BCAOE Loguidice
05 - Commodore SX-64 Executive Computer (1984)
armchairarcade.com/neo/node/1498
Welcome to the fifth of the ongoing series of exclusive photos here at Armchair Arcade from my private collection, the Commodore SX-64 Executive Computer from 1984.
The photo's main page.
The full-size image.
Without further ado, here are some neat facts about this week's photo (feedback welcome!):
With the Commodore 64 (C-64) beginning to gain momentum after its release in 1982 due to agressive pricing, highly capable graphics and sound, and mass market appeal, Commodore began looking for ways to expand the platform. One of these was the Commodore 128 series of backwards compatible systems that increased the power of the original 8-bit platform, while another was a late life game-centric system called the Commodore 64GS that never saw release in the US. Besides the classic breadbox design of the original C-64, Commodore also released a repackaging with a sleeker case called the C-64c. Perhaps the most conceptually intriguing of these original C-64 offshoots though was the transportable system shown in the photo, the SX-64 Executive Computer, released in early 1984 less than two years after the original breadbox design. While this transportable system could not run on batteries, it was otherwise self-contained, requiring just a power cord and AC outlet. As seen in the photo, and truly important to a system such as the C-64, the built-in monitor is color, making this one of the first ever transportables with a color screen.
With its built-in 5.25" disk drive and cartridge port, the SX-64 was able to run all but cassette-based software. While the system had most of the C-64's standard ports, including a display output, it lacked a cassette interface. Unlike in Europe, the US quickly moved away from the cassette format so this was not a serious omission here, but the fact that the SX-64 was marketed as a business system was. While the C-64 platform had a huge range of productivity software, it was hardly an ideal business system, particularly with its slow disk drives. Nevertheless, taken out of its original marketing plan and into today's world of collectibles, the system is highly sought after as an easily transportable complete C-64. Add a standard Atari joystick or two as shown in the photo, and you're pretty much good to go with the vast majority of software.
While the system is highly collectible and often sells for well north of $100, a latch or two is often broken and sometimes the keyboard cable is missing. My particular system shown here is fairly pristine, save for some minor scratching on the plexiglass outer covering of the monitor and the fact that some keyboard keys require a bit of effort to press and suffer "bounce", i.e., a single press will often generate a few extra characters. I have another SX-64 that I'll need to test to see if I can cobble together a 100% perfect system, but again, if you're going to collect this system, keep in mind the keyboard can be an issue and finding a replacement is very difficult. Actually, what you will often see are the keyboards without the cable, so strike when you can in the various scenarios.
The screen itself is very sharp and the C-64's fine graphics pop when shrunk on that screen. Sound is nice and clear and just like the various monitor settings is fully adjustable with dials to the right of the disk drive. Unlike stand-alone 1541 disk drives, the way the drive is packed in, noise is greatly reduced. All-in-all, it's a very quiet, very efficient system.
END
Commodore's classic systems and many others are mentioned in my upcoming book, along with exhaustive looks at many other systems. Be sure to keep visiting Armchair Arcade for ongoing coverage as well. See you next time!
05 - Commodore SX-64 Executive Computer (1984)
armchairarcade.com/neo/node/1498
Welcome to the fifth of the ongoing series of exclusive photos here at Armchair Arcade from my private collection, the Commodore SX-64 Executive Computer from 1984.
The photo's main page.
The full-size image.
Without further ado, here are some neat facts about this week's photo (feedback welcome!):
With the Commodore 64 (C-64) beginning to gain momentum after its release in 1982 due to agressive pricing, highly capable graphics and sound, and mass market appeal, Commodore began looking for ways to expand the platform. One of these was the Commodore 128 series of backwards compatible systems that increased the power of the original 8-bit platform, while another was a late life game-centric system called the Commodore 64GS that never saw release in the US. Besides the classic breadbox design of the original C-64, Commodore also released a repackaging with a sleeker case called the C-64c. Perhaps the most conceptually intriguing of these original C-64 offshoots though was the transportable system shown in the photo, the SX-64 Executive Computer, released in early 1984 less than two years after the original breadbox design. While this transportable system could not run on batteries, it was otherwise self-contained, requiring just a power cord and AC outlet. As seen in the photo, and truly important to a system such as the C-64, the built-in monitor is color, making this one of the first ever transportables with a color screen.
With its built-in 5.25" disk drive and cartridge port, the SX-64 was able to run all but cassette-based software. While the system had most of the C-64's standard ports, including a display output, it lacked a cassette interface. Unlike in Europe, the US quickly moved away from the cassette format so this was not a serious omission here, but the fact that the SX-64 was marketed as a business system was. While the C-64 platform had a huge range of productivity software, it was hardly an ideal business system, particularly with its slow disk drives. Nevertheless, taken out of its original marketing plan and into today's world of collectibles, the system is highly sought after as an easily transportable complete C-64. Add a standard Atari joystick or two as shown in the photo, and you're pretty much good to go with the vast majority of software.
While the system is highly collectible and often sells for well north of $100, a latch or two is often broken and sometimes the keyboard cable is missing. My particular system shown here is fairly pristine, save for some minor scratching on the plexiglass outer covering of the monitor and the fact that some keyboard keys require a bit of effort to press and suffer "bounce", i.e., a single press will often generate a few extra characters. I have another SX-64 that I'll need to test to see if I can cobble together a 100% perfect system, but again, if you're going to collect this system, keep in mind the keyboard can be an issue and finding a replacement is very difficult. Actually, what you will often see are the keyboards without the cable, so strike when you can in the various scenarios.
The screen itself is very sharp and the C-64's fine graphics pop when shrunk on that screen. Sound is nice and clear and just like the various monitor settings is fully adjustable with dials to the right of the disk drive. Unlike stand-alone 1541 disk drives, the way the drive is packed in, noise is greatly reduced. All-in-all, it's a very quiet, very efficient system.
END
Commodore's classic systems and many others are mentioned in my upcoming book, along with exhaustive looks at many other systems. Be sure to keep visiting Armchair Arcade for ongoing coverage as well. See you next time!