Commodore VIC-20 restoration + blog + youtube channel + a "Dave Jones" Swatch - Page 1
Forum section: electronics / general

author: hishamk
author_rank: Newbie
timestamp: March 22, 2025, 05:25:41 pm
content: Hey all,Started blogging a bit and also trying to get the grips with creating an "interesting" YouTube channel.Maybe some you would like to read my post on a recent VIC-20 restoration which also includes a video.https://hishamkhalifa.com/blog/2025-02-25-powering-up-a-commodore-vic-20/On another note, I seem to have found the Dave Jones of Swatches...eBay auction: #126976748431

author: joeqsmith
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: March 22, 2025, 06:53:53 pm
content: Welcome to the forums. I still have a couple of the VIC-20s with the original printer, tape drive and floppy. Link below shows a very early wire wrap board I made for mine.https://www.eevblog.com/forum/vintage-computing/idle-commodore-speculation/msg3151272/#msg3151272Another link for the VIC-20https://www.eevblog.com/forum/vintage-computing/commodore-history-part-2-the-vic-20/Another book you may enjoy is Hackers but Steven Levy.

author: hishamk
author_rank: Newbie
timestamp: March 22, 2025, 07:23:55 pm
content: Quote from: joeqsmith on March 22, 2025, 06:53:53 pmThank you. Your expansion looks really cool. I'm keen on creating a project or two for the user and memory expansion ports sometime soon.Hackers is on my to-read list for sure.

author: joeqsmith
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: March 22, 2025, 07:32:36 pm
content: A friend had loaned me Hackers in the 80s. I enjoyed it enough to buy my own copy.After seeing your joystick, I pulled out my box of VIC stuff and took some photos for you. Shown is my first joystick sitting on the box of a commercial one.***Once I got my IBM-AT, I made a much better joystick for it where I interfaced with a large game console's stick.https://www.eevblog.com/forum/chat/show-me-some-cool-stuff-you_ve-made!/msg1120962/#msg1120962

author: joeqsmith
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: March 22, 2025, 07:38:03 pm
content: I have the older one like yours along with the later revision. These things need a good cleaning.. I have some of the original expansion boards for them along with various manuals.

author: joeqsmith
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: March 22, 2025, 07:47:59 pm
content: A few photos of spare parts and EPROMs. Also my wire wrapped board for it. This was my first EPROM programmer. It only supported those Motorola parts that the VIC used.

author: hishamk
author_rank: Newbie
timestamp: March 22, 2025, 09:39:07 pm
content: Nice... the Programmer's Reference Manual is pretty amazing in terms of the amount of info packed in for someone to just get started.

author: joeqsmith
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: March 22, 2025, 11:58:51 pm
content: I visited a shop once who was using a VIC20 as part of a test fixture. It turned out one of their MEs had build this fixture and wrote the software for the VIC to run their tests.Doing a search, I came across this video where they talk about this VIC potentially being used in production. It makes me wonder how many of them found applications outside the home.