The Commodore PET (Personal Electronic Transactor) was a home/personal computer produced from 1977 by Commodore International. A top-seller in the Canadian and United States educational markets, it was Commodore’s first full-featured computer, and formed the basis for their entire 8-bit product line.

Commodore tried to update the PET line with a new redesign called the CBM-II series (also known as the B series). These were not as successful and were ultimately abandoned. However, due to demand, the original PET machines were revived and the CBM-II case style was retained. These were known as the SK’s (due to the separated keyboard). They also had a swivel monitor. Originally, standard 8032 boards were retrofitted into these cases. Later the SK models got a new mainboard that already included the 64 kB extension directly on the board and were sold as 8296 or, with a built-in 8250 dual disk drive, as 8296-D. 

The top of the line Commodore Pet 8296D computer with integrated 8250 high density drives. This machines was the most powerful Pet but very few were produced. Only sold in Europe. Features slick rounded retro design. Keyboard is detachable and the monitor has a nice swivel feature. 

CPU: MOS 6502 1 mhz
ROM: 24 Kilobytes
CBM 8296 ROMs
Video: MOS Technology 6545 CRTC
12" Monochrome displays 80 columns x 25 rows
Sound: Piezo electronic speaker. One square wave voice three octaves.
Ports: MOS 6520 PIA, MOS 6522 VIA IEEE-488 Port
Keyboard: Full 73 key QWERTY
11 key numeric keypad!
4 direction 2-key cursor-pad
MEMORY: 96 kilobytes
OS: Microsoft BASIC
GRAPHICS: 256 graphic symbols (PETSCII), monochrome monitor
Date Released: 1983
Manufacturer: Commodore International Ltd.
Made in West Germany

Our machine was very kindly donated by Tom Armitstead

Manufacturer: Commodore
Date: 1983

This exhibit has a reference ID of CH31789. Please quote this reference ID in any communication with the Centre for Computing History.

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