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The C65 was an improved version of the Commodore 64, and it was meant to be backwards-compatible with the older computer, while still providing a number of advanced features close to that of the Amiga computer. When the company was liquidated in 1994, a number of prototypes were sold on the open market, and thus a few people actually own a Commodore 65. The guesses of the actual number of machines found on the open market range from 50 to 2000 pieces. As the C65 project were cancelled, the final 8-bit offering from CBM remained the triple-mode, 2 MHz max., 128 KB (expandable), C64-compatible Commodore 128 of 1985.

1 Main features

• A custom CSG¹ 65CE02 CPU combined with two 6526 complex interface adapters (CIAs) named CSG¹4510 R3 (codenamed Victor)
• A new VIC-III graphics chip named CSG¹4567 R5 (codenamed Bill), capable of producing 256 colors from a palette of 4096 colors; available modes include 320×200×256,  640×200×256,  640×400×16,  1280×200×16, and 1280×400×4  (X×Y×colordepth i.e. number of colors/bit planes)
• Two SID sound chips producing stereoStereo or stereophony generally refers to dual-channel sound recording and sound reproduction sound that contains data for more than one speaker simultaneously. Compact disc audio and some radio broadcasts are stereo. The purpose of stereo recording is to sound
• 3.54   MHz clock frequency
•   128 KB RAM, expandable to 8 MBA megabyte is a unit of measurement for computer storage, memory and information; while its exact definition varies, it is in theory equal to one million bytes. The symbol for megabyte is MB (note B for Byte, lowercase b would mean bit). Three definitions
• Heavily improved BASIC: Commodore BASIC 10.0Commodore 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
• One proposed feature not implemented in the final prototype was an internal 3½" floppy diskA floppy disk is a data storage device that comprises a circular piece of thin, flexible (hence "floppy") magnetic storage medium encased in a square or rectangular plastic wallet. Floppy disks are read and written by a floppy disk drive or FDD not to be drive

( ¹ CSG = Commodore Semiconductor Group, Previously known as MOS Technology, Inc. )

2 External links

• C65 page at 'The Secret Weapons of Commodore' website – By Cameron Kaiser and The Commodore Knowledge Base
• FTP directory for the C65 at Funet