VIC-1110 8K RAM Cartridge

From DenialWIKI
(Redirected from VIC-1110)
Jump to navigation Jump to search
VIC-1110 8K RAM Cartridge box.
A variant of the VIC-1110 8K RAM Cartridge box.

The VIC-1110 8K RAM Cartridge is a Random Access Memory expansion device produced by Commodore for the VIC-20 computer. It plugs into the cartridge port of the VIC-20 and thus provides a total of 11775 Bytes free for user programs (including the VIC-20s built-in 3583 bytes of user RAM). The VIC-1110 was usually housed in a brown utility cartridge style case, although there are a few variations.

By using a slot expander peripheral, the VIC-1110 cartridge can be used in combination with a 16K RAM Cartridge to provide up to 28159 bytes of user available RAM. Upon opening the cartridge and exposing the circuit board, the user can usually find a set of DIP switches that are used to change the block where the 8K of RAM will 'mount' in the VIC-20s memory map. The same amount of user available RAM can also be achieved by using three VIC-1110 cartridges and using the DIP switches to assign each of them to a different block.

The VIC-1110 8k RAM Cartridge uses the same circuit board as the VIC-1111 16K RAM Cartridge. The main difference between these two cartridges resides in the number of static RAM memory chips internally installed. As such, many people have added the missing chips to effectively upgrade their VIC-1110 into a VIC-1111.

Some VIC-1110 have also been upgraded to 32k RAM by adding 64 kilobit (8k x 8) SRAM chips instead of the 16 kilobit (2k x 8) normally found in the VIC-1110 and VIC-1111. This type of upgrade is considerably easier to perform on the VIC-1110 because of the IC sockets left empty by the missing 16 kilobits SRAM chips present in the VIC-1111. It is also possible to use the empty sockets of the VIC-1110 to add ROM or EPROM chips.

As such, technical savvy people consider the VIC-1110 to have a greater expansion potential than the VIC-1111.

VIC-1110 8K RAM Cartridge with silver label.
VIC-1110 8K RAM Cartridge box (very early version).
VIC-1110 8K RAM Cartridge with beige label.
VIC-1110 8K RAM Cartridge with "lightning bolt" variation of label (probably an early version).
VIC-1110 upgraded to 32k RAM (courtesy Eslapion).






VIC-1110 8K RAM documentation (page 1)
VIC-1110 8K RAM documentation (page 2)






VIC-1110 8K RAM Japanese documentation (cover)
VIC-1110 8K RAM Japanese documentation (page 1)
VIC-1110 8K RAM Japanese documentation (page 2)