Commodore PET
| |
| Also Known As: | |
|---|---|
| Drawn By: | C-Chan |
| OS Personified: | Commodore PET |
| OS Developer: | Commodore International |
| First Released: | 1977 |
| Latest Stable Release: | 1982 |
Description
Commodore PET-tan is the personification of Commodore International's first successful computer. Released in 1977, it competed with the Apple II and TRS-80 for control of the US Computer Market. Although it was not a top seller outside the Canadian, US, and UK educational markets, it was Commodore's first full-featured computer and would form the basis for their future success.
OSC Notes
Commodore PET-tan is depicted as a young woman in a naval captain's uniform with a pirate hat and scabbard. Most of the Commodore-tans feature naval attire in some form. She has short black hair, and two large bangs by her face with metal plates attached, a subtle reference to the steel case of the original PET. She wears a pair of Velcro shoes, a nod to the Anti-Gravity Slippers featured in 2001: A Space Odyssey, which was the inspiration for the styling on the original PET. A bit behind the times, she insists that Apple, Radio Shack, and Japanese manufacturers must be crushed at all costs, despite the fact that assembly of the PET took place in Japan.
The present-day C64-tan can best be described as somewhat Janus-faced. While on the outside she seems anemic and pleasant, she is prone to sudden and unexplained fits of rage, a nod to the Jack Attacks of Commodore's CEO, Jack Tramiel. However, PET-tan in her early days competently commanded the Commodore armada, facing off against her rivals. Initially jealous of her sisters, VIC20-tan and C64-tan, for their color displays and larger memory, she grew to accept them as the VIC-20 was supplanted by the C64 and the C64 was supplanted by the C128.
See also: