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C= Pet 'Abraxus' found in Australia?

T

TRS-Ian

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Do tell. If you can manage to get ROM dumps/technical information about the thing (CPU chips, clock rates, etc.) then that would be a swell addition to emulators like VICE and MESS.
 
So... the lower board looks like the normal Pet board, and the one above seems to have a cable down to a CPU(?) socket on the mainboard, and the 2nd board as best I can see has 4 banks of Ram chips (maybe 16K per bank = 64K for a total of 96K). a 40 pin chip and a 28 pin chip.

could it be a Z80 board or a video board?

How did the implement the 80 columns display on the 4032 to make it an 8032?
 
Um, looks like a standard CBM4032 with a standard 64K ram expansion board in there.
Maybe I can get some stick on letters from the dollar store and stick them on a PET and sell it as "rare".... LOL

Steve
 
Well that's good to know. All I want is a working Pet and if its just a 4032 then so much the better. Any CBM Pet is rare in Aus. $200 to me is well within what I consider acceptable.

If it is a 4032 does anyone make replacement nameplates?
 
Looking at it again. Perhaps it's not quite standard.

It has an "n" (normal/graphic) keyboard, which means the computer was originally a 4000 series (40 column) machine. The label on the back will probably say 4032. However the motherboard appears to be a "universal dynamic pet" board with all the chips. This means it is from an 8000-series (80-column) machine. That kinda makes sense given the 64K ram board. That would make the machine an 8096 if it weren't for the "N" keyboard. The 80-column machines all shipped with the "B" (business) keyboard. This means the "Editor ROM" (the chip on the bottom right with the white label on it) is probably a custom patched EPROM (to support the "n" keyboard).

You could convert this machine back to 40 columns if you want a 4032 by modifying the jumpers on the board.

The 64K ram board is fairly rare, however there's not a lot of software that will use it. If you just want a 4032 you wont need this board.

On my PET Labels page http://www.6502.org/users/sjgray/computer/petlabels/index.html you can download a 4032 low profile vectorized label that you could use to make a replacement label.

Steve
 
Are we sure it is just a RAM card? Seems to be awfully big for that, and the onboard regulator... Hmm. I have a 64K RAM expansion here, it is half the size and runs off one of the PET's low voltage connectors (no onboard regulator).
 
JonB said:
Are we sure it is just a RAM card? Seems to be awfully big for that, and the onboard regulator... Hmm. I have a 64K RAM expansion here, it is half the size and runs off one of the PET's low voltage connectors (no onboard regulator).
Click to expand...

Yes, it's Commodore's standard 64K ram board for PET/CBM machines. This is the same board used in the 8096.
commodore_PET_64K-expansion-kit_board.jpg
Steve
 
JonB said:
Are we sure it is just a RAM card? Seems to be awfully big for that, and the onboard regulator... Hmm. I have a 64K RAM expansion here, it is half the size and runs off one of the PET's low voltage connectors (no onboard regulator).
Click to expand...

Interesting, could be an SRAM board. Probably made with newer ram chips that take less power. The old DRAM's take up too much power and need 3 voltages. Newer chips only need +5V which means they don't need the different voltage regulators.
Who makes the card? Skyles? Do you have a picture?

Steve
 
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https://www.bloomberg.com/research/stocks/private/snapshot.asp?privcapId=617386

This is a software company once known as Abraxus, located in Australia. The computer probably came from here.
I re-read the ebay listing and he really hyped up the computer...

"Abraxas micro mainframe home computer." -> Where does it say mainframe?
"It looks to be based on the Commodore SuperPET computer from late 1970s." --> SuperPET was early 80's.
"Extremely rare!" --> if putting your company name on a PET makes it "rare" ok.
"Was working last time I used it 20 years ago, but isnt now." --> So, a broken PET.
"This is so rare that it is the only one I have ever seen." --> because it was hacked. See above.
"Years of research have come up with no info." --> Anyone hear of google images? Absurd.
"I had been told it is possibly the only one that was ever made." --> um, no.

Steve
 
Here's a picture of my "PET 64K ADD-ON RAM" (written on the board) expansion board.

IMG_1026.jpg

It's made by Paradox, inc. and has 8x4164 DRAMs on board. There is a small voltage regulator which is a LM7805, so the power input (red/black flying lead) will be from the PET's 12v rail and the regulator will provide 5v. Interestingly, it has 4 ROM sockets and I bet there's a paging scheme implemented. The white ribbon connector on the left terminates in a 40 way IC socket plug that goes into the CPU socket on the main board; the CPU sits in the 40 way IC socket on the expansion board. All pretty standard fare as I understand it. I don't know if it works, though, it was pulled from my big screened 4032 (modified for 80 columns). The missing chip is a 74LS10 which I "borrowed". Must replace it....
 
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Ok so I got it home, plugged it in and nothing. To be expected. Fortunately I'm a deft hand with a soldering iron and an oscilloscope so I'll have it running soon.

I'll put some photos up in the next couple of days, but so far I can see it says 80 column system board on the motherboard and a 64K memory expansion card, so I guess that would make it a 8096?

One of the Eproms reads "Abraxus" making me think its a customised turnkey system. It will be interesting to see what that boots up to.

Overall physically its in great condition except that a couple of keycaps got knocked off in transit.

Has no info panel on the back unfortunately.
 
JonB said:
It's made by Paradox, inc. and has 8x4164 DRAMs on board. There is a small voltage regulator which is a LM7805, so the power input (red/black flying lead) will be from the PET's 12v rail and the regulator will provide 5v. Interestingly, it has 4 ROM sockets and I bet there's a paging scheme implemented. The white ribbon connector on the left terminates in a 40 way IC socket plug that goes into the CPU socket on the main board; the CPU sits in the 40 way IC socket on the expansion board. All pretty standard fare as I understand it.
Click to expand...

Nice. Yes, yours has 1/8th the RAM chips that the Commodore board has. Memory density really increased a lot in that time. It plugs into the CPU socket just like the Commodore board. It would be interesting to find out what those sockets do. It was common back then to have ROM switchers for the option ROM sockets ($9000 and $A000) so perhaps that's what they are for.

Steve
 
TRS-Ian said:
Ok so I got it home, plugged it in and nothing. To be expected. Fortunately I'm a deft hand with a soldering iron and an oscilloscope so I'll have it running soon.

I'll put some photos up in the next couple of days, but so far I can see it says 80 column system board on the motherboard and a 64K memory expansion card, so I guess that would make it a 8096?

One of the Eproms reads "Abraxus" making me think its a customised turnkey system. It will be interesting to see what that boots up to.

Overall physically its in great condition except that a couple of keycaps got knocked off in transit.

Has no info panel on the back unfortunately.
Click to expand...

Yes, it's an 8096 except for the keyboard. If you can dump the ROM we could try it in VICE.

Steve
 
TRS-Ian said:
Abraxas 2716 Eprom found in position UD7:

http://ianmav.customer.netspace.net.au/downloads/901498-0180.bin

Ian.
Click to expand...

Thanks for posting. I compared the file to both 40 and 80 column edit roms. The 901498-xx part is for 40 columns, 50Hz, N keyboard. The file however is closer to the 901474-xx 80 column rom. In the official rom there are several empty areas, but your file has code there, so it's definitely been patched somehow. I don't see any obvious strings that might indicate it was customized by "Abraxus". In VICE this starts up just like a standard 80 column machine. Anyway, more analysis is needed.

Steve
 
The only other Eproms I can see are UD11 and UD12 marked L/C and F. Maybe character generator roms?

DSCF5961.jpgDSCF5958.jpg

Anyone know what this thing might be? It was inside. Not sure where it plugs into:

DSCF5959.jpgDSCF5960.jpg

Ian.
 
Does it fit the user port? (I wouldn't recommend trying it with the power on)
 
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