michael_nielsen

Kim-1 was intended to just be a prop for learning to use the 6502. But people used it as general purpose computer. The street finds its use.

Cases for the first Commdore PET were sheet metal on Jack Tramiel's insistence ... because Commodore owned a furniture company. (!)

PET's tape drive was monstrously reliable. Because Chuck locked himself in a room with an oscilloscope and hand-optimised the assembler.

Success test was to drill or a capstan on the tape deck to introduce a massive wobble, write to tape, then read the tape on unmodded deck.

Limited chiclet keyboard on first PET was because tape drive was internal, took up space. Next model had external tape & full-size keyboard.

The engineers, who loved and breathed hex, went to lunch. They tried to pay $2.55 and clerk said "sir, that machine is 0FF."

VIC-20 was designed as a demo for the VIC video chip. And it sold insanely.

In Germany, VIC means "fuck" so at German trade shows Commodore put stickers over the name of the computer.