First announced in January 1977 at the Consumer Electronics Show in Chicago, the Commodore PET was the world’s first personal computer — predating the Apple II and Radio Shack TRS-80. Designed by visionary engineer Chuck Peddle, the PET was a complete, all-in-one system featuring a 9-inch blue-and-white monitor, a 1 MHz MOS 6502 processor, 4K of memory, a cassette drive, and an RS-232 port. Its operating system was burned onto a ROM chip and loaded on boot — a revolutionary convenience at the time.
Encased in a sturdy steel chassis (originally wood in the prototype), the PET brought computing to the masses, moving beyond hobbyist circuit boards to a user-friendly machine. Commodore, known for calculators and filing cabinets, acquired MOS Technologies in 1977 after founder Jack Tramiel secured a $3 million loan guarantee from Canada’s Irving Gould. The name PET officially stood for “Personal Electronic Transactor,” though it may also honor Tramiel’s wife.
Early models featured “chiclet” keyboards and were built in Commodore’s Palo Alto, California facility. Though bulky at 47 pounds, the PET laid the foundation for the personal computing revolution.
Source: Hacker News · Summarized by HeadlinesBriefing