The strangest Vic-20 mod ever...

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Boray
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The strangest Vic-20 mod ever...

Post by Boray »

On sale here:
https://www.facebook.com/groups/retroda ... 6970390533

I'm not bidding, but I thought you probably wanted to have a look at the pictures...

Edit: http://museum.boray.se/#!album-17
Attachments
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alterus
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Re: The strangest Vic-20 mod ever...

Post by alterus »

Thats a closed group on Facebook and we cant see the link.... sorry.
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mrr19121970
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Re: The strangest Vic-20 mod ever...

Post by mrr19121970 »

Not sure what you can see, in the forum I get:

You do not have the required permissions to view the files attached to this post.

as a message, and the link takes me nowhere.
Boray
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Re: The strangest Vic-20 mod ever...

Post by Boray »

But I attached the pictures in this thread???
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Boray
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Re: The strangest Vic-20 mod ever...

Post by Boray »

PRG Starter - a VICE helper / Vic Software (Boray Gammon, SD2IEC music player, Vic Disk Menu, Tribbles, Mega Omega, How Many 8K etc.)
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Re: The strangest Vic-20 mod ever...

Post by Boray »

...so nobody cared...
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Mike
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Re: The strangest Vic-20 mod ever...

Post by Mike »

Boray wrote:...so nobody cared...
I *did* care, and from what I could infer from the photos, that hardware enthusiast placed a full RAM expansion together with a self-constructed graphics card (most probably a 40/80-column-display based on 6545 or 6548) on a conductor stripe test PCB housed in the VIC-1010 (or -1020) expander chassis.

Well, a one-of-a-kind machine... with no chance whatsoever to reproduce it. Unlike my VFLI mod. :mrgreen: ;)
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vicist
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Re: The strangest Vic-20 mod ever...

Post by vicist »

While I find this kind of thing intriguing, I am in no position to comment on it. I look at all the pictures of this thing and think it might be wonderful to own it, but would never be able to fully utilise it's potential.

It's not that I don't care about it, just that it's capabilities are far beyond what I need from a VIC.
Maybe others feel this way too?

Thanks for informing us all about this incredible piece of kit nonetheless. :)
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Re: The strangest Vic-20 mod ever...

Post by Bobbi »

I enjoyed the pics too but didn't have much to say about it!

One day I plan to build a homebrew machine and it may as well hang off the VIC-20 cart port or user port (at least initially.) "One day" may be 10 or 20 years in the future though. Hopefully I still have a working 55 year-old VIC then!
Boray
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Re: The strangest Vic-20 mod ever...

Post by Boray »

The piece went for just 750 SEK (77 EUR or 81 USD).
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Mike
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Re: The strangest Vic-20 mod ever...

Post by Mike »

750 SEK are quite O.K. for this nice machine. :)

A 40/80-column display adapter on its own probably sells for more.
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Re: The strangest Vic-20 mod ever...

Post by Bobbi »

Someone got a good deal!
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Re: The strangest Vic-20 mod ever...

Post by tonyrocks »

Mike wrote:
Boray wrote:...so nobody cared...
I *did* care, and from what I could infer from the photos, that hardware enthusiast placed a full RAM expansion together with a self-constructed graphics card (most probably a 40/80-column-display based on 6545 or 6548) on a conductor stripe test PCB housed in the VIC-1010 (or -1020) expander chassis.

Well, a one-of-a-kind machine... with no chance whatsoever to reproduce it. Unlike my VFLI mod. :mrgreen: ;)
Enough of your VFLI mod!! I'm tired of hearing/reading about it!

HEHE...I'm just kidding, your MOD is the best mod on VIC in my opionion!!! :D
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Mike
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Re: The strangest Vic-20 mod ever...

Post by Mike »

tonyrocks wrote:Enough of your VFLI mod!! I'm tired of hearing/reading about it!
Suppose I might at least be inclined to take that interjection seriously ...
tonyrocks wrote:HEHE...I'm just kidding, your MOD is the best mod on VIC in my opionion!!! :D
... in which case the only way of apology I'd accept would be you stick by that word and actually mod (or let mod) your VIC.


People here in the forum go about re-inventing the (square) wheel from time to time when it comes to software, but finished software has at least the bonus it can be copied easily - *if* the author actually did release the software.

In a similar fashion, the more hardware knowledgable people here in Denial don't seem to be too keen in reproducing the works of others. Unlike copying *) software, reproducing hardware incurs hard material costs and time to do the work. With external expansions this is just barely hidden in the price you pay for a cartridge, a SD2IEC device or the like.

Now the VFLI mod has the 'disadvantage' there will be no way whatsoever to provide its functionality as external device. If you want to use the new features, you or someone else *will* have to do the modification on the mainboard. Of course that makes others 'complain' they want to keep their VIC-20s in original shape.

Just so you know: it was exactly my first, original VIC-20 I got for Xmas '83, which I modded, and it is (still) also the only one I own. That also gave me some stirs during the works (even with a superb electronic workshop at my service) - but then I simply saw this mod as a means to repair/remove restrictions which had been built in on the VIC-20 mainboard just by accident. :mrgreen:



*) in contrast to actually writing it: a tool like MINIPAINT easily weighs in at ~100 hours programming time! If I actually *needed* to compensate those costs, I'd need to sell >300 copies at a reasonable price of $50/copy for - say - $150 charged per hour! Not that I'd actually expect that ever to happen. But then, that's always the case with spare time activities. Otherwise, if all active programmers here in Denial would take this into account, the software "output" only would have the choice to drop to zero. :(
tonyrocks
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Re: The strangest Vic-20 mod ever...

Post by tonyrocks »

I would love to be more confident in my skills of soldering, but as I've gotten older, my eyes and steady hand are not as good anymore. I don't have my original Vic-20...which I did actually get in 1983 for Christmas as well :) But mine was DOA when I opened it Christmas morning, and had to wait until the following day to return it and get another. I do wish I still had it though.

However, I still have and use my Commodore 128 that I got for Christmas i think in 1986. I want to start modding it, but again, I'm not confident. For now, I will use my SD Card and also my Wifi Modem to telnet to BBS.

In all seriousness, I totally admire your custom mod work for Vic-20, which always takes me back to 1983, when I would have a blast playing Radar Ratrace and OMEGA race.
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