In this episode, we will build and test a new VIC-20 motherboard, the "Vicky-Twenty" from Tindie with parts from Retro 8 Bit. It's 1982 all over again!
As I am sure you are aware, the VIC 20 first came out in Japan as the VIC 1001, and Japan has 100V power at either 50 or 60Hz depending on where you are in the country, so the 47-63Hz range for the transformer is probably because it was first designed for the Japanese market.
If the monitor has a sharpness control, see if reducing the sharpness helps eliminate the checkerboard pattern. I think all composite and S-video displays produce either a checker pattern, or fine vertical lines, to some extent, when displaying colors. It's also the same artifact through which dot crawl is realized on some systems.
It does. I have it set to 4 out of 5. I will try a lower setting. I do miss dedicated controls for such things. Going through a handful of Menu settings to achieve this is somewhat cumbersome.
