 | |
| Developer | Amstrad |
|---|---|
| Type | Personal computer |
| Generation | Third |
| Release date | 1984 |
| Discontinued | 1990 |
| Units sold | 3 million |
| Media | Compact Cassette, 3-inch floppy disks |
| Operating system | AMSDOS with Locomotive BASIC 1.0 or 1.1; CP/M 2.2 or 3.0 |
| CPU | Zilog Z80A @ 4 MHz |
| Memory | 64 or 128 KB,[1] expandable to 576 KB |
| Display | 160×200 pixels with 16 colours, 320×200 pixels with 4 colours, 640×200 pixels with 2 colours |
| Graphics | Motorola 6845 or compatible, custom gate array |
| Sound | AY-3-8912, 3-voices, 8-octaves |
| Input | Keyboard |
The Amstrad CPC (short for "Colour Personal Computer") is a series of 8-bit home computers produced by Amstrad between 1984 and 1990. It was designed to compete in the mid-1980s home computer market dominated by the Commodore 64 and the ZX Spectrum, where it successfully established itself primarily in the United Kingdom, France, Spain, and the German-speaking parts of Europe.
The series spawned a total of six distinct models: The CPC 464, CPC 664, and CPC 6128 were highly successful competitors in the European home computer market. The later 464 plus and 6128 plus, intended to prolong the system's lifecycle with hardware updates, were considerably less successful, as was the attempt to repackage the plus hardware into a game console as the GX4000.
The CPC models' hardware is based on the Zilog Z80A CPU, complemented with either 64 or 128 KB of RAM. Their computer-in-a-keyboard design prominently features an integrated storage device, either a compact cassette deck or 3-inch floppy disk drive. The main units were only sold bundled with either a colour, green-screen or monochrome monitor that doubles as the main unit's power supply.[2] Additionally, a wide range of first and third-party hardware extensions such as external disk drives, printers, and memory extensions, was available.
The CPC series was pitched against other home computers primarily used to play video games and enjoyed a strong supply of game software. The comparatively low price for a complete computer system with dedicated monitor, its high-resolution monochrome text and graphic capabilities and the possibility to run CP/M software also rendered the system attractive for business users, which was reflected by a wide selection of application software.
During its lifetime, the CPC series sold approximately three million units.[3]
- ^ Transistorized memory, such as RAM, ROM, flash and cache sizes as well as file sizes are specified using binary meanings for K (10241), M (10242), G (10243), etc.
- ^ CPC464 User Manual, p. 11, Amstrad Consumer Electronics Plc.
- ^ "Amstrad Product Archive". Archived from the original on 9 May 2008. Retrieved 25 September 2009.