anyone know what a vic 20 is?

[ahector]

i was at a thrift store today and came across an interesting looking game cartridge. it was made my tronix and called a vic 20. i also saw something abotu commodore on there but it definitely was not a computer floppy. does anyone know what this is? i'm just curious.

[Nukey Shay]

It's a cartridge for the Commodore Vic20 computer...which was aimed at the home gameplayer/user at a time when regular 8-bit computers were still very pricey. Launch price of the system was comparable to the VCS at the time. It uses most of the same equipment as the Commodore64, but the software is completely incompatable (including cartridges like that one).

Did it have a name of a game on it?

[Mindfield]

Indeed, VIC-20 is the little brother to the C64. It was a pretty basic system, with 4K of standard RAM (expandable to 16K, IIRC), relatively low resolution graphics (though better than the VCS) and a 32x20 line text mode. It was a quaint little system at the time, costing less than its contemporaries (Apple II, Atari 400/800) but of course offering less, too. Their commercials aimed it squarely at Atari 2600 players, touting its ability to play games as well as be a fully functional computer, complete with the slogan, "A real computer for the price of a toy."

[Nukey Shay]

Hmm...it was 24kb expandable Ram (16k+8k carts using a multi-cart board) in addition to the 5k SuperExpander cart and the onboard 3.5k)...32k total. IIRC that was the maximum you could access, since the computer's Rom covered the rest (why they needed so much Rom is anyone's guess). I think that the text was 22x23 characters, and all graphics were done using redefined characters (through multiple interrupts in the SuperExpander I think). Very nice keyboard, though.

 

 

The first computer I owned.

[davidbrit2]

It's the first computer I owned, too. I got it back in the early 80s, and I've still got it. The RF modulator is a bit crummy, but other than that, it works fine. To this day, I'm still pissed that my copy of Donkey Kong died way back then, because that is seriously my favorite home version.

 

Perhaps it's ebay time. :-)

[heavy-sixer]

The Vic-20 was my first computer too. I think I got it in 81 or 82. I really have fond memories of that computer. I didn't really use it as a game machine eventhough I had some games for it like Jupiter Lander, a card game Cart and some cassette games. I really used it to try my hand at programming.

[ahector]

I should haev written down what game it was. I seem to remember it being something about a fighter pilot though. It was still in it's very well keep box with its manuals etc. If someone wants it I can try to get back and see if it's still there. I looked for a price on it but found none. However, it was just laying out so I dunno.

[Mayhem]

Could be Deadly Skies. Anyhows I would be interested in it, and maybe any other Vic20/C64 stuff you find there

[Gunstar]

Strange...I thought that Vic20 was a cough medicine... :wink:

[Nukey Shay]

Nope...that was Plus4

[AtariDude]

Here are a couple of sites with information regarding the Vic20 computer:

 

http://www.iarmst.demon.co.uk/oldcomp/cbmvc20.htm

 

http://www.desperado.free-online.co.uk/vic20.html

 

http://homepages.ihug.co.nz/~ssdm/computer...dore/vic20.html

 

I hope you find this information helpful

[Nukey Shay]

Nah...he was just asking a question about a cartridge. I was probably the one most to blame for twisting the topic into a Vic20 appreciation thread

[MegaManFan]

Nah...he was just asking a question about a cartridge.  I was probably the one most to blame for twisting the topic into a Vic20 appreciation thread

 

And why not? I miss my old Vic-20! To this day I still jonz to play "Raid on Fort Knox" every now and then, and that was over 20 years ago!

[King Atari]

The VIC-20 is a great system! I bought a complete and boxed one at computer show a few years back for $10. It's no C=64, but it's pretty cool.

[Gabriel]

A Vic-20 was my first computer and it was the machine I learned to program on.

 

I had to teach myself programming from the Users Manual that accompanied the Vic. Back then, Computer Programming was something only taught locally in college or in Private High School classes. I remember the first program that I made that I was really proud of was a BASIC Star Trek game where you commanded the Enterprise in a battle with the Reliant.

 

I played a lot of Lunar Lander and Gorf on it. Plus, I constantly borrowed a friend's copy of Pirate Adventure. Otherwise I just made excessive use of my tape drive to program my own little goofy games and animations with the predefined graphic character set.

 

Sadly, my Vic was left behind when I had to abandon a run down house that I was living in in the early 90s. I imagine it was bulldozed with the building (along with an Adam and a fully functional Atari 5200 4 port that I lacked any working controllers for).

[MegaManFan]

Sadly, my Vic was left behind when I had to abandon a run down house that I was living in in the early 90s.  I imagine it was bulldozed with the building (along with an Adam and a fully functional Atari 5200 4 port that I lacked any working controllers for).

 

The story behind this is now more interesting than the topic for this thread. Is it something you don't care to discuss or would you elaborate? How did you come to live in an abandoned run-down house (more to the point how did you even have electricity) and what's happened in your life since then? Since you're logging on to the net it's pretty safe to assume things have changed for the better.

[Gabriel]

Short version: I was a middle class child in a family that completely disintegrated, and I wallowed in shit for a time with tokens of my past life.

 

Long version:

 

When I was a pre-teen, I was the golden child. I was good in school. I was well behaved and mannered. I liked to read. I lived in a fairly nice middle class family home. I had nice things, a TV, books, a 2600, a 5200, a Vic 20, lots of other things.

 

When I was 13 my parents went through a divorce. I went with my mom, and my little sister went with my dad. Since this kind of split results in parents trying to consolidate their children, I was showered with gifts. I can say that because of the divorce, I had a fairly nice Atari 2600 and 5200 collection at the time.

 

When the dust settled, my dad moved away with my little sister to parts unknown. My mom stayed where she was and underwent a personality change (possibly from a drug abuse problem she developed). She kicked me out of her home when I was 13. I spent one night sleeping in a camper she had until I was discovered and forced away. I spent a couple more nights sleeping at friends' houses. Eventually, my great grandmother found out about my predicament and took me in against the bitchings of my mother. My great grandmother also demanded the delivery of my belongings.

 

As you might guess, my great grandmother cared a great deal for me, and I reciprocated. I lived with her for the rest of my teen years. She became bedfast, and no one else was willing to take care of her. So, I took care of her as she had taken care of me.

 

Eventually, my great grandmother's health deteriorated to the point where she had to be put in a nursing home. My mother, eager for her chance at revenge and also seeking to take my great grandmother's money for herself, had her declared incompetent and arranged to have me kicked out on the street. One month later, my great grandmother died. My mother looted my great grandmother's accounts, blamed me for her death, directed all creditors towards me, and then skipped town. I haven't seen her since.

 

I found a shithole to live in, and got a job flipping burgers. When I left my great grandmother's home, I took mostly my electronics.

 

Anyway, this shithole wasn't abandoned at the time. I payed $50 rent (which was about all I could afford) for a place with a leaky roof, no hot water, and vermin everywhere. The landlord was a total shit. Eventually, he simply abandoned the property. He left the police thinking that I was the owner and the police started threatening me to bring the building up to code or face stiff fines and be thrown in jail.

 

Eventually, I was told I had 10 days to find a new place to live before the building would be bulldozed. Luckily, I did. It wasn't much better, and it cost $250 a month.

 

At the time of that forced move there were things that got left behind in the shuffle. I regret leaving the 5200 behind. It was a gift from my great grandmother. But I left it behind because I had limited space, limited time, and I couldn't play it because of a total lack of functioning controllers and the firm belief that I'd never find any.

 

So, in short, I went from golden child to white trash. I wallowed in my own crapulence for about a decade before I finally drug myself out of it and out of the second craphole I lived at.

 

Things have gotten markedly better since then. I'm no longer flipping burgers. And, while I'm not rich, I'm now comfortable with the money that I make doing programming for an insurance company. I have a decent apartment. I'm surrounded by books, spiffy electronics, and all the little things that make life kinda neat.

[MegaManFan]

Things have gotten markedly better since then.  I'm no longer flipping burgers.  And, while I'm not rich, I'm now comfortable with the money that I make doing programming for an insurance company.  I have a decent apartment.  I'm surrounded by books, spiffy electronics, and all the little things that make life kinda neat.

 

That's an amazing story; and I'm glad it has a happy ending to boot although I'm sorry to hear you went through so much crap to get back to this point. As incredible as it may seem though, one of my best friends has had an almost near identical experience. In his case he was raised by his grandma, not his great-grandma, and he has a brother who for lack of a nicer way to put it I'll call "slow" who after being in an assisted living home (couldn't stay with him and grandma) and lots of training finally got a craptastic burger flipping job and his own rathole, and now acts like his own brother doesn't exist for no good reason; then again given the way his parents act it's probably genetic. Long story short his grandma passed away a few months before mine did (we ended up going to each other's funerals) and was really going to be SOL paying the rent on their apartment until he got a promotion at the grocery store he works at. Now he has a steady girlfriend who lives with him and helps pay bills and he just got another promotion to assistant pricing manager with full time pay and benefits, so despite the hard knocks and lack of good parenting he's doing alright. He's even into collecting classic games now; ironic considering a few years back he sold me his SMS stuff when he was broke and decided he didn't want it any more (it was original from childhood, we used to play Reggie Jackson Baseball on it together).