The Educator 64

Commodore PET 64 (aka C= 4064)

With strong hopes of competing with Apple in the school market, Commodore changed the label on their breadbox Commodore 64 computer to Educator 64. Schools had trouble taking such a small and cute little machine seriously, however, so Commodore was forced to improvise. Taking refurbished C64 V1 motherboards, they retrofitted the boards into old PET 40XX cases to produce the CBM 4064 and PET 64 variations, continueing to call most the Educator 64.

In the end, the PET/Educator 64 IS a Commodore 64, complete with the powerful VIC-II video chip, SID sound chip, 64K of memory, and the fantastic BASIC 2.0 programming environment. The only downside is that the monochrome monitor takes away the benefits of a 16 color video chip, and the internal speaker is hardly adequate for the sound generated. As a result of the screen, the PET/Educator 64 keyboard has the color codes removed from the front of the number keys.

Although essentially the same computers, there are a few differences between the CBM 4064/PET 64 (shown here on the left) and the Educator 64 (shown in the upper right). They had different ROMs for instance, and different boot up screens. The PET 64s screen was forced to remain in a black background/white writing color scheme, whereas the Educator 64 used the standard C64 ROM, allowing it to explore the range of green shades available. Many PET 64s also lacked the internal speaker of the Educator 64. The helpful hints on the keyboard plate also differed between machines.