Oral History of Chuck Peddle

Interviewed by Doug Fairbairn and Stephen Diamond on 2014-06-12 in Mountain View, CA X7180.2014
© Computer History Museum

Chuck Peddle is not one of the better known names in the world of microprocessors and personal computers, but he has had as much influence on the evolution of those industries as anyone.

He began his career at General Electric, where he had a wide range of engineering experiences in defense and commercial systems. He became convinced that the future was distributed intelligence rather than centralized computing. He started a company, Intelligent Terminal Systems, to design a point of sale system. He found himself ahead of the technology curve and was not able to get the company funded. He then took a job building a typesetting system based on the PDP-11. This experience was a real eye-opener for him, as the PDP-11 architecture would significantly influence his future work.

Chuck joined the Motorola team working on the 6800 microprocessor in 1971. His major contribution was the development of the Programmable Interface Adapter (PIA), which provided enhanced I/O capability to the microprocessor.

After disagreements with Motorola, Peddle joined with former colleagues at MOS Technology to create what became the most popular microprocessor of the personal computer age: the 6502. It was designed into Apple, Atari, Commordore, and so many other personal computers.

He later went to work for Commodore, where he designed the wildly popular Commodore PET computer and several personal computers after that, working deals with Victor, Microsoft, Shugart, Tandon and many others. Peddle’s impact on the personal computer industry through the 1970’s and ‘80’s is truly remarkable.

Catalog Number: 102739938
Lot Number: X7180.2014

[Whatisrealwillprosper]

THIS IS MY GREAT GRANDFATHER Love you ❤

[anorax]

These oral histories are priceless. What better way to record history than from the people that helped create it.

[jolesco]

R.I.P....Thanks for giving us affordable home computers

[Caisuno]

This guy has made some insane contributions to this planet.

[RayR]

A great interview. It's cool that the interviewer had been there for part of Chuck's history to.

[GamerX]

If you ever played Atari 2600, NES, Apple I/II, or owned a Commodore 64, thank Chuck Peddle. Chuck had an incredible vision of where computers were going and was instrumental in starting the home computer revolution at MOS Technology / Commodore. The products created with the 6502 entertained, educated, and inspired an entire generation to become literate with the first wave of home computers.

[stevenbrown]

absolute legend and greatest man on the planet, makes jobs look like a beginner, he is entitled a few swear words for what he has done for mankind. I hope he lives forever and gets all the credit he really does deserves.

[greenpedal]

That was outstanding! Certainly one of the best talks from the CHM.

[thejasonknightfiascoband]

4 hours long. I'm looking forward to listening to every second of this video. The pile of paperwork I have on my desk @ work I'm sure won't go anywhere. It'll still be there tomorrow morning🙂

[videooblivion]

I love how Chuck takes control of the energy in the room and conversation. Watching him in the same space with Jack Tramiel must have left spectators in awe.

[PaulBosMusic]

At 1:34:30 he must have been talking about the MCS-48 series of micro-controllers

Chuck in the beginning was *so* right. He died not much more than five years later.

[hujkin]

May he rest in piece, he's a huge inspiration for me in both microprocessors and story.

[stefanegger]

I talked to him, very nice guy and he has an incredible history. He envisioned many things back in early 1980ies that came to life much later in time, e.g. large computer networks and crazy stuff like that. Had many of his products or where he worked on, e.g. 6502, KIM, PET, Sirius Victor etc.

[PauloConstantino]

The Greeks thought story telling would be over when writing was invented. We have come around boys!

[rabidbigdog]

1:52:11 "The 6502 was designed as the universal solver. It's just enough, it's simple enough, it's cheap enough that you can use it for anything." I really wish Sophie Wilson would watch this.

[MauryMarkowitz]

In the opening section he refers to a "94" on several occasions. I assume that's a 7090/94, but can anyone suggest an possible alternative?

[nicktucker]

Wow, he is unbelievably sharp even at a later age in this interview.

7:45 he compares working in construction vs working on computers, having done both I can verify his view.

1:03:00 drop box deposits.
1:56:25 pretty sure he means Jay Miner here and the Amiga chipset.

3:25:00 hes talking about the 386sx cpu that came with the math coprocessor disabled and IBM was pushing OS/2 at the time.

[UberGeekFarmer]

Fond memories of ASIC layout with rubylith and HILO 3 in 1980 and design on greenbar.

[UberGeekFarmer]

6502 completed instruction in one clock cycle. All Intel took many more.