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- Опубліковано 22 січ 2025
- We have a pile of parts that need repairs and then we'll try to assemble a complete Vic 20 and give it a whirl.
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Awesome, I loved my VIC when I was a kid.....cheers.
The problem with using a solvent to attack the potting material is it's usually epoxy, and so are the plastic cases pf the chips and any individual transistors and diodes. This makes depotting chemically not generally feasible. What can be useful for cosmetic purposes, if you can do it, is to get the whole potted mass out of the case and reuse the case for a modern replacement power supply. Not all power supplies are equally able to be opened up and cleaned out that way, and not everyone is equally goof at it.
May I suggest that you place the PAL board in the scrap parts bin along with the bad power supplies ?
But maybe it'll still redeem itself for parts cannibalization.
Put a chip heat sink on that VIC video chip to save it.
Good suggestion, it shall be done.
The reset line from the computer is connected to the reset line in the disk drive, so it resets the drive which behaves as if you just power cycled it. LED and motor default to ON, then it does a self test after which the LED turns off or flash an error code.
If you can download disk images for the C64 from the internet and put them on a disk, you can download images for the Vic20 too. I use a 386 laptop for that.
The Vic20 has some cool demos for it, even in the unexpanded configuration. PWP (Progress Without Progress) has some great demos like Robotic Liberation or the Impossiblator series.
Another thing to keep in mind - I am a bit puzzled as to why the 1541 just seems to work with the Vic20 - the operating manual clearly states that in order to work with the Vic20, you have to OPEN 15,8,15,"UI-":CLOSE 15
The later VIC1541 is basically the same thing as the brown 1541. One of the ROMs is different on the VIC drive but it could have been changed to the updated version that makes it compatible with both VIC20 and C64. There are long board and short board versions of the VIC1541 as Commodore likely just threw in whatever board and drive mech they had in stock. He didn't show inside so it's pot luck what's actually in there.
I cracked open the drive, and it has a long board Rev E. The roms are 901229-03 and 325302-01, so it's the slowed down version compatible with the C64. Maybe I should install rom 325303-01 for blazing fast speed with the VIC-20
The Commodore version of potting is a completely different story..... they potted it so that the safety inspectors couldn't see how big of a piece of crap it was and fail it lol!
It didn't spark during CE certification and thus got approved.
Time to clone a VIC chip.
It's been done
Do you know that the VIC-20 was called the VC-20 in Germany because it sounded like another word, although the other word was spelled differently.
@@artifactelectronics But they would have sold so may more...
It's no mere rumor, those Commodore power supplies (the ones with DIN connectors) are all time bombs. It's not a matter of if, but when, they fail to over-voltage and brutally kill the precious chips on the motherboard. Please avoid using. Save the VIC chips!
Any of the C64 Savers will allow you to safely use those PSU's. I use several that way for years. -Mark.
They are actually fine. All you have to do is change the LM7805 and it will work for another 30 years. Or just replace the board inside with something better. I designed my own 5V 3A SMPS that fits inside the original psu case. The original transformer will still be working long after everyone born in the 70's is gone.