This was my first computer back in the day. Although then I just played games. Yesterday I bought an original for £50 and plan on finally learning Basic.
I'm an Atari 8 bit fan, I have the XEGS and the 600XL. I think the VIC-20 is an intriguing machine, one that I am also very interested in, maybe not so much the case with the C64, which to me looks not too dissimilar to the Atari 8 bit machines. Nice video!
Offset of the screen was a hardware register. I wrote a passable vic20 moon lander program using only a static image and the hardware screen offset for the altitude
You had to poke lots of mysterious numbers into random addresses to do stuff on commodore 8-bits but it saved having roms taking space with custom commands I guess.
The Vic was my first machine and I still love it to this day. The only thing that bothered me way back when was that memory addressing was a moveable feast when using more than an extra 3K. That still drives me nuts! I always wished that Commodore would have at least released an updated VIC-20 with that extra 3K in it. I really think they could've positioned the machine as a truly great entry level machine instead of fumbling around with the C16. As it stood the 3.5K really hindered it as a games machine pretty quickly and switching in and out your 16K RAM pack was tiresome - at least that was my experience. Nowadays, the Vic has some seriously impressive games and some of the old classics still hold up pretty well. Jet-Pac on the Vic is better, in my opinion, than on the Speccy and there's nothing like the cacophonous bliss of playing Gridrunner and Matrix on the Vic hooked up to a loud hifi! :)
There's no doubt it was a big step up from a ZX81 in almost every way - but I think the not particularly crisp 22 column text was my first on-screen impression of the VIC and it was a bit underwhelming.
I never had a Vic-20 back in the day, in fact, I thought they were not that great. However, my first computer probably wasn't any better and might've actually been worse. I had been begging for a computer for a while and I knew I was getting one for Christmas. When my dad went to purchase the computer somebody somebody at the store told him the Vic-20 was not that great and convinced him to buy a TI-99/4a. I used it for around six months and then it broke. Around a year later I spent the summer mowing lawns and got a Commodore 64 and 1541 Drive which had just been released.
I'm surprised it broke - sorry to hear that, I always thought they were pretty solid (state 😁). C64 was probably the right path. Things you earn are often better than things you're given.
The Vic was my first computer, had a Downsway 16K RAM pack. The sound was great for me, especially the Llamasoft games, like LaserZone and HellGate. Happy memories.😃
This was my first computer and I had a love hate relationship with it. I loved it because I had a computer and could learn to program. I hated it because it was such a useless machine compared to the C64. Later I luckily got a C64 and for me that always feels as the first "Real" computer.
3:15 This is crazy, adjusting cartridge screen positioning using cursor keys. It was just some "agreed contract' , most cartridges would allow for that. Pinball Spectacular only allows this in attract mode, not when the instructions are scrolling by. The reason is different X/Y default offset values in the PAL/NTSC VIC chip registers. Unbelievable how crude the user experiences at the time were, what developers could get away with. I mean, same default values for the VIC chips should have been a priority and if you do need a workaround, then make PAL/NTSC detection and auto-adjustment the norm. Shaking my head... and appreciating how much more brushed-up the C64 turned out. No more crazy memory layout variants depending on the available memory. Just fully-loaded with 64kB, perfect for loading the software into RAM rather than just the program's state. Perfect for pirating software, too.
I'm surprised nobody has modified a vic20s video chip to a vicII video chip I'm sure it's as simple as the vicI or put a sid chip in it a vic 20.......is a supercharged atari 2600...its like 8times the power
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This was my first computer back in the day. Although then I just played games. Yesterday I bought an original for £50 and plan on finally learning Basic.
I'm an Atari 8 bit fan, I have the XEGS and the 600XL. I think the VIC-20 is an intriguing machine, one that I am also very interested in, maybe not so much the case with the C64, which to me looks not too dissimilar to the Atari 8 bit machines. Nice video!
The cartridges like the penultimate really make life on the Vic a whole lot better these days.
It's really good. Apart from the great content, it's useful not to have to keep swapping cartridges. I worry about stressing the components too much.
Offset of the screen was a hardware register. I wrote a passable vic20 moon lander program using only a static image and the hardware screen offset for the altitude
You had to poke lots of mysterious numbers into random addresses to do stuff on commodore 8-bits but it saved having roms taking space with custom commands I guess.
The Vic was my first machine and I still love it to this day. The only thing that bothered me way back when was that memory addressing was a moveable feast when using more than an extra 3K. That still drives me nuts! I always wished that Commodore would have at least released an updated VIC-20 with that extra 3K in it. I really think they could've positioned the machine as a truly great entry level machine instead of fumbling around with the C16. As it stood the 3.5K really hindered it as a games machine pretty quickly and switching in and out your 16K RAM pack was tiresome - at least that was my experience. Nowadays, the Vic has some seriously impressive games and some of the old classics still hold up pretty well. Jet-Pac on the Vic is better, in my opinion, than on the Speccy and there's nothing like the cacophonous bliss of playing Gridrunner and Matrix on the Vic hooked up to a loud hifi! :)
How could you have possibly been disappointed by the Vic if you got the Vic after having a zx81?
There's no doubt it was a big step up from a ZX81 in almost every way - but I think the not particularly crisp 22 column text was my first on-screen impression of the VIC and it was a bit underwhelming.
I never had a Vic-20 back in the day, in fact, I thought they were not that great. However, my first computer probably wasn't any better and might've actually been worse. I had been begging for a computer for a while and I knew I was getting one for Christmas. When my dad went to purchase the computer somebody somebody at the store told him the Vic-20 was not that great and convinced him to buy a TI-99/4a. I used it for around six months and then it broke. Around a year later I spent the summer mowing lawns and got a Commodore 64 and 1541 Drive which had just been released.
I'm surprised it broke - sorry to hear that, I always thought they were pretty solid (state 😁). C64 was probably the right path. Things you earn are often better than things you're given.
The Vic was my first computer, had a Downsway 16K RAM pack. The sound was great for me, especially the Llamasoft games, like LaserZone and HellGate. Happy memories.😃
I do remember plugging a 16k ram pack into a VIC was much less nerve wracking than doing the same with a ZX81.
This was my first computer and I had a love hate relationship with it. I loved it because I had a computer and could learn to program. I hated it because it was such a useless machine compared to the C64. Later I luckily got a C64 and for me that always feels as the first "Real" computer.
I completely understand that.
3:15 This is crazy, adjusting cartridge screen positioning using cursor keys. It was just some "agreed contract' , most cartridges would allow for that. Pinball Spectacular only allows this in attract mode, not when the instructions are scrolling by. The reason is different X/Y default offset values in the PAL/NTSC VIC chip registers. Unbelievable how crude the user experiences at the time were, what developers could get away with. I mean, same default values for the VIC chips should have been a priority and if you do need a workaround, then make PAL/NTSC detection and auto-adjustment the norm. Shaking my head... and appreciating how much more brushed-up the C64 turned out. No more crazy memory layout variants depending on the available memory. Just fully-loaded with 64kB, perfect for loading the software into RAM rather than just the program's state. Perfect for pirating software, too.
Give the Super Expander cart language extensions a go! Lots of great graphics and sound commands like the ZX81 & BBC
Interesting. Cheers.
any 1 know how to make donkey kong work on the vic 20 emulator? using winvice or other program ?? thanks................
Is a VIC-20 video review better 20th time around? Definitely yes.
I think that means you like the video. I hope so. Cheers!
@@pixel_fandango That's right sir! :)
Hi jist found you through retro UK ed
Nice to see you. Hope you enjoy. Cheers!
I'm surprised nobody has modified a vic20s video chip to a vicII video chip
I'm sure it's as simple as the vicI
or put a sid chip in it
a vic 20.......is a supercharged atari 2600...its like 8times the power
Отличный клон ZX!
There it started ... Got 8k? ROM with switches to play Shamus and more ..."advanced" game :-D Back then...