BACK TO THE PET (Commodore PET 4016 hardware demo made in 2022)
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- čas přidán 5. 11. 2022
- This is a playing of shiru8bit's excellent "Back to the PET" demo compo on physical hardware with amplified audio out. This is amazing software for a 1MHz 6502 microprocessor system packaged into a standalone 29KB "PRG" binary. This makes exclusive use of the "PETSCII" character set in 40x25 text mode.
This demo is presented on the physical hardware in a "dark mode" (lights off and screen focused) followed by a "light mode" (lights on and full view of the system). See 4:47 for the lights on version.
Demos like these are extraordinary forms of artwork! The original hardware system to do this was first available in 1977 (although most systems at that time did not have a full 32K of RAM and would need a CB2 mod for the audio). By mid-1980, 32K RAM became more widely available/affordable to home consumers, and the 40XX series of Commodore PET included a piezo speaker for the CB2-style audio out. Crafting this kind of audio-visual experience on such an early home-computer requires very precise understanding of the instruction set and determining very clever coding techniques to pull off the desired effects (especially also while intermixed with audio, which represents a form of multitasking).
"Back to the PET" was developed using ca65 (6502 assembler) and multiple support tools, and an emulator (called VICE) - no physical hardware was available during the development. To see how this physical hardware playthrough shown here compares with the emulator, see shiru8bit's original recording here (also with links to the original PRG and source code):
• BACK TO THE PET - a de...
Presented with permission, thanks shiru8bit!
To emphasize: I didn't create this demo, it is the work exclusively of shiru8bit. But he didn't have a physical system to run the demo on, so this is a recording to demonstrate how fantastic the results of his dev and testing on an emulator translated over to the real hardware.
NOTE: "Back to the PET" is a homage to a scene in the "8088MPH" demo for the IBM PC (CGA), both inspired by the excellent "Back to the Future" movie released in 1985 with Michael J. Fox.
In honored memory of Jack Tramiel, Leonard Tramiel, Chuck Peddle. For an outstanding in-depth paper about the PETSCII character set, refer to:
acris.aalto.fi/ws/portalfiles...
For other Commodore PET related works, see also:
- Attack of the PETSCII Robots
- Destiny Hunter for Commodore PET
- Jim Orlando's excellent Commodore PET software (Defender, Lode Runner, etc.)
- Commodore Stupid PET Tricks
This is not just a demo, it is a piece of art!
Wow amazing. Just imagine programming this back in the day and showing the head master what you've done with the school computer.
This is absolutely spectacular and mind boggling!! I would never have expected to see anything as great as this on the good old PET. Thank you!!!
This does all sorts of things that should be impossible.. And at a great frame rate. I didn't even know the PET had sound.. But I do know all those graphics are in petscii, which is just wow
40 years later and I'm still struggling to finish my text adventure game. Imagine this demo on the launch of the PET 4000 series.
That ghosting effect (more of a side effect, I guess) is super cool.
Could you image the drop jaws you would have going back in time with this demo. Even if you didn't have the audio playing. The visuals alone are impressive. Put this on an office workers PET in 1978. They would probably wonder how you did it.
If I have seen that on C64, I would be impressed, but on PET?? I'm beyond impressed! Too bad I don't have commodore PET
This is so beautiful. I cried while watching.
Of course, the display with only PETSCII is great, but what reallty amazes me is the sound, with a single voice beeper !
The persistence of the phosphorus on the display definitely makes this a lot fancier! Awesome.
first computer i ever touched in my primary school - geek teacher brought it in and cos i did well on my maths test that day (motivated by the promise of being able to use it if I did well) i got to play around with it. That was about 1981. damn, i would have melted if i'd seen that demo then. sooooo cool. this coder is amazeballs.
The speech bit reminds me of software automatic mouth.
This is easily the best PET demo of all time!!
Mind blown. Thank you for showing this on original PET hardware, it is incredible to see!
Same model as mine, I've had my PET since new. Did upgrade the memory to 32k just after I bought it as I couldn't afford the 32k model. Only faults so far have been a video memory chip fail. Also the mains filter went bang in the single floppy drive. Have a few videos of getting it working again. Still love to see other people showing some PET love.
Absolutely mind blown. Hands down, THE best 8 bit demo I’ve ever seen, considering the PET does not have bit mapped graphics!!!
I was laughing hard because this looks so sureal (in most awesome way) , and I was imagining how would people react if you showed them this back in the days PET was presented for the first time. They would have fallen on the floor thinking aliens took over.
My jaw hit the damned FLOOR when I saw this. I have some familiarity with the C64 demo scene (I had one back in the 90s, it was actually the first computer I ever owned) but anything older I don't have any experience with. One of my cousins had a C64 BBS back in the 90s and he also had a PET, but he told me it had issues and didn't have it actually working.
I originally learned programming on one of these (actually a 4032 I think) and an Exidy Sorcerer back in 81/82. Such nostalgia for me and the beginnings of my love for Commodore computers. I was so thrilled to save up and purchase a VIC-20 a year or so later. It was totally awesome to be able to program at home at will instead of having to wait my turn on one of the five PETs in my school's lab. I miss those days...