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Re: CBM engineer Bil Herd - virtual guest

Cross-posted to 2 groups.

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On 01/01/2012 14:47, RobertB wrote:
> In a kind of follow-up to the above chats, Bil Herd has posted a new
> video about the Commodore 116, the $49 computer he and the other CBM
> engineers hoped would be good seller for Commodore Business Machines.
>
> To find out what happened to the C116, see Bil's video at
>
> http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=xPD5N43VIsk
>
>            Happy New Year!
>            Robert Bernardo
>            Fresno Commodore User Group
>            http://videocam.net.au/fcug

I knew from prior comments from Bil that the plus/4 line was to be a low
price machine originally, though the $49 price suddenly got thinking
about the ramifications if the C116 had ever been sold at its intended 
price - especially in the UK/Europe market.

*Switching to alternate history mode*

I seriously believe the C116 would have crushed ever other entry level
& low priced computer available at the time - its price/performance
ratio being the highest of any computer I can think of - even greater
than the 16k Sinclair Spectrum which was being sold for about 120 pounds
sterling (the C116's $49 was about 30 pounds sterling at that time).

The C116 could do everything the Spectrum could do *and* do it better 
and it had additional features over the Spectrum (more colours, hw 
smooth scrolling(correct?), real sound output instead of a beeper/buzzer)

The games software industry exploded in the UK due to the Spectrum which
was cheap and cheerful but pretty poor hardware wise. A legion of
very talented programmers flocked to Sinclair's machine and produced 
masses of impressive software for a very limited platform. Had the C116 
been available then I suspect Commodore would have been the number one 
home computer seller in the UK with the most software support - both 
C116 and C64.

*End alternate history mode*

It never was in reality. Even so, the C116 chip makers and hardware team 
of Bil and others should be given huge respect for making a machine that 
was literally a marvel.

-- 

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Thread

CBM engineer Bil Herd - virtual guest RobertB <rbernardo@iglou.com> - 2011-11-07 01:37 -0800
  Re: CBM engineer Bil Herd - virtual guest PK <f.kekko@LEVAMIlibero.it> - 2011-11-07 10:44 +0100
  Re: CBM engineer Bil Herd - virtual guest Martin Wohlauer <mwohlauer@yahoo.de> - 2011-11-07 11:08 +0100
    Re: CBM engineer Bil Herd - virtual guest RobertB <rbernardo@iglou.com> - 2011-11-20 21:55 -0800
      Re: CBM engineer Bil Herd - virtual guest RobertB <rbernardo@iglou.com> - 2011-12-19 04:07 -0800
        Re: CBM engineer Bil Herd - virtual guest RobertB <rbernardo@iglou.com> - 2012-01-01 01:47 -0800
          Re: CBM engineer Bil Herd - virtual guest Hg <Hg@Hg.Hg> - 2012-01-01 20:08 +0500
            Re: CBM engineer Bil Herd - virtual guest RobertB <rbernardo@iglou.com> - 2012-01-02 18:12 -0800
  Re: CBM engineer Bil Herd - virtual guest RobertB <rbernardo@iglou.com> - 2011-11-11 16:15 -0800
    Re: CBM engineer Bil Herd - virtual guest Rami <rami.saarinen@gmail.com> - 2011-11-25 04:22 -0800

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