My VIC-20

[dongfeng]

Re: My VIC-20

"dongfeng" wrote:

> Nope it's just the DVD sitting on top of the
> VCR 8-|

You mean the VCR don't you?

> It's fine, been like that for a year so far... he he

So far! ;-)

Cheers,
CP/M User.

It's not mine, my DVD player looks like this:

 

[CP/M User]

"dongfeng" wrote:

>>> That's interesting, although I do think the UK
>>> is PAL... a new old stock mainboard would be
>>> nice though 8)

>> Well it used to be! ;-)

>> Has NTSC taken over there?

>> The ol' Oz is still on PAL (even though NTSC has
>> arrived with some DVDs & DVD Audios!!) :-(

> What do you mean "still on PAL" - it's the better of
> the two formats!

Yeah, but you know TV stations, they might decide
to change the format one day so that you need one
of the newer tellys with NTSC to support them (just
so people have to buy a new telly - just before
Digital comes into full swing & get them into getting
another telly!!).

My telly has 2 types of NTSC support, NTSC 3.58 &
NTSC 4.43. The NTSC 4.43 is an improvement over
the 3.58 (IMO), but I think PAL has also advanced
since it was first introduced.

> Yeah, the UK is PAL, I had just woken up when I
> posted the last reply 8)

And now you'd be just about to go to Bed! ;-)
It's 9:40am here, so I'd put that at being around
11:40pm UK time!

Cheers,
CP/M User.

 

[CP/M User]

Re: My VIC-20

"dongfeng" wrote:

>>> Nope it's just the DVD sitting on top of the
>>> VCR 8-|

>> You mean the VCR don't you?

>>> It's fine, been like that for a year so far... he he

>> So far! ;-)

> It's not mine, my DVD player looks like this:

Interesting then!! ;-)

Cheers,
CP/M User.

 

[dongfeng]

It wouldn't suprise me if the TV companies changed the standard... it's the sort of thing they'd do!!!

There's still a lot of countries using both NTSC and PAL systems... so to change would mean to change half the world... kinda like the right/left-hand-drive car system :D

Just done some research and I've found that there's a third system too - SECAM! http://www.video-conversion.com/formats.htm

Yep, it's 11:47pm over here.. so night night :lol:

 

[CP/M User]

"dongfeng" wrote:

> It wouldn't suprise me if the TV companies
> changed the standard... it's the sort of thing
> they'd do!!!

Well it hasn't happened here yet, thank god!

> There's still a lot of countries using both
> NTSC and PAL systems... so to change would
> mean to change half the world... kinda like the
> right/left-hand-drive car system :D

There's a price being paid for everybody being
different & this is what has happened.

The way I see it, the manufacturers would love
these changes, as it gives them a reason for
incorporating it into their telly's & charging
extra for it. Fortunately, as the customer, I'm
pleased that the price for tellys has comed
down a lot! ;-)

> Just done some research and I've found that
> there's a "third" system too - SECAM!
> http://www.video-conversion.com/formats.htm

Yes, my bigger telly also supports the SECAM
system, where's my little telly only caters for the
PAL & NTSC 3.58/4.43 systems, so if they start
making SECAM DVDs, I'll be buggered! :-(

> Yep, it's 11:47pm over here.. so night night
> LOL

Actually, the time my posts on this site is
incorrect, I just noticed that it's an hour early
because we are in daylight saving time & are
an hour ahead of that time! :-\

Cheers,
CP/M User.

 

[carlsson]

Not so many years ago, it was posted about a place (or Internet site) which still had VIC-20 mainboards in stock.

a new old stock mainboard would be nice though

Did you ever open your VIC to determine if the chips were put in sockets or soldered directly to the board? You may want to join the cbm-hackers mailing list, as there are lots of experienced people and also a few with spare parts in case there only is one chip which needs to be replaced.

 

[dongfeng]

The inside of my VIC20 is pictured in the photo below. The chips marked with red should be the removable ones.

 

[carlsson]

The chips marked with red should be the removable ones.

If it is the VIC-I chip which is faulty, it is the one inside the metal box. Maybe you already knew that. Other options could be one of the ROMs, maybe a VIA, RAM or God knows what. Do you have any game cartridges to try, as they would boot immediately and not need a faulty Basic ROM?

I'm not really good at diagnosing this, but have learned from the mentioned cbm-hackers list, which has a web-based archive here:
http://www.softwolves.pp.se/misc/arkiv/cbm-hackers/

You can subscribe by sending

subscribe cbm-hackers

to majordomo@cling.gu.se if you already aren't on the list and believe it something for you. Quite technical and mostly strictly on-topic.