BigO

I am certain that they would immediately recognize that it's just a harmless old Microvision; nothing to worry about. Really, I kinda pictured it being in a box. But in my scenario, hilarity might not ensue.

$20 +shipping is what I was thinking. I need to put it back together and test it. It's going to be a busy one but I'll try to PM you this week.

That's about 1.9 more people than are interested in my house. 🙂 Looks like it could be worth somewhere in the vicinity of lunch +/- tip. I don't need 3 or 4 different Genesis consoles since I don't play any of them.

I assume that using SMS functionality would require a Genesis flash cart, which I don't have. I sold my SMS a couple of years ago. I can't really tell how active the mod scene is but maybe it's time to consider letting this unit go.

Just for the sake of curiosity, I took it apart again and snapped a couple of pictures this time. Date Code? Lighting 1 Lighting B

Nope, no such marking on mine. I took it apart and looked for a number like that before I made my previous post. There's an A32 up near the right corner, indicating the pin number of the cartridge slot. The upper left says A1. Near-ish to the A1 was what might be a date code: 98.22. What are the other tell tale signs? Lack of any upper right hand corner VAx marking makes this the exceedingly rare and extraordinarily valuable version, no doubt. Early retirement, here I come! The only other marking that seemed possibly relevant was 171-7545C near the lower left corner (B1) of the cart slot. There was a marking that said CSPD CAD-TEAM. The ASIC(assumed) is square to the board as opposed to the 45 degree rotated one shown in this linked picture, which also has VA2 printed on it. So, maybe it is a VA1. Linked from online source. This is not my board.

I wonder why that is. They have a working device, other than the display, so can imperically determine all of the attributes of the signals being applied to the LCD: voltage, frequency of state changes, polarity reversal, etc. Other than current draw, I'd think everything is right there. But, I'm not an LCD engineer. I've connected up LCD's out of other toys (not suitable for putting in the console) and they seemed to work fine, so I doubt there's any super-magical-secret-sauce involved. It may just be that the technology has changed so much that nobody knows how to duplicate the old methods. In China, surely the necessary reverse engineering skills could be found. That level of work might be prohibitively expensive though.

Frequently played cart holder doo-dad added.

So you would need a VA1? I somehow thought the ambiguously worded text was excluding a VA1 from the mod. I'm pretty sure I know where mine is. Maybe it's a VA1. Edit: Mine's model MK-1461, which is apparently a VA2. Back into the closet it goes.

😢 I wonder if a suitable pressure vessel could be made from PVC pipe and fittings, and maybe a schrader valve designed to be fit into an alloy wheel. Though, it might not even require much, if any additional pressurization beyond the captured atmosphere. 4"(?) PVC could surely withstand an atmosphere of differential air pressure. Just a thought.

Interesting, how many references can be found saying "I did it" without citing the actual source where they learned what to do. Must be totally, intuitively obvious... This page referenced below has one clue that might yield useful search terms, or might just be the answer. I don't know enough about the Genesis 3 (other than having one somewhere that hasn't seen daylight for at least 5 years) to understand exactly what the context is and what's being said. I think this page is actually saying that these pins are missing from one model's ASIC chip making it impossible for that model. It may be bad information, but it's information. http://www.amibay.com/showthread.php?10687-genesis-3-incompatible-fix

Thanks. Any excuse to do steel fabrication, woodworking, teach myself something new (laminate on the shelves)...and buy more tools.

Not exactly my collection, but something I built to allow dragging part of my console collection out of the closet. Still working on placement of consoles, and switching/selection and a couple of other accessory items. The resident consoles are expected to be (all with multi-carts): Atari 2600 Atari 5200 Fairchild Channel F Magnavox Odyssey 2 Coleco Colecovision Mattel Intellivision Vectrex Probably will have to fab up another shelf beside the Vectrex, above the 2600 to fit everything in. Started with the TV stand below the 32" TV. Added on the two platforms above which were copies of the base. Built mostly out of leftovers and scraps. Well, at least I thought it turned out well. Probably looks better in person.

When you take a break, you do a thorough job of it.

I've cut up quite a few of those to make a retrogaming product. I dissected the connectors on the first one to see how they were made. They aren't the most robust contruction I've seen but they seem to work fine. I've used about 15 and haven't encountered any bad ones.

Do you mean to ask if your post-expiration privileges will be the same as your pre-subscription privileges? If so, then the answer is yes. You just revert back to the standard privileges after the subscription expires. At least that's what happened to me.

As far as I can tell, the only way to do this is to go to your profile page. Click the dropdown next to your login name at the top of the page.

Cool. I missed reading that. I never found an LCD module that I thought I could mount in a Microvision easily. So I didn't pursue it, but thought about a replacement controller/LCD module as a solution to the dead LCD issue. I did once wire up a relatively huge, square aspect ratio LCD out of some toy to a Microvision. At about 3"x3", maybe bigger, it had 5 times the resolution. I tied together each 5 adjacent row and 5 column contacts to create 5x5 pixel groupings. Apparently the LCD doesn't take much current as the uVision controller drove that LCD.

There were a few considerations that I allowed to talk me out trying the LED array. 1 - power consumption would be higher 2 - the row and column outputs switch polarity frequently to protect the LCD from some sort of damage. It needs to maintain about a 50/50 swap of polarity. This would significantly impact the brightness of the LEDs. 3 - I'm guessing that some of the "readability" of the screen relies on the persistence of LCD pixels that don't turn off instantly. LEDs turn off faster. I did verify my protocol discoveries by capturing frames with a logic analyzer and using a c# program to display the image on a PC, so am fairly sure a decent microcontroller could be used to drive whatever display one could conjure up.

There's an LCD controller in the console. Definitely no CPU. The CPU is in the cartridge. Dan Boris has put together a lot of great information: http://www.atarihq.com/danb/Microvision.shtml I've reverse engineered the protocol between the cartridge and the LCD controller and subsequently wrote enough code to display whatever I want on the LCD so can confirm the architecture from that perspective.

It's interesting that they chose to eliminate the second battery. It had to always be optional whether or not to install it. The processor is in the cartridge, not the console. So battery life will still be relatively poor when playing a game with the less efficient processor. I guess they saved the cost of the contacts and labor to install them.

I really thought I wanted a Colecovision, but have barely played it. I really thought I wanted an Intellivision, but have barely played it. I really thought I wanted an Odyssey 2, but have barely played it. I really thought I wanted a 7800, but have barely played it. I really thought I wanted a 5200, but have barely played it after I pieced it together from a pile of scraps. I really thought I wanted an NES, but have barely played it. I really thought I wanted an SNES, but have barely played it. I really thought I wanted a Genesis, but have barely played it. I really thought I wanted a Wii, but have barely played it. But, what a pain it is to sell stuff. And I really am not looking for anything else that I could trade for.

"Apr. 13: I have a Microvision pretty much ready to go. I just need to make sure it's exactly how I want it to be, to make it easy for them to evaluate (without the shell, but with a cartridge attached - which normally isn't do-able). As per the plan from a couple of weeks ago, my self-imposed deadline is to send them the Microvision within 1 week (Apr. 20). I'll update when it's been sent." I have a working unit to which I added a card slot and cobbled up keypad for some tinkering I was doing. The bare card from a cartridge plugs in. Mounted to a rigid backing. Probably something close to this would be workable for your purposes. Added a 1/8" jack to connect a battery through. (I was working on understanding the protocol between the cartridge and LCD controller. I thought I might build a new LCD controller that translated between that protocol and a modern LCD panel. Got sidetracked writing a game on a PIC to prove to myself that I understood the protocol. I got about 25% through writing the game then moved on other things. Maybe I'll pick it up again some day.)