One of the first computers I used was a Pet 2001 that was our Physics Teachers in High School. He had some simple BASIC programs he wrote to do some calculations.
Then our school got its first "computer center" made up of Tandy Model III's my last year.
I got a Pet from someone at work whos father had been a collector, an 8032. Then I got the idea to take a non working Pet and gut it to put in a modern PC and have that awesome retro look. Bought a "broken" Pet 4032 for $40 and getting it home I decided while I prepared my tools to perform the autopsy I might as well turn it on. I had removed a loose screw that I heard bouncing around and was under the motherboard. As I returned with my screwdriver I saw the "ready" glowing on the screen. This non working machine was working perfectly just that people arent used to computers having to "warm up" when you flip the switch before you see anything. Well, I will not destroy a functioning Commodore computer so I now have two working Pet machines as well as a CBM-II B128 that later joined them.
Commodore had a good idea and product. By including the IEEE-488 interface it was a cheap way to control machinery, lab equipment, as well as the Pets own disk drives and printers. Problem was Commodore was too small and cash strapped to truly attack the business market and changed direction to go after the home.