BACK TO THE PET - a demo for Commodore PET

[@The8BitGuy]

Amazing work!

[@shiru8bit]

Thank you for inspiration! Besides the PET Robots, some of your PET related videos were the driving factor, for one, the acrylic case one just popped out when I was deciding which platform to pick this time.

[@katsumikougen8351]

So are your works, David

[@OfficialWatchOS7]

OMG IT'S THE 8-BIT GUY!!!

[@enochpierre]

​@@shiru8bit I will promise i will do that

[@enochpierre]

THE 8-BIT GUY IM SO PROUD!!!!!!!!!

[@RealPlaystation4ThePlayers1995]

Holy s*** amazing work! 🎉🎉🎉

[@JimLeonard]

This is f****** brilliant, Alex. I can see every trick you are using, but I'm still blown away because your thorough artistic understanding of the character set and your other creative sensibilities really shine through here. I have a few technical questions which I'll contact you privately about :-)

[@shiru8bit]

Thanks, man! I believe the work on the Area 5150 had an effect on me, I learned some stuff here and there just by visually analyzing the thing, and it taught me to work on OST of a great length in the fastest pace possible. I had just three days to compose the music from start to finish in this one, and the first two days I didn't even believe I can possibly do it - but knowing that I actually did it with the larger 5150's OST earlier this year helped me a lot to not give up.

[@JimLeonard]

@@shiru8bit The whole production has a polish representative of many weeks of work. Excellent job!

[@Xonida_NcTroller]

3:36 WHOA WHOA I DIDN'T EXPECT SPEECH SYNTHESIS

[@ZENO_VR_THE_VR_BOI]

O̷N̸L̴Y̴ ̷C̶O̵M̴M̵O̶D̵E̶ ̶P̸E̷T̷ ̷M̵A̴K̶E̸S̴ ̴I̶T̶ ̵P̸A̸S̵S̸A̵B̷L̸E̷ ̶

[@Akira625]

Until last year, I knew nothing about the Commodore PET. Now, I have great respect for it and understand its place in computer history. I’m also impressed with what can be done with a 45-year-old machine with no graphics capabilities, and what sort of clever tricks can be performed with just text and PETSCII characters.

[@shiru8bit]

Actually I myself got into PET just recently, a couple years back. It is a very rare machine in my country, and Commodore stuff isn't any common here either (maybe a little bit of Amiga). Very interesting piece of computer history.

[@MICROBYTESIO]

To be fair, the machine (all pets) did have a pretty large graphics set for its 1977 (pet 2001) release. Wonder if this affected the market since its main competitors (apple ii & trs-80) did not have any graphics.

[@donutgamer6505]

3:37 this is really impressive for something that was created in 1977

[@sixeleven637]

omg its donut

[@ZENO_VR_THE_VR_BOI]

O̷N̸L̴Y̴ ̷C̶O̵M̴M̵O̶D̵E̶ ̶P̸E̷T̷ ̷M̵A̴K̶E̸S̴ ̴I̶T̶ ̵P̸A̸S̵S̸A̵B̷L̸E̷ ̶

[@ArnoldFennec]

I saw you!

[@catonyt17]

This isnt a game from 1977.

[@mibnsharpals]

@@catonyt17 but the PET :-)

[@BoneSkull94]

I am amazed! even for PET's technical limitations still looks amazing.

[@TastyBusiness]

I didn't think a PET could do something like that. That's some mighty impressive work!

[@CerealNumberWDW1984]

There is also bitmap graphics illusions, when in fact the PET uses a text display. (or should I say "Petscii" display)

[@KC9UDX]

I knew it could but didn't know anybody would

[@willywre2251]

Working great on my 2001-32B! Gives the old CRT more of a workout than it's ever had, I think. Awesome stuff!

[@geekwithsocialskills]

I recently showcased it on my PET 2001-N and used the Stupid PET Tricks module to get the CB2 sound. I love this demo.

[@ashtonsretrocomputerroom]

Absolutely amazing! I get goosebumps running it, 😅 so good. Thank you for creating this masterpiece!

[@gklinger]

We hvae a new champion for a PET demo. Very well put together indeed.

[@sans2957]

as a commodore fan, i confirm this is MASTERPIECE!

[@SoyLuciano]

That's impressive for PETSCII standards! I love the demoscene!

[@InnovateSphereStudios]

Absolute banger, Alex! You really pushed the limits of the Commodore PET, including the speech synthesis feature, which is not supported by its limitations. But, you really did what others couldn't do! Congrats on your programming capabilities!

[@contra_banda]

Shiru, jesteś mistrzem!

[@Orzeczenie.]

Zgadzam się

[@andrewmjenner]

Stunning production! I know that machine (and in particular its character set) well, having borrowed one from my primary school for a while. I wrote a horrifically slow BASIC program to draw lines in 80x50 "mode" so I know just what an achievement this is. Thanks for the greetz as well!

[@tohuvabohugbanshee3962]

This belongs to an art gallery as an exhibition, for real.

[@colintroy3831]

Honestly, I'm an Atari 8-bit nerd that glorifies in its superior colour palette to other 8-bit computers, and I have just seen the best 8-bit demo ever created! And the SINGLE track tune! Beautiful! 😍

[@k-storm]

Just wow. One of best prod this year.

[@toddchamberlain6507]

That's pretty spectacular. On a 4032 (a computer from 1977!!) that's amazing work.

[@blueelectric05]

This is incredible, we need more PET demos!

[@timbly-wx2ft]

Trippy! From the author of PET Tetris (2010), good job guys, glad to see the platform still getting some love.

[@speggiman]

3:37 That final speech synthesis stab at the Amiga retrocomputing sub-fandom, fucking sweet. Epic well-known modern-day PET demo, the pseudo-3D effects too.

[@ruikaj6350]

This piece is fantastic!! For a moment I forget that this is a textmode. Knowing this kind of expression drawer, I see great potential to enjoy its usefulness in many kinds of Oldskool Pixelart. Thanks for the super cool video! (Sorry for poor translated English)

[@FoxBlocksHere]

That was amazing! I'm glad the art of the demo is still alive and well!

[@otter-pro]

Somebody, get this man a working commodore PET machine. It looks amazing.

[@UltimatePerfection]

If you think that's impressive, keep in mind that Commodore PET, unlike C64, had no user-defined characters and this is done purely with PETSCII alone, to be even more impressed.

[@Utahsaint]

Not convinced this is a PET actually running the demo. Maybe RPI?

[@Renville80]

As someone whose earliest experiences with computers involved the PET, I am properly mind blown by the mastery of PETSCII in this demo. Well done!

[@sergioelisondo]

Wow, that was wild! Such stunning visuals and awesome sounds - so damn cool :) Love your work man!

[@thethriftyfawn]

Absolutely incredible! 😃

[@carlzanetan3043]

3:31 the PET

[@BlueCardinal33]

ive seen other pet demos but this one wins by far for cleanliness and creativity. continue to be a legend shiru!

[@CerealNumberWDW1984]

Goes just to show what the Commodore PET 4032 can really do. AMAZING

[@svofski]

proud to have my humble attempts ripped by this masterpiece. amazing demo!

[@shiru8bit]

Beware, it might be a Vector 06C demo next time!

[@svofski]

@@shiru8bit that would be fantastic!

[@RoshwyinsTaicoon]

HOW DID THIS GUY MAKE A COMMODORE PET TALK??!?!?

[@Vib-Ribbon_2763.]

Oh hey friend

[@ViscidCoder]

It's commodore maaaaaagic 🪄

[@LLTSBD2005]

@roshwyinstaicoon2593 0:02 Right Here

[@Vib-Ribbon_2763.]

@ It’s commodore MAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH!

[@ViscidCoder]

@@Vib-Ribbon_2763. 😂

[@YesterchipsMIG]

Thats too cool! I need that on my PET in the Yesterchips-Museum... wow ^^ GREAT WORK!

[@YesterchipsMIG]

It works on my PET 2001! Museum-visitors are very happy :) But... is there a possibility to bring this Demo in a permanent loop? Currently it runs once an then stops with the "END" screen... no restart or reset available. I would LOVE to let it run again and again.

[@widicamdotnet]

Came here from @artech7099 's 4032 hardware video - it does the demo a lot more justice with the long persistence phosphors. Love the embossing effects, and that it's all done with "legal" methods *, i.e. clever use of the character set :) (* as opposed to fighting with the CRT timing, not sure if you can even do that on PETs)

[@shiru8bit]

Late October a demo called Transactor has been also released. It uses an absolutely bizzare trick with displaying pixels during horizontal retrace on the PET, which gives more shades of green and creates a scaled/warped backdrop to the main picture. So weird tricks are totally doable in the PET realm. I just had to stick to a more reliable stuff, as current PET emulators aren't that great yet (but getting better).

[@widicamdotnet]

@@shiru8bit Thanks, found it - that is a very trippy effect indeed, but borders on looking like a malfunctioning CRT. Yours is easier on the eyes (and ears) ;)

[@dvuemedia]

Excellent demo! I have been watching Demos since early 1990s, on C64 and then Amiga. This Demo is so far one of the best I have seen, AND it's on the PET!

Impressive! Thanks for the source!

[@Nbrother1607]

'Only Commodore PET makes it possible' Now I get the reference 'Only Amiga makes it possible'

[@ecernosoft3096]

I am blown away. TAKE THAT, APPLE 2!!!! Just… stunning work.

[@johndunlap1143]

Absolutely stunning work!

[@OooSLAJEREKooO]

That is a really huge achievement! Contgrats!

[@davegreenlaw5654]

Back at the end of the 70's I was teaching others how to program BASIC on the PET 8K machines - the ones that I claim had Chicklets for a keyboard - but never knew what it might stand for until today. Personal Electronic Transactor, which makes perfect sense now.

[@xiphod1337]

Those original 2001-N models (chicklet keyboard) - Chuck himself talks about this, they just made up a meaning, while also playing to the "PET rock" theme popular in the late 1970s. As for the keyboard, they felt only math-folks would be interested in the thing (people who used calculators a lot) so from that perspective, the chicklet made sense (engineers, accountants) as a huge calculator-transaction "thing". Plus, with only 4K RAM (in that first year) you're not doing too much with it anyway. But after 8K upgrades, then useful stuff can start to get done.

[@davegreenlaw5654]

@@xiphod1337 Agreed. I think my middle school's computer club had to wait for the 16 or 32K machines before putting together their Star Trek combat simulator.

[@xiphod1337]

@@davegreenlaw5654 Yea, a small terminal program might fit in 4K, that's about it. A picture on the 40x25 screen is already taking 1K. It wasn't until after I made DestinyHunter for the PET till I realized why those old games don't have built in instructions -- there just wasn't memory for it, and loading in more content from the tape wasn't reliable. And RAM chips were expensive since finding quality/reliable ones was difficult (between '76 and '79) .

[@geekwithsocialskills]

Very nice and amazing demo! Thank you for creating it and sharing your files. Remember, only the Commodore PET makes it possible 🙂

[@johnpenner5182]

that is truly impressive given the 8bit limitations of the PET - really pulling all the tricks, using characters graphics to give variation in the display. verrry nice demo of what is possible. thxu for creating this.

[@mwienzek]

Thank you - this is frickin' awesome! I am currently rediscovering my C64. Maybe I should take some steps back and discover the PET.

[@flottenheimer]

Such a wonderful, stylish piece of work. Bravo, Shiru8bit! 🔥 You just gained a new subscriber : )

[@shiru8bit]

Thanks!

[@XYZB0RG]

it is unfair how damn cool this is I'm a sucker for black and green

[@karakenio]

Rad, as usual, legend. I'm getting some Battletoads vibes from the soundtrack.

[@كريتوس-عمك]

‏‪3:36‬‏ "bib boop ba beep boop beep bo"🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥

[@sixeleven637]

"bobay bababoie baby pekaboo boo" 🗣️🗣️🔥🔥

[@itsfilip15Games]

This is so amazing 🤯👍

[@adojck]

Wow this is amazing! Presentation is really good!

[@Dirty_Bits]

Absolutely astounding!

[@MattKasdorf]

Wow! And many thanks for providing the source to learn from.

[@BreadboxBitfall]

Beautiful! This also shows how much potential there is in PETSCII, if you have the skills.

[@makipri]

Cheers for releasing the source code with the really splendid demo! I should release mine some day as well. And it's always nice to see so many new people doing demos for CBM PET! I hope they'd create a platform for them on Pouet some day.

[@shiru8bit]

Actually they did it just recently, PET platform finally has been added to the Pouet's platform list.

[@TheSlab24]

Mind. Blown. Incredible, and very much enjoyed. Thank you!

[@sandorhard]

OMG, every frame of this is amazing! 😮👏

[@ThatOneCreeper7925]

Cool music and concept!

[@WinrichNaujoks]

Insanely great! It could have gone on forever!

[@8_Bit]

Very cool! Looks and sounds great, and really plays to the PET's strengths. Works almost perfectly on my real "NTSC" PET 4032. A bit of tearing/glitching during some of the scrolling, like when the big BACK TO THE PET logo slides on. I think it might have dropped a couple frames there and maybe stuttered on the audio. By the way, I had helped with testing some of the first PET demos like Hardcore Petting by Shadow/Noice from June 2010, and I think I coded the first PET text smooth scroller in April 2010. Great to see more PET demos.

[@shiru8bit]

Yeah, some unfortunate tearing is left there as a compromise, because it wouldn't run as smooth if the tearing is avoided. And there are places it needs to be optimized a bit more, title screen scroll stutters a bit because of the extra CPU load from the music - had no time to fix it before the party.

[@8_Bit]

@@shiru8bit Cool, I only brought it up because I didn't notice it in this capture but upon rewatching, it's slightly noticeable. Anyway, awesome work, congrats on the great release!

[@shiru8bit]

@@8_Bit by some reason, tearing is way less noticeable in MAME, It shows up better in VICE, though.

[@atarimex2643]

@@8_Bit Hi Robin, I tried to run this amazing DEMO on a C64 with the PET one line emulator from your episode. I couldn't make it work. Then, Shiru8bit suggested the PET emulator (by İlker Fıçıcılar). I tried it, loads fine, then freezes after the run command.. no joy!. I was hoping you could provide me with any pointers. I am loading following the instructions using "",8,1, etc. Other smaller programs worked fine on the PET emulator. thanks for your help, like your channel! This was requested by some friends from Argentina, Peru, Mexico and Spain that loved this DEMO running on my 8032...thanks! Al.

[@8_Bit]

@@atarimex2643 Unfortunately I don't think this demo can run as is on the PET emulator on the C64. For sure the audio won't work, and probably other parts of the code won't work. The C64 PET emulators unfortunately don't have full compatibility especially with programs that really push the PET this hard.

[@xiphod1337]

That voice before the "end" - ha! I'll run it on a physical stock 4032 this weekend, see if it blows up. Maybe I'll try load it from a tape too! // If you want to go even deeper, check out the IBM 5110 (assembler is now available as of yesterday!) -- it has a memory mapped screen and beeper just like the PET (and can go 64K), I think a demoscene will be possible for it now (the emulator is a little rough, I'm dusting it off now to play binaries more seamlessly). (nope, not the 5150 -- I mean the older '75-'78 system). Kudos to this demo here - fitting in a 29K PRG is amazing!

[@michaelneubert11]

incredibly impressive. absolutely great!

[@RichardDavey]

Absolutely stunning! Superb work :)

[@LockFarm]

This is fantastic. Visuals are perfect.

[@Bafo117]

this is art

[@Jjulianaaaa]

1:48 "my move,creep" Such inspiring words 🗿

[@Johnny_Franco-12_Scratch]

The 3D and audio wave parts are convincing. Very very convincing. KEEP UP THE GOOD FUCKING WORK

[@RealPlaystation4ThePlayers1995]

BACK TO THE PET P: PERSONAL E: ELECTRONIC T: TRANSACTOR

[@FredericBezies]

I'm speechless. This demo is awesome on the good old Pet4032. By the way, I ran it with Vice component xpet without troubles.

[@shiru8bit]

Is the CB2 sound emulation in the VICE fixed by now? It was horribly filtered out in past versions, up to the point of some frequencies/notes getting muted altogether.

[@FredericBezies]

@@shiru8bit It was fixed during vice 3.6 development. It is working great now.

[@shiru8bit]

@@FredericBezies thanks for the info, good to know!

[@williamprescod4926]

3:31 Yes.

[@DeusVult838]

So awesome!

[@TheLucaz37]

1:52 absolute BANGER

[@breakallthethings]

This is phenomenal. Thank you.

[@tatqoo]

Great demo!

[@sixeleven637]

were going back to the pet with this one🗣🔥🔥

[@cafedemoparty]

Amazing!

[@Veselin_Angelov]

Antique computers never seize to amaze! I never even expected the PET to be capable of that kind of animation! It puts modern systems to shame! The random maze tribute was, for me, the funniest part of the video. It was great to see the BASIC one-liner "subverted!" I really want to ask for the screen codes of the third maze variant! What are they?

[@matty6598]

Amazing demo

[@tronix286]

Brilliant as allways! ::up:

[@philippelewis3543]

Awesomeness

[@rotordave81]

Liked the 10 PRINT bit, that will please Robin

[@johnsmith1953x]

*I can almost see color!* Oh wait, that's just some blood vessels bursting in my eye from seeing this....

[@deathybrs]

This is so cool!

[@Jones5121]

love the part where it shows its own audio waveform👌

[@chriz74]

Beautiful

[@tommykruesofficial]

WOW!

[@FranzRathgeb-z7l]

Wow, wow, wow! Soooo amazing! Never thought that such effects are possible with this machine! The programmer is a brilliant artist. I'm currently restoring a 4032 and can't wait to run this demo on my device! Where can I get it?

[@shiru8bit]

Thanks! Download link is in the description.

[@FranzRathgeb-z7l]

@@shiru8bitThanks a lot! Got it 😅

[@digmsymii321]

1:17 2:10 I like the shifting-checkered part and the waving part! 2:40 Also the oscilloscope is great! In common, all tricks are nice! And music is not bad for me. Sadly, I'm not familiar with the capabilities of the computer used for the demo.

[@shiru8bit]

This platform only features a 40x25 text mode with a fixed character set, and no sound, with 32K RAM. The sound comes from a serial interface and is generated by the serial interface chip (it allows to pick carrier frequencies with a 8-bit programmable divider).

[@digmsymii321]

shiru8bit, Interesting technical detail about the sound source. In addition, I've read that the PET's processor has 1 MHz clock.

[@shiru8bit]

@@digmsymii321 yep, 1 MHz only, which makes 60 FPS screen updates quite tricky.

[@rafalwronowski1893]

Najlepsze demo na peta jakie widzialem

[@meyhandra9593]

1:53 Amazing song 🔥

Awesome!!!

[@julienbraudel7109]

Genius. спаси́бо !

[@Y2F0]

love it !

[@RelaxingHeat]

holy hel, my head hurts..

[@ndiscovery]

Best on PET!

[@NicuTataie]

3:34 commamoma possabal moment

[@auletes]

Insane!

[@inqurity]

This is great!