#commodore pet

another commodore because i just cant help myself. the Commodore PET 2001 was Commodore's first popular* personal computer (not their first computer though, that title goes to the KIM-1).

the PET was considered part of the "1977 trinity", alongside the Apple II and the TRS-80 (ill make posts about those two eventually). it was targeted towards and designed for those inexperienced with computers, which was most people at the time. this design and marketing lead to it being a common feature in homes and classrooms.

PETSCII was a character set designed specifically for the PET, but it was used for all of Commodore's computers up until the Amigas. i only mention this because i really like the name PETSCII, and its honestly a nice font. featured below is the character set itself, as well as the semi-unique keyboard layout the PET used which showed all the secondary characters.

The Commodore 2001 released January of 1977, and the Commodore 4032 released 3 years later. The 4032 stood for the 40 character display, and the 32K RAM memory. They were initially named to capitalize on the 'Pet Rock Fad' of the mid 70's. One of the worst (harsh, I know </3) aspects of the OG 2001 model was the keyboard, whose keys were small and hard to click on. (Chiclet keyboard) Look at this thing!