Today on “dumb calculator races vs the VIC-20 I changed this to repeat 10 times for better comparison. A PAL VIC20 beats the TI-81 (z80 running at 2Mhz) by about 10%. A screen blanked NTSC C64 (POKE53265,PEEK(53265)AND239) is neck and neck with the calculator. #commodore
The mystery of the VIC-42 chip is much less interesting than I hoped. I happen to have an Alphacom VP42 printer. It has the chip in it
This week on “dumb calculator races vs the VIC-20” we add the TI-81. Its z80 processor is a much more formidable opponent than the Sharp 9300 from the same period.
Evening CERBERUS progress. Got all 56 10k Resistors done. I’ll wrap up the soldering tomorrow with the taller components with the exception of a transistor I had to order. Still might be working by the weekend if I don’t screw anything up.
Lunchtime project… Composite video mod on my Coco2. I didn’t even blow it up or anything. Haven’t used this in many many years, the green is just as horrible as I remember ;-)
I started flying too late to have been required to use one of these. Modern equivalents are much faster, but I did learn how to use it. I love the big picture understanding of how things work in relationship with each other that only analog tools can reveal.
Morning progress. Couple hundred pins soldered. Not hard, but the pads are tiny so it requires some patience. All of the sockets are done.
As some have pointed out, the print routines are probably VERY slow on the calculator. I took them out and made the VIC code the same as what’s on the calculator as close as I could. VIC-20 is still faster. Pretty fun. Next up, head to head with TI-81
Michael Doornbos 