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The VIC-20. Is It For You?

51K views · Aug 5, 2021 · Science & Technology

Noel's Retro Lab

78K subscribers

Comments · 458

@lordchippers · 5 years ago
Hi Noel, great review.  I designed that packaging, so thanks for the positive feedback!  It was hard to combine new with old, especially as we had to scratch copy the original box.  THEVIC20 itself was conceived just to be a limited edition release of THEC64, so essentially the same thing albeit it in a different colour and of course that great PET key font.  It also has more VIC20 games built in (with even more if you apply the latest firmware update). Regarding size, there were actually many different mould sizes of both the VIC and C64.  So our VIC is for sure the same size as the original, or at least one variant.  Same for colour as you stated.
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@JustinEmlay · 5 years ago
The C64 has come a LONG way from the Mini.  I love it!
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@billkaroly · 4 years ago (edited)
I find this interest in old 8bit computers to be interesting. I had a small company that used to make RAM expansion cards called Century Micro. we also created an Assembler called Moses for both the Vic 20 and C64.
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@IsaacKuo · 5 years ago
One obscure capability of the NTSC VIC-20s was interlaced mode. You could set the interlace bit and everything would continue normally but every other field would be offset downward by half a scanline. This eliminated visible scanline gaps, making the text a bit more pleasing to read.
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@Eocene84 · 5 years ago
This is great. I can finally try a Vic 20 and C64. I never got to have one when I was a kid.
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@robtgordon · 5 years ago
The Commodore VIC-20 was my first computer.  When I bought the floppy disk attachment I thought I had died and gone to heaven.
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@morantaylor · 5 years ago
I bought "The C64" at the end of 2019. Its very convenient thanks to the HDMI output and USB storage, I also have a real Breadbin and a 64C machines with the disk drives etc. Not having anywhere to set them up full time meant it would be a long time between retro games sessions. Now I can just plug "The C64" into my TV and go back to the good old days :)
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@lornetyndale7974 · 4 years ago
FYI, when I bought my original VIC-20 it came with the user guide which I agree is great, but it did not come with the full Programmers Reference Guide.  The Programmers Reference Guide was an additional purchase.  As I recall it ran around $20 - $25. I still have mine from back in the early 80's.
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@ShaunBebbington · 5 years ago
THEVIC20 is a beautiful machine; I love the colours and the joystick is great, much improved on the original THEC64 Mini joystick, and the earlier microswitch version bundled with THEC64. The fact that the keyboard mapping is 100% is another plus. And yes. DOOM! That's a great game. I recommend trying the latest firmware, which includes The Keep. The Keep is a 5K 3D engine written by Kweepa (the fact that it's for the unexpanded VIC is unbelievable!), who developed VIC Doom that you featured.
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@SynthFreaq · 2 years ago
Thanks SO MUCH for using a proper CRT/scan-line mode. So many reviewers and so-called retro experts don't do this and so miss capturing the real look and feel of using these systems back in the day...
@ObtreblaMaslab · 5 years ago
<a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ChS22CQEdyE&t=1205">20:05</a> 10th Frame... What a game!
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@patrickelliott2169 · 5 years ago
Man. I love how the whole computer could fit on a small board like that. I had the insane thought myself, based on my "vague" understanding of how it all works, that you could probably build an Apple II+ clone, with a minor difference - Start in a 65C816. Have two ROM slots, one that is the "default", which gives you full access to the features of the chip, the second is for the Apple II+ ROM. If that AII+ ROM is installed, then you a) latch the ROM, so it shows up as the working one, and b) you have what ever GPU setup you put in the thing "emulate" the old Apple II video capabilities. If the ROM is missing, then your the "comes with it" ROM would a) give access to something "more modern" in graphics, b) provide access to a full 16mb (on a single chip), minus the parts used for the bank 00 and 01 ROMs, c) maybe also take up some room, such as in the FE/FF banks, which the IIgs used (or, if you wanted to make it able to emulate that, FD or something, with a "system bios" type thing, which would let you make some adjustments to how things work. d) since you are latching the ROMs, you could also latch the clock speed, so it runs at the original 1mhz when in "emulation mode", and at full speed otherwise. e) Also use the 65C816's added calls to have a way to "call" functionality in what would have to be a bank FE/FF area, to "turn on" the native mode, and bypass the emulation, from disc (might need this anyway, since the chip, I think, "starts" executing in 65C02 mode, I think. But, basically, with some minor quibbles, you could probably still use an actual 65C816 chip, 1-2 ROMs, a modern 16mb SDRAM chip, and some sort of video chip, the clock logic and a few other things and "build" a working computer, which "might be" able to at least run old Apple II stuff, if you don't mind it not being able to use all the peripherals from the old machines. Or, I am utterly nuts, and this simply wouldn't work. Sadly, not being a) rich, b) connected to someone/something that would let me experiment, or c) actually ever built anything more complex than a transistor tester kit (which didn't work, and I still haven't got around to 'debugging' to figure out why), I don't have the time, the skill, or the money, to try... Sigh... But, seems like everyone making these things just goes with, "Oh, I can be clever and, instead of trying to semi-match the original chip, lets use a Raspberry PI!" But.. to me this misses the point, because watching the vids by Ben Eater, on how a freaking 8 bit machine actually works, in which he literally "builds one, from the 6502 up, one section at time, on bread boards" - that freaking impressed me, and I learned more in 3 days watching those vids that I ever knew, or could have learned running an emulation program on a Pi....
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