This machine has a very rich history. The name of the computer originates from the acronym of the video IC used to display output on the computer. The IC, numbered 6560/61 and named Video Interface Chip, was originally developed by Commodore in the late 1970's for sale to computer manufacturers. The video interface chip was originally design for small screen applications like ATM machines. That's why it only has 22 characters. However, no manufacturer would buy the IC, so Commodore finally decided to recoup losses by developing their own computer system to utilize it. Thus, the VIC-20 was born.
The number 20 is actually a rounding down of the number of kilobytes of memory (RAM and ROM) in the system: 22K. And the VIC acronym was changed slighly to stand for "Video Interface Computer". The actual computer system included a keyboard, a CPU, a BASIC interpreter, and ports for attachment of tape and disk drives, printers, monitors, and a television.
The back of the VIC-20
Datassette, SN; S 760738