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CatPix

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Posts posted by CatPix

  1. My friends for cleaning system : crystal vinegar and Essence F ("lighter gas" or white gas, or naphta - sold in France in large tanks, as dry cleaning agent, not as lighter gas).

    And sometime just good old warm water and soap ;)

     

    The crystal vinegar dissolve "hand grease" on pads shells, clean the carts contacts, isn't agressive to electronics.

    The Essence F is just magical to remove stickers and other dirt, and isn't aggressive to laminated labels.

     

    essence_0020_f_0020_1l_0020_325663003141

    Note that those products are also useful in other uses such as auto/bike/bicycle mechanics; it's always better to use all purpose products IMO.

  2. @Nebulon Another problem with the timeline idea is that the game systems often were launched at different months and even years in different regions. Famicom was released in Japan in 1983. NES was introduced to test markets in the United States in late 1985, and was gradually introduced across various regions of the country throughout 1986.

    And you can add that for Europe, dates varies even more wildly, with some countries not receiving an offcial NES release before 1990.

    Also, there is still that "perception" thing. Best sales years for the NES in Europe spawn between 1990 and 1992!

  3. Get a toaster, open it, clean the connector with crystal/white vinegar (bath it during some minutes and rub/clean it with some cloth) and maybe bend the connectors a bit if they are looking too bent .

    I did it for both NESes I got, 4 years ago, and up to now, it's still going fine, with the original Nintendo connector.

    You only need ONE screwdriver for doing this.

    • Like 1
  4. Amusingly, I read once an interview of Pierre Tel, creator in the late 70's of the arcade machines Jeutel, which were mainly built and sold in France, copying at first game of the era (as he admit in the interview, "because there was really no copyright at the time, and suppliers of the era would deliver only a batch of 10 machines when we wanted 200 or 500, so we copied them and got the number we wanted" ). He would later licence them properly.

     

    He explained that one of the numerous tests made on arcade was to test any tricks people could do on the machine. He created the "electric spark lighter alarm" when he heard from various arcade centers and cafés, etc... that people were using electric sparks lighters to shortcut the money slot, which would give free credits. Rather than proofing the slot, he added an alarm that was triggered by high current.

    He also explained that he once received a new engineer that designed a new machine, and he "put it down" in seconds. as he said to the guy "if people can get free credits from the game by plugging and unplugging it 50 times, they'll do it."

    I can link the interview but it's all in French.

    http://www.grospixels.com/site/jeutel_01.php

     

    aracde-jeutel.jpeg

  5. Well, are those multicarts, or ROM carts (can you put your one ROM on the SD/compact Flash cart)?

    Multicarts are enclosed, non-modifiables carts containing a fixed number of programs. They usually use read-only ROM. This type of ROM last longer than Flash memory. However, it's not eternal (but our ROM carts aren't eternal either. ROM can die)

     

    Flash cart, ROM cart, etc... are carts where you stick one kind of Flash memory and read ROMs from them.

    The flash cards can go wrong, but it won't affect the cart itself, you will have to replace your SD/CF/whatever flash memory.

     

    I don't know about the Everdrive, but RAM based carts I would think load the game data from a flash cart or USB, and put it into RAM. It certainly help saving the flash cart, but RAM can have failures too (never had a computer going bad because of faulty RAM?).

     

    From those, I would say that non-writable multicarts are the less likely to fail. Flash-reading carts will be more likely to fail, but the flash cart is replaceable easily.

    RAM based carts, I don't know.

  6. Indeed it is.

    And check out on famous Japanese sellers; the one I trust the most is Yamatoku-Classics on eBay.

    I have seen Coregrafx going to as low as 35$. But yeah, at this price, it was the core console only, no AC and no pad. But hell, the PSU is a standard 9V (I think you can use a SMS/Megadrive I PSU) and the base pads are dirt cheap. Sure you have to add this and the shipping cost, so the price would be more around 65/70$. But, as you are buyng the system, get to buy games and save on shipping, that's what I do ;)

    Games are even cheaper, even if the prices seems to go up and down for no reason really. (Personnal example, I wanted SFII. First one I see at his shop sells for 15$. The second one sells for 17$. And the third one, EXACTLY THE SAME, complete in box, I got it for 6,55$ WTF?) So it's a matter of luck but you can get bargains, even on eBay.

  7. So why get those systems? No point honestly. Especially the TG16. The express core II has composite out, but not the first core that's white (get the grey and orange core II). So other than playing American hucard games (CD games are region free) there's no point in getting a TG16. Getting a Core II might be good if you want to buy the CD2 attachment for CD games. But that's about the only difference. Plus this looks cooler :P.

    Little correction.

    The white unit is the PC-Engine. Simply the PC-Engine.

    Then you have the Coregrafx, with grey body and blue logo, and blue marking on pads.

    Then the Coregrafx II, which is the same, but with orange markings.

     

    There is a good point in getting a Core (I or II) rather than a shuttle and expansions being more readily available :

    The Coregrafx units sells for very low in Japan. You can get one loose from a Japanese eBay seller for as low as 35$ (minus shipping). The Shuttle usually goes for more.

     

    As for video mods, EVERY PC-Engine (except the Shuttle!) got composite and RGB on the large, rear port. So with basic soldering skills you can add video out of a white PC-Engine. (It's not very usefull, as it's the first model, it's often sold for more than a Coregrafx, so there is no point in getting one now.)

    http://www.gamesx.com/misctech/pcebp.php

  8. I have a PC-Engine Coregrafx I, with the RGB-SCART adapter. I don't have a CD-ROM unit yet tho I plan to get one... If I can get one for a reasonable price (under the 100$ mark, that is).

    The PC-Engine is a great nice little console, it's too bad NEC really never tried to sell it outside Japan; which is mostly the reason why it failed on both the US market and the European market; because, despite never never officially sold, there is at least 3 companies that sold PC-Engine in Europe, and at least one that got the right from Nec, so they were "approved" but not recognized (Nec clearly stated they will not modify their systems to PAL, neither they would take any console back for guarantee after the modding of the system).

    There was first Telegame in the UK, importing Turbografx-16 systems from the US. Then an unknow (to me) company in Germany, modifying the unit for output PAL (probably PAL-60, however). Were they modding PC-Engine or Turbografx-16 models, I don't know.

    And there was SODIPENG in France, that had this deal with Nec to have their systems shipped right from Nec to them. The unit were PC-Engine (mostly Coregrafx models) modded to RGB (60htz again) and shipped with an additionnal RGB SCART cable. Games were obviously not translated, but shipped with a sheet of paper translating the instructions.

    This was a huge grief because of the obvious lack of RPG games that many French players expected to get at the time.

     

    4095434041_3cd27cba15_o.jpg

     

    Sodipeng also sold an RGB adapter to plug on the back of the PC-Engine (because the RGB is present on that huge connector, too); this device got the advantage of being plu'n'play, and doesn't require to mod the console; however, you obviously can't use it with the memory unit or any CD-Rom attachment; in this regard the Sodipeng internal mod adding the RDB on a 8 pings DIN on the side of the console (where you have a 5 pins DIn on the Coregrafx) is better.

     

    dsc07942.jpg

     

    2012-102.jpg

  9. You can put any signal through this plug. Heh, the S-video plug is a Mini-din with only 4 pins (and it's the same than a keyboard plug, BTW).

    It migh be a kind of JAMMA adapter? Is there a Wiki where you can see how the internals of the 3DO works? Because it take most signals from that ribbon wire plugged to that card near the CD player. It we know what signals goes through this cable on a "regular" 3DO then we may know what signals were going out (or in! It might have been a multi CD player plugged to the 3DO for kiosk demos, maybe even adding a selection screen?)

  10. No RF on the unit, but a mini Din plug... Well, this Mini Din plug have 8 pins, and the cable on mine have 8 wires.

    Maybe this one is a more refined version of mine, with a proper output instead of an hardwired cable!

    Note that mine does have RF (I haven't tested it. I have only some TV able to catch RF NTSC, and the result is piss poor).

  11. I guess Nintendo tried to make a cross between the home and handheld system. If I remember, you can connect to another Virtual Boy, more than two? So I guess their idea was you'll get your VB to friends and play together with the VB cable. Something made easier with a handled like system : light, no tons of wiring, working on batteries.

    They ultimately failed, but I guess by so few times... Waiting two years more and they would had blue LEDSs to make a RGB display... or better, have two color LCD screens. But heh, the past is past.

  12. Well, it's probably true. I mean, even the idea of replacing a well-know name (at least in Europe) by the name of a long defunct company tell much about their idea of business.

    Infogrames had their best years in the 90's, mostly as publishers : Alone in the Dark, Driver, and a bunchload of French-based cartoons and comics games (Asterix, Tintin, etc...).

    French companies have a long story of having great products/ideas but never knowing how to sell them. Or how to evolve enough to keep up with the market.

    • Like 1
  13.  

     

    Yeah, all FZ-1s have that round hole. It's where the Svideo would be on the outside next to the RCA plugs.

     

    Honestly, it wouldnt surprise me if it was Kiosk related. Like, maybe the video was hard wired to the kiosk? While it might look homemade, the system WAS displayed at numerous conventions before its debut. If they hard wired it up, it wouldn't have been done by a factory, but a custom job. It looks professional enough that that might be the case.

     

    Honest, I'd keep it as is. Y/W/R connection is good enough, and you might find out later after you reverse the mod that yours was indeed a convention or trade show model, or a kiosk model.

     

    Very cool either way :)

    I meant the hole on the right, over the white label. It looks home made as well.

     

    And yes, I supposed too that maybe this was a model used in Europe to display the system before the PAL release. That would be amazing, but heh, I already came on rare/odd items without expecting it, so I'm not surprised :D

  14. Well I suppose I could just remove the chatterton (it looks like it is) to get S-video. What is the cable about? I don't know.

    Does all the FZ1 have this round hole next to the RCA plugs? I feel like the cable was going out of the system; it's cut now and just goes nowhere in the system. Was it a video mod, or something else? Maybe a kiosk model indeed, with a special wiring to plug special audio/video and gamepad accessories? It looks home made, but at the same time, not much people would made a soldering PCB like the one I have here. And it still doesn't explain why the S-video connection was sealed.

    Maybe it was from a development kit?

  15. The Thomson TO and MO families were sold mostly in France, and in Italy and Germany (with little to no success).

    They are famous in France for being the main computers used in the "Informatique pour tous" (computer for all) 1984 plan for giving all schools computers and dedicaces classes to learn about computers.

     

    Their most recognizeable feature was the included/build-in light pen, used at the computer boot and in some software.

     

    to770.png

     

    It had an impressive graphic/text mode, but weak capabilities for games, and a slow CPU, making up to Spectrum-level games.

    Even at sound level, the TO 7 and MO5 series had only a beeper. One game module adding a real sound chip and two game ports (amusingly, using the Odyssey²/Videopac standard, in either DIN or COM plug format, rather than the computer/atari standard) but most games doesn't use it.

     

    800px-Thomson_MO5_face.JPG

    Module "games and music" pluggged on the back of a MO5

     

    1024px-Thomson_TO-07-IMG_0413.JPG

    The very first models had the most horrible "sensitive" keyboard. The upgraded TO7-70 was available in gum and real kays keyboard.

     

    One interesting but not much used feature was the cart port :

    IMG_0075.jpg

    It was mostly used for the BASIC cart, and the LOGO programming/teaching language. Most of the programs were released on tapes, and some on floppies.

     

    Another nice feature was the use of a standard SCART connector, meaning that you could buy any SCART cable to connect your computer to your TV, if the TV had one SCART plug. Or buy any SCART equipped monitor.

     

    Sorcery on the Thomson :

    sorcery.png

    Boulder dash like game :

    pspthom-snap-2.jpg

     

    It's an interesting machine because many French gaming companies (such as Infogrames, know today as Atari) started on those computers. It's probably the reason of their failure on foreign markets and ultimately in France : French games only, almost no arcade ports nor computer games ports of the time.

    • Like 2
  16. So here are my 3DO pics :

     

    Back :

    gallery_35492_963_829508.jpg

    gallery_35492_963_1898076.jpg

     

    Under it :

    gallery_35492_963_616779.jpg

     

    Inside it.

    gallery_35492_963_1690400.jpg

     

    So I was wrong, the S-video connector IS here. However, it was blocked, and this seems to be a professionnal work. (Beside, why a modder would hide a connection?)

     

    But here is that weird cable here :

    gallery_35492_963_1145632.jpg

     

    What is it? It seems this cable was going out of the system and it's weirdly linked to the console.

    • Like 2
  17. Because witouth instructions manuals and no other machine around working the same, you were more clever with a micro of the 80's when you saw one?

     

    Those kids have been used to GUIs and not dealing with the guts of their computers since they got one (and lots of them are, I think, simply too young to care about such details).

    • Like 4
  18. It's likely that people either used their PCW for their back-up documents, or just printed their most important docs; or kept using their PCW. In mine, when I opened it to replace the drive belts, I found a sticky note on the first disk unit, saying "drive belt replaced 11/03/96" Quite amusing I must say :grin:

  19. I agree. I've found nothing that states that any 3DO came without S-Video built in. Please post pics! Did you buy it when it came out, or did you get it used later down the line?

    I'll post pics whenever I can, I do'nt have the console at hand right now.

    The hole is obscured.

    I have no clue about the system origins. I bought it used, loose, last year, for 35€. I can only tell it's a NTSC model, but I found no clues on Internet to know the difference between a Japanese or an US unit (the unit was retrofitted with a 220V 50Htz power supply as well). I suppose I could get a definitive answer by burning one of those text games with special Kanjis that US and PAL unit can't read, to be sure.

  20. I believe all 3DOs have S-Video out, along with composite and RF. They're not proprietary, just any male to male cord will do, which I really like about the system. The only difference I can think of between the three outside reliability is that the Goldstar and FZ-1 have a front loading CD mechanism, and the FZ-10 is the only one that came with a controller without a headphone jack and volume control built in. However, the FZ-10 will use FZ-1 and Goldstar controllers, and the volume/headphone jack functions will work on it.

     

    ANYwho, as promised, here are some pics!

    I have one FZ1 with no S-Video out, and looking inside, not even a place to solder a S-video plug.

     

    About reliability, I always heard that the FZ1 is very reliable. The FZ 10 seems to have some laser issues but it's still reliable, unlike the Goldstar units.

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