PET/CBM FAQ -COLLECTOR'S INFORMATION

That is a tough one, here are some suggestions

• Word of Mouth - People know I collect old computers (from conversations, postings and this website), sonetimes I get approached and people ask if I want their old computers. Remember the axiom of not looking a gift horse in the mouth, if you have the time, accept the offer. If it is someone you know better, ask them what cmputers they have and politely refuse, but always thank them for their consideration.
• Schools - In the United States the PETs were pretty popular for schools, almost all of which have been deemed obsolete and have been given away, sold or discardrd. I bought a bunch through our county's school district auction, after that I have received a couple from individual users, and have been fortunate to locate a few used computer stores in the area that have had discarded school machines.
• On-Line Internet Auctions - (such as http://www.ebay.com ) regularly sell PETs but their prices may climb way higher than you should expect to pay. Also shipping PETs is an expensive proposition (the lightest is about 35 pounds).
• Place An Ad - A more direct approach would be to place an ad in your local paper or advertiser on looking for old computers. You may be surprised what you will find. Also there is the internet, and from time to time I see postings in newsgroups like comp.sys.cbm or misc.forsale.computers.other.systems.
• Local Users Groups - Also join or visit your local users group and let them know you are a PET fan, there may be a PET owner in the group or that contacts the group, looking to pass their model into loving hands. I know from experience when you give support, you will receive support back.
• Mini PET Kit - Sold by The Future was 9-bit; the kit re-creates the 40 Column PET models using mostly the new sourced chips from the original models along with new video /ROM chip to reduce board size, provide composite video. The Mini PET can operate as a replacement to a PET's internal Motherboard (interfacing to the PETs original keyboard, PSU, monitor and peripherals) or be used as a stand-alone PET computer.

That's definitely a matter of opinion, compared to today's computers the PET is about as featureless as you can get, it mainly depends on what you are looking for. If you have specific programs to run then let the programs will dictate your system, as it may be impossible to find versions for other PET models. I will give you these insights though.

• If you want a 'show model' the original PET gets more attention than the later ones - especially if it is operational (that tiny keyboard is just so cute). The other small screen units look cool as well, and if you want a jazzy display the 4000/8000 has the biggest/brightest screen of the lot (and built-in speaker too).
• If you want to re-live your childhood playing games and such, the later 2000, 4000 models are good, the 8000s work well too (with the 8000, there is a program to get them into 4000's 40 column mode). Also the 4000 models have built-in speakers which may be a factor.
• If you want to mess with programming/business software, the 8000 models may be your best bet, though the 4000 models are up there too, the 4000/8000 has a tad better speed then the older models. Also the large screen models are much more visible at a distance if you are running a demonstration display.
• For “power PET computing” it would be the SuperPET, it has all the features of an 8000 as well as ability to run multiple languages.
• Those European models with the rounded cases are a rarity in the US and definitely show PET attitude!

TAPE: Nothing is more common on the PET than tape drives, back then floppy disk drives started at $500 and jumped to $1,200 for a dual disk model. Even if you get a disk drive, you should also get a tape drive, it's cheap and it will come in handy. Of the tape drives experience has shown reliability in this order:

• 1530 low-profile drive commonly sold with the VIC-20 or Commodore 64 (rarely a problem, I always have one of these ready)
• Black Box C2N somewhat durable. A good replacement in the original PET.
• Original SANYO deck (the one in the original PETs), except for the belts the one in my original PET still functions.
• Cream Color Box C2N - not sure why but they always seem to have the most problems (head alignment and tape counter gearbox dieing)…

If you can't find/afford a disk drive you can always use a cassette, and if you have a Commodore 64 in your collection you can use that to get programs on tape for you easily with Jim Butterfield's Unicopy64 program.

• 4040/2031/MSD SD-1,MSD SD-2: like the 1541 is the defacto standard for disk drives on the 64, for the PET are the 4040, 2031, and MSD, as the 4040 was the most sold, and of course the compatibility with the 1541 format does not hurt either. Note the 4040 and other models are VERY large (as big of footprint as the PETs!) so if you are looking to save space, look for the 2031, 2031 LP, or MSD SD1 or 2, these are much smaller.
• 8050, 8250, 8250LP, SFD-1001, these drives were more in use by business users, some software may only run on these drives. Also for many years in the 1980s these large capacity drives were long sought after by BBS sysops before affordable hard drives became available. Again the single drive SFD-1001 is much smaller then the dual drive units.
• 9060, 9090, these hard disk drives would be a companion drive to a floppy drive as there is no removable disk access, and as far as software support, it is probably exclusive to business programs, as these drives sold for multiple thousands of dollars at the time. Also unlike todays drives the 9060/9090 use all custom hardware (and older SASI drives!) so maintaining one may be problematic..
• 8280 This dual 8“ drive would certainly be a show stopper, not just because of its rarity but because it is so big and heavy. As far as software we are looking at an even a smaller set of business titles that support it

The PET printers are not all that feature laden, the also are big, usually quite noisy and slow. When looking at printers some models are Tractor Feed or Friction only, keep that in mind, some are daisy-wheel and not dot-matrix, also a factor.

There are a handful of PET to Parallel or RS-232 printer interfaces out there which will allow you to print to a generic dot matrix (at the expense of no graphics on most adapters) but those may be hard to get as well.

If you are looking for a Commodore printer and want to print symbols I'd go for the 4022 tractor printer over the friction feed. If you want it for word processing then the daisy wheel models are good though they are very very heavy.

Once you have the PET you can think about restoring it, showing it off, or better yet playing with it. If you plan to showcase the computer work up a demo disk or tape of programs that demonstrate the PETs better features, and probably some games and programs you are fond about too.