Commodore

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1. vidarhAug 2025
   Seconded.

   I also like the Brian Bagnall books (beware: There are two multi-volume editions, the second edition is far larger which is good/bad depending on how interested you are) but they are much more for those already interested in Commodore, though "Commodore: The Amiga Years" on its own is worthwhile for people interested specifically in the Amiga.

   Maher's The Future Was Here is much more accessible to people who has want a lighter read and/or don't have a personal relationship to the Amiga and Commodore, though.

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2. vidarhMar 2025
   Have you read Brian Bagnall's series of books on Commodore? It really digs into the full universe of badness that was Commodore management in excruciating detail.
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3. vidarhJun 2021
   Most of what I know about that comes from Brian Bagnall's books (e.g. Commodore: A company on the edge). It's covered in the first chapter. I don't know of any preserved documents - if they exist they'd belong to Motorola, and I'd expect the leavers would have preferred to ditch any such documents (though part of the reason for the settlement with Motorola was that one of the engineers stupidly taking 6800 documentation with him).

   This [1] summarizes it. Here [2] is an interview by Computer History Museum of Chuck Peddle. It matches up with the first chapters in Bagnalls book very closely. From about 50 minutes in he talks about his meetings w/Motorola customers that told him the 6800 was too expensive. From about 58m in they talk about basically setting a size metric for the chip to meet a low enough price point. So the starting point was what they could fit in small enough space.

   You might also like the Computer History Museum interview w/Bill Mensch [3]

   [1] http://www.cpushack.com/2013/08/03/mos-technology-mcs6501-pr...

   [2] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=enHF9lMseP8

   [3] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ne1ApyqSvm0

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4. vidarhMay 2021
   If you really want to read about all things Commodore, pick up Brian Bagnall's books [1]. They're not really for those with a casual interest (though you have the option of the 500+ page single volume first version or the second version which ballooned to a trilogy of 500+ pages each, plus the upcoming Commodore: The Early Years covering Commodore's pre-computing history), and there's plenty of dreams, intrigue and backstabbing (the always fraught relationship between Jack Tramiel and his staff and Irving Gould features heavily alongside a lot of in-depth descriptions of the tech.

   [1] Beware, the Amazon listings are a confusing mess; the first edition is "The Story of Commodore: A Company on the Edge"; the second edition is a massively expanded three volume set, starting with "Commodore: A Company on the Edge" (ignore what Amazon says; it's not book #2), followed by "Commodore: The Amiga Years" and "Commodore: The Final Years". They're all 500+ pages.

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5. arexxbifsNov 2020
   Commodore: A Company on the Edge by Brian Bagnall is highly recommended.
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6. hoytechOct 2020
   There is a fascinating series of books by Brian Bagnall on the history of Commodore:

   https://www.goodreads.com/series/270019-the-commodore-series

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