tremoloman2006 Posted December 11, 2008 Share Posted December 11, 2008 I'm looking forward to this also! I'll definitely order two kits from you for my 2 heavy sixers. Then all of my 2600s will have the Parker touch! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Longhorn Engineer Posted December 12, 2008 Author Share Posted December 12, 2008 (edited) Thanks for the encouragement! Ok so far I have the schematics for all the 2600, 5200, and 7800 all drawn up and redone for ease of viewing. Also I moved the schematics into ExpressPCB format since that is a free program. Also I have it in bmp format so you don't need a schematic program to even open it! 2600 Schematic Image Schemtaic File 5200/7800 Schematic Image Schematic File PCB layout will be done in after I eat dinner. Edited December 12, 2008 by Longhorn Engineer Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Longhorn Engineer Posted December 12, 2008 Author Share Posted December 12, 2008 (edited) Ok the 2600 schematic is done. I will do the 5200/7800 in a bit. 2600 PCB layout Oh if anyone wants to double check the Schematic to PCB I would appreciate it. Unfortunately, I checked with some PCB makers and due to lead time the kits will be impossible to have done by Christmas. I will have a price for the kits, blank PCBs, and PCBs with the SOIC chip up on Friday. Edited December 12, 2008 by Longhorn Engineer Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Carpenter Posted December 12, 2008 Share Posted December 12, 2008 Hey Loooooonghorn! I suppose the classes you've mentioned are about control theory Could you, please post some pictures of this mod in action? I'm planning to built it and I would like to see what the vertical lines looks like. Cheers! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Longhorn Engineer Posted December 20, 2008 Author Share Posted December 20, 2008 Hey Loooooonghorn! I suppose the classes you've mentioned are about control theory Could you, please post some pictures of this mod in action? I'm planning to built it and I would like to see what the vertical lines looks like. Cheers! Sure will in about an hour. Ok interesting update. I was finishing up a forum members Light sixer and plugged it in to test it. The picture has zero vertical lines. So for a test of comparison I took the mod out of a 4 switcher and put it in the 6 switcher. Same result. No vertical lines. So for some reason the 6 switch boards have no vertical while the 4 switch do. I then tested it in a Junior model. Vertical lines. Hmm. I wonder if the differences are that vast in the versions or is it because of different QC (ie newer chips are made cheaper) in the TIA chips? I will have to look at the schematics to determine this. If its a board difference then I can add it to the design and all Atari 2600's can have clean vertical line free video. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Longhorn Engineer Posted December 20, 2008 Author Share Posted December 20, 2008 Ok comparing the 4 switch boards and schematics to the 6 switch boards and schematics there is one major difference. On the 6 switch the Pin 6 of the TIA (Blank) is tied into Pin 9 of the TIA (Color) with a 680 Ohm resistor. Going to test this out real fast. I could not find a Junior schematic so im going to have to just study the board. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Longhorn Engineer Posted December 20, 2008 Author Share Posted December 20, 2008 (edited) Hmm for some reason I can not edit my previous messages.... Anyways I did find some Junior schematics over here. So the Junior is similar to the 6 switch board but it does somethings differently before tying the Blank pin into the color circuit. Edited December 20, 2008 by Longhorn Engineer Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Longhorn Engineer Posted December 20, 2008 Author Share Posted December 20, 2008 Grr can't edit! ok I tested the 4 switch with the bridged pin 6 and pin 9 with the 680 Ohm resistor. The lines where still there. So that was the only difference between the 4 and 6 switch. Does this mean that the TIAs could be the problem? I would swap the Tias if they where socketed but they are not and I do not want to risk ruining someones Atari. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+remowilliams Posted December 20, 2008 Share Posted December 20, 2008 Hmm for some reason I can not edit my previous messages.... post editing Looking forward to the mod(s). Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Longhorn Engineer Posted December 20, 2008 Author Share Posted December 20, 2008 (edited) Hmm for some reason I can not edit my previous messages.... post editing Looking forward to the mod(s). Thanks for that link! Good thing I thought I just couldn't find the silly edit button I first dug up a old 4 switcher and took the TIA chip out. Stuck it in the 6 switcher and still the same faint vertical lines. So its not the TIA QC. Thankfully. I went back to the schematics of all 3 versions and my 4-switches I noticed that there are more then 1 circuit for the 4 switch models! The 4 switch I had modded was exactly like the 6 switch except no onboard CD4050 and a 1k resistor instead of the 680ohm for bridging the Blank and Color pins. So I swapped that 1k out for the 680 ohm and it looked just like the 6 switcher! Tho this image is not perfect. There is some bleeding of colors (very slight but in sake of perfection I must figure it out). So I went back and disconnected the blank from the entire circuit. Heavy vertical lines on the screen but zero bleeding. Hmmm... I decided to look at the Junior board because I got vertical lines but zero bleeding when I tested my mod on it. The Junior has a CD4050 and the blank pin added in. To my surprise the blank pin ran into the CD4050 along with the luma signals. This fact and the non bleeding colors without the blank line caused my "education" to finally kick in. "Maybe the CD4050 in my mod is causing a Delay in the luma signals which causes the bleeding when the non-delayed blank pin is feed in.", I thought. So I wired the blank line into the CD4050 on the mod and then through a 680ohm resistor to the color pin. And Bingo perfect vertical line less video. So the V2.2 of the PCB and schematic will be posted on Saturday. With this discovery the mod installation will require some resistor leads depending on whether your Atari has the blank tied in or not. A little added complexity but It should only be 1 lead so it won't be surgery. edit// OH pictures Saturday. I promise! Edited December 20, 2008 by Longhorn Engineer Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Longhorn Engineer Posted December 20, 2008 Author Share Posted December 20, 2008 (edited) As promised I have pictures now! Take a look at the Pitfall image. All the other games look identical to that one (as in no vertical lines). I really need to get a digital camera that I can set the shutter speed. Yaa! No vertical lines! This is actually a pretty good picture of Asteroids. I don't know whats up with the horizontal lines? Something with how the game renders them probably. I don''t know I like Chopper Command more then Defender This is probably the most improved game in terms of vertical line clean up. Note in real life there are zero vertical lines. I am quite excited to have finally gotten a near perfect image out of my mod. New Schematics and PCB design soon. Eventually I hope to get a nice digital camera (or capture via PC) so I can get the true beauty of the mod out. Edited December 20, 2008 by Longhorn Engineer Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tremoloman2006 Posted December 20, 2008 Share Posted December 20, 2008 Wow! Talk about an amazing improvement! Nice work Parker! Hat's off to you! You do realize you are going to be swamped with mod kit orders, right? Sign me up for two heavy sixers when they are available! Thanks for the kind email as well... you totally made my day! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Carpenter Posted December 22, 2008 Share Posted December 22, 2008 Longhorn you have the spirit of a real engineer. Congrats for your work. As soon as you release the schematics I'll build one. Thanks for the pix! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Longhorn Engineer Posted December 22, 2008 Author Share Posted December 22, 2008 (edited) Thanks! Ok this isn't the schematic yall want but I scanned this in so yall can get a feel of what is going on the Color side of things for the mod. I am still working on the PCB of the Atari 2600. Looking back at the 7800 schematics the Maria Chip has a Blank line that is not used and I do recall some slight vertical lines when my mod was applied to 7800's. On 5200's there where no vertical lines. But the GTIA (as the schematic called it) has no Blank. Status update on the mod. 2600 Version - Design Finalized, Schematic Finalized, PCB in design 5200 Version - Design Finalized, Schematic Finalized, PCB in design 7800 Version - Design Questionable, No Schematic, No PCB Unfortunately I do not have the 7800 (or 5200) I did my tests on anymore. I could try to acquire new ones but I want to at least get the 2600 Version out to people as I know its done. Edit// 2600 Schematic Image Schematic File Edited December 22, 2008 by Longhorn Engineer Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Prodos8 Posted December 22, 2008 Share Posted December 22, 2008 The 4050 faq mod that I did on a 4-switch renders the asteroids just like your pic on crt tvs and lcd tvs on s-video or composite. I think the improved video output somehow exposes how the rocks are actually drawn. Very nice work! I'd like to see a 7800 board as all my other stuff is already modded. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Longhorn Engineer Posted December 22, 2008 Author Share Posted December 22, 2008 Ok PCB has been finished and finalized. Atari_2600_Video_Mod_V2_2_pcb.bmp 2600 A/V Mod PCB file Once I know this PCB design is 100% correct I will start taking pre-orders for the kits and pcbs. PCBs will be sold at price (looking like $2-$3 per) + stamp and kits will have a target price of $40 + shipping. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
the.golden.ax Posted December 22, 2008 Share Posted December 22, 2008 I'll take a kit for all three when available. AX Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+bcombee Posted December 23, 2008 Share Posted December 23, 2008 I"m interested in a 7800 kit when it's available too... my soldering skills have improved a lot since last spring. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Longhorn Engineer Posted December 24, 2008 Author Share Posted December 24, 2008 Ok the PCB checks out. I will be offering the kits in batches. Preorders for kits will be $40+$12 shipping (inside continental USA). The kits will be compatible with all Atari 2600 consoles. Blank PCBs will be $6 which includes stamp. I will be taking roughly 20-30 preorders. When I get enough preorders I will close orders and order all the parts and PCBs. I will be opening the preorders after the Holidays. The kits will need 9 wires soldered to onto the Atari and the cutting of two pins. Then only two wires need to e soldered onto the kit. So you are looking at 11 easy to solder joints total. Hope yall have a safe Holiday! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Longhorn Engineer Posted December 24, 2008 Author Share Posted December 24, 2008 Oh I forgot to mention. I will be opening up for people to ship there Ataris for me to mod them again as well. $100 + return shipping. This includes the mod. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Carpenter Posted December 28, 2008 Share Posted December 28, 2008 So I would like to pre-order 3 blank PCBs. How much it costs to ship to Brazil? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Longhorn Engineer Posted December 29, 2008 Author Share Posted December 29, 2008 So I would like to pre-order 3 blank PCBs. How much it costs to ship to Brazil? Don't know. Let me get back to you on that. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mimo Posted December 31, 2008 Share Posted December 31, 2008 Do you think that they will be compatible with the Sears Video Arcade 2? iirc they are based on a 4 switch Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ckrtech Posted January 3, 2009 Share Posted January 3, 2009 Hey if we had problems with the original Longhorn video mod (vertical bars), do we get any sort of compensation for moving to the new one? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Longhorn Engineer Posted January 3, 2009 Author Share Posted January 3, 2009 (edited) Hey if we had problems with the original Longhorn video mod (vertical bars), do we get any sort of compensation for moving to the new one? Sounds reasonable. How about parts+shipping on Version 2 if you have the previous version. It won't be a drop in replacement as I am not doing the plugs anymore (way to much work) but you will be able to replace the mod. The mod should be very easy to install. 9 connections on the Atari plus lifting pins 6 and 9 on the TIA. Fully compatible with all 2600 consoles, including non-socketed TIA chips. Pre-orders for kits and blank pcbs will open on Monday (1/05/09). Have a safe weekend! Edit// What do yall think about adding Stereo Sound? It won't raise the cost of the kits but it will add two more lift pins and another jack to be installed. Easy to add to the pcb. Edited January 3, 2009 by Longhorn Engineer Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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