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ZeroPage Homebrew

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Posts posted by ZeroPage Homebrew

  6. Posted

     

    Mind posting some pics of your setup while running a game? Curious to see what this looks like.

     

    You bet and I can even do you one better! I filmed the whole modding of the system for a new video series I'll be starting later this year. I'll post in the forums when it's all ready to go.

     

    I can tell you that the clarity, sound and colours are GORGEOUS. In the mean time here are some pics of the system hooked up to an inexpensive HDMI upscaler. I'll be getting a Framemeister later for when I'm doing the actual video series.

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    • Like 2

  8. Posted

    I bought the Harmony Encore Cart about a year ago and it just recently stopped working after powering my 2600 off and then on again to play a different game. I've since tried it on multiple 2600's with no success, it either gives a black screen or vertical grey lines (sometimes squiggly) but never the menu. All other carts work perfect on my machines.

    When hooking it up to a PC via USB it is recognized in Windows 10 as 'Harmony Encore v1.9a' and is recognized in the Harmony Programming Tool as
    'LPC2103, 32 kiB ROM / 8 kiB SRAM' @ 'COM3'. I've tried to flash bios v1.06 on it but it didn't work as I think it needs to successfully boot on a 2600 to start that process.

    Is there any other troubleshooting I can try to get it back up and going or is the cart DOA?

  11. Posted

    I haven't seen this posted already but there's an amazing looking game in the works for the Vectrex called Robot Arena. It looks like a nice mix between a shooter and Robotron 2084. There's been a gameplay video posted of a beta version and an article written about it (in German, use Google Translate): http://www.vectrex.de/en/robot-arena-packend-schnell-und-anspruchsvoll/

     

     

    I haven't been able to find any more information about the release date or any information/website for the programmer Thomas Sontowski. If anybody has any more updated information on this game, I can't wait to buy a copy!

    • Like 5

  12. Posted · Edited by cimmerian

    Update!

     

    I received the AA -> D adapters today for my Zaxxon tabletop game AND THEY WORK! First, I tried rechargeable batteries in them and nothing happened when I turned it on. Not giving up there, I then tried some alkaline AA batteries in the adapter and they worked perfectly, first try! Also, there is plenty of room in the Zaxxon for the AA -> D adapters so I highly recommend getting these. I'm not sure how many tabletops use D batteries but I'm pretty sure all the Coleco are C powered.

     

    Armed with this new knowledge of alkaline vs rechargable, I went back to my AA -> C adapters and tried alkaline batteries in my Frogger and THEY WORKED! There is still the issue of the unbelievably tight fit (AA's are 50.5mm long and C's are 50mm long) but at least I know now that it was the type of battery and not the adapter.

     

    Looking at the voltage output of the two types of battery:

    Alkaline: 1.5V x 4 = 6V

    NiMH: 1.2V x 4 = 4.8V

     

    I'm guessing that 4.8V falls well outside of the realm that is needed to power on the game but 6V is what is needed (same as C'd) and works all the way up to 9V with the plug in Coleco Perma Power.

    Also, I asked my friend, who is more knowledgeable when it comes to electrical things and he says that you could essentially get a equally rated power supply to the Coleco Perma Power, strip it to the bare wires and hook it up to the first and last terminal inside the battery compartment and it will work. I would definitely confirm this with someone else before trying it yourself and potentially frying your game system.

  13. Posted

    I seem to remember seeing someone post a photo somewhere of a homemade version of Coleco Perma Power using wood doweling. I would LOVE for someone to create a third party substitute for the Perma Power, the official ones can get pricey on EBay and there's been nothing ever created that I know of for sale to replace them.

    To try and answer your questions:
    - I don't think there's anything particularly special about the power adapter, if one with a similar voltage output could be found and wired up in the same way I think it would easy to substitute it out.
    - There might be some minor benefit to have heavy batteries in the bottom of the machine to weigh it down but the official Coleco Perma Power 'batteries' weigh next to nothing and it works fine with those.
    - I doubt the separation between the 'cells' are necessary and are just there to make it as easy as possible for the consumer to complete the circuit, I don't think there's anything inside except for a wire running internally from the + to the - terminals but please don't trust me about this, I'm not knowledgeable about electrical circuits.

    Here are the specs for the Coleco Perma Power (as seen in the photos I've attached):

    Coleco Perma Power Battery Eliminator
    Model No 2298
    Input: 117V AC-60Hz 3W
    Output: 9V DC 100mA

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  14. Posted

    Just to follow up on this thread. I just tried the battery adapters in my my Frogger machine and after many frustrating minutes of trying to wedge them in without them popping out I was able to get the battery cover closed. I turned on the game and nothing appeared on the screen. After turning it off and on a couple of times, a slight blip of the VFD lit up for a fraction of a second but didn't stay on. I don't think the contacts were lining up correctly and I wasn't about to play with them more.

     

    Bottom line, they don't really fit and are hard to line up correctly when they do fit and I'm not sure they even power the game correctly if you do happen to get them lined up. Luckily I was able to buy some Coleco Perma Power adapters and for the rest of my systems, I'll stick with the correct size batteries.

  15. Posted

    I have a couple of Coleco tabletop games, one that takes C sized batteries and one that takes D sized. I'm not terribly excited about buying a ton of heavy batteries and I haven't been able to track down any perma power adapters yet.

     

    1) Would the adapter shells that hold AA batteries work in these systems without issues?

    Example: http://www.lenmar.com/lenmar-c-adapter-shell-for-aa-batteries

     

    2) Would using rechargable NiMH batteries in the adapters work and/or cause any damage to the systems?

     

    Thanks!

    post-37205-0-88537500-1464038901_thumb.jpg

  18. Posted

    I did most of my collecting for the Atari back in the mid-90's at flea markets when you could run across dozens of bins of loose carts, systems and accessories for next to nothing. I also visited a lot of thrift stores during that decade and was able to find quite a bit. As time went on, I was able to find less and less and now most of my shopping is exclusively online as people are more aware of the collectibility value. I do wander through flea markets once in a while but there are mostly only common cartridges marked for well above online prices with the seller thinking they're sitting on a nostalgia goldmine. Unfortunately by now, everyone's parents from that era have cleared out their attics and basements and most of the games and systems are in the hands of collectors or sellers.

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