Jeff's VIC 20 Book

[doug_in_nc]

For the CIRCLE command, the <wi> and <hi> appear to be clarifications of what rx and ry mean. I think replacing rx <wi> with something like <x radius> and ry <hi> with <y radius> would make it clearer. Could a note be added to say that <as> and <af> are in Gradians? I think this is the only time I can remember ever seeing Gradians being used as an angular unit.

Some corrections for v0.6

• Pages 84&85 - The 'AI' column should have BYTES '3'
• Page 105, User Port Note - 'explanation'
• Page 109, Super Expander - CIRCLE, the <wi> <hi> seems confusing, not sure what they represent
• Page 109, Super Expander - DRAW also accepts 'DRAW <color> TO <x1>,<y1>'
• Page 110, Programmer's Aid - the line number ranges in FIND, CHANGE, DELETE work the same as LIST (e.g. <n>, -<n>, <n>-, <n1>-<n2> are all valid)

[doug_in_nc]

A couple of small points:

Page 3: VIC-1 Chip should be 6560 (NTSC) / 6561 (PAL) rather than 6561. Should it be referred to as the VIC-1 or just the VIC?
Page 3: Dimensions - the height isn't the same for all cases, so maybe write (typical) next to 75mm and 2.9"
Page 3: Cartridge dimensions - are those the dimensions of Commodore-produced cartridges, or the max that a cartridge could be? (I'm not at home, so I can't check)
Page 32: Adding the screen row numbers to the table as well as the columns would make it easier to use.
Page 33: As for page 32
Page 35: The memory map would be nice in color, even if just for the PDF

P109: Really nitpicking here, but the description for RJOY should be "Returns status of the joystick" not "position", because it reads the fire button as well as the directions

[doug_in_nc]

Missed one.

Page 109. FIND "A" looks for text strings only, but FIND A will find variables too.

So, for the program

10 A1$="ABC"
20 A2$="BCD"

FIND A will find lines 10 and 20, but FIND "A" will only find line 10. Page 109 only covers FIND A

[srowe]

I've been working on typing up a program for the VIC-1001 so have needed to check the katakana character mapping. There are definitely some corrections needed. Don't have time tonight to list them but you can use this montage to make corrections

[Jeff-20]

NEW DRAFT: Version 0.7 PDF

I felt pretty good today and had a chance to make a lot of corrections. I should have kept a change log...

Some corrections for v0.6

• Pages 84&85 - The 'AI' column should have BYTES '3'
• Page 105, User Port Note - 'explanation'
• Page 109, Super Expander - CIRCLE, the <wi> <hi> seems confusing, not sure what they represent
• Page 109, Super Expander - DRAW also accepts 'DRAW <color> TO <x1>,<y1>'
• Page 110, Programmer's Aid - the line number ranges in FIND, CHANGE, DELETE work the same as LIST (e.g. <n>, -<n>, <n>-, <n1>-<n2> are all valid)

Thanks!

A couple of small points:

Page 3: VIC-1 Chip should be 6560 (NTSC) / 6561 (PAL) rather than 6561. Should it be referred to as the VIC-1 or just the VIC?
Page 3: Dimensions - the height isn't the same for all cases, so maybe write (typical) next to 75mm and 2.9"
Page 3: Cartridge dimensions - are those the dimensions of Commodore-produced cartridges, or the max that a cartridge could be? (I'm not at home, so I can't check)
Page 32: Adding the screen row numbers to the table as well as the columns would make it easier to use.
Page 33: As for page 32
Page 35: The memory map would be nice in color, even if just for the PDF

P109: Really nitpicking here, but the description for RJOY should be "Returns status of the joystick" not "position", because it reads the fire button as well as the directions

Thanks!

I've been working on typing up a program for the VIC-1001 so have needed to check the katakana character mapping. There are definitely some corrections needed. Don't have time tonight to list them but you can use this montage to make corrections

katakana-chars.jpg

Yes! Thank you for reminding me to go back to that part and make corrections. I followed your pic.

I think I got all the corrections, but I am sure I overlooked something. So, I'll still work on it.

[srowe]

Looking very good, this is certainly going to be a very useful reference.

One final (!) suggestion:

Page 57, TPHDRID, the current descriptions are rather confused

1 relocatable BASIC program
2 data file block
3 fixed address program
4 data file header
5 logical end of tape

[armypavarmy]

HI,
congratulations for the work of the manual.
To be precise,
on page 104 of the book , The Expansion connector at the letter Y corresponds to Audio In.
So Y= Audio in, as it results in all Pal and Ntsc schemes. (and not listed as "no connection").
Useful for getting audio output from Synthesizers for music or speech.
That's all.
Greetings. Armando

[srowe]

on page 104 of the book , The Expansion connector at the letter Y corresponds to Audio In.
So Y= Audio in, as it results in all Pal and Ntsc schemes. (and not listed as "no connection").
Useful for getting audio output from Synthesizers for music or speech.

This is true, but only for CR models. On the original boards the pin is unconnected.

[Jeff-20]

on page 104 of the book , The Expansion connector at the letter Y corresponds to Audio In.
So Y= Audio in, as it results in all Pal and Ntsc schemes. (and not listed as "no connection").

This is true, but only for CR models. On the original boards the pin is unconnected.

I will try to incorporate the information.

[pixel]

I love this thing, except for lacking contrast. Grey on grey can do visually impaired people's head in. Looking forward to the next draft.

[DarwinNE]

Great book! I really love it!

At page 60 I spotted something weird: The 36874 register controls the lowest voice, that should be bass and not alto (register comprised between tenor and soprano usually sung by female singers).

[chysn]

Great book! I really love it!

At page 60 I spotted something weird: The 36874 register controls the lowest voice, that should be bass and not alto (register comprised between tenor and soprano usually sung by female singers).

The original VIC-20's manual uses "alto," so it's probably the safer term here. Bass and alto vocal ranges mostly overlap, and none of them are three octaves. Really, the VIC-20's range for that register goes beyond bass at the top, and beyond tenor at the bottom. So it's kind of a "take-your-pick" thing if you're trying to find one word for it.

[DarwinNE]

Ah, ok, it is a figure of the original manual, I recall it. I will check on the Italian version I used as a child to see how it is translated.
I agree with the point, nonetheless, the alto vocal range is usually higher than the tenor vocal range (but the two of course overlap), it seems quite a bit strange to see the term used like this... Probably a confusion of the original writer of the manual.

[chysn]

I see what you're saying. It's like Tomczyk got alto and tenor switched around, even though none of them strictly fit. It would have been better just to stick with "high, mid, low."

[DarwinNE]

I checked and the error is the same in the manual in Italian!
The lowest voice is indicated as "contralto", it is very strange. I never noticed it before!