When did you get your first Vic?
When did you get your first Vic?
My first Vic was a birthday present. I was in fifth grade. It would take more than five years before I got my first game for the system: Gridrunner. In the next five years I got two more games, Omega Race and Pacman.
All thru the beginning of the PC age(early 80's),I either could not afford a computer(just got married,crappy paying job,bought a house..you know the story)or it just didn't interest me at the time.I wish I could have got into it then,but as things went,I got into it BIG time just after finding my first Colecovision console and a few games in a thrift store.That snowballed into a collection frenzy,that led to my acquiring my first VIC-20,sometime in the 1997.Thanks to being introduced to the internet for the first time while researching info for classic gaming,and finding out there were a whole bunch more people doing what I was doing,it soon became a very addictive hobby!! The VIC-20 was from the beginning my favorite "gaming" computer,with the C-64 close behind.I don't know how to exactly explain it,the VIC has just got a "way" with me when it comes to playing games,like I had it before and enjoyed it...but I never had it before!!It's graphic style is everything you could want in a gaming system,much better than..say, the Atari 2600,but it's just that the VIC-20 played with more pizazz,more vitality.Again...I don't know what exactly draws me to this computer,it's like a moth attracted to litebulb at nite.
Rob
Rob
That Gaming Dude...you know...the guy!!!
I got my first Vic for $25 at a garage sale around 1985 I think. I had 4 or 5 games for it and that was about it. I got a datasette about a year later. My brother and I were addicted and did a lot of game programming on that machine. I definitely got my money's worth from that machine!
Now I have 3 Vics, about 15 more games and other cool accessories. I have the 16K RAM cart now but I sure could have used it back in the day.
Now I have 3 Vics, about 15 more games and other cool accessories. I have the 16K RAM cart now but I sure could have used it back in the day.
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dstartuner
- Vic 20 Newbie
- Posts: 1
- Joined: Sat Feb 28, 2004 10:04 am
First Vic
Got my first Vic for my birthday at Toys r Us in 1984. I was nine at the time. My favorite game cart was Gorf, others include River Rescue, Slot, Mole Attack, Radar Ratrace, Jupiter Lander, and Bingo Math. Used some programs from Family Computing magizine(remember!). Vic was followed by a C-128. Still have Vic, C-128 and others include Plus-4, Coleco Adam, 64C, Sinclair 1000 and many accessories, collecting more everyday!!
My first Vic came to me as a b-day present in 1983. My parents bought it from Woolworths. I remember clearly the commodore section they had. Sort of like when you walk into a store today and you see the big nintendo or playstation glass display cases, well they had ones like that full of C64 and Vic20 games. Shortly after I got my first vic games for christmas. I remember pirates cove, the count, and omega race. I never did get into pirates cove or the count but I sure played the heck out of omega race.
Later on I aquired more games and did trading with school chums and built up a pretty good collection. I bought a blaster auto fire module from sears, which I still have, for shooting those alien ships a whole lot faster. I had a tape deck with it from day one but wanted one of the new 1541 disk drives as they were the cats meow. I bought one from a friend at school and never looked back except to transfer all the old tape progs to floppy disk.
I still have my original Vic20 and all the games I got for it. Its set up right behind me and I use it at least once a month. Im trying to collect for it all the items I saw in magazines and store shelves but couldnt afford to buy as a young teen. Im well on my way but still have a long ways to go.
If you want to do some trading please pm or email me. My cart list is on my website in my sig. I have lots of trade carts but I havent gone through them all to see which I have doubles of. If someone comes forward with some good trade items I need it would give me the kick I need for me to go through my carts and make out a list.
Anyways Im glad to be a part of this forum and I hope more Vic20 collectors come together here too.
I have been looking for somewhere to dload all the .tap files and cover scans and such that Tim Menning (aka Arma) had on his old website.Does anyone have his site archived or stored somewhere and I can dload it from them? I have all my commodore files available for dload on my http server. Have a look at http://24.70.66.74 the site goes down at night when my computer shuts down but its up daily from 9am to 11 pm PST or so. cya
Leo
Later on I aquired more games and did trading with school chums and built up a pretty good collection. I bought a blaster auto fire module from sears, which I still have, for shooting those alien ships a whole lot faster. I had a tape deck with it from day one but wanted one of the new 1541 disk drives as they were the cats meow. I bought one from a friend at school and never looked back except to transfer all the old tape progs to floppy disk.
I still have my original Vic20 and all the games I got for it. Its set up right behind me and I use it at least once a month. Im trying to collect for it all the items I saw in magazines and store shelves but couldnt afford to buy as a young teen. Im well on my way but still have a long ways to go.
If you want to do some trading please pm or email me. My cart list is on my website in my sig. I have lots of trade carts but I havent gone through them all to see which I have doubles of. If someone comes forward with some good trade items I need it would give me the kick I need for me to go through my carts and make out a list.
Anyways Im glad to be a part of this forum and I hope more Vic20 collectors come together here too.
I have been looking for somewhere to dload all the .tap files and cover scans and such that Tim Menning (aka Arma) had on his old website.Does anyone have his site archived or stored somewhere and I can dload it from them? I have all my commodore files available for dload on my http server. Have a look at http://24.70.66.74 the site goes down at night when my computer shuts down but its up daily from 9am to 11 pm PST or so. cya
Leo
My big brother bought his VIC-20 in 1984. Two years later he upgraded to a second-hand C64, so I bought the VIC from him. I didn't own any cartridge games, but added a 12K RAM expansion[1]. Another one or two years later, I "inherited" his C64, so in 1988 I sold most of my VIC-20 apart from a few tapes with Basic games.
About 1993/94, I felt I wanted a VIC-20 again, so I bought one with a damaged keyboard and a couple of cartridges. It died after a few weeks, but fortunately there was another machine available locally for a good price. It still works, but the RF modulator gave up quite soon. Amazingly enough, there is a former Commodore dealer[2] around, and he still had shrink-wrapped[3] VICs and 64s in stock. I managed to talk him into opening a VIC and sell me only the RF modulator for crazy money.
Later, the radio shop where my brother used to work was closing down. They had a few VIC items left in stock, so I added a few more carts, books and a 32K expansion which seemed to be broken first, so I got my money back but kept the cartridge. After some cleaning and fiddling with the connection, it works!
Sometime in 1995/96, I was invited by Marko Mäkelä to the Veni Vidi VIC! demo project, and since then I write music and program in machine code and Basic from time to time. Thus it took me ten years between my first VIC experience until I seriously programmed something (not counting the half-hearted Basic attempts in the 80:ties).
Today I own one working and one dead VIC-20, one dead and one working C64, two 1541-II diskdrives, two working Amigas, one working Macintosh, one dead ZX Spectrum, as much PC hardware as I need and a Casio PB-700 pocket computer which unfortunately has a broken display since I acquired it.
[1] It used to be a demo cartridge with 12K RAM and 2K ROM which the reseller had removed. In theory I could have had 14K RAM in that one.
[2] It is this former dealer which I believe may still have a stock with a few VIC cartridges so rare or unknown that they don't even appear in the vaporware section in Ward's Cartzilla. Even if he would ask $50 each for such titles, it would be reasonable.
[3] The reseller asked the same money for his shrink-wrapped computers in 1994 as he had done ten years earlier. Of course inflation had made them cheaper, but far from second-hand market values...
About 1993/94, I felt I wanted a VIC-20 again, so I bought one with a damaged keyboard and a couple of cartridges. It died after a few weeks, but fortunately there was another machine available locally for a good price. It still works, but the RF modulator gave up quite soon. Amazingly enough, there is a former Commodore dealer[2] around, and he still had shrink-wrapped[3] VICs and 64s in stock. I managed to talk him into opening a VIC and sell me only the RF modulator for crazy money.
Later, the radio shop where my brother used to work was closing down. They had a few VIC items left in stock, so I added a few more carts, books and a 32K expansion which seemed to be broken first, so I got my money back but kept the cartridge. After some cleaning and fiddling with the connection, it works!
Sometime in 1995/96, I was invited by Marko Mäkelä to the Veni Vidi VIC! demo project, and since then I write music and program in machine code and Basic from time to time. Thus it took me ten years between my first VIC experience until I seriously programmed something (not counting the half-hearted Basic attempts in the 80:ties).
Today I own one working and one dead VIC-20, one dead and one working C64, two 1541-II diskdrives, two working Amigas, one working Macintosh, one dead ZX Spectrum, as much PC hardware as I need and a Casio PB-700 pocket computer which unfortunately has a broken display since I acquired it.
[1] It used to be a demo cartridge with 12K RAM and 2K ROM which the reseller had removed. In theory I could have had 14K RAM in that one.
[2] It is this former dealer which I believe may still have a stock with a few VIC cartridges so rare or unknown that they don't even appear in the vaporware section in Ward's Cartzilla. Even if he would ask $50 each for such titles, it would be reasonable.
[3] The reseller asked the same money for his shrink-wrapped computers in 1994 as he had done ten years earlier. Of course inflation had made them cheaper, but far from second-hand market values...
Anders Carlsson
My first vic 20 was purchased a little over a year ago.
I used to make fun of the vic 20, when I was growing up.
My best friend at the time had a Commodore 64, and begged me to get one so we could pool our resources.
I just couldn't get away from looking at the 'breadbox' computers as glorified toys.
I used to have an Apple II with a green monitor and 64k, and thought I was so superior.
Then many years passed, and about a year ago I got the itch to get an old 8 bit machine with BASIC, so I could get back to some of the stuff I did in my teens.
I bought a vic 20, since it was cheap, and I have not looked back.
What a sweet machine, and I take back all that I said about it!
I am hooked on vic
Chris
I used to make fun of the vic 20, when I was growing up.
My best friend at the time had a Commodore 64, and begged me to get one so we could pool our resources.
I just couldn't get away from looking at the 'breadbox' computers as glorified toys.
I used to have an Apple II with a green monitor and 64k, and thought I was so superior.
Then many years passed, and about a year ago I got the itch to get an old 8 bit machine with BASIC, so I could get back to some of the stuff I did in my teens.
I bought a vic 20, since it was cheap, and I have not looked back.
What a sweet machine, and I take back all that I said about it!
I am hooked on vic
Chris
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Disc Master I
- Vic 20 Amateur
- Posts: 43
- Joined: Wed Mar 31, 2004 10:19 pm
My first Vic-20 was purchased a long long time ago. Man I can't remember that far back. I'll go off a limb here and say Nov 2003 maybe!!! 
Sadly, that Vic-20 died in January 2004 at which point I won a second near mint, complete Vic-20 on eBay again. This one used the more popular and C64 compatible power supply. Anyhow, I'm a classic computer and game collector and the C64 was my first computer that I ever owned back in 1985. I am a loyal Commodore fan and realized I HAD to get a VIC-20 to add to my collection. All I can say is that I am VERY impressed by this little machine and already love it like it was with me since my childhood in hte early 80s. Now, I only wish it was, but getting a C64 for my B-Day in 1985 is better than never having a Commodore computer at all.
John
PS: Thank God for these forums. I love LEMON64, but have been searching for a VIC-20 site for a long time. I was curious about this little computer since I started getting into the collecting back in 2002 or so. Before 2002 the last time I used my real C64 was in 1993 or 94 and even then it was to play Little Computer People and see if I could end up killing the person. I left that C64 on while I went off to college for the day. When I got back, it wasn't the LCP that died, it was my C64!
Damn LCP outlived the Commodore 64. I came home to a frozen screen and upon restart of the C64 I got nothing but a black screen. PSU must have died.
Sadly, that Vic-20 died in January 2004 at which point I won a second near mint, complete Vic-20 on eBay again. This one used the more popular and C64 compatible power supply. Anyhow, I'm a classic computer and game collector and the C64 was my first computer that I ever owned back in 1985. I am a loyal Commodore fan and realized I HAD to get a VIC-20 to add to my collection. All I can say is that I am VERY impressed by this little machine and already love it like it was with me since my childhood in hte early 80s. Now, I only wish it was, but getting a C64 for my B-Day in 1985 is better than never having a Commodore computer at all.
John
PS: Thank God for these forums. I love LEMON64, but have been searching for a VIC-20 site for a long time. I was curious about this little computer since I started getting into the collecting back in 2002 or so. Before 2002 the last time I used my real C64 was in 1993 or 94 and even then it was to play Little Computer People and see if I could end up killing the person. I left that C64 on while I went off to college for the day. When I got back, it wasn't the LCP that died, it was my C64!
Damn LCP outlived the Commodore 64. I came home to a frozen screen and upon restart of the C64 I got nothing but a black screen. PSU must have died.Hi!
I'm new to this forum. Nice to meet you all!
My brothers and I got our VIC as a christmas present in 1982 when I was 12. I think we only had the computer at first, but we soon bought a datassette, and after a while a switchable 16K RAM cartridge.
Only kept it for a little over a year, at which time I bought a C64 and 1541 drive together with my older brother. Started getting into C= computers again 2 or three years ago and has since bought two VICs (one early model with the huge heat sink and the square, PET-style keys, and one late model). I also have a bunch of accessories: 3K, 16K and 32K expansions, VC1541 drive, Mikro Assembler cartridge, etc. A year ago I even bought the Radar Ratrace cartridge on eBay. That was the only cartridge game I had back when, so I just had to have it again.
One really cool thing I have now is Nicolas Welte's Universal 6502 RAM/ROM expansion. I don't know if it's been mentioned here before, but every VIC20 owner should check out his site: http://people.freenet.de/x1541/hardware/index.html. With one of those installed in your VIC you have instant access to 32K RAM and four cartridge games at all times.
I'm new to this forum. Nice to meet you all!
My brothers and I got our VIC as a christmas present in 1982 when I was 12. I think we only had the computer at first, but we soon bought a datassette, and after a while a switchable 16K RAM cartridge.
Only kept it for a little over a year, at which time I bought a C64 and 1541 drive together with my older brother. Started getting into C= computers again 2 or three years ago and has since bought two VICs (one early model with the huge heat sink and the square, PET-style keys, and one late model). I also have a bunch of accessories: 3K, 16K and 32K expansions, VC1541 drive, Mikro Assembler cartridge, etc. A year ago I even bought the Radar Ratrace cartridge on eBay. That was the only cartridge game I had back when, so I just had to have it again.
One really cool thing I have now is Nicolas Welte's Universal 6502 RAM/ROM expansion. I don't know if it's been mentioned here before, but every VIC20 owner should check out his site: http://people.freenet.de/x1541/hardware/index.html. With one of those installed in your VIC you have instant access to 32K RAM and four cartridge games at all times.
Bacon
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Das rubbernecken Sichtseeren keepen das cotton-pickenen Hands in die Pockets muss; relaxen und watschen die Blinkenlichten.
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Das rubbernecken Sichtseeren keepen das cotton-pickenen Hands in die Pockets muss; relaxen und watschen die Blinkenlichten.
Vic20 was my first computer early on 80´.
My first game was Jupiter lander, but I got Gorf quite soon couse JL didnt support my new Commodore joystic..
Also had Sargon II Chess cartridge..
Only orginal tape game that i remember I had was Psycho Shopper and thats why I got 8k memoryexpander cartridge.
I like Vic20 a lot.. These days I collect all possible Vic20 stuff..
If someone is intrested of trading something i did send my trade list to buy/sell area.. under topic WTB: Miner 2049..
My first game was Jupiter lander, but I got Gorf quite soon couse JL didnt support my new Commodore joystic..
Also had Sargon II Chess cartridge..
Only orginal tape game that i remember I had was Psycho Shopper and thats why I got 8k memoryexpander cartridge.
I like Vic20 a lot.. These days I collect all possible Vic20 stuff..
If someone is intrested of trading something i did send my trade list to buy/sell area.. under topic WTB: Miner 2049..
My first Vic-20 was actually bought by a fundraiser I started in 7th grade. I seemed to be the only one interested in it for some reason but managed to get enough money to buy one for my class through donations made by folks on my paper route. The money raised was for a computer and our teacher ended up buying a Vic-20 and a small b/w TV. He also picked up Jupiter Lander and Gortek and the Microchips. The games were enough to warm everyone up to the computer.
I also did some BASIC programming on it.
My next door neighbors also had one and they had a lot of different games, I wish I could remember even just one.
I also did some BASIC programming on it.
My next door neighbors also had one and they had a lot of different games, I wish I could remember even just one.