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Britishcar

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Posts posted by Britishcar

  1. Posted

    Were there any final results to this post? I agree with Nezgar; it seems to be missing the analog daughter board that sits like a bridge over the drive rail section that was a hallmark of the later drives. It can be 'upgraded' with the grass valley kit or...you could just get it going and enjoy the very early 810 'vibe' of using older tech and living with its quirks.

     

    If it gives a bit of a kick at startup and then has trouble I would also suspect power. So...what wattage of wall wart power supply are you using? Early 810s came with very weak power supplies, barely able to run them at the time. It could be a combination of a weak PS combined with moving parts that haven't spun or slid in decades causing it to lock up.

     

    Basic drive maintenance would say to a) clean the rails with alcohol and q-tips, b) lightly lubricate the clean rails with a very light oil such as Tri-Flow or a light lithium grease c) one careful drop on the top spindle axle with a very light oil d) clean the read/write head with alcohol and a q-tip being careful of the pad *above* the read/write head (don't get alcohol on that) and e) *carefully*, *slowly* push the read/write assembly back and forth on the rails just to get it moving.

     

    Finally, you might want to carefully shoot or apply some Deoxit to the powerjack and pull off and Deoxit all connectors. 

  3. Posted

    Assuming it works, pull the trigger on that beautiful 2609 immediately. You will be having the "original" Intellivision experience. Don't worry about "detachable" controllers. The 2609 controllers are plugged in as well -- just internally. You just have to remove some phillips head screws and pop open the case to plug/unplug them if you ever need to.

    • Like 2

  11. Posted

    This is a very underrated and misunderstood game. Most of the fun is developing the subtle strategies to beat it at the highest level.

     

    I can beat the top level about 50% to 70% of the time. It comes down to luck in some cases. I've found the best way is to come at each armada moving as due west as possible, kill sonar before they are in range, take out the lead destroyer using just the over the horizon visuals and then IMMEDIATELY sink to the bottom and turn off engines. Then wait. The remaining destroyer will pound you with depth charges but he'll be blind and will usually not find you. Then, circle around and repeat. Once the two destroyers are gone, carefully pick off the remaining ships with the usual torpedo in the broadside idea. The trick is to not be greedy but to erode the convoy until completely sunk. Then do it again for the next one. You'll need to line your subs up fast in case your lead goes down, the remaining subs are right in line to continue to attack the convoys before reaching the north harbor.

    • Like 3

  13. Posted

    Not sure if these have been mentioned yet. Some have limited self play, others just have cycling "arcade" attract modes and never go to the normal Atari color cycling:

     

    Atari Invaders (limited self play)

    Beachhead

    Clowns and Balloons

    Defender (if you manually set it to DEMO mode)

    Gorf

    Leaderboard

    Mr. Cool

    Nibbler

    Pharaoh's Curse

    Pole Position

    Protector II

    Rally Speedway

    Robot Battle

    Snake Byte

    Sneakers

    Space Eggs

    Space Zap

    Triad

    Twerps

    Vanguard

  16. Posted

    Thanks, carlsson! I know that a lot of VIC-20's and C64's have gone to that great bit bucket in the sky based on failing power supplies that began to put out too much voltage -- that's what worried me -- that the PS was giving way somehow.

     

    The capacitor sounds like a very reasonable idea. I should probably just recap the entire machine...

  17. Posted

    I have a VIC-20 that I've had for many years that has begun to exhibit a habit of booting to a black screen, and then after turning it off and back on again, booting normally. So the issue is intermittent, etc.

     

    It occurred to me to check the power supply. It is a 2-pin early supply and the VIC is also a very early machine with the large motherboard and giant heat dissipation stuff inside, etc.

     

    The power supply is a 2-pin #902502-01 labeled output 9V AC 3A.

     

    Here's my question: when I measure the voltage at the holes of the pins on the power supply, I get a steady 11.75V AC.

     

    So...this sounds abnormal but is it? I know that a system can eat up excess amps as needed but is it normal for the power supply to put out more than 9V to a multi-meter but be the correct amount for the machine, i.e. sort of an "unloaded" output?

     

    Attached is a picture of an identical supply.

     

    If anyone has a similar PS, what output are you getting? is 11.75V about to fry the machine or is this a healthy normal output?

     

    Thank you!

    post-34854-0-36626200-1533608340.jpg

  22. Posted · Edited by Britishcar

    I actually don't own this one anymore. But since I don't see it on the list, I'll let be added as "in existence".

     

    This perfectly working beaut was purchased for the purpose of housing my Incognito board. I ended up needing to sell it and the Incognito.

     

    The keyboard was in excellent shape, after replacing the better part of the key inner plastic pieces from a spare I had on hand. I sold it to someone here on the east coast.

     

    And yes, I removed the "DOM" sticker myself. :D

     

    attachicon.giffront angle.jpg attachicon.giffront angle full.jpg attachicon.giffoam.jpg

     

    attachicon.giflogo.jpg attachicon.gifcartridge ports.jpg attachicon.gifram rom.jpg

     

    attachicon.gifconnector joystick.jpg attachicon.gifconnectors.jpg attachicon.gifbottom full.jpg

     

    attachicon.gifbottom back.jpg attachicon.gifbottom.jpg

     

     

    What a beautiful 800. I'm so sorry you had to sell this machine. Hopefully, it went to a good home.

  25. Posted

    First time I've downloaded this file. PERFECT. Even my 2600 high scores are very much the same as this version. It looks/feels just like the 2600 version which is perfect since it's one of the great wrist busting titles from that era. Very impressive!

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