Technologies Time Forgot: The Vic-20 and the Commodore 64

So far in our 1980s home computing series we've concentrated on some home-grown hits - the Spectrum (http://www.silicon.com/a50364), the Electron (http://www.silicon.com/a50548) and the BBC Micro (http://www.silicon.com/a50782). This week we hear from Tony Hallett and Jon Bernstein, silicon.com writers who were drawn to the glamour of Commodore machines.

Tony Hallett writes:

Let's be honest. I wasn't the one drawn to the Vic-20. It was my dad, wallet in hand, who didn't like the idea of a rubber, 'dead flesh' Spectrum keyboard or the price tag of a BBC Micro ("I already pay the licence fee").

What he did like was the top floor of Debenhams in Staines, and I can still remember one of the sales assistant's comments all these years later: "Oh no sir - these things will never be obsolete. Just too many people have them now."

OK, laugh. But I was glad for my baptism into home computing, as it turns out just around the time - Christmas 1982 - the Vic-20's demise would begin. I still count it as a special computer.

The Commodore Vic-20 debuted in 1980. It was designed by Bob Yannes at CBM, a company run by someone with the unlikely name of Chuck Peddle and known for the CBM PET, a clunky desktop effort remembered for a crisp green screen, an additional, graphical character set, and - hold the excitement - built-in tape drive.

The Vic-20 used a 1.0227MHz, 8-bit 6502A processor from MOS Technologies, designed in 1975 and produced by Rockwell. The same brain was at the heart of the Beeb, the Apple II, Atari home computers and early Nintendo consoles.

But why the name? Nowadays there's a heavy, alternative rock outfit called Vic-20 (thanks, Google) but back then it stood for Video Interface Chip (or Computer, according to some revisionists).

The '20' is more controversial. Some say it matches the memory - 5KB RAM plus 15KB ROM - others say it is from the number of columns its screen allowed, rounded down from 22. The latter may be true but it only serves to highlight the machine's limitations.

An add-on memory pack was a must, allowing games to be played that used 3.5KB, 8KB, 16KB or 32KB - remember, an 8KB game wouldn't work on a 16KB machine. But even then with more power under the bonnet there were no sprites - considered a must by many for the better games.

Yet the Vic-20 had its plus points. It was fairly expandable, with all manner of ports. It even had one for a modem, though I was never about to embark on some War Games-style dial up action.

Sound was also a plus - as it later would be with the C64. It came through the TV and I remember days of whacking up the volume on a number of games, before the days of sub-woofers.

And its version of BASIC, while not a school standard like the Beeb's, wasn't bad. In fact, it was Microsoft BASIC mostly written by a certain Mr Gates in the 1970s, which clearly meant less to me at the time than it does now.

Games were a hit and miss affair. The Vic-20 version of JETPAC was a pleasure but I remember a simple program called Blitz that came with the machine. Its code showed it was written by someone called David Taylor from the same town as me. Surely not Certus' David Taylor of IT director fame? (http://www.silicon.com/a50632 )

In the end, the humble Vic-20 was superseded by the Commodore 64 and something horrible inbetween called the C16. Both computers' names really did refer to memory sizes and both did better in Europe than their home, US market.

So what if I was outnumbered by friends with Spectrums and the computer club, BBCphiles - I knew I was on to something. My machine even allowed me to type (sort of) properly and on a holiday to Spain as a teenager I saw a hotel reservations system running on a Vic-20. That huge character set was unmistakable.

Could it have been my first brush with business computing?

For part two of this column - our look at the Commodore 64 - click here:
http://www.silicon.com/a50951