PET Terminal Emulator

The PET Terminal Emulator is a combination of hardware and software which converts a Commodore computer with 4.0 ROMs into a sophisticated terminal emulator. This system gives you:

• —A serial interface board for PET to serial conversion
• —A machine language program on a PROM to handle communication
• —Communication speeds between 150 and 4800 baud
• —Choice of three different major manufacturer terminal configurations
• —Uses almost none of the PET's RAM (only 512 bytes)
• —Permits PET BASIC program residing in RAM during terminal operation
• —Automatically relocates itself to operate in conjunction with other machine language programs
• —Adds terminal function keys and special characters to character set
• —Ability to redefine keys on the keyboard for greater flexibility

This system is optimized to give the highest possible speed when the PET is operating as a terminal and to permit taking advantage of the many programs which are designed to use the screen characteristics of terminals in their operation.

The board, called the Serial Connection, takes the signal from the Commodore computer and translates it to a serial signal that can be used with any standard RS 232C modem or acoustical coupler. It has the capacity to send and receive at speeds between 150 and 4800 baud.

The machine language program which is stored on a programmable read only memory (PROM) handles the communication between the PET and another computer. Since there are an increasing number of programs that take advantage of the screen handling features of terminals for data entry and printing on the screen this program permits the user to choose to emulate either the ADDS Regent 100, the Lear Sigler ADM 31, or the Televideo 950. These are three very popular terminals, and users should find it advantageous to use one of the three in almost all situations.

Since the machine language program is stored on PROM it uses very little of the Commodore computer's RAM. In addition, once the machine language program is initialized it is protected from PET BASIC programs that may be loaded into the PET. PET BASIC will not write over it, and it does not interfere with the operation of PET BASIC programs if it is initialized before the PET BASIC programs are loaded into the computer.

The documentation for the PET Terminal Emulator is very thorough; more than thirty pages. And there is a table of contents and an index. The manual is written for ordinary users. Each step in installation and use is carefully and explicitly described.

The PET Terminal Emulator sells for $175. It can be ordered from :

Amplify, Inc.
2325 McBride
Iowa City, IO 52240