Is this thing on?

Testing,, testing, if everything is right this will be on my Facebook news.

Maker Faire down next up in a couple months is CommVex - the Commdore Vegas Expo, in its 7th year of Commodore fan getting together.

Recently I revamped the CommVex page theme (CommVex Page) to resemble the Commodore VIC-20 packaging as this year signifies the VIC-20's 30th anniversary.

The VIC-20 was quite a significant computer for 1981, it was one of the first the pushed the price barrier of a quality computer below $300 (the only popular one at the time was the Timex-Slinclair ZX81 ($150) which was pretty flimsy for a home computer.

Other computers of the time were the Commodore PET and TRS-80 which were getting dated with thier monochrome display and limited sounds, the Apple II, which was very popular as well as very expensive, the Atari 800 and 400 - the arcade dream, with four voice sound and decent color but still well into the $500+ market for even the 400 without BASIC, and the newcomer IBM PC (which I think was delayed a few months since it's 1981 debut and then the first models were either a choice between cassette tape and floppy disk, as well as the established business standard S-100/CP/M microcomputer, which had a host of manufactures like Imsai, Kaypro, Osborne, etc.

What did the VIC have going for it besides a low price? A real keyboard, the other low-cost systems the Atari 400 and Timex Sinclair had membrane keyboard. Color graphics - as compared to its competing price point produce the Z81, Microsoft BASIC (virtually the same as PET's upgrade BASIC). Color (16 colors, thogh 8 was most video graphics could use with the other 8 accessible just via the background & border) and hi-res graphics, which includes a programmable character set (this made making good looking game possible even within the limited 3.5K of program RAM in the unexpanded VIC. Three voice sound (was not as good the Atari but much better then the PET). Easy expansion for memory (via cartridge) cassette, disk drive and modem among other things.

The peripherals also worked on setting lower price points, especially the Modem, up until the VIC MODEM modems were in the $300 range for the most basic 300 baud modem. the VIC MODEM debuted at $99, it was a decent 300 baud direct connect modem (via phone handset cord). Besides price a dubious distinction of the VIC and Modem was its prominent use by home computer hackers in the first home computer hacking stories in the early 1980's news.

Commodore did a service to the programming community in that their “OS” was pretty much open and documented by the community (previously many computers either did not document their hardware features to the public or actually put in in-chip DRM safeguards to keep profits in-company. This open access along with low price brought software and hardware development to those who had the interest and willingness but not the funds. Many a computer luminary can list the Commodore VIC as one of their first computers.

I myself bought my first computer, the VIC-20 in 1983 after graduating high school. With $200 I had a choice between the VIC with Datasette, and a programmers reference guide or just an Atari-400 without BASIC or any storage. I went with the VIC. 3.5K was not much memory but plenty if you utiilized a bit of creative development you could make some nice programs for it. At the time there was good 3rd party support for the VIC too including many magazines with type-in programs and how-to articles. (Compute!'s Gazzette for the VIC-20 and Commodore 64 started the same time I bought the VIC).

The VIC still is being suppored today by web forums and hardware - you can even connect the VIC-20 to the internet with CommodoreServer.com internet modem (software under development) play just about every game with the VIC-20 Mega Cartridge and store/transfer files easily via SD cards with latest Commodore 64/128/VIC compatible solid state drives like the uIEC/SD drive.

Thats enough rambling for now… Discuss.

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