Commodore VIC-20
ID: VIC-20
RELEASED 1980
PRICE
DISCONTINUED 1985
UNITS SOLD 2.5 Million
I/O PORTS
CartridgeUser PortSerialJoystick
System Analysis
The Friendly Computer. First computer to sell one million units. Only 5KB RAM but spawned a generation of programmers. The C64's direct ancestor.
Processor
1.02 MHzMOS 6502
Standard 6502, slightly faster than PAL C64.
Audio Subsystem
3 Voices + NoiseVIC
Simple square waves. No SID magic yet.
Memory
SRAM5 KB
Expandable to 32 KB (expanded)
Storage
170 KBDatasette / 1540 Disk
Graphics Architecture
VIC (6560/6561)
Palette: 16 Colors
- 176x184 (NTSC)
- 184x184 (PAL)
Hardware Tricks
- ▹ Character-based graphics
- ▹ Limited sprites
Did You Know?
- ? William Shatner was the celebrity spokesman.
- ? The name VIC came from the Video Interface Chip.
- ? Still has an active demoscene pushing incredible limits.