carlsson
Veteran Member
Another thing I can't understand is how a rubber membrane keyboard would be cheaper to manufacture than the full sized keyboards Commodore already were using in the millions. I understand those were manufactured by Mitsumi (?) so perhaps there were similar OEM manufacturers of rubber membrane keyboards where Tramiel could negotiate a good quote. Yet the rubber keyboard was mainly meant for the C116, cost cutting in an attempt to beat Sinclair at their home market.
We should not forget the UltiMAX Machine, in the western world for a short while marketed as VIC-10 but pretty much never got sold. It has the same custom chips as a C64 but with touch keyboard and only 1 or 2K RAM. While the C64 still was in development, rumours had it would come both as a 32K and a 64K machine. In the spring of 1982, it still was too early to spell the success of the ZX Spectrum, but if Commodore had been even better at smelling where the wind blows, they could in January 1983 have released a "Commodore 32" with rubber keyboard, perhaps eliminating the user port or at least position it on the other short edge to make a smaller case.
This computer could've been an European exclusive release to begin with, assuming the US market are not much for cost-reduced rubber key computers. Given what I've read that by the summer of 1983, a C64 was cheaper to produce than a VIC-20, I'm absolutely certain this imagined Commodore 32 would have given the 48K ZX Spectrum and others a run for their money. In particular as most games in the early years didn't use more than half the C64 memory so games could've been compatible. Perhaps it would have stolen a few C64 sales but better that customers buy the cheaper alternative (yes, I remember the VIC-20 still was on the market) than a competitor's machine.
We should not forget the UltiMAX Machine, in the western world for a short while marketed as VIC-10 but pretty much never got sold. It has the same custom chips as a C64 but with touch keyboard and only 1 or 2K RAM. While the C64 still was in development, rumours had it would come both as a 32K and a 64K machine. In the spring of 1982, it still was too early to spell the success of the ZX Spectrum, but if Commodore had been even better at smelling where the wind blows, they could in January 1983 have released a "Commodore 32" with rubber keyboard, perhaps eliminating the user port or at least position it on the other short edge to make a smaller case.
This computer could've been an European exclusive release to begin with, assuming the US market are not much for cost-reduced rubber key computers. Given what I've read that by the summer of 1983, a C64 was cheaper to produce than a VIC-20, I'm absolutely certain this imagined Commodore 32 would have given the 48K ZX Spectrum and others a run for their money. In particular as most games in the early years didn't use more than half the C64 memory so games could've been compatible. Perhaps it would have stolen a few C64 sales but better that customers buy the cheaper alternative (yes, I remember the VIC-20 still was on the market) than a competitor's machine.