Rare Commodore Systems Found at Electronics Recycler

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HOW TO BUY one of the VIC-20s?
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as information will be posted there in the next week or so.

For more info on the recycle shop that donated this equipment, go here:

[AtomicShrimp]

I think the only part of that museum piece I would even consider changing is the power cord. Everything else (even the green board) might be potentially significant to someone investigating it later.

[ScottsSynthStuff]

Those "mystery" boards with the RCA, MIDI and DB25 ports are the internal boards for the rack-mount unit that accompanied the SMPL system. The DIN ports are MIDI, the leftmost two RCA ports are Roland Sync, the next three RCA ports are SMTPE timecode, and the remaining RCA and DB25 ports are interfaces to professional studio tape machines, to control the tape transport and transmit/receive SMTPE timecode to/from them.

[creatorgenerator]

Back in the 1980's programmable thermostats were just coming online and were costly. Being handy, I ran my home furnace with an Atari 400. I added a full keyboard & modified it to 65Kb ram. With a real time clock and custom software to accommodate a personalized HVAC schedule it ran until I sold the house. It would also reboot itself after a power outage. It was fun building it.

[tnetroP]

That's not the styrofoam squeaking on the way home. It's the VIC-20's excitedly chattering to each other about finally having a new loving home.

[technician]

The video socket is meant for a video card called the TVT-6. It was created by Don Lancaster who designed the TV Typewriter. It could display up to 4000 characters on a television. A popular configuration was 16 lines by 32 columns of characters. Hope this helps.

[Denlak]

How could you resist pressing the middle mouse button

[spxdspxdspxd]

If this man is happy by finding old computer parts, then I'm happy too

[adilsongoliveira]

In the 80s I helped to develop a system to collect, measure, and process vibration signals from some massive machines used in the steel industry. The basis was a ZX 81 and all the programming was done in assembly and believe me, to program FFT on that was a challenge :)

[TheStuffMade]

I'd keep the MOS KIM-1 as close to it's current state as possible, but of course gently clean it and take required actions to ensure no further degradation. I believe it's better to leave it with all it's modifications as it was clearly being used for something, that history is much more important than returning it to pristine factory condition.

[FARG]

It is so nice that there are people like The 8-Bit Guy
, who really do care about all of those old machines, how they evolved what steps did their creators took, their mistakes and success. All of that absolutely needs to be preserved and displayed to show how that technology helped shape man and society, and vice versa. It really puts tears in my eyes to see that it is being done today and they even inspire more people to do so. A truly amazing channel.

[rustlebruxz]

It's good to see a KIM-1 again. It was my first 'pc'; I purchased one at the computer fair in Chicago late in 1977 while I was attending IBM's base school for new CEs. I remember doing a show-and-tell to the class and instructors pointing out similar features to the IBM 360 we were learning. I also remember the instructors being amazed. They had no idea about the start of personal computing that I was showing them.

[janklas]

Back in the days, I was 14 and had a Commodore 64. I wanted to program eproms, but buying a factory programmer was way above my budget, so I built my own. Got a design from the 'fidonet' (.512 ) where I was node, and etched the PCB myself using ferrochloride. My mom still remembers all the yellow stains in my clothing and carpet in my room.

Somehow the etching worked and I managed to procure all the parts and built the entire thing. I was really proud of myself.

Then it didn't work. Spent weeks on it, why didn't it work.

It turned out, I printed the PCB layout as is, while I should have mirrored it. So the entire thing was built wrong.

[TDGalea]

I absolutely love the music you use in the background of these videos. The track you've been using in this one has such a Knight Rider theme to it. I seriously need all of your tracks to just listen to all day every day.

[doc_sav]

Just imagine all of the abandoned buildings that have been sitting for 35+ years loaded up with this kind of stuff.

[digitaldobbie]

I love your road trips. Here in the uk we can’t really travel for more than 2 hours without falling in the sea.

[Cracko]

I can never pass up these 8bit guy videos, they're so fun to watch.

[natemcp]

"I just happened to have some VIC-20 RAM" *has a million VIC-20s*

[rfswitch]

The KIM is a piece of history in the condition it's in. It's something of a work of contextual art. Leaving everything fitted to it shows how it was utilized and will help future generations better understand uses for early "micro computer" tech.

[wildbillc]

You guys find all the cool stuff out that way. Here in Idaho we never find stuff like that. I was lucky enough to find a C64 and a VIC20 at an electronics reseller a few months ago. Both of them work great, and with cleaning tips from your videos I was able to clean them up and both function just fine. Had to buy a power supply but well worth it to have some nostalgic Commodore stuff other than just my C128.

[StarCrusher.]

I love these kind of videos. You're like a tech-Indiana Jones looking for ancient artifacts.