Commodore Vic 20 Computer

Made:: 1980 in Federal Republic of Germany

Science Museum Group
© The Board of Trustees of the Science Musuem

Commodore Vic 20 computer, released 1980, with associated tapes and computer game USB cards.

The Commodore VIC-20 was one of the earliest affordable home computers, costing £190 in Britain in 1981. It was developed by Commodore Business Machines in the United States in 1980 and designed to be user friendly and affordable. Popular in countries around the world, it was the first computer to sell a million units.

The VIC-20 was advertised as being both educational and entertaining. It had the beginners’ programming language BASIC built in so people could learn to write their own programs, but with colour graphics and lively sound, it was also fun for playing video games. The name VIC-20 was chosen because it sounded friendly and because one of if its most important components was named the Video Interface Chip – or VIC for short.

Details

Category:: Computing & Data Processing

Object Number:: Y1991.343

Materials:: plastic (unidentified) and metal (unknown)

Measurements:: computer: 84 mm x 405 mm x 208 mm,

type:: computer

credit:: Gift of Mr. B. Green

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Parts

Joystick

"Competition-Pro" joystick for a Commodore Vic 20 computer.

Joysticks like this were very popular in the 1980s for playing video games on home computers and games consoles.

The Competition Pro joystick was launched in about 1983, manufactured by Coin Controls Ltd, an Oldham based company whose main product lines were coin handling equipment for markets that included coin operated arcade machines. Competition Pro joysticks became highly popular, they were simple, robust and compatible with many of the popular home computers of the time. Production eventually shifted overseas and it was manufactured for several years in a number of different models, and copies of the design are still being manufactured in the 21st century for the retro computing market.