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Ian Primus

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Posts posted by Ian Primus

  1. Posted

    To go from N64 to usb, you'll need some active logic - in this case, a microcontroller. You can also actually interface one to the parallel port with very little hardware - there's a kernel module that will support it. I did this with an NES controller several years ago. I also have no clue if there would be a Windows driver for it - I was using it with Linux.

     

    It's not a simple rewire job. If you do a bit of searching, I know there is info out there to build an adapter to USB - but you'll need to know a fair amount of electronics to build one. It will involve a microcontroller, and the programming thereof.

     

    -Ian

  2. Posted

    The connectors in the original NES are notirous for failing. Fortunately, replacements are pretty easy to get on eBay. I cleaned up a few consoles for friends and myself, and replaced the connectors with new ones from eBay. They work very well, but they seem to be a lot more sensitive to dirt then I remember. They're also quite tight. I clean every used game before I play it the first time, but even so, occasionally you'll put in a game that is a tad dirty even after cleaning - and it won't work, then the next game won't work either. It typically doesn't do the blinking screen thing - I've been getting blank screens, green screens, etc.

     

    Overall though, the new connectors work very well. Miles better than the worn out old connector did. But not as good as I remember these things working when they were new. Of course, then again, back then, these games hadn't been sitting around for years either. I've found that the only way to get the cartridge good and clean is to take it apart and really scrub those contacts. It's amazing the amount of crud that gets built up on them.

     

    But, ideally, the connector in the NES would be gold plated. It's not. The originals weren't, and neither are the new ones. I have not been able to find gold plated replacement connectors. Do they even exist?

     

    My question really is - what's the best replacement connector out there? Are they all the same, or is there one source that has better parts than others?

     

    -Ian

  3. Posted

    I collect not only old video games, but old computers as well. And I have a fair interest in tube type TV's and radios as well. I've found several mouse nests in TV's and radios. One radio had the entire underside of the chassis crammed full of fiberglass insulation (mouse nest!). That set got scrapped - the wiring was totally chewed away, as were some of the coils.

     

    As far as the computers and video games go, I've been pretty lucky. Dead spiders and normal fuzz and dust. A long time ago I found a 128k Mac at a flea market that was infested with those lady-bug like bugs (but with the brownish shell, not red). I took it apart and cleaned it up and repaired it though.

     

    Arcade machines are big enough to have all manner of nasty in them, however. I junked a game because it was too full of mold. From the outside, it looked merely beat-up, but on the inside, the water damage was evident, complete with mold all up the sides. And with arcade games, you find all kinds of interesting debris - small toys, food wrappers, coins, and whatever else kids managed to jam into the gaps between the control panel and the cabinet.

     

    And yeah, controllers for NES, Super Nintendo and Sega Genesis seem to be pretty prone to developing lots of ground-in grime down in the buttons and along the seam between the housings. But those are easy enough to clean, just take them completely apart, and soak the controller halves and buttons in warm soapy water for a while. Clean the board with alcohol, clean the rubber bits, reassemble.

     

    I once cleaned up a Gamecube controller that someone must have spilled coke in - the buttons were glued into the housing so good you couldn't press them. And when you did, they went down with a loud crack, and got stuck down... That one took a bit more agressive cleaning to get back in working order.

     

    And I've had computers so full of dust that you couldn't see the motherboard. And when I used to fix computers in a small computer store, we used to get in some machines that were so incredibly nasty from tobacco tar that they stunk up the whole area. One of the guys turned away a repair when he opened the cover of the machine, only to see a roach scurry for cover under the logic board. He quickly slammed the panel back on, tightened the screws, and brought the machine outside. He simply told the customer that we couldn't fix computers that had this sort of bugs - and that they needed to get an exterminator, not computer repair.

     

    -Ian

  5. Posted

    Well, my Vecrex came in yesterday! I spent pretty much all night playing with it after I got home from work. VERY cool system, the vector graphics are really great. My only gripe is the controller. Partially, it's the design, you have to swing that analog stick pretty far to register, since the games don't actually take advantage of the fact that it's analog. (i.e, pushing left moves you, pushing farther to the left doesn't move you any faster). Partially, my frustration was with the fire button (Button 4) on my particular controller. It sticks, and you have to press it pretty hard for it to work. And, the controller doesn't come apart easily, since you have to somehow remove/cut/poke holes in the plastic overlay sticker on the top of the controller.

     

    So, I hacked up a Sega Genesis controller to work. MUCH better. The built-in game Minestorm suddenly became much more fun. Star Trek is playable, and a great deal of fun. I wholeheartedly recommend a Genesis controller for the Vectrex. The standard three-button Genesis controller technically has four buttons, if you count Start. It works out perfectly to replace the four button Vectrex controller. Note that you can't just plug it in - you have to modify it internally.

     

    I mean, it's not that the Vectrex controller is terrible - it's actually fairly good. It's just that the Sega controller is better, and gives you a much more precise response in the games than the analog control stick does. That, and I foud that I tended to want to hold the Vectrex controller like I would an NES controller, controlling the stick with my left thumb, and the fire button with my right thumb. But the three other buttons become very difficult to reach - and you need two of them in Star Trek to quickly raise your shields or lock onto the space station. The only way to easily reach all the buttons is to hold the thing flat on the table, like an arcade stick - but that becomes kind hard to control too, and in my case, I had to bang on it pretty good to get the fire button to work - whereas pressing firmly with my tumb worked OK when I held it the other way.

     

     

    In any case. Fun console.

     

    -Ian

  6. Posted

    Is there even a good way to get s-video out of an Intellivision? I was thinking that the separate chroma/luma signals just aren't in there. I could be wrong though. I modded one for composite a LONG time ago. It's a really simple circuit, the problem is getting the stupid thing apart. The logic board is encased in a huge, thick RF shield that's soldered together. You need a big freaking soldering gun to get it apart. After you get to the board, soldering a couple transistors and resistors to perf board isn't that big of a deal...

     

    -Ian

  7. Posted

    Yeah, the battery is definitely dead. You don't have a floppy drive in that, no doubt - and the BIOS was set to ignore it. But, since the battery is dead, every time you turn it on, it loads the default config - which includes a floppy drive. Then it complains that it can't find it.

     

    Replace the battery, set the settings and save them, and you're good to go.

     

    -Ian

  10. Posted

    I am a reseller to other collector's/old gamers just to let you guys know. I am here to just swoop up your old games all in one box for a discount so you can have quick cash to spend on the newest technology.....:applause:

     

    And meethinks you're in the wrong forum entirely - since when do any of us want the newest technology :D

     

    That, and the :applause: smiley doesn't exist on this board...

     

    -Ian

  11. Posted

    i have a couple of good working 5200 consoles.. one of them, has lower volume then the others. is their a pot on the board to adjust this? or something, or is it common with them to be different?

     

    Oh, you mean AUDIO volume... that makes more sense. I mean, the Atari 5200 has way more volume than any other Atari console, and I thought that everyone knew that..... :D :D :D

     

    I don't know - I've only ever had the one 5200, so I haven't noticed anything. I know the 2600 has a variable inductor you so you can change the audio tuning a bit - it's likely the 5200 has something similar. How much of a difference is there?

     

    -Ian

  12. Posted

    I was worried/hopeful that when I clicked on this thread that somebody had been playing a little too long and was having hallucinations where carts talked to them.

     

    Hehe. I was thinking the same thing - like "Help! Let me out of this box!", or "Hey, quit it! - Stop shoving, Combat - and Asteroids, you quit talking about me like that! You don't even have an end label!"

     

    -Ian

  13. Posted

    That's a good question. Do you plug the cable from the ADAM into the IN or the OUT port? Theoretically the cable should be both in and out shouldn't it?

     

    Yeah, the cable carries the bidirectional data. AdamNet supports daisy-chaining the devices. So, the OUT port is for the second disk drive.

     

    -Ian

  15. Posted

    Here's a really simple, quick project for you. Go to Radio Shack and buy:

    -an 1/8" mono headphone plug, solder type - I think they come in packs of two

    -a 9v battery clip, these probably come in packs of more than one as well...

    -a 9v battery

     

    Unscrew the mono headphone plug. Look at the terminals inside, The outer one connects to the "ring" - the lower part of the connector. The middle one connects to the "tip" - the very end of the connector.

     

    Using an x-acto knife or similar, scratch and scrape on the solder terminals inside the plug - this makes the solder stick to them better.

     

    Thread the wires of the 9v battery snap through the plug's cover.

     

    Solder the red wire from the battery snap onto the center terminal. Solder the black wire to the outer terminal. To solder the wire, thread the bare end through the hole in the terminal. Heat the terminal and wire with the soldering iron, then feed a bit of solder onto the connection. It should melt and flow, and spread out on the terminal, and securely stick the wire to the terminal. Use a tiny bit of electrical tape to insulate the center terminal from the outer one - but not too much, otherwise you won't be able to screw the cover back on. Use the little strain relief tabs on the outer terminal to gently close around the wires - just enough to hold them, not enough to pinch through the insulation.

     

    Screw the cover back onto the plug.

     

    Use your meter to check that the two contacts on the plug are not shorted together, and that they're connected to the proper pins of the 9v battery snap.

     

    Connect the 9v battery to the battery snap.

     

    Use your meter - set it to DC volts, put the black lead on the outer "ring" of the connector, and the red lead on the "tip". You should get nine volts, give or take a bit, depending on how "fresh" the battery is. If you get negative nine volts, you have the polarity backwards!

     

    Unplug the power adapter from your Atari, and plug this in. Turn on your TV, and turn on your Atari. Ta-dah! Battery powered Atari! The battery should last about an hour before it runs flat.

     

    Granted, I really over-explained this - but it's a good practice project, and gets you used to using the soldering iron and the meter. Note that the plug might not fit into a heavy sixer, since the plastic housing is thicker and I think the socket is recessed a little farther - should work fine on all other models though.

     

    -Ian

  16. Posted

    A dream of mine is to complete an Odyssey2 laptop. I'm not sure it will ever happen but it seems like the perfect system to make into a laptop. It has a keyboard (membraine). The tricky part is changing the video signal. First I'm going to get my feet wet doing some simple projects. I like the idea of playing around with a kit. Where would I find something like that? I know soldering can be tricky so I want to practice before I fry a system.

    Thanks again!

     

    Believe it or not, composite video on an Odyssey2 is one of the easiest modifications to do... But get some practice soldering first.

     

    Get some piece of junk with fairly large traces to practice on. A PC power supply is a good choice. It's a simple, single sided board. Practice desoldering components without lifting traces. Play with the multimeter and learn how to read resistors. Find a junk VCR and do the same. Take components off and solder them back in. Get a bit of perf-board from Radio Shack and play around. Start with simple projects - build a simple DC power supply using scavenged parts from a VCR or a clock radio. Actually, a DC power supply is a great place to start, since you can scavenge the parts, and you'll learn a bit about the theory. Do some searches on it. With a 7805 voltage regulator (might have to buy this, about fifty cents), you can make a simple little regulated 5v power supply for future projects.

     

    When soldering, remember, heat the work, not the solder. You want to heat up the connection point (pad on the board, and the component lead), then put the solder onto the hot parts, so it melts and flows. You're not heating the solder to squish onto the parts. Solder is not like a glue gun.

     

    Once you get some practice with the soldering iron, I'll tell you how to add composite video and audio output to your Odyssey2 :)

     

    -Ian

  17. Posted

    There were some third party cards available - such as a printer interface and I believe an RS-232 card. The point of the printer interface was so that you could have a better printer than that clunky daisy wheel that it came with. Of course, you needed BOTH printers, because the power supply is in the lousy one that came with the computer.

     

    You can install two datapack drives in one ADAM, there are connectors on the board for it - the blank removes and you can fit in another drive.

     

    I too was fascinated by this machine for a while - it's such a... bad design... that I liked it.

     

    But I never could get a Digital DataPack drive to work for more than a week at a time.

     

    -Ian

  18. Posted

    You cannot "select" things from the help screen. The help screen just tells you what the options are. You have to select the option by paging through them on the main screen.

     

    The battery is a CR2032, 3v lithium coin battery. You can buy them anywhere - Radio Shack, Target, Wal-Mart, etc. It's a very common part. Purchased at a retail store, it should be around four bucks. In bulk, they're much cheaper - but, you only need one...

     

    The battery is about the size of a quarter and it's located on the motherboard in a little holder.

     

    -Ian

  19. Posted

    And I'm with potatohead :)

     

    Also, I'd like to add - that another important thing to have when learning and tinkering with electronics - more useful than any piece of test equipment - is patience. Don't get frustrated and give up. Don't always look for the easy way out. Yeah, you can fix that Atari by replacing the board. But you won't learn anything that way. Fix the old board.

     

    Apply your skills and your curiosity at every chance. When something breaks around the house - take it apart and figure it out. Even if you can't fix it - at least you'll know know what's inside it.

     

    Taking apart junk - even if you have no intention or desire to fix it - is also an important skill. Simply getting the feeling for how devices are put together is very important. Think about it logically, don't resort to prying and banging. It went together somehow - it also comes apart. (OK, there are exceptions to this, but still...).

     

    Importantly, have fun with it. Don't be afraid to sit down and try to figure something out. Not everything will be spoon-fed to you with pictures and guides. There will be a lot of things you'll just have to figure out. And we all get stumped sometimes - so don't be afraid to ask for help. And if things like this don't sound like fun, then you probably won't enjoy electronic tinkering.

     

    Also - you don't need expensive equipment. I've been doing this for many years, and I like to think I know what I'm doing most of the time. But even I don't even have a temperature controlled soldering station. I use a Radio Shack 30watt pencil iron. I'm really good with it though. I've gone through countless tips and several irons (they're cheaply made, and don't last all that long...). It's not the tools that make the tinkerer. It's practice, it's patience, and it's experience.

     

    A 'scope is a nice tool - but useless if you don't know how to use it. The most valuable tool for the tinkerer, IMHO, is the multimeter. Get an autoranging one if you can, you want one that does AC and DC volts, resistance, and has an audible continuity test. Current is a nice feature, but you don't use it nearly as much - you can get a cheap manual ranging meter for that later. The capacitance readings on cheap meters are OK, but again, you probably won't use it much - and it's utterly useless for checking electrolytics.

     

    Quick word of warning - be careful around TV sets. Never unhook the anode lead of a TV (that big scary red wire with the suction cup that attaches to the tube) unless you know what you're doing. The tube can store quite a charge, and can zap the bejeezus (technical term) out of you. It'll hurt like hell. So be careful :)

     

    -Ian

  20. Posted

    You tried hitting enter to see if it brings up the menu for the selection?

     

    Page Up/Page Down?

     

    +/-?

     

    This kind of BIOS generally doesn't use the arrow keys to change options, it's usually +/-, or PageUp/PageDown.

     

    -Ian

  21. Posted

    Everything I know about electronics I learned myself - from reading manuals and schematics and taking things apart. I've been tinkering with electronics for years. I collect obsolete computers, old video games, and other interesting old technology (think vacuum tubes...). And to me, half the fun of this stuff is the tecnical side of it. I can't just leave well enough alone - I want to know how it works - why it works. And, compared some of these old computer systems, the Atari is dead simple. :D

     

    -Ian

  23. Posted

    What I mean is a comprehensive database that lists every detail of the cart; if you look at the link I posted, it goes so far as to list the manufacturers of the chips, datecodes, etc. for each individual cart. I know we have plenty of regular databases, but I haven't seen any like Bootgod's NES database.

     

    Here's the thing - you can't open Atari cartridges without poking holes in the label. NES carts can be easily opened and reassembled with no problem - the screws are on the back. But Atari carts aren't so easy.

     

    Also, as far as the date codes of the chips - does it much matter? 99% of Atari carts are the same inside - one ROM chip, nothing else. A small handfull of games have something different - and those should be documented already. Kevin Horton's sizes.txt has all that info and more.

     

    Unlike the NES, with it's special mapper chips - Atari carts have their bankswitch logic contained in the program ROM. So, an 8k game, like Star Raiders, looks exactly the same inside as a 4k game like Pac-Man. They use the same board, even though Star Raiders uses F8 bankswitching, and Pac-Man doesn't use bankswitching at all.

     

    -Ian

  24. Posted

    Yeah, the 4050 is a standard part - but you probably won't find it at Radio Shack, unless you can find a Delorean and enough road to get up to 88mph - because you could have gotten it there 20 years ago.

     

    Any real electronics store will have it, it's a CD4050 cmos buffer chip. I've heard that Fry's Electronics would carry things like this - but we don't have one around here. Also, any online electronics distributor would have them - Jameco, Digikey, Mouser, Futurlec, etc.

     

    But, for now, you can just clip those two pins, solder the pads on the board together, and it'll work - then when you find the part, you can replace it. It's not entirely necessary - Atari left it out in later models anyway.

     

    -Ian

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