16 Jun
1997
16 Jun
'97
9:45 p.m.
RE: Marvin <marvin(a)rain.org>
Subject: Re: Printers and Finds of the Week
I am not familiar with the "SuperPET"; where
does it fit in with the
rest of the Commodore line? It sounds like you also had a pretty good
"haul" this weekend!
The SuperPET was developed by Waterloo University in Ontario, Canada and
was released by Commodore sometime around 1980/81. I read a press
release where the CBM 8096 (a close pre-cursor to the SuperPET) and
VIC-20 were being introduced. It was also referred to as the Commodore
SP9000 and Micro-Mainframe.
The SuperPET was (I'm pretty sure) the last of the PET/CBM series.
After that, in 1982, almost the entire Commodore line was re-vamped
with: the Ultimax, C-64, B-128 series, and P-128/P-500 models.
What the "PET Personal Computer Guide" Says about the SuperPET:
It was designed around the CBM 8032 but boasted a 64k bank-switched RAM
expansion and a 6809 co-processor which could emulate a 16 bit
computer. In order to be truly compatible with IBM the OS had been
retooled to use standard ASCII throughout, it also has a true RS-232
port.
It has a 'Highly flexible terminal mode,' 'highly advanced text editor,'
and 'run time monitor.' Among its more remarkable features is its
ability to trace and repair most errors without losing the current
program or its variables. Another virtue is its ability to send any
program or data to another computer at any time in any language. The
standard languages are IBM-compatible APL (including a complete APL
character set), Waterloo BASIC, COBOL, FORTRAN, and Pascal. All
languages are stored on disk (which I don't have any of *sigh*) until
used. And at the printing of the book the languages worked as
interpreters. Waterloo planned to have compiled versions available for
the SuperPET in the future. Another language is included is 6809
assembly language. SuperPET comes with an assembler, linker, and
loader.
--------------------------------
Many of the features of the SuperPET can be seen in later Commodore
units such as the B-128 and C-128 series (bank switched memory
co-processors, etc.)
Browsing the Web I have found some mentions of them, but many were no
more than that. So far it seems one or two may have more than just the
unit. I hope to get email soon from one person I wrote for info to.