Roll on a couple of months and here is my solution to the PET issue.
I've just donated as a gift to the CCMI these items:
A Commodore PET 3032,
a C2N-B datasette,
and a Commodore 4040 dual disk drive.
They are all fully working models.
Some introductory remarks about the equipment:
The Commodore PET 3032 was built in 1979. Being a European model it is strictly called a cbm 3032 (Commodore Business Machines) a name which Commodore used in Europe to reflect Philip's prior trademark ownership of the word PET.
The unique "bonnet/hood" design made it stand out from other computers.
Yes, this is the screen you want to see when you power up the system.
The operating system was Commodore Basic 2.0, a version of Microsoft BASIC. Bill Gates himself is reputed to have written the Easter Egg machine code in this version of BASIC which displays "MICROSOFT!" at the top of the screen when "WAIT6502,1" is typed in. There's a well researched history of this here.
The datasette was an external audio cassette tape recorder used for programme and data storage. Previous PETs had a built in cassette recorder on the main unit but this was removed to make way for the full sized keyboard on the 3000 series. The older C2N did not have the tape counter.
The 4040 is a dual 5.25 inch floppy disk drive, linked to the PET with an IEEE-488 interface.
It has a similar pop-up way of accessing the internals.
All together the computer system would have been typical of an office installation for a small business in the early 1980s. The PET was one of the first computers to run VisiCalc, an early spreadsheet that evolved and become ubiquitous.
Outside of business use, many games and educational packages were written for the PET. The unique character set available made the screen images look different to that of other computers. Adventure type games were popular, as were the shooting type such as Asteroids, shown running on the 3032 here:
I'm glad that this working equipment can now take its place amongst the other late 70s/early 80s computers in the museum. Floppies with VisiCalc (I think an additional security ROM is needed before it will run) and several games are with it and they can be used to demonstrate the operation of the PET.
The PET is pictured here on display in its new home:
