A VIC-20 was an 8-bit home computer made by Commodore Business Machines with 5 KB RAM and a MOS 6502 CPU, similar in physical shape to the afterwards Commodore 64 and C16. A VIC-20 was freed within June 1980, about Terzetto years when Commodore's 1st pc, a PET.

History

a VIC-20 was meant to exist as other of a sale-prevent personal computer than the PET. Reportedly, a VIC-20's video chip was intended for utilize inside cheap display terminals & gage consoles, however Commodore couldn't buy the market for the chip. At a equivalent instance, Commodore experienced an glut of 1Kbit×Quatern SRAM chips. Inside April 1980, Commodore president Jack Tramiel ordered the development of the computer that can sell for under $300 U.s.a.. What experienced been an glut of area became a VIC-20. When a PET was sold across authoritative dealers, a VIC-20 primarily sold at retail, especially forget about & toy places, in which it can compete additional directly sustaining punt consoles. Commodore took out advert featuring actor William Shatner of Star Trek fame as its spokesman, request, "Why buy just a video game?".

Although a VIC-20 wwhen criticized around print as existence underpowered, a strategy worked: it became a number One computer to sell additional than 1 million units & was a right-selling computer of 1982. At its peak, 9,000 units by the day were produced, & the number of Ii.Five million units were sold prior to it was discontinued inside January 1985, when Commodore repositioned a C64 when its entry-level computer due to the forthcoming release of the C128 and Amiga (a latter ingesting Commodore into the 16-bit world).

Because of its little memory & sale-guide display in comparison another computers of a instance, the VIC-20 was primarily utilized for training package & games. Still, productivity applications such as home finance software, spreadsheets, & communication terminal computer program were likewise play the machine. Its high accessibility to the general public intended that quite few software package developers-to-exist as cut their dentition on the VIC-20, existence introduced to BASIC programming, and around a bit of lawsuits running farther to see assembly or machine language. Many magazines, like Compute!, sold on newsstands offered type-in programs for the VIC-20, including one published by Commodore itself. Numerous VIC users learned to program by typing, researching, running off, & modifying these nature and severity-ins.

the ease of programming a VIC & accessibility of an cheap modem combined to give a VIC a sizeable library of public domain and freeware software, although much little than that of the C64. This computer software was distributed in online services such as CompuServe, BBSs, and via user groups.

When for commercial software package offerings, an approximated 300 titles were available in cartridge, and a second 500+ titles were available in tape. In comparison, a Atari 2600, the virtually all popular of the video game consoles at the instance, experienced the library of astir 900 titles.

Cartridge games were ready to play when soin when VIC-20 wwhen turned in, as opposed to games on tape which needed loading. Titles in cartridge involved Gorf, Cosmic Cruncher, Sargon II Chess, and numbers of others.

Description

the VIC-20 experienced proprietary connecter for program/expansion cartridges & a tape drive (PET 'Datassette'). It come sustaining Quintuplet KB RAM, but Ace.Five KB were utilized per rules for various items, prefer the display (which got a like unusual 22×23 char/line screen layout), & more dynamic aspects of the ROM-resident BASIC interpreter and KERNAL (a on line-subordinate operating body). So, Ternary.Five KB of BASIC program memory for code & variables was available to the user of an unexpanded machine. the VIC-20 too experienced the serial bus (a serial version of the PET's IEEE-488 bus) for daisy chaining disk drives and printers; a TTL-level "user port" with RS-232 and Centronics signals (most oft utilized when RS-232, for connecting the modem); and one DE-9 joystick port, compatible sustaining a joysticks utilized with Atari videogame consoles &, late, a C64.

A VIC-20's RAM wwhen expandable by owning plug-circuit card cartridges using the equivalent expansion port as computer software. Larboard expander boxes were available from either Commodore & extra trafficker to allow more than of these cartridge to become attached at one time. RAM cartridges were available inside many sizes: 3K (by using or even even forswearing an involved BASIC extension ROM), 8K, 16K or 32K; a latter exclusively from either third-person vender. A internal memory map was reorganised using a addition of both size cartridge, leading to a situation that a select few software download would exclusively act around case a right total of memory was present (to cater for this, the 32K cartridges got switches to allow the RAM to exist as enabled in user-selected sections). A virtually all seeable section of memory that was reorganised using differing expansion memory configurations was a streaming video memory (sustaining text and/or graphics display information).

VIC trivia

A title "VIC" come from either a Video Interface Chip, which, despite its designation, also handled all the healthy synthesis in the VIC-20. A VIC chip's successor, a graphics-&-RAM-refresh VIC-II, was used to dandy profits around Commodore's late right-selling machine, a C64, & likewise in the dual videos output C128 for that computer's 40-column/composite streaming graphics.

A VIC-20 was originally intended to become known as Hellcat, however this title was incompatible around Germany, Commodore's second first market, because it sounds rather wichsen, a German language word for "masturbate". VIC, which was afterward chosen, has the similar condition—it may be pronounced rather ficken, a German word for "fuck". So a VIC-20 wwhen eventually marketed as a VC-20 "Volkscomputer" around German-language countries—an conspicuous pun on "Volkswagen".

Inside Japan a VIC-20 was marketed as the VIC-1001 (1980).

BASIC computer software running off in the fully expanded VIC-20 can use at the most 24K RAM. Any more occupied a memory space utilized by ROM cartridges, i personally.e. commercial computer software rather games & more applications. This allowed population to copy cartridges to tape & distribute a children to their friends, world health organization can so bucket a tape into the top 8K of their 32K RAM packs.

An anecdotical bit of grounds to believe to trend lines Commodore's statement that the VIC-20 may be utilized non just for games however likewise as a good introduction to computing, can be said to originate in the fact that a immature Finn called Linus Torvalds wwhen given a VIC-20 as his 1st computer. Keen to see additional, Torvalds late upgraded to the Sinclair QL, then to the 386 PC, and a rest, when it say, is history...

In the e-comic Hackles, the character Hackles assembles a golem according to a VIC-20. the golem was designed to exist as a Battlebot, but unluckily Dander was moo in cash whenever buying a area.