8-Bit Show And Tell | The VIC-10 & VIC-30: Commodore UK's Cancelled Computers @8_Bit | Uploaded February 2022 | Updated October 2024, 9 hours ago.
In 1982, Commodore UK was planning a full range of home microcomputers to meet every budget. The VIC-20 was a success, and they wanted to add a VIC-10 at an even lower price point, and a 16K VIC-30 to sit below the upcoming top-end VIC-40, CBM-64 or VIC-64, which ended up being called the Commodore 64. But rapidly changing market conditions, led by the release of the ZX Spectrum, meant there was ultimately no place for the VIC-10 (aka Ultimax or Commodore Max Machine) in the UK, and the VIC-30 was quietly shelved. We'll look through several UK-based Commodore magazines from 1982 to figure out the story behind these little-known computers that were cancelled, relegating the Commodore VIC-30 to vapourware and the Commodore VIC-10 / MAX to only the Japanese market.
Update: VIC-30 listed in a Commodore 1982-04-30 Hardware Status Report document contributed by Michael Tomczyk: archive.org/details/commodore-1982-04-30-hardware-status-report/mode/2up
Huge thanks to Darren Foulds of Groo Tube for the artist's impressions of the VIC-30: youtube.com/c/grootube
Commodore International Historical Society: https://commodore.international/
Secret Weapons of Commodore: floodgap.com/retrobits/ckb/secret/supervic.html
To support 8-Bit Show And Tell:
Become a patron: patreon.com/8BitShowAndTell
One-time donation: paypal.me/8BitShowAndTell
2nd channel: youtube.com/channel/UCAgWzEh5c8391eJnELDy9OA
Magazines referenced:
archive.org/details/your-computer-magazine-1982-07/page/n15/mode/1up
archive.org/details/Vic_Computing_Issue_007/page/3/mode/1up
archive.org/details/NH2021_Popular_Computing_Weekly_Issue820506.pdf/page/n3/mode/2up
archive.org/details/Vic_Computing_Issue_006/page/n18/mode/1up
archive.org/details/popular-computing-weekly-1982-05-13/page/n3/mode/2up
archive.org/details/Vic_Computing_Issue_015/page/n33/mode/2up
archive.org/details/Vic_Computing_Issue_017/page/n5/mode/2up?view=theater
Index:
0:00 The VIC-20 is a second-rate computer?
1:10 Your Computer: Commodore blitz market with Vic-10, Vic-30, C-64
6:55 VIC Computing: Whither Vic?
9:44 Popular Computing Weekly: Vic-10 and Vic-30 at Hanover Fair
11:44 Vic-30 discreetly shelved
13:58 Why was the VIC-30 cancelled?
17:32 Thanks!
In 1982, Commodore UK was planning a full range of home microcomputers to meet every budget. The VIC-20 was a success, and they wanted to add a VIC-10 at an even lower price point, and a 16K VIC-30 to sit below the upcoming top-end VIC-40, CBM-64 or VIC-64, which ended up being called the Commodore 64. But rapidly changing market conditions, led by the release of the ZX Spectrum, meant there was ultimately no place for the VIC-10 (aka Ultimax or Commodore Max Machine) in the UK, and the VIC-30 was quietly shelved. We'll look through several UK-based Commodore magazines from 1982 to figure out the story behind these little-known computers that were cancelled, relegating the Commodore VIC-30 to vapourware and the Commodore VIC-10 / MAX to only the Japanese market.
Update: VIC-30 listed in a Commodore 1982-04-30 Hardware Status Report document contributed by Michael Tomczyk: archive.org/details/commodore-1982-04-30-hardware-status-report/mode/2up
Huge thanks to Darren Foulds of Groo Tube for the artist's impressions of the VIC-30: youtube.com/c/grootube
Commodore International Historical Society: https://commodore.international/
Secret Weapons of Commodore: floodgap.com/retrobits/ckb/secret/supervic.html
To support 8-Bit Show And Tell:
Become a patron: patreon.com/8BitShowAndTell
One-time donation: paypal.me/8BitShowAndTell
2nd channel: youtube.com/channel/UCAgWzEh5c8391eJnELDy9OA
Magazines referenced:
archive.org/details/your-computer-magazine-1982-07/page/n15/mode/1up
archive.org/details/Vic_Computing_Issue_007/page/3/mode/1up
archive.org/details/NH2021_Popular_Computing_Weekly_Issue820506.pdf/page/n3/mode/2up
archive.org/details/Vic_Computing_Issue_006/page/n18/mode/1up
archive.org/details/popular-computing-weekly-1982-05-13/page/n3/mode/2up
archive.org/details/Vic_Computing_Issue_015/page/n33/mode/2up
archive.org/details/Vic_Computing_Issue_017/page/n5/mode/2up?view=theater
Index:
0:00 The VIC-20 is a second-rate computer?
1:10 Your Computer: Commodore blitz market with Vic-10, Vic-30, C-64
6:55 VIC Computing: Whither Vic?
9:44 Popular Computing Weekly: Vic-10 and Vic-30 at Hanover Fair
11:44 Vic-30 discreetly shelved
13:58 Why was the VIC-30 cancelled?
17:32 Thanks!
