Reproduced March 31 2002 with permission from Marko Mäkelä of funet.fi Tandon / JTS / Celetron chronology at the end of this article added Oct 4, 2003 by Ian Matthews – Entire article refreshed Nov 23 2018
Note that we now have a much more comprehensive article on Chuck Peddle HERE.
Chuck Peddle got the idea of developing a personal computer that should be a closed system which can immediately be used after plugging it to the power outlet. The result was the worlds first personal computer, the Commodore PET. This occurred almost at the same time the Apple II was introduced but the Apple II used Chuck’s MOS 6502 CPU… so he kind-of-invented the Apple too.
The PET’s features included a built-in monitor, integrated cassette device and the well-known BASIC interpreter from Microsoft. Commodore revised the PET many times and it is still quite popular amongst computer collectors today.
Chuck is one generation older than the ‘miracle children’ among the computer industries well known founders like Bill Gates, Stephen Wozniak and Steve Jobs and that fact always seems to keep him one step out of the discussion. In 1982 influential Byte magazine said “More than any other person Chuck Peddle deserves to be called the founder of the personal computer industry”.
What he developed in this small company would soon become the most successful microprocessor of the first microcomputer decade — the 6502 CPU. Nobody could anticipate that it was the basis of a whole industry that started not only a technical but also a social revolution.
1973 COMMODORE MINI-SLIDE RULE CALCULATOR – From a December 1973 advertisement in Playboy… um uh ummmm yaaa well, this was the what I was looking for in the magazine… I was shocked to find naked women… I suppose I will have to take one for the team and scan all the old Playboys for Commodore materials. Its a tough job but I will sacrifice myself for Commodore.
One person who detected the worldwide effects of microprocessors and especially the 6502 from MOS Technology was Jack Tramiel, the founder and President of Commodore Computers. Until then Commodore had focus on typewriters and then calculators. It is not hard to understand that Tramiel, the main client of 4-function-chips for pocket calculators by MOS Technology, bought the company even while Commodore was in financial troubles itself. But for Tramiel, the most important part of the deal was among the 6502 the developing engineer Chuck Peddle.
Chuck Peddle was so sure of his idea that he allied with Bill Gates, the founder of Microsoft and father of the popular BASIC interpreter, to buy Apple. This took place almost at the same time when Commodore bought MOS Technology. Wozniak and Jobs wanted back then $150,000 ($670,000 in 2018 dollars) for Apple, but Peddle and Gates could only raise two thirds of the required funds.
Three years later Chuck Peddle developed a new talent — the one of a company president. Together with Chris Fish, a former financier of Commodore, he founded Sirius Systems Technology which was a financial failure and in the end was bought by the then notable Walter Kidde Corporation in 1982.
The development in the area of personal computers was concentrated on the 16-bit chips at that time, like the Intel 8088. Sirius beat the IBM PC to market by just a few weeks. The Sirius I was not an cheap computer with its advanced features like a 16-bit CPU, detached keyboard and flicker-free high resolution graphics monitor.
It was confirmed in October 2003 that Chuck Peddle is the Chief Technology Officer for Celetron which is a hard drive disk platter and power supply manufacturer. Mr. Peddle works in the US offices, but the most of the company’s operations are in India and Asia. Mr. Tandon has a very interesting history with Mr. Peddle and Commodore:
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I have a cassette "Basic Basic for the Commodore Pet", but my datasette is not working.
Hi Meyer;
We have schematics and other items available but your best bet is use our forum and see what others think may be the problem.