The Commodore MAX Machine, also known as Ultimax in the United States and Canada and VC-10 in Germany, is a home computer designed and sold by

Commodore International Commodore International (other names include Commodore International Limited) was an American home computer and electronics manufacturer founded by Jack Tramiel. Commodore International (CI), along with its subsidiary Commodore Business Mach ...

in Japan, beginning in early 1982, a predecessor to the popular

Commodore 64 The Commodore 64, also known as the C64, is an 8-bit home computer introduced in January 1982 by Commodore International (first shown at the Consumer Electronics Show, January 7–10, 1982, in Las Vegas). It has been listed in the Guinness ...

. The Commodore 64 manual mentions the machine by name, suggesting that Commodore intended to sell the machine internationally; however, it is unclear whether the machine was ever actually sold outside Japan. When it was officially presented, in Tokyo, for the first time, it was named Commodore VICKEY. It is considered a rarity. Software was loaded from plug-in cartridges and the unit had a membrane keyboard and 2 KB of RAM internally and 0.5 KB of color RAM (1024 × 4 bits). It used a television set for a display. It used the same chipset and

6510 300px, Image of the internals of a Commodore 64 showing the 6510 CPU (40-pin DIP, lower left). The chip on the right is the 6581 SID. The production week/year (WWYY) of each chip is given below its name. The MOS Technology 6510 is an 8-bit mic ...

CPU as the Commodore 64, the same SID sound chip, and compatible ROM cartridge architecture so that MAX cartridges will work in the C-64. The MAX compatibility mode in C-64 was later frequently used for "freezer" cartridges (such as the

Action Replay Action Replay is the brand name of a cheating device (such as cheat cartridges) created by Datel. The Action Replay is available for many gaming systems including the Nintendo DS, Nintendo DSi, Nintendo 3DS, PlayStation Portable, PlaySt ...

), as a convenient way to take control of the currently running program. It was possible to use a tape drive for storage, but it lacked the serial and user ports necessary to connect a disk drive, printer, or modem. It was intended to sell for around US$200. Although the MAX had better graphics and sound capability, Commodore's own

VIC-20 The VIC-20 (known as the VC-20 in Germany and the VIC-1001 in Japan) is an 8-bit home computer that was sold by Commodore Business Machines. The VIC-20 was announced in 1980, roughly three years after Commodore's first personal computer, the PE ...

, which sold for around the same amount, was much more expandable, had a much larger software library, and had a better keyboard—all of which made it more attractive to consumers. Unlike the C-64, the MAX never sold well and was quickly discontinued.

References

External links

* * tp://ftp.zimmers.net/pub/cbm/c64/html/ultimax.html The UltiMax machine (a.k.a. VIC-10)br>The MAX Machine, the odd one out
{{DEFAULTSORT:Commodore Max Machine 6502-based home computers Commodore 64 Products introduced in 1982

See also

References

External links