Boray Vic20 Software

QBench

For any 8 bit Commodore
Download: qbench19.prg (V1.9 - Oct 2017)

A program that compares the speed of your computer agains the following (by default):

PAL Vic20
PAL Vic20 + 8K ram
PAL Vic20 + Super Expander
PAL Vic20 Austro compiled
PAL C64
PAL C64 + The Final Cartridge 3
PAL C64 + STAT64
PAL C64 Petspeed64 compiled
PAL C128 1MHz in 40 column mode (VIC-II)
PAL C128 2Mhz in 80 column mode (VDC)
PAL C128 1MHz in 80 column mode (VDC)
NTSC Vic20 (Thanks to Chris! - Added in V1.1)
NTSC Vic20+24K (Thanks to Chris! - Added in V1.3)
NTSC Vic20+Display manager 40 columns (Thanks to Chris! - Added in V1.3)
NTSC Vic20+Display manager 80 columns (Thanks to Chris! - Added in V1.3)
NTSC C64 (Thanks to Chris! - Added in V1.4)
NTSC Plus/4 (Added in V1.7)
PAL Plus/4 (YAPE) (Added in V1.7)
NTSC Plus/4 Austro compiled (Added in V1.7)
NTSC C128 1MHz in 40 column mode (VIC-II) (Thanks to Brian! ("6502dude") Added in V1.8)
NTSC C128 2Mhz in 80 column mode (VDC) (Thanks to Brian! Added in V1.8)
NTSC C128 1MHz in 80 column mode (VDC) (Thanks to Brian! Added in V1.8)
PAL C128 40 column with 2MHz in border hack (Added in V1.9)

The program (obviously) works on Vic20, C64, Plus/4 and C128. It is possible that it works on more Commodore 8bit computers (as long as they don't crash when pokeing into addresses 1024-1154 (the poke&peek test)). If anyone has a CBM-II or anything and the poke&peek test doesn't work. Then change line number 10 to 10 A={address} for example 10 A=49152 or whatever address where you have some free memory. On the Vic20 / c64 /c128 / Plus/4 it tests the screen memory...

I made it very easy for you to add your own computers to the program. It's just to fill in the model, press return and then save the program. If you have a computer that not is included, then you are welcome to email me with the program after that, or just give me the numbers, for example:

516 DATA "PAL Plus/4", 46, 40, 43, 43, 39, 50, 261

Basic commands per second?

The "Basic commands per second" value (displayed in the program) gives you an idea of the computers speed. However, it only measures the speed of the basic, not of the processor itself. That is why the Plus/4 gets lower values than the vic-20 - because the Plus/4 has a more complex and slower basic. (The processor speed of the two is actually quite equal). Anyway, when measuring the basic speed and calculating a "basic commands per second" value, it was a little hard to decide what would count as commands or not, but I did like this:

Poke s,32
(=one command)

e=3.234*a(t)
(two commands, one for the = and one for the *)

for t=1 to 100: print x;: next
(202 commands... 1 (for) + 1 (to) + 100*(1+1) (print x; and next) = 202 commands)

Results

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