Pet 4008 I'm sure to let go

[tezza]

I'm watching a nice little Commodore 4008 on our local auction site at the moment.

It's not working, but it looks in tidy condition. It has a disk drive, original manuals etc.

Oh, how I would like to add it to my collection. After all, a PET is on my list! The fact that it's in Auckland, 8 hours north of me (so $80 shipping min or a long expensive drive.), it doesn't work (power supply I'm picking), I've spent tons on money just recently on other systems (so I'm broke) and Annette (my wife) is starting to get a tad uncomfortable with my "obsession", I'm likely to let it go. I'm picking it will go for quite a high price eventually. Bidding's already been vigorous and the auction doesn't close until tomorrow evening.

As any NZ (and probably OZ) collectors would have already seen this, and shipping overseas costs a bomb, I'm not too concerned about mentioning it here.

Anyway, you might be interested to have a look. It's at
http://www.trademe.co.nz/Browse/Listing.aspx?id=149294580

One NZ dollar = 0.78 US cents (or so)

Tez

[MikeS]

I'm watching a nice little Commodore 4008 on our local auction site at the moment.

It's not working, but it looks in tidy condition. It has a disk drive, original manuals etc.

Oh, how I would like to add it to my collection. After all, a PET is on my list! The fact that it's in Auckland, 8 hours north of me (so $80 shipping min or a long expensive drive.), it doesn't work (power supply I'm picking), I've spent tons on money just recently on other systems (so I'm broke) and Annette (my wife) is starting to get a tad uncomfortable with my "obsession", I'm likely to let it go. I'm picking it will go for quite a high price eventually. Bidding's already been vigorous and the auction doesn't close until tomorrow evening.

As any NZ (and probably OZ) collectors would have already seen this, and shipping overseas costs a bomb, I'm not too concerned about mentioning it here.

Anyway, you might be interested to have a look. It's at
http://www.trademe.co.nz/Browse/Listing.aspx?id=149294580

One NZ dollar = 0.78 US cents (or so)

Tez
---------
Looks nice, and with a disk drive still reasonable so far. You don't have any long-distance truck-driving friends that could deliver it for ya?

Problems with PETs are *usually* pretty trivial to fix; good luck if ya decide to jump in after all.

m

[carlsson]

I do have a loose 4032 motherboard and at least one loose power supply that I could sell to you if you were in great need of spare parts. The power supply weighs a bit though, so we'd have to estimate shipping before closing the deal.

[tezza]

I do have a loose 4032 motherboard and at least one loose power supply that I could sell to you if you were in great need of spare parts. The power supply weighs a bit though, so we'd have to estimate shipping before closing the deal.

Thanks Anders,

Tez

[carlsson]

If I recall correctly, the power supply should output +9V, -9V and +16V through two power connectors. Or perhaps the board is built for two different types of PSU, of which one is a 9V (AC?) and the other is a 16V. Well, well.. I see that you keep on bidding none the less. :-D

At 143 NZD + shipping, it is starting to become a bit expensive, I think. The 2031 floppy drive makes up a bit; it tends to be among the more attractive IEEE drives to acquire and is also reasonably DOS compatible with a 1541.

[Yzzerdd]

You know, right here in the USA, one of those CBM dual disk drives sold for pretty cheap--$32. I was under the impression these things were rare!
Link (http://cgi.ebay.com/Commodore-CBM-Model-2040-External-Dual-Floppy-Drive_W0QQitemZ120241080284QQihZ002QQcategoryZ4193 QQssPageNameZWDVWQQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem)

--Ryan

[carlsson]

The dual ones - 2040, 3040, 4040, 8050, 8250 - seem to be relatively common, probably because PETs were business computers, and most companies would invest in a dual drive to start with: one floppy for the program, one floppy for the customer data. The single floppy drives perhaps were added in auxillary systems where they had a PET-switch or other networked equipment for the main business and an extra floppy drive for local access, as well as those enthusiasts who got one for private purposes.

If I say it in this way: From the place I have rescued PET stuff for two years now, I found exactly three (3) single drive 2031:s (of which one partly broken, one died after a few minutes of operation and one still OK) and at least 20-25, perhaps 30 assorted dual drives of the models I mentioned above. That's a factor 1:7 - 1:10 how single drives might compare to dual drives. All this stuff came from former companies who had traded in or retired their PET stuff when they supposedly upgraded to PCs.

[MikeS]

What's involved in upgrading a 4008 to 16 or 32K, especially if the PCB has been drilled?

mike

[tezza]

Well, well.. I see that you keep on bidding none the less. :-D


Yes, but unless I get a rush of blood to the head later today (it's been known to happen) I think I'll pass on this one. It looks in great cosmetic condition but it's too large and bulky, too far away, too broken and I'm too broke as well.

If it was actually working, well it might be a different story. My ability to fix these things is pretty limited, although I have learnt a lot in the last 6 months.

I'm in quite a small city (65,000...but it is NZs 6th largest) so there is little chance of these older, bulkier units on my wanted list appearing locally. I'm only two hours from Wellington the capitol though, and I'm always hoping something will turn up there.


Tez

[carlsson]

What's involved in upgrading a 4008 to 16 or 32K, especially if the PCB has been drilled?
No idea. :-) I suppose adding RAM chips, but you could figure out that on your own. Since a partly defect PET can display fewer bytes free than it should, and still somehow work, perhaps it is just as easy as populate the board with chips.

[tezza]

Well, the PET package went for $172 NZ dollars ($US 134).

About what I expected.

Tez