The Commodore PET is among the authentic “huge three” private pc platforms that launched on the finish of the Seventies. Alongside the TRS-80 and the Apple II, they outlined three very totally different approaches to fixing private computing issues for the plenty. All three platforms nonetheless obtain loads of love, however the PET and its 6502 actually maintain a particular place for lots of people. Tynemouth Software program have, opposite to their identify, launched a complete bunch of {hardware} over time to assist the PET, however only in the near past we’ve seen a complete collection of recent objects from them, together with a twin joystick adapter, an IEEE-488 Diagnostics Tester, video RAM replacements for each the unique PET 2001 and the later PET collection, and a strong drop-in diagnostics board that can vastly help you in fault-finding your PET!

The PET has a number of totally different items that each one need to work collectively for the system to work. All PETs have built-in screens, so in addition they have built-in video and CRT energy provides. Additionally they have the principle motherboard, with CPU, RAM, ROM, and all the opposite logic. Then in addition they have the principle energy provide and the keyboard. With the ability to shortly get an concept of what elements are defective can save an enormous period of time, and thus the diagnostics board generally is a lifesaver. It goes immediately into the 6502 slot, so it additionally eliminates a defective 6502 from stopping startup. Output is displayed on the display screen, so no less than that a lot must be working, however having recognized output despatched to the video part can even assist troubleshoot any points in that part.

One other frequent situation in these older machines is non-working RAM. The video RAM specifically could be very troublesome and costly to come back by, so Tynemouth provides drop-in alternative video RAM modules for the 2001 and the later PETs which use a distinct RAM chip. The IEEE-488 Diagnostics Board may help discover faults not solely with the PET but additionally with connected drives. It reveals the present state of the bus with LEDs and likewise offers a handy breakout of all alerts to make it straightforward to connect a logic analyzer or oscilloscope!

For those who’ve obtained a PET in want of some love, be certain to take a look at their full retailer, which additionally options different tremendous cool retro pc {hardware} (together with ZX80/81 reproduction kits)!