While Commodore is best known as a consumer personal computer company to those who now collect vintage computers, it was a company that first started out in the typewriter business in Toronto, Ontario, Canada.  The company was founded by Jack Tramiel and Manfred Kapp in 1958.  Commodore has had a laundry list of products it distributed, manufactured and sold including typewriters, calculators, computers, office furniture and computer chip manufacturing through MOS Technologies, a company acquired to assist with the calculator business but was instrumental in vertical integration for Commodore’s computers.

In terms of computers, it started with the MOS KIM-1 6502 trainer, then moved to the PET line, developed the VIC-20, Commodore 64 and Commodore 128.  Additional lines included the TED series of computers including the Commodore 116, the C16 and Plus/4 computers.  The CBM-II series included   a number of 6809 based computers along with advancing the PET line.

In 1992, Commodore dissolved as a company so many projects were not realized.  Today, Commodore computers are highly collectable as the shear numbers of computers sold to the public resonate with those who long for the nostalgia of the computers they once owned.