I bought an old VIC-20. Turned it on, there's something wrong with the characters.

START UP CONSOLE

The start up message is wrong

Instead of ...

**** CBM BASIC V2 ****
3583 BYTES FREE
READY.

it shows ...

JJJJ@CBM@BASIC@VR@JJJJ

SUXS@BYTES@FREE

READYN
@ <<-- flashing cursor

So ... "J" instead of "*". "@" instead of "SPACE".

"VR" instead of "V2".

"SUXS" instead of "3583".

I can type a bunch of characters and they appear, press return, and then I get ...

?39.4!8
%22/2
2%!$9.

instead of the "Syntax error" message.

TYPING THE ALPHABET

Interestingly, when I type the alphabet ... ABCDEFGHIJ ... the wrong characters that appear are in the right ASCII/PETSCII order so it would appear the character set is shifted

!"#$%&'()*+,-./0123456789:

TYPE AND RUN A PROGRAM

interestingly, if I type the keys to do this ...

10 PRINT"HELLO"
20 GOTO 10
RUN

... all the characters are wrong but it actually runs (with bad characters.

GAME CARTRIDGE

I inserted a SARGON II CHESS cartridge and powered on, but it won't boot. Just blank screen.

NEXT STEPS

Any ideas what's wrong? I'm assuming one or more of the chips is a bad or has a bad pin connection or something.

I don't have a dead-test cartridge to check RAM.

What was your favourite game?

I have a VIC-20.

I spotted this VICMODEM for sale. If I bought it, is there anything out there I can actually dial and connect to?

I bought a VIC-20 in box with a bunch of accessories and parts from an estate sale.

These parts were in the box ... anyone know what these are?

The pics show front and back.

I bought an old original VIC-20, I'm picking it up on Sunday.

Looking for a TV/monitor.

I was thinking about buying this 12" (or even the 8") LCD. It has composite video in, audio in, and a built in speaker.

https://www.amazon.ca/Eyoyo-Monitor-Screen-1366x768-Function/dp/B01KJVERF8

Would something like this be a good option?

Robot World uses the Scrolls engine.

Another game for the vic20, Scrolls, a top scroller shoot 'em searching for treasure. The Commodore vic-20 was the very first computer I used. My older my brother saved up his money and bought it and he wrote games for it which for me, about ten years old, was pretty awesome. Well it took 40 years, but here are my vic 20 games. Introducing Vic 20 Scrolls, a port of a game that I wrote 30 years ago originally for a z80! It's a top view character based scroller, inspired by Gauntlet. It uses custom character sets. I look forward to hearing what you think. Which level pack do you find most fun?

https://vroomdev.github.io/ti85/vic20scrolls/prg/index.html Caves is my side scroller set of games: https://vroomdev.github.io/ti85/vic20caves/prg/index.html

Thinking of buying a box of computer stuff online, this is the best photo of the PSU that I have.

I'm picking up a VIC-20 this weekend. I don't have an old TV with composite in.

Is there a way to connect it to a 27" Dell 1440p monitor via HDMI or DisplayPort in ... with a cheap adapter from amazon or something?

If yes, is there a way to reduce the size on screen to about 10"-12" inches just so it's a manageable size?

Hi:

edit: Resolved - Thanks for your help. Both my Commodores are running fine now. With the composite to HDMI adapter, I'm not limited to the tiny screen. It is strange that the composite connection did not work. The composite connector was the reason that I bought the screen.

---

I picked up a VIC-20 recently to replace my original one that got destroyed in my parents' basement during the Great Ice Storm of 1998. Anyhow, I have a monitor that takes composite, but the VIC won't display. The lowest resolution that the monitor will go is 800x600 with HDMI. Do I need to upscale the output or find a different solution?

I thought that composite being analogue would be easy. I guess not.

This game is written in 6502 asm and compiled to a prg. Stuffed into 5k which I think was tiny back then. When I wrote the game 30 years ago, I wrote it in Z80 asm. To get it to work on the vic-20, I had to redesign the game's layout to remove unnecessary arrays, trim sound, etc.

What is the best place to post such a link?

https://github.com/VroomDev/ti85/blob/main/vic20crunch/README.md

Hello, I recently inherited a Vic 20, it was kept in a garage for an unknown amount of time, I would assume for at least 20+ years.

I am not sure what I am doing with it to get it to work so wondered if anyone has any advice. I have put a new plug on the power pack as the original one was missing and it appears to be getting power just fine.

I also purchased a 5 pin DIN to RCA cable and a RCA to HDMI converter. When it is all plugged in, it just comes up with a blue screen… not the cyan screen. Does anyone have any idea if i have done something wrong? Or is it likely the console has broken? I haven’t opened it up yet, if you think that would be helpful to do let me know:)

It's quite fun and enjoyable. I will never understand why the C64 version does not start out at a base and this version, like many others, does. The second big area E - J is still stomping me into the ground with little boulders right after craters in the entire area. I haven't even seen that mines yet that start with the third big area.

I picked up a VIC-20 a while back and in the box was this... thing. The person I got it from had no idea what it was, it I think it was her grandfather's or dad's and she knew nothing about the computer.

Its some homemade board, but has the proper size and shape to slot into a VIC-20. There are no ICs on it. Just looks to be wiring. A VIC-20 cartridge definitely fits in the blue slot (I tested that). Strange that just 2 wires go to that black thing on the side. Im guessing for test points? Honestly, not a clue. I have not put it in a VIC-20 to test and probably wont, as I dont know what it does and dont want to damage the computer.

Any ideas?

Hey all! Picked this one up today and can't seem to find anything about it, the C64 version while rare seems to be available but I can't find anything about this one unless I'm missing something, any insight would be appreciated!

I had no idea, until recently, there was an atarisoft version of Moon Patrol for the Vic20. I just got one off of ebay. What does everyone think of this version? IMHO the music seems a little wonky, but it still looks like fun.

Not sure what to say about this one, really.

Hi all, got this vic 20 from a garage recently and it turns on but does not show any picture other than noise and lines. I’ve tried over rf and composite and tried adjusting the brightness pot too. Also tried a brand new video chip but that hasn’t made any difference at all. Any help would be great!

Just got a Vic 20. Currently learning how to make custom characters

Hello guys! I have just gotten this Commodore VIC-20, but I can't start it. When I press the power button nothing happens, and the red power light does not glow. The cassette player works perfectly, which is strange because the cassette player gets its power through the computer. As you can see in the picture, I disassembled it and touched the board to feel for any hot areas, but everything is completely cold. The power supply brick is roughly as warm as a modern laptop charger. Do you guys have any tips on what I should try, or what the problem could possibly be?

Crossposting to this community as well for thoughts :)