So, hello! I'm a hacker/engineer from Toronto who loves old computers (presumably like everyone else here!). My VIC-20 has gotten most of my attention, but I also own a TI-99/4a and a C64 which needs repair (which I'm sort of halfway through doing).
I have a few carts for my VIC (Sargon Chess, Pirate's Cove, Radar Ratrace, Omega Race, and I recently purchased Avenger on eBay but it doesn't seem to work
) as well as some tapes (Bullet, VIC-20 Vegas-Style Blackjack, and the Biorhythm Compatibility one which is a hoot).I have a 1541 that works, as well as a Pi1541 based on a Pi Zero which I bought as a kit. However, the one thing holding me back is RAM! I've been spending a lot of time considering how I want to expand the RAM (permanently on the inside with switches or purchasing RAM expansion cartridges?). I also have a bunch of ESP-32s and ESP-8266s floating around, so one of these days I'll get it connected to the internet and see what I can do with it.
Eventually, I'd love to get a C128 as I am a big fan of CP/M and I've always wanted to see what CP/M was like on the C128. I have an Altair 8800 clone that I use to play around with CPM-80 v2.2 and that's a lot of fun. And, someday, I might even try and get my hands on an Amiga, though they seem to be harder and harder to find for reasonable prices.
Another area I'm interested in is building hardware attachments for the VIC. I think it'd be a lot of fun to control my smart home devices from my VIC, for example. Or make a very basic logic analyzer with it, something fun like that. I have drawers full of development boards for different microcontrollers as well as tons of sensor/ADC/DAC etc. breakout boards, so if I ever get the time I'll try throwing something together. That is one area of these old computers that always interests me and that doesn't seem to be covered that often -- a lot of them were used for early process control, CNC, advertising displays, etc. There were probably thousands of bespoke add-ons made for these purposes but everyone likes to focus on the games (and don't get me wrong, I love the games too!).
Anyway, looking forward to meeting fellow VIC aficionados here, and sharing ideas/projects!
Cheers,
MrAureliusR