VIC20

The Commodore VIC-20, known as the VIC-20 in North America and other regions and the VC-20 in German-speaking countries, was a home computer released by Commodore Business Machines in 1980. It was the first computer to sell one million units. The VIC-20 was a low-cost machine intended to be an affordable entry point into home computing, competing with other popular systems of the era.

Its name derived from the Video Interface Chip (VIC) that powered its graphics and sound capabilities. The VIC-20 featured a MOS Technology 6502 processor and 5KB of RAM, expandable to 32KB. It came with a built-in BASIC interpreter, allowing users to program directly. The computer connected to a standard television set for display and used cassette tapes or floppy disks for storage.

Despite its limitations by modern standards, the VIC-20 offered a range of applications, including educational software, games, and simple productivity tools. Its affordability and ease of use made it a popular choice for families and hobbyists. Commodore later released the more powerful Commodore 64, which ultimately surpassed the VIC-20 in sales and influence, but the VIC-20 holds a significant place in early home computing history as a pioneering mass-market machine.