Dick's Gadget Warehouse - The famous Commodore Computers.

I don’t have a Commodore Computer in Dick’s Gadget Warehouse, but we’re going to talk about them anyway. It’s just a little remembrance of Jack Tramiel, the founder of Commodore who who passed away recently at age 83. He was responsible for bringing many early computers to the market. The first was the Commodore PET, shown publicly at the 1977 Chicago Consumer Electronics Show. I met Jack at shows a couple of times. He was never without his cigar, and he never wore a well-tailed, like many corporate execs. But he knew how to build and market computers. The PET turned out to be quite successful — partly of Jack’s business decision to sell directly to large customers, instead of selling to them through a dealer network. When the Apple II and Atari 800 hit the market offering color graphics (which used your color TV you already owned as the display) Commodore brought the VIC-20, and then the Commodore 64 to market. The Commodore 64 became the best-selling home computer of all time. And there were other records. The Commodore VIC-20 was the first home PC to sell one million units. After some business disagreements, Jack Tramiel resigned from Commodore, and started Tramel Technology. Then he bought the consumer division of Atari from Warner Communications and alternated running it with his son, Sam. Surprisingly, you can still buy a Commodore VIC-20 computer today. It looks like the original model, but it’s quite different inside. Depending on the model, it can run Windows and even have a Blu-ray player. The new models retail from $345 to about $1300! 

http://www.commodoreusa.net/CUSA_C64Select.aspx

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