RCA VP-3303
First Draft: February 13, 2025
First Addition: February 18, 2025

Manufacturer: RCA
Released: 1983
Date Acquired: February 18, 2025

On one borning morning, waiting for when I had to go to work, I said how I was doing so great with my hobbies. I've been cleaning up the messy basement, I've been making progress on a project, and I haven't been buying random eBay junk for like two months...

In '79, RCA ran a little ad about their new VIP II system. It was marketed as a fun, creative, educational, practical, and hobby-assisting serious computer system. The sepcs included a CDP1802 processor, 4K or 8K of RAM stock (up to 32K with expansion), 12K of ROM including BASIC and a simple monitor, a 74-key (VP-616) keyboard, the CDP1869 + CDP1870 VIS chipset for graphics and sound, cassette I/O, a 50-pin expansion interface, and nothing but a 5V DC supply used to run the thing. Pretty cool, eh?

The VIP II never actually came out. That said, it didn't all go to waste. RCA ended up reusing the case and keyboard to create their VP-3000 Interactive Data Terminals. Wikipedia says that these are basically the same exact hardware with nothing but a ROM swap to a terminal emulator and an optional modem added. There's the VP-3501 with the full 74-key keyboard for "$275", the VP-3303 without the hex keypad (now just a 58-key ASCII keyboard) or modem for "$262", and the VP-3301 without a built-in RF modulator for "$255". Note the "s around the prices - RCA in their own ad states that these are OEM quantity deals, not the actual MSRP.

While browsing eBay, I saw a listing that caught my eye. Someone had a VP-3303 for sale listed as a VP-3301 with some minor cosmetic damage to one of the side wedge plates for a price that I didn't find ridiculous. I never thought I'd find something like a VP keyboard let alone a whole RCA terminal so I got pretty excited! I decided I was interested enough, looked at the bank, saw I could afford it, and pressed the Buy It Now button.

Whenever the system finally makes it to me, I have a little list of things I'd like to do. Of course getting the box running is priority number one, possibly modeling up a replacement left-side plate that way I can retire the already-chipping original would be a fun CAD project, and hooking it to a system to play something like a text adventure would just be cool!

Normally I say "I'm going to document the chips inside the system" but this time I don't really have to - someone back in 2000 bought one for a whole $10 and stated the following: "Inside, the 1800-series chips are the following - 1802, 1854, 1869, 1870, several 1852 I/O ports, a couple of 1856 latches?, one 1867, and one 1823. The RAM appears to be five 2114 chips, the rest is glue logic and some level converter hardware, including optoisolators for the switch-selectable 20mA mode." Ain't that neat? The only thing they don't mention is the ROM. If nobody has it dumped and available then I'd like to try taking that on because who knows, maybe it could be swapped back to being a VIP II? I guess we'll find out.

It's February 18, 2025 and the VP-3303 showed up!

Pretty cool, eh? It looked like it would be small in the photos online but man, it's dinky in-person. The damage to the left side plate isn't that bad, the diminutive size of the whole machine helping that out - whenever I pull the system apart I'll certainly CAD up a new one but the plastic feels fairly durable so I'm in no crazy rush. Also, despite being sold as a VP-3301, I see the RF modulator still in the system. It's definitely a VP-3303!

I now need to figure out how to power the thing. Luckily for me, the seller had this image attached to the listing:

I guess I'll go find some DIN cables and get to it.