Commodore 70 years on

In 1958, Commodore (CBM or Commodore Business Machines) was born under the genius of its founder Jack Tramiel. The man, a survivor of the Nazi ghettos and Auschwitz camp - just like the mother of Philippe Kahnfounder of Borland - left Commodore in 1984 to take the helm of Atari, following the stratospheric sales success of the C64, which remains one of the biggest coups on the computer planet to this day.

The Commodore epic is no match for the Apple hurricane of the post-Steve Jobs era. Who doesn't remember the VIC-20, followed by the C64, C128, C128D (and its keyboard detached from the CPU), followed by the Amiga 500, 1000, 1500, 2000... In those days, you were mostly either a Commodore user or an Atari user. It was one or the other, in the midst of other epic products such as Sinclair's ZX Spectrum and computers from French manufacturer Thompson, to name but a few. We programmed them, we played with them, computing had entered our homes.

The smell of these machines marked an entire generation (the X generation). And many of today's Xers remember, with confessed (and assumed) nostalgia, that era that smelled of pioneering computing. This flavor will soon no longer be found, except to a certain extent through the use of a newcomer, Linux, since, it must be said, early computing was synonymous with exploration and freedom. The time of digital monsters was still far off, and we were in the era of the geek in the truest sense of the expression.

In 1994, Commodore closed its doors. The adventure comes to an end. That said, Jack Tramiel is never far away from "his" company and the products that come out of its doors. In 2007, for example, Jack took part in a celebration of the twenty-fifth anniversary of the C64. A computer which, in 2024, is still a fixture in the computer classrooms of many schools around the globe, whose technology training programs are under the responsibility of enthusiasts who encourage computer literacy through learning to program with full code, i.e. without the emulators (when we're not talking outright low-code or no-code) we know today.

Several attempts were made to revive the Condor. In 2010, the brand was acquired under license by two young Florida entrepreneurs to become Commodore USA. Their intention is to revive the Commodore and Amiga brands, of which they have purchased part of the rights and intellectual property. The new company manufactures computers under the Commodore and Amiga brands, sold by mail order via its website. In 2012, Commodore USA succeeded in buying back all rights to the Commodore brand.

But on December 8, 2012, Barry Altman, founder of Commodore USA, dies of cancer at the age of 63, leaving the fledgling company without a follow-up. The online store and website cease to respond in April 2013.

Almost two years later, on December 26, 2014, two Italian entrepreneurs bought back the rights and revived CBM in London, with the presentation of cell phones in Commodore colors. Equipped with emulators for C64 and Amiga games.

In 2023, Commodore, now headquartered in Rome, announces video games, and a new range of notebooks, including a flagship product, the German-assembled Omina-book, with its magnesium chassis for entrepreneurs, and also the Proxima-book and Orion-book aimed at the personal computing and video games market. Commodore also markets other consumer electronics products, from futuristic wireless headphones to Bluetooth speakers.

Projects undertaken with the involvement of a passionate team, under the direction of Luigi Simonetti, CEO and then President (2024) of Commodore.

Three divisions were created in addition to Commodore Engineering. Commodore Sinapsy, dedicated to the development of video games, a sector that contributed to the brand's success in its heyday and, since 2024, Commodore Academy, which offers distance IT training, and Commodore Digital, with Luca Tomassini as president, a division dedicated to artificial intelligence and the digital human.

Commodore's renaissance — Commodore Omnia-book 2024 (which we configured and tested in dual boot Windows 11 / Linux Zorin 17 Pro with a customized start menu button, Beauty Solar icon set, Kora cursors, and Marble Yellow Dark transparent shell)

What we liked about the Omnia-book

Its featherweight and sleek elegance;

Its dimensions (a 16″-inch screen in a case that takes up less space than many 15″ laptops);

Its matte coating is backed by a magnesium chassis;

The quality of its keyboard backlighting;

Its large touchpad (which can be fully or partially disabled by double-tapping the top corners) is perfectly suited to freehand drawing and, of course, document signing;

The quality of its UEFI / BIOS and its many options;

Commodore logo at primary boot (before dual boot);

The Omnia-book is ultra-fast and quiet (the fan can sometimes be heard during intensive use, but we didn't mind);

Its high-performance Raptor Lake graphics chip (Intel MESA RPL-P) is fully sufficient;

Its 3K screen for a resolution of 2560×1600 pixels (we're always surprised to see 1920×1080 resolution on many competing models, unless you're on a budget);

Its 1080-pixel FHD camera (while most manufacturers of high-end models surprisingly still offer 720-pixel resolution, which we find unsuitable for today's professional requirements);

Accessories (original Commodore-branded protective case, USB-C/USB cable, branded USB stick containing installation software, USB-Ethernet adapter), all delivered in a box sealed with Commodore adhesive;

Personalized customer service.

What we would have liked

More powerful speakers, and stronger bass (with a less metallic surface sound) / to Commodore's credit, our points of comparison are Macbooks.

Let a cardboard surface - white, for example, and in Commodore's colors with the Omnia-book photo - surround the brown box (as with models sold in the 80s);

One or two issues of Commodoriani magazine in hard copy https://commodore.inc/commodoriani