Charles Ingerham “Chuck” Peddle was an American electrical engineer whose work on inexpensive microprocessors and complete personal computers placed him at the center of the microcomputer revolution. In his Computer History Museum oral history, Peddle recounts joining Motorola in 1971 to work on the team building the 6800 microprocessor, where his contributions included the Peripheral Interface Adapter that gave the chip practical input and output capability.
Peddle became convinced that the price of microprocessors was the main barrier to widespread use, and he pushed for a far cheaper part than the 6800. When Motorola declined to pursue a low-cost design, Peddle and a group of colleagues left for the small Pennsylvania chip maker MOS Technology. There, in 1975, they produced the 6502, a microprocessor that was functionally comparable to more expensive competitors but sold for a fraction of their price. The 6502’s low cost made it the engine of an entire generation of affordable computers and game machines.
To prove the chip’s value and create demand for it, Peddle then designed a complete computer around the 6502. After MOS Technology was acquired by Commodore in 1976, that effort became the Commodore PET, an all-in-one machine with a built-in monitor, keyboard, and cassette storage. Shipped in 1977, the PET was one of the first ready-to-use personal computers and one of the trio of influential 1977 machines alongside the Apple II and the TRS-80.
Peddle’s oral history describes his role across both halves of the personal-computer equation: the cheap microprocessor that made the machines economically possible, and the integrated product design that turned bare chips into something an ordinary person could buy and use. The 6502 he led went on to power the Apple II, the Atari 8-bit and 2600 systems, the Nintendo Entertainment System, and the full Commodore line, making it one of the most widely deployed processors of the era.
After his Commodore years, Peddle worked on further computer designs and business ventures, but his lasting influence rests on the 6502 and the PET. By attacking processor cost directly and then demonstrating a complete consumer computer built on the result, he helped move computing out of laboratories and corporations and into homes, schools, and small businesses.