Gone 8 Bit ???

[Vipersan]

My first day off in about a month ..
My sister is now doing Sundays ...looking after mum and her dementia ..
Was going to do some cleaning but am too tired ...so done some washing and pegged it out ..
..decided to unwind my coiled brain with a visit to the loft ..and pulled out some comodore suff..
I'm attaching a picture of the Arfon expansion unit (modded of course by me to allow bank switching of memory) ...and the very VIC20 on which I wrote games which bought my house ..many years ago.
Still working and still powers up ..
I have a large collection of datasettes ..floppy drives ,psus ,books etc,and peripherals to test ...
repair ..clean up and maybe sell some..
Vic20 and C64
A full kit Vic20 can command a respectable £150 > £200 with retrogamers ...though they usually like it boxed..
Not a hope of that..
;)

 

[Vipersan]

Still a couple to locate ...but the bulk of my Vic20 cartridge collection..

 

[Vipersan]

So ..
just tested the memory expansion carts ..
Vixen 8k/16K switchable - OK
AM 8k (bank switchable - home mod) - OK
2x VIC1110 8k - Dead
1x VIC1110 8k - OK
VIC1210 3k RAM - OK
VIC1212 Programmers Aid Cart - OK
VIC1211A - SuperExpander with 3K ram - OK
VIC1213 (most important to me) Machine Language Monitor - OK

Now for the Games Cartridges

 

[Vipersan]

First the Scott Adams text adventure games..
VIC-1916 Mission Impossible - OK
VIC-1914 Adventure Land - OK
VIC-1918 Voodoo Castle - OK
VIC-1915 Pirates Cove - OK
VIC-1917 The Count - OK

Arcade Games
VIC-1922 Cosmic Cruncher - OK (Pacman variant)
VIC-1923 GORF - OK (space Invader variant)
VIC-1905 Jelly Monsters - OK (Pacman variant)
VIC-1910 Radar Ratrace - OK (Maze/pacman variant)
VIC-1904 Slot - OK (Slot machine Sim)
VIC-1901 Avenger - OK (Space invaders variant)
VIC-1924 Omega Race - OK (Asteroids Variant)
VIC-1906 Alien - OK (maze /pacman type game)
VIC-1919 Sagon II Chess - OK (Chess against the machine)
VIC-1907 Jupter Lander - OK (lunar lander Sim)
VIC-1909 Road Race - OK (Car/Road Sim)
VIC-1912 Mole Attack (whackamole game)
Apple Panic - (creative software - starts but needs joysick I think)
Demon Attack (firebird variant - colours unstable - American import NTSC) - starts OK

 

[Vipersan]

Turns out Jelly Monsters is just about the rarest Comodore Vic 20 cart ..
Broderbund carts were rarer
Someone currently selling Jelly monsters on Ebay for £20 + £5 postage..
lol

 

[2cvbloke]

You should speak to 8-Bit Guy on youtube, he usually likes these Commodore things, especially stories from people who actually wrote programs and games for them...

The 8-Bit Guy

 

[Captain Jack]

3k RAM.... a single block size on disk is larger than that.

 

[Vipersan]

3k RAM.... a single block size on disk is larger than that.

...and yet we managed to write multi level games in that tiny space..
It certainly required a lot of thought and planning..
lol

 

[davemurgtroyd]

3k RAM.... a single block size on disk is larger than that.

The Sinclair ZX80 and 81 only had an internal memory of 1k One of mine ended up with 64kb (two lots of 16k paged), its own 8k ROM and 8k of self programmed EPROMs, hi-res graphics (256x192 monochrom). sound card and speech synthesizer

 

[Vipersan]

spent some time and effort and constructed a play area /bench & shelf system in my playroom ..
Today I started filling it up.
The recently repaired PET 4032 and 8050 ...now joined by my Arfon expansion unit for the VIC20 ..
..again recently repaired ..as was the N model VIC20 ..
Had to replace a 6522 to get the tape to run ..and whilst it was in bits ..I did the S-video mod and made a breakout box for audio and S-Video..
The results on my LCD TV/Monitor are really rather good.
So here are a couple of pics to show where everything will eventually reside ..
Sadly no room at bench height for my C16 (also in need of repair) ...but there is room for the PET .. plus4 C64 and VIC ..
Nice to see them after 30 years in storage..
rgds
Evan
appologies for the bright-out on the monitor ..
forgot to cancel the camera flash .

 

[Lazarus]

Looks like you're reconstructing the set for "Billion Dollar Brain" !

 

[Vipersan]

Looks like you're reconstructing the set for "Billion Dollar Brain" !

Could well be buddy ..
sadly the brain behind the set build isn't worth anything like a billion ..
lol

btw ..if anyone has another 4:3 LG Flatron M1710A ..like the one in the photo ..
I'm after another for the C64 ..
I dont own a genuine commodore monitor ..but these work well as retro monitors in S-video mode.
rgds
VS

 

[sonnetpete]

Great stuff VS....a bit OT but are you finding this theraputic?

 

[Vipersan]

Great stuff VS....a bit OT but are you finding this theraputic?

Very much so Pete ..
I started thinking ..perhaps too deeply about the past ..
Dads ..Mums ..and mine ..
Reliving a little of it through resurrecting old hardware is somehow helping the healing process ..
Might not make sense to everyone ..but for me it sort of does..
??

..there are many things about life and the past beyond my control ..
..this is something I can influence..
..that making any sense ?
cheers buddy..

 

[Topper]

Well it keeps you off the street corners I suppose, I think your workroom will one day become a working museum

 

[Vipersan]

Managed to get another C64 working over the bank holiday weekend ..
A guy on my TV repair forum generously donated some used harvested MOS chips he had lying in a drawer.
Such chips are extremly difficult to get hold of these days.
It had a blown PLA chip ..damaged cpu ..faulty CIA chip ..and the trickiest of all to pin down..
a faulty ram chip..
I suspect this pcb has been subjected to catastrophic power supply failure before being sent to the bin.
On the plus side the PCB is now 90% fitted with IC bases ..
If anyone has broken Commodore computers ..
please dont just throw them away ..
I'm always interested in dead pcbs for chip harvesting..
rgds
VS

 

[TJExcalibur]

Reminds me. Up in the roof space, in a plastic bag is a DVD/CD player recorder? I think. I believe its a Phillips and it packed up. I had a quick peek inside but it was beyond me so i put it in the rood space as it was to expensive in those days to just throw away. Must be 35 years old.....

 

[Vipersan]

..and my descent into 8 bit madness continues ..
I have not been well recently ...
..an MS relapse I suspect ..and improvement is slow.
..the sh!tty weather isn't helping ..rain EVERY day ..
I guess I shouldn't complain the US and Caribbean are having it much much worse.

So ..I've now restored 4 x Commodore 64
3 x VIC 20
I have 2 working PLUS 4s ..though these are both waiting now for keyboard ribbon mods ..so can't call them 'working' as yet.
and a C16 which is as yet incomplete chipset wise ..and missing it's RF moulator ..
Maybe this will never live again ..time will tell.

I also found time to dig an old APPLE II out of the loft ..
repaired the main board ..and psu ...and is now working ..but sadly no floppy drives yet..
I think the controller card is fubarred ...

If anyone has unwanted cards for this circa 1980 machine ..I'll find them a home.
lol
rgds
VS

...maybe I'll get to my 2 sinclair spectrums ..eventually... ;)

 

[Archive7]

Have you considered writing a book based on your experience?
I can't guarantee it will be a bestseller, but who knows?

 

[Vipersan]

..just made an offer on a VIC20 case (only) £10 delivered ..and it was immediately accepted..
I really must be mad ..
but I do have another board I repaired recently ..which is caseless..
So...I get to make another one