Why would anyone want to own a VIC 20???

[carlsson]

Thomas, are you running some company where you don't have to pay VAT to the state when you sell goods outside of EU? Or is there another reason why you use the very favorable exchange rate 1 EUR = 1 USD? Would customers in other European countries not part of the EMU be able to order an unit in USD currency?

[Thomas Hechelhammer]

Hi.

Sorry, I'm always calculating 1 USd = 1 EUR and this is just a "number" for me.

Actual, we have 1 Euro = 1,30 USd.
For being more precisely I would have to calculate 65 US$ for the SID-cartridge + shipping but (look below) I don't offer it.

And no, I'm not running any company.

Since 1999 I don't sell any hardware (I've done this with fifo64 and the up9600 in the past).

In Europe (EU) we must give 2 years of warranty and keep certain EMV values.

Even I work in a big telecommunications-company with lots of measuring-equipment I cannot promise that the hardware keeps the values, so I do development just for me and nothing more for the community.

-- Thomas

[eslapion]

eslapion : I cannot find the tread you are talking about (74273)

-- Thomas

It is here:
http://sleepingelephant.com/v-web/bulle ... c&start=20

[Shaun.Bebbington]

Hi guys,

I am working on an article for an upcoming issue of Retrogaming Times about why the Vic 20 is such a great platform for classic gaming.

But before I finish the article I thought I would ask some of my fellow Vic 20 enthusiasts their opinion.

So here is the question, "Why would anyone want to own a Vic 20?"

Give me your top five answers and I hope to compile them all into an interesting article that will continue to promote the mighty VIC.

Tonks

If there's still time...

1) It's the original bread-bin

2) It has some wicked software (and I don't mean wicked in the medieval sense of the word either), many creative programmers learnt their trade on the VIC-20, Jeff Minter for instance.

3) It was, by accident of birth, Commodore's first colour computer.

4) It was the world's first "Fun computer" :p

5) This is from a personal point of view...

"The Commodore VIC 20 was the reason that I would use the computer science labs during my dinner hour in high school. Amongst the sea of BBC Micros, and dwarfing the ZX Spectrum which sat next to it, the VIC was the only machine with any real class.

Commodore began its expedition into the home computing market with this very machine. It was, and still is, aesthetically pleasing in design and software with many excellent games from the likes of Mastertronics, LLamasoft, Rabbit Soft and even Commodore. And it is my favourite Commodore-branded computer as it has a cool factor that many other machines don’t quite manage.

Finally, I love my VIC 20 because from such apparent simplicity comes some great games; it represents an era when the industry was just finding its feet and true creativity was driving entertainment software. An era which is sadly often overlooked, just like this great machine."

That is taken from an article I wrote for a magazine called gamesTM, with a seal of approval from none other than Matt "Mayhem" Allen himself. gTM sadly got sold to Imagine Publishing... I say sadly as I'm still owed cash from them (Paragon Publishing) still, I can't complain too much.

What about the VIC-1001 and the VC-20... do they get a mention?!?

Regards,

Shaun.

[bills442]

Well, I thought I'd chime in too, since I've taken the time to be on this board

vic 20 was my first computer.

I had aspirations of doing all this cool stuff when I was a kid, but lacked the financial resources or the "discipline"

Today, as a "professional" programmer I find much of the magic of programming is lost to me. Sure sometimes I can make a project fun, but I am tired of having to deal with other people's crappy API or operating systems. Just when I am having fun I realize I have to engage in tedium X to get my job done. Whatever that tedium might be, working around some bug in an API, etc etc etc etc.

Now with the VIC I find I don't experience any of that anger. Sure, I suppose you could get angry about this or that design of the hardware, but that's about the only thing you *could* get angry at. I don't have to deal with 10 flavors of Function() FunctionEx() FunctionExEx(), etc etc etc.

Still, though; I do find myself wondering WTF am I wasting time programming a 20 year old computer for sometimes? ... but I guess if you accept that it's just fun that makes it ok. I'm just glad this board exists because as someone else said, Kudos is all there is. Doing something is no fun if there isn't at least 1 other person who might be interested in what you are doing

Well that's my $.02

Cheers everyone!

[Schlowski]

Well, that are exactly my own feelings, couldn't have written that better...

Happy to see that other people are as weird as I am

Björg

[ral-clan]

Well, I thought I'd chime in too, since I've taken the time to be on this board

vic 20 was my first computer.

I had aspirations of doing all this cool stuff when I was a kid, but lacked the financial resources or the "discipline"Still, though; I do find myself wondering WTF am I wasting time programming a 20 year old computer for sometimes?

Yeah, as a 12 year old I never was able to fully use my VIC. I never understood all the poking or hi-res graphics, etc. So I'm finally having fun exploring all the things I was never able to do/understand as a kid.

Sometimes, too, I wonder about what, as a 36-year-old, I am doing with a 25 year old computer set-up. But mostly I think it's quite cool to have a working 25 year old computer setup sitting there. I am a historian/archivist in my job, so I like preserving "old things". My mind is being expanded (not only am I learning programming, but the VIC can be used to control electronics projects). It's also a darn cheap hobby ($5 can get you a VIC).

Also, I think owning an old VIC and keeping it in working condition is not really much different than those people who restore and keep antique cars going (it's certainly more educational than keeping Hummel figurines or Pepsi paraphernalia).