#CBM Pet 2001 Questions
22 messages in this thread
Commodore Technology Depreciation Study, Lesson One
At the University of Wisconsin-Madison Surplus Store this morning, I bought the
following:
Pet 2001-8, SN#0032606, chiclet keyboard, integrated Datassette, Skyles
expansion kybd, mono output mod, Expandamem memory expansion. Random
characters on screen.
Pet 2001-32N, SN#0805222, reg. kybd, mono output mod, working fine.
Pet 2001-32N, SN#0805896, reg. kybd, keyboard sticky, (OK w/Skyles) mono output
mod, Micro Technology Unlimited "keyword graphics package".
Other: Dual Disk Drive 2024, Matrix Printer 2023, external Datassette.
Software: WordPro 3+, TCL Pascal, Math Strategy Linear Search Games, Pet User
Group disks 2-6, PET user manual, Hurkle on tape.
All for $25. In fact, there were four Pet 2001s in this bundle, except I sold
one 2001-16N to someone in the parking lot for $10, so for $15. (A member of
the Amiga user group, as it turned out. 🙂 By comparison, I bought a two
postal scales for $12. So now you know what old CBM hardware is worth. Any
good ideas about what these would be good for? Should I start the Otis Redding
Memorial Reef in Lake Mendota?
So now I'm looking for information about these beasts. Can we tell how early
they are, from the serial numbers? What about this Expandamem board? No docs
for it. It has eight Nat. Semi. "946 MM5298J 4A" memory chips in it, plus
sockets for 24 more. What configuration are these, and can I get more? 🙂
This machine has a screenful of random characters on startup. Any idea what
might be wrong? I dusted and shook and wiggled, to no avail. I have the
manual for the "keyword graphics" package, it looks *bizarre*. I haven't tried
the drives or the printer yet.
If anyone has any software for these dinos, especially the (missing) Pet User
Group disk #1, I'd glady trade some Amiga game software for it.
The drive and printer appear to work, too. I get "Disk mismatch" errors on
some disks, though, and I can't figure out if it's my error, or a flaw in the
drive. Boy, that printer is noisy! And feeding paper into it was almost
impossible.
Also, as I expected, these are the same PET systems that I programmed for my
first computer job, at the University.
My husband still uses the SuperPET, which is compatible with your PETs
though different and upgraded. He says the "Disk mismatch error" is caused
by putting in a disk the system cannot recognize. It may be an 8050 disk
in a 4040 drive, for example. Or it could be that your drive (or the disk)
is not properly aligned. Try the disk in drive 1. If this doesn't work,
turn off the machine, and THEN try it in drive 1. The drives are "smart",
you know, and they sometimes remember that they've already told you that
disk won't work, so they won't try. You have to give the whole machine a
lobotomy to make it put forth the effort.
I have lots of old Pet software. I currently still have a Pet 2001
(upgraded the keyboard – axed the cassette), 2031 disk drive, Skyles memory
expansion, Skyles DISK-PRO command extension, TOOLKIT command extension,
3.0 and 4.0 operating systems switch selectable, and a few other toys. I
have kept almost all of the software I used to have… email me if you want
more info.
Gee, the Hurkle is a cute little program that I hadn't thought of in a long
time. The kids at school loved that one!
Dual drive 2024??? That one is new to me. I only knew about 2040, 4040, 8050,
8250 in the duals. The 2040 was a bit difficult. It had more sectors on some
of the tracks than it could really manage well, and it sometimes overwrote a
sector because of it. Hence, the 4040 which corrected that problem.
Neat stuff, John. WHat do you plan to do with it all?
Turns out the drive is a 2040, I must have mistyped it. What am I going to
do with it all? As I said in the first message, I unloaded one of them
right in the parking lot. 🙂 And I met a good friend at the same sale,
and he said he'd take one for his collection. And then I went to the office
of another friend, to deliver another gizmo I got at the sale for him, and
he said he'd be interested in one, and maybe his dad would be, too, since
they both had PETs at one point. I'm debating whether I should keep the
chiclet one (that doesn't work at this time) or the working regular
keyboard one. I know I should get rid of it all, I don't have the room to
store all this junk. I suspect I'll keep the drive, the working 32K PET,
and the printer, and give the rest away. I think I have the 1541 disk guide
downstairs in the basement, and it might have some tips on the 2040.
John, sounds like you've given most all of it away already <grin>. Do you
happen to know/remember if the user 'parallel' port on the PET is the same
as the user port on the 64? I tried playing arund a bit: I stuck my WordPro
4 Plus disk in my SX-64s internal drive (I'd heard it was 4040 compatible,
long ago) label up, as it says to do for the 4040 drive in the WordPro
manual…. it read the directory! not only that… it loaded the program!
of course, it crashed as soon as I tried running it (had to press my luck
:), but, at least I found out some things I wanted to know (next step, try
a 1541 :). I also stuck the IEEE-488->PET user parallel port cable onto the
SX user port (never turned the machine on), and it fit (no real surprise;
the edge card for the IEEE-488 and user parallel port on the PET are the
same size). It has the same number of 'pins' as the 64 user port, I just
wish I could get a listing of the 'pins' on the PET's user parallel and
IEEE-488 ports. –Eet–
The PET manual I have does show a listing of the pin-outs of the IEEE and
parallel ports.
Hmm…. I'll have to look again. –Eet–
PET User port:
1 Ground
2 TV video
3 IEEE-SRQ
4 IEEE-EOI
5 Diagnostic Sense
6 Tape #2 Read
7 Tape Write
8 Tape #1 Read
9 TV Vertical
10 TV Horizontal
11,12 Ground
A Ground
B CA1
C PA0
D PA1
E PA2
F PA3
H PA4
J PA5
K PA6
L PA7
M CB2
N Ground
PAx are periperal I/O lines. CA1 is standard edge sensitive input of
6522VIA. CB2 is Speicial I/O pin of VIA. That what you needed?
Several years ago, the TRANSACTOR put out a book called THE COMMODORE INNER
SPACE ANTHOLOGY. Had almost everything you could imagine about all of the
8-bit machines. Memory maps, pinouts, assembler mnemonics – nearly
everything. I still have one, and no – you cannot have mine!
The IEEE is NOT compatible with the parallel port. AND, the 1541 will not
work with the pet. You can get IEEE interfaces for the 64 that will let
them use the IEEE drives, but the reverse is not true.
Very little software written in assembler will run on both the PET and the
64. The 64 has quite a lot of features the PET did not have, and it moved
some of the routines around a bit. In most cases, if my memory serves
right, the changes caused things to be three or four address spaces away
from the PET locations. The drive formats are compatible; most BASIC
programs will run on either machine quite happily, but graphics and
assembler stuff are quite different.
Betty, I don't want yours, I have one of my own <grin> yes, I know the 64
stuff won't run on the PET, but, in addition to that IEEE-488 por err,
port, the PET has what its manual calls a 'user parallel port'. The
Innerspace Anthology had the pinouts of all the CBM computers, so I was
able to compare the differences of them.
John, if you can possibly locate a copy of PROGRAMMING THE PET/CBM by Rae
Collin West, latch onto it. We called it the "Pet Bible", because it
covers almost anything you could possibly want to know about those
machines. It was published in this country by Compute! books at one time.
The guide for the 1541 will give you most of the information you need about
the 2040, but there are differences. For instance, the dual drives have
two 6502's in them. One controls the drives and the other controls
communication with the PET. There are more buffers in the drive than for
the 1541. Of course, the 1541 was an egotistical little beast – it was
always convinced that it had a drive 1 sitting beside the one it did have,
and would sometimes try to read and write on that non-existent drive! (One
of its minor problems, that.)
We plan to keep one 8032, and 8050 drive and the printer that goes with them.
Actually our printer is the same as an 8032, but it was made later, and has a
different number on it. I have several copies of the drive manual from
Commodore, but I don't think I have extras of the computer manual.
Betty, thanks for making me think! what an idiot I've been… when you
said, "Pet Bible" two things entered my head… "Mapping the 64" by Compuke
books (I think)… and…. "The Transactor InnerSpace Anthology"! (by
those guys at Transactor :)…. all kindsa meaty tidbits of info in there.
I'm going to have to check it out.
By the way, a friend in Dallas has all of the schematics, etc., for the
chicklet Pet (he has two or three of them working regularly at his house),
and for each of the subsequent versions. I believe he has schematics for
the drives as well.
And on the 2040 – almost everyone bought upgrade ROMs to go in those
drives, and that brought them to the specs for the 4040. If you have them,
it will mean that your disks are truly compatible with the 4040 format, and
that is the same (almost) as the 1541 format. The early 1541's had a
different length tail gap between sectors, so it was a disaster to write to
a disk that had been formatted with the other style drive. That was fixed
when they changed to the short-board 1541's.
John, I recently aquired a PET 4032 and a PET 8032, with a 4032 printer
(looks like a 1526, but with an IEE-488 (?) port instead of Centronics). I
was helping my dealer move, and they were up in his attic gathering dust.
They both work great, but, the 8032 needs a keyboard (still looking). Later
on, my dealer found WordPro 4 Plus (even with the registration still in
it!), and a database called, "The Manager". I don't know what they're worth
either. I'm considering starting a CBM computer museum <grin> I liked the
crisp display on the 8032, so if I ever find a keyboard for it, I'd like to
try using it as a text editor or terminal (maybe finally get a look at
ROM-Wack :)… drop into co sometime (ahem) and we can talk PET stuff,
whatdya say? <grin>
A CBM museum eh??..grin. And to think that a couple of years ago I tossed
out an original Commodore 6 digit LED pocket calculator. I think it still
worked but one of the keys stuck if I remember right. Paid about 50 bucks
for it,brand new, in about 1973. Ah well. Also have an official,original
issue VIC-1541 drive that's still sluggin' away on a 64. Been through four
64s,but thais drive just keeps on truckin'! Hmmmm..the 1000 is in
semi-retirement since I got the 2000. Maybe I should just stick it in the
closet for ten years or so and see what happens….grin. They tell me my
TRS-80 Mod 1 is worth a few bucks so who knows??
I have a Commodore watch and a Commodore scientific calculator.
A PET 2001-8 with serial number 32606? Ha! One of the newer machines.
🙂 🙂 My PET is serial number 2942! 😉 I was using it as a terminal
while I was at school, and one day the motherboard went. I tried to have
it repaired, and got a "newer" motherboard. I forget which BASIC version
it was, but this thing now has all the keyboard characters reversed, so the
lower case characters come out as graphics, and the graphics are lower case
letters. I have Cursor issues 1-whatever they went up to. I have all the
docs for 'em too. I hardware gizmo for it), and the Skyles TOOLKIT thingy
that plugs into the right side of the machine. Somewhere I have the little
speaker that I attached to the back of the machine to get sound out of it
too. I have a few misc. programs like "Batter Up!!!" a baseball game, a
stock market game, a couple of adventure like games, an AWESOME game of
Space Invaders (spent a long time playing that one), and probably lots more
I think of right now.
But you got all that stuff for $25? I thought it was worth more than that,
just for sentimental value. 🙂
I wrote 2 games for Avalon Hill Microcomputer Games (Conflict 2500 1980,
Voyager 1 1981) that were Pet CBM based. There were others (from Avalon
Hill) as well…. I don't know if they even sell the stuff anymore…
Some (well actually very little) C64 stuff (BASIC programs?) will run on
the Pet as well. $25.00, I would have gone for it too…. The PETs could
be used as terminals as well… Boy, that chiclet keyboard brings back
memories….