I just got a SuperPET as I wanted one since I used to play with one in elementary school before they dumped it and replaced them with Apple IIs. Anyway I had some tapes and a tape player for my C64 that has PET programs. So when a nice used and semi-working PET popped on Craigslist yesterday, I jumped on it very fast and left skid mark from my driveway all the way to pick it up. $25 PET just doesn't happen Anyway I had a chance to check around. I did the obvious, reseated chips and cables as a few had gotten a bit loose. When I powered it up, I got an image which shows the power supply and monitor part is probably fine. However I can't get keyboard to work right, about half of it doesn't work. First up, it has a one daughter board upgrade that was available later, not the original 2 daughter boards version. So there's less cables to deal with, which is a plus I guess. Looking at Google image, the older 2 daughterboard has a few more cables and a lot more chances of problem to chip creep. http://i126.photobucket.com/albums/p...ps7bc51a1b.jpg the lower board is the mainboard, typically standard PET 8032 board. Upperboard is the waterloo daughter board http://i126.photobucket.com/albums/p...ps9def9793.jpg look at those gold topped RAM chips http://i126.photobucket.com/albums/p...ps6b9fed77.jpg closeup of the 2 CPUs. These keys do not work: left arrow, 1, 2, 3, 5, 6, 0. and cursor left/right tab, q, w, r, [, /, and cursor up/down a, d, j, l, +, @, and ] left-shift, space, andd shift lock key all do not work. Also in the number pad, only 7 works. When I compared that to a schematic, there was no common column or row and when I probed the keyboard itself with my ohm meter, the keys that do work were under 1 ohm while non working keys were around 25k ohms so I need to take it apart to clean and check for broken trace. When I boot and the switch is set to program or 6809 I get screen with a list of programming options including cobol, fortran, and basic. I can't get anything there because the keyboard wasn't working right. Since I don't have the disk drive or the disks, I doubt I can do anything more in this mode. http://i126.photobucket.com/albums/p...ps1afd1784.jpg the waterloo screen, sorry for blurry picture I hate my cheap camera When I set the switch to 6502 I get commodore basic 4.0 screen and nothing else. I expected the memory status and ready prompt like older PETs I am used to. Does that mean something's not working right? http://i126.photobucket.com/albums/p...ps73d77a96.jpg The other switch, depending on the setting I can either get disk read error (since there's no drive) or nothing happens at waterloo menu. There's no change in the 6502 screen. I could try removing the 6502 CPU and putting it in the original mainboard socket to disable waterloo daughter board and see what happens. It should be like 8032 right? To do: check keyboard verify power supply check monitor area for bad caps try to get 6502 mode working if it's not working thoroughly dust the inside! PS just because, I checked eBay. There is no current or recent listing for SuperPET other than a couple books. Guess it's fairly rare then? There's not much information on the internet, maybe 4 or 5 web sites with some info. Compared to several hundred web sites for Commodore 64.
It was quite common that you had to remove the whole keyboard assembly, remove the PCB, clean it all with isopropyl alcohol (PCB) and compressed air / mild cleaner (rest of the assembly - avoiding the carbon contacts) and put it all back together! The wires can be loose, too. Beware any plastic screw posts - they can get brittle and break easily!
