Commodore PET 4016

The PET 4016 was the second in the series of what will become a long running series of PET computers designed by Chuck Peddle, (who also designed the 6502 microprocessor) and marketed by Commodore.

The 4000 series PETs came with an improved ROM giving them the capability to access the new disk drives released with them. The 4016 and its bigger sibling the 4032 are basically identical to the later 2000 series except for some internal changes to how the video is accessed to speed up the graphics display. A fix incorporated into the 4000 and later series to correct a problem with the 2000 series that drastically slowed down the PETs when graphics were displayed.

Early on type in patch was discovered for the early PETs. It seems that the video chip was able to be accelerated by poking a value to a specific address. The problem came when the new fixed PETs arrived, it seems that by poking the value to the same address in the newer PETs would cause the video chip to accelerate to the point they would overheat and destroy themselves. Thus the term 'killer poke' soon became a well known legend in PET history.

The 4016 comes with 16K of RAM and has 4 open sockets that I believe is for upgrading it to 32K. There are two ports in the rear of the computer, the one on the left is for the VIC-1530 Datassette and the one on the right is for connecting an IEEE-488 parallel device such as a printer or floppy disk drive. A second Datassette connector is inside the computer at the front left hand side of the motherboard. On the right side of the computer is an expansion slot, but I don't know what it is used for.

This 4016 has a metal case, although some version of the 4000 and even some 2000 series PETs came with molded plastic cases. This makes it a very heavy computer. The power supply is built into the case and consists of primarily a very large transformer in the left rear of the computer apparently supplying power for the computer and the monitor. They could have taken a lesson from the Apple people and used a switched power supply, it would have saved a lot of weight.

I added this PET 4016 to the museum on November 5, 1999 and I would like to thank Roger Shepherd for selling it to me.

System Architecture		Memory
Microprocessor	MOS 6502	Standard on system board	16k
Clock speed	1Mhz	Maximum on system board	32k
Bus type	CBM proprietary	Maximum total memory	64k
Data bus width		Memory speed and type	unknown
Address bus width	8-bit	System board memory socket type	16 pin DIP
Interrupt levels	???	Number of memory module sockets	unknown
DMA channels	???	Memory used on system board	unknown
Standard Features		Disk Storage
ROM size	8k	Internal disk and tape drive bays	none
Optional math coprocessor	none	Standard floppy drives	external tape drive
Parallel port type	no	Optional floppy drives:	1
RS232C serial ports	no	* 5 1/4 inch 160k	optional
Mouse ports	no	* 5 1/4 inch 1.2MB	No
UART chip used	N/A	* 3 1/2 inch 720k	No
Maximum speed	N/A	* 3 1/2 inch 1.44MB	No
CMOS real time clock	no	* 3 1/2 inch 2.88MB	No
CMOS RAM	none	Hard disk controller included	No
Video & Graphics		Sound
Graphics Processor	???	Sound Interface device	internal speaker
Screen size - Col x Rows	40 x 25	Sound generation	tone generator
Resolution - Colors/High	1 / 200 x 192	ADSR capable	no
Resolution - Colors/Low	1 - 40 x 25
Max colors	mono-green & white	Programming language
Sprites or Missiles	none	Built in language	Microsoft Basic
		Built in M L monitor	no
Expansion Slots		Keyboard Specs.
Total adapter slots	1-8 bit	Number of keys	72
Number of 8/16/32 bit slots	1/0/0	Upper/lower case	yes/yes
		Keyboard cable length	N/A
Physical Specs.		Environmental Specs.
* Height	16 inches	Operating voltage @ 60 Hz	104-127VAC
* Width	17.5 inches	Maximum power supplied	???
* Depth	19 inches	Power supply output - volts	???
* Weight	25 pounds	Power supply output - amps	???

Introduced	1978
Discontinued	???
Release Price	$995