Great Vic20 places on internet..

[Boray]

Look at the text below (from the vic20 reference guide:
http://www.geocities.com/rmelick/prg.txt )

What I can gather from it, you should look at how pin 10 to 13 on the expansion port is connected (What leaders on the cartridge that goes to pins 10 to 13 of the vic20 expansion port). If you for example want to move 8k from block 2 to block 5, then look at how pin 11 and 13 is connected and modify them so that pin 11 will be connected the way pin 13 was and pin 13 will be connected the way pin 11 was. That would do the trick I think. Then you would have just like a 8K cartridge for the basic memory + a 8K cartridge for block 5. You do it on your own risk!!!, but I think it will work.

/Anders


-----------------------------------
-------------------------------------



VIC EXPANSION PORT

THE EXPANSION CONNECTOR

The expansion connector is a 48 pin (24/24) female edge
connector on the back of the VIC. With the VIC facing you, the
expansion connector is on the far right of the back. To use the
connector, a 44 pin (22/22) male edge connector is required.
The expansion bus is arranged as follows:

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22
+--@--@--@--@--@--@--@--@--@--@--@--@--@--@--@--@--@--@--@--@--@--@--+
| |
+--@--@--@--@--@--@--@--@--@--@--@--@--@--@--@--@--@--@--@--@--@--@--+
A B C D E F H J K L M N P R S T U V W X Y Z

+-------+--------+ +-------+--------+
| PIN # | TYPE | | PIN # | TYPE |
+-------+--------+ +-------+--------+
| 1 | GND | | 12 | /BLK3 |
| 2 | CD0 | | 13 | /BLK5 |
| 3 | CD1 | | 14 | /RAM1 |
| 4 | CD2 | | 15 | /RAM2 |
| 5 | CD3 | | 16 | /RAM3 |
| 6 | CD4 | | 17 | VR/W |
| 7 | CD5 | | 18 | CR/W |
| 8 | CD6 | | 19 | /IRQ |
| 9 | CD7 | | 20 | NC |
| 10 | /BLK1 | | 21 | +5V |
| 11 | /BLK2 | | 22 | GND |
+-------+--------+ +-------+--------+

+-------+--------+ +-------+--------+
| PIN # | TYPE | | PIN # | TYPE |
+-------+--------+ +-------+--------+
| A | GND | | N | CA10 |
| B | CA0 | | P | CA11 |
| C | CA1 | | R | CA12 |
| D | CA2 | | S | CA13 |
| E | CA3 | | T | I/O2 |
| F | CA4 | | U | I/O3 |
| H | CA5 | | V | S/02 |
| J | CA6 | | W | /NMI |
| K | CA7 | | X | /RESET |
| L | CA8 | | Y | NC |
| M | CA9 | | Z | GND |
+-------+--------+ +-------+--------+

241
~
This port is used for expansion of the VIC system which require
access to the address bus or the data bus of the computer. Caution
is necessary when using the expansion bus, as it is possible to
damage the VIC by malfunctioning user equipment.
The signals available on the connector are as follows:

NAME PIN # DESCRIPTION
--------------------------------------------------------------
GND 1 System ground
CD0 2 Data bus bit 0
CD1 3 Data bus bit 1
CD2 4 Data bus bit 2
CD3 5 Data bus bit 3
CD4 6 Data bus bit 4
CD5 7 Data bus bit 5
CD6 8 Data bus bit 6
CD7 9 Data bus bit 7
____
BLK1 10 8K decoded RAM/ROM block 1, @ $2000
____ (active low)
BLK2 11 8K decoded RAM/ROM block 2, @ $4000
____ (active low)
BLK3 12 8K decoded RAM/ROM block 3, @ $6000
____ (active low)
BLK5 13 8K decoded ROM block 5, @A000
____ (active low)
RAM1 14 1K decoded RAM block, @ $0400
____ (active low)
RAM2 15 1K decoded RAM block, @ $0800
____ (active low)
RAM3 16 1K decoded RAM block, @ $0C00
_ (active low)
VR/W 17 Read/Write line from VIC chip
_ (high-read, low-write)
CR/W 18 Read/Write line from CPU
___ (high-read, low-write)
IRQ 19 Interrupt Request line to 6502 (active low)
(NC) 20
+5V 21
GND 22
GND A
CA0 B Address bus bit 0
CA1 C Address bus bit 1
CA2 D Address bus bit 2
CA3 E Address bus bit 3
CA4 F Address bus bit 4

242
~
CA5 H Address bus bit 5
CA6 J Address bus bit 6
CA7 K Address bus bit 7
CA8 L Address bus bit 8
CA9 M Address bus bit 9
CA10 N Address bus bit 10
CA11 P Address bus bit 11
CA12 R Address bus bit 12
CA13 S Address bus bit 13
____
I/O2 T I/O block 2 (located at $9600)
____
I/O3 U I/O block 3 (located at $9C00)
S/02 V Phase 2 system clock
___
NMI W 6502 Non Maskable Interrupt (active low)
_____
RESET X 6502 RESET pin (active low)
(NC) Y
GND Z

___ ___
RAM Signals - RAM 1,2, and 3 are active low signals which are
used to decode memory placed in the 3K block from $0400 to
$1000. Each of the RAM signals controls a 1K block of memory.
When a RAM signal goes low, it indicates that the block of memory
it controls is being addressed.
___
BLK Signals - The four block signals are also for memory
expansion of the system. In this case, however, each decodes a
different 8K block of memory. As with the /RAM signals, each is
active low. Blocks 1,2, and 3 can be used for either RAM or ROM.
Memory in those locations can (and will) be used by BASIC.
Memory in Block 5, however, should be ROM, as this area is not
accessible to BASIC. If RAM is placed here it can only be utilized by
machine language programs.
IMPORTANT NOTE: If the additional memory is added to the VIC
using the /BLOCK decoding signals, memory added by using the
/RAM signals can not be used by BASIC for storage of BASIC text.
This is because BASIC demands a continuous area for programs.
With additional memory in the /BLOCK decoded areas, the screen
moves to $1000, breaking up the area. Memory placed in those
/RAM areas can still be used by machine language programs.
___
IRQ - This is the interrupt request line. The VIC uses this internally
for keyboard scan and the system clock.
_____
RESET - When this line is grounded, it causes a COLD START of
the VIC. Everything is RESET, including memory, so any program
in the VIC at that time is destroyed.

243
~
___
NMI - When this line is grounded, it causes a VIC WARM START
(just like RUN/STOP-RESTORE).

Address Bus - The address bus controls what memory location or
I/O device the VIC will read from or write to. Only 14 bits appear on
the connector, even though the address bus size is 16 bits,
because two bits are decoded into the BLOCK and I/O signals.

Data Bus - The data bus is used by the VIC to move data to or from
memory or I/O devices.
___
I/O Signals - These two signals can be used to add additional I/O
devices to the VIC. The IEEE adapter from Commodore uses these
signals.

Read/Write Signals - These signals inform the memory or the
device being addressed whether the VIC wants to write data or read
data. If the signal is high, a read is expected. If the signal is low, a
write is desired.
There are two R/W signals available on the expansion port. One
(CR/W) is connected to the 6502. The other (VR/W) is connected to
the VIC chip. Memory expansion will normally use the VR/W signal.
Other devices may need the CR/W signal.

WHAT HAPPENS WHEN MEMORY IS
EXPANDED

The VIC comes with 5K of random access memory (RAM)
located from 0 to 1023 ($0000 to $03FF) for operating system use,
4096-8192 ($1000 to $1FFF) which is BASIC program area, and
from 38400 to 38911 ($9600 to $97FF) which is COLOR memory
area.
When additional memory is added the VIC screen location, color
memory location, or the start of BASIC might change.

Start of Start of Start of Start of
Added memory Screen Color Memory BASIC
1024-4095 7680 ($1E00) 38400 ($9600) 1024 ($0400)
8192 on up 4096 ($1000) 37888 ($9400) 4608 ($1200)
($2000-3FFF)
($4000-5FFF)
($6000-7FFF)

The VIC has 2 areas to add additional memory - a 3K space from
1024 to 4095 ($0400 to $0FFF) and a 24K section from 8192 to

244
~
32767 ($2000 to $7FFF). When the large expansion area is used,
BASIC cannot use the 3K area as program area.
When memory is added in the 3K area, the BASIC program area
will start at the beginning of the new RAM area. The screen will still
begin at 7680 and color memory will still begin at 38400. However,
the start of BASIC will be at 1024.
The VIC chip cannot access any of this new memory, so screen
memory and programmable character memory must be in VIC
internal memory (4096 to 8191).
Memory is added to the larger expansion area in 8K blocks,
beginning at 8192 ($2000). BASIC demands a continuous block area for
programs. This is why the screen is moved - otherwise, the video
screen will be in the middle of your program. The same reason
prevents the 3K RAM area from being used by BASIC when
additional memory is added to the large expansion area. However,
machine language programs can still use this area though.
The start of BASIC will begin at 4608 ($1200), the video screen
will start at 4096 ($1000) and color memory will start at 37888
($9400).
See Section 3 for the formulas to use to calculate the screen start
address. If you want your programs to work on any VIC memory
configuration, your program must use these formulas in POKEs
and PEEKs to the screen. The best way to use this is at the
beginning, set a variable to the start of screen memory and one to
the start of color memory. Then, do any POKEs or PEEKs to the
screen relative to those variables. (Example: if C is the start of the
screen, to put an 'A' on the first line on the 10th column of the
screen, type: POKEC+10,1.)

245

[Mikam73]

Another great Vic20 page:

http://www.geocities.com/rmelick/int.htm

[Schema]

I miss two Vic20 internet pages a lot.. Those two were really great..

Armas Vic20 page:
http://members.fortunecity.com/timfy/vicimages.htm

I emailed Arma and offered to host his site. He emailed back once, but I haven't heard from him in over a year now.

[Mikam73]

I miss two Vic20 internet pages a lot.. Those two were really great..

Armas Vic20 page:
http://members.fortunecity.com/timfy/vicimages.htm

I emailed Arma and offered to host his site. He emailed back once, but I haven't heard from him in over a year now.

I think we did talk about this on cbm newsgroup earlyer.. Long time ago..

Wonder what happend.. His Vic20 gamepage was great.

His email dows not work anymore or something?

[arel72]

Look at the text below (from the vic20 reference guide:
http://www.geocities.com/rmelick/prg.txt )

What I can gather from it, you should look at how pin 10 to 13 on the expansion port is connected (What leaders on the cartridge that goes to pins 10 to 13 of the vic20 expansion port).

Before risking my beloved 16k expansion I'll try 2 other things: I have won on ebay a Cardco Cardram switchable 16k expansion, I don't know if it allows block 5 to be set too but as soon as it gets here I will know!

Meanwhile I have built a 32k ram expansion following a well known schematic found on the net which also places 8k at block 5. I'm waiting for the main chip (62256) to arrive...

It's just that I cannot sleep anymore since when you spoke about this way to play from disk all those cartridges I always wanted and never had!!



*Gabriele*

[carlsson]

http://ftp.martnet.com/commie/vic20/

There is another mirror now, which contains the latest off-line copy of the Funet removed content:

ftp://ftp.zimmers.net/pub/vic20/

In theory, Funet + Zimmers should contain everything Funet used to contain, and I assume the Martnet mirror above contains maybe 80% of what the other two contain together.

[Mikam73]

http://www.tomheroes.com/Video%20Games% ... /vic20.htm

[Schema]

http://www.tomheroes.com/Video%20Games% ... /vic20.htm

So is Super Smash technically a "sports game" then? Tonk was looking for some...