Amstrad cpc

The most noticeable external feature of the computer is the “chopped” black rectangular case with sharp corners, which housed both the motherboard and the keyboard . The right side of the solid panel was occupied by an integrated cassette unit (in CPC 464 ) or a floppy drive ( CPC 664 and CPC 6128 ). Special keyboard keys are brightly colored (all keys that are usually absent on a typewriter are highlighted).

CPC 464

The first car - CPC 464 - was introduced to the UK market in June 1984 , at a price of 249 pounds with a green screen and 359 pounds with a color monitor. It was designed as a direct competitor to the Commodore 64 and Sinclair ZX Spectrum systems.

In 1990, the 464plus replaced the CPC464, so the production of the 464 was discontinued.

CPC 472

In the summer of 1985, Spain imposed tax restrictions on the import of computers with a memory of 64 KB or less. To get around this, the Spanish distributor Indescomp (later becoming Amstrad Spain) manufactured and sold CPC472 , a modified version of CPC464. The only difference was the presence of a daughter board containing the ROM of the computer and the 8KB RAM chip, which was not connected, and thus was not accessible to the processor. After just a month, the tax was abolished and the production of CPC472 was phased out ^[2] .

CPC 664

The model was released in May 1985, priced at 339 pounds (green screen) and 449 pounds (color monitor).

The machine was positioned as the cheapest system with a disk, as well as the cheapest machine with the CP / M 2.2 operating system. CPC664 did not replace, but complemented CPC464; Despite the launch of the new model, the CPC464 continued to be sold and did not lose in price.

Plus Models

In 1990, due to changes in the computer market, Amstrad decided to update the CPC line by introducing new options with the designation plus or PLUS , 1990 , or CPC + range . It was an attempt to restyle the CPC platform, with the introduction of a number of improvements. The updated lineup included 464plus and 6128plus computers in three color options, as well as the GX4000 game console.

Schneider CPC

To enter the markets of Germany, Austria and Switzerland, where Amstrad had no sales organization, Amstrad entered into a partnership agreement with the West German company Schneider , which, like Amstrad itself, was previously known only for expensive audio systems. In 1984, a subsidiary Schneider Computer Division was created for this purpose, producing computers under the brand name Schneider CPC, which had only slight differences from the original.

The partnership ended in 1988 when Schneider abandoned the promotion of AT-compatible Amstrad machines. Schneider sold off the remaining Schneider CPC and used market position to promote its own PC-compatible machines.

KC Compact

Based on CPC in East Germany , the KC Compact computer was created, which used both East German and Soviet components.

The machine differed from the original CPC in a modified housing design, an external power supply unit, and an external 5.25 " Robotron drive. Unlike Amstrad models, the computer could be connected directly to a household TV. 64 KB of RAM was built in, another 64 KB was connected with drive controller KAS Compact used BASIC 1.1, as well as MicroDOS - a clone of the CP / M system with localization into German.

The Z80 processor was replaced by the U880 (which is 100% compatible), some Amstrad I / O chips were replaced by clones based on the Z8536. As a result, KC Compact was approximately 95% compatible with the original.

• Amstrad official website
• CPC Wiki