Editing VIC-20 (section)

=== 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}}