5-11under

Hi Daniel, A few comments... First of all, remember that you can't control what other people think or say or do. You can only control how you react. That said, you've got a wide variety of games, some of which are based on existing games, and some of which are original. There are many shades of grey, of course, between the two. I think you've done a lot of work that has benefited many CV programmers. Scott, myself (if I can still be counted as one), and many others are using tools that you had a hand (or two) in making. You've continued this support through the years. You've sold a bunch of games, but you've given away all or most of the ROMs, too. I don't see any greed here. With the proper tools, ColecoVision programming isn't too difficult. It's definitely manageable for one person to do on their own, if they have some moderate skills in several areas (programming, art/layout, music, math, etc.). One can argue one way or the other about the merits of corporate versus individual creation. In the least though, homebrew creation is typically not constrained by time or the whims of managers or committees. My advice: try to ignore anyone who gives you a hard time. For many of us, this isn't easy, because we don't handle rejection very well. Create the games you want to make and play, and there will likely be others who share your vision. Have fun, 5-11under

Well, this was supposed to be used for the prototype of the standalone CV that opcode (Eduardo) has been talking about. Since it was unclear where the cartridge port would be located, I decided to have a large hole cut on top for maximum freedom. Same goes for the 9-pin joystick connectors which were meant to go in front: Since I couldn't precisely predict where the two D-9 ports were going to be placed, I left a large hole in the front so the connectors could be placed anywhere. This was done solely for the prototype's sake (where ventilation was also a factor, BTW). The "real" casing would have featured proper holes to fit around the different ports. Okay, I get it... open concept, just for the prototype. Nice. What kind of project will it be, if you don't mind me asking? It's video game related, so I'll post some pictures on AtariAge if I ever get it done. Thanks, 5-11under

Why does the case have such large holes in the front and top? What were they meant for, originally. As luck would have it, I've got one of the same case, without the cut-outs of course, for one of my future projects. Thanks, 5-11under

Activision instruction manuals were kind of fun, if you don't mind inconsistency between games. Sega Master System boxes were nicely consistent, however, the artwork was usually pretty bad, imho. If not a plastic case like Sega, I like the gatefold boxes such as Intellivision. They were convenient, which meant that people kept them more often, instead of throwing them out. My 2c, 5-11under

I'm not sure if I got in on time, but my finger was on the trigger. Either way, this was definitely a lot of fun. I liked the one hour hype build-up, and the incremental showing of the pictures. Thanks, 5-11under

It took me a while to figure out what you were talking about. You mean the Sears Catalog, right? Being male, and growing up on the East Coast, the only time I heard anyone call it a "wishbook" was some girls I knew from the Midwest. Last time I saw a Sears Catalog, the cover said "Catalog". Same with Montgomery Ward, JC Penny's, etc. It's the Christmas Catalogue. 5-11under

N64 in the family room. ColecoVision in the laundry room - it's the indoor workshop, too. 5-11under

I remember seeing a PCB someone designed, that shrunk the 2600 into about a 4" x 4" square (I'm not talking about cutting a 4-switch). To me, this sounds like a reasonable way to start. Does anyone have a link to that thread, by any chance? I can't seem to find it. Thanks, 5-11under

There's a few other games that don't work in Virtual ColecoVision, too. I still like it, though, because it's small, and fast. 5-11under

Removed. I lot of people here said that CF wasn't a very desirable feature because most of them already have the Atarimax cartridge. The other reason was cost, removing the CF reduced the IC count by 9 (or 30%), plus a connector, a few resistors and capacitors and specially PCB space. All of that was replaced by a non-volatile RAM, and will be used for saving game data mostly. Moreover, removing the CF reduces considerably the amount of work I will have with the BIOS XP, thus accelerating the availability of the module. Finally, the project simply seems more focused now, because the CF was always planned as a bonus, not something I really needed for my games. This kind of bells and whistles can wait for the standalone project. EDIT: Oh, and one more thing: removing the CF reduces the complexity of the module case, which would save us money and trouble when the time is come to deal with that. That makes sense, 5-11under

Hi opcode, Has the CF or SD slot (with ability to run one or more games from a card) been removed from the list, or is that a given? Thanks, 5-11under

Is it a fun game, worthy of a re-release? 5-11under

Hi opcode, How about Sullins products, from Digi-Key? They're about $8 each, with minimum order of 10, and 4 week lead-time. I'm not sure if that fits your requirements, though. Thanks, 5-11under

It looks like one of the 74LS541 chips inside are fried. Unfortunately, this is pretty common. Thanks, 5-11under

There's a fair bit of talk in this thread regarding component video mods for the TMS9928A VDP. I've got a solution to the muted colors and/or the oversaturated blues here: http://www.atariage.com/forums/topic/151201-colecovision-component-video-mod-questions/page__fromsearch__1 Thanks and enjoy, 5-11under

Okay, here goes... First of all, I feel much relief at the moment, having found the solution that has bugged me on and off for much too long. As is often the case, the solution isn't as complex as the problem seems to be. As you may know, the ColecoVision uses a TMS9928A Video Display Processor (VDP). The native output consists of 3 signals: Y, B-Y, and R-Y. Y is the luminance, B-Y is the blue color difference (relative to the luminance), and R-Y is the red color difference. Most people who want to output to a YPbPr monitor/TV start by taking the signals from the VDP, adding a load resistor to ground (keep in mind that the ColecoVision already has some loading, if that part of the circuitry is left connected), and connecting the signals to the Y, Pb, Pr inputs of a monitor, either directly, or through a buffer amplifier with unity gain (a buffer may help, because the monitor is likely loaded at 75 ohms to ground - I'm not sure of the implications of loading the VDP with 75 ohms or less). If you do this modification, you will find that, amongst other things, the display is oversaturated with blue. To remedy this, you can replace the load resistors with (500 ohm) potentiometers, tapping the wiper connections to the monitor or buffer amplifiers. This allows control over the Y, B-Y, and R-Y levels. Unfortunately, after adjusting the controls to optimal levels, the colors will still not match what was intended. The colors will be likely muted, especially the yellows. Recall that the blue level was much too high when connected directly to the monitor. In order to get a half-decent display from the method described in the previous paragraph, the B-Y signal needed to be greatly reduced. However, when doing so, not only is the B reduced, but the -Y is also reduced. By adding more -Y (or subtracting more Y) to the scaled down B-Y signal, the proper signals can be nearly attained. The same procedure could be done to the R-Y line, although the improvements would be less striking (note: I haven't tried the R-Y correction yet). In order to perform the mathematics on the B-Y signal, the B-Y and Y signals need to be linked in some fashion. I don't think this can be done with simply a resistor or other passive circuitry between the two lines, because the Y line would be adversely affected. I used a buffer amplifier to keep the Y signal path clean and strong, before tapping it to subtract from the B-Y signal. I used an LMH6734 for the buffer amplifiers, and an LM318 op amp for the subtraction function (I'm sure other "high speed" buffers and op-amps could work fine). I still need to optimize the schematic - I think there's some room for decreasing the parts count I'm currently using. I'll post more details, as well as pictures, at some point, but that's enough for today. Thanks to intvnut, who wins the as-yet-unknown prize. Not so much for the specific solution, but in leading me back to the application report, where the solution was found. Thanks and enjoy, 5-11under

Hi intvnut, I've built part of the circuitry before, with no success. One thing, though, is that I don't want to convert to composite or RGB. Composite won't look as good, and I have no way to display RGB at home without further conversion. However, reading it again, I do have another idea I'd like to try out. Details to follow... . Thanks, 5-11under

For ColecoVision, you could program in assembler or C. For C, I'd start at the bottom of this page... http://newcoleco.dev-fr.org/ ...as well as the ColecoVision Programming forum at AtariAge, of course. Thanks, 5-11under

Hi there, I've been doing a lot of work over the past year, trying to create a good component (YPbPr) output from a ColecoVision. The picture I'm getting is quite clear, but some of the colors are muted, especially the yellows. I'll describe the schematic I'm currently using... The regular ColecoVision VDP outputs have been completely disconnected from the regular ColecoVision circuitry. All three outputs are dealt with the same, but separately, of course: I've got the output (each of pins 35, 36, 38 of the TMS9928A) connected to one end of a 500 ohm potentiometer. The other end of the potentiometer is connected to ground. The tap of the potentiometer goes to the input of a buffer amplifier (LMH6734 in this case, either running from a +5V supply, or a +/-5V supply) with gain of +2 (although I think it works fine with a gain of +1, too, with different potentiometer settings). The output of the buffer amplifier goes to the TV/monitor, usually directly (adding 75 ohm resistors doesn't seem to make any effective difference in the colors). I have control over each of the lines, Y, B-Y, R-Y, via the three potentiometers. Adjusting the Y potentiometer changes the luminance, and adjusting the B-Y and R-Y potentiometers changes the B and R levels, respectively (and the -Y too, I guess). Viewed with an oscilloscope, the signals are not clipping. If I turn up the B potentiometer, I can get the yellows to become more saturated. However, at that point, the background becomes too bluish (instead of black or near black), and the blues become too saturated. I've also tried some level of DC restore, using diodes, with no effective difference. I've tried this with two ColecoVisions, with the same results. Replacing the TMS9928A with a TMS9918A gives good colors and saturation levels, similar to what I get with Ben Heck's composite mod. Unfortunately, with the TMS9918A, you get weird rainbow effects (the picture doesn't look too clear, either, but maybe that part could be fixed). According to the datasheet, the TMS9928A and TMS9918A do output slightly different colors. However, the results I'm getting are vastly different from each other. I'm hoping there's a simple way to get the component output to closer match the composite output. I've fed the YPbPr output to a YPbPr to VGA/XGA converter, with the same results. At that point, I've also reduced the B output and increased the R and G outputs, using the same potentiometer and buffer circuitry that was used for the YPbPr. That can help, but as the yellows get more saturated, the blues become less saturated. This also makes the circuitry much more complicated. If any of you have done a component modification to your ColecoVision, I'm interested in knowing if you're getting muted yellows or not. If you are getting muted yellows, do you care? If you're not getting muted yellows, could you tell me/us how you've done this? If I find the solution, I'll share it in this thread. At some point, I'll also take some pictures of the oscilloscope vector results (R-Y vs. B-Y), as well as some YPbPr monitor results versus composite results. Any other help or suggestions are also appreciated. Thanks for your time, 5-11under As a bonus, whoever helps the most in solving this, I'll reward with a free copy of my next ColecoVision project, which I'm hoping will be pretty special.

Funny, they have the same effect on me. But in my case with HD Games (like PS3 or XBOX360) it is even worst , after 5 minutes of play i'm sick! I can't play these at all. No Doom or anything like it for me. Games with more of an overhead view are fine, like Bomberman for N64, and racing games. 5-11under

Really? I don't mean to sound like I am second guessing you or anything, but I honestly have never heard anyone say that before. I'm not pinball22... but I picked the N64 as my 3rd favourite. I don't have anything newer, and the family and I enjoy it quite a bit. Thanks, 5-11under

I don't have it anymore, but I loved my 800XL. 2nd and 3rd choices: ColecoVision and Nintendo 64. Thanks, 5-11under

That's exactly what I was just thinking. The TS1000 (and granted the machine was not without faults) section is especially stupid. My brother had a ZX80 and then a ZX81, which I think is the same as the TS1000. It may have been crappy by some standards, but for us, based on price, was the only available option. I didn't know anyone else who had a computer at the time. We loved it, and it was life-changing for both of us in a couple of ways... we got to spend time together entering BASIC and Z80 machine code programs, and we learned how to program in BASIC and Z80. Thanks, 5-11under Yes the ZX-81 was particularly useful as a doorstop back in its heyday A few years later, yes. The shape was pretty close, but it was too light, I think. 5-11under

That's exactly what I was just thinking. The TS1000 (and granted the machine was not without faults) section is especially stupid. My brother had a ZX80 and then a ZX81, which I think is the same as the TS1000. It may have been crappy by some standards, but for us, based on price, was the only available option. I didn't know anyone else who had a computer at the time. We loved it, and it was life-changing for both of us in a couple of ways... we got to spend time together entering BASIC and Z80 machine code programs, and we learned how to program in BASIC and Z80. Thanks, 5-11under

It looks like I'll be trying KiCad. I'll post a review, if I remember. Thanks, 5-11under