what an incredible find. chuck hutchins on youtube has one of these pre production pets as well, his has the original board which differentiates itself by the missing solder mask and exposed tin traces. I have a 2001 myself, however it is one of the later revisions with the same 320008 board that is present in yours.
I found it actually funny and very interesting that commodore disabled half of the functions of those sanyo cassette tape players to make them fit to the norm of their commodore pet 2001 system’s requirements. I knew that this system was made with off the shelf parts (from other brand names) but i didn’t knew that commodore would even go so far to disable certain functions of certain parts to make them fit to their own standards. It would be funny to see that half disabled cassette tape player be fully functional like in early 1977 just for the sake. Now that your motherboard dates from 1978 and not from 1977 is indeed a bummer of frustration, it felt like to be tricked. I also think that keyboard is not oroginal because for what i can tell it’s a qwerty keynoard and i believe the original one was not a querty, but am not fully sure about that.
The sticky stuff on the crt cap is probably dielectric grease to reduce possibility of arcing. Had something similar on a Mac Classic I recently restored.
Possibly, but it could also be the emulsifier from the rubber cap. over time, rubber can decay and become brittle as the emulsifiers leech out of the rubber. This can also be corrosive, which would doubly explain the corrosion beneath where it dripped. It should be cleaned up.
@@richfiles in this case it would likely not be a rubber, since it's transparent and hardly flexible. My bet lies on the plasticizer used in PVC, as PVC is commonly used for these caps and commonly leaks its plasticizer.
After building my own microprocessor system (based on the Signetics 2650 chip) back in late 77 I always yearned for a PET, they were *so* futuristic in their physical design.
Lol, are you sure that was an actual production machine, and not a prototype? That modified cassette drive looks like something one would do at the prototype stage, not production.😂😂😂 anycase, nice video. I only had experience on the Commodore PET 4032 and modified it to the 8032, but that is another story. Great video. Btw. Those crinkley PCB’s were caused by the wave-soldering process. Back then, the soldermask was the last process during PCB-manufacture, and the moment such a (smooth) PCB came out of the wave-soldering machine, it was all crinkley.
Great video! Really enjoyed this one. BTW, the strange sticker on the keyboard PCB may actually be a date... just in the 'Japanese Era Calendar Scheme'. The 'S' below the supposed date may suggest it's from the Shōwa era, thus add 1925 to convert it into our 'regular' Gregorian Calendar years. 52+1925 = 1977, which makes a lot of sense!
I have a 2001-8 as well... it's serial # 0011465... it has the raised metal plate with gold lettering, but is a blue screen bezel with the white cassette recorder. The latest chip (the CPU) is from December of 1977.
Red paint is always the first to fade. The keyboard is in very good condition; it is absolutely not worn out; it has faded from the sun. Only the N key has some signs of being worn.
This is just the most perfect timing! ❤ I am just in the process of repairing a PET 2001 as well all the way over here in Sweden so started watching this video with great interest... Then when I saw your introduction regarding the first few handbuilt ones I recognized the metal "badge" and the smooth bezel so I rushed out to my bench and found that I have serial number 0010692!
Wow… I’m looking for one of those for a long time, without luck. I was born in 77 and would like to have the “trinity” in my colection. You are a very lucky dude.😂
"What is this stuff?" That is some kind of chemical that is used to keep the plastic 'soft' and not set up brittle. I've found that the more 'flexible' the wire, the more of that stuff oozes out. The anode cap is, usually, quite flexible for good sealing.
In the late 80s and early 90s they had these sitting in an open area of my high school collecting dust. I'd never seen any of them running, and assumed nobody had bothered since about 1980.
EIA 462 on the tube label - that's Philips' EIA code. Could even explain why there's no maker logo as this was near the end of the era where Philips couldn't use their own name in the US due to similarity with Philco.
How do you keep your deep and keen interest alive for old hardware/software? As a side note you seem to be a positive and inspiring person! :) Just keep on doing what you like.
That last line on the monitor PCB was the board house's logo and some kind of code relating to the PC board itself, and the 11-77 is going to be the month/year of when the board house produced that batch of bare boards for Commodore. So, yeah, that is DEFINITELY an early PET! Nice find!
My bet is it died due to the short where that burn mark is when it was quite new and then it was stored somewhere sunlight could fade the red on the keyboard, until it was discovered either recently or at least when it was already recognized as a treasure.
@@simontay4851 Actually, almost all buildings in North America have them in their electrical system. A gentleman that emigrated from Scotland to Canada created a version with a retaining screw in 1914, and created one similar to what is used today in the 1930s. The alternative originally was to wrap the wires together, dip them in molten solder, than wrap them in tape. It was a bit dangerous to install, leading him to invent the twist-on wire connector.
I'm not sure that keyboard was used so much it caused those keys to "wear off". To me it looks like they were sun-bleached or exposed to UV light over time. With the dyes they use for different colour printing, some are more susceptible to fading than others, or are not as UV stable. Reds tend to fade quicker than other colours and I'm pretty sure those keys were once red.
Very cool project!! By the way, if you boot up and nothing happens, check the video ram. 99% of the repairs I've done on PETs needed video ram replacement. Looking forward to your next video. Thanks for sharing
We had a couple of these at school together with some 8032s back in the early '80s. If I remember correctly, wIth some POKEs it was possible to load BASIC programs that had been saved on the C64.
I have yet to explore how to get software on this PET, but I have C64 tape decks, 1541s connected to PCs and an 8050. I'm hoping there is a way to transfer files to the PET by using the C64 somehow. This is probably going to be a part 3 "upgrade" video. But first, let't get this PET working :)
@@Epictronics1 you could use a CBM 2031 drive, but I just remembered the earliest PETs were not HPIB capable. There is probably some converter to make it work
@@Epictronics1 I think there are Android apps that convert PET programs to audio. Then you connect the phone's audio jack to the audio in of the cassete deck.
As the proud owner of one of these early pets, that if you actually want to run it for any amount of time, go ahead and remove all the system ram and roms, and get a romulator, or a pet ram rom board, Those 6550 rams and 6450 roms die just by looking at them wrong. There are also video ram and character rom replacement boards made. My pet has all the original roms and rams stored in a a box that's stored inside the pet.
I did exactly the same, I removed the original (and still working) RAM and ROM chips and stored into an antistatic bag inside the PET, in order to preserve them. But I used 18x RAM adapters (with 2114 chips) and 7x ROM adapters (with 2116 EPROMs), it keeps an appearance closer to the original if compared with a RAM/ROM adapter plugged onto the 6502 socket.
Even though I had never been a Commodore fan the old PET has interesting quirks. I recall having played in around 1979 with a later blue-fronted PET 2001 and the "Chicklet" keyboard in a friends eletronic shop in a suburb of my hometown. He got it brand new and to us computer geeks it was somehow intriguing. Even though I had a full working Z80 CP/M system with two 5.25" floppies at that time (built up from scratch starting with a bare printboard) the "industrial solution" was quite nice. But 65xx or 68xx processors never appealed to me being a Z80-guy back then. I still have a SEL Z80 trainer / developement system in my stack of old machines ... Thanks for showing and I'm already curious how it goes on. I - for the moment - have rescued my PS/2e 9533 from the basement to be busy with that. 🙂
Still my favourite pet. Disappointing that the board had been swapped. Probably would have had white ceramic roms too. I look forward to seeing the restoration of this Pet. 😊
The Keyboard is missing all the RED keys or are they faded/worn off? The PET 2001 8K was my first computer, I still have it. My serial number is 10378, my board is a later version with 2114 RAM Board Rev 320132, 21+76 in marker on it. 3:40 Mine has the same scorch mark, the contacts are not the best and they arc.
This is very cool. I was only aware of six of these to still exist. Now there are seven :) Consider adding your PET to: www.commodore.ca/commodore-pet-serial-number-project/
@@Epictronics1 Actually I know of one other. I work @ a university and we had one dropped off from a Dept for recycling. It was saved for our Dept collection.
@@KAPTKipper Glad to hear. In that case, there are eight known (to me) to still exist of those first one hundred. Consider adding it to : www.commodore.ca/commodore-pet-serial-number-project/
We had one of these in school ((1980-3) - pretty sure not a prototype. Had 32k and a cassette deck. it was always the machine no one sat at unless there were no others available (BBC A and B, ZX81, Spectrums). I always remember the case being lifted and that arm holding it up and it just appeared so heavy and industrial.
Technically VRAM (video RAM) is dual ported RAM, comprising one read/write parallel port and one read-only serial port. It's a way of improving performance of a processor and reducing contention between the CPU and video display circuity which are both trying to access a memory mapped display subsystem. This didn't exist in the 1970's. What you've got there is probably SRAM (static RAM) but dedicated to storing video display data.
The earliest PET2001's were made with 4KB of RAM. I wonder if this started out as one of those, and an early owner got an offer to exchange a 4KB motherboard with one that has 8KB... On the other hand, the sticker says PET 2001-8. I guess we'll never know...
The oily substance is likely the plastisizer leaching out of the PVC. This is added during manufacture to make the plastic soft and supple. It will react with metals and cause corrosion. When it happens to PVC used in mains power cables it turns green due to interaction with copper.
I inherited a 2001-8 from my cousin. It had a bad character rom. I couldn't make it to the 2023 VCFMW so I handed off to someone to give it away there. It had an all black power switch but I'm uncertain what the serial number was. I gave it away because I felt someone else would appreciate it more than I did.
About that tinned surface on the printed circuit board... I think that one looks particularly sketchy, but it was one way that circuit boards were manufactured in the 70s and 80s. I worked at a circuit board manufacturer in high school (and my liver and lungs both itch when I remember that place). In general, people imagine an old-school optical process involving exposing resist on a copper-clad board with a negative, washing off the resist from everything except the traces, and then using acid to etch everything but the traces. The actual process we used was more complicated. I posted a video about this process some months ago, describing those steps in detail as I showed a fun piece of artwork I made in our shop: ruclips.net/video/kWQmvquTkH4/видео.html In brief, here is how it was done: We started with boards that we had already drilled (ganged using a pantograph setup) and used a special plating method to plate the inside of the holes. We then applied resist to the virgin copper on both sides and used a positive (not negative) mask to harden the resist everywhere *except* for the traces, then removed the unexposed resist with solvent. We then electroplated solder onto the exposed areas--the traces. Now, solvent was used to remove the mask and acid was used to etch the copper that wasn't protected by solder. After that step we used a conveyer-belt oven setup to melt the solder on the traces so it would flow into all of the nooks and crannies, at which point it acquired the silvery sheen. That's why old circuit boards have a "tinned surface" on the traces! The remaining steps were as you would expect, with silkscreening and so forth.
I watched the video, very cool, thanks for sharing. I made my own PCBs as a kid in the 80s. I used a much simpler process with just a pen (with special ink) and acid. Looked like crap, but it worked :)
What a hacky way of installing a cassette drive! Never seen anything like it. Also, the date on the keyboard makes sense. 27th of September, Shōwa 52, which corresponds to 1977. Never understood why the Japanese used that date system. The mind boggles.
When they reformed the government and put the Emperor back as head of state, they decided to make each emperor's reign an era. So we've so far had the Meiji, Taisho, Showa, Heisei and currently the Reiwa eras. It's used less and less these days, you mostly run into it with pre-80's electronics sometimes being stamped with a Showa year.
The microphone is not useless, you can whistle and if you do it right, it may be a valid BASIC program I think it is an early PET but I am not sure about you saying that "the tape does not fit in production PETs" - because the blue PET (or general earlier ones) had the tape with a rectangle cutout and white keys while later PET have a rounded cutout for the slightly bowed C2N case. I am not sure if the cutout is different between yours and the blue PET early tape drive but it may be. Not sure it you really tried that - if not, I think the statement is a bit wrong to say with such a confidence. Would require some measurements or trying out.
I would use Cap’n Crunch Whistles to try it out, but one of the early Apple employees went to jail for it, so not sure I should 😆The information came from a reliable source, but I'll see if I can fid an original C2N and do the measurements myself on camera.
thats a shame to see the board has been swapped out, that machine has definitely seen some shenanigans, the original board has white ceramic ROM's & ceramic RAM Chips, mine has all ceramics on the board except for the main CPU which unfortunately has been replaced with a plastic one.
52 9 27 is actually a date. Showa (Emperor Herohitos reign) year 52 so the date is September 27 1977
Very cool, thanks
I had a feeling it could be something like that, neat! :)
I believe Usagi Electric discussed that datecode system in one of his videos...
Just came here to leave this exact comment. Beat me to it!
すごい！
Finally a Commodore that isn't an IBM clone and I'm loving it.
what an incredible find. chuck hutchins on youtube has one of these pre production pets as well, his has the original board which differentiates itself by the missing solder mask and exposed tin traces.
I have a 2001 myself, however it is one of the later revisions with the same 320008 board that is present in yours.
Yeah, this PET probably had a board originally without the solder mask too
I found it actually funny and very interesting that commodore disabled half of the functions of those sanyo cassette tape players to make them fit to the norm of their commodore pet 2001 system’s requirements.
I knew that this system was made with off the shelf parts (from other brand names) but i didn’t knew that commodore would even go so far to disable certain functions of certain parts to make them fit to their own standards.
It would be funny to see that half disabled cassette tape player be fully functional like in early 1977 just for the sake.
Now that your motherboard dates from 1978 and not from 1977 is indeed a bummer of frustration, it felt like to be tricked.
I also think that keyboard is not oroginal because for what i can tell it’s a qwerty keynoard and i believe the original one was not a querty, but am not fully sure about that.
The sticky stuff on the crt cap is probably dielectric grease to reduce possibility of arcing. Had something similar on a Mac Classic I recently restored.
Possibly, but it could also be the emulsifier from the rubber cap. over time, rubber can decay and become brittle as the emulsifiers leech out of the rubber. This can also be corrosive, which would doubly explain the corrosion beneath where it dripped. It should be cleaned up.
@@richfiles in this case it would likely not be a rubber, since it's transparent and hardly flexible. My bet lies on the plasticizer used in PVC, as PVC is commonly used for these caps and commonly leaks its plasticizer.
After building my own microprocessor system (based on the Signetics 2650 chip) back in late 77 I always yearned for a PET, they were *so* futuristic in their physical design.
I have one of these. Didn’t know that it was that early. I need to check the s/n.
Consider adding it to PET Serial Number Project
This was my first computer, the micro keys version like this. Loved the way the "OS" was basically just starting the computer in BASIC
Lol, are you sure that was an actual production machine, and not a prototype? That modified cassette drive looks like something one would do at the prototype stage, not production.😂😂😂 anycase, nice video. I only had experience on the Commodore PET 4032 and modified it to the 8032, but that is another story. Great video.
Btw. Those crinkley PCB’s were caused by the wave-soldering process. Back then, the soldermask was the last process during PCB-manufacture, and the moment such a (smooth) PCB came out of the wave-soldering machine, it was all crinkley.
Great video! Really enjoyed this one.
BTW, the strange sticker on the keyboard PCB may actually be a date... just in the 'Japanese Era Calendar Scheme'. The 'S' below the supposed date may suggest it's from the Shōwa era, thus add 1925 to convert it into our 'regular' Gregorian Calendar years. 52+1925 = 1977, which makes a lot of sense!
That's very cool! Thanks for sharing
I have a 2001-8 as well... it's serial # 0011465... it has the raised metal plate with gold lettering, but is a blue screen bezel with the white cassette recorder. The latest chip (the CPU) is from December of 1977.
I REALLY REALLY wanted one of these when I was a teenager.
Great video. I love seeing these early machines well documented.
Thanks. I found your blog and videos while researching this PET. Great stuff!
Almost 50 years, can you believe it? Where has time gone...
My brother worked for NCR about then and all business machines were board swaps to save time. His van was full of faulty boards in a heap - lol -.
Yeah It makes sense, but I wish they hadn't swapped this one
Red paint is always the first to fade. The keyboard is in very good condition; it is absolutely not worn out; it has faded from the sun. Only the N key has some signs of being worn.
Yeah, I noticed in edit that the PETSCII symbol was gone on the N key
This is just the most perfect timing! ❤ I am just in the process of repairing a PET 2001 as well all the way over here in Sweden so started watching this video with great interest...
Then when I saw your introduction regarding the first few handbuilt ones I recognized the metal "badge" and the smooth bezel so I rushed out to my bench and found that I have serial number 0010692!
Congrats! Nice find!
The orange wire connector on the transformer is called a 'wirenut'
Apparently very common in the US, not all countries allow them for joining or terminating mains wiring.
there's a common alternative that gets crimped on, and that seems to be a-okay in OEM installations.
From what I could see, I think a small Robertson would work on those keyboard screws.
Ah yes, love those sawn up tape drives in early PETs :)
One of school friends had one in 1979. His dad was a software engineer for Commodore. Played a lot of computer games on it.
Wow… I’m looking for one of those for a long time, without luck. I was born in 77 and would like to have the “trinity” in my colection. You are a very lucky dude.😂
Very lucky for sure, now let's find a matching board :)
5:51 well that warranty is voided...
I saw upcoming, but clicked anyway, and glad I did. A great find as always.
Very cool PET :)
"What is this stuff?"
That is some kind of chemical that is used to keep the plastic 'soft' and not set up brittle. I've found that the more 'flexible' the wire, the more of that stuff oozes out. The anode cap is, usually, quite flexible for good sealing.
In the late 80s and early 90s they had these sitting in an open area of my high school collecting dust. I'd never seen any of them running, and assumed nobody had bothered since about 1980.
The PET looks remarkably like the Sharp MZ80K (a Z80 based computer from the late 1970s) under the hood
I had to look that one up. Very cool machine too
Many end users swapped boards and parts too… maybe check with seller if he has another pet you could look at…
EIA 462 on the tube label - that's Philips' EIA code. Could even explain why there's no maker logo as this was near the end of the era where Philips couldn't use their own name in the US due to similarity with Philco.
Absolutely cool project!
How do you keep your deep and keen interest alive for old hardware/software? As a side note you seem to be a positive and inspiring person! :) Just keep on doing what you like.
Thank you :)
That last line on the monitor PCB was the board house's logo and some kind of code relating to the PC board itself, and the 11-77 is going to be the month/year of when the board house produced that batch of bare boards for Commodore. So, yeah, that is DEFINITELY an early PET! Nice find!
Thanks!
My bet is it died due to the short where that burn mark is when it was quite new and then it was stored somewhere sunlight could fade the red on the keyboard, until it was discovered either recently or at least when it was already recognized as a treasure.
Quite possible
The orange thing on the transformer is a wirenut
Thanks
Those things are horrible bodgy unsafe things.
@@simontay4851 Actually, almost all buildings in North America have them in their electrical system. A gentleman that emigrated from Scotland to Canada created a version with a retaining screw in 1914, and created one similar to what is used today in the 1930s. The alternative originally was to wrap the wires together, dip them in molten solder, than wrap them in tape. It was a bit dangerous to install, leading him to invent the twist-on wire connector.
@@LongDono I usually don't mess around with mains stuff, but I have seen these installed in a few places in my house.
I'm not sure that keyboard was used so much it caused those keys to "wear off". To me it looks like they were sun-bleached or exposed to UV light over time. With the dyes they use for different colour printing, some are more susceptible to fading than others, or are not as UV stable. Reds tend to fade quicker than other colours and I'm pretty sure those keys were once red.
I think you're right.
Very cool project!! By the way, if you boot up and nothing happens, check the video ram. 99% of the repairs I've done on PETs needed video ram replacement. Looking forward to your next video. Thanks for sharing
Thanks, that's useful to know :) I have ordered a RAM/ROM replacement board in case we need it
@@Epictronics1video RAM is seperate. If you find a modern replacement please list it in the video description, I'd like one too.
We had a couple of these at school together with some 8032s back in the early '80s. If I remember correctly, wIth some POKEs it was possible to load BASIC programs that had been saved on the C64.
I have yet to explore how to get software on this PET, but I have C64 tape decks, 1541s connected to PCs and an 8050. I'm hoping there is a way to transfer files to the PET by using the C64 somehow. This is probably going to be a part 3 "upgrade" video. But first, let't get this PET working :)
@@Epictronics1 you could use a CBM 2031 drive, but I just remembered the earliest PETs were not HPIB capable. There is probably some converter to make it work
@@Epictronics1 I think there are Android apps that convert PET programs to audio. Then you connect the phone's audio jack to the audio in of the cassete deck.
The date code on the keyboard is in Japanese Imperial format, 52 would be 1977 in the Gregorian calendar if I’m reading things correctly
BS would be Bill Seiler, who worked on the PET with Chuck Peddle.
cool
As the proud owner of one of these early pets, that if you actually want to run it for any amount of time, go ahead and remove all the system ram and roms, and get a romulator, or a pet ram rom board, Those 6550 rams and 6450 roms die just by looking at them wrong. There are also video ram and character rom replacement boards made. My pet has all the original roms and rams stored in a a box that's stored inside the pet.
I did exactly the same, I removed the original (and still working) RAM and ROM chips and stored into an antistatic bag inside the PET, in order to preserve them. But I used 18x RAM adapters (with 2114 chips) and 7x ROM adapters (with 2116 EPROMs), it keeps an appearance closer to the original if compared with a RAM/ROM adapter plugged onto the 6502 socket.
Thanks. A RAM/ROM replacement board is already on the way. I figured we might need it for troubleshooting later.
These chips will for sure die anyways- using or not using them won‘t make any difference. ;)
Even though I had never been a Commodore fan the old PET has interesting quirks. I recall having played in around 1979 with a later blue-fronted PET 2001 and the "Chicklet" keyboard in a friends eletronic shop in a suburb of my hometown. He got it brand new and to us computer geeks it was somehow intriguing. Even though I had a full working Z80 CP/M system with two 5.25" floppies at that time (built up from scratch starting with a bare printboard) the "industrial solution" was quite nice. But 65xx or 68xx processors never appealed to me being a Z80-guy back then. I still have a SEL Z80 trainer / developement system in my stack of old machines ... Thanks for showing and I'm already curious how it goes on. I - for the moment - have rescued my PS/2e 9533 from the basement to be busy with that. 🙂
That's very cool. About 70% of my collection is actually IBM PS/2s, but I have yet to find an E to restore :)
"52/9/27" ? If that's from Sanyo it could be a Japanese regnal-era date and mean Sept. 27, 1977.
Thanks for sharing
Great video, always love to see a new one as they're so in depth on the repair. I almost didn't hit "Like" though as the counter was at 666! ;)
Thanks for saving me from the number of the beast lol
Still my favourite pet. Disappointing that the board had been swapped. Probably would have had white ceramic roms too. I look forward to seeing the restoration of this Pet. 😊
Thanks :)
the GICO stamp you saw is indeed a Japanese date stamp (it's a bit odd, there are articles on how to interpret it)
Thanks
CBM=Commodore Business Machines?
Yes
@2:17.. a microphone could be used as a modem input, to stream data from a different source, like a phone speaker
not like this
Wouldn't you just use a line-in?
The Keyboard is missing all the RED keys or are they faded/worn off?
The PET 2001 8K was my first computer, I still have it. My serial number is 10378, my board is a later version with 2114 RAM Board Rev 320132, 21+76 in marker on it.
3:40 Mine has the same scorch mark, the contacts are not the best and they arc.
This is very cool. I was only aware of six of these to still exist. Now there are seven :) Consider adding your PET to: www.commodore.ca/commodore-pet-serial-number-project/
@@Epictronics1 Actually I know of one other. I work @ a university and we had one dropped off from a Dept for recycling. It was saved for our Dept collection.
@@KAPTKipper Glad to hear. In that case, there are eight known (to me) to still exist of those first one hundred. Consider adding it to : www.commodore.ca/commodore-pet-serial-number-project/
We had one of these in school ((1980-3) - pretty sure not a prototype. Had 32k and a cassette deck. it was always the machine no one sat at unless there were no others available (BBC A and B, ZX81, Spectrums). I always remember the case being lifted and that arm holding it up and it just appeared so heavy and industrial.
I've got one of those 32k machines too from 1979
Maybe install a MiniPET and leave the original board inside 😊
Technically VRAM (video RAM) is dual ported RAM, comprising one read/write parallel port and one read-only serial port.
It's a way of improving performance of a processor and reducing contention between the CPU and video display circuity which are both trying to access a memory mapped display subsystem.
This didn't exist in the 1970's.
What you've got there is probably SRAM (static RAM) but dedicated to storing video display data.
Yes, that is correct, the MOS6550 is static RAM
The earliest PET2001's were made with 4KB of RAM. I wonder if this started out as one of those, and an early owner got an offer to exchange a 4KB motherboard with one that has 8KB...
On the other hand, the sticker says PET 2001-8. I guess we'll never know...
They were both sold very briefly in 1877. The 4k was quickly dropped, probably because it was almost useless with just 3k usable RAM
I wonder if the red has just faded rather than worn off as red is always the first colour to fade usually?
Quite possible. Aside from the red, the only character missing is the PETSCII symbol on the N key
The oily substance is likely the plastisizer leaching out of the PVC. This is added during manufacture to make the plastic soft and supple. It will react with metals and cause corrosion. When it happens to PVC used in mains power cables it turns green due to interaction with copper.
Thanks for sharing
Lots of iron in there; hope you didn't injure yourself moving it around!
It's like a truck with a motherboard inside lol. I probably need to get some diesel to start this monster :)
I doubt it was used that much, RED gets destroyed by UV light of any kind, it's just faded like the red in everything else from back then.
I inherited a 2001-8 from my cousin. It had a bad character rom. I couldn't make it to the 2023 VCFMW so I handed off to someone to give it away there. It had an all black power switch but I'm uncertain what the serial number was.
I gave it away because I felt someone else would appreciate it more than I did.
That's a very nice thing to do :)
@@Epictronics1 Thank you. I got it for free, and felt it was suiting to give it away for free. I wish could've been there to see the new owner's face.
About that tinned surface on the printed circuit board... I think that one looks particularly sketchy, but it was one way that circuit boards were manufactured in the 70s and 80s. I worked at a circuit board manufacturer in high school (and my liver and lungs both itch when I remember that place). In general, people imagine an old-school optical process involving exposing resist on a copper-clad board with a negative, washing off the resist from everything except the traces, and then using acid to etch everything but the traces. The actual process we used was more complicated.
I posted a video about this process some months ago, describing those steps in detail as I showed a fun piece of artwork I made in our shop: ruclips.net/video/kWQmvquTkH4/видео.html
In brief, here is how it was done: We started with boards that we had already drilled (ganged using a pantograph setup) and used a special plating method to plate the inside of the holes. We then applied resist to the virgin copper on both sides and used a positive (not negative) mask to harden the resist everywhere *except* for the traces, then removed the unexposed resist with solvent. We then electroplated solder onto the exposed areas--the traces. Now, solvent was used to remove the mask and acid was used to etch the copper that wasn't protected by solder.
After that step we used a conveyer-belt oven setup to melt the solder on the traces so it would flow into all of the nooks and crannies, at which point it acquired the silvery sheen. That's why old circuit boards have a "tinned surface" on the traces!
The remaining steps were as you would expect, with silkscreening and so forth.
I watched the video, very cool, thanks for sharing. I made my own PCBs as a kid in the 80s. I used a much simpler process with just a pen (with special ink) and acid. Looked like crap, but it worked :)
Oily residue is common on pets. That’s why some people won’t have them in their house.
I've been told that the ripples on the bottom of the PCB is a product of the way they wave soldered PCBs back in the day.
Sounds plausible. Rather strange to add the solder mask after the wave soldering
@@Epictronics1my Audiolab 8000PPA phono stage produced in the mid 90's is exactly the same!
the sinclair ZX spectrum has the wavy soldering too.
What a nice PET machine and great job you did. We wish you the best for 2025! Greetings from Steven from the Netherlands
Happy New Year!
What a hacky way of installing a cassette drive! Never seen anything like it.
Also, the date on the keyboard makes sense. 27th of September, Shōwa 52, which corresponds to 1977. Never understood why the Japanese used that date system. The mind boggles.
Apparently, the OEM drive wasn't ready for production when they made this first batch. Thanks for confirming the pre-October-1977 date on the kb
When they reformed the government and put the Emperor back as head of state, they decided to make each emperor's reign an era. So we've so far had the Meiji, Taisho, Showa, Heisei and currently the Reiwa eras. It's used less and less these days, you mostly run into it with pre-80's electronics sometimes being stamped with a Showa year.
Dead PET?
Probably. But I think we can fix it
The microphone is not useless, you can whistle and if you do it right, it may be a valid BASIC program
I think it is an early PET but I am not sure about you saying that "the tape does not fit in production PETs" - because the blue PET (or general earlier ones) had the tape with a rectangle cutout and white keys while later PET have a rounded cutout for the slightly bowed C2N case. I am not sure if the cutout is different between yours and the blue PET early tape drive but it may be. Not sure it you really tried that - if not, I think the statement is a bit wrong to say with such a confidence. Would require some measurements or trying out.
I would use Cap’n Crunch Whistles to try it out, but one of the early Apple employees went to jail for it, so not sure I should 😆The information came from a reliable source, but I'll see if I can fid an original C2N and do the measurements myself on camera.
thats a shame to see the board has been swapped out, that machine has definitely seen some shenanigans, the original board has white ceramic ROM's & ceramic RAM Chips, mine has all ceramics on the board except for the main CPU which unfortunately has been replaced with a plastic one.
I know I shouldn't complain, but man I wish it had the original board too
Are you sick? Your voice sounds different :)
Yes, let's make videos anyways :)
@@Epictronics1 I hope you feel better soon :)
@@superslammer Thanks
Penthouse, the original Commodore 🤡