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Evolution of the Disk Drive
by Joel Ellis Rea

from George's Den BBS
via Greater Oklahoma Commodore Club Newsletter, 6/88
via The Interface, newsletter of Fresno Commodore User Group/64UM 12/89

Reprinted in the NYCig News
Thomas Trocco, Editor & Computer Dept. Chair
 St. Hilda's & St. Hugh's School
 619 W 114th Street
 New York, NY 10025

 212-932-1987 (voice)

First there was the Commodore 2001 Personal Electronic Transactor (PET).
It was one of the first personal computers on the market.  It had a
whopping 4K of RAM, and 8K BASIC in ROM, and a Kernal to control
input/output and other system operations. It used Commodore BASIC
Version 1. There were no disk drives then, but provisions were made in
the form of an IEEE-488 General Purpose Interface Bus.  It also had the
funniest little keyboard you ever saw!

Commodore then invented the 2040 Dual Floppy Disk Drive. It was an
industry first. Previously the main computer had to control every tiny
detail of disk drive operation, not to mention loading a large Disk
Operating System (DOS) into the computer's RAM in order to use the
drive.  The 2040 was an intelligent drive, with its own computer system
inside, and its own DOS in ROM! By simply PRINTing commands to its
command channel, BASIC users could SCRATCH, RENAME, and COPY files, and
DUPLICATE an entire disk without any further help from the computer.
Only problem was, they could not SAVE or L0AD programs, or use data
files.

The problem was BASIC V1. It did not know about the timing involved with
actually transferring data back and forth between the computer's RAM and
the disk drive's computer. So, Commodore created Upgrade BASIC (now
known as BASIC V2), and put it into a new PET, called the 2008. It had
only 8K of RAM, a REAL keyboard (unlike other companies, Commodore NEVER
tried a rinky-dink keyboard again!), and it could use the disk drive!

But the 2040 drive had its faults as well. It could not handle random
access files (one of the most important advantages of a disk drive over
a tape drive) without a LOT of effort On the user's part. It could not
trap errors correctly, and it required the user to type OPEN 15,8,15,
"I":CLOSE 15 every time a disk was changed.  It could not seem to
center the disks properly.

So about the time Commodore came out with their 3008 PET computer
(including BASIC V3, with very minor differences from V2), they
introduced the 3040 Dual Disk Drive. This had DOS V1.2 in it, which
corrected the error trapping problems. But they did not fix much else.
Also, people were getting tired of having to type OPEN 15,8,15 etc. when
their Apple-owning buddies could do the same with RENAME oldfilename,
newfilename.

Almost immediately thereafter, the Commodore 4016 PET came out. It had 16K,
expandable to 32K, and BASIC V4. This version had nice disk
commands like CATALOG, SCRATCH, DLOAD, DSAVE, BACKUP, COPY, etc. These
commands simply translated themselves into the old commands that the
drive could understand.

Along with the PET 4016 came the 4040 disk drive. It had it all!  Besides
fixing the hardware problems, it had DOS V2.1, which supported relative
files (also referred to as random files) The new DOS also performed an
automatic "I" (initialization) every time it detected a disk with a
different ID, so the user did not have to type this command unless he
had two or more disks with the same ID. it also used a slightly
different disk format from the 2040's and 3040's, so that a disk made on
a 2040 could be used only by copying its files to a 4040 drive.

Later, Commodore came out with the CBM 8032. It had BASIC V4, 32K of
RAM, a 12-inch 80-column monitor (the old machines had 40 column
screens), and a more business-like keyboard. Indeed, it was a business
machine.

A business machine needs a business disk drive. So Commodore presented
the 8050 disk drive. It used a double density format that allowed over
twice as much data on each disk. It also could tell if a disk drive door
had been opened, and automatically did an "I" command when the door was
shut again.

Later came the 8052 double-sided drive, and the D9060 and D9090 hard
disk units that could store 2, 5, and 7.5 megabytes (1 meg=1024K).

Then came the VIC20. Commodore made many advances on this one. Low price!
Graphics! Low price! Color! Low price! Three-channel sound, RS232, eight
user programmable function keys, and a game cartridge slot. Not to
mention low price! Even though they were producing a computer to compete
with home video games, they learned their lesson with the PET 2001 and
gave the VIC 20 a REAL keyboard.

But for the sake of low price, Commodore took several MAJOR steps
backwards. Only 5K of RAM, 22-column screen, back to BASIC V2. And worst
of all, they scrapped the wonderful IEEE-488 bus that could shove all
eight bits of a byte down the wires at once, and replaced it with a
"serial bus" that had to spool those bits out one at a time.

Commodore then produced the 1540 single Floppy Disk Drive. It was
basically a one drive, serial bus version of the 4040. It had less RAM,
so that fewer files could be open at any one time. It used the new
half-high disk drive units. instead of two microprocessors (one for the
drives and one for the interface), it had one processor controlling the
single drive and the interface.

About two years later Commodore invented the Commodore 64. (ever hear of
that one?) I will not go into all of its nice features, but it still had
the serial bus and BASIC V2. Along with it of course came old slow and
pokey, the much hated, much loved 1541 that so many of us use and cuss
daily.

=======================================================================
FILE: cbm30.seq
FROM: Group Host 02/23/89
SUBJECT: Commodore History
AUTHOR: AZ User Group

A recollective 30-year history of Commodore, provided by the Arizona
Commodore User Group, with annotations by other user group leaders. My
comments in brackets [GH:...] are intended to augment the original text,
which I found to  be a very nice history.

With 1988 being the 30th anniversary of Commodore Business Machines, we
thought we would start 1989 by looking back at our roots. Commodore
started out as a typewriter repair company in Toronto Canada in 1958. by
the late 1960s it was selling calculators and electric adding machines.
At that time a Commodore hand-held calculator sold for well over $1000.
In October of 1976 Commodore bought MOS Technology, a microchip company,
and introduced its first personal computer, the KIM [GH: I bought my
KIM-1 with 1 K of memory) from MOS before they were bought out by
Commodore, so CBM could use their chip production for the PET, which I
understood was the first computer actually marketed by CBM] . How many
of you have ever heard of a KIM, much less seen one? The KIM-1 used the
now famous MOS 6502 microprocessor used in the PET and the VIC-20, as
well as many non-Commodore Computers. [GH: such as the Apple computer].
At the first West Coast Computer Faire in San Francisco in the spring
of 1977, Commodore introduced the PET (Personal Electronic Transactor). It
came out at the same time as the Apple II [GH: the first Apple was just
the "Apple"]. Tandy Radio Shack's beat both to market. The name PET was
actually chosen to take advantage of the "PET ROCK" craze of the day.
The first PETs had an 8K memory [GH: the very first PETs delivered had
only 4K of memory. The 8K version cost me $795] and monochrome monitor
and built-in data cassette [GH: and a chicklet keyboard] By the time the
PET line ended, it had become the SUPERPET with 96K and an extremely
powerful version of MICROSOFT BASIC. On the heels of the success of the
SuperPet, Commodore released the VIC-20, Commodore's first color
computer [GH: at $299]. The VIC had 8K of memory [GH: 3K BASIC RAM
built-in] and could be expanded to 32K.

In early 1982, Commodore unveiled its revolutionary C-64 computer with 64K
of RAM and a 40 column color display [GH: for $595 without monitor].
Unlike the PET line, the 64 came with a version of BASIC with very
little disk drive support. Commodore reasned that most 64 owners would
not want a disk drive [GH: PET 4040 Dual Disk Drives cost $1295!!!], and
very few 1541 drives were initially available. Commodore marketing
strikes again. Early 64 owners spent many hours typing in programs from
magazines or converting PET programs, since there was virtually no
[commercially] software available for the first two years. The SX-64
portable was introduced in 1983. The SX came with a built-in 5-inch
color monitor, disk drive and power supply......

...Many SX-64 owners waited patiently for the second built-in drive
[version] that never appeared [GH: model DX-64 that was not
distributed]. Although touted by Commodore, the SX was never physically
able to use a second built-in disk drive; there was never enough space
and the power supply was barely able to handle the rest of the system.
While the 64 was selling well, Commodore released the ill-fated PLUS/4
and Commodore-16. [GH: with built-in word processor, database, and
spreadsheet software in ROM]. By being software incompatible, and for
the most part, hardware incompatible, they lived a short life. Commodore
released two new models in 1985. The answer was the next logical step.
Advertised as three computers in one (C-64, C-128, and CP/M), the 128
was the most powerful 8-bit machine Commodore had ever built. It
featured 40 and 80-column text and graphics, a faster serial bus and
expanded sound and graphics commands from BASIC. [GH: and it made good
CBM's earlier abortive attempt to implement CP/M for the C-64 as a plug
in module].  On the heels of the 128 came the release of the Amiga 1000.
Commodore  purchased a small California joystick company in 1984 [GH:
They were into more than just joysticks] and used the company's name and
its prototype 68000-cpu super game machine for which ex-CBM CEO Jack
Tramiel's newly acquired ATARI Corp was also bidding for its newest line
of computers. More recently, Commodore released the Amiga 500 and 2000
as well as line of MS-DOS compatibles including the PC-10, PC-20 and
Colt.

As Commodore Business Machines begins its 31st year, we can all look
forward to more of the Commodore tradition of great Hardware and Poor
Marketing Decisions. 1989 should be an interesting year.

----------------------------------------

Group Host: Thanks to ACSg Editor Faye Thornton for this history. If
anyone has any additional historical highlights or comments to add,
please post them here, to make this history as complete and accurate as
possible. A good account of the early Commodore years is in the book
"Computer Wars" by Tomczeck(sp?), which is out of print.

SUBJ: ORIGINAL PET
FROM: EmilV1    01/21/89
Gary, I thought the history was pretty well done and think I will
publish it in our newsletter (obviously, with the appropriate credits).
However, there is one thing I noted that I would quibble about; namely
the word PET. I am not sure that pet rocks had been invented in 1976
when the decision had to be made by Commodore on what to call their
all-in-one product. I do know that the word was an acronym:
  PERSONAL
  ELECTRONIC
  TRANSACTOR
Since I still have copies of the literature that led me to choose the
PET over the Apple or the TRS-80 Model 1, I can attest to the above.

BUT, did the acronym come first and the definition later????

SUBJ: Commodores In Canada
FROM: Steve N55   01/22/89
Commodore actually put out a PC-lO, PC-30 and PC-40 in Canada and Europe
about three years or more before the US was given the show of the
PC-series. The PC-10 and 20 were one and two drive machines based on
an 8088 processor, while the PC-40 is based on the 80286 AT architecture.
Mind you, Commodore pulled another goof, and had timing problems with
the Fixed Disk controller, so that only their Hard Disk controller would
work (did I say goof, or marketing decision??). At least Western Digital
has a fix for that as well. The NEW PC series that the US has is fixed
from the timing problem. Also, the older PC series that was first
introduced in Canada for testing were very LARGE desktop machines.
A bit of Canadian History.
Steve N. - President Nova Scotia Commodore Computer Users Assn.

SUBJ: Pet Rocks
FROM: Group Host 01/25/89
Emil,
Yes, I too bought an early Personal Electronic Transactor, and at the
time I had no awareness of the association with the Pet Rocks Craze.
Until that tidbit can be confirmed, I'd add "(SIC)" after Pet Rocks in
any reprint or use editorial license and omit that reference with
ellipsis ("...") :)
I appreciate the additional comments on this history.
Does anyone remember the C-64 CP/M module that didn't work and got CBM in
trouble with the FTC? To some extent the C-128's CP/M capability is
fulfillment of that original, probably overly optimistic promise of CP/M
by Commodore.
Reprinted in the NYCig News/Kids Computer News
Thomas Trocco, Ed. & Computer Dept. Chair
 St. Hilda's & St. Hugh's School
 619 W 114th Street
 New York, NY 10015

 212-932-1987 (voice)

=======================================================================
PET:  The Original Commodore Computer
by Charles F. Burns

from The File, Commo-Hawk CUG, Cedar Rapids IA, 11/89; reprinted in The
Interface, newsletter of Fresno Commodore User Group/64UM 8/90;
reprinted in: NYCig News, Thomas Trocco, Editor & Computer Dept. Chair
 St. Hilda's & St. Hugh's School
 619 W 114th Street
 New York, NY 10025 :

 212-932-1987 (voice)

Where it all started: the Jack Tramiel typewriter Shop In Toronto Canada.


The first of the Commodore Business Machine (CBM series) was released
Jan. 1977, the PET 2001 (Personal Electronics Transactor). The PET 2001
was a self contained unit with a compact graphic keyboard, numeric
keypad, and built in tape cassette unit. The PET 2001 had 8K bytes of
read/write memory, with 16K and 32K memory expansion options. (a 4K
version was also available). The PET 2001 had a 2.0 read-only memory
(ROM) which gave the computer its model personality.  An external
cassette tape unit could be connected to the PET 2001 computer, but it
did know what a printer and/or disk drive was unless it had Revision
level 3 ROMs.

Commodore released the PET2001 with 3.0 ROMs and an expanded full sized
graphic keyboard and numeric keypad. A PET 2001/B,(CBM 2001/B) was
released without the graphic symbols displayed; on the front of the
keys, the 2001 series computers had a CRT display of 40 columns wide.
The normal typing mode for the 2001 was in upper case letter graphic.
The only difference was the PET 2001/B normal mode was upper/lower case
letters. With a (POKE 59468,12) you could switch from an upper/graphics
mode to an upper/lowercase mode. POKE 59468,14 would return back again.
The 2001/B did have a graphics mode, except the symbols were not on the
front of the keys.

The CBM 4000 and the CBM 8000 series was also released with a 4.0 ROM
and 16K (CBM8016 and 32K (CBM8032) of read/write memory. A CBM 8096
Computer was available with 96K of read/write memory. The main
distinguishing feature the 8000 series system has from the 2000 series
beside the lack of a graphic keyboard is the enlarged 80-column CRT
display, or screen.

In 1981, Commodore released the SuperPet 9000 system, with 96K of
read/write memory, designed for business applications. First it was a
stock CBM 8032  computer and second a 6809 based computer with the
language interpreters for Basic, Cobol, Fortran, Pascal, AP, and adapted
to run the OS-9 operating system.

Commodore introduced the 500, 600, 700 series and a C128-40 system in the
United Kingdom (not in the USA/Canada). The 500 and 700 series are known
as the original model number for the B-128/256 or CBM-128-/40. The
C128-40 was on the market before the C-64 and the B/series, yet
compatible with neither, with less than 100 ever seeing daylight.

In June 1981, Commodore released the VIC 20 Color Home Computer. In 1982,
Commodore released the 700 series systems, in the USA/Canada, referred
to as the Low Profile B- 128 & B-256, as well as the high profile B-128
& B-256. The B-128/256 has an enlarged basic 4.0+ ROM interpreter
and 128K of read/write memory, expandable to 1 MEG of memory. A B-128C
color computer was also available but not promoted in the USA/Canada. The
B-128/256 was a highly versatile computer, able to utilize many built in
features, insert mode on/off, windows, wrap mode on/off, reverse video,
erase mode, normal/graphics mode, and many others. Multitasking was also
possible with the B-128/256.  In June 1982, Commodore released the C-64
computer.

In 1983, the SX 64 and the SX100 was released as the C64 portable unit
with built in monitor and disk drive.

In 1984, the Plus 4 and the C-16 computers were released.

In Jan. 1985, Commodore released the C-128 computer, which was also a
C-64 and a CP/M compatible system.

On July 23, 1985, the Amiga 1000 was released with a 256K RAM 16 bit
multitasking operating environment.

In Feb. 1987, the AmIga 500 and the AMiga 2000 were released. The power
and abilities these machines had would surprise you. They were an
excellent math machine, educational, business oriented, and graphic
unit.  We can make PET/CBM play music and even talk, even when these
machines never had any sound ability built into them.  The B-128/256 was
the only one that has & SID Chip built in.

Many models were not mentioned in this article because of very similar
features or some in which Commodore did not support or were too
embarrassed about, like the C128-40, or the C-16.

(in May, 1990, CBM unveiled their latest computer, the Amiga 3000)