Commodore Personal Electronic Transactor

What is Commodore Personal Electronic Transactor?
The Commodore Personal Electronic Transactor (PET) is a line of personal computers manufactured by Commodore between 1977 and 1982. The PET was part of the second generation of personal computers introduced alongside the Apple II and TRS-80 that were marketed to consumers. The computer was based on the MOS Technology 6502 processor.

Der Commodore PET war der erste Personal Computer von Commodore und einer der ersten, die eher an Endverbraucher verkauft wurden als an Elektronikliebhaber, wie es der MITS Altair 8800 war. Das PET verwendete die MOS Technology 6502 8-Bit-CPU. Commodore besaß MOS-Technologie und war in der Lage, die Kosten durch vertikale Integration niedrig zu halten.

The PET had a distinctive wedge-shaped case, a chiclet keyboard and a built-in cassette drive. A monochrome monitor was also built into the unit. The PET had no graphics but had a number of special characters that could be used to draw pictures called 'PETSCII'. Like most other PCs in the late 1970s and early 1980s, BASIC had ROM built into it when the machine was on.

The first model was the Pet 2001. The later Series 4000 PET device, also known in Europe as the CBM, dropped the tape drive in favor of a full-fledged keyboard with numeric keypad, since floppy disks had already replaced cartridges as the preferred data storage medium. PET has been most successful in the US and Canadian education markets. The last PET rolled off the production line in 1982 and was replaced by the CBM-II.