*

The

Commodore V364

Page


The top of the Commodore 264 Series line was to be an amazing computer indeed. The V364 would offer its 64K of RAM (60K available for BASIC), enhanced video, speech abilities, and a wide assortment of pending productivity packages to take right up where the Commodore 64 left off. Unfortunately, this formula was not quite what Commodore wanted to go to market with. Whether it was the cost structure, or the fear of too many computer models aimed at the same audience, Commodore decided after its introduction at the 1983 C.E.S. to leave the V364 on the shelf.

One of the 264 series project managers, David Haynie report to me that only one or two V364 prototypes were made for the C.E.S. Another Commodore engineer informed me that their brittle cases are most likely due to them being from a soft tool; tools that started as a wood mold and cost about $40k. Only one was made with production quality plastic, and the project manager himself went home with that one, so obviously I own one of the show models. Mr. Haynie eventually sold his to another collector. A third and last one is probably still in the hands of the other engineer on the project.


../cbmpics/cbm/VICnTED/c364.gif


Statistics, features, and V364 resources:

CPU: MOS Technology 7501 RAM: 64 kilobytes

ROM: 128 kilobytes

Video: MOS Technology 7360 "TED" Sound: MOS Technology 7360 "TED" Ports: 6551 ACIA, MOS 7360 Keyboard: Full-sized 83 key QWERTY Resources:


cbm/364/364mine.gif

Commodore V364 home computer.
Click on it for a larger picture.


My own Commodore V364, as you can plainly see, has a rather battered case. The plastic it was made from is extremely brittle. Some keys are also missing, though I can happily report that the machine works great.



cbm/364/364mb.gif

As you can see here, the motherboard is completely socketed, and resembles the Plus/4 very closely. For a close-up of this model, click here to see the left hand side, or here to see the right hand side.









cbm/364/364rightsw.gif

cbm/364/364back.gif

To the right, we have a back picture to show the ports. From left to right, they are power, serial, cassette, user, TED (expansion) port, joystick 1, joystick 2, video DIN, and the composite RF port. On the RHS are the power and reset buttons.





cbm/364/364label.gif

On the bottom of the machine, no serial number is to be seen. An FCC message, however, warns against selling this unit.

















Personal Note:I'm not a big fan of this line of computers, though I use a Plus/4 regularly, and am fond of the V364's speaking ability. All that being said, as a collectors find, this machine really does stand out as a jewel. Although its packed away at the moment, it received more loving care from acquisition to storage than any piece of property I've ever had. And where did I get it? Believe it or not, from an eBay auction many years ago. It's extreme rarity was confirmed to me by an email conversation I once had with a former Commodore project manager David Haynie.



If you find anything in here you have questions or comments about, feel free to leave me email right here.

To return to my home page, click here.