based on the generic graph of the envelope generator: "attack" "decay" "sustain" "release" /$\_\ / $ just like the commodore profile! - author: Kerry Fletcher (Toronto) date: Friday 13rd October 2006 text: I had one of these from December 87 until April of 1995. Loved it, tons of games (Epyx anyone?) First used Compuserve with this. I still have the 300/1200 baud pocket modem that plugged into the back of the keyboard. Don't know why I still have it. - author: Allison (Always here somewhere) date: Friday 6th January 2006 text: I have one of these computers and have heard many good things about the gaming days from my boyfriend. The only thiing I need to do is to hook this up to a tv, but not sure how to do it on a modern television, so if anyone has a inkling on how to do this, e-mail me. Please! - author: anthony (Lebanon) date: Wednesday 8th September 2004 text: |- Hy all, ihave the commodore 64c,\ and unfortunatley, i don't have the manual,\ and i would like to know how to use the tape,\ can anyone please tell me where can i find on the net the manual for the tape. or any tutorial ?\ assi@intracom.net.lb - author: A. Edmunds (UK) date: Monday 31st May 2004 text: I had the C 64 c+ in about 1988, The keys were a darker colour & the letters on the keys were in a different font. I had a device with mine (sorry i don't recall the name) which let you read & write magnetic strips on cards - I put the info from my switch card on my tesco clubcard & amazed my friends when i "accedentally" put the clubcard in the cash point & got money out ... i really should have kept it. The mouse came with a programme called Cheese which was rather like paint. - author: Mike Palmer (U.K.) date: Wednesday 7th April 2004 text: The 64C had the awesome SID chip, with 4 waveforms, ADSR envelope forming, modulation, and a host of other cool tricks. Many people forget the crap gameplay of some of the early C64 games, but few will forget the awesome soundtracks that cam with them. related: - /museum/commodore-c128-c128d - /museum/commodore-c64 - /museum/commodore-c64-aldi - /museum/commodore-c64-golden-jubilee - /museum/commodore-c64g - /museum/commodore-educator-64 - /museum/commodore-lcd - /museum/commodore-sx-dx-64-executive-computer - /museum/commodore-vic-1001 - /museum/eds-c64-edc oc_id: 998 source: url: https://web.archive.org/web/20230530055621/http://www.old-computers.com/museum/computer.asp?c=998 date: '2023-05-30' --- The Commodore 64C was simply the original [C-64](/museum/commodore-c64/) repackaged in in a beige [C-128](/museum/commodore-c128-c128d/) style case. Internally, Commodore integrated most of the hardware onto a single VLSI chip. The new model did not differ much from its predecessor, the only innovation was the flatter case, which made the keyboard (which had off-white keys) more ergonomic (it looked like the C128 case), not as high as than the old one. But the new case did not only have advantages: due to its low profile and additional metal screening, some of the numerous hardware expansions did not fit anymore. This was changed with the [C64G](/museum/commodore-c64g/). The official name for this model was "C=64 C", but nevertheless the German 64'er magazine decided to call it "C64-II" (because the first units didn't have the new name on the label at the bottom), the badges on most of the 64 C's just says "Commodore 64". They pointed out that this name was only valid for the 64'er magazine, but since the 64'er was the magazine for the C64 for a long time, the name was widely accepted and so this model is mostly known as "C64-II" in Germany. Commodore took advantage of the launch of the 64C to improve its range of peripherals. The machine could be delivered with:\ • the **1541C** disk drive, internally the same as the previous 1541, but with a beige case,\ • the **1541-II** disk drive, a smaller 1541 with external power supply and a beige case\ • The **1351** two-button mouse which could operate in either proportional or joystick mode,\ • The **1802** color monitor which accepted both composite and RGB video signals,\ • The **1764** RAM expander which plugged into the expansion port and boosted the system RAM to 256 KB. First 64C were bundled with **GEOS**, developed by Berkeley Software, a good window and icon opating system, considering that it ran on a 8-bit processors and 64 KB of RAM. Sadly, the 64C was launched at the wrong time, at a wrong price (about $80 more than the C64). At that time the competition was hard with the new [Atari](/museum/atari-520-st-st-stm/) and [Amiga](/museum/commodore-amiga-1000/) 32-bit computers. The 64C thus didn't meet a large success, except in some European countries.