Memory Map

Memory Map

The VIC-20's 6502 Microprocessor can directly address 64KB of memory.

A stock VIC-20 has 5K RAM, and 20K ROM built-in. Furthermore 4K of the address range access I/O devices, including the VIC chip. The I/O area also contains 1K of 4-bit values serving as Color RAM.

A range of 256 bytes, with the base address also divisible by 256 is called a page.

The memory map is divided in 8 blocks, each 8K in length, and numbered 0 to 7.

1 KB low Memory RAM (built-in) in Block 0

• $0000-$00FF: Zeropage
• $0100-$01FF: CPU Stack
• $0200-$03FF: KERNAL and BASIC working areas

3 KB open area in Block 0

• $0400-$07FF: 1 KB, accessed by RAM1 line
• $0800-$0BFF: 1 KB, accessed by RAM2 line
• $0C00-$0FFF: 1 KB, accessed by RAM3 line

4 KB Main RAM (built-in) in Block 0

• $1000-$1FFF: 4 KB, Main RAM

8 KB Expansion Blocks in Blocks 1..3

• $2000-$3FFF: 8 KB, Expansion Block 1, accessed by BLK1 line
• $4000-$5FFF: 8 KB, Expansion Block 2, accessed by BLK2 line
• $6000-$7FFF: 8 KB, Expansion Block 3, accessed by BLK3 line

4 KB ROM, and 4 KB I/O Chip Areas in Block 4

• $8000-$8FFF: 4 KB, Character ROM
• $9000-$900F: VIC Chip Registers
• $9110-$911F: 6522 VIA Chip #1 Registers
• $9120-$912F: 6522 VIA Chip #2 Registers
• $9400-$97FF: Color RAM (1K of 4 bit nibbles) Note Color is mapped to $9600-$97FF on an unexpanded VIC, otherwise it is at $9400-95FF.
• $9800-$9BFF: 1 KB, I/O Expansion 2, accessed by I/O2 line
• $9C00-$9FFF: 1 KB, I/O Expansion 3, accessed by I/O3 line

8 KB Expansion Area in Block 5

• $A000-$BFFF: 8 KB, Expansion Block 5, accessed by BLK5 line. Often used for ROM cartridges. Allows autostart sequence.

16 KB ROM Areas in Blocks 6, and 7

• $C000-$DFFF: 8 KB, Block 6, BASIC Interpreter ROM
• $E000-$FFFF: 8 KB, Block 7, KERNAL ROM

Screen memory map

Following is the memory map for the default screen on an unexpanded Vic 20:

Screen Character Codes

Screen Colour Codes