C65 Classroom Computer

[BydoEmpire]

This popped up in my Twitter feed this morning. Interesting...

 

 

 

These are pictures of a C65 variant called the C65 Classroom Computer. Revealed in December 2018 by Fred Bowen on Facebook. Little is known of it at this point, but it looks to be something that might be networked somehow, has an RGB output and an expansion port on the back, no floppy drive, a single SID (maybe) and extra internal connections.

 

http://6502.org/users/sjgray/computer/c65cc/

[carlsson]

Yeah, it has been all over Facebook and various mailing lists. Amazing that a former employee could keep it a secret for this long. Then again it seems Commodore had multiple parallel development and engineering branches so perhaps Fred didn't think it would be any more special than the known existing C65 models.

 

As I asked on the cbm-hackers mailing list, does classroom equal schools, the educational world? Someone commented that Commodore might've had a special department for education with their own budget, which perhaps looks good on paper but not always the real world would agree. I mean at the end of the Apple ][ and BBC Micro era came a bunch of custom 80186 based school computers in the mid 80's (all individually incompatible, but sharing the 80186) and eventually the entry of IBM PC compatibles. In those circumstances, pitching an 8-bit computer to schools by the end of the 80's would have been a doubtful task IMHO. I know a few schools over here had C64's in the early 80's, not sure if any ever got C128.

 

Now making one final 8-bit gaming computer might've been something, but I remember that Commodore never were much for gaming unless they could get a free ride on someone else's work. Yet I am in the camp who usually argues that an improved C64 too soon would have damaged it more than the company had gained, and the C128 inbetween didn't take gaming to new levels anyway so perhaps the C65 in any form - gaming, educational, hobbyist, business, industrial etc wouldn't have flown.

[+save2600]

And another head scratcher comes out of the woods to place alongside the Amiga 600, Plus/4, C16, MAX Machine, Educator 64, C64GS, C128 and the C65.

[rpiguy9907]

I mean at the end of the Apple ][ and BBC Micro era came a bunch of custom 80186 based school computers in the mid 80's (all individually incompatible, but sharing the 80186) and eventually the entry of IBM PC compatibles. In those circumstances, pitching an 8-bit computer to schools by the end of the 80's would have been a doubtful task IMHO.

 

 

I mostly agree with this, unless Commodore had a vision for a computer at every desk. In the late 80s and early 90s most school computers were in labs or special classrooms. This thing might have been cheap enough to push for one per student.

 

The CSG4502 was essentially a system on a chip except it needed video, which is why there are two large PLCC sockets. But without the cost of the disk drive, drive controller, and SID this could have been dirt cheap, as cheap or cheaper than the z80 Laser learning computers.

 

Even so, I think I still agree with you, this ultimately would have failed. The market was not ready for a computer at every desk, most teachers were still terrified of technology back then.

[carlsson]

Hm, a combination of the C65 and the Commodore LCD? Something like the Educator 64 but portable.

 

Or for that matter, a portable Amiga unless it had been too expensive. The Atari STacy was launched in September 1989 at $2299 and quite possibly a portable Amiga would've been even more expensive so not the same target group.

[rpiguy9907]

Hm, a combination of the C65 and the Commodore LCD? Something like the Educator 64 but portable.

 

Or for that matter, a portable Amiga unless it had been too expensive. The Atari STacy was launched in September 1989 at $2299 and quite possibly a portable Amiga would've been even more expensive so not the same target group.

 

 

Fred Bowen just confirmed on Facebook that the concept was more like having all the classroom models network into one "teacher's computer." There was a new 15 pin port on the back for that purpose that the C65 did not have.

 

So sort of like how a classroom full of PETs would share a floppy drive unit, but I would imagine more advanced.

 

I can't imagine Commodore would have had any bandwidth to develop software for this even if they got the network working (I would presume via a serial network maybe like AppleTalk, maybe even simpler). Very ambitious if a little too ahead of its time.

[+save2600]

Fred Bowen just confirmed on Facebook that the concept was more like having all the classroom models network into one "teacher's computer." There was a new 15 pin port on the back for that purpose that the C65 did not have.

 

So sort of like how a classroom full of PETs would share a floppy drive unit, but I would imagine more advanced.

 

 

We had a classroom full of TRS-80 Model III's like that. Actually have a pic from a school yearbook I'll have to dig up.