Early Kit Computer Archive, When Users Had to Write Their Own Software: Large Archive of "VIPER" and "PIPs for VIPs," 1978

VIPER Magazine kit computer Archive

Archive

RCA COSMAC VIP (a build it yourself microcomputer sold to hobbyists and students) archive of user programming periodicals, 1978 to 1980, documenting the late 1970s culture of kit computer ownership, reader written software, and newsletter based technical exchange before home computing became a retail software market. This low cost kit computer was built around the RCA 1802 microprocessor, a hexadecimal keypad, cassette storage, and a television display; owners did not receive a finished consumer appliance but a small machine that rewarded programming, repair, expansion, and correspondence with other users. "VIPER" and "PIPs for VIPs" show how Aresco, Terry Laudereau, Tom Swan, and a dispersed readership turned the VIP into a practical community machine through CHIP 8 code, machine language routines, hardware modifications, games, display experimentation, in a compiled user manual meant to increase the usability and accessibility to the niche market of early computer users.

VIPER: The RCA COSMAC VIP. Columbia, Maryland: Aresco, 1978 to 1980. Approximately 18 issues, about 30 pages each, with one 160 page copy of PIPs for VIPs and two duplicate small format copies of VIPER Index to Volume I. Volume I includes issues dated June 1978, August 1978, September 1978, October 1978, November 1978, January 1979, February 1979, March 1979, April 1979, and May 1979, with covers and articles including “A Brief History of the VIP,” “VIP OWNERS UNITE!,” “Getting Started with CHIP-8,” “ROM REVEALED!,” “CHIP-8 EXPOSED!,” “VIP Text Editor,” “VIP-Printer Interface,” “GAMES!,” “Super Sound,” “Memory Expander,” “Simple Sound Board,” “Color Display,” “Expansion Keyboard,” and “Tiny BASIC.” Volume II includes issues dated July 1979, August 1979, September 1979, November 1979, December 1979, January 1980, February and March 1980, and June 1980, with articles and departments on reader input and output, CHIP-8 interpretation, machine language programming, games, music, hardware, PIPs for VIPs modifications, Tiny BASIC machine language subroutines, extended display routines, and the SCRT jump table. The run shows the VIP user community working through the practical problems of early home computin such as how to enter programs, save them to cassette, expand memory, connect printers, improve sound and color, correct published code, and make a small kit computer perform tasks beyond the manufacturer’s basic documentation.

The first issue explains the newsletter as a response to a market "flooded with computer-oriented magazines and newsletters" that did not support the COSMAC VIP, and states that the publication would print user notes, bulletins, tips, programs, hardware news, software material, club information, and reader correspondence. The later issues continue the reader based model with tables of contents naming "Reader I/O," "CHIP-8 Interpreter," "Machine Language," "VIP Games," "PIPS Mods," "Music," "Hardware," "VIP Tiny BASIC Machine Language Subroutines," "Extended Display Subroutine," and "SCRT Jump Table," while also recording price changes, product notices, advertising, and corrections.

The archive records the point in which personal computing moved from hobbyist kits toward household machines. The Altair 8800 had reached readers of Popular Electronics in 1975, the Apple II, Commodore PET, and TRS 80 entered the consumer market in 1977, and publications, clubs, and mail order suppliers became the working infrastructure for users whose computers still required soldering, typing code from print, saving programs to cassette, and debugging with little institutional support. One page in PIPs for VIPs states that Aresco sold a cassette containing the book’s programs for $5 because otherwise "you'll have to enter all the code yourself," then defines VIPER as "composed solely of reader contributions - programs, hardware mods, tutorials, and ideas written by VIP users for VIP users." Three hole punching throughout; some issues show wear, occasional marks or checks in pencil. Overall good condition. A large surviving run of the printed network that taught RCA COSMAC VIP owners how to turn a minimal kit computer into a programmable game, graphics, text, music, and hardware control system.

Item #23537

Price: $850.00