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'''Orazio Lomi Gentileschi''' was an [[Italy|Italian]] painter. He was born in [[1563]] in [[Pisa]] (in [[Tuscany]]) and he died in [[1639]] in [[London]]. He was the father of the painter [[Artemisia Gentileschi]].
'''Commodore''' is the commonly used name for '''Commodore International''', an electronics company who was a major player in the [[1980s]] [[home computer]] field. The company formally went [[bankrupt]] in [[1994]], but there have since been several attempts to revive their [[Amiga]] systems.
He is generally named Orazio Lomi de Gentileschi; it appears that De Gentileschi was his correct surname, Lomi being the surname which his mother had borne during her first marriage. He was born at Pisa, and studied under his half-brother Aurelio Lomi, whom in course of time he surpassed. He afterwards went to [[Rome]], and was associated with the landscape-painter [[Agostino Tasi]], executing the figures for the landscape backgrounds of this artist in the [[Palazzo Rospigliosi]], and it is said in the great hall of the [[Quirinal Palace]], although by some authorities the figures in the last-named building are ascribed to [[Lanfranco]].
== History ==
His best works are ''Saints Cecilia and Valerian'', in the [[Palazzo Borghese]], Rome; ''David after the death of Goliath'', in the Palazzo Doria, [[Genoa]]; and some works in the royal palace, [[Turin]], noticeable for vivid and uncommon coloring. At an advanced age Gentileschi went to [[England]] at the invitation of [[Charles I of England|Charles I]], and he was employed in the palace at [[Greenwich]]. [[Van dyck]] included him in his portraits of a hundred illustrious men. His works generally are strong in shadow and positive in color. He died in England in 1646.
=== Foundation and early years ===
{{1911}}
The company that would become Commodore International was started in [[Toronto]] by [[Auschwitz concentration camp|Auschwitz]] survivor [[Jack Tramiel]] in [[1954]]. He had already run a [[small business]] fixing [[typewriter]]s for a few years while living in [[New York]] (a job he supported by driving a cab), but managed to sign a deal with a [[Czechoslovakia]]n company to manufacture their designs in [[Canada]] and moved to Toronto to start production. By the late [[1950s]] a wave of [[Japan]]ese machines forced most typewriter companies out of business, but Tramiel instead turned to [[adding machine]]s.
{{Commons|Category:Orazio Gentileschi}}
In [[1962]] the company was formally incorporated as '''Commodore Business Machines (CBM)''', and in the late [[1960s]] history repeated itself again when the Japanese firms started producing adding machines. The company's main investor and chairman, Irving Gould, suggested that Tramiel travel to Japan to understand how they could compete. Instead he returned with a new idea, to produce electronic [[calculator]]s, which were just coming on the market.
{{artist-stub}}
[[Category:Italian painters|Gentileschi, Orazio]]
Commodore soon had a profitable calculator line, and were one of the more common brands in the early [[1970s]], producing both ordinary as well as scientific/programmable calculators. However in [[1975]] [[Texas Instruments]], the main supplier of calculator parts, decided to enter the market directly and put out a line of machines priced at less than they charged Commodore for the parts. Commodore had to be rescued once again by an infusion of cash from Gould, which Tramiel used in [[1976]] onwards to purchase several second-source chip suppliers, including [[MOS Technology|MOS Technology, Inc.]], in order to guarantee supply. He agreed to buy MOS, who were having troubles of their own, only on the condition that chip designer [[Chuck Peddle]] join Commodore directly as head of engineering.
{{lived|b=1563|d=1639|key=Gentileschi, Orazio}}
=== "Computers for the masses, not the classes" ===
Once Chuck Peddle had taken over engineering at Commodore, he convinced Jack Tramiel that calculators were already a dead-end, and that they should turn their attention to [[home computer]]s. Peddle packaged his existing [[KIM-1]] hobbyist's [[single-board computer]] design in a metal case, along with a full-travel [[QWERTY]] keyboard, [[monochrome]] [[computer monitor|monitor]], and [[Datassette|tape recorder]] (for program and data storage), to produce the [[Commodore PET]]. From that date forward ([[1977]]), Commodore would be a computer company.
Commodore had been reorganized the year before into '''Commodore International, Ltd.''', moving its financial headquarters to the [[Bahamas]] and its operational headquarters to [[West Chester, Pennsylvania]], close to the MOS Technology site. The operational headquarters, where research and development of new products were taking place, retained the name Commodore Business Machines, Inc.
The PET computer line was used primarily in [[Primary education|school]]s, due to its tough all-metal construction (some models were labelled "Teacher's PET"), but didn't compete well in the home setting where graphics and sound were important. This was addressed with the introduction of the [[Commodore VIC-20|VIC-20]] in [[1981]], which was introduced at a cost of $299 and sold in retail stores. Commodore took out aggressive ads featuring [[William Shatner]] asking, "Why buy just a video game?". The strategy worked and the VIC-20 became the first computer to ship more than one million units. A total of 2.5 million units were sold over the machine's lifetime.
Looking to take over the higher-end portion of the market as well, CBM introduced the [[Commodore 64]] in [[1982]]. Thanks to a well-integrated series of [[integrated circuit|chips]] designed by MOS, the C64 was a very capable sound and graphics machine for its time, often credited with starting the computer [[demo scene]]. Its $595 price was high compared to the VIC-20, but it was still much less expensive than any other 64K computer on the market. Early C64 ads touted this, boasting "You can't buy a better computer at twice the price".
Once again Texas Instruments decided to take over a market, cutting prices on its [[Texas Instruments TI-99/4A|TI-99/4A]], which had been introduced in 1981. But this time Tramiel decided to fight rather than switch, and cut the price of the C64 dramatically. TI responded, and soon there was an all-out price war involving Commodore, TI, [[Atari]] and practically everyone other than [[Apple Computer]]. By the end of the process Commodore had shipped somewhere around 22 million C64's – making the C64 the best selling computer of all time – and in the process killed the TI-99, destroyed Atari, bankrupted most smaller companies, and wiped out their own savings. Tramiel's motto, "Business is war," showed, and took its toll.
===Tramiel quits; The Amiga vs ST battle ===
The board of directors was as trapped as anyone else by the price spiral, and eventually decided they wanted out. A power struggle started inside the company, and in January [[1984]], Tramiel quit. A few months later he bought Atari from [[AOL Time Warner|Warner Communications]] for almost nothing.
Now it was up to the remaining Commodore management to salvage something of their company. They did so by buying a promising new [[16-bit]] computer design known as the [[Amiga]] from a group of ex-Atari designers. The new machine, dubbed the [[A1000|Amiga 1000]], was brought to market in the fall of [[1985]] for US $1395.
But Tramiel had beaten them to the punch. Throwing together a number of off-the-shelf parts, he had already released the [[Atari ST]] earlier in 1985, for about $800. Tramiel also claimed that [[Jay Miner]] did the chip design for the Amiga computer while still under contract with Atari, which led to a lawsuit between the two companies. A ferocious Atari/Amiga war ensued, and was ended only when [[1987]] saw the release of the [[A500|Amiga 500]], which took over the market from the ST. Ultimately, the Amiga outsold the ST about 1.5 to 1 in spite of being later to market.
=== The beginning of the end ===
By the late 1980s the computer market was rapidly latching onto the [[IBM PC]] and [[Apple Macintosh]] worlds, with everyone else pushed off to the side. In the 1970s and early 80s, the computer press, desperate for news, had always come to Commodore looking for information. The VIC-20 and C64, although aggressively marketed, arguably were successful more because of their price than because of their marketing. After Tramiel's departure, Commodore executives shied away from mass-market advertising and other marketing ploys, fearful of duplicating the past. Commodore also retreated from its earlier strategy of selling its computers at discount houses, now favoring its authorized dealers.
Once forced to market the Amiga line, Commodore's efforts proved ineffective and even seemed half-hearted (one common joke was "If CBM got the contract to advertise [[Kentucky Fried Chicken]], they'd call it 'Warm Dead Bird'"). They also failed to expand the technological edge they had, instead trying to bring technologies to market that would not see demand for another couple of years – like [[digital television|digital TV]] ([[CDTV]]) and a 32-bit [[CD-ROM]] based [[game console]] ([[AmigaCD32|CD32]]).
A massive divide existed between the engineers and the management, with the technical staff resorting to getting their work done behind the backs of management. For example, [[CPU]] samples from [[Motorola]] were delivered to the home addresses of the engineers and, for interest, Motorola gave them priority over Apple, who also used the same CPUs.
The engineers gave up trying to get their technology into production, and Commodore seemed content with selling the same old machine. In spite of its technical strengths, the Amiga lost ground to the [[IBM PC compatible|PC clone]] ecosystem. When introduced in 1985, the Amiga was competing favorably against [[Intel 80286]]-based systems with [[Enhanced Graphics Adapter|EGA]] graphics and rudimentary sound capabilities that frequently cost 2–3 times as much. But well into the 1990s, CBM was still selling Amigas with 7 [[megahertz|MHz]] [[Motorola 68000|68000]]-family CPUs, when PCs with 33–100 MHz [[Intel 80486|486]]'s, high-color [[graphics card]]s and [[SoundBlaster]] (or compatible) [[sound card]]s offered higher performance at very competitive prices. Software developers by and large started to favor the PC market.
The Amiga hardware did not begin to reach feature parity with the PCs until release of the [[A4000]] and [[A1200]] computers in late [[1992]], but because the custom [[Advanced Graphics Architecture|AGA]] chipset in the third-generation Amigas were much more expensive to produce than the commodity chips used in PCs, the Amigas were not priced attractively. Although welcomed by Amiga enthusiasts, the machines did little to improve Commodore's fortunes.
=== The sun sets on Commodore ===
With market share eroding, Commodore embarked on a series of decisions that were heavily questioned by shareholders and the press, who sometimes accused management of only being interested in removing as much value from the company as possible before it finally disappeared.
Commodore declared bankruptcy on [[April 29]], [[1994]] and its assets were liquidated, although the company's many computers retaines a cult following years after its demise.
===Post-Commodore International, Ltd.===
Following its liquidation, Commodore's former assets went their separate ways, with none of Commodore's successors repeating Commodore's early success.
In September [[1997]], the Commodore brand name was acquired by Dutch computer maker [[Tulip Computers NV]]. It was little more than the answer to a trivia question until [[July 11]], [[2003]], when Tulip announced it would re-launch the Commodore name, including new Commodore 64-related products, and threatened legal action against commercial web sites that used the computer's name without a license. On 18 June, [[2004]], Tulip introduced the website CommodoreWorld.com (see external links, below), run by its new daughter company '''Commodore International BV'''.
The Commodore brand name resurfaced in late [[2003]] on an inexpensive portable [[MP3]] player made in [[China]] by [[Tai Guen Enterprise]], sold mostly in [[Europe]]. However, the device's connection to Tulip, the legal owners of the name, is unclear.
The Commodore Semiconductor Group (formerly MOS Technology, Inc.) was bought by its former management and in 1995, resumed operations under the name '''GMT Microelectronics''', utilizing a troubled facility in [[Norristown, Pennsylvania]] that Commodore had closed in [[1992]]. By [[1999]] it had $21 million in revenues and 183 employees. However, in [[2001]] the [[Environmental Protection Agency]] shut the plant down. GMT ceased operations and was liquidated.
Ownership of the Amiga line passed through several owners, from [[Escom]] of [[Germany]] in [[1995]], and then to U.S. PC clone maker [[Gateway]] in [[1997]], before being licensed to '''Amiga, Inc.''', a company founded by former Gateway employees Bill McEwen and Fleecy Moss in [[2000]].
== Product line ==
Computers:
*[[Commodore PET|Commodore PET/CBM]] range
*[[Commodore CBM-II]] range (aka B-range) In Germany: CBM 610, 620, 710, 720
*[[Commodore VIC-20]]
*[[Commodore 64]] (incl 64C)
*[[Commodore 65]] (never released)
*[[Commodore 16]]
*[[Commodore Plus/4]]
*[[Commodore 128]] (incl 128D and 128DCR)
*[[Commodore Amiga]] range
*[[IBM PC compatible|IBM PC clone]]s (Commodore Colt, PC1, PC10, PC20, PC30, PC40, <tt>...</tt>, 486SX-LTC)
Other hardware:
*[[Commodore 1350]] - Mouse (for use with [[GEOS]] and point'n'click apps). The 1350 just emulated a joystick, thus, it was not able to track differing speeds.
*[[Commodore 1351]] - Mouse (for use with [[GEOS]] and point'n'click apps). The 1351 used an analog input, thus allowing to track differing speeds.
*[[Commodore 1530]] - Data [[compact audio cassette|cassette]] recorder (aka C2N)
*[[Commodore 1531]] - Data cassette recorder (like 1530 but for C16 & Plus/4)
*[[Commodore 1540]] - 5¼" [[Floppy disk]] drive for use with [[Commodore VIC-20]]. Nevertheless, it works with later computers, too. The only difference to the first 1541 models is the firmware, which results in slightly faster communication.
*[[Commodore 1541]] - 5¼" [[Floppy disk]] drive (incl 1541C and 1541-II) for use with [[Commodore 64]] and later. The first versions only had a small change to the [[Commodore 1540]], making it a little bit slower, because the [[Commodore 64]] was not able to cope with the higher data rate of the [[Commodore 1540]]
*[[Commodore 1551]] - 5¼" Floppy disk drive (for C16 & Plus/4; connects to cartridge port)
*[[Commodore 1570]] - 5¼" Floppy disk drive (primarily for C128), single sided
*[[Commodore 1571]] - 5¼" Floppy disk drive (primarily for C128), double sided
*[[Commodore 1581]] - 3½" Floppy disk drive
*[[Commodore 1701|Commodore 1701/1702]] - [[Composite video]] and [[S-Video|Y/C (chroma/luma)]] monitor
*[[Commodore REU|Commodore 1700/1750/1764]] - RAM Expansion Unit (REU) with 128/512/256KB (in that order) extra RAM
*[[Commodore 1801|Commodore 1801/1802]] - Composite video and Y/C monitor
*[[Commodore 1901|Commodore 1901/1902/2002]] - Composite, Y/C, and [[RGB]] monitor
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==External links==
* [http://www.digitalcentury.com/encyclo/update/commodr.html A short history of the company]
* [http://www.commodore.ca/ Extensive product information]
*[http://www.commodore.net CommodoreWorld.com] – Website of Tulip-owned company '''Commodore International BV'''; [http://www.commodore.net/site/DesktopDefault.aspx?tabindex=5&tabid=45&itemid=2&sitemid=9 new hardware products]
[[Category:Defunct computer companies of the United States]]
[[Category:Electronics companies of the United States]]
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