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Madaracs

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Posts posted by Madaracs

  1. Posted

    Hi there,

     

    i'll have some problems with my ColecoVision. Sometimes when I turn on the console the show up some graphic glitches. I can play the game but the graphics (sprites) looks ugly. When I turn off and then turn on the console everything is okay. I have cleaned the cart and the connector of the console but that seems not to be the problem. Might someone help me out with that problem ??? Is it the power supply? HELP! ;)

     

    I've also gone so far as to just put an entirely different switch on:

    coleco-led-mod.gif

  3. Posted

    For that dead controller, I wonder if it has enough parts to get my dead controller Frankenstein'd together.

     

    What is wrong with your controller?

     

    If it's the thin-film circuitry probably not. This one has a pretty bad burn spot in the middle where it appears to have shorted out. And I've not tried cleaning it with anything to see if it can be revived. Otherwise everything is there.

  6. Posted

    Good question and one I wondered about myself. So I like to add this: How many here have Adams?

    I have two of them. :)

     

    ADAM hog. ;)

    I'm actually looking to get rid of some of my ADAM stuff... :ponder:

     

    I want one but I kinda wanted the Expansion Module #3 version. The ADAM is such a massive thing... it's hard to have 2 I'll bet. You don't need a 5200 do ya? ;)

  8. Posted · Edited by Madaracs

    Hi all...

     

    Sorry I got this up late, was a busy weekend. Okay, I got the full payment Pre-order page up now, having trouble with the 50/50% Pre-order page, and I have an email to the storefront coders to see if I can get a solution otherwise I'll work something out tomorrow to get the 50% down Pre-Order going.

     

    Again, to remind everyone - shipments are not until the end of November - I've put this is HUGE RED LETTERING at the bottom of the order page so there is no misunderstandings...

     

     

    http://www.legacyengineer.com/storefront/index.php?main_page=product_info&cPath=39&products_id=115

     

    Thanks,

    Curt

     

    My order is in! I'm totally psyched. myico1.png

  11. Posted

    The power light is a very nice addition and adding a key switch would be the super cool. Could always raid one of those toddler toys for a plastic one, unless of course you want the real deal.

     

    I bought these key-switches today. They're not as nice as say... an Alco branded one, but they look appropriately toy-like and vintage for the Module. I think one of these will do nicely. :D

     

    camlock.png

  12. Posted

    You mentioned awhile back that you felt "The First Quarter" was a good resource full of lots of information about the entire industry but not entirely accurate. (I think, that was you.) Is there another book you might recommend with in-depth Atari history?

     

     

    Well, there's a lot of issues with not fact checking and crossreferencing on things. For example things like claiming that Atari Coin and Consumer were in connected buildings, or screwing the timeline of Syzygy/Atari and claiming Larry Bryant was involved when they went to file for the Atari name, different numbers and figures, etc. Lots of great quotes, and the book itself covers a very wide period - which I think was part of the issue. He spent so much time and resources on gathering up the material for that wide of a spectrum, and less on vetting all of it.

     

    As far as with regards to Atari, no, not at the moment. That'd be the one on the market right now with the most info. Zap is Atari specific, but even worse in it's fact checking.

     

    Cool. Thank you very much for the info.

  13. Posted

    It had a limited test market in the New York area in Christmas '85, which did not go well. The reports on the test marketing from January '86 CES stated retailers in NY considered it a failure.

     

    Sorry to drift off topic, but can you elaborate on this? What reports? This (the NY launch being a "failure") seems like an interesting tidbit that you're not going to see in any retrospectives.

     

    For example, there's this one from the Philadelphia Inquirer (Jan 14th, 1986) that also covers the relaunching of the 7800:

     

    Strangely, Atari also showed a lineup of its old video games and announced that a new game machine, first shown two years ago but never shipped to stores, would be reincarnated in a sleeker unit with a smaller price - about $80.

     

    Atari vice president Michael V. Katz, who formerly worked for Mattel and Coleco, two other fallen video-game giants, said that the machine, the Atari 7800, would be aimed at a new generation of 5-to-10-year-olds who were too young to participate in the nation's Pac-Man craze of several years ago.

     

    Katz declined, however, to identify any retailers that would carry the 7800, or game cartridges for it.

     

    Nintendo, a Japanese company that attempted to introduce a new video-game machine over Christmas, failed miserably, retailers say.

     

    Video games may be a tenuous proposition in 1986, but in other segments of the electronics market, the feeling is bullish. ". . . Plummeting prices may be behind us," said Alan Schlosser, spokesman for the Electronic Industries Association, the show's sponsor.

     

    In addition to press coverage, there's also Kent's direct talks with Arakawa and Lincoln of course, where they stated as such as well. The Feb '86 LA test launch was much better, and by the June '86 CES the media and retailers were looking at the NES very differently.

     

    You mentioned awhile back that you felt "The First Quarter" was a good resource full of lots of information about the entire industry but not entirely accurate. (I think, that was you.) Is there another book you might recommend with in-depth Atari history?

  15. Posted

    Awesome. I did that with a Famiclone as well. The only thing you then need is a short extension cord if your power supply is a wall-wart(112% that it is). :)

     

    That's when these come in handy. ;)

     

    Ooh I like that. I just remember buying a handful of single-ones at IKEA & using them whenever the need calls.

     

    Really, the wall-wart thing is a cost cutting measure by companies I know, but it's a big pain in the ass. Not only that, I swear electronics manufacturers pay extra to make sure the product it plugs into is never EVER mentioned on the off-the-shelf power supply. Heaven help you if you mix them up. I'm now resorting to a piece of masking tape & labeling them.

     

    The ColecoVision wall-wart is a particular nuisance. The thing I love about it though is the gasps that it invokes when you pull it out to plug it in. It's also one of the few power bricks to have a support stand/nub in attempt to keep it at a 90 degree angle when plugged into the outlet so it doesn't end up pulling itself out of the wall.

  18. Posted · Edited by Madaracs

    Below are some photos from the mod I completed yesterday with a friend of mine on the ColecoVision Expansion Module #2. I went to Unique Thrift Store in Crystal, MN to get some old parts and a 6V AC Adapter. We ended up cannibalizing a portable CD player for the mini-plug interface ($1.40) and found a Bell phone charger with a mini plug that ran 6V ($2.99).

     

    2+ hours later we had de-soldered, soldered and mounted a miniplug power interface to the Expansion Module as well as adding a vintage looking lamp to the dash to show that the power was running. It also gave us opportunity to troubleshoot a new test monitor I had purchased and clean up this particular module as it had some battery corrosion and hadn't really been tested. We tested out Turbo while we were at it... and it was quite fun. :thumbsup:

     

    5069176319_9a8a9f29bd.jpg

     

    5069177109_429c32701c.jpg

     

    5069143705_788f0dd22e.jpg

     

    5069750718_a0c478c45c.jpg

     

    Like a dummy I forgot to take a photo of the miniplug mount on the back. So I'll do that later.

     

    Flickr Set

  19. Posted · Edited by Madaracs

    I wouldn't worry, CPUWIZ will move it. I would be more worried about him murdering you in your sleep now... :ponder:

     

    CPU murdering? Perhaps he could program someone out of existence. Like TRON or something.

     

    I like G&W, but the thread title said something about the price, if I recall, before it was edited.

     

    You are mistaken. The thread [sub-heading] said something about it being back-lit.

  22. Posted

    I don't recall the post, but enjoy :) I hope to someday go back to the world of Stay Frosty, there's a lot of untapped potential in there.

     

    Played Stay Frosty for the first time. I absolutely love it.

     

    All the games are fantastic on the Stella's Stocking collection. Of course most everyone here already knows that. I have to say I was impressed with the quality of each game. My two favorites are Stay Frosty and Grandma's Revenge.

     

    5061842797_d5d7d1269f.jpg 5062453826_20511e6ccf.jpg

  23. Posted

    The binary that is out there produces an incorrect frame during the title screen (240 scanlines, with 5 scanline VSYNC pulse) so you're likely to get rolling on a newer television, or possibly no video at all.

     

    Cool. +1 for the speedy reply and tip. :thumbsup: I think I have a way to dump my current cart's ROM so that might potentially fix it.

     

    I just dumped my copy of Buck Rodgers and it is identical to the ROM that's out there. It has the same 240 scanlines; so it must be a programming "bug".

     

    Mitch

     

    Crap! :!:

  24. Posted

    I think Pac-Man has been hacked and is available as a ROM, which can be burned to an EEPROM for a fee, the Pac Man Collection still being worked on. The question on whether the it would work on the 7800XM unmodified, hasn't been answered via actual tests, I don't think, but is assumed they probably would, some unpredictable oddities not withstanding.

     

    I wouldn't be surprised if someone decided to release the "Ultimate Pac-Man Collection." Maybe Super Pac-Man could be added and the Pokey sound upgrade. I'd pay $50 for that.

     

    Maybe, if there is room, throw in Jr. Pac, to bring the whole family home. (Baby Pac, the pinball variant, being a different challenge altogether)

     

    Right on.

     

    Man, baby pac... what a terrible and awesome machine that was. I remember seeing it for the first time at Showbiz Pizza in St. Paul.

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