Commodore PET

Published January 24, 2008 @ 13:08 in Memories, Technology

rewindThe first computer I ever enjoyed was the Commodore PET. My dad would bring it home from work on weekends in the late 70s and very early 80s. My three favourite games were horse racing, where I'd essentially bet against simulated racetrack odds, lemonade stand, where I'd manage a virtual lemonade stand, and Eat Man, a complete rip-off of Pac Man.

Comparing the Commodore PET to today's PCs is a lot of nostalgic fun. We had virtually no graphics to speak of, no colour, no mouse and the storage medium was something we called a Commodore Datassette. That was essentially a dedicated computer tape recorder that looked like a cassette deck.

We eventually got a Commodore 64, but the Datassette lived on. "Press Play on Tape #1" was our marching orders and we complied. 'Load"*",8,1' 'Run'

PET

3 Responses to "Commodore PET"

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james edgar
January 24, 2008 / 15:31

I learned my first programmimg (waterloo basic) on a SUPERPET at College in 1981. Ah tape drives!

Ajax Mike
January 24, 2008 / 17:11

Our house (aka my Dad) didn't go with a name brand. We had a TRS-80 Model I (Tandy Radio Shack), and then upgraded to a COCO II (Colour Computer). I'm sure the specs and such were comparable except for the fact there was much less software available for our stuff. Though the 5 1/4" floppy we had for the COCO loaded a LOT faster than the discs for a Commodore 64 ever did at my friend's houses.

Stephanie Wilkinson
January 25, 2008 / 17:06

But who used a 300 baud modem for dialing into BBS's? And who was pleased as punch with the 1200 bps that went with the C-64 (which was an upgrade to the Vic 20, I might add...)

Ahh, the PET.. Grade 10 Data and Grade 11 and 12 Comp-Sci were done on those babies...

Good God, I feel old...


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