{"id":22369,"date":"2019-07-25T18:00:50","date_gmt":"2019-07-25T17:00:50","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.jungsi.de\/?p=22369"},"modified":"2026-08-27T22:00:39","modified_gmt":"2026-08-27T20:00:39","slug":"commodore-116-commodore","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.jungsi.de\/en\/commodore-116-commodore\/","title":{"rendered":"Commodore 116 [Commodore]"},"content":{"rendered":"

In the meantime, the third computer in the Commodore 264<\/em> series has also found its way to me \u2013 the C116<\/em>, which was launched in 1984. This is a particular delight for me for personal reasons, as in the 1980s one of my best friends, who lived a few houses down, owned a C116<\/em>.
I won\u2019t dwell on the machine, as it differs little technically from the other models in the range. Like the C16<\/em> and Plus\/4<\/em>, the C116<\/em> was compatible with neither the VC20<\/em> nor the C64<\/em>. The casing looks very similar to that of the Plus\/4<\/em>, but is significantly smaller. Very early models had an Escape key instead of the left Shift key and an Inst\/Del key instead of the Caps Lock key. However, this was later rectified (as with the model in my photos).<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n

The computer\u2019s developer, Bil Herd<\/em>, confirmed that the C116<\/em> was the model originally intended for the TED chip. However, management then intervened and expanded the product range \u2013 116, 232, 264<\/em> and 364<\/em> (the difference between the 264<\/em> and the 364<\/em> was that the 364 also had a numeric keypad and featured the Magic Voice<\/em> voice output as a built-in feature; however, only a few prototypes of the 364 were ever built). The 264<\/em> then became the Plus\/4<\/em>, whilst the 364<\/em> was scrapped. The Commodore 16<\/em> was only added later, when management decided that a successor to the VC20<\/em> was needed. So they took the case and keyboard from the VC20<\/em>, painted them accordingly and adapted the TED<\/em> design to fit the case.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

With the C16<\/em> and C116<\/em>, the main memory was a step backwards compared to the 64 KB of the C64<\/em>: only 16 KB of RAM was available as standard, and there were no plans for an official upgrade to 64 KB. Even with an externally connected RAM expansion, the circuit board had to be modified. A better and more stable solution was the internal expansion, achieved by replacing the two RAM ICs and soldering in a few wires. With a C116<\/em> upgraded in this way, the vast majority of Plus\/4 programmes could be run.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Another point of criticism regarding the C116<\/em> was the keyboard. Commodore<\/em>\u2019s competitors had realised that a proper typewriter-style keyboard was the better option. However, Commodore<\/em> introduced a rubber keyboard on this computer (similar to the ZX Spectrum<\/em> from Sinclair<\/em>) \u2013 according to reviews from that time, one of the most heavily criticised keyboards ever. Furthermore, unlike the C64<\/em>, the TED computers lacked hardware sprites. One advantage was the significantly more comprehensive Basic 3.5<\/em> compared to the modest Basic 2.0<\/em>, and the computer was capable of displaying 121 colours.<\/p>\n\n\n\n