Rik1138
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Posts posted by Rik1138
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21 hours ago, 0078265317 said:
'Modded' is a stretch... He took an empty Mac SE shell and put a cheap computer monitor in it...
And held the ports in place with hot glue...
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16 hours ago, Atariuser85 said:
Wanted to thank the community for all the helpful information. I got the repaired unit to work ~90 percent. The first top row of LCDs are glitchy and the paddle is a bit glitchy but works well enough for game play. I ended up using rubbing alcohol to clean up the potentiometer (knob). I did not end up wanting to re-open to try to re-orient the LCD because its working. Figured if I keep moving it around may loose game play again. Also found an interesting article on cost of the Microvision and other handhelds through time. Looks like the original Microvision cost equates to in today's dollars approximately about the cost of a Nintendo Switch ($385) adjusting for inflation.
Their information is wrong... The Microvision system was $40 in 1979-1980, and the cartridges were about $16
So adjusting for inflation, it's about $127, and the carts would be $51.
Original Sears catalog page from 1979 here:
https://www.handheldmuseum.com/BooksMagazines/Cat-Sears_79/Sears79_7.htm
Not even hard to find the original price, not sure where they got that $100 from...
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On 2/10/2021 at 10:55 PM, _The Doctor__ said:
remember this fixture only plays the game for a limited time then resets till you select it again.. it is not a full time game changer but rather a sales kiosk that you load with real cartridges to choose from then the timer starts so you can try it out... when the time is up so is your game
I wonder how easy it would be to bypass the timer and make it act like a game changer... Probably wouldn't be too hard to do it in a way that doesn't permanently alter the piece...
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That $800 one is hardly mint. He says it has cracks, and there's a picture of a big chip missing from the side of the plastic front piece...
Might be 'minter' than the others, but still has issues...
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Sent you a PM about a couple of tiny issue with the payment system. I was still able to order, but it made me manually fix my address as sent from PayPal...
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On 2/17/2021 at 7:16 AM, -^CrossBow^- said:
Oh and one more important thing that I didn't do because I literally didn't think they were there. Remember to remove the protective sheets that are on both sides of the LCD screen. I hadn't done this and I'm sure it played a large part in why I had issues with getting mine to work initially as well.
There's a protective sheet on the backlight itself too. I almost forgot that one..
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Make sure you use the new zebra strip he sent... I accidentally used the original and the display didn't work at all (or just a line or two)...
(Just my first thought...)
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Are you actually taking the pots apart to clean, or only if necessary? I was hoping a good spray would be enough...
Got one installed finally, and I love it! It's so much fun to play the game in the dark.
And I was ONE BLOCK away from clearing the wall a second time!! Ahhh...-
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On 1/8/2021 at 3:24 AM, DZ-Jay said:
Oh, wow, someone remade ISEPIC back in 2017! ?
https://www.c64copyprotection.com/isepic-2017/
I may get one of those and fulfill a boyhood dream. LOL!
There were a LOT of clones of it back in the day. I used to have a few of them, including two that were obviously handmade (wire-wrapped boards and such).
Apparently it's wasn't a complicated piece of circuitry...
I love that the remake actually has permission from the original designer... I didn't even know about that one, but now I kind of want to get one too. It'd be cool to have the 1985 and the 2017 versions.
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I had (still have, actually) the ISEPIC cartridge. And used it quite a lot on games to remove the disc-drive error checking copy protection...
Surprised to find the original receipt inside the box too: Paid $64.95 for it (well, my Mom did anyway... ? )
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How do you clean the controller? I bought the circuit cleaner you mentioned, but I've never done a pot before...
Do you just have to spray it in and spin the knob a few times?
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Oh damn, didn't realize you would sell out of the backlight kits before the LCD arrived... How soon will you get more of those?
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8 hours ago, rwburbage@msn.com said:
Finally a 131 in blockbuster on the last ball. That worked with 'walking' the ball one block at a time until the last block is picked off. Then boom. The blocks reset and it must have knocked out 1/2 of the blocks!! Nice!
Yeah, it'll get almost 1/2 of them leaving a nice grid pattern. Then if you can get the ball bouncing off the left or right again, hitting nothing just going back and forth, just leave it and wait. It'll shift at the top of the screen again, and it'll take out about 1/2 of the remaining blocks... It's very satisfying when you pull it off.
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Damn, I should have had it graded and sealed in a plastic box first... THEN I'd be rich.
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Don't forget the backing card! I have to add it to my sealed collection...
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On 12/20/2020 at 11:22 AM, 5-11under said:
Some things to think about there... . My initial thoughts are:
1. It's going to be painful, in a couple of ways, to take apart a bunch of existing carts.
Another option maybe- sell it as a kit- everything minus the cartridge (and maybe the styrofoam pieces, unless those are new) for people willing to hack up their own cartridges...
Many systems go through this once homebrew happens- Channel F, Atari 2600, 5200, Vectrex... At one point, all homebrew games were harvesting existing games for the shells... Some of them now have professionally made shells as the demand was worth it, but I don't think the Microvision will hit that level.
Molding or 3D printing might be able to do something good enough...
Either way, I want one!
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Jay was the one that gave all of those to the museum, so I'm sure he shared some stories with them... Might have been some paperwork too, I'll have to ask them to see what they got from him.
I haven't spoken to Jay since these pieces were uncovered, but I'll see if I can get ahold of him again. I'm sure he'd love to see the back light mod on a Microvision too.
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Here's some pics...
Sounds like the Missile Command one was being worked on after Microvision, and clearly has a higher resolution display, so that one apparently got further than just paper designs...
The second one in the background is mounted to a large box that had batteries and electronics inside it, so I think that is either a functional mockup, or it might just play a pre-programmed sequence to show what the game can do. (They also have a Toy Fair display of a GCE Space-N-Counter like that- it looks functional, but it just plays a sequence on the LCD so you can see what the game would look like).
The gold Microvision was awarded to Jay for his work on the system.
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The prototypes were donated to the National Videogame Museum.
(This is where my handheld game collection now lives...)
I know the guys that run it if you want to ask about anything, but I'm not sure they've done anything with the prototypes other than display them. Only one of them seemed like it might have a playable game in it, but I don't think they've risked opening it up.
I have pictures of all of them, I can post them if you just want to see what they got...
Jay also has some great stories about a color version that was being discussed, a higher resolution one (32x32 or maybe even 64x64...), and a 'projector version', basically the same thing we have now but you could shine light through the screen and project it on a wall...
I don't think any of those got past the 'we are talking about it' stage, but it is cool that they were planning ahead with new versions...
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I've dug out about 10 consoles (think I still have more), and was surprised to find that many of them are still playable. Most of the problem was just the polarizer on the back turning weird colors...
But they aren't perfect, so will probably still get enough to replace them all. Then I won't have to worry about them in the future.
(And likley sell a few... I was keeping them as 'backups' or parts, but I won't need that many anymore.)
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Yeah, they had to program that in otherwise the ball would be stuck on one grid of blocks and never hit the others since it will only bounce at perfect 45 degree angles...
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2 hours ago, rwburbage@msn.com said:
Soon all the crappy LCDs will be replaced! And that score! I can't seem to get that last block as it keeps cycling the same pattern. I have to figure out to get the ball to move to a different angle.
Let the ball bounce off the paddle at an angle, left or right. Don’t move the paddle. If the ball doesn’t hit a block, it will come down exactly on the opposite side of the paddle and reverse the same path. It will just keep going back and forth without you moving the paddle.
You can also ‘walk’ the ball all over the screen this way. Let it bounce off the paddle to the left, move the paddle exactly two spaces to the right. The ball will bounce to the left again, but shifted over two spaces. This way you can get it next to the last block before holding the pattern to make the ball shift.
But watch it closely when it hits the top of the screen. After 3-5 cycles, it will move differently off the top of the screen (shifting by one block). It will now either miss the paddle by one block, or hit the center of the paddle... so you have to be ready. But now it’s bouncing along a path one block over from where it was. If you do this where the ball is just passing next to the last block, you have a 50/50 chance of it shifting in the right direction to hit it and bounce back up when the new block wall appears.
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Ebay "you will no longer receive payments to your PayPal account"???
in Auction Central
Posted
Keep in mind, that 2022 tax bill has nothing to do with eBay specifically, it's ANY digital payment processor. Ebay payments, PayPal, Square, etc... If you are selling online and taking digital payments of any kind (except maybe crypto), you will get hit with that tax. Doesn't matter if you are selling on Amazon, Etsy, FB, through an Email list, etc... Going back to having people send you checks/money orders through the mail is the only way I can see to avoid it...