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VIC-II 6567 / 6569 / 8562 / 8565

Employed in: C64, SX64

The VIC-II (Video Interface Controller) is the graphics chip for the C64 and the SX64. Unlike its predecessor (VIC), it doesn't have any sound capabilities anymore, they have been moved to the SID.

Technical data


Links: 'The 6567/6569 and its application in the C64' - 'The memory accesses of the 6569 / 8566'

Pinout

[Pinout of 6567]
Fig. 1: 6567

Signal Description

(Click here for ASCII version)

Pin(s) Signal Dir Description
1-7D6-D0 in / out Data bus.
8/IRQout Interrupt ReQuest. This pin is going LOW when an interrupt was toggled in the VIC-II.
There are four possible sources for an IRQ:
  • rasterline
  • lightpen
  • sprite-sprite collision
  • sprite-background collision
9LPin LightPen. A falling edge on this input causes an interrupt.
10/CSin Chip Select. HIGH=VIC-II is decoupled from bus.
11R/-Win Read/-Write. LOW=write to registers, HIGH=read from registers.
12BAout ReaDY. When going LOW, the CPU waits after next read cycle for this line going HIGH again.
13Vdd - Reference voltage. This pin is connected to +12V DC (6567/69), or +5V DC (8562/65).
14COLOR out Color output.
15S/LUM out Sync / Lumimance output.
16AECout Address Enable Control. Directly connected with AEC of the CPU. When going LOW, the CPU puts its bus lines into high impedance state and is thus totally decoupled from the rest of the system, so that the VIC-II can take control over it.
17ø 0* out Phi 0. The VIC-II outputs the system clock for the 6510.
18RAS out Row Address Strobe.
19CAS out Cow Address Strobe.
20GND - GrouND. (0V)
21ø color* in Phi color. The color clock for the VIC-II. 14.31818 MHz for NTSC, 17.734472 MHz for PAL.
21ø in* in Phi in. DOT CLOCK for the VIC-II. 8.18 MHz for NTSC, 7.88 MHz for PAL.
23A11 in / out Bit 11 of video Address bus.
24-29A0/A8-A5/A13 in / out Multiplexed video Address bus.
30-34A6-A10 in / out Bits 6-10 of video Address bus.
35-38D11-D8 in / out Color RAM data bus.
39D7 in / out Bit 7 of Data bus.
40Vcc - Supply voltage (+5V DC).

* The 'ø' is used as Greek 'phi' here.

Technical info

When introducing the C-64s with the new board, Commodore replaced the 6567/69 by the 8562/65, which is nearly fully compatible.

Programming info

On www.funet.fi, you can find:


[1] 64 intern, Data Becker 1983, p.34, 'Der Video-Controller 6569 VIC', ISBN 3-89011-000-2
[2] 64'er Hardware-Buch, pp.201-204, ISBN 3-87791-249-4


Updated: June 30th, 1998
Created: January 30th, 1997
Status : Verified on February 12th, 1998

Site copyright © 1997 by Marc-Jano Knopp
This document is part of MJK's Commodore 64 & LCD Page
Brought back to life by Peter Schepers, Dec 10, 2005 because I really liked this site!