Commodore PET Mini

[l0ren]

Hi raspebrry fans!

I created a DIY 3DPrinted project to build your own fully working Commodore PET Mini, possibly the most beautiful retro computer ever!

The project is fully documented and I took real care of providing thorough instructions, take a look at it here:

https://commodorepetmini.com

The project has a Raspberry Pi at its heart and is open sourced for contributions. I would also love to hear your suggestions or ideas!

Hope you like it, cheers!

[jamesh]

Fantastic! Thanks for posting.

[itsmedoofer]

Hi,

Fantastic !! I spend HOURS typing gauge measurement details into one of them many moons ago, next to it was an original Macintosh, I wasn't allowed on that though

I will have a look if it fits on our printer I will give it a go.

.

[l0ren]

Hi,

Fantastic !! I spend HOURS typing gauge measurement details into one of them many moons ago, next to it was an original Macintosh, I wasn't allowed on that though

I will have a look if it fits on our printer I will give it a go.

.

Such a beautiful computer! I'm really glad you're thinking on giving it a go! Let me know if you have any suggestions or ideas while printing it! Also, if you send me photos of your build I can publish them on the "Builds" section of the site!

Cheers!

[Andyroo]

That is amazing.

Spent many a happy hour using the earlier model and programming both the machine and offloading code onto the disk drives to speed up some functions!

Thank you for sharing that - it may well slip to the top of the outstanding project pile if I can get access to a printer

[l0ren]

That is amazing.

Spent many a happy hour using the earlier model and programming both the machine and offloading code onto the disk drives to speed up some functions!

Thank you for sharing that - it may well slip to the top of the outstanding project pile if I can get access to a printer

Amazing, Andyroo, glad you liked it that much! Let me know if you have any suggestions, cheers!

[Andyroo]

From what I remember of the disk drives the case was a similar size to the base of the PET so maybe you could go for a case for a Pi Zero with no screen?

Could be used as an environment monitor

The other fun thing with the old machines with the built in tape was if you hit the eject key hard enough it would propel the tape across the room. Once got a temporary band in the local shop for having a competition with the owners daughter to see who could send the tape the furthest

Been checking around and the Maker space in Hull is up and running - now to find out how much membership and printing costs are - be aware, I reserve the right to produce this thread in court when my wife divorces me for having another Pi in the house

[l0ren]

From what I remember of the disk drives the case was a similar size to the base of the PET so maybe you could go for a case for a Pi Zero with no screen?

I was actually thinking on creating a disk drive sub-project that would connect to the PET Mini via USB and act as an external Micro SD Card reader, and the SDCards would have printed stickers that would mimic the look of an old floppy disk!

Could be used as an environment monitor

The other fun thing with the old machines with the built in tape was if you hit the eject key hard enough it would propel the tape across the room. Once got a temporary band in the local shop for having a competition with the owners daughter to see who could send the tape the furthest

That's so fun! Love this kind of stories! I wasn't around when the Commodore PET was the thing, but I did when diskettes were, and I remember organizing diskette throwing competitions (thrown by hand, not by disk drive haha)! We used 3 1/2 instead of 5 1/4 because they had better aerodinamics ... haha

Been checking around and the Maker space in Hull is up and running - now to find out how much membership and printing costs are - be aware, I reserve the right to produce this thread in court when my wife divorces me for having another Pi in the house

I might need you to sign a responsibility exemption agreement! haha

[Andyroo]

...
I was actually thinking on creating a disk drive sub-project that would connect to the PET Mini via USB and act as an external Micro SD Card reader, and the SDCards would have printed stickers that would mimic the look of an old floppy disk!
...

I saw that on the site - I used to take a lot of photographs and have a stack of external readers for different card types from that. You can get readers that where designed to fit into 3 1/2" disk bays (first hit on Amazon) - that would give you a standard form factor and allow folk to choose the unit they want.

Real skill would be in getting the lid to lift up so you can unjam the disks - not saying that that every happened

As for throwing disks around - try a PDP8/e disk - they where encased in concrete to stop the vibration of spin up.

[Mortimer]

Looks interesting. I like the look of the website too, but I do wonder why the "What You'll Need" page has pink links for the item names, that simply link back to the top of the page rather than manufacturer or supplier pages for the items in question?

[l0ren]

Looks interesting. I like the look of the website too, but I do wonder why the "What You'll Need" page has pink links for the item names, that simply link back to the top of the page rather than manufacturer or supplier pages for the items in question?

Thanks, Mortimer, glad you like it! Also thanks for reporting this problem, I think it's related to the way I show the appropriate links to Amazon affiliate products when in different countries, will take a look at that and solve it ASAP, thanks!

[l0ren]

...
I was actually thinking on creating a disk drive sub-project that would connect to the PET Mini via USB and act as an external Micro SD Card reader, and the SDCards would have printed stickers that would mimic the look of an old floppy disk!
...

I saw that on the site - I used to take a lot of photographs and have a stack of external readers for different card types from that. You can get readers that where designed to fit into 3 1/2" disk bays (first hit on Amazon) - that would give you a standard form factor and allow folk to choose the unit they want.

Real skill would be in getting the lid to lift up so you can unjam the disks - not saying that that every happened

As for throwing disks around - try a PDP8/e disk - they where encased in concrete to stop the vibration of spin up.

Interesting! In any case I was thinking on creating the disk drive in the same scale as the Commodore PET Mini, so you can place them side by side and they would look beautiful together. That will limit me in the choice of what card type reader to use, so it would most probably be an SD Card or maybe even Micro SD card reader.

Didn't know that about PDP8/e disks, super interesting, thanks for the info!