JohnnyRockets Posted June 7, 2012 Share Posted June 7, 2012 Hi, I just snagged a VIC-20 to play with... Looking forward to it! 1) Should I get a Tape Drive or a Disk Drive for it? 2) If so which model? Thanks! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mirage Posted June 7, 2012 Share Posted June 7, 2012 (edited) Disk drive, 1541 is most common and fine, but if you found a third party one, or a 1541-II, that would be fine too. On a C64, your best compatibility is going to be with a regular 1541. Of course, on a Vic-20, or if you're only saving your own work, it doesn't matter. If you're going to be obtaining tape-based Vic-20 games or programs, obviously you'd need a tape drive too. Fortunately, they're very cheap, you should be able to pick one up for a few bucks if you look around. If you're not planning to pick up software on tape, then I can't think of any compelling reason to have one. Edited June 7, 2012 by Mirage Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JohnnyRockets Posted June 7, 2012 Author Share Posted June 7, 2012 What would you say is more reliable on "all fronts"? Disk or Tape? Shoot, I don't know if I can even find a tape to buy! I would mainly use the tape/disk for storing my own programs. JR Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
desiv Posted June 7, 2012 Share Posted June 7, 2012 Depends where you are. In the UK, tape drive. They loved tapes.. As for the US, it's easy to say disk drive. It is great to have a disk drive... But (and probably because I didn't have a disk drive for my Vic-20) I never noticed a lot of Vic-20 disk software. Most of what I saw was on cartridge. And some tape stuff... If you don't mind spending a bit, the Vic-20 Megacart is THE item to get.. I haven't been able to get myself to spend that much, but its awesome. I have a disk drive now, but I still mostly use carts for my Vic. desiv Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mayhem Posted June 7, 2012 Share Posted June 7, 2012 Almost everything for the C64 will work on the Vic20 too... tape deck, disk drive, joysticks... cartridges are the obvious no-no there. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mirage Posted June 7, 2012 Share Posted June 7, 2012 Yeah, good point that was so obvious I didn't even think of it. Since I know you're interested in the Vic-20 and the C64, just get a disk drive and/or tape drive to share between them and you're all set. I couldn't agree more about the MegaCart for the Vic-20, and I do have one. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+Random Terrain Posted June 7, 2012 Share Posted June 7, 2012 If you like waiting forever to save and load the games you are making, get a tape drive. That's what I had to do. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JohnnyRockets Posted June 7, 2012 Author Share Posted June 7, 2012 Okay, can you explain the "coolness" of the MegaCart in one sentence? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JohnnyRockets Posted June 7, 2012 Author Share Posted June 7, 2012 Okay Random, is that what you still have? A tape Drive? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+Random Terrain Posted June 7, 2012 Share Posted June 7, 2012 Okay Random, is that what you still have? A tape Drive? I had to sell my VIC-20 back in the 1980s for food money, but that's what I had. I would have liked to have a disk drive since they are much faster, but I couldn't afford one until a couple of years later when I got a Commodore 64. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tenorman Posted June 7, 2012 Share Posted June 7, 2012 Disk based games really aren't as prevalent on the VIC because of the small amount of RAM. The advantage of loading from disk is it is much faster, but since the VIC only has a few K of RAM, a program that takes up most of the RAM can be loaded in a much more reasonable time than say on the C64. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+frankodragon Posted June 7, 2012 Share Posted June 7, 2012 I'm still waiting for my MegaCart but I did won an auction with another MegaCart some time ago. But a MegaCart does work great with a 1541 and it does have a "RESET" button. Are you drooling yet? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mirage Posted June 7, 2012 Share Posted June 7, 2012 Okay, can you explain the "coolness" of the MegaCart in one sentence? Most all the Vic-20 software and expansions you could ever want or need in one cart, and nicely produced as well. And sexy. Wait, that was 2 sentences, sorry. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
oracle_jedi Posted June 7, 2012 Share Posted June 7, 2012 I would skip the tape drive and the disk drive, and go straight for a uIEC that accepts SD cards. You can copy files to them right from your PC or Mac, and then read them as if they were on disk on the VIC. Add in a MegaCart and you have a very cool VIC setup. The VIC never exploited the disk drive, so you don't have the limitation that the 64 has, where many titles wont run of the uIEC because it doesn't fully emulate the disk drive. Real 1541 disk drives are slow, noisy, damn heavy and take up acres of desk space. Tapes are insanely slow. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
oracle_jedi Posted June 7, 2012 Share Posted June 7, 2012 Also, if your VIC-20 did not come with a RAM expansion card, and you don't want to pay for the MegaCart (which I strongly recommend you do! - worth EVERY penny) - then you should really consider getting a RAM expansion to be able to play anything decent. The fellow "eslapion" on the Denial forums used to sell a 32K RAM card for $25 plus shipping. It includes a reset button, and allows you to play all games that require extra memory, including dumped ROM games. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JohnnyRockets Posted June 8, 2012 Author Share Posted June 8, 2012 Would this work with the C64 and VIC-20? http://store.go4retro.com/products/uIEC_SD.html What other items would I need to get a full solution? Thanks! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
oracle_jedi Posted June 8, 2012 Share Posted June 8, 2012 Yes, that's the one I have, and it works on the C64, C128 and Plus/4 as well. You will also need an IEC cable and a memory expansion to run the software on the VIC. IEC Cable: http://store.go4retro.com/products/Commodore-IEC-Disk-Drive-Cable.html 32K RAM Expansion http://sleepingelephant.com/ipw-web/bulletin/bb/viewtopic.php?t=5396&sid=b78d889d634f4038387c8d65f0a30734 MegaCart http://www.mega-cart.com/ Both the 32K RAM expansion and the MegaCart will provide the extra memory needed. The MegaCart is much more functional, but also more expensive. Last I heard there was about a six month waiting list, so check before placing an order. There was also a Final Expansion 3 card available, but I don't think anyone is offering that any more. Occassionaly 24K or 32K cards come up on eBay, but they tend to be expensive. Most VIC-20 games and applications are free to download from the web. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
oracle_jedi Posted June 8, 2012 Share Posted June 8, 2012 I stand corrected, apparently Final Expansion 3 is available again: http://retro-donald.de/sinchai-shop/index.php?main_page=product_info&cPath=1&products_id=77 The FE3 gives you the extra RAM and can present SD cards as though they are disks. It includes the IEC cable too. Obviously this WONT work on anything but a VIC. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nukey Shay Posted June 8, 2012 Share Posted June 8, 2012 Disk based games really aren't as prevalent on the VIC because of the small amount of RAM. Actually, this is not really the case. The Vic-20 was arguably the world's first "affordable" home computer...but disk drives would remain anything but being affordable (IIRC at the height of the Vic's popularity, a disk drive was still going for nearly twice as much). Add that the Vic's popularity took a nosedive with the introduction of the C64, so it's no surprise at all that disk-based software for the machine is hard to come by. I'd also like to point out that while being slower and less-reliable than a disk drive, the Datasette cassette drive was still better in both areas than Atari's clunky 410 recorder (in my experience, anyway). Picky little bastard, that was. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mayhem Posted June 8, 2012 Share Posted June 8, 2012 That is true. I'd still like to agree with Tenorman, because disks are overkill in regards to storing 4k of game heh. Tapes are a lot more suited to that, and cheaper. But the two went hand in hand, because as you say, disk drives were so expensive as well. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
desiv Posted June 8, 2012 Share Posted June 8, 2012 (edited) That 32K RAM cart is tempting.. Not too spendy, and it looks like (I think?) you can somehow copy cart ROMs to it and play them? If I can do that from my tape drive, that might be an inexpensive way of testing things. Why from tape and not floppy? (I do have a floppy) I don't currently have any way to get data TO the floppy. I have saved WAV files to tape and used them on my Vic-20. (Although, that's been a while, and I have to see if I still have a tape recorder anywhere.. If I decide to go with an SD IEC solution tho, that would make that easier as well. Although, I just spent too much money on my Amigas and some kickstarter things, so I might have to wait a bit.. desiv p.s. Hey, I just remembered I lent my tape drive to someone (co-worker) and he hasn't returned it yet.. I have to bug him!! Edited June 8, 2012 by desiv Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tenorman Posted June 9, 2012 Share Posted June 9, 2012 That is true. I'd still like to agree with Tenorman, because disks are overkill in regards to storing 4k of game heh. Tapes are a lot more suited to that, and cheaper. But the two went hand in hand, because as you say, disk drives were so expensive as well. Yeah, they obviously kind of go hand in hand. A disk drive becomes more useful the more RAM you have, but the RAM is an extra cost as well. I think that the person who is buying an Apple II or Atari 800 with 48K or RAM is much more likely to buy a disk drive than someone who is buying a VIC 20. Not only for the utility of it, but just because they are shopping in a whole different price bracket. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dave Farquhar Posted June 10, 2012 Share Posted June 10, 2012 I don't currently have any way to get data TO the floppy. You could use an X1541 cable to connect a Commodore floppy drive to a PC with a parallel port to move data. If you're mildly proficient with a soldering iron, you should be able to knock one together in 30 minutes or less. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JohnnyRockets Posted June 11, 2012 Author Share Posted June 11, 2012 Yes, that's the one I have, and it works on the C64, C128 and Plus/4 as well. You will also need an IEC cable and a memory expansion to run the software on the VIC. IEC Cable: http://store.go4retr...rive-Cable.html 32K RAM Expansion http://sleepingeleph...87c8d65f0a30734 MegaCart http://www.mega-cart.com/ Both the 32K RAM expansion and the MegaCart will provide the extra memory needed. The MegaCart is much more functional, but also more expensive. Last I heard there was about a six month waiting list, so check before placing an order. There was also a Final Expansion 3 card available, but I don't think anyone is offering that any more. Occassionaly 24K or 32K cards come up on eBay, but they tend to be expensive. Most VIC-20 games and applications are free to download from the web. Why do I need the 32K expansion? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JohnnyRockets Posted June 11, 2012 Author Share Posted June 11, 2012 I stand corrected, apparently Final Expansion 3 is available again: http://retro-donald....&products_id=77 The FE3 gives you the extra RAM and can present SD cards as though they are disks. It includes the IEC cable too. Obviously this WONT work on anything but a VIC. Wonder if they have an English page? Otherwise I'm gonna have to get my German buddy to help me out! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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