Skyles Electric Works
| Company type | Private |
|---|---|
| Industry | Computer hardware, software |
| Founded | 1978 |
| Founder | Bob Skyles |
| Defunct | 1993 |
| Headquarters | Mountain View, California , United States |
Area served | United States |
Key people | Bob Skyles |
| Products | Hardware enhancements for Commodore PET, firmware (Command-O, Disk-O-Pro), software (Busicalc series, Busidata, Megapede), memory expansion boards for Amiga computers |
Number of employees | 13 (1985–1987) |
Skyles Electric Works was established in 1978 in California by Bob Skyles, who previously worked as an engineer at Commodore. The company initially focused on creating hardware enhancements for the Commodore PET and began operations from a garage located in Cupertino, California. Subsequently, the headquarters were relocated to Mountain View, California. From 1985 to 1987, the firm maintained a workforce of 13 employees and reported annual revenues surpassing $501,000.
The company's initial offerings featured memory upgrade modules and replacement keyboards designed to substitute the PET’s original calculator-style keys. In addition, Skyles Electric Works developed firmware solutions such as Command-O and Disk-O-Pro, which provided improvements to the PET’s BASIC programming environment.
Among its software products, Skyles Electric Works distributed both cassette and disk-based titles, including Busicalc, recognized as the first spreadsheet application for the Commodore 64. This software was licensed from the UK-based company Supersoft. The Busicalc lineup—consisting of Busicalc, Busicalc 2, and Busicalc 3—enjoyed significant popularity within the United States between 1983 and 1984. Building on this success, the company introduced additional rebranded software under the Busi brand, notably Busidata. Furthermore, it published the Commodore 64 game Megapede, developed by Paul Andrus.
In its later phase, Skyles Electric Works manufactured memory expansion boards compatible with the Amiga 500, Amiga 1000, and Amiga 2000 computer models. The business ceased operations in 1993.