Commodore VIC-20

In 1981 the Commodore Vic-20 was released at the price of $299.00 USD ($845.27 in today's dollars). Even though, it was hailed as the first affordable color computer during its time, it was still too costly and out of my means to purchase. It was in 1983  when it's price dropped to $99.00 USD ($260.66 in today's dollars), I was able to afford a purchase at my university's bookstore.

It became the first computer I owned and really quite a big investment for me at that time. Fortunately, I was able to buy an inexpensive used data cassette drive from a fellow co-worker, making my new system a useful tool to continue learning BASIC and actually create some interesting graphics for print. I was even able to go as far as creating some video art for a performance with a local industrial music band.

I don't have my original VIC-20, but I did purchase one on eBay several years ago for about $70 dollars. It came with it's box and packing material, manual and a few game cassettes and cartridge.

NAME  VIC 20
MANUFACTURER  Commodore
TYPE  Home Computer
ORIGIN  U.S.A.
YEAR  May 1981
END OF PRODUCTION  January 1985
BUILT IN LANGUAGE  CBM Basic V2
KEYBOARD  Full-stroke keyboard, 4 function keys, 66 keys
CPU  Commodore Semiconductor Group 6502A
SPEED  1.0227 Mhz
CO-PROCESSOR  VIC-I (6560) for sound and graphics.
RAM  5 KB (3583 bytes free), expandable up to 32 KB
VRAM  Screen memory shared with regular RAM
ROM  16 KB
TEXT MODES  23 rows x 22 columns
GRAPHIC MODES  184 x 176
COLORS  8 character colors, 16 background/border colors
SOUND  3 voices / 3 octaves
SIZE / WEIGHT  40.3 x 20.4 x 7.2 cm / 1,8 Kg
I/O PORTS  1 joystick port, 1 user port, 1 serial port, 1 cartrige port, Composite video output, tape interface
POWER SUPPLY  External power supply unit, 18 Watts

Future posts will explore various methods of connecting the VIC-20 to a modern LCD monitor as well as the original Commodore CRT monitor.