Editing VIC-20 (section)

== History ==
[[File:VIC-20 Display.jpg|thumb|An early revision of the VIC-20 with several accessories. The  composite output allowed it to be connected to standard television sets of its era.]]

As the [[Apple II]] gained momentum with the advent of [[VisiCalc]] in 1979, [[Jack Tramiel]] wanted a product that would compete in the same segment, to be presented at the January 1980 [[Consumer Electronics Show|CES]]. For this reason [[Chuck Peddle]] and Bill Seiler started to design a computer named ''TOI'' (The Other Intellect). The TOI computer failed to materialize, mostly because it required an 80-column character display which in turn required the MOS Technology 6564 chip. However, the chip could not be used in the TOI since it required very expensive static RAM to operate fast enough.

As the new decade began, the price of computer hardware was dropping and Tramiel saw an emerging market for low-price computers, that could be sold at retail stores to relative novices rather than professionals or people with an electronics or programming background.<ref>{{cite web |title=Commodore VIC-20 |url=https://museum.eecs.yorku.ca/items/show/308 |publisher=York University Computer Museum Canada |access-date=2 February 2025 |url-status=live}}</ref> [[Radio Shack]] had been achieving considerable success with the [[TRS-80 Model I]], a relatively low-cost machine that was widely sold to novices and in 1980 released the [[TRS-80 Color Computer|Color Computer]], which was aimed at the home and educational markets, used ROM cartridges for software, and connected to a TV set.

=== Development ===
[[File:ViC20 Cartridge.jpg|thumb|The ''Clowns'' game on a ROM cartridge]]

In the meantime, new engineer [[Robert Yannes]] at MOS Technology (then a part of Commodore) designed a computer in his home dubbed the ''MicroPET'' and finished a prototype with help from Al Charpentier and Charles Winterble. With the TOI unfinished, when Jack Tramiel was shown the MicroPET prototype, he immediately said he wanted it to be finished and ordered it to be mass-produced following a limited demonstration at the CES.

The prototype produced by Yannes had few of the features required for a real computer, so Robert Russell at Commodore headquarters had to coordinate and finish large parts of the design under the codename ''Vixen''. The parts contributed by Russell included a port of the [[operating system]] (kernel and [[BASIC interpreter]]) taken from John Feagans' design for the [[Commodore PET]], a character set with the characteristic [[PETSCII]], an [[Atari CX40 joystick]]-compatible interface, and a [[ROM cartridge]] port. The serial [[IEEE-488]]-derivative [[Commodore bus|CBM-488]] interface<ref>{{cite web|url=https://archive.org/stream/run-magazine-28/Run_Issue_28_1986_Apr#page/n105/mode/2up|title=RUN Magazine issue 28|date=April 1986}}</ref> was designed by Glenn Stark. It served several purposes, including costing substantially less than the IEEE-488 interface on the PET, using smaller cables and connectors that allowed for a more compact case design, and also complying with newly imposed [[Federal Communications Commission|FCC]] regulations on [[Electromagnetic interference|RFI]] emissions by home electronics (the PET was certified as Class B office equipment which had less stringent RFI requirements). Some features, like the memory add-in board, were designed by Bill Seiler.{{citation needed|date=November 2013}}

[[File:VIC 20 Splash Screen Screenshot.gif|alt=The startup screen of the VIC-20.|thumb|350x350px|The startup screen of the VIC-20]]

Altogether, the VIC 20 development team consisted of five people led by [[Michael Tomczyk]], the product manager who recruited the group and dubbed them the VIC Commandos.  Commodore founder Jack Tramiel initially gave Tomczyk the title VIC Czar and later appointed him product manager.  Tomczyk insisted on several features including full-size [[typewriter]] keys, programmable function keys, and a built-in RS-232 interface. Michael later contracted and co-designed a $100 modem, the VICModem, which became the first modem to sell 1 million units.<ref name="DAK54">{{cite news | first = Marty | last = Herzog | date = January 1988 | title = Neil Harris | work = [[Comics Interview]] | issue = 54 | pages = 41–51 | publisher = [[Fictioneer Books]]}}</ref> According to one of the development team, Neil Harris, "[W]e couldn't get any cooperation from the rest of the company who thought we were jokers because we were working late, about an hour after everyone else had left the building. We'd swipe whatever equipment we needed to get our jobs done. There was no other way to get the work done! [...] they'd discover it was missing and they would just order more stuff from the warehouse, so everybody had what they needed to do their work."<ref name="DAK54"/>

At the time, Commodore had a glut of {{nowrap|1 [[kilobit|Kbit]]×4}} [[static random-access memory|SRAM]] chips, so Tramiel decided these should be used in the new computer. The result was arguably closer to the ''PET'' or ''TOI'' computers than to Yannes' prototype, albeit with a 22-column VIC chip instead of the custom chips designed for the more ambitious computers. As the amount of memory on the VIC-20's system board was very small even for 1981 standards, the design team could get away with using more expensive SRAM due to its lower power consumption, heat output, and less supporting circuitry. The original Revision A system board found in all silver-label VIC-20s used 2114 SRAMs and due to their tiny size (only 512 bytes per chip), ten of them were required to reach 5&nbsp;KB of system RAM. The Revision B system board, found in rainbow logo VIC-20s (see below) switched to larger 2048-byte SRAMs which reduced the memory count to five chips: 2× 2048-byte chips + 3× 2114 (the 1024 × 4 bits) chips.

[[Image:Commodore VIC-1001 left-hand keyboard closeup.jpg|thumb|The VIC-1001 is the Japanese version of the VIC-20. It has Japanese-language characters in the ROM<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.masswerk.at/misc/vic-1001-kana.html|title=Commodore VIC-1001 Kana (Japanese VIC-20 Characters) Demystified|access-date=17 June 2016}}</ref> and on the front of the keys.]]

In April 1980, at a meeting of general managers outside London, Jack Tramiel declared he wanted a low-cost color computer. When most of the GMs argued against it, preferring Peddle's more sophisticated design, he said: "The Japanese are coming, so we must become the Japanese!" (in reference to the threats of low-cost systems from Japan).<ref>{{cite web |title=Commodore VIC-1001 |url=https://www.old-computers.com/museum/computer.asp?c=1291 |website=Old-Computers.com: The Museum |access-date=7 June 2021}}</ref><ref name="santens20211019">{{Cite interview |last=Tomczyk |first=Michael |interviewer=Tim Santens |title=Michael Tomczyk: Commodore VIC-20 Developer, Computer Pioneer |url=https://talesfromthecollection.com/2021/10/19/michael-tomczyk-commodore/ |date=2021-10-19}}</ref> This was in keeping with Tramiel's philosophy which was to make "computers for the masses, not the classes". The concept was supported at the meeting by Tomczyk, newly hired marketing strategist and assistant to the president; Tony Tokai, General Manager of Commodore Japan; and Kit Spencer, the UK's top marketing executive. Peddle disagreed with the decision and left the company with other engineers, so an engineering team in Commodore Japan led by Yash Terakura helped finish the design. The VIC-20 was marketed in Japan as VIC-1001 before VIC-20 was introduced to the US.{{r|santens20211019}}

When they returned to California from that meeting, Tomczyk wrote a 30-page memo detailing recommendations for the new computer and presented it to Tramiel. Recommendations included programmable [[function key]]s (inspired by competing Japanese computers),<ref name=tomczyk>{{cite web |url=http://www.michaeltomczyk.com/Tech-Pioneer.php |title=The Home Computer Wars |first=Michael |last=Tomczyk |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150214213644/http://michaeltomczyk.com/Tech-Pioneer.php |archive-date=14 February 2015 }}</ref> full-size typewriter-style keys, and built-in [[RS-232]]. Tomczyk insisted on "[[user-friendliness]]" as the prime directive for the new computer, to engineer Terakura,<ref name=tomczyk/> and proposed a retail price of {{nowrap|US$299.95}}. He recruited a marketing team and a small group of computer enthusiasts and worked closely with colleagues in the UK and Japan to create colorful packaging, user manuals, and the first wave of games and home applications.

[[Scott Adams (game designer)|Scott Adams]] was contracted to provide a series of [[text adventure]] games. With help from a Commodore engineer who came to [[Longwood, Florida]], to assist in the effort, five of Adams's [[Adventure International]] game series were ported to the VIC. They got around the limited memory of VIC-20 by having the {{nowrap|16 KB}} games reside in a ROM cartridge instead of being loaded into main memory via cassette as they were on the [[TRS-80]] and other machines. The first production run of the five cartridges generated over $1,500,000 in sales for Commodore.{{Citation needed|date=March 2008}}

=== Evolution ===
{{Unreferenced section|date=October 2020}}

The VIC-20 went through several variations in its three-and-a-half years of production. First-year models (1980) had a PET-style keyboard with a blocky typeface while most VIC-20s made during 1981 had a slightly different keyboard also shared with early C64s. The rainbow logo VIC-20 was introduced in early 1983 and has the newer C64 keyboard with gray function keys and the Revision B motherboard. It has a similar power supply to the C64 [[power supply unit (computer)|PSU]], although the amperage is slightly lower. A C64 "black brick" PSU is compatible with Revision B VIC-20s; however, the VIC's PSU is not recommended on a C64 if any external devices, such as cartridges or user port accessories, are installed, as it will overdraw the available power. Older Revision A VIC-20s cannot use a C64 PSU or vice versa as a different connector was used.

=== Decline ===

The VIC-20 was a bestseller, becoming the first computer to sell over a million. In total, 2.5 million computers were sold.<ref name=comm-ca>{{Cite web|url=https://www.commodore.ca/commodore-products/commodore-vic-20-the-first-inexpensive-home-computer/|title = Commodore VIC-20: Worlds First Computer to Sell 1 Million Units}}</ref> In summer 1982, Commodore unveiled the {{nowrap|[[Commodore 64]],}} a more advanced machine with {{nowrap|64 KB}} of RAM and considerably improved sound and graphics. Initial sales of the C64 were slow but took off in mid-1983. The VIC-20 was widely available for under $90 by that time.<ref name="lock198306">{{cite news | url=https://archive.org/stream/1983-06-compute-magazine/Compute_Issue_037_1983_Jun#page/n7/mode/2up | title=Editor's Notes | work=Compute! | date=June 1983 | access-date=30 October 2013 | author=Lock, Robert | pages=6}}</ref> Commodore discontinued the VIC-20 in January 1985.<ref name="administrator@commodore.ca"/>

Perhaps the last new commercially available VIC-20 peripheral was the VIC-Talker, a [[speech synthesizer]]. ''[[Ahoy!]]'' wrote in January 1986, "Believe it or not, a new VIC accessory... We were as surprised as you."<ref name="kevelson198601">{{cite news | url=https://archive.org/stream/Ahoy_Issue_25_1986-01_Ion_International_US#page/n31/mode/2up | title=Speech Synthesizers for the Commodore Computers / Part II | work=Ahoy! | date=January 1986 | access-date=2 July 2014 | author=Kevelson, Morton | pages=32}}</ref>