Denial

I stumbled across this deaker of new dust covers for the VIC on ebay...

http://m.ebay.com/itm/221636158785?nav=SEARCH

They seem like nice quality and I like the embroidery. I contacted the dealer to ask if there was a cutout on the right side for the cables and there is not. I'm tempted but shipping is high to Canada.

I wonder if the seller used measurements without an actual system or used one of the original covers as a pattern.


Sent from my phizzone

I asked the seller for details. There are no relief/cut-outs for any of the cables you would permanently have plugged into your VIC-20 on the back or sides, nor a relief for the cartridge port.
Because of this I didn't buy one of these covers. I can't see the dust cover sitting right on a machine when it would keep hitting the cables.

The seller said he does this so as to give the buyer the option to cut the relief areas him/herself, due to the different configurations each user might have. I don't agree with this - all VIC-20s have power cables and some sort of external drive cable plugged in all the time, plus usually a joystick. The original covers came with standard cut-backs for all the ports. It wasn't a problem then.

He said the material is strong enough that cutting by the owner wouldn't harm it. But looking at the cover I can see you'd have to cut through some of the nice cloth re-enforcement at the edges, which would destroy the look/strength of the dust cover. The original 1980s dust covers managed to have the re-enforcement edging follow the cut-backs.

I don't see why he doesn't just buy an old dust cover and copy that pattern instead of just making this boxy thing. I'm guessing he just had a C64 or VIC-20 and made drop-on dust cover without actually having any cables connected to it. This is a pity since the dust cover could actually be one of the best I've seen recently if cut-back areas for the ports were added.

I have purchased a number of dust covers from this seller, for the Commodore 64 and VIC 20, including one other which will be sent later this week.

The quality of the dust covers are excellent, the embroidery for the logo/name is perfect and the seller is wonderful to deal with, very friendly and helpful .

Appreciate the concern with lack of cut outs, but to be honest, I remember a number of dust covers I have seen before for the Commodore's which did not have cut outs either, and I know we all have differing opinions on these things, but I really don't see any issue with it at all. For example, most people will not have every port used, so with cut outs for all ports, you will get dust in them anyway! Key thing that I worry about is dust overnight or when it is not in use for a few days etc. and so the dust cover serves its purpose in covering the keyboard and vents, keeping it clean.

I also like to use the additional dust covers I bought for when I am not using the other C64 or VIC that I have, so they are fully covered and put away, and dust free when I want to use them.

Also if you have other things attached, like I sometimes do, i.e. C2N, Disk Drive etc. then you likely do not have dust covers for them ? I like to use the HesCARD 20 5 port expansion, love this thing, but if out for a while and not covered, will sure start to get a bit dusty, so I was looking at the other dust covers they do, and the SNES one, will cover that device quite nicely!

Their vinyl dustcovers have a lot of positive feedback, especially on AtariAge. I have been tempted to buy some over the years but I just don't need them. I've been using white tableclothes for dust covers for a decade and they're perfect. They're $3/each used at a second hand store like Goodwill or $12 new shipped from Amazon. That way I can leave everything hooked up. Yeah, it's old school, like from an old movie when people covered up their furniture with white sheets when going away, but it works great. It's also really cool to remove the tablecloth when people visit, magically revealing the awesome things beneath

I bought one of these covers for my Atari Jaguar. They look great, and the material is pliable enough that it sits on the console even with cables plugged in.

How well it would fit a VIC-20 with cables plugged in, I can not say.

Commodore did, in the past, make covers like these. They were not specifically for the VIC or the 64. The only said "commodore" with the original eurostyle typeface.

Commodore also made PVC covers that came with the VICcessories kit.

I have a cover, which I think is a genuine Commodore one, that has "VIC20 Colour Computer" on it. I think I got it from the VIC Soft catalogue.