Commodore PET 4016 - Page 31 - UK Vintage Radio Repair and Restoration Discussion Forum

SiriusHardware · 12th Jun 2025, 7:14 am

Quote:

Even so, I recognise that seven is quite a few to have.

I think you should acquire an eighth, that way it will be an even split when the divorce comes.

(I'm kidding, obviously...)

TonyDuell · 12th Jun 2025, 8:54 am

You could always try to find a Commodore P500 aka a PET-II or Color PET. It's a cross between a PET (IEEE-488 bus for peripherals) and a Commodore 64 (VIC-II video and SID sound chips). 6509 processor (which has an internal MMU allowing up to 1M total of memory IIRC)

Yes, they do exist, but are not easy to find

ScottishColin · 18th Jun 2025, 8:37 pm

Hi Julie - apologies for the delay.

If I remove UE6, I get the same errors.

Not got round to trying the reprogramming trick yet - I'll let you know.

Colin.

Quote:

Originally Posted by julie_m

Quote:

Originally Posted by ScottishColin

Julie - screenshots in the link below showing a failed test on the 4016 (UA6 failed).

https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/1Bp2_VcDRyijteFXDit_hV4lk1JAa2tgJ?usp=sharing

Please let me know if there's anything else you would like.

Thanks very much -- those will be enough to get going for now. Though if you get a chance, it would be great to see what happens if you deliberately cause a refresh fault by removing UE6.

Also, did you manage to test out the reprogramming trick I built into ToePost?

ScottishColin · 18th Jun 2025, 8:38 pm

I'm missing a chiclet PET so there's still room for that yet....

Colin.

Quote:

Originally Posted by SiriusHardware

Quote:

Even so, I recognise that seven is quite a few to have.

I think you should acquire an eighth, that way it will be an even split when the divorce comes.

(I'm kidding, obviously...)

ScottishColin · 18th Jun 2025, 8:40 pm

There's an Educator 64 too which sounds similar - there's one on the well known auction site right now in the States which is over one thousand dollars with a day to go.

Too rich for my tastes, and also a bit far away from a traditional PET.

Colin.

Quote:

Originally Posted by TonyDuell

You could always try to find a Commodore P500 aka a PET-II or Color PET. It's a cross between a PET (IEEE-488 bus for peripherals) and a Commodore 64 (VIC-II video and SID sound chips). 6509 processor (which has an internal MMU allowing up to 1M total of memory IIRC)

Yes, they do exist, but are not easy to find

ortek_service · 14th Jul 2025, 11:47 pm

Quote:

Originally Posted by ScottishColin

I guess ebay is a reasonable place to start with for broken PETs, although I have had a few of mine for free via Mastodon.

Generally, I haven't had to pay more than £100 for a PET so far (this one's the seventh....). I view them like my Dad does with his O Gauge railway engines - he has plenty of them but if he sees one that he likes, then he buys that to add to the collection.
>>
Colin.

Quote:

Originally Posted by SiriusHardware

Great job - it would be interesting to know what the price difference is between a shabby, broken PET and a working, clean looking PET.

I suspect probably not enough to pay you back for the parts and especially the time you spend on each one. I was thinking initially that you are now so confident with these that you could conceivably make a little bit of money buying them, fixing them up and selling them on - but thinking about it, I'm not so sure.

Well I saw an extremely-clean looking Model 3032 at the McMichael (Reading) Radio Rally on Sunday.
There wasn't a price on it, but I believe I heard £375 mentioned to someone who was expressing an interest in it.

I assume it was actually fully working (quite an assumption knowing the reliability / tendency to multiple IC failure of PET's after all this time! - especially if badly-stored?), as seller knew quite a bit about these and said he'd stayed v.late at School back in the day to use one as first computer they'd got.
But no note on it to say working or faulty.

Also a very-clean Datasette, for not too bad a price - if also fully-working and that '£12' sticker on it was correct.

SiriusHardware · 15th Jul 2025, 9:01 am

I think the situation is much the same for almost anything now, much like old valve radios - you can't realistically expect to be paid for the amount of money and especially your time spent restoring something broken and beaten up to full working order and a decent cosmetic appearance.

About the only way you could turn a profit is to buy a broken one which is already in very good physical condition and get lucky by only needing to find and fix a single fault on it - which as we now know, virtually never happens with PETs.

No matter... we do this for love, don't we, never for money.

Tribble · 15th Jul 2025, 12:03 pm

Quote:

Originally Posted by SiriusHardware

About the only way you could turn a profit is to buy a broken one which is already in very good physical condition and get lucky by only needing to find and fix a single fault on it - which as we now know, virtually never happens with PETs.

No matter... we do this for love, don't we, never for money.

I restore old motorcycles as a hobby. It's getting very expensive now. Chroming prices are extortionate is just one problem. I have a finished bike ready but I'm loathe to sell it as I will lose so much on it. Not that I wanted to make money on it, just not lose so much.

ortek_service · 15th Jul 2025, 12:50 pm

Yes, I've been rather-surprised watching car restoration programmes on how much re-chroming of parts has cost - I assume the vehicle manufacturers originally produced the parts for rather-less.

I thought it might have been down to the size of the bumpers etc, and maybe smaller motorbike parts wouldn't have cost too much with maybe more competition on plating places who could do smaller parts / could spread cost across many parts.

Luckily, not many computers have chrome trim - not even USA ones, where they did traditionally rather like lots of it on their vehicles... (But maybe more plastic trim these days? - certainly in Europe)

SiriusHardware · 15th Jul 2025, 12:58 pm

Gents, a reminder that we should not stray too towards that topic (forum rules...)

12th Jun 2025, 8:54 am	#602
TonyDuell Dekatron Join Date: Jun 2015 Location: Biggin Hill, London, UK. Posts: 6,034	Re: Commodore PET 4016 You could always try to find a Commodore P500 aka a PET-II or Color PET. It's a cross between a PET (IEEE-488 bus for peripherals) and a Commodore 64 (VIC-II video and SID sound chips). 6509 processor (which has an internal MMU allowing up to 1M total of memory IIRC) Yes, they do exist, but are not easy to find

15th Jul 2025, 9:01 am	#607
SiriusHardware Dekatron Join Date: Aug 2011 Location: Newcastle, Tyne and Wear, UK. Posts: 13,689	Re: Commodore PET 4016 I think the situation is much the same for almost anything now, much like old valve radios - you can't realistically expect to be paid for the amount of money and especially your time spent restoring something broken and beaten up to full working order and a decent cosmetic appearance. About the only way you could turn a profit is to buy a broken one which is already in very good physical condition and get lucky by only needing to find and fix a single fault on it - which as we now know, virtually never happens with PETs. No matter... we do this for love, don't we, never for money.

15th Jul 2025, 12:50 pm	#609
ortek_service Nonode Join Date: May 2018 Location: Northampton, Northamptonshire, UK. Posts: 2,593	Re: Commodore PET 4016 Yes, I've been rather-surprised watching car restoration programmes on how much re-chroming of parts has cost - I assume the vehicle manufacturers originally produced the parts for rather-less. I thought it might have been down to the size of the bumpers etc, and maybe smaller motorbike parts wouldn't have cost too much with maybe more competition on plating places who could do smaller parts / could spread cost across many parts. Luckily, not many computers have chrome trim - not even USA ones, where they did traditionally rather like lots of it on their vehicles... (But maybe more plastic trim these days? - certainly in Europe)

15th Jul 2025, 12:58 pm	#610
SiriusHardware Dekatron Join Date: Aug 2011 Location: Newcastle, Tyne and Wear, UK. Posts: 13,689	Re: Commodore PET 4016 Gents, a reminder that we should not stray too towards that topic (forum rules...)