SIO2

New cabs are available also. http://www.arcadeshop.com/cabinets/cabinets.htm

I am fine with it. I just put a 7800 system into an original arcade cab. The machine had been gutted long ago. I kept the original art and control layout so everything is reversible if anybody really wanted to do that but these days new parts are cheaper and cleaner (less rats nest of wires) plus you get more games in less space. I am not a fan of the projects that try to squeeze every control combo onto the panel though. It changes the look of the machine and doesn't look real playable.

Didn't see a photo of this around so here is one.

I think a person could get $12 each from NOS pokey chips. It is worth it to save a Ball blazer and not have to desolder.

But what are you going to buy with $10K these days. Won't even get you a decent car. Plus you get to be my hero if that matters.

I would rather have a shuffle feature for the Harmony cart.

My new 7800 arcade controller has a stand, a built in display and a built in Atari 7800 system with with Harmony cart.

I would say just be happy with your Amiga. The fact people still talk about which system might be better should tell you there is no clear answer to that question. Either one is a fine machine.

Very interesting and cool idea.

I might. I am taking my 7800 with me.

My own experience is that video mods work better on the 7800 than light sixer or 2600A. I am not doing any more video mods at this time because, I found that with a good clean / quality cable, polishing the inside and outside of the connector on the RF modulator, making sure the channel select switch is clean and in good working order and reflowing the solder to the RF modulator and channel select switch will generally produce very good results. These techniques will work for the heavy as well. I have removed many of the green chicklet capacitors and tested them and they have always tested fine for capacitance and ESR. So, I put them back. I have read that the chicklets may cause problems with the video and audio but I would only suspect them if the techniques above were not able to resolve the issue.

@Greg2600 who said, "Seems like the 7800 itself is just plain shoddy quality, and making a flash cartridge is made 1000x tougher as a result." Some of the 7800's were shoddy. The earlier ones were pretty good for the most part. I worked on one later model 7800 though that I believe had not been opened since it was built by the factory. Inside I found a motherboard with a pit that looked like it was caused by acid being splattered on the board. The splatter destroyed a trace leading to an IC so someone used a resistor to jump the hole.

I had to vote yes. I hadn't really thought about it much before but, when I do use emulators I turn the scan lines on if it is an option. Otherwise, I prefer to play on the real old hardware on real CRTs.

I think it is about the amperage but voltage stability could also be an issue. I wouldn't take it over voltage but try to stay at nominal.

Awesome work! I have a Starplex and that layout is great for a lot of games. Yours is so much cooler though with that strobe LED.

Perhaps I am off base here but is there a chance that the problem is with the 7800 power system? I have a 7800 I have been working on that did not load any carts. I replaced the voltage regulator and then it would play 2600 atari production carts but not 7800 carts. So I replaced the regulator again with a more robust regulator and now it plays 2600 carts, eprom carts, harmony cart and most 7800 games fine but not Ball Blazer. The Ball Blazer cart is clean as is the cart port and the Ball Blazer cart works on other 7800 units I have when those units are powered by the same power supply (wall wart) as the machine that does not work with Ball Blazer. It would be an interesting experiment if Fred has a 7800 that fails to load from his cart if he replaced the voltage regulator of that unit with a more robust voltage regulator of good quality just to see if that cures the problem for that unit.

Does it only smell when it is running? Not sure what the smell is but it probably isn't a good sign. Things that come to mind are leaking capacitor, melting plastic, grilling insect(s). Someone skilled with monitors should take a look inside it.

You just got yours? I picked up a copy at PRGE.

I would think that in the best case the spare TIA would do the same thing as the first at the same time and there would be no noticeable change. I don't care to try it though as there seems to be more risk of damage than reward potential.

Is the Trump Invaders available on a gold cartridge?

That looks just like my Skrat World game.

Everyone has their own comfort zone. I am not as advanced as Dave so, I usually just replace only what is broken with as close to original part as I can get.

What do you guys think? Should I replace those capacitors?

I like it. You should also bump the free ship from every 1,000 to 10,000.