PET 2001

From: Pete Turnbull <pete_at_dunnington.u-net.com>
Date: Wed Jul 8 13:34:42 1998

On Jul 8, 19:01, Philip.Belben_at_powertech.co.uk wrote:
> I've never heard of 2001NT.

I have, but I don't think I've seen one. Unless it's actually identical to
another model :-)

> AFAIK, N = Non business keyboard. The top row of keys was !"#$%^&'()
> like the tiny keyboard machines - numbers were only on the number pad.
>
> B = Business keyboard. Top row of keys was 1234567890, shift gave you
> !"# etc. This meant you couldn't get some of the "graphics" characters
> that came from shift-! etc.

That refreshes my memory. There's a POKE to get the graophics but the
default is as described.

> Nor do I. All 2001 PETs had 9 inch screens.

That's what I thought, but I didn't want to be to dogmatic (just for a
change :-))

> > cassette-beside-the-keyboard. I've got one here. And the /B and /N
series
> > were called 3000's not 2001 everywhere except the USA. The 12"
versions
>
> Are you sure? I thought the 2001-8N and 2001-8B got renamed 3008 a bit
> later.

Not absolutely sure, but around that time the local authority was buying a
lot of PETs and I never saw a 3000 less than 16K, and never saw a
business-keyboard 2001.

> > didn't appear in the UK until later. According to my (USA) manual, the
> > 2001/B (aka 3000 here) was a 9" screen too. IIRC, the 4000 was the
first
> > with a 12" screen, at least in the UK (USA might easily be different,
of
> > course), and that's borne out by my manuals. The 12" screen version
was
> > eventually called the 8000 series here, and had different firmware (and
> > up to 96K RAM I think, bank-switched).
>
> Um. The first with the 12 inch screen was the 8032. Different firmware
> and re-done video circuitry. Later some of that was put into 4032,
> making the "fat 40" Bank switched RAM made an 8096...

Hmm, that does sound more likely. Come to think of it, the 8000 were the
fiorst I saw with a 12" screen as well.

> > One of the differences between the business and home versions (apart
from
> > graphics symbols on the keytops) was whether the machine powered up in
> > upper- or lower-case.
>
> Was it? That's weird!

Yes :-)

> Even weirder, though, was the lower case implementation.
[ snip ]
> Confused? It is, isn't it!

I remember it caused som amusement with non_PET printers.

> IEEE-488 to RS232 converters were very popular here, since PET had no
serial
> port. Alternatively, software could be written to drive a pin on the
user port
> serially. I know. I've done it.

I've done that too. And there were a few serial converters, as Philip
says.

-- 
Pete						Peter Turnbull
						Dept. of Computer Science
						University of York
Received on Wed Jul 08 1998 - 13:34:42 BST

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