Machine of the Month: Commodore VIC-20
ALMOST ANY PC
Windows or Linux Emulator comes pre-loaded with a BIOS. VICE: https://vice-emu.
sourceforge.io/
THIS MONTH, WE COVER a Commodore titan that was a huge success in the 1980s, though it was eventually overshadowed by the more successful Commodore 64. Launched in 1980, three years after Commodore’s first personal computer, the PET, the VIC-20 was a sales phenomenon, becoming the first computer to sell over a million units. Aimed at the general consumer, rather than enthusiasts, the VIC-20 (also known as the VC-20 in Germany and the VIC-1001 in Japan) was labeled the ‘computer of the future’ and served as a personal computer for tech giants such as Elon Musk, Linus Torvalds, and id Software’s John Carmack. –JOHN KNIGHT
1
DEVELOPMENT
The VIC-20 was the culmination of multiple projects within the Commodore Business Machines organization. CEO Jack Tramiel wanted to create a quality, low-cost, mass-market computer to compete with the Japanese machines soon to reach the West. The Commodore PET, launched in 1977, had been selling reasonably well but was considered too expensive to be a mainstream household computer.
>> Meanwhile, as the new owners of MOS Technology, Commodore had developed the MOS Technology VIC, or Video Interface Chip. Commodore had intended the VIC to be a generalpurpose video and sound processor, powering everything from game consoles to hospital equipment. However, they were struggling to find buyers.
>> For the Consumer Electronics Show (CES) in summer 1980, Robert Yannes had developed a prototype computer called the MicroPET. The MicroPET impressed Jack Tramiel, who decided it would be the basis for their new budget home computer.
>> The MicroPET lacked many essential components, so other parts, such as the cartridge port, joystick adapter, ‘Kernal’, and BASIC interpreter, were taken from the PET. Video and sound would be handled by Commodore’s VIC processor. The base unit was powered by the trusty MOS 6502 processor, with a 20KB ROM and 5KB of RAM.
2
LAUNCH
The VIC-20 was initially given a trial release in Japan in June 1980, under the moniker VIC-1001, before being released in North America in May 1981. The VIC-20 made an excellent impression on the public, aided by a famous advertising campaign that involved William Shatner, and had sold a million units within a year.
>> The VIC-20 led an aggressive price war and was a masterclass in deciding where to spend and save money. Its introductory price of $299.95 not only dramatically undercut the competition, but it also had a much better keyboard.
>> Graphically, the VIC-20 doesn’t have actual bitmap graphics but uses spare text characters that can be modified extensively. This could yield surprisingly good results.
>> The standard 5KB of RAM was the VIC-20’s weak point. By 1980, most computers were shipping with at least 8KB of RAM, if not 16KB or higher.
>> The system used 1.5KB just to boot up, leaving the user with only 3.5 KB of memory. This made RAM expander cartridges commonplace. The most popular games were on cartridge, which could contain extra RAM, thereby getting around the system’s memory limitations.
3
SOFTWARE AND GAMING
The VIC-20’s cost-cutting had a noticeable effect on the kind of software that defined the system. The standard text mode was only 22 characters wide, making it unsuitable for serious business software, though the VIC-20 still featured plenty of educational titles. There was also only one joystick port and no dedicated sound chip for serious audio.
>> Despite these limitations, the VIC-20 became a gaming juggernaut with an impressive library of games.
>> Although titles such as Frogger (1983) and Q-Bert (1983) betray the simple character-based graphics, most games were still attractive and often exceeded the primitive graphics in Atari 2600 titles.
>> In 1983, Atari made a slew of ports, such as Pac-Man, Dig-Dug, Galaxian, and MoonP atrol. Battlezone was a surprising inclusion, given the machine’s graphical limitations, but its 3D wireframe gameplay is genuinely solid.
>> Sega also had numerous titles that year, such as the excellent BuckRogers–PlanetofZoom, and the highly ambitious StarTrek– SOS. Even Nintendo got in on the act with a wildly popular version of DonkeyKong.
>> Beyond arcade hits, the VIC-20 has many innovative classics. Skyhawk (1983) is a horizontal jet fighter game with a great sense of movement and speed. LaserZone (1983) and Attack of the Mutant Came ls (1983) are Jeff Minter classics, with strange controls and chaotic sensory overload.
>> We were particularly impressed by Sierra Online’s LunarLeeper (1981), which has stunning animations.
>> There is still a solid enthusiast scene releasing modern titles, such as The 8-Bit Guy’s PlanetX1 (2009) and Attackofthe PETSCIIRobots (2020), and Pentagorat (2016), with graphics and animations that many would think impossible. There’s even a port of Doom (2013), albeit a very stripped-back version!
4
LEGACY
Despite strong sales of around 2.5 million, production ceased in January 1985 after only five years. However, this was in no way down to problems with the machine. The VIC-20 served as a model, both technically and commercially, for the Commodore 64 that followed.
>> As the Commodore 64 went on its own price war, producing the VIC-20 no longer made financial sense. Customers were quick to move to the new machine, which would soon become the world’s best-selling home computer.
5
EMULATION
The most popular emulator for the VIC-20 is VICE, which supports Windows, Linux, Mac, and many other platforms. >> For the Windows version, head to the website and download the latest build. VICE doesn’t come with an installer, so after extracting the package, you’ll have to go into the new folder, open the bin folder, and manually open xvic.exe. You might want to make a desktop shortcut.
>> For Linux users, VICE is available in the repositories but will probably be missing key ‘ kernal’ files due to licensing restrictions. You can get these files from a source tarball, but it’s much easier to install a Snap or Flatpak package instead. Both versions should install entries in your system menu.
>> Snap users can find the package on the Snapcraft store under the name vice-jz. If you prefer Flatpak, you can install VICE with the command:
$ flatpak install flathub net.sf.VICE
6
USAGE
Before you start getting down to any VIC-20 gaming, it’s worth defining your joystick controls. From the main menu, choose Preferences > Settings. In the new window, open the ‘Input devices’ entry and open the Joystick menu.
>> We’ll let you work out the rest, but if you prefer to use your keyboard for joystick emulation and want to use your cursor keys for up, down, left, and right directions, you don’t need to assign controls to diagonals.
7
LOADING CARTRIDGES
This process is fiddlier than we would have liked, and success rates were hit-and-miss. Although the process is straightforward, you may have to rename any file extensions to .bin for cartridge images to work.
>> Other than that, the process is easy. From the main menu, just choose File > ‘Attach cartridge image’. This will open a file browser. Select your file then click Attach.
8
LOADING TAPES AND DISKS
Cassette titles are more common than disks, but both are easy to load under VICE—most of the time, you can even load straight from zip files.
>> From the main menu, choose File > ‘Smart attach ...’ Choose your image from the file browser, then click Autostart.
>> VICE will try to load your files by automatically entering any load commands. If you get stuck at the BASIC prompt with nothing happening, just enter:
RUN