Has anyone put together a definitive list of the types of vic-20 that have been produced around the world? I have two rather different ones, an early one with Pet keyboard (serial no. WGB 0252 - is this serial number as low as it seems?) - and a rather later one with C64 type keyboard (serial WGB 202753).
These two have a lot of other differences - motherboard revisions, power supplies etc. and I notice that the introduction to the book "Vic Revealed" that it is written for version 7 machines, with the US machines being version 6 and Japanese version 1. What were versions 2-5?
Types of Vic-20
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Replying to my own message!
I guess I should have asked a slightly different question, since I am aware of the canonical commodore hardware list, which does pretty much what I asked originally. So, has anyone made a list - with pictures - of the different types of Vic-20 - and put it up on the internet.
There seems to be lots of pictures and information spread all over the web, but not all in one place.
If such a thing doesn't exist, I might make one.
I guess I should have asked a slightly different question, since I am aware of the canonical commodore hardware list, which does pretty much what I asked originally. So, has anyone made a list - with pictures - of the different types of Vic-20 - and put it up on the internet.
There seems to be lots of pictures and information spread all over the web, but not all in one place.
If such a thing doesn't exist, I might make one.
Matt Baker
i do not know if this site is as complete as what you are looking for, but he has quite a bit of stuff on the vic:
http://www.zimmers.net/cbmpics/index.html
http://www.zimmers.net/cbmpics/index.html
A while ago, I opened my two VICs (one working, one broken) and wrote down all useful numbers I could find, both on case sticker, motherboard, back side of motherboard (!), chips etc. I don't know if they make any sense though:
Working, socketed chips, two-prong PSU: S/N WG C 6435.
FAB NO. 324002-02. ASSY NO 082369 (?). REV D. W-1894 HB.
(c) 1981 Commodore. Lacks a metal shield around the VIC-I.
Broken, mobo soldered chips, DIN-style PSU: S/N WG C 120528.
FAB NO. 251040-01. ASSY NO 250403. REV D. W-1894 HB.
(c) 1982 Commodore. Has a metal shield around the VIC-I.
One would assume a newer VIC has a higher FAB NO than an older one. Both are from West Germany as you can see - if anyone has a VIC from another country, it could be interesting to see how much the numbers differ.
Basically we know that there were two major revisions of VIC-20; the original, 9V two-prong power one which has most of the chips in sockets and the cost-reduced, C64/DIN-style power one which has most chips soldered directly to the board. There may be variations on this.
We also know that there are a couple of different keyboard looks, production countries and board revisions which may or may not relate to eachother. There are at least two sets of ROMs dumped. The cost reduced computer has a slightly different case, which normally isn't noticed.
It is an interesting issue, but if there is no clear sign how numbers and revisions fit together, it seems hopeless to classify which type of VIC is which, at least in order to get a quick idea on "rarity", if that is what a collector or enthusiast is looking for.
Working, socketed chips, two-prong PSU: S/N WG C 6435.
FAB NO. 324002-02. ASSY NO 082369 (?). REV D. W-1894 HB.
(c) 1981 Commodore. Lacks a metal shield around the VIC-I.
Broken, mobo soldered chips, DIN-style PSU: S/N WG C 120528.
FAB NO. 251040-01. ASSY NO 250403. REV D. W-1894 HB.
(c) 1982 Commodore. Has a metal shield around the VIC-I.
One would assume a newer VIC has a higher FAB NO than an older one. Both are from West Germany as you can see - if anyone has a VIC from another country, it could be interesting to see how much the numbers differ.
Basically we know that there were two major revisions of VIC-20; the original, 9V two-prong power one which has most of the chips in sockets and the cost-reduced, C64/DIN-style power one which has most chips soldered directly to the board. There may be variations on this.
We also know that there are a couple of different keyboard looks, production countries and board revisions which may or may not relate to eachother. There are at least two sets of ROMs dumped. The cost reduced computer has a slightly different case, which normally isn't noticed.
It is an interesting issue, but if there is no clear sign how numbers and revisions fit together, it seems hopeless to classify which type of VIC is which, at least in order to get a quick idea on "rarity", if that is what a collector or enthusiast is looking for.
Anders Carlsson
Oh, on the subject of different types of VIC-20, has anyone seen one matching the description on this page (a.k.a. "find five wrongs") ?
http://www.geocities.com/russp_1999/thec-64.html
http://www.geocities.com/russp_1999/thec-64.html
Anders Carlsson
