This weekend I’m going to my parents place to help my dad clean out his
storage shed and take home any of my old stuff I want to keep.
I know most of it is absolute junk so I’m just gonna put on a blind fold, as it were, and throw away a lot of it.
My dad’s aready found one of the few things I want to take home.
Our old Commodore VIC-20 computer (circa 1981) along with all the pariferals, games, and documentation! We put it away years ago when it stopped working. I’d like to get it going again.
Can any one suggest a way to procede? I don’t want to just plug it in and fry it. This thing’s been kept in a shed that gets real hot in the summer (maybe 130+ deg. F!) It’s been kept fairly clean in plastic and in it’s box but surely has dust inside and it’s 22 years old. How can I do it with out spending a lot? Can a general electronics repair shop do it?
I got my first taste of BASIC on it too.
And Syntax Error messages… :x
Actually according to the interview at “old-computers.com”
the number 20 has nothing to do with the memory unlike the C-64.
VIC stands Video Interface Chip (origionally designed for game consoles) and 20 was tacked on because seemed like a “friendly number”. It was a marketing thing! http://www.oldcomputers.com/museum/computer.asp?c=252
The memory was 5kb for RAM (3583 bytes free, expandable to 32 KB) and 16kb for ROM.
I just tested mine out and there seems to be a problem with the rf signal
to the TV.
my parents still have our old C-64 too stached somewhere…
I will try to use it some time…would be cool maybe play some old games
too bad I stopped use it in spring 1985…girls was more fun then and back to computers 1996 with Macs, via my education, and then PC workstation…as I now uses
I still have my c-64, aside from a few minor repairs it still works fine. They are so simple it’s easy to maintain them. Commodores are solid state, unlike modern computers which reley on hard drives and fans to function. The only moving parts will be on the tape drive or floppy (if you have one, they’re kinda rare on a Vic 20). Cleaning them will be pretty easy. Go to Radio Shack (or a real electronics store if you know of one) and get a can of compressed air, the also sell a brush attachment I recommend. You can also get special cleansing solutions that are formulated for using on electronic circuit boards.
Open the keyboard cover by removing the screws on the bottom, blow off the board (unscrew it too so you can get both sides) Look closely at the board, and the components, If you see signs of scorching or blistering on components or wires, seek pro help, otherwise it will probably be fine if it worked when it was put away.
Next, open up the tape drive and blow it out too. Use a standard cassette deck head cleaner on it and it should be good to go.
If you don’t have a multimeter, get a cheap one, needle better than digi.
Test your Power supply (the cord that swallowed a bricK). If the pinout isn’t imprinted on the brick, it’s in your manual. If ya don’t have a manual, you always got google. A tip - check for voltage as dc, the switch to the lowest AC setting and test for “ripple”, this is where the needle meters wok better than digi. If that checks out, fire it up.
I wouldn’t worry about the heat too much, after a 16 hour Ultima binge my 64 would be well over 135 degrees, and still stable. The older chips used in the 80’s were a lot more robust than modern high density chips.
There used to be/may still be a company called Bare Bones Software that was still selling used software for old apples, commodores, and ataris, might be worth a google search to see if they’re still around. I mail ordered Ultimas 4 and 5, both were in like new condition with all books and maps.
After replacing the 5-pin DIN plug on the RF modulator I tried out the
computer. The picture was just a bunch of diagonal lines. The sound was ok. I remember now this was the reason we retired it. I could’t fix the picture by making the normal adjustments. All connections were correct. I tried tv and comp on ch. 3 and 4. Fine tunning didn’t get it. I used a tv of about the same age to simplify things.
Since the sound worked I tried a few game carts and found that the computer responds to the keyboard and joy stick. It makes all the right sounds. Looking in side, I saw that there is a blister on the board near the DIN connectors.
