So can I safely use SEGA gamepads for ALL 9pin type consoles/computers?

[So can I safely use SEGA gamepads for ALL 9pin type consoles/computers?]

Hi all,

 

I realise this is a REALLY old thread but I thought I'd revive it as I have recently picked up an old ZX Spectum+ with a flash card attached that uses the Kempston Interface but trying to find a pad that I can safely use with it seems to be a bit of a minefield, I know I'm cheating a little on the whole retro experience but I hated the sluggish and cumbersome old Quickshot/Comp Pro style joysticks they used even when I owned one the first time around in the 80s!

 

As I usually use Atari I have never had issues swapping pads into different machines and just to introduce myself I am currently running an AV modified 2600JR (custom woody case) with a 7800 gamepad which has always worked fine but I have tried using one of these with the Spectrum and it does not function at all, I know the port is good on the computer as it works with a Konix Navigator stick attached.

 

I have realised from this thread that a Megadrive/Genesis pad is out of the question but I was wondering if anybody has had any success using a Master System pad with a Spectrum or if there is a generic pad out there that is multi-compatible for machines including the Spectrum?

 

Any advice you can give me would be much appreciated.

[PAL 7800 Picture Quality Issues]

Hi Everybody,

 

I recently found my 7800 in a cupboard and set it up again after spending the last year or so alternating betwen an Irish 2600jr and my old 2600 Woody.

 

Anyway, the thing that I first noticed was how terrible the picture quality was on the 7800, even the old 2600's are both far superior to it as there are vertical lines on the left hand side of the screen and various other artifacts all over the picture when playing any 7800 cartridges (although strangely enough 2600 cartridges seem to be much more stable picture-wise and don't suffer from the vertical line issue at all).

 

At first I believed this to be my old system that perhaps had got damaged in storage so I picked up another on on Ebay only to suffer from exactly the same problem, I am now on my 3rd model and the same thing is still happening, I thought it may be a TV tuning issue but I have now tested all three machines on three different sets around the house, ranging from a 2 month old HDTV to my old but fully operational 1981 Toshiba Cube set with manual dial tuning (the same set I have used with the 2600 Woody from childhood) and still the issue persists,

 

Is this a common issue with most PAL 7800's of a certain age or is there anything you can advise that may clear up the problem? It's just that i don't seem to remember this happening when it was new and as it doesn't happen to either of the 2600's i've kind of ruled out the TV's themselves.

 

I don't really want to have to go to the expense of having it modified unless I have to, partially because of cost and also because the original 12" colour Cube TV (RF only) fits nicely on my desk for me to have a blast on while i'm also working on the PC and still gives me that proper retro feeling you don't get though a massive modern LCD.

 

Any advice you can can give me would be much appreciated.

[7800 Picture Problems]

Have you tried fine tuning channel 36? With my 7800's I'll fine tune them to 36 and leave them for 20 minutes or so and then fine tune it again for extended playing.

 

Not sure how to fine tune, don't think there is an option on my TV other than to auto-search to channel 36, which is what it is on now. I have an old Panasonic TX28 100hz that I always use for my retro consoles as they don't look too good on my LCD unit (and the light guns don't work) but this one has me beat.

[7800 Picture Problems]

Do these lines appear when you are playing 2600 games or 7800 games? Can you take a picture of the problem?

 

Hi there, thanks for getting back to me so quickly, they do appear on both formats and I have included a picture in this post.

 

Andy

[7800 Picture Problems]

Hi there, i'm hoping that one of you can give me some advice regarding my PAL Atari 7800 console. I recently decided to dig out the old 7800 that I have had in my cupboard for many years, I have been using a black Irish 2600jr for quite a long time now and it has served me well but has finally given up the ghost so the 7800 is my only alternative.

 

The reason it was in the cupboard is because I have not been able to get it to display a decent, or even acceptable picture for many years now, in fact it has been in storage for so long that I gave up on it before advice forums like this even existed (the 1980's!) but as there are experts on here who may be able to help me I felt it was worth one last go before throwing it away.

 

As it is a PAL console there appears to be only an RF socket on the machine so there is no scart/s-vid option available to me but when I try to hook it up to any of my TV's the colour is washed out and has lots of lines and distortion on the left-hand side of the screen, I realise that it is an old machine but the 2600jr is even older and the picture quality on that is pretty darn good when using the exact same leads that I have used to test the 7800.

 

If somebody could give me some helpful tips that will allow me to save my old faithful from the scrapyard I would be extremely grateful, I have had a look inside the console to see if anything is loose or can be adjusted but it appears to be a sealed unit so nothing is obvious to me.

 

Thanks for any help you can give me.

 

Andy

[Games on an Atari Stacy?]

Hi Everyone, I recently purchased a working Atari Stacy 2 which I have just got around to testing out today, apart from various software disks that I got with the machine I also have a collection of old ST games which I was hoping to run on the Stacy, nothing too graphically intensive as I already knew that the system had a monchrome screen. The problem I am having is that none of the games appear to run through the bluescreen mono display on the unit, I can get to the option menus but then the screen goes black (as if it has switched off) and all I can hear is the audio from the game in progress. My question to those of you who may have a similar machine is have I missed an option somewhere in the operating system, or is the Stacy just incapable of running standard Atari ST games through the mono screen? As I had always read that the Stacy was essentially a portable ST and also that it has a joystick port on it I just assumed that it would run my games okay.

 

Any advice you can give me would be much appreciated.