VIC-1001 Manual Scanned!

Schema · Post by **Schema** » Wed Oct 14, 2009 5:49 am

Here it is folks! Warning, 22 MB.

http://www.bombjack.org/commodore/commo ... Manual.pdf

Schema · Post by **Schema** » Fri Oct 23, 2009 6:00 am

Bump. Did anyone download it? I was sort of expecting it to generate more discussion.

orion70 · Post by **orion70** » Fri Oct 23, 2009 6:41 am

Geez, I completely missed this thread. I'll download it ASAP, and evaluate its general contents (esp. pictures, as I don't know a single word in Japanese

).

Do you know if there's an English translation of the whole manual or parts of it?

Thanks for your work!

Mike · Post by **Mike** » Fri Oct 23, 2009 6:46 am

I did just now, and made a quick eye scan:

- page 56 shows in an interesting fashion, how the VIC chip "sees" the address range - naturally leading to the wrap-around used with POKE36869,255.

- Example programs start at page 122, and it might be interesting to make these available in electronic form, like:
- - "VIC WALL DESTROY" (page 130), and
- - "MAKE PROGRAMMABLE CHARACTER" (page 133).

- The table of inverse, and hyperbolic functions on page 147 isn't bug-free, either.

- pp. 155 contain nice examples how to define UDG's.

- a nice opcode table of the 6502 at pp. 170.

- an internal function/block diagram of the VIC chip at pp. 182. I know of an English version of the data sheet.

- Descriptions of the VIA's at pp. 199, explaining use of the timers, etc.

- Nice tables to design screen layouts and UDG's at pp. 235.

Too bad I can't read Japanese.

carlsson · Post by **carlsson** » Fri Oct 23, 2009 8:02 am

Does this mean Japanese customers were thought to be more technically advanced than most Westerns who only would like to play games and learn some Basic programming? Or perhaps the earlier launch of the VIC-1001 gave room for more details which were removed when the Friendly Computer was released worldwide. After all, a lot of techincal details may not be considered friendly, no matter how accurate it is.

As a side note, the English version of the VIC-20 Programmers' Reference Guide contains almost twice as much information as the Swedish translation does. Does anyone see a pattern? In Japan you get all the details in the very first manual, in Sweden you don't get the full picture even after buying another book tailored specifically towards programmers.

nbla000 · Post by **nbla000** » Fri Oct 23, 2009 8:16 am

OK, now except for basic examples, we need someone who translate it

sjgray · Post by **sjgray** » Fri Oct 23, 2009 8:44 am

Schema wrote:Here it is folks! Warning, 22 MB.

http://www.bombjack.org/commodore/commo ... Manual.pdf

I downloaded it. Some interesting info. So, how was the book finally scanned?

Steve

carlsson · Post by **carlsson** » Fri Oct 23, 2009 11:28 am

We can ask Michael Tomczyk's wife. She is said to have translated it once, about 29 years ago. It makes me wonder if Commodore made cuts in the manual before or after she (or whoever else did it) had it all translated to English?

Post by **Jeff-20** » Fri Oct 23, 2009 1:22 pm

How well did she know the language? Is she a native speaker?

Schema · Post by **Schema** » Fri Oct 23, 2009 2:27 pm

sjgray wrote:I downloaded it. Some interesting info. So, how was the book finally scanned?

My temporarily loss of employment (strike) is your gain! I sat down with a big mug of coffee and spent a day scanning each page manually. Then another day to assemble/tidy it up.

Pedro Lambrini · Post by **Pedro Lambrini** » Sat Oct 24, 2009 8:27 am

Jeff-20 wrote:How well did she know the language? Is she a native speaker?

Yeah, if I remember correctly she is Japanese.

Mayhem · Post by **Mayhem** » Sat Oct 24, 2009 4:59 pm

A translation would be good. As said, I don't need to download the scan as I have one already

ruud · Post by **ruud** » Sun Oct 25, 2009 7:47 am

Schema wrote:Bump. Did anyone download it? I was sort of expecting it to generate more discussion.

I did download it, but I wasn't able to read it, and therefore could not discuss it :)

Kweepa · Post by **Kweepa** » Tue Oct 27, 2009 8:54 pm

Pretty cool! It seems to go into some amazing detail...!
And the diagrams are mostly labelled with katakana which are easy to read.

Denial

VIC-1001 Manual Scanned!

VIC-1001 Manual Scanned!

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Re: VIC-1001 Manual Scanned!