e5frog

Yup, eBay is good for older components, there's going to be stock for a long time - some will be more expensive though. I was getting some SOIC 74LS156 earlier this year, those are not cents each but dollars. Stealing from broken electronics is always an alternative I guess.

Come on... can't be that hard... https://www.ebay.com/sch/i.html?_from=R40&_trksid=p2334524.m570.l1313&_nkw=7402+nor&_sacat=0&LH_TitleDesc=0&_osacat=0&_odkw=7402 A 74ACT02 will probably be a good fit as well, unless it's too fast. https://www.ebay.com/sch/i.html?_from=R40&_trksid=p2334524.m570.l1313&_nkw=74ACT02+nor&_sacat=0&LH_TitleDesc=0&_osacat=0&_odkw=7402+nor

Luckily this model has a bunch of easily replaceable logic chips, however it can be tricky to locate a broken one (piggybacking with a working chip sometimes help finding the problem). If the VLSI-chip in a Channel F II break you're pretty much screwed. Not sure what would be the next thing to check. The chain of logic chips between RAM and video output seem logic, IMHO most likely a single broken chip than several. Depends on what has happened though. http://channelf.se/veswiki/images/0/04/FVE_schematic_sheet_2_of_3.png 74LS195 (D5) or Fairchild 93L00 74LS298 (C4) 7445/74145 (D2), for example if A0, A1, A2, A3 is locked to H, H, H, L it would give a low signal on FG GRN, H H L L for BG GRN 9322 (C2), which has the function of a 74157 (Fairchild's 93xx series), sometimes there's 74xx-numbered chips on the board instead of the 93xx-ones. (D1), (C3) etc You could measure your way back, maybe signals change before a circuit changes but not afterwards... Then there's the possibility that one of those large 40pin chips is defective, one thing at the time though. BTW just checked some chips on one of my NTSC boards - the 5V died, haven't figured out why yet, bridge, massive 5V regulator or the electrolytic cap most likely. I meant to check what happens if you remove all RAM, will fix it... later...

That's odd... Which model do you have? Did you reseat/clean chip pins? The RAM is a common thing to break, usually it just results in stripe:y scrambled screen. It's not impossible completely dead RAM causes such an image.

Yes, green screen means check 12V. If regulator outputs 12V correctly, check -5V on RAM and 12V on each 40pin chip - on the actual chip pins. Those chips are often oxidized black (silver content). It can help polishing that off as it may cause poor connection to the socket. Even with 12V in, you may not get the outputs due to that.

I suggest folding the boxprint in one of the middle pre-folds, in case you don't find a big enough box. Another option is to fold it around the cart but not cut or glue it, would be quite compact as well.

Try it, see if it helps. VGames_VecFlash_patched.zip

V1.2 misses two bytes at the end to be an even 32KiB. Could be the reason. EDIT: When running ROM_patcher.exe (VecFlash ROM Patcher Version 0.2) that comes with VecMulti: https://www.vectrex.biz/VFRP.zip It patches DCNTRL but doesn't seem to do anything about the size - don't know if size makes any difference.

Is there any reason EDIH and Thrust wouldn't work? 32kB isn't anything special, right? Vectorblade would probably require some modification of the VecMulti to run, maybe Richard will attempt it if there's more of these IRQ-banking games coming out. Malban has explained in detail how to do it though so it seems likely. Not that it would require a lot of extra circuitry to have more banks without the need of the IRQ line but it's a neat solution. I'm in-between Vectrexes at the moment, so I can't check.

Looks worrying, I assume you pressed reset after (while unit being powered on) insertion? This has been missed before by others. Console is not considered to run as it is supposed to unless reset has been pressed. The blobs don't fall off, the plastic covers sometimes do. The connector part is very rarely a problem. Not sure if the chip or bond wires are affected, just know that they fail - a lot more than other types, could be that one of them reacts with the blob material itself. Guess it could be a reason they aren't that common. I've got a board I "de-blobbed" in the 90's, have had a conversation now and then for a couple of years with a wire bonding guy here in Sweden (there aren't too many) but I haven't really been able to afford the service, would have been interesting to see if they can be re-bonded or if it's the chip itself that has suffered damage.

Here's Dennis's image showing three types with blobs, showing the jumpers better. Don't think all three games is on the same chip even though jumper settings may suggest that, I know 19/22 is an option. http://fndcollectables.com/fairchild_early/pcb_time_line_4.jpg

The #19 and #22 usually haven't aged very well. They often have rubbery blobs poured over the chips instead of the usual plastic covers, #19 more (all of them?) more so than #22. You can often see the bond wires through or going through that layer. They often share the same hardware so a #19 can be re-jumpered to #22 and vice versa. If you're lucky they can both be changed into working carts - or at least one. No need to open all your other carts, this is the only known board of this kind, Zircon where saving money or possibly intended for both games to be accessible. On the blob type version, by the 74LS02 on the PCB, there's two jumper wires. If you want a double release, and it's working, there's a possibility to put a switch there. The other version, with plastic covers have been factory modified but IIRC it doesn't switch games if original trace is restored. On this #22 the trace is not rerouted, so probably no use trying to change anything: I think Dennis (FND) had details on the jumpers, in my opinion - don't mess with it if the game is working. There's of course the option to replace the board with a newly made PCB, at least the rest will be authentic.

Minor details left to check - and some more play testing. I'm confident enough to now receive all orders, I'll make a batch of 50 carts, there's 26 left of that to sell. Please follow instructions in the first post. I'm missing shipping addresses to a couple of the current orders, I'll contact you about it. Buy Now!

I wouldn't know, as people rarely put their alias in with their order. EDIT: Yes, it's in judging from the e-mail address.

28 was the next in line at the time. i seem to remember I posted some of those. Not bad, from a distance, they could have paid better attention to details. #40 would have been cool as Mr Lawson was born then.

The new RAM-test. Not that I have ever had a RAM with errors (test all RAM in a modern apparatus before building carts).

Know the feeling, 300+ videocarts made... It was a bitch making prefolds myself on the first 50+. Sanded down a groove in a glass plate from a bathroom scale and then pressed the boxmaterial into it with the rounding of a bent screwdriver... fun times. After that I decided to pay for prefolds - which is a blessing even though their aim has gotten a lot worse. This time they had to make a new batch, which was better, not as good as five years ago though. Getting cut outs usually means having a custom cutting tool made, not cheap so if there's no finished size... there's not much to do. I still do the inkjet on photopaper with clear plastic adhesive for labels now and then. But double sided adhesive on the back, not glue stick. Either options has pros and cons. A cutting machine could handle it, perhaps it's a service offered to be purchased somewhere. Hence the marks for aiming. I was in contact with a laser cutting firm a while back, it was almost financially sane. The single or a pair for tests is usually what kills a deal. Split over just 20-50 carts it's not worth it. Result needs to stay at a sellable price. Of course it's an option to make straight cuts on the labels, they'll just be a bit smaller. I bought four different "scrap booking" corner cutters before finding the quad cutter "Kadumaro PRO", shipped from Japan, that got the proper diameter. Any corner cutter will lift the appearance IMHO. Sending images to China and have them make everything is probably cheaper, at least if they get it right in three attemps. Let me know if you need any moral support and advice, should be pretty straight forward though. I feel for you.

Yes - I've got the printed Democart box. There's a white box with both cart-label on it... Dennis has it: It's on the want list. I know of carts 10 and 12 with the main label on white box and there's probably others, the white boxes with edge label seems more common. I have a moveable 3D image here: http://channelf.se/gallery/index.html Just click "VC = Fairchild and Zircon" and then "B" in the DEMO row, click "Watch full screen" in the top left corner... Zoom with wheel, click and drag to rotate.

That expensive one was perhaps to lure out more sellers...

You don't have to do all at the same time. As slow as things are going now-a-days you can start clearing out and clean shells, 1 or 2 per day and you might have finished all of them when the prints and circuitboards arrive.

Depends on when your birthday is.

It's a bit quirky but works fine. I prefer drawing in a drawing program and then use my converter from bmp to gfx data (command interface). Ditherton seems nice, it corrects the aspect as well. So you'll get that for free, then edit the png before making into data. Dithering that large pixels is usually not very nice looking. Maybe over RF and a small TV. Too bad it doesn't handle all color options.

What Carlsson said... but if it's labelled "Channel F System II" it's almost certainly an NTSC system, if it's an Adman Grandstand V.E.C. then it's PAL-I The capacitors in the circuits that keeps the frequencies in the right spot may drift a bit in 40 years so you could try fine tuning your TV or fine tune the console. If it has drifted too far from the image carrier you'll get sound but poor picture. You can see some of the adjustment possibilities here: http://channelf.se/veswiki/images/c/c6/Channel_F_II_composite_video_modification_overview.jpg DO NOT use metal tools for ferrite hex holes, carve a chopstick or whatever to fit in there if you don't have any proper plastic tools. You can adjust the metal screw with a plain screw driver but you'll need to lift it now and then to check the result as it will interfere with the setting. Don't recall which one is which at the moment (I should document that some day) so count how much you adjust or put a mark so you can restore to the original setting if you mess it up. I think the metal screw is to adjust the main frequency One of the schematics probably has some hints: http://channelf.se/veswiki/index.php?title=Schematics

The System Fairchild carts are not plain eprom, when building a cart today you need extra circuitry. If then adding circuitry that needs access to the eprom, while it's still connected to the other chips, some measures must be taken to make that work without interference. Slapping a bus switch that switches everything is probably possible as a "quick fix". USB connection would open the bus switch and isolate the eprom. Then there's the other way around, how much needs to be disconnected from the AVR/PIC/whatever for it not to interfere in the other direction - if slapping bus switches on everything, there will be a lot of them. There's a lot of ideas and feature creep that has dragged this out for years. I'll probably settle, initially, for a 64KiB slot and the plain "Chess RAM" to make it compatible with MESS, should work for any single software title out there at the moment.

I have a solution where you hook it up to USB and then drop a bin-file on the device that pops up on the computer. Basically the same as Mateo's reprogrammable carts. Programmer will be inside the cart though and preferably with a USB type B (and not some small flimsy thing). Left to do is... a lot. It would help a lot in development though so I might put it higher on the priority list. Mainly it's a question of how much that needs to be isolated from the programmer + eprom part.