The Commander X16 is a modern home computer in the philosophy of Commodore computers like the VIC-20 and the C64.
Features:
- 8-bit 65C02 CPU at 8 MHz
- 512 KB or 2 MB RAM banked RAM
- 512 KB ROM
- Expansion Cards (Gen 1) & Cartridges (Gen 1 and Gen 2)
- Up to 3.5MB of RAM/ROM
- 5 32-byte Memory-Mapped IO slots
- VERA video controller
- Up to 640x480 resolution
- 256 colors from a palette of 4096
- 128 sprites
- VGA, NTSC and RGB output
- three sound generators
- Yamaha YM2151: 8 channels, FM synthesis
- VERA PSG: 16 channels, 4 waveforms
- VERA PCM: 48 kHz, 16 bit, stereo
- Connectivity:
- PS/2 keyboard and mouse
- 4 NES/SNES controllers
- SD card
- Commodore Serial Bus ("IEC")
- Many Free GPIOs ("user port")
As a modern sibling of the line of Commodore home computers, the Commander X16 is reasonably compatible with computers of that line.
- Pure BASIC programs are fully backwards compatible with the VIC-20 and the C64.
- POKEs for video and audio are not compatible with any Commodore computer. (There are no VIC or SID chips, for example.)
- Pure machine language programs ($FF81+ KERNAL API) are compatible with Commodore computers.