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Andromeda Stardust

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Posts posted by Andromeda Stardust

  1. Posted

     

    That's the part that makes even less sense to me. What are they going to do, each take it two days a week, and every third Sunday?

     

    Why would you pay $33,000 for something you don't even own, unless your only reason for doing it is as an investment, expecting to resell and make more money on it later? And that's the one kind of "collecting" I don't respect at all.

    It will play out exactly like that Simpsons episode with Radioactive man Volume 1.
    • Like 2

  3. Posted

    I just ordered mine as well!

     

    Very stoked!

     

    My router died and I just got everything up and running again with a new router...I suppose I could have been a bit quicker if not for that...

    Glad you got it in in time. I imagine the inrush of orders will slow down after the first 24 hours. If it sells out, there is the possibility for another run still, at least I seem to recall the author mention it. I hate limited stuff, but I do understand sellers don't want to be stuck with unsaleable stock.

     

    Regardless, I can't wait to receive mine.

    • Like 1

  7. Posted

    Surprised nobody in our awesome AA community has taken the opportunity to try this... but I would surely pay good $ for a new custom awesome Trak-Ball controller design to play these awesome new Trak-Ball conversions.

     

    Surely there is a buyer's market for a few hundred+ new Trak-ball controllers to play these awesome games. Plus if they were marketed in the AA store along with the games, it would be a natural. Right?

     

    Are there any techno-savvy entrepreneurs around here that have thought about this? This also seems like a great opportunity for Edladdin as well (hint hint).

    Considering arcade trackball encoders (with full size 2.25" cue ball) cost a pretty penny, there are some pretty nice trackball mice made for Windows PCs. If you could plug a ps2 or usb mouse into an adapter for the 9-pin controller port, it could convert it into trackball movement. Button 2 could map to pin 9 with a pull up resistor to be readable like a Genesis button C.

  14. Posted

    How is the over all quality of the pacman? I ask as my walmart just got them in but the reviews haven't been so hot. Looking for first had info from someone who owns and has played one.

    I have the Galaga unit. Overall the software build is pretty good. The cabinet could use a bit of reinforcement but is pretty sturdy. The control panel can use some modding though. First thing is remove all of the components and apply laquer or spray varnish so the art doesn't rub off. Then I would upgrade the buttons with standard 28mm Suzo/Happ style plungers with 20g Zippy microswitches. You can buy these at Paradise Arcade Shop or Groovy Game Gear. Also a better joystick would go a long way too. Be sure to install the proper joystick type for whatever games are installed. I bought my Galaga in Walmart right after Halloween and have had fun with it so far. I started making a video review a couple months back in segments; have not finished it yet because holidays, life, job, changing interests, and then "midlife crisis" hit me right around my 38th birthday.

     

    #manopause Yeah, it's a thing I guess. Blood pressure pills, yuck! I'm too young to be going through this bullcrap... :razz:

  16. Posted

    Just drop this happy horseshit right now. “Fauxtari” has ignored the classic Atari home brew and hobbyist scene for decades - just as they should. The current entity is whoring off the nostalgia of millions of worldwide fans, and the tiny bits of money involved in home brews is below their notice. Why do you want to screw over the entire scene to put a few more dollars in their pocket and vastly complicate the lives and hobbies of the few dozen dedicated programmers still writing titles for these long-obsolete consoles?

    They are asshats. Both modern day Atari and Coleco can diaf for all I care.

     

     

    I dunno. They had gotten the Jaguar Podcast merch taken down from redbubble. They are patent trolls, and I agree that nobody should give them a red cent, but they are effectively threatening small groups to protect "their" trademarks. I actually got into a heated argument with them on their facebook page about their trademark trolling. The transcript is on the "That Ataribox" thread in the 2600 forum.

    Patent / trademark trolls indeed. Funnily, Chris Cardillio (of modern day Coleco) claimed to own the "Cingular" trademark, yet go into any ATT store, and ask about flip phones. They make a "Nostalgic" 4G flip phone with the name "Cingular Flip", so I'm not sure how they can claim to own the trademark when the original parent company (AT&T) is still using it.

  17. Posted

    No, I was originally thinking of all the other video pinball games I've gotten used to throughout the years... left direction pad is left flipper, with right button as right flipper. But... GOOD! So, will play like Midnight Magic with a CX40, that's awesome! It's how it shall be played. ;)

    This control scheme works well on dpads (example: Nes, Genesis) because the dpad is utilized like a standard button. I can attest this feels VERY awkward when played on any joystick with tilt for left and press button for right, doubly so on "right handed" sticks. When I built my jumbo sized NES arcade controller, I included built in side flippers mapped to Left and A. I always hated the Midnight Magic layout why I'm glad they added discrete buttons for Proline controllers. Now any of my two button sticks will work. :cool:
    • Like 2

  18. Posted

    There is some info related to Super NT:

     

     

     

    SmokeMonster: I forgot to ask how the Pro’s new save states work?

     

    Ikari: To explain save states I should point out the limitations of real hardware:

     

     

     

    The problem with sound on save states is that the APU (S-SMP + S-DSP) is an independent system on the SNES that only has 4 I/O ports to communicate with the SNES CPU via a software protocol.

    Once a game has its sound code up and running in the APU there is no way to interface it in a universal way, i.e. you can’t get the state of the APU at runtime at all.

     

     

     

    I hope to overcome this limitation by running my own APU implementation on the FPGA which makes me the “owner” of its state too, so I can grab it whenever I want.

     

    The original APU would be silenced by running a little hook on reset that uploads an infinite loop so it doesn’t react to any CPU access. The sd2snes would then override the bus with its own APU responses accordingly.

     

     

     

     

    Unfortunately this method won’t work on a Super Nt because bus override hacks simply don’t work on it. There’s another way but it may be prone to desynchronization.

     

     

     

     

     

    Source: https://www.retrorgb.com/sd2snes-pro-more-details-from-ikari.html

    So basically, the new SD2SNES disables the built in SNES audio by running it's own [identical?] audio through the exp pins? I did notice that expansion games such as the Super Game Boy have to "turn on" the expansion audio kn a real SNES through code, yet this must be done manually through the Super NT menu to get expanded sound. Perhaps the new dissabled APU hack in the SD2SNES uses a similsr method?

  19. Posted

    Does anyone know why the 20 game Namco mini player is not out or advertised on the My Arcade website anymore?

     

    I sure am looking forward to it for the Rolling Thunder 1,2, and 3 as well as Xevious and Splatterhouse 1 and 2.

     

    I hope it was not cancelled for licensing reasons.

    Could be that Namco has licensing with another arcade manufacturer. I bought the Data East one last year on the 'bay. Truth be told, I haven't even opened the box it came in.

     

    Namco has so many competing devices now ranging from the World's Tiniest Arcades at 4 inches to the 4 foot 1up cabs. Honestly at this point, I'd hold out for a better multi packaged game seeing as a lot of stuff is coming around the corner. Plus the My Arcade joysticks are kind of rubbish.

    • Like 1

  21. Posted

    Hello Gunnar

     

     

    Are you sure? IIRC, Sleepy and I once tried a 7800 joystick on either an XL or an XE (maybe on both) and we even opened one up. Pressing the two button was only detected on the trigger pin, not the potentiometer pins. We both came to the conclusion that the resistors inside the 7800 joysticks have the wrong value for the XL/XE to register if the buttons are pushed via the analog ports. Making it impossible to distinguish between the two buttons.

     

    Sincerely

     

    Mathy

     

     

    The 7800 does not use common ground on the inputs. The resistors (typically 620 nut I always used 560 in mine as they are more common) in the 7800 controller differentiate between "strong" and "weak" logic so that the 7800 can overpower the current sinking capability of the resistors.

     

    When operating in 1-button mode on a 7800, or on non-7800 hardware pressing either button drains pin six to ground through a resistor. The paddle pins are normally low on 2600 hardware, so no change is detected on them. When operating in 2-button mode, the strong pin 6 logic signal isn't drained by the resistors, and instead bridged to the paddle pins yielding a high logic signal, which the 7800 detects as a press.

     

    To prevent damage to the 7800, the high logic signal is instantly disabled anytime a standard 1-button joystick is plugged in and shunts the strong signal to ground during a fire press.

     

    Using an 7800 controller on an SMS or a Genesis controller on a 2-button 7800 game will yeild erratic behaviour of the fire buttons. I built a cigar box controller with 3 buttons and a toggle switch that allows SMS, 7800, and Genesis pad emulation while in 2600 mode. It consisted of a 560 ohm pullup resistor and a diode for the homebrew-compatible SMS circuit, and two 560-ohm resistors for 7800 circuit. I posted the "untested" schematic in another AA thread some time ago, and built a working prototype one year later.

     

    SMS controllers won't operate on Atari hardware without a pullup resistor on pin 9. And 330 ohm is a bit lower than needed but should work fine. I would recommend 1kohm for pullups.

     

    Sure you can make a custom 3-button controller, but software needs to be created to use it, and homebrew authors are generally reluctant to write code that needs custom built hardware to interface. 3-button Genesis controllers are cheap and plentiful, and were already a popular option for Atari gamers who did not like the CX-40. Layer on when homebrew took off in a big way, it was discovered that the second and third buttons were accessible to software without mods, so programmers started designing games for them.

     

    You are free to create a 3-button controller for Atari 8-bits or 2600, but be advised you might be faced with a chicken-and-egg delimma when it comes to support. Also be aware that a third pushbutton switch from pin 5 to ground may be dangerous if plugged into Sega SMS or Genesis hardware, because Sega used pin 5 for vcc instead of Atari's pin 7. So you will need an inline shunt resistor (100 ohms would be adequate to keep low logic below .5v if using a 1k pullup to vcc) between the switch and ground to prevent blowing the 5v regulator if accidentally plugged into Sega hardware.

  22. Posted

    I tried to determine why my CX-80 trak-ball isn't detected as a joystick when in joystick(JS) mode by the Retron 77 when plugged into one of the front ports.

     

    Power pin to ground on the R77 front ports was measured at 3.4 volts instead of the Atari standard 5 volts. When supplied with 5v, the CX-80 draws about 30ma. When Supplied with 3.4v, the CX-80 draws about 15ma. The CX-80 starts producing coherent output at around 3.15v, and seems to work just as well at 3.4v as it does at 5.

     

    The CX-80 is virtually silent electrically on my scope when plugged, and when not in use, just as a standard 2600 stick should be.

     

    So, why does the R77 ignore the CX-80 in joystick mode? Perhaps the pulses it produces are too short?

     

    I didn't try testing the CX-80 while attached to the R77, perhaps the R77 doesn't allow any 'significant' current to be drawn from the joystick ports, not even 10-15ma?

     

    --Oops. I meant to post this in the main Retron thread.

    One potential issue here is that you are driving 5V logic off of a 3.3V VCC bus. Most vintage electronics run on 5V supply, though they will operate reliably from about 4-6V. You are running the logic below spec. While "browning out" solid state logic chips will not cause damage like overvolting can, the chips are operating at marginal capacity, with greatly increased latency and eventually potential malfunction of the logic gate or failure to produce valid output. And the CX-80 has a lot of chips in it. So one CX-80 might function normally, whereas another might not.

     

    Remember the Retron77 was only designed to function with stock paddles and joysticks, which do not contain any active circuits. Controllers with turbo function might also malfunction at 3.3V, though 555 timers can generally be operated over a wider range of voltage input than standard digital logic.

     

    A bog standard joystick or paddle that only closes a circuit or outputs a resistance would happily operate at 3.3V, 5V, 12V, or any other low voltage/current logic level.

  23. Posted

     

    Luckily I did have some .01uF caps and I think it did improve things even more, and you're right it is definitely not a placebo affect. There's is a big improvement and it seems to have gotten rid of 99% of the static at least with the fire button. I'm getting static from the joystick as well so I may try adding a cap to it. I saw you also mentioned getting static from the switches on your 4-switch model; mine were really bad. Bands of static all the way across the screen when I used them and they felt really rough, almost sticking sometimes. I actually desoldered and removed all four of them and took them apart. The little contact springs were almost black with tarnish and there was something sticky in them, maybe some kind of spray cleaner someone used once. I soaked them in hot water and then rinsed with alcohol and got rid of the sticky stuff, then polished the contacts until they were shiny. When I put them back together they worked really smooth and the static issue was greatly improved, but not cleared up completely. The momentary switches still produce some "sparkles" on the screen.

     

    I'm wondering if the old capacitors in the console might be causing some of the issues and if recapping it may solve some of them. My light sixer has never has had any noticeable interference problems, not even with my Tac-2. Seems like later console revisions would make things better instead of worse, but I suppose there was a lot of cost cutting involved as well. Maybe getting rid of all that heavy shielding for one thing. Anyway I'll keep working with it and see how it goes, thanks for all the informative posts! :)

    Yeah the switch issue is contact bounce on the slider switches. I get a lot of "sparkle" when I slide the contacts, which is a bit different from the lines that Jin showed me in his video a couple years ago when I built him that custom wire harness. I did order a set of factory stock switches from Best Electronics in 2014, but never got around to installing them. The solder mask on the old pcbs is so thick I'm afraid of scorching the board with too much heat if I try and tune the iron hot enough to melt it. I have a cheapo bulb desolder iron from Radio Shack but it's junk and the tip is almost gone. Probably safer to just cut the switches with wire clippers and remove one leg at a time. Or I may just see if I can get a baggie of .01uF caps. .01uF seems like it would be a good number to use. We don't really need whole milliseconds of hold time for a bounce that disappears within microseconds.

     

    Honestly the sparkle effect from contact bounce doesn't bother me much, though it can be a nuisance if I'm trying to select say variation number 53 our of 112 and it skips straight from 52 to 54. I am so glad most Batari Basic and Melody enhanced homebrew games larger than 8kb now use text menus so I don't have to look up a long list of variations or difficulty switch settings.

     

    LAter, gotta get back to work. Storm tropper stuff... :jango:

    • Like 1

  24. Posted

     

    Yeah it is just a random one I pulled from a parts bin to see if anything improved, but I will look for a .1uf tomorrow and try using it instead.

    You might try a .01uF

     

    .1uF is the maximum you would want to use. Beyond this point, plugging a controller with more than .1uF could cause vcc levels to droop, potentially crashing the console. 8bitdo adapters will sporadically reset the nes when hotplugged because the intush current is too high. But the cap is connected across a switch, not a voltage rail.

     

    Bigger issue is the switch has an input impedance on the console. I do not know what the input impedance is on the Atari, but too high a cap value will make the switch act like a one stop, holding the input for multiple frames.

     

    So a .1uF cap connectdd to a 60k input impedance (i am guesding here) will have an rc time constant of ~.006 seconds. One frame is 1/60 sec or .0167. Now, an rc time constant is the time required for an input to reach 63% of it's final resting value. The threshold for most 5v logic is typically 2.4v or greater for high and .8v or lower for low. The intermediary area is a fuzzy logic area outside of normal operating parameters that could result in the chip bein GB unable to reliably detect a logic state.

     

    In layman's terms, the exac TV moment of logic transition is unknown. Since the logic is normally high and becomes pulled low, the cap will gradually fill up to 5v potential. 2.4v is 48% of vcc, less than 63, so the time will be shorter than .006 seconds as and significantly shorter TV han ok one frame. Suppose the input impedance is 10k or less, you are looking at less than 1 millisecond hold time after releasing the fire button.

     

    In short, a 1uF cap isn't going to cause noticeable delay of inout, but larger values will. And it's a common filterr cap size gor protecting logic chips from load transients.

     

    At any rate, your glitching should be cured. You won't believe when another user accused my custom built wiring harness of being defective because the microswitch joysticks glitched his tia. In a curious turn of events, I ended up buying the joystick from him when he decided to kock it on ebay, and I still have it. No symptoms on my end at all... :P

  25. Posted

    Well I did want Rolling Thunder, now I don't. I'm not going to get sucked into some scalper frenzy to have someone demand 3-4x the price on ebay because they can get there first. Limited and numbered these days serves no one but the scalper.

    Word. While I'm more interested in classic era arcade games than middle era like Rolling Thunder, they can eat a bag if they think purposefully limiting them to pander to "collectards" will get me to buy it. :ponder:
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