Hey, I bagged this after work... just £30 (untested) from a guy in E Hull. First thing I noticed was the immaculate case and keyboard BUT I'M NOT SHOWING YOU THAT ANGLE! It also had a stuck power button so I thought I'd take it apart and get some electrical contact cleaner on it to try and free it and it's moving better now... but before I try and power it up and test it, what do we have here? Power "rocker" switch was stuck here - moving freer now So, Atarians - do you know what this beast is? CLUE: IT's NOT AN ATARI!
Sheesh, you made light work of that, Al. A VIC-20 indeed. Got her powered up with a red light on but... no joy... no picture... maybe a chip or some RAM has blown? I've been keeping Rich very busy of late with a poorly Speccy and my mate's Elk so I won't bother him. Might just keep it for decoration for now. Something different, for a change, chaps. Been a bit of fun poking around the inside - might well do the ol touch test later in week to see if I can identify any hot chips etc but overall, I think you'll agree, guys, she's in ever such good cosmetic condition: Light's on, but no-one's at home: She's in lovely nick so would be nice to maybe get her going one day.
Good thing there are SD devices for the old VIC, disk drives, tape drives and carts are all so dear.. Hope you get it going Andy, as said, looks in lovely nick...
The problem with these old machines is that the custom IC's are getting so hard to get, and the prices are over the top..Neh mind, the Pope thinks the world is about to blow up (in the news yesterday).
Absolutely, Paul. He's blaming global armageddon on too many Orics in the Atmos-phere and not enough VIC chips in the fish shops and I can see where he's coming from. He's probably got a point and we are facing mankind's toughest set of environmental challenges since the Sinclair C5 took to the roads. I blame the Tories. Vote for Rab C Nesbitt.
I hope the Pope's wrong, I've just brought myself a 2TB SSD (on paypal pay in 3) and I'd like to get some use out of it before Yellowstone park erupts while the rest of the world gets flooded. Sounds more ferocious than Biden's dog (11 Secret Service people attacked, lol, never attacks the old dribbler tho, I think the dog hasn't realised that Biden's actually alive)
PMSL! That dog is definitely a commander of attention down the White House stadium dog track. Maybe if those "special" needs agents stopped stealing his scooby snacks he would leave them alone too. As you say, difficult to tell if Biden is still alive - maybe someone should use a Ouija board and check, Paul? ;-)
It's either the VIC chip or the Kernel ROM that has given up the ghost. Probably the VIC chip. Paul Ruston @ Retroleum had some NOS VIC chips for sale ( I bought a spare for my VIC 20 ) I don't know if he has any currently but if not get a working VIC20 that has a badly yellowed case and use that as a Donor machine. It's seems like a lot of VIC stuff is on tape so a Tapuino is a handy gadget for all the .tap files of games and you'll need a RAM expansion as well to get the most out of it. You can also add a SVHS mod to improve the picture quality over the original composite.
As ever, Rich, many many thanks for your kind pointers on this one. I will look to make contact with Paul Ruston. Excellent support from you guys on this forum - massively appreciated. This VIC deserves to live and breathe once more PS. Update... I've emailed Paul as as you say, his online store says out of stock for most of his VIC chips... never mind, he might have some advice else I'll go down your "donor" Vic route, Rich. Cheers!
Update, Rich/lads: Just purchased this for £12.50 incl P&P so we'll see what the score is when it arrives. Knowing my luck though it will be soldered and not socketed... you never know though - I just might land on the side of good fortune?
Need to fit a metal shim so there is contact between the VIC chip and the metal cover. Your model runs hotter than the cost reduced version I have. So fit heatsinks to all your main IC’s bud.
As the ol saying goes, will keep you posted chaps, and once more... excellent support and advice from the group. You guys need to know that you ROCK!
Nice one Richie, always helping out...Top man..Pretty sure all the VIC chips were in DIL sockets, even on the Vic20.. Spoke too soon, first set of images I find on google are all soldered in.
Cheer, Rich - the VIC chip arrived today. Just had the VIC open and I have located the old chip and have tried levering out with a small screwdriver but... yeah, I can see what's going to happen here - I'm gonna snap either a neighbouring capacitor or some other component t'other side and cause more damage than good... I don't have a chip extraction tool. Thanks, Rich. I'll pack it up real good and get it orf to you, mate. Let the expert ave a butchers etc. Cheers, fellas.
Probably the best idea, old chips that have not been removed from their sockets tend to get oxidation on the surfaces. In some cases, it can make removing the chips a pretty stiff process. Contact cleaner can help (a little), but it's very easy to pry the chip out too hard, that risks bent or snapped legs and if the screwdriver slips, it's so easy to rip a cap off the board or slice tracks. More so in this case, as the RF shield is so close to the chip, making it a pain to get to. That's why I only work on my own gear now, as I already have banana fingers and a snatch that comes on when I'm stressed, don't want to kill someone else's machine or make the motherboard look ugly with little fixes for the slip.
All those words of advice ring true, Paul - it certainly does look quite tight in its socket - I;ve only achieved slight movement one end so far so like you say... you just watch those chip pin legs suddenly bend like billy-oh and the screwdriver slip and then... a moment's madness causes untold damage leading to a long and protracted (and expensive) repair ahead. No point. Get it orf to someone who has the gear - and plenty of idea... RICH - many thanks! Andy
Trust me, I've done all those things myself when I was starting to learn the stuff at Maplin. Still bend the odd chip leg And yes, a tip of the hat to Richie, being there to give a helping hand is a godsend and having the gear really does help. A chip that refuses to desolder all the legs, a hot air gun sorts that out (as long as you take care of the surrounding components.) Constantly trying to desolder it with an iron and a desolder pump risks lifting the trace on the old boards..
Hey, guys. Just to update you fellas on this thread, Richie has had a good look at me VIC-20 and guess what... yep, there was nowt wrong with it. So, Baz, what BASIC error did you make to think that it was fried, fella? Well, if you recall, I was trying to power up the little monkey with 9v AC... lo and behold, he wants 9v DC! Yep, the old AC/DC mix up and being a little slice of vintage Americana, the Commodore likes a bit of 9v DC power. Doh, elementary error this end, fellas, but at least this means that the VICs coming home soon AND there;s a lovely happy ending coming real soon as my old mate who did our kitchen and did the decking, CHRIS, only began his computing days in the early 80s on a VIC and guess what... He'd love to have the little brute and start up a whole new set of adventures with his old love in the late summer of his days - and why not. Richie, being the no.1 fantastic guy he is, is sending VIC back with a switchable RAM expansion so good ol Chris will be able to play most (if not all?) of his good ol VIC titles incl, I believe, his fave... JELLY MONSTERS! To "celebrate" soon the reunification of Chris and Vic, I end with this little clip which shows me getting to grips (or not as the case may be) with the C64s little brother: Take it/take me.... AWAY!
Great news Andy, well done Richie, ha ha..School boy error Andy.. Jelly monsters, one of the games I purchased, not a bad Pac-Man clone...
