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The C16 was intended to compete with other sub-$100 computers from Timex Corporation, Mattel, and Texas Instruments. Timex's and Mattel's computers were less expensive than the VIC, and although the VIC offered better expandability, a full-travel keyboard, and in some cases more memory, the C16 offered a chance to improve upon those advantages. The Texas Instruments TI-99/4A was priced in between the VIC-20 and Commodore 64, and was somewhat between them in capability, but TI was lowering its prices. On paper, the C16 was a closer match for the TI-99/4A than the aging VIC-20.
Additionally, Commodore president Jack Tramiel feared that one or more Japanese companies would introduce a consumer-oriented computer and undercut everyone's prices. The VIC-20 was Commodore's first pre-emptive strike; the C16 was the second. Although the Japanese would soon dominate the U.S. video game console market, the feared dominance of the home computer field never materialized. Additionally, Timex, Mattel, and TI departed the market before the C16 was released.
Outwardly the C16 resembled the VIC-20 and the C64, but with a black case and white/light gray keys. Performance-wise located between the VIC and 64, it had 16 Kilobytes of RAM with 12K available to its built-in BASIC interpreter, and a new sound and video chipsetChipset is a generic term for a group of related electronic microprocessors and peripheral digital integrated circuitry ("chips") used in a computer, video game console or arcade game design. Specifically, it refers not to generic CPU and RAM chips that m offering a palette of 128 colors (in reality 121, since all gradients of black were rendered as black), the TED (better than the VICThe VIC (Video Interface Chip specifically known as the MOS Technology 6560 ( NTSC version) / 6561 ( PAL version), is the integrated circuit chip responsible for generating video graphics and sound in the Commodore VIC-20 home computer. It was originally used in the VIC-20, but lacking the sprite capability of the VIC-IIThe VIC-II (Video Interface Chip II specifically known as the MOS Technology 6567/8562/8564 ( NTSC versions), 6569/8565/8566 ( PAL), is the integrated circuit chip tasked with generating composite video graphics and DRAM refresh signals in the Commodore 6 and advanced sound capabilities of the SIDThe MOS Technology 6581/8580 SID (Sound Interface Device was the built-in sound chip of Commodore's CBM-II, Commodore 64 and Commodore 128 home computers. It was one of the last sound chips to be made for any home computer prior to the digital sound revol, both used in the C64). The ROMRead-only memory (ROM is used as a storage medium in computers. Because it cannot (easily) be written to, its main uses lie in the distribution of software that is very closely related to hardware, and not likely to need frequent upgrading. One common use resident BASIC 3.5Commodore BASIC is the dialect of BASIC used in Commodore International's 8-bit home computer line, stretching from the PET of 1977 to the C128 of 1985. The core part was based on 6502 Microsoft BASIC, licensed from the young Microsoft on a "pay once, no, however, was more powerful than the VIC-20's and C64's BASIC 2.0, in that it had commands for sound and bitmapped graphics (320×200 pixelA pixel (a contraction of picture element is one of the many tiny dots that make up the representation of a picture in a computer's memory. Usually the dots are so small and so numerous that, when printed on paper or displayed on a computer monitor, theys), as well as simple program tracing/debugging.
From a practical user's point of view, three tangible features the C16 lacked were a modem port and VIC/C64-compatible Datassette and game ports. Commodore sold a C16 family-specific cassette player (the Commodore 1531) and joysticks, but third-party converters to allow the use of the abundant, and hence much less expensive, VIC/C64-type units soon appeared. The official reason for changing the joystick ports was to reduce RF interference. The C16's serial port¹ was the same as that of the VIC and C64, which meant that printers and disk drives, at least, were interchangeable with the older machines.
The Commodore 16 was one of three computers in its family. The even less successful Commodore 116 was functionally and technically similar but shipped in a smaller case with a rubber chiclet keyboard and was only available in Europe. The family's flagship, the Commodore Plus/4, shipped in a smaller case but had a 59-key full-travel keyboard (with a specifically advertised "cursor key diamond" of four keys, contrasted with the C64's two + shift key scheme), 64K of RAM, a modem port, and built-in entry-level office suite software.
( ¹ Commodore's proprietary "serial IEEE-488 bus", no relation to RS-232 and the like )