Category: Digital Archeology

The A570 CD-ROM drive is a fascinating part of Commodore’s legacy, as it is inextricably linked with CDTV: it makes the A500 compatible with CDTV titles. The original CD1000 CDTV player turned out to be an unmitigated disaster for Commodore with approximately just 80,000 units manufactured and Commodore hardly being able to sell them. So how did the A570 fare in comparison, and how many units did Commodore make? And what’s up with that A690 drive? Join me for another excursion into the fascinating world of Commodore’s CDTV history! Continue reading “How Many A690/A570 Drives Did Commodore Make?” →

The merciless price slashing that Commodore employed on their ill-fated CDTV line in the early 1990s is the stuff of legends. I decided to take a closer look at how CDTV retail prices developed during those turbulent years and try to place the price cuts in a historical context.

Continue reading “CDTV Retail Price Development” →

The 6500/1 (marked as 252609-02) and the LC6554H are two microcontrollers inside the CD-1000 that perform several CDTV player hardware specific I/O functions. The ROM code that lives inside these controllers has now finally been dumped and preserved!

Continue reading “CDTV 6500/1 and LC6554H ROMs dumped” →

When Commodore started selling CDTV in 1991 they were hoping to kickstart a new category of consumer electronics. Sadly, this dream never materialized. While there are no hard numbers on how many units they sold in total worldwide, the estimate based on quotes from various Commodore sales subsidiaries ranges somewhere in the tens of thousands. This begs the question, how many CDTV players did Commodore actually manufacture? Join me and find out!
Continue reading “How many CDTV units did Commodore make?” →

The publically available versions 2.7 and 2.30 CDTV OS ROMs/Extended ROMs, are often used to upgrade CDTV players. While they do work in a CDTV player, there are some minor incompatibilities CDTV owners need to be aware of. Find out what these problems are and what your options are to avoid them!

Continue reading “Setting the Record Straight on 2.7 and 2.30 CDTV ROMs” →