5-11under

I couldn't agree more! I don't know why it is, but the ColecoVision is a real pain in the ass. Generally on the ColecoVision when I replace the BIOS, I cut the pins of the original (rendering it useless, but who cares), then with a soldering iron and de-soldering wick, heat each pin, pull out with tweezers, and clear the hole. There is some nice professional de-soldering equipment that I've looking at for a while now, but none of it's cheap! Ditto. I also make sure the soldering iron is on the hottest setting possible. 5-11under

I like the 3x3 dots idea very much. I need to "pencil in" my options before solving these. Thanks, 5-11under

Hi Scott, Nice work again... as usual. I like how your games don't appear to be limited by the ColecoVision's 32 x 24 character grid. Good job making your games look less like computer games and more like arcade games. Thanks, 5-11under

Your going along with this guy and you don't even know who he is. He doesn't have a copyright by the way as that was fully researched to all extent before hand. If he's gettingone now whatever that cool, he didn't program the game so that might behard to do. Talk about rubbernecking where you don't belong.! I've talked to "gamecrawler" and we are cool so mind your own bees wax. Hi Shawn, I'm just trying to support someone who seems to care about what he feels is his property. Rubbernecking... it's an open forum, as far as I know. I assume varying opinions and bees wax are allowed on the board. Anyway, I'm glad that you and gamecrawler have talked and are cool. Thanks, 5-11under

Hi Bob E, As the copyright holder (with or without the paperwork!), here's hoping you'll see some sort of royalty payment on the 82 or however many that are being made. Thanks, 5-11under Edit: Best wishes for any future programming - just don't make 1 or 2 cartridges.

I got MyroPCB to make my ColecoVision PCBs (non-assembly). Their prices and delivery are good, and customer support seems good. There's a nice price break starting at 1000 sq. in. of PCB. You can do on-line quoting. For board population, for a small run, I'd look into getting it done privately. I'm sure there's plenty of people here that could do it. Thanks, 5-11under

Hi Rob, I think from a business point of view your method is flawed, by performing the work before doing market research (although you'll probably end up doing okay on this project, I think). If you'd like to make money on a project, determine the costs such as paying yourself (for a certain period of time at a certain level), and production costs. At the same time, make your best determination on the quantity you will sell (and perhaps what timeframe), and at was price per unit. Do some math (Excel is your friend), and you'll determine if the project is economically viable. There's probably a lot of guessing that goes on, but that along with some research should get you reasonably close - you can always factor risk in, too, such as if the project takes longer than expected. Also, if it was me, I'd probably ignore the hours I spent on the project years ago. Any money one expected to receive from work that long ago is likely long forgotten, and not missed. Best wishes for your project! Not a businessman, btw 5-11under

Hi dd, Right hand joystick, left hand button. Think Atari2600/800XL. If I recall correctly, a lot of arcade game had this configuration, or if not, the control area was large enough to cross hands to fire. Thanks, 5-11under

Hi doubledown, Yes, I prefer joysticks (right hand). It's what I'm used to; I grew up with them. I just bought a Radica Space Invaders all-in-one ($3!) that I'll likely modify at some point... although I'll need to find a suitable keypad (horizontal, like yours). Thanks, 5-11under

Hi Ikrananka, I've thought about doing the same thing, but moreso to be able to program a (blank) PROM already soldered down and in the case. Then I could create games "on demand" by just doing the programming and slapping on a label. Looking at the cartridge slot pinout (in the CV FAQ), you'll see 4 active low chip select lines, 8000, A000, C000, E000, each selecting 8K from the 32K maximum space. For a 32K game, there is essentially an and gate (74LS21 for Squares!), leading from those 4 lines to the CS (also active low) line on the memory chip. A zero on any of the 4 lines (ie. if accessing 8000-FFFF) will cause a zero on the memory's CS line (active). Accessing RAM and peripherals (0000-7FFF) will mean that the 4 lines are all 1, resulting in a 1 on the memory's CS line (inactive). That said, there's another options, too (I think). The 4 chip select lines could also be used not just for chip select, but also for addressing, getting rid of the need for the upper (up to) 2 address bits. I have no idea if this method can or is used... maybe someone else knows, or you'll find out through experimentation. For the purposes of your EPROM reader, you'll of course just be accessing up to 32K, or 0000-7FFF. I hope that helps. Anyone else? Thanks, 5-11under

What, no spinner??? Looks great... my favourite one so far... except I don't like d-pads. Thanks, 5-11under Playstation?

Hi there, This is just a quick bump that if you're in the Toronto area this weekend, you might want to check out the video game show (swap meet mostly). It's gearing up to be a fairly large event, with some cool door prizes. There'll be plenty of stuff for sale, new and old. Thanks, 5-11under

It looks like the door prizes are going to be pretty good. A mini-pinball machine and a Retro Classic 48-in-1 arcade machine: http://www.cgcc.ca/forum/viewtopic.php?p=157359#157359 Thanks, 5-11under

Interesting... Doubledown, Good idea. I'll try a logic probe, to see if any bits are staying high or low. Pixelboy, this particular console is very consistent, and obvious even with no cartridge connected. In your case, I guess if it looks good, it is good. Thanks, 5-11under

Hi Pixelboy, I did send him an e-mail. I'm not sure how familiar he is with the test code, though. We'll see. Thanks, 5-11under

Hi there, I've got a ColecoVision Flash Multi-Cart (Atarimax). When I do the video RAM test on a certain ColecoVision, it fails with the message: 0x7136 [71,80]. Does anyone know how to decode the message to figure out which chip is bad? I assume the first number is an address, but it's almost 32K?!? The second set of numbers, I have no ideal. Thanks, 5-11under

What do you think of Ben Heck's solution? It's easy and cheap, and seems to work quite well for me. I'd pick VGA over HDMI, BTW. 5-11under

Hi Scott, I've done assembly before, mostly Motorola, so that's not the end of the world (especially for an older, simpler system). The other good thing about Vectrex and Atari is that I've got flash carts for them already. At the rate I'm going with other projects, I'v got plenty of time to decide... . Thanks, 5-11under

Hi Doubledown, Does the "Add-a-Halt" just pull the BUSREQ (or possibly WAIT) line to ground? Thanks, 5-11under

There's a swap meet in the Toronto area on March 30, 2008. Details can be found here: CGCC forum topic Feel free to reply if you'll be there. Thanks, 5-11under

I've been doing some thinking: Atari 2600 - Batari Basic most likely (assembly would drive me crazy in this case, I think) Atari Lynx - interested, but only for puzzles or slow action (hate the screen for fast action) Nintendo NES - could be interesting (very limited research so far) Vextrex - interesting, although would be assembler (which should be okay in this case) Sega Genesis - could be interesting (haven't researched at all) Nintendo GameBoy, etc. - interesting to some degree (hate the screen for fast action) Sega Master System - too similar to ColecoVision? Jaguar - interested, but seriously concerned about development tools Nintendo 64 - interested, but haven't looked into at all Atari 5200 - tried a bit, couldn't get into at the time (should perhaps revisit) ColecoVision - doing already Intellivision - not really interested Atari 7800 - not really interested Odyssey2 - not really interested TurboGrafix 16 - not really interested Classic computers - not really interested Newer consoles - concerned about scope, tools (would lean towards Nintendo, if anything) Thanks, 5-11under

Hi everyone, I've been doing some ColecoVison programming over the last couple of years, and hope to complete at least one more project, but I'm wondering what other consoles I should potentially try programming next? Feel free to respond with your suggestions, perhaps with information or a link to development tools. Feel free to suggest any you like, but I'll most likely be keying in on ones that have decent support tools and most likely the ability to program in higher level languages such as C or Basic. The console shouldn't be too obscure. Newer consoles may be acceptable, if very good support tools exist. Thanks in advance, 5-11under

I will not participate to the minigames compo in 2008, except if I finish my project CV Pentago (puzzle game). I also decided to not submit any new minigames to this compo. Why? By just looking at the numbers of votes and comments I received for the minigames compo during the last 2 years and you will understand why I'm disappointed. To me, the minigame competition is pretty much dead. It either needs a lot more people voting, or some dedicated judges who will put each game through its paces. It's still a great concept, but executed very poorly (not that I would have done any better). Thanks, 5-11under

A couple of us measured them in repsonse to a similar inquiry: http://www.atariage.com/forums/index.php?s...1&hl=boxing My posting: "The only box I own is RealSports Boxing: 7.5" x 1" x 5.5" (The 1" is actually closer to 15/16" if you're needing to be that particular)" Thanks for the confirmation! Maybe I'm thinking of Intellivision boxes, which were slimmer, and were (or at least seemed) larger. Thanks, 5-11under

Okay, never mind. I guess they all use the "AV Multi" output. Looks like too much trouble to add the connector to an older console. Thanks, 5-11under