1981 Commodore® VIC 20 Close up of an 8 bit Milestone

[bloodnokian]

Damn this takes me back! I had one of these in 1982-1984 and then got a Commodore 64. The amount of games I programmed myself from magazines, best time ever when they worked, worst time ever going back and checking for that one extra . or ,

[chipwaver]

@bloodnokian OMG, I so remember that... typing in every single charakter of many pages of program code and basic commands... it was almost sadistic of many magazines to be sold without a compact cassette with the program on them... WOW! The kids today complain as they buy a new game and have to wait a few hours to get the latest updates for it, yeah that also sucks but not to be compared! :)

[jabg2011]

That reminds me, I'm sure I heard that someone bought Commodore, and that they are going to make C64 units which look the same as the old ones but have modern stuff inside.

[jabg2011]

Damn, I remember my VIC 20. I wish I still had it.

[NasherDezno]

I still have mine in storage, its next to my Atari 2600, two things I will never give up if for no better reason than the memories.

[WindowsLover6767]

I just love seeing stupid circuit boards up close!!! >8D

[Ultramanyax]

WOOOOOOWWW 5kb ram...WOOD PC

[Daytonstars]

beautiful macro vision

[Qinetiqnl]

Omg, I totally forgot about the symbols 'under' all the keys! Great stuff

[imafurryhusky]

So my ipod is arround 80000 times faster?

[sean12ab34cd]

@imafurryhusky and with all that power it only plays music :)

This clearly shows how a small amount of resources wisely implemented is far more impressive than a gimmick used only to lighten the wallets of the fools

[wcmi92]

The VIC was my first computer.  1981...

And I've been working in IT for nearly 20 years. I guess it wasn't so bad I got a computer instead of a dirtbike after all.

[1972jeepcommando]

I like close up but at the end can you show the entire thing so i can see what it looks like. i was not around when these came out so i have no idea what it looks like.

[1972jeepcommando]

I like close up but at the end can you show the entire thing so i can see what it looks like. i was not around when these came out so i have no idea what it looks like

[Larry198s]

I had a problem with the sound chip in the commodore 64 keyboard so I bought a another one on ebay, and now everything works including the sound,

[gamewizard]

This was the first computer to sell over a million units which was pretty funny because there were already much more capable computers on the market by that time.

[Unguidedone]

oh god i feel old

[Sector9NL]

QWERTY



[crazyleg2006]

Had one for about a week...Typed in a program from BYTE magazine and got an out of memory error... Begged my parents for a c-64---Returned vic20 got the 64.... and I never looked back!

[chipwaver]

@crazyleg2006 understandable, but not every little Computer-Freak had such good Parents back then..

[guitarmad89]

very nice vid

[chipwaver]

PLEASE SHOW ALL COMMENTS, else the comments and answers may be mixed up and most unreadable...

[sstylianou]

I still have the old thing at home still works after all these years those were the days.

[chipwaver]

@sstylianou True! :)

[pauliux00000]

the music with the video is like i first saw a keyboard!

[Hiraghm]

Ah yes, my first computer.

I miss those days. The simplicity, the excitement, the adventure of learning.



[chipwaver]

@Hiraghm Those were the days, right ;-)

[Hedefar]

@chipwaver Oh bugger... I voted your comment down by accident... meant nothing by it ;)

Thanks for the nostalgic closeups. I especially enjoyed the closeup of the TWO arrow keys instead of four.

Four arrow keys are for pussies! ;)

[Thetruthishere11]

Poor ugly exterior like the PET.

Make it more sleek and portable.

[arjunus]

The RS232 is great.

Programming a piece of software and use this ports to switch.

It was easy with peek and poke to control it.

[chipwaver]

@arjunus I bought my personal VIC used from a guy that controlled the Heating in his cellar with a self programed Basic-Program via the RS232, afterwards he renewed his Heating with a ready to work bought controller.

I learned BASIC on that VIC, and had much fun with it, due to all limitations :)

[arjunus]

Yes that was great fun this days.

I had a BBS true the phone line with a C64 and four 1541 disk drives. I had to cool them to prevent them from burning down. ;)

I had written the communication in Assembler. (small routine) and the program in Basic. Every byte used. 1200 baud.

It was a good education.

[chipwaver]

@arjunus Cool man! And, positively NO 24/7 of this machines without aircondition, sooo true.

Back in those days guys/companies had to have real skills, else no good working "app" ( as we say today :)

[arjunus]

i have learned 8bits asembler on this thing.

X and Y register and acumulator.

Great fun....;)

[chipwaver]

@arjunus those were the days, bro!

[Richardddoobies]

How about the Commodore PET...

It was the granddaddy of all commodore machines.

[chipwaver]

Right, they are hard to get, quite expensive, maybe someday I have got one...

[Richardddoobies]

I had a VIC20 with a datasette. Good times. I had a program that would actualy digitize sound from any cassete you fed it.

2.5K worth of 2-bit .WAV @ 300bps

About 1 second of bad quality audio

or 3 seconds of worse quality audio.

But still - way ahead of its time for digital audio.

[chipwaver]

WONDERFULL! :-)

I would have loved, owning that program too! I remember how I loved anything that made noise, sound, music, or even fragments of speech synthesis (like on C64), as I think about it, it was some kind of silly too, as I had a good stereo just next to my 8 biter's BUT it was something special as long as it came out of my commodore!

[styles7887]

i had one,you didnt miss much

[chipwaver]

It was the first big HIT of Commodore in the Homecomputer-Sector, and the forerunner of the C64, the Graphics and Sound abilities along with the RAM-Size were drasticly improved in the C64, but the VIC was a cool machine, also there were Games and Apps that were very cool for it's time, really loved my VIC.

[archy9752]

man so cool, wish i had one!

[AMOKIAN]

Have you ever used the MULTI SOUND SYNTH

datasette?

How was it?

Do you have the keyboard overlay? Was that used with the program?

[chipwaver]

I guess I know the program-tape, but did not knoe that there was a keyboard-overlay available, sound interesting, I will google to find out more.

[1959cwb]

I went through three VIC-20s in the early 80s. Having to take the time to write everything in basic taught me patients. I still dig out my last VIC every so often just for the challenge.

[cubezero01]

I found a Vic-20 at a flea market for $5, it didnt come with the cords or games but it was just sitting there and i had to save it!

[FoulOwl]

I've still got one of these boxed up along with an original Video Pong,Atari 2600 and a old Nintendo.Damn I think there's even a Merlin in there.

[mpabromley]

This was my first Computer. :) Thanks for this mate. its good to remember. :)

[ozzie11969]

my first computer. happy days.

[Poshswagger]

Blitz!! Jet Pack!!!

[sarahthediva]

my grandma had one of these

[SaganAppreciationSoc]

Um, the Vic-20 and C64 were very different. The BASIC interpreter and most external device interfaces were compatible. The audio and video systems were totally different.

And, IIRC, the Vic-20 came out in Japan in 1980.

[chipwaver]

1980 Commodore VIC-1001

1981 Commodore VIC-20

The C64 was the revised/later Revision of VIC20 with better sound and graphics, CPU 6502-> 6510, VIA-CHIP -> CIA-CHIP, Basic = equal, Case equal...

[alwaysobsessed]

I just used one yesterday! What a wonderful thing cassette tapes are...

[chipwaver]

And the old program tapes from the 80ies still work perfect! PRESS PLAY ON TAPE and have fun!

[alwaysobsessed]

Yeah, I was trying to find more tapes, like Rally-X, pacman and vic-invader. I'm not sure where they are, and neither is the owner... Well, maybe I can type an entire program using BASIC... Wonder where I could find THAT... Google perhaps...

[chipwaver]

Great that this machine is still fascinating young folks! It had the same effect on me, at your age, and still love that 8bit.

A good source for Tapes/Cartridges are online auctions, u know big "e..." Just checked it, they have got some cool and budget offers currently.

And u should try to get the printed manual, it has got many nice "Listings" wich means printed programs, also u learn programming just while u have fun!

Great! Have a good time!

[alwaysobsessed]

Thanks. I really do like the older computers, and Vic-20 especially. I'm lucky that I got one to work, since it had sat in extreme temperatures for about 10 years. I'll be using it again tomorrow, so I'll go through some of the manuals!

[bonchbonch]

Ah, I remember good ol' "PRESS PLAY ON TAPE" messages.

[HangmanC64]

Seems to have a C64 keyboard --- the function

keys are grey but should be brown in the '20.

[chipwaver]

This machine is genuine, the VIC20 has been sold in different "configurations", just as well as the C64 later, but right - the one with the yellow function keys is the most famouse as it was the very first design, and it was exactly the same with the early C64 versions.

[HangmanC64]

Well, I happen to have a VIC20 with a

9VAC power connector (incompatible with

the C64 power supply!) and a keyboard

which has convex (rather than concave)

keys. I believe this is a VERY early version

I have. I also have a regular one.

(Maybe I should pass the machines one to

a true computer lover like I used to be

one.)

[chipwaver]

The very first version at all, I know it - it´s beautiful, and it´s shown in most of the commercials. You really should keep that one.

[chipwaver]

Ja die Optik ist klasse, und der VC20/ VIC20 macht auch noch mehr Spass als eine Kaffeemaschine... :) Diese schöne Maschine beweist mir immerwieder wie speicherverschwendend, schlampig und "aufgeblasen" heutige Programme und Betriebssysteme meist sind. 5 KB RAM!!, fast jedes einfache Textdoc ist heute schon > 5 KB auf der Platte, damals musste man noch wirklich programmieren können, nicht dieser eklige C - Schmarn, bei dem selbst der beste Programmierer gernemal den Durchblick verliert ;)

[GentleSavage1]

diese "verschwendung" bringt flexibilität und geringere fehleranfälligkeit.

Dass der höhere systemresourcenverbrauch zugunsten von sicherheit und flexibilität geht, wirkt sich natürlich positiv auf die entwicklungskosten aus. Man muss mal überlegen was für "pillepalle" programme man damals für 100 Mark bekommen hat, und was man heute im vergleich für 40..60 eur oderso für irrsinnig komplexe programme erhält (zb auf spiele bezogen)...

[chipwaver]

Danke für deinen Kommentar.

Bestimmte Teile von Programmen die rechen-intensiv sind, oder grafisch aufwendig (Video/Animation) sollten in 100% MaschinenCode programmiert sein, denn das ist die Muttersprache eines jeden Prozessors, flexibler gehts nicht und es müssen keine Übersetzer oder Compiler dazwischen, die nie so schnell und perfekt die reine Sprache der CPU beherrschen werden.

Heutige sog. Hoch-Sprachen verschwenden die Resourcen in unglaublicher weise, das kostet zeit, Geld, und CO2...

[freegrinder80]

Mordsmaschine damals. Wenn man überlegt, daß die Technologie heute in jeder Kaffeemaschine steckt. Sexy aussehn, tuts aber trotzdem ',)