Commodore VIC 20

The VIC-20 was intended to be more economical than the PET computer. It was equipped with 5 KB of static RAM and used the same MOS 6502 CPU as the PET. The VIC-20’s video chip, the MOS Technology VIC, was a general-purpose color video chip designed by Al Charpentier in 1977 and intended for use in inexpensive display terminals and game consoles, but Commodore could not find a market for the chip.

The VIC in VIC-20 stands for Video Interface Chip. This chip was designed by Commodore two years prior for video game machines, never intending it for use in their own computer system. Unfortunately no one wanted it, so Commodore engineers designed the VIC-20 computer around it

Introduced: June 1980
Released: January 1981
Price: US $299
CPU: MOS 6502, 1MHz
RAM: 5K (3.5K for the user)
Display: 22 X 23 text
176 X 184, 16 colors max
Ports: composite video
joystick, cartridge, user port
serial peripheral port
Peripherals: cassette recorder
printer, modem
external floppy drive
OS: ROM BASIC

Running Diagnostic Cartridge