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Widget of the Week
Commodore PET 2001-N Computer,
1978
 My
first encounter with the Commodore PET was in 1978, early in my journalistic
career, whilst working on Computing Today, one of the UKs first computer
magazines. We had been sent an early sample for review, prior to its UK launch.
Suffice it to say I and my fellow journos didn’t go home for a couple of days after that, vying
with one another to play the one and only game we had for the machine, Space Invaders...
The PET or Personal
Electronic Transactor certainly wasn’t the first or even the most sophisticated
personal computer of its day but it is a true classic. The features that made
it stand out was the futuristic casework – it looked like something from the
set of Star Trek – the built-in 9-inch monitor, and the fact that it worked, and
could do something useful right out of the box.
The model we had back then was
the mark 1 version with a horrible calculator style or ‘chicklet’ keyboard. It was
a real pain to use and keying in long programs by hand was a nightmare. It was
easy to program, though, using a version of the BASIC language allegedly
written by a young fellow called Bill Gates – now whatever happened to
him?
That model
came with a built-in cassette deck, which made loading programs a lot easier.
This one, the 2001-N was launched soon afterwards (N stood for ‘normal’), in
response to complaints about the keyboard, and with an eye on the business
market. (The 2001-B ‘business’ variant had fewer graphic symbols on the keys).
The proper keyboard meant there was no room for the cassette deck, so it was
fitted with a dedicated I/O port for a tape deck on the back; there were also connectors for
a wide range of peripherals, including 5.25-inch floppy drives, printers and so
on. The 2001-N could also handle more memory, increased from the standard 4Kb RAM of
the mark 1 to a massive 32Kb; for the rest of the specs see below, but you can
take it as read that it was all cutting edge stuff.
What Happened To It?
The PET was an instant
best seller and in its relatively short life it went through many revisions and
updates. These included faster processors, better graphics, larger memory,
bigger screen, swivel screen, detachable keyboard and dedicated business and education
models but eventually it ran out of steam. Sales started to fall off
quite quickly and the last PETs rolled off the line in 1983. Its demise
coincided with the growth of cheaper and more sophisticated home computers with better graphics, the games machines that
were starting to appear, and the vast explosion of more serious office
computers, out of which the IBM PC would eventually emerge and reign supreme.
I have been after a PET
for some time and they do come up on ebay from time to time but working models
in good condition are quite rare and fetch upwards of £150, and I didn’t want one that much.
This particular model was on ebay, it was billed as a non-runner but they can still fetch £50 to £75. It must have
been a quiet day and I snagged it for a very reasonable £35. Fortunately the
seller was local, so I didn’t have to pay shipping charges -- these things weigh a ton...
All things
considered it’s in pretty good shape and it seems to have led a quite eventful life. It has been modded at some time with an unofficial memory upgrade. Commodore drilled holes through the PCB where the extra memory chips would be mounted to stop them being
added.
It powers up okay but the screen is
filled with garbage. I’ve checked around and it seems like a fairly common
problem and it could be something as simple as a dud RAM chip. Luckily PETs are really
easy to work on and the top lifts up like a car bonnet giving ready access to
the main printed circuit board inside. I really want to get it going and
have another crack at Space Invaders, and I will, but it’s going to have to wait its turn in the queue, unless someone out there has a working mainboard they want to sell...
GIZMO GUIDE
First seen: 1977
Original Price £800
Value Today? £50 - 150
Features: Commodore Basic 1.0, 73 key
keyboard with a numeric keypad, CPU: 6502, 1MHz, 4 – 32Kb RAM, 1Kb VRAM,
14Kb ROM, 9-inch CRT display 40 x 25 characters monochrome (green), I/O Ports:
IEEE 488, Parallel port, second user port for 8-bit I/O, cassette port
Power req. 220 volts AC
Weight: 44.5 x 48 x 42cm
Dimensions: 11.3kg
Made in: USA
Hen's Teeth (10 rarest): 4
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