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Stephen Moss

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About Stephen Moss

  • Birthday 12/20/1970

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    Cambridge, United Kingdom
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    American Football, Golf, Electronics, Programming, Sci-Fi, Indoor Climbing

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  1. You could try an extraction tool similar to this, the end go under each end of the IC and you pull it up you may have to try one end a little then the other to keep it reasonably even if it is tight. Although if it is really tight such as tool may not be robust enough, so try a 4-5mm flat bladed screwdriver, hopefully the sockets will have a indentation in the top that you can use to slide the screwdriver under neither the IC making the next part easier. With the screwdriver blade under the IC use it to prise that end of the IC up a little out of the socket then do the same the other end, keep altering ends and inserting the screwdriver a little more each time until the IC is free. If you cannot easily get the screwdriver under both ends of the IC you can do it from one end, but once you are about a third of the way along you need to start pressing down on the loosened end of the IC as you prise up the other end to keep the IC fairly level otherwise at best the pins at the far end of the IC from where you inserted the screwdriver will be bent when you get the IC out due to the angle of the other end and at worst may break off.
  2. Thanks, while you have shown it is not impossible to prevent individuals making changes and releasing their own version, If I am to continue being responsible for the on going maintenance and updating (when I can find the time) then I would be inclined not to put it on a public repo. Mainly as I don't really know that much about them and thus what version control methods are in place, for example... can two two people edit it at the same time and if so what happens when each saves, are they merged, do the changes to section A in one get lost then get lost they are overwritten by second version one where changes were made to section B and not section A. Thus for now I think that to try and maintain some semblance of version control and thus ensure that each new version of a document builds upon the changes made in the last rather than potentially having multiple versions floating around created by many different people all containing various random versions of updates that it would be better if potential updates/changes either... Go through a small technical committee for verification before being forwarded to one individual responsible for the updating and maintenance of the documentation for updating or Go directly to the person (be that myself or someone else willing to take over the updating and maintenance of the documentation) responsible for the updating and maintenance of the documentation for updating. I am not sure I explained that very well but I hope it make sense. It would be nice to know enough about Jaguar programming to be able to verify it myself, but as I don't my preference would be for a third party to verify it before I make any changes permanent so I would use the "subject to change" text colouring if it is goes in and the new version released with the changes still unverified. I am not saying that your changes are necessarily wrong, inappropriate or in the wrong section, it is just that having a second party verify the information is correct and relevant increases confidence that no potentially incorrect/misleading changes are being added to the documentation.
  3. I have it as a word document as I created the updated documents. When I have time I will take a look at adding your notes to the documents, unless you would like to take over the ongoing maintenance of them in which case I could give you all the relevant files.
  4. I have not composite modified 2600 so cannot really offer any help here, but it may help other to give you the relevant advice if you were to mention which of the various composite mods you performed in case some may be more prone to that occurring than others.
  5. Not sure why that would be an issue, surely any sane person would take the time to remove the case when prepping and painting it, not work on it while fully assembled.
  6. If you want a 2600 with HDMI why not just get at 2600+, it would be a lot easier and probably cheaper than having a new case made and messing around with adding it yourself. If you could create a 3D model of the case for printing you would probably need to go to a fab house like Protolabs to get it printed, home printers will likely be to small and can suffer from shrinkage issue on larger plots. For a really good finish LASER sinter printing would probably be better but more expensive. If not LASER sintered then you really need to use ABS rather than PLA, it is a proper engineering material that most off the shelf plastic enclosures are made of it is more flexible the PLA and so better for drilling and screwing into. As for more space inside the case, I am not sure how much space there is off hand but you seem to be thinking horizontally, perhaps there is room vertically to stack an extra PCB inside.
  7. I don't know how you would get the silver paint off without adversely marking the case, maybe a fine grain/bead shot/sandblaster would work, but if you want it back to close to the original colour with minimal chance of marking the case then your best bet is is probably to try and find a colour that is close to that of the Jaguar and have it spray painted that colour. If you are not skilled at spray painting your self perhaps look for a local modelling club, the more serious and detail orientated model makers often have their own air brushes, an small tin of suitable coloured model paint probably would not cost that much (they may even be able to mix it to an more exact colour match) and maybe a few pounds for their time should yield a better result than you may get from doing it yourself with an aerosol can of car paint.
  8. No, measure between pin 13 and Ground (pin 1), Pin 20 is the 5V pin (see schematics here), of your reading is close to 0 then you likely have a short to ground which could be external (i.e. solder splash) but could be internal to the RIOT. So if you have a short to ground and the RIOT is socketed you could try removing it, carefully lift pin 13 slightly so that it sits outside the socket when you replace it and measure again, if the short is still there then it is in the RIOT, of not then it is external and so something that can potentially be found and corrected. Correct, if the RIOTs internal pull up to 5V has failed then its input pin is essentially left floating and it is chance as to whether the RIOT sees any voltage in its input as a High (no movement) or a Low (Down) input. However, if you have a multi-meter it may be worth just measuring the voltage on pin 13 first, as depending on where the RIOT's internal pull up is connected, if it is working then that may result in a reading close to 5V, otherwise adding the resistor simply replaces the potentially failed internal pull-up with an external one, the RIOT pin is thus pulled up to 5V and so should no longer register a down input until the Joystick is in its down position thereby connecting the RIOT pin to Ground, the 5V supply is then dropped across the resistor and a down input is registered. I hope that make sense. Essentially correct, you could try replacing the Socket as the IC-Socket contact may not be good and clearing the IC pin with isopropanol or switch cleaner is they look dirty but by external-internal connection I was thing more of the wire bonding connection between the external pin of the RIOT and the silicon die inside failing which would necessitate a new RIOT chip. I cannot guarantee the above will fix the problem but from the initial symptoms the input side of the RIOT is the most logical place to start, but the issue may lie with the output instead.
  9. I am not sure how that would result in a worsening problem, but the best way to check if that is an issue it as I said to check the continuity (connection/resistance), it can be done visually if you can follow the trace around the PCB, but more commonly you would use a Multi-meter. If you don't have a Multi-meter one you would certainly need one to check track continuity, measure voltages and check for short circuits. If continuity was an issue then you could try to repair the trace by soldering a length of wire in its place. However as you say it still registered down without a joystick connected then even if the connection between the controller port and the RIOT were suspect that would be a secondary issue because it is more likely to be open circuit resulting in no down movement than shorted to Ground which resulting in Down movement. You can use either a piece of wire (if you don't have any lying around a paper clip could be used if long enough) or a resistor, temporarily connect one end to a 5V point (i.e. pin 20 of the RIOT chip) and the other end to pin 13 (down input) of the RIOT chip to see what effect that has. Using a resistor would be better just in case there is a short circuit between RIOT pin 13 to ground (if you have a multi-meter check that first, resistance will be close to 0), but if you have neither a resistor or a multi-meter to check for a short to ground then using a piece of wire alone I would expect to yield one of the following results.... If there is no short to ground, the input external-internal connection to the RIOT is good, RIOT internal pull-up is bad then the Down movement should stop as the RIOT input is being pulled high. If there is no short to ground, the input external-internal connection to the RIOT is bad the issue will remain and Down movement will continue. If there is a RIOT pin 13 to Ground short the unit would stop working as you shorting power rails out and you wire may get hot, thus using a resistor of 1000-5000 ohms is better as it limits current flow allowing the unit to remain functioning, but would still register Down movement.
  10. If the blinking LED is a design feature than I would expect a reason for it to be given in the user manual, if that is the case then knowing what it signifies (i.e. low battery status) would give some clue as to what the problem may be otherwise it could be absolutely anything causing it.
  11. No there are no caps directly connected with Joystick directions, if you look at the schematic you know that as will see the direction pins connect directly to the RIOT chip. My first suspect would be the RIOT chip, if you look at the schematic for the Joystick you will see that Down is Pin 2, which connects to pin 13 of the RIOT. The RIOT should have an internal pull up, if that has failed or either an internal or external connection to RIOT pin 13 has failed that could cause the RIOT to register a Down input. 1) Check/reflow the solder joints on the pins mentioned and check the continuity between them to make sure there is a physical connection. 2) If item one check out and the issue remains, the ROIT it should still register a down press with no Joystick connected, if that is the case try using a bit of wire to connect 5V to pin 13 of the RIOT. If connecting 5V to pin 13 of the RIOT it makes no difference and it still registers down then the the external to internal connection of the RIOT may have failed, if it does fix the problem then the RIOT's internal pullup may have failed, in which case connecting a 4K7 or 5K1 resistor between 5V and pin 13 of the RIOT would create an external pull up that should restore operation.
  12. As far as I know there were all the same colour as the Jaguar, it makes more sense to make them matching rather than an odd assortment of colours so that the look like they are meant to go together. If you were putting together a home theatre sounds system would really go for an ugly mismatched set that looks like it was thrown together from random odd and ends being comprised of a Red power amp, green sound bar and black speakers over the neatness and classic looks of the componets being a matching colour (typically black). There may be some different coloured ones out there but that is usually because the owner decided to repaint both their Jaguar and CD unit in a different (but matching) colour.
  13. In resistance (rather than diode mode) I get around 2K & 3K Ohms between A & K (your b & c) depending one which way round my meter probes are and 2-3 Ohms between what you have labelled a & c (without finding the datasheet to confirm I suspect that a & c are both Cathode connections hence the low resistance between them).
  14. As it can be powered from either a 5V USB or 9V DC there must be a 5V regulator inside to drop the voltage down from 9V to 5V. There are two types of power supply, regulated (or stabilizes) and unregulated, the difference is that a regulated power supply (like that of a PlayStation 2) will always output the specified voltage so it does not matter if it can supply more current than you require. Whereas an unregulated supply (like that of an original Atari 2600 or Jaguar) will only output the correct voltage when the specified current is drawn, so as @larrylaffer stated knowing how much current you required would be useful. If you get a PSU that outputs less current than you need you will be overloading it and its output voltage will be less than its rated value (until it goes up in smoke), and for an unregulated supply getting one that can provide too much current will result in too high an input voltage, that will create extra power dissipation in the voltage regulator. What effect that will have depends on how much extra power is being dissipated, if it only a small amount you will not notice anything, too much and the unit may randomly stop working and you need to turn if of for a hour as the regulators thermal shutdown circuit kicks in because it is overheating. First try contacting the manufacture to see what PSU or current rating they recommend you use, if you cannot get any information from them then you will just have to make a best guess. However, if the USB power port is a dumb power port (no communications with the PC) then it would be unable to negotiate with a PC for more current that the basic default limit per device set by the USB specifications (I think that is 300mA, but you should check that, documentation available at USB.org), Thus if it is a dumb power port you would not need a power supply that could supply more than the USB default current allowance per device as that is all you would get from using a PC as the USB power source. I would be surprised if it requires more than 300mA as digital device don't generally use too much current unless running at very high speed, the 7 segment displays are probably be biggest current draw and if done correctly they will be strobes so only one didget will be one at a time, that said if they are maxing out on the pulsed current to get the maximum display brightness they would be drawing than 300mA.
  15. Use the forum search facility (top right), there are many post regarding repairing faulty 2600's, you should what you need amongst them. You do not indicate if the 10V reading was off load (VCS off/disconnected) or on load, if on load it is Ok as there is a 7805 regulator inside the 2600 that drops it it 5V. If off load and you are using an original PSU that is a little low, 12-16V would be more typical. As for modifying it to use a USB power source, again search the forums. Although if memory serves you will need to use a dumb USB power source, an intelligent one (like connecting to the USB port on a PC) will only supply 300mA initially, more than that the slave would have to negotiate with the host which the 2600 cannot do. As for composite mods there are several types, again search the forum although it would appear from posts I have seen that the UAV is the most popular one.
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