Expansion port durability?

[Sdw]

I find that I rather frequently need to switch from unexpanded (watch demos) to my 16k expansion (work on my own demo, maybe play some Parachute... )
As I don't have one of those fancy expansions with switches on, the only way to do it is to remove and insert the entire memory expansion.
Is there any known issues with doing this a couple of times a day, or is the port made to endure the wear and tear?

[Boray]

I would say that's no problem at all...

[eslapion]

Is there any known issues with doing this a couple of times a day, or is the port made to endure the wear and tear?

Of course, as with all purely mechanical stuff, it will eventually fail.

In fact, I am very much surprised nobody ever mentioned needing a replacement cart port connector.

Commodore elected to use for the datasette, user and cart ports standard .156" connectors that are widely used in the automation and industrial electromechanical systems.

For this reason, they are still manufactured and easy to obtain. For the same reason, they are incredibly sturdy and long lasting. Being made in large quantities for a large number of different applications, they are also dirt cheap.

The parts below are just some of the many valid replacement parts for your VIC's cart port connector and they're not about to be discontinued. They're also good if you want to construct/repair your own multislot expander.

http://search.digikey.com/scripts/DkSea ... C357442-ND

http://search.digikey.com/scripts/DkSea ... C305440-ND

This one is the cheapest at 5.25$can.
http://search.digikey.com/scripts/DkSea ... C307440-ND

http://search.digikey.com/scripts/DkSea ... e=S3353-ND

http://search.digikey.com/scripts/DkSea ... e=S3352-ND

http://search.digikey.com/scripts/DkSea ... e=S3354-ND

http://search.digikey.com/scripts/DkSea ... e=S3351-ND

http://search.digikey.com/scripts/DkSea ... e=V1062-ND

All of them are gold plated.

For the userport:
http://search.digikey.com/scripts/DkSea ... C305240-ND

For the datasette port:
http://search.digikey.com/scripts/DkSea ... C307120-ND

All, still in production, all gold plated, all dirst cheap.

[Sdw]

Come to think of it, weren't cartridges one of the primary distribution forms for VIC-20 games? I mean, then I can imagine the cartridge port getting a daily workout from youngsters changing between their different games quite a lot!
Compared to that, me swapping the expansion slot one or two times a day should be pretty minor...

[eslapion]

Come to think of it, weren't cartridges one of the primary distribution forms for VIC-20 games? I mean, then I can imagine the cartridge port getting a daily workout from youngsters changing between their different games quite a lot!
Compared to that, me swapping the expansion slot one or two times a day should be pretty minor...

Cartridges were reputed to be better quality games than tape based ones.

Of course, back then, it was not anticipated that VIC-20s could last as long as 25 years or more.

All parts on the VIC-20 main board are either still in production or have an equivalent available on the market except the 6560/6561 video chip.

Protect your video chip with a good heat sink to prevent it from overheating and AFAIK, you have a machine, that has no lifespan limit, unless physically damaged.

[carlsson]

The VIC-20 simply is better built than some crap like the .. Nintendo NES where a change of the cartridge connector is part of the yearly maintainance.

One reason why cartridge games can be better than tapes is that while a cartridge can contain 8-16K of code and data and still have 3.5K of RAM to work with, an unexpanded tape game only has the 3.5K to fill. Then again some programmers were more efficient than others so they could cram in as much action in 3.5K as somebody else would need 8K to do. But yes, the more expensive manufacturing process prevented the smallest software houses to spew out budget games on cartridge although there are a few rather abysmal ones in the lot of c:a 200 VIC cartridges.

[Mike]

I find that I rather frequently need to switch from unexpanded (watch demos) to my 16k expansion (work on my own demo, maybe play some Parachute... )

You can effectively disable the RAM expansion by entering:

Code: Select all

POKE642,16:POKE644,30:POKE648,30:SYS64818

at the READY prompt.

Michael

[Sdw]

Good point Mike! By moving the BASIC and screen ram to the original places, the extra memory shouldn't disturb an unexpanded program.