Most liked posts in thread: WHAT WE GOT HERE?

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.

 

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?

 

Just a few SHOUTS OF THANKS to RICHIE!!

He had a look at the ol VIC-20 and although it didn't need much in the way of repairs he gave it some TLC and some extra memory... what a smashing guy -



MANY THANKS, RICH!!





This is going to make such a smashing set-up for Chris for Christmas.



Don't ask me what any of this does...



Bloody lurve Arcadia (by Imagine)



NEVER come across Wacky Waiters before...





weird... but nice animation on the little waiter guy bottom left.

IMAGINE were such a BIG software house back in 82/83, guys, yeah?

.

PS - Will get on with enjoying the 130XE next, mate - thank you so much there too - the Eagle has landed, Rich

 

Going by the grill slats and the placement of power LED I have a fair idea.

Am I the VICtor Andy?

 

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)

 

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.

 

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..

 

https://www.poweradaptorsuk.co.uk/2000ma-2a-9v-18va-acac-ac-output-mains-power-adaptor-162-p.asp

2amps should be enough?

 

All cred to Richie, I just suggested a place to get one cheap..

Too lazy to pull a 1050 supply out to see the amp rating, but I'm sure that place will have a suitable one..

Aha, here's one that is quoted as suitable for an Atari 800

https://www.poweradaptorsuk.co.uk/3000ma-3a-9v-27va-acac-mains-power-adaptor-277-p.asp

Sadly sold out, but I doubt a Vic20 would need more than 2amps anyway..

 

Does indeed look in cracking condition Andy, hopefully you get it up and running some day as well.

 

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...

 

Many thanks, guys - I'll keep you all updated on this little project entitled... IS VIC THERE?!

 

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).

 

I swear I've seen him on The Walking Dead...

 

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.

 

Hope it works old man...

 

If you want me to repair it Andy I’ll sort it out. I like working on Commodore machines.

 

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

 

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...

 

9V AC seems to be the go to PSU of that era

Being fair to Andy, I thought it was DC as well even tho I owned a Vic 20, in truth I'd forgotten the voltage as well

Wish I could help, I have a load of old various type PSU's I've kept over the years but the only 9V AC ones I have are the 3 for my 1050's and 800. I actually need an extra one for the 1200XL myself.

Now if you needed 6V DC or 12V DC I have loads, almost every HDD caddy is 12V DC

 

The later model VIC can use the standard C64 or modern equivalent so they are a bit more easy to find. I don’t know if there is a modern 1050 replacement aside from the type I tracked down and that cost me £18

 

Jeez, are we saying I've goofed... AGAIN here, fellas?!
I'm that knackered at the mo, I will sort this out later in the week but basically, stick a 1050 PSU in there and I should be fine, yeah, until I can get a replacement for Chris.
Cheers, Paul and Richie for putting me right here.
Might need to stick some AC/DC on soon... let there be rock - highway to (PSU) hell etc!
Something has arrived, btw, today, Richie (only got home in past hour or so tonight), so will investigate your return parcel just as soon as I get a breather - cheers once more, my mate.