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unhuman

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Posts posted by unhuman

  4. Posted

    It was the coax - multimeter showed me there was connectivity, but now, there's not and the audio is working. So I've got a fully working (and beautiful) solution. Thanks for the help! Now, I worry that the rust on that one chip will eventually kill my board. I do have one other (dead) CV board. It's a shame the CV case is almost big enough to hold a spare board.... Alas, it is not.

     

    Thanks for the great solution and the help getting it to work!

     

    -Howie

     

    Make sure the coax braid isn't melting into and touching the center conductor. Also, check the solder point on the capacitor to make sure it's not touching the ground plane next to it.

  5. Posted

    Well, I checked the resistors... They are fine. I checked the rusted chip... I cleaned out between it and guess what?!!! It works. Not only that, but the RF output is now way cleaner than it was before (it was snowy) and the RCA out works. I guess the rust must've gotten moved just enough to ruin everything.

     

    Unfortunately, however, I'm not getting any audio. Now, that seems like a pretty simple attachment - any ideas why I'm getting nothing there?

     

    -H

     

    You want to ship it to me? I'll see what I can figure out on it. It'll run you parts + shipping both ways. No labor charge as I'm curious as to what went wrong.

     

    There's a chip on that board that is all rusted. That one has me curious, as does the assembly / installation of the kit.

     

    RJ

  6. Posted

    I might do that. I still need to check the resistors. My board worked before installation (but was snowy) so I wanted to get better output. I didn't know what to blame. But yeah, let me do a few more tests tonite and then I'll get back to you.

     

    Thanks... :)

     

    You want to ship it to me? I'll see what I can figure out on it. It'll run you parts + shipping both ways. No labor charge as I'm curious as to what went wrong.

     

    There's a chip on that board that is all rusted. That one has me curious, as does the assembly / installation of the kit.

     

    RJ

  7. Posted

    I'll try what you suggest. Unfortunately, the CV is otherwise dead, so I'll check out the resistors - yet be careful to ensure they are fine. Is there a way to test the Caps? Anything I can test... Before I go get another CV...

     

    Thanks - Howie

     

    Looks like it has been assembled correctly, with maybe a possible exception for the resistors. I can't read the color codes on them in the pictures you posted so I can't tell for sure if you put them in the right locations.

     

    Take your multimeter and measure resistance between the center wire and the shield. It's possible you have a short between the two. It doesn't take a lot of heat to melt through the insulation on the center conductor and short the braid to it.

     

    Technically, the ground wire isn't 100% needed as all three grounds (both shield braids and the ground wire) are all connected together on the mod board, so a poor connection where the ground wire solders to the board shouldn't have a negative effect.

     

    RJ

     

    Finally got all my pics taken and uploaded. Here they are:

     

    http://www.flickr.co...57623174446460/

     

    It lets you view everything in various sizes.

     

    Thanks - Howie

  8. Posted

    Finally got all my pics taken and uploaded. Here they are:

     

    ColecoVision

     

    It lets you view everything in various sizes.

     

    Thanks - Howie

     

    Sorry, was out hunting for the past couple of days. :D

     

    Can you post clear, high-res pics of the completed kit board and where you soldered everything to the CV board and RF modulator?

     

    Also, page 6 of the instructions tells (and shows with a picture) where the wires get soldered to the RF modulator and the picture on page 3 shows where the grounds are for the coax braid on the mod board itself.

     

    Please ensure that

     

    A) The 2 electrolytic caps are installed properly - they are polarized.

    B) The ground shields and center wires on the coax are not reversed on one end. That would ground out the signals.

    C) The IC chip is installed correctly. It can be plugged in backwards which would kill it.

     

    The small 47pf capacitor is not polarized and can be installed in either direction.

     

    Thanks!

     

    RJ

  9. Posted

    Why are you asking ridiculous questions? The game is supposed to be crap :)

     

    Just tried your game in classic99.

     

    mapcraze.PNG

     

    Somehow I get some weird effects. I can move the mouse over the maze without bumping into the walls.

    It means I can just move to the right (is a bit complicated as the controls are reversed, joystick emulation?).

    Anyway, when I get to the exit speech starts but then a "INCORRECT SUBPROGRAM IN 590" happens.

     

    I presume that this could be an issue with classic99 in combination with the "speech" output.

    That is weird though. Also attempted to try it in win994a but failed because I couldn't add it to a disk image.

    Again, a reason to try it on the bare metal in the next few days, will let you know ;)

  10. Posted

    I'm currently using composite and component cables. I don't use S-Video. Is there much of a differnce? I also don't know about creating my own circuit or soldering.

     

    You're in the same boat as me... I can solder but don't know beans about electronics beyond remedial basics about how resistors, diodes and capacitors work. I could never design a circuit nor figure out how to test one out beyond voltages and connectivity.

     

    -H

  14. Posted

    Ok - spent some time with my multimeter, but it's not like I know what I'm doing.

     

    Testing the power, I'm definitely getting 12V. Testing the Video out, I'm seeing 4.5V, and testing the RF in, I see it cycle from 0-400mv and then start over 0-400mv.

     

    Regarding my prior post, the ground pad for audio is created by scraping off some green on the board. That worked, it seems. I get 0V across audio, but that makes sense since it doesn't work.

     

    I didn't look at the docs close enough - they detail where the grounds are set on the board, but that info would be more helpful if the docs included that info when it actually talked about making the connections.

     

    Also, the little capacitor - I didn't know how to mount it, but the images implied that the labelling should be on the front, so I did it as such.

     

    Still not working, though...

     

    -Howie

     

    I (finally) got around to attempting to install the ColecoVision AV mod. I think I built the board properly. Of course, it's not working. Not only that, but my CV itself isn't giving signal to the old RF out (this mod looks like it didn't disable that). There were a few things I had to do that seemed slightly different than the directions. Here's hoping I didn't ruin my CV.

     

    Anyhow, there were a few things I had to do to get it to go in. My 15W soldering iron was inadequate to melt the old solder in the CV, so I used my 25W. That worked.

     

    Now, compared to the instructions found here:

    http://www.arcadecom...nstallation.pdf

     

    1. I used the WJ2 for my +12V, as I did not have a memory Mod

    2. My board differs slightly (different rev) than the board in the images.

    3. The ground pad on the images for the little board (down to the right of L3) was buried under a weird fat capacitor that was not on the pics in the directions. It was hard to get at and did not want to take solder... It took a while to get this to hold and I figure this is my culprit?

    4. The directions did not talk about, when using the coax, where to use the center wire and where to use the braid. When I did mine, i attached center to left and the braid to the right on the little board attachments. It's more obvious when wiring the jacks and the RF adapter.

    5. Although it's irrelevant, when doing the sound attachments, my board did not have the grounding pad that is in the installation documentation. So, my sound is disconnected, but that should not affect it working (or not).

     

    This also sent as a message to ArcadeComponents.com :)

     

    Any ideas? Thanks - Howie

  15. Posted

    I (finally) got around to attempting to install the ColecoVision AV mod. I think I built the board properly. Of course, it's not working. Not only that, but my CV itself isn't giving signal to the old RF out (this mod looks like it didn't disable that). There were a few things I had to do that seemed slightly different than the directions. Here's hoping I didn't ruin my CV.

     

    Anyhow, there were a few things I had to do to get it to go in. My 15W soldering iron was inadequate to melt the old solder in the CV, so I used my 25W. That worked.

     

    Now, compared to the instructions found here:

    http://www.arcadecomponents.com/f/Colecovision_Composite_AV_Mod_Installation.pdf

     

    1. I used the WJ2 for my +12V, as I did not have a memory Mod

    2. My board differs slightly (different rev) than the board in the images.

    3. The ground pad on the images for the little board (down to the right of L3) was buried under a weird fat capacitor that was not on the pics in the directions. It was hard to get at and did not want to take solder... It took a while to get this to hold and I figure this is my culprit?

    4. The directions did not talk about, when using the coax, where to use the center wire and where to use the braid. When I did mine, i attached center to left and the braid to the right on the little board attachments. It's more obvious when wiring the jacks and the RF adapter.

    5. Although it's irrelevant, when doing the sound attachments, my board did not have the grounding pad that is in the installation documentation. So, my sound is disconnected, but that should not affect it working (or not).

     

    This also sent as a message to ArcadeComponents.com :)

     

    Any ideas? Thanks - Howie

  16. Posted

    That's awesome. If I had it to do it all over again, I'd go that route. Oh well.

     

    -H

     

    Actually all you need is a SPDT (single pole double throw ). The jumper locations use a common ground so when it is connected. So just solder the ground to the middle connector and then J3 to one side and J9 to the other side. Use a multimeter to figure out which side is ground and use the other side for the J9 and J3 connection.

     

    I am using this switch http://www.radioshac...ilterValue=SPDT

     

    And its mounted by the cart so you slide the cart in and it swaps the connections.

    • Like 1

  17. Posted

    To answer your question, yes. 1&2 wired to J3 and 5&6 wires to J9.

     

    if you're doing proof of concept, you could just hard wire it to use the cartridge port and skip the switch (for now).

     

    You're gonna pull a switch out of a 2600 just to make this work? That seems foolish. RatShack never has huge lines near me, but, perhaps you're where they do good business... :)

     

    -H

     

    So...

    I'm trying to figure this out.

    I didn't go to radio shack (I was chicken of the lines)

    First question: Isn't the power switch for the Atari 2600 a DPDT?

    Perhaps not. Just curious as I could use that.

    Second:

    I don't understand that stuff that well (the art)

     

     

    123

    456

     

    Do you have 1 and 2 going to J3 and #3 open.

    #4 open, and 5 and 6 going to J9?

    • Like 1

  18. Posted · Edited by unhuman

    Hehe... I did as well, I thought about having it inserted from the right hand side, since I'm right handed, left handers could go from the left, of course.

     

    But then I thought about how difficult it would be to get a clean slot cut out using the tools I have, and punted.

     

    Another idea I had was attempting to have some physical switch (button) attached to the cartridge slot such that if there was a cartridge inserted, it would automatically switch to cartridge mode, and when not, default to the built-in games. I know someone else has done a circuit for this, but that seemed overly complicated... Alas, I erred on the side of simple and got it done :)

     

    As far as a rechargable - perhaps a remote control car's 9.6V battery would work. A slight overvolt might be okay... But do at your own perils :)

     

    -H

     

    I pulled my project out of the shed last night. I had put it away until possibly an answer came. I can't find my DPDT switches, so I will run off to Radio Shack tonight (I think... perhaps not though, because of the crazy last-second shoppers).

     

    Can't wait to get this up and running. I will still need to buy a good rechargable battery for the inside. Other than that... my portable will be fairly done.

    I was thinking about trying to bondo the case a bit... I can possibly make it to where an Atari game slides into the portable, rather than sticking out of the portable.

     

    Perhaps that will be version # 2

    I thought of that cart-fits-inside-the-case idea as well. There certainly seems to be room.

    • Like 1

  20. Posted · Edited by unhuman

    Unfortunately, at this time, I can't - it's all working and as you can see it's pretty tight. I don't want to rock the boat again. I had wires break out a few times and don't want to go through that again.

     

    My pics are on twitpic and very high resolution (10MP), so you should be able to view them "full size" to see some things a little closer.

     

    If you post a pic of yours, I could tell you if it's the same :)

     

    EDIT: Found Your old post

     

    It appears we have the same system. You need a DPDT (Double Pole, Double Throw) switch. This will let you control 2 distinct things with the same switch. You would wire it like this:

     

    Please forgive the underscores: Couldn't figure out how to get my ascii art to look good.

     

    J3 _ J3

    | __ | __ |

    =========

    SWITCH

    =========

    | __ | __ |

    ___ J9 _ J9

     

    As you can see, if you slide the switch one way, J3 is connected and J9 disconnected. Slide it the other way and J3 disconnects and J9 connects.

     

    -H

     

    Great job. Can you post a picture of the silk screening? I am wondering if this is the version I am having problems with (I think it is) and was hoping to possibly ask you some questions on it.

    • Like 1

  21. Posted · Edited by unhuman

    This has been a long time coming, but I've finally hacked it... Turned out pretty good. The wires are "touchy" and became disconnected several times. But, it's finally done & working.

     

    One thing I did - I used a floppy drive cable and kept it a single length. That seems to stress various solder points, particularly along the cartridge slot. If I were to do it again, I would cut those different lengths.

     

    Flashback Hacked Board Image

     

    The cartridge slot inserted down into the hole I cut. Most other people, IIRC mounted it from below. Anyhow, it felt like it snapped in, but it pulled out if the cartridge was tight, so I used a lot of dollar store super-glue to hold it in. That worked well.

     

    Flashback Cartridge Slot Internal Image

     

    The cartridge slot solder wasn't nearly as clean as I had hoped, but it works... :) Stupid wire lengths. Although you can't see it very well here, pin #1 is the red wire. Since I split the floppy wire, I colored #13 black with a sharpie.

     

    Closed Up Top Image

     

    I used an DPDT switch - as you can see, I didn't mount it high enough into the top, so I had to cut away a little of the bottom, no big deal, but it doesn't look as good as it could.

    Flashback Back Image

    • Like 2

  22. Posted

    That's nice of you to say. Just try playing them, especially Karate... They are bad games, but... Games none the less.

     

    umangame.zipHere's the disk image...

     

    I respectfully submit:

     

    Take your choice, but I think Karate sucks pretty well.

     

    http://99er.net/umangames.html

    He he, I would think only _new_ entries count. Not much “crap” about those mockups/screenshots (aka they look good). Also, I think the download link for umangame.dsk is broken. 99er.net has its share of broken links these days.

     

    :)

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