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Rik1138

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Posts posted by Rik1138

  3. Posted

    Or he needs a few days to get good at Photoshop...

     

    Nothing shady about offering to mail someone cash though...  :) Once you have the cash in hand, he can't exactly rip you off at that point.  (And, of course, NO ONE would ship the sold item before the payment was received...)

     

    Can Sony blacklist stolen PS4s from the PlayStation store?  Might want to get serial numbers of the units first as well if there's a way to verify them...  Anyone that suddenly has 3 PS4s that wants to trade for stuff worth far less could be trying to pass questionable systems.

  4. Posted

    Not so sure viewing angle is really a huge concern on these...  You aren't really going to be playing them with a group of angled on-lookers, and even alone you have it right in front of your face for the most part...  And the screen is recessed quite a bit as it is...

    If STN will work, no complaints there, but I don't think it's really something we have to strive for.

    Would that involve a price difference?

    • Like 2

  5. Posted · Edited by Rik1138

    On 8/15/2020 at 12:19 AM, stupus said:

    But dont forget if he is shipping an item to china or somewhere far away that can take up to 2-3 months in this environment. 

    Also a very rare working unit could easily die during shipping :(

     

    His last post with information was April 21st:

    Quote

    Mini update because my deadline is up... I did some investigation into shipping prices to China - the conclusion is that all methods are expensive. Anyway, the plan is to send this out tonight.

     

    That's FOUR months.  He was logged into the forum 12 hours ago.  He's either ignoring the thread completely, or seemingly no longer has an interest or he would have at least popped in to tell us what's up with the system he shipped April 21st (assuming we actually followed through with his plan).

     

    That was HIS OWN deadline, that he dictated so "this doesn't drag on forever".  And he made it clear that this was not even remotely a priority in his life, so I don't see that he would have any issue with someone jumping in that can just get it done...

    • Like 1

  6. Posted

    I don't see any reason to not continue this thread until SOMEONE has a replacement screen in production.  Then maybe start a new sale thread (not interest, but SALE), that way you can see who is still interested after all this time.  :)

    But it's not like we doing this secretly...  The thread is here for all to see, if 5-11 actually cared, he's more than welcome to jump and let us know his plans.

     

    One of his last posts was writing up a DETAILED timeline of what he wants to do.  This week contact manufacturer, next week send unit, once unit received, x-weeks to get it working...  Etc.

    I think he got to step two and disappeared.  So he's officially abandoned his own project as far as I can tell, so there's nothing wrong with someone else grabbing the reins and moving forward...

    • Like 3

  7. Posted

    The games are dumped and emulated in MAME...  Someone has even created a replacement chip (FPGA I think) that can fit in a cartridge and 'emulate' the original CPU, and I believe even wrote a new (simple) game for the system.

    Trying to find the links to all of that, it's been a while...

     

    What is the initial cost for something like this?  Let's say you were going to place an order for 250 screens, what would that cost upfront to make happen?  (Just a ball-park figure, even the manufacturers should be able to at least give you a rough estimate...)

  8. Posted

    His samples actually didn't work perfectly.  They were too dark in the Microvision (although still look playable, they didn't have the same contrast range as the original), and the manufacturer seemed to be having trouble getting the LCD to work as a perfect drop-in replacement, which was the goal of the original poster here.  No modifications, just straight replacement screens with the reflective backing.  He said he was able to use the sample LCDs screens after adding a resistor, but was hoping to avoid that...

    Although at this point I think he should just sell them as-is with the needed resistor (or maybe replace the resistor in the game rather than adding one..)

    A backlight would be cool though, no complaints there.  And I don't even mind having to do a little work (soldering, etc).  I just want to make some of my Microvisions work again!  :)

  10. Posted

    Yeah, that is what it does, but the problem was the new LCDs aren't dark enough even at the darkest setting.

    I believe he said they would work if you replace a resistor (or one little component), and I'm starting to think he should just offer that option now.  Keep working toward a drop-in replacement, but for those of us that can solder a single device I'd like to get my Microvisions working again no matter what.  Unless the company really thinks they can easily fix it, just bring on the extra work!  I just want them working again...  :)

    • Like 3

  14. Posted

    17 hours ago, stupus said:

    Yes, we have local sales tax here. But only on items purchased within the district. And its not as high as 10%. More like 6-7.5% depending on the goods.

    For online purchases we previously based it off an estimation chart in the federal tax handbook and claimed a very small charge on our taxes.

    Now ebay just adds about 10% to every purchase, looks like its on the shipping too regardless of where i purchase something from. I dont see how they can charge local sales tax on an item from europe. Seems more like a way to get import duties that we have never paid for in the past in the usa.

    I would hope my local government gets it.....but something tells me they dont get all this new worldwide taxing ebay is doing.

    And does paypal get 4% of that too...and ebay some too? Its ridiculous imo.

    Not to mention most ebay stuff is used and already had tax collected when it was sold new.

     

    That's the new federal laws that went into effect I think at the beginning of this year.  Online purchases are taxed based on the BUYER's location, not the seller.  So it doesn't matter where the seller is located, you will be taxed on ALL purchases made on eBay.

    The percentage should be comparable to what sales tax would be for anything you buy locally I believe, if you think it's too high, you might try asking eBay about it, if they will respond...  There's a whole page of legal-eze on the Illinois' government website about the new tax changes, but it was more reading than I really cared for...  :)

     

    Illinois is a state where shipping is also taxable, so you will be taxed on that as well.

     

    When eBay started doing this, there would always be two payments taken from PayPal- the auction price + shipping, and a separate transaction for tax.  Now they do it all in one, but I believe the tax is itemized out if you look at the details.  I'm pretty sure neither eBay nor PayPal is taking a percentage of the tax for themselves...

     

    As for 'tax collected only when it was sold new', I don't think that's a thing...  At least not in any state I've lived in... Pawn shops, thrift stores, etc (places that all sell 'used merchandise') always charge sales tax when they 'resell' items...

     

    And, for what it's worth, this should apply to ANY online purchases (Amazon, etc).  The days of tax-free online purchasing are, unfortunately, over...

  16. Posted

    The original series had four games, identical pcbs with four unique roms selectable by a permanent solder pad on the motherboard. The games can be made selectable by changing the jumper or attaching to a switch or the joystick.

     

    Since the second series has only three games, it stands to reason that they may share common hardware with the first series. It is plausible that a fourth unannounced game might be present on this circuit board. I just postulated the question to see if anyone had tampered with theirs yet or installed the joystick / dip switch mod.

     

    Could be one of two things: One of the games might have a larger ROM than 1/4 the total ROM size, so that may prevent a 4th game from fitting on it...

    Or there could be a 'secret' game... There's a hidden Stargate game on that larger Joust game that came out earlier this year (or was it late last year?) that you can get to with a jumper flip. Supposedly Stargate (or 'Defender' as it's called in the ROM, but it's obviously Stargate) was going to come out this year.

     

    So there's a chance of another game being there...

     

     

    their upcoming Street Fighter 2 cab seems...well, some will love it but the only way to play SF2 for me is two player vs, and that's not going to happen here.

     

    Actually, the game is being made a with second wired controller so two people can play it together... Not sure how well, but they are trying... :)

  18. Posted

    Grr, can't get the SD card to work... 4GB card, just keeps going back to the main menu with SD CARD BROWSER selected... Tried all the tricks (formatting with the SD Card tool, just a 'Game' folder, and currently one ROM (Digdug.bin from the compatibility thread)... Won't work. (Tried the full folder and 'Doc Clu's Favs' as well).

     

    The only odd thing is that it's a Micro SDHC card in an SD Card adapter... That _shouldn't_ matter, I wouldn't think, but has anyone gotten a Micro in an adapter to work?

  21. Posted

    Not so fast with the "complete" there, my friend! Mine has the original inner bag, which is missing from the one being auctioned.

     

    So I'll still have the only 100% complete boxed one! Cool!

     

    Can't wait to see what this "incomplete" boxed one fetches! :grin:

     

    (The next owner could just use one from a Raise The Devil, same bag I would think...)

     

    Heh, yeah, it's complete enough... :) It is technically missing the plastic bag, and the piece of card board that should sit on top of it (Raise the Devil has it, as do all the other Entex games packaged this way, so I assume this should too).

    But since you can just grab a bag from any other game (especially RTD), it's easy to replace with an original Entex bag...

     

    The nice thing 'having the bag' usually indicates is that the game was probably never really used (is that the case with yours?). Where this one, missing the bag and the broken styro tray looks like it was played with at least a little. But it is in great shape...

  22. Posted

    Here's you don't see everyday... Hell, I'd almost say you don't see ever.

     

    Complete, boxed Entex Black Knight Pinball:

    http://www.ebay.com/itm/142051720185

     

    (Not my auction, just wanted to share...)

    Seller says it was donated to their church thrift store (proceeds going to help the local needy)...

     

    IIRC, this is the second boxed one I've ever seen in nearly 20 years of collecting handheld games.

    I think I may know of (or seen sell) about 6 loose ones? This thing is just impossible to find... And I'll probably get out bid on it. :)

    Gonna be a fun one to watch.

     

    Rik

    http://www.handheldmuseum.com

    • Like 1

  23. Posted · Edited by Rik1138

    These new ones found at BB&B and the like are actually different than the ones released about 14 years ago (as seen in the Racketboy link a few messages back)... Mattel re-released several of them in 2001-2003 that were found at Toys R Us, Walmart, Target, etc... And they were, mostly, fairly accurate to the original LED games (all the new ones use LCD screens). They released Football, Football II, Baseball abd Basketball. (Hockey and Soccer were also released as tiny keychain games). The body styles of them looked almost exactly like the originals, and even say Mattel on them (but have the word 'Classic' on them as well). They even made a weird one that could plug into a TV and play the games on a TV screen...

     

    These new ones that came out last year are still licensed from Mattel, but made by some other company and have been re-designed again. The body is slightly different than the originals, but similar enough that you recognize them instantly. The most obvious difference is the audio- they actually sampled real whistles, audience roars and someone yelling 'Touchdown!', among other things, that you hear when you play the game... To me that completely changes the 'vintage' feel of playing them, but's still kind of fun to hand them to a kid today with the standard 'When I was a kid, I had to look at this and imagine it was football' line... :)

  24. Posted

    Unless Atari truly dies, making shells with their logo is not a good idea. Their lawyers have sent C&D letters to people using the logo without permission, even for homebrew use.

    I was actually thinking more about just saving the history of the machine and the molds really... It'd be a shame to permanently destroy both of them if it's not really necessary. Just making a suggestion.

     

    And, besides, he was already saying he was going to make the clear ones with the logo on them, so that part doesn't seem to be an issue.

    • Like 1

  25. Posted

    The original molds have the ATARI letters. Those will be removed unfortunately, so if that means anything to you now is the time to order. It would be great if one of you bought a ton of them to have and hold onto if people want to buy them in the future. I will add a few extra to what ever all of you order but after I remove those letters they will be gone for good.

    The mold for the carts actually has two carts in it, doesn't it? Can you run just half the mold, or does it always do both cartridges? I was thinking you could maybe modify one cartridge by removing the Atari logo, and leave the other one intact for future use...

     

    Or maybe the company can modify the mold in a way that can be undone if you ever wanted to...

     

    Just kind of thinking out loud.. In case there's a way to modify it without permanently loosing the option to make 'official' cart shells in the future...

    • Like 1
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