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MODELS CV 364 C264 PLUS /4 C232 C116 C16 My Collection TECHNICAL DATA Hardware Software FACES The People Behind TED Disclaimer: All the information presented here, was taken from the following sources: Brain Bagnal's Book On the Edge: The Spectacular Rise and Fall of Commodore. Available at Amazon.ca The new edition had been delayed at Amazon until Feb.2010 Also, a lot of information has come from Video interviews with Bil Herd and Dave Haynie. Dave has a lot of videos on You-Tube. Search them out.. I wish I could post them here, but I don't have permission. Lastly, more sites on the net have information. There are even a few dedicated sites to the C16. Do a Goggle search, because Bing is just a flash in the pan.:) Please help keep the lounge alive and donate Today.Your donation helps keep an Computer from ending up in a Landfill, and keeping the history Alive for future generations!	Last Update: September 23, 2009 PHOTO SUPPLIED BY BIL HERD FROM www.commodorelcd.com Some web sites state that the Commodore LCD laptop is and was part of the TED series of computers. According to the Book "On The Edge" and confirmed from Bil Herd and Dave Haynie themselves, The LCD laptop was the next project after the TED computers. The only thing they have in common is the designers and the arrow keys on the laptop itself, which was common at the time on other LCD laptops. Allot of people claim the Commodore LCD did not exist, but as the pictures show, this was not true. The pictures on this site came from a small video that Bil and Dave did. These are in fact Bil's own prototype number 2. I apologize for the bad pictures in advance, but a Goggle search could not produce any other photos on the internet. The Legend: Commodore had the only LCD manufacturing plant in the US in 1984. In the late seventies, Jack bought a small LCD company in Texas called Eagle Picture for LCD displays in calculators and watches, it was re-named officially Commodore Optoelectronics, but the Commodore staff called it "Picture". When Commodore moved everybody to West Chester, Eagle Picture had an LCD line in the front corner of the building. They were making big LCD clocks for advertising and gifts. Bil was fresh off the Plus 4, he knew that people wanted portable computers, he also knew how he could build one. Him and another engineer named Jeff Porter, sat down and designed the LCD. Bil designed it on graph paper, got interested in the C128 project, and then handed it off to Jeff. Jeff had previously designed the 300 baud modem, so he decided to include one in the LCD. The LCD required a screen capable of producing thousands of pixels. Robert Russell called it "The dot matrix LCD". Michael North would put together the spec sheets on the glass. Commodore intended to dethrone the Tandy 100. Dave Haynie states it was like the Tandy on 'roids. It had a bigger display, the software was good, there was a ton of Ram ,and a pretty big ROM.It was pretty Cool" It only weighed 5 pounds, and with the 65C02 processor, it could run for 15 hours on 4 double A batteries.It didn't have a built in disk drive, but they could be added later. it had 32K of battery backed Ram to save data. It also had ports for light pens and such. Bil took the Idea of built in software for the Plus /4, and they did a whole suite of programs in house. Dave Haynie said " It was everything the Plus/4 hadn't been". The software package included eight applications, including word processor, file manager, address book, scheduler, Calculator, memo pad, and even a communications program for the modem. Commodore estimated it would retail for under $500. The new CEO Marshal Smith told Jeff Porter that if he could get 15,000 orders at the next CES. At the January 1985 CES, Porter did get 15,000 orders and the LCD was ready to launch. BUT Marshal Smith had a "heart to heart" Talk with the CEO of Tandy. Smith was told " There is no future or money in the portable computer market". Smith then deiced to kill the project. Many of the Commodore employee's are still angry to this day over that decision. More Photos: These are Bil's Hands, showing off his own LCD ! Proof that it did exist. Below are pictures of the LCD from the 1985 CES - More photos can be seen at C128.com

MODELS

CV 364

C264

PLUS /4

C232

C116

C16

My Collection

TECHNICAL DATA

Hardware

Software

FACES

The People Behind TED

Disclaimer:
All the information presented here, was taken from the following sources:
Brain Bagnal's Book
On the Edge: The Spectacular Rise and Fall of Commodore.

Available at Amazon.ca
The new edition had been delayed at Amazon until Feb.2010

Also, a lot of information has come from Video interviews with Bil Herd and Dave Haynie. Dave has a lot of videos on You-Tube. Search them out.. I wish I could post them here, but I don't have permission.

Lastly, more sites on the net have information. There are even a few dedicated sites to the C16. Do a Goggle search, because Bing is just a flash in the pan.:)

Please help keep the lounge alive and donate Today.Your donation helps keep an Computer from ending up in a Landfill, and keeping the history Alive for future generations!

Last Update: September 23, 2009

PHOTO SUPPLIED BY BIL HERD FROM www.commodorelcd.com

Some web sites state that the Commodore LCD laptop is and was part of the TED series of computers. According to the Book "On The Edge" and confirmed from Bil Herd and Dave Haynie themselves, The LCD laptop was the next project after the TED computers. The only thing they have in common is the designers and the arrow keys on the laptop itself, which was common at the time on other LCD laptops. Allot of people claim the Commodore LCD did not exist, but as the pictures show, this was not true. The pictures on this site came from a small video that Bil and Dave did. These are in fact Bil's own prototype number 2. I apologize for the bad pictures in advance, but a Goggle search could not produce any other photos on the internet.

The Legend:
Commodore had the only LCD manufacturing plant in the US in 1984. In the late seventies, Jack bought a small LCD company in Texas called Eagle Picture for LCD displays in calculators and watches, it was re-named officially Commodore Optoelectronics, but the Commodore staff called it "Picture".
When Commodore moved everybody to West Chester, Eagle Picture had an LCD line in the front corner of the building. They were making big LCD clocks for advertising and gifts.
Bil was fresh off the Plus 4, he knew that people wanted portable computers, he also knew how he could build one. Him and another engineer named Jeff Porter, sat down and designed the LCD. Bil designed it on graph paper, got interested in the C128 project, and then handed it off to Jeff.
Jeff had previously designed the 300 baud modem, so he decided to include one in the LCD.
The LCD required a screen capable of producing thousands of pixels. Robert Russell called it "The dot matrix LCD". Michael North would put together the spec sheets on the glass.
Commodore intended to dethrone the Tandy 100. Dave Haynie states it was like the Tandy on 'roids. It had a bigger display, the software was good, there was a ton of Ram ,and a pretty big ROM.It was pretty Cool"
It only weighed 5 pounds, and with the 65C02 processor, it could run for 15 hours on 4 double A batteries.It didn't have a built in disk drive, but they could be added later. it had 32K of battery backed Ram to save data. It also had ports for light pens and such.
Bil took the Idea of built in software for the Plus /4, and they did a whole suite of programs in house. Dave Haynie said " It was everything the Plus/4 hadn't been". The software package included eight applications, including word processor, file manager, address book, scheduler, Calculator, memo pad, and even a communications program for the modem.

Commodore estimated it would retail for under $500. The new CEO Marshal Smith told Jeff Porter that if he could get 15,000 orders at the next CES. At the January 1985 CES, Porter did get 15,000 orders and the LCD was ready to launch.

BUT Marshal Smith had a "heart to heart" Talk with the CEO of Tandy. Smith was told " There is no future or money in the portable computer market". Smith then deiced to kill the project.

Many of the Commodore employee's are still angry to this day over that decision.

More Photos:

These are Bil's Hands, showing off his own LCD ! Proof that it did exist.

Below are pictures of the LCD from the 1985 CES - More photos can be seen at C128.com