SuperPET

[Ral-Clan]

Hi folks. A SuperPET has come up  in my local area for anout $300. It's far more than I would usually pay for even a vintage computer but I'm wondering if it's a good deal I might regret not picking up in future.  Just soliciting opinions on whether it's a good deal or not.

I should mention that although I love the PET and have used one before I actually don't have a lot of space.

[Ral-Clan]

Yeah, it is a really powerful computer.

Unfortunately, I have been doing some research and found that this 80-column PET won't run a lot of the older 40-column PET games.  Space Invaders, for instance, won't run, which is one of the best PET games.  I think almost all PET games were intended for the 40 column models.

So, unless I want to use this SuperPET mostly for programming, BBS'ing, or word processing, it won't be that much of a "fun" machine (no old games).

It's possible to use a software 40 column driver, but it's not a real 40 columns. A hardware modification might also be possible, but not easy to do (nor not sure if I'd want to do that to a SuperPET).

:-(

[Ral-Clan]

Please don't modify a SuperPet just to give it compatibilty with older models.
Its a rare system that is significantly more capable than a standard Pet.

I never said I would. In fact I think I said exactly the opposite.

[Ral-Clan]

I picked up the SuperPET.  The seller was very nice and we negotiated a very reasonable price.

It's in good cosmetic shape (just needed a gentle cleaning).

Electronically there may be some issued - garbled screen when I went to see it.

Going to have to go carefully with this to make sure things are done right.

[Ral-Clan]

Be careful when you get into that monitor! Some serious voltages stored in there.

Thanks.  Yes, I know about those.  Thankfully, I don't think I'll have to open the monitor at all as it seems to be working fine.  It's some issue with the motherboard.  The Waterloo languages menu comes up, but then the screen starts spitting out a row of characters like the number 6 button was being held down.  This happens even when the I disconnect the keyboard entirely.

There's a toggle switch on the side of the PET that allows the user to startup using the regular 6502 CPU or the 6809 CPU.  When I choose the 6502 cpu the computer won't even boot (just black screen).  I can only get any response when booting in 6809 mode (I assume because it uses the RAM on the daughterboard rather than the motherboard)?

[Ral-Clan]

Here are the pictures (the last one shows the display problem).

(click on any of the pictures below to make them bigger)




















So the two problems are: when booting in 6809 CPU mode you get the menu above, but cannot do anything and row after row of number "6"s are start appearing.  Secondly, when booting into 6502 CPU mode the PET won't even start (black screen).

I've narrowed this down to a problem with the main PET 8032 motherboard (I removed the SuperPET daughterboard entirely, temporarily turning the machine into a stock PET 8032). Computer boots to a black screen.

Is there a PET forum to discuss repair issues for PETs somewhere?