Denial

My recall is the same as AlanR's. I still have the original packaging for my fairly early Vic, and it was the same cardboard box as the later C-64 with a lid with ears that slid into pockets on the rest of the box. They were still selling Vics in these when they were being liquidated, since the one ...

Another Vic-related dream from about 1982. I had been working a lot of odd hours for my employer at the time as well as burying myself in my hobbies during the few off-hours I enjoyed. One of my problems at the time was the cost of RAM. I'd priced some chips for expanding my Vic past the Super Expan...

My old Vic-1540 drive had this same problem. In this one respect it was the worst of the drives I've had. It would trash the disk entirely if you tried to use SAVE@ at any time, and would trash disks at other times, too, such as when doing sequential writes. I had tried having the store's tech repla...

I think the biggest contribution to the crash was that home computers had been grossly oversold as to what they would do for people in the way of automating things like home finances. Once people got their hands on a system and some software, they discovered that there was this terrible problem with...

No lurkers yet, but here's another image:

Commodore Chicks

I'll take the C= one, Microprose always knocked my floppy out of alignment (darn copy protection!)

8P

-Mark G.

I don't see any author's guidelines on the website. If I wanted to take a crack at it, I guess I should email a pitch to Darran Jones?

-Mark G.

Actually, I blame the Sony + LG less than I blame the fact that I've got Nintendo, Atari, Sega, Sony, and Commodore all hooked up at the same time. Clearly these arch-rivals decided to make the common ground, the TV, their battleground. In the struggle for domination, the high voltage power supply b...

Very informative. I'm still considering the purchase of a new tv. Now I have a 27inch CRT in my bedroom with one composite input and one RF input (yawn). I would like either a 36 inch CRT with a wider range of inputs, a variable audio out, and hopefully, dual tuner picture-in-picture. I've found al...

S-Video gives you better color and fewer color artifacts vs. composite, it doesn't improve resolution at all, so no real effect with respect to aliasing. The contrast will usually improve, even with a somewhat cheesy S-Video adapter like the one in my project for the Atari 7800: http://www.geocities...

Eslapion is correct. If you can't find the exact value for a fuse, go lower. To find a wider range of fuses, try an auto parts shop. Many older autos use Buss fuses. You can also check local hardware stores. Long's Drugs, if you have them in the area, tend to maintain a good variety of fuses as well...

Since my last post, I've purchased a new plasma display TV and had it fry on me (waiting on a tech to contact us for warranty repair presently.) Here are some of my experiences of going from a 36" CRT to a 50" plasma and now back (temporarily) to a 25" CRT. The only thing that was wro...

First I do an overall visual inspection of the system and power supply. I test the power supply. I do a continuity check between +5V and ground looking for shorts. I open in up and inspect it inside, and check the fuse while I'm there as well as look for carbon on the shield and PCB. I test the powe...

I was surprised to be the only one in my age category (40-45, and only just barely still within it.) My Vic was my first "store-bought" computer, but not my first computer by a long shot. My first was an Elf in 1976. Originally I was designing my own 1802 based system, but then I decided t...

It is a fuse, which wasn't unusual in the more sophisticated memory expansion boards for the Vic. The board looks like one of the commercial 8-32K boards taken out of its case. It doesn't have the connector or regulator installed for the extra power input a lot of these came with, and the odd socket...

I've had a bit of a hitch with the magazines. :oops: It seems as though my Grandfater inlaw took a break from reading Electronics Australia from about 1979 to 1985-6. As such, there is next to no information on the Vic-20 in the pile of magazines that I have. :( I may still try and chase up some co...