History

After the great success of the KIM-1, Chuck Peddle (previously employed at MOS Technology and inventor of the 6502 processor) convinced Commodore to stop manufacturing calculators and to refocus on larger computers. 1976 saw the start of production of the 'Personal Electronics Transactor' (PET), after Jack Tramiel (Commodore's founder and owner) gave Chuck Peddle and his team six months to complete the machine so that the PET could be shown at the Consumer Electronics Show in January a year later. The PET was discontinued in 1982. There were approximately 219,000 units sold.

Usage

The PET 2001 was primarily used by schools and other educational institutions. The PET 2001 also had, for the time, the largest amount of functions compared to other computers.

Design

The keyboard of the PET 2001 has keys that are the exact same as those found on a calculator, due to the previously mentioned fact that Commodore originally manufactured these. The choice to store data on cassette tapes was made because it was simple and cheap. The metal casing of the PET was also quickly chosen because Commodore was also the owner of a steel company.

Later products from the PET series had a better keyboard, though the newer models did not have a built-in cassetterecorder.

System

This computer starts up directly in BASIC, which is something that few computers did at the time. The PET 2001 also has a built-in cassetterecorder. The PET 2001 could also be opened from the bottom; like, for example, the hood of a car. The PET even had a stand so that the user could directly work on the mainboard.

Variants

The PET 2001 has multiple variants, these are distinguished via the colour of the stickers. The first version is generally seen as the PET with black stickers with red and blue accents. There are also variants in fully black, though the rarest is the blue variant.