Dripfree
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Posts posted by Dripfree
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So ever since I got my Vectrex the joystick has been loose vertically... By this I mean you can pinch it and lift it up and down a small amount. I am not referring to the problem you would get from broken springs on the pots, it has always centered itself just fine. I had always assumed there was a broken spring that was meant to put upward pressure on the stick in there. It still worked just fine so I just left well enough alone. Recently I had to do a diferent repair so I thought while I had it open I would fix that too. To my surprise there was no evidence of anything like what I described ever existing. It just seems like it has its little ball and socket joint, and that joint was designed to have some vertical slop. At any rate putting it back together like that was not good enough for me so I got a spring and fabricated what I expected it always was supposed to have in the first place. Its much better then it ever was now and I love it. So was it perfectly normal the way it was before or am I missing something.
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So I envy your self control and you're ability to focus you're collection. I however am going the opposite route. Speaking specifically of my NES collection, If I had your control I would have been done a long time ago with the exception of the extremely rare games. I have lately been making a point of buying all the crap games at the lowest price I can find them. Most of them I may never play but I see them as being almost like trading cards. When I get a new one I clean it up as best as it can be, I take a moment to admire it, then I file it alphabetically on my shelf. For some reason that whole process brings me great joy. I fear I will not be able to say I'm done until I own 1 of every game ever made. Even then there would be label upgrades to get, boxes and manuals. Collecting can become a sickness and I say that very literally, it's a combination of hoarding and ocd with extreme focus. I love it. So far I have managed to indulge these tendencies without having any negative impact on my life. I do believe if it took that turn I could change.... but I guess well just have to see.
Also your thread title sound like something Yoda would say.
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This app is called total controler honestly its not great and realy just the first one I tried. I plan on trying others many offer a high level of customization including button layout. I think there is like a million different apps like this out there.Which app is it?
And thanks for the pic I had planned on googling just that. It apears that some of my assumptions were correct. I had hoped the directionals would be linked with the track navigation buttons which makes me optimistic this may work. I do have little hope of finding a setup that does everything I want and functions well as a controller. So I will likely still attempt to build one. It will be nice to at least see a few games this way and actually verify it is working as a game machine.
Oh I just noticed that is actually a 3do controller.... Well hears to hoping philips used the same logical layout.
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I believe in my area at least flea markets have become the absolute worst place to buy games. One I used to frequent has an indoor area with permanent resellers whose prices were always high. Outside it is more of a rummage style where if you're early and lucky you may score a deal. I went for the first time in a while a few weeks ago. And the outside sellers were clearly picked through only copies of Maden and shit left on the inside there were more resellers then ever and their prices were also higher then ever. They were stocked to the brim. All of the games were very high end ebay prices. Most had at least 20 copies of the very common but sought after titles... Mario, Contra. I believe they buy from the outdoor vendors before open and then flip them. Many of these vendors were not really even being shopped, but had some of the most elaborate shops in the building. So I believe they are also selling their stock on ebay. I assume this activity is going on at many flea markets in the country. Its interesting because they have a monopoly on the flea market game sales. With the hoarding nature of their inventory they own a large percentage of the available games. By selling on ebay they are able to have a huge impact of the going rates of these items since most thrift stors and game stores price their items off ebay. I'm not sure just how accurate my theories are, but I find the prices these days very fascinating. Most of this stuff is actually not rare at all hundreds of thousands even millions were made. I think that there is a scenario where there is a false perception of value. When enough people have that perception of value it actually becomes the real value whether its false or not. The good news would be that if my thoughts are accurate then that would make these prices unsustainable and the bubble will pop.
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Interesting discovery today on this front. I know the remotes make poor game pads due to the infra red connection. I did however discover today I was able to control the cdi with a universal remote app for my Samsung s5. I only experimented with an audio cd and it performed all those functions just fine. So now I'm planning on burning a game just to see if this system is functioning well enough to play it and if I can get any level of control with this app.
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I actually just learned of that game within the last couple weeks through some youtube video. I kinda feel ot may have been a death metal jesus video but I could be wrong.
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So we have all seen prices go up for a while now, it's a weird scenario right now I think where so many people think that something is valuable that it becomes way more valuable than it actually is. I like to hit up a local goodwill on my lunch. They had a model 1 nes in the case with a stack of games. I got excited cuz I don't see that anymore I figure they just sell that online now. Excitement died quick. Every piece was individually priced. $79.99 for the system, $10.99 a piece for each controller and gun, $5.99 for the rf adapter and ac adapter (they were nice enough to sell them as a set), $7.99 a piece for about 7 common games. $24.99 for Donky Kong jr., and my favorite part $24.99 for Super Mario-Duck Hunt... I actually got mad... I had to have them open the case to see the prices. As I flipped through them I told the girl "I know you don't do the prices but I got to tell you these prices are nuts". She says "yea a few people have said that". I put them back and left. I kinda wanted to buy the chords and controller's just to be a dick and make it an incomplete system. What realy gets me is the next day it was all gone. I asked the same girl about it and she said someone shortly after me was excited to buy it all. I thought those prices were insane but I guess not since someone was willing to pay it you could say that's what its worth. Next time they get one I'm sure the prices will be even more inflated. Hell I can't even blame them thats just good buisness. Now I realy want to know about the person who bought it and why they were willing to pay so much. I've been collecting for years so obviously prices were much much lower. Am I way out of touch? What have you seen like this?
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That is very cool and pretty much exactly what I was looking for. I realize this would likely be an unreasonable project without a huge payoff even with success. Like I said Ive been looking to get into arduino and this may be a good place to start. Im not diving in just yet but this is exactly the waters that I wanted to test.There's a schematic for a SNES to CD-i controller adapter:
I've corresponded with the designer and he'll be making a few of them to sell. I'll try to remember to post here if/when I hear from him that they're available.
The mouse idea interests me too. I think that may be something that may be worth using or is within my abilities to hack.
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I've honestly never understood where the 'nintoaster' name comes from. It doesn't look like any damn toaster I've ever used! Is it just because the carts get pushed down/pop up? Other things do that- why not call it a NES-in-the-box or something?
I actually agree it's a stupid name that somehow stuck. I think its just because its on a springy piece that pops up and down. But yea if anything its like a small pizza oven....
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So I was at Goodwill today. I strolled past the VHS and dvd players looking for a Genesis or something cool. I moved on and and the thought actually crossed my mind to recheck the dvd players to see if there might be a CDI or 3do in the mix. Sure enough I found a CDI in there. That stuff seems to happen to me more often than you would think. It didn't work until I removed all the pieces of Comptons interactive encyclopedia. I also had to pry up the spindle a bit it got pressed onto the housing and wouldnt spin. Well it plays cds now I got no games to test but it seems like a good sign. My real question is about the controler. I don't have one and they're pretty pricy on ebay. I guess there were at one point genesis or pc pad to cdi adapters made. I have seen pictures but not any schematics. I would like to find the plans and give it a go if anyone knows where to find them. One site said you may need a micro controller. That obviously complicates things but then again I have wanted to give arduino a try. Or hell maybe someone knows of a cheap place to by controller's or some type of cheap alternative. I realize what I'm asking may not even be possible, I figured id ask cuz I kinda want to give this thing a go and I thought someone may be able to show me where to start.
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So I do remember having problems as a child always having to blow into games. Now I know this obviously made the problems worse. As an adult i never do this and I clean every game i get before it goes in there. On the rare occasion my nes glitches at startup that game is immediately cleaned and it works. Also I play my nes alot. I live in Wisconsin and it can get very humid. I think corosion never realy takes hold for me just from frequency of use... I believe I actually have more issues with my snes or genesis than my nes, just because they are used less frequently used. So I'm now thinking that yes there may be some issues with the design but I do think they are highly overblown. I think that most issues actually stem from blowing into cartridges and never cleaning than any real design issue.
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Ah yes He does sell on ebay too. I actually sent him a message asking if he had a Taiwan model. They look very good. HAve you seen any in person. I want the best version that is out there. The Taiwan is not all that important. If they are good I will go with him ragardless. For some reason I think that I just want to fool myself into thinking this never happened.
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So I put on my kid gloves and started playing my Vectrex... With the first touch of the stick it dropped to the bottom of the controller. I knew what this meant I have already watched every video on vectrex repair just to be ready for the day something went wrong. I'm good at fixing this stuff but that sticker covering the screws is a problem. The repair was easy.Somehow all 4 screws holding the stick to the top of the controler came out. I did pretty good actually better then most of the videos I saw but that sticker curled and it just doesn't look right anymore. So heres the point of my sad story. I have found a couple replacements for sale on ebay, but I'm wondering if anyone here has had experience with replacements. I want it to be as accurate as possible in apearence and texture. And Im sure im asking for too much here but it would be great if it said made in Taiwan in the lower left. All the repros I have seen are the Hong Kong variant. This is not as important as color and texture to me but it may bug me a little. Any suggestions on where to get the best?
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Over the years I estimate I have bought about 20 original NES systems. If see a good deal (this is very rare these days) Ill buy it clean it up and use it for trading fodder. I love cleaning these things especially if they seem abused. When I get rid of them they usually go to a collector so I know they're going to a good home. What I'm getting at is never once have I had one that wasn't very fixable. I believe most would start a game first try 9 times out of 10. I don't even do all that much. I disassemble clean out the cat hair and spider eggs remove the 72 pin clean all the contacts and resemble. I never even boiled one or bent the pins. After that its just cosmetic. I will say all of my games are obsessively clean so that helps. I always hear people say it was a horrible design that will inevitably fail. I like the design especially as a collector because you can stack on it. Maybe I'm just realy lucky, but it doesn't seem like it takes much to keep this 30 year old machine going. I've actually never had one with a failed component. That seems odd. What experiences have you guys had with this machine?
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This is how it began for me. About 12 years ago I decided to get an NES and a few choice games... While hunting for NES titles I stumbled across a cheap Genesis and decided to get it and a few games. Friends saw my collection and were like hey I got an old 2600 want it?.... Then I stumbled across an atari 800xl. Later a TI 994a, and I just had to get a PEB box.... That got me nostalgic for my C64 days so I had to get one..... It goes on and on. Today I got a 32x and a bunch of games. It's a sickness. With games, controllers, power supplies, etc, it honestly has gotten out of hand, but I love it.
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Yoomp! is fricken sweet.
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It's not a project I'd want to take on and there are already plenty of realy nice places to get Vectrex info (AtariAge obviously being the best). I wonder if there is enough interest in the Vectrex to get a crowd funding campaign to buy the domain and build a realy nice Vectrex site. I'd just like to see that domain be put to a good use.
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Wow stunning! I'm speechless. Its just perfect.
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Any one know what that "mystery goo" actually is? I have picked up a few pieces of old electronics that seem to have the same thing. It seemed to soften the plastic. I thought i could scrape it off and I ended up easily gouging out chunks of plastic. It almost seems like the plastic sweat it out over time. I thought perhaps someone set it on a radiator or something?
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Ha never put two and two together before! I inherited this from my grandma when she died. She had filled with pennies. It was $300 bucks worth and I have refilled it myself since then. I knew of the Mr Boston games but I never knew what the company realy was. Funny thing is It has been sitting right next to my Vectrex this whole time.
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I had always thought BSG had gotten some inspiration from the original asteroids. The viper when looked at at almost any angle could be seen as a triangle with similar proportions to the ship from asteroids. The flight physics were also similar to real space physics like asteroids. In most other game's movies and tv shows the physics are more like flying an airplane. Finally the "jumps" in BSG is similar to hyperspace in asteroids. Probably just coincidence but I sometimes like to think of asteroids as the viper training routines they would do in the asteroid field.
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I have always drawn the line at any type of disk. Meaning cd or dvd etc. Although lately seeing a game in a jewel case is starting to feel a little retro, and that bothers me a little for some reason.
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My buddy gave me a non working early 2000's Imac laptop. With a quick google I found out there was a common problem with a surface mount chip breaking solder points free from the board. This was not actually my MacGyver idea in fact I found a youtube video walk through. All you had to do was get a slider that you would put on the bottom of a chair leg and stick it to the top of that chip. When the case was reassembled it would press on the slider and force the chip to make contact with the board. I was amazed when it worked. It was so easy I felt bad keeping the computer so I gave it back. He moved to Germany and still uses the laptop. For him its basically no more then a facebook machine.
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These two posts are going to be about as good as you can get. I looked into my options for installing a 5.25 drive in my desktop a couple years ago. I started out with the foolish assumption that I could just install it download drivers an bingo it works. After hours and hours of searching the web for a way to make it work all I found was the boards listed above. Then one day while driving I saw a 90's compaq sitting in someones trash. Now my method for writing floppies is.... net to laptop, laptop to 3.5 floppy, 3.5 floppy to compaq, compaq to 5.25 floppy, 5.25 floppy to TI 994A or 800xl. The process is so cumbersome but It works and I didn't have to buy anything. If your goal is to write floppy's for an old computer usually the best option is something like sio2pc (Atari) or some other rs232 link. Or maybe some kind of sd card reader for your old computer. In either situation its going to be your vintage computer doing the writing of the floppy. There are plenty of options for writing a floppy depending on what type of vintage computer you use. If you just want to have a floppy drive in your modern pc because it would be sweet. In my oppinion its not worth the effort.
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Just stumbled across a cdi got some questions...
in Classic Console Discussion
Posted · Edited by Dripfree
So the Idea of using a phone app seems to be a bust. I have not found an app that gives me any control beyond cd player functions. If anyone seems to know where to find the hex code values for all the functions of a CD-I remote let me know, I do have an app that would allow this level of control but I have failed to find this information anywhere.
I am also watching that roller ball controller.
I have found plans to make an adapter for a pc controller. I does involve programming a pic chip, but doesn't seem crazy hard. I am bound and determined to play this thing but I'm not going to pay those crazy ebay prices for a game pad. I don't even care if I spend the same amount of money making my own because then I at least learn a new skill for the cost, and get some entertainment from the making process.