tillenterprises

So, I did the latest update last night and tested a few cartridges, both homebrew 7800 and 2600 as well as a few originals. I found a weird quirk. I have two copies of Jawbreaker. One works, the other doesn't. Yet they both work on original 2600's.

That's the canned response I got from them, too.

Yup, I ordered mine in August, too and am still waiting, too. It would be nice to get an update from Atari, rather than have to e-mail them to ask.

Thanks, good idea

Interested, if you want to sell it!

So, last night, I was playing some of the Atari manufactured cartridges on my 400 (the cartridges with the sliding mechanism to expose the pcb inside, like the 2600 and 5200 carts have, too). I played Donkey Kong and went to insert Centipede and it wouldn’t insert. I realized that the DK cart snapped off the one remaking prong and I cannot insert the Atari carts anymore since they can’t open, unless I rig something to try and open them manuallly, which is a pain. Does anyone know where or if I can get a replacement cartridge guide for a 400? I tried Best Electronics, but can never find anything on that mess of a website. I would try gluing the prongs back on, but I think they’ll just snap off again.

Sorry to resurrect such an old thread, but I just found out about this problem when I tried playing PMC on one of my 2 7800s, and it crashed after the Atari logo screen. It does it on one, but plays fine on my other 7800 which has the expansion port. Has there ever been and update or fix for this problem, or am I just out of luck on getting this to play on both 7800s?

Thanks! Wow, I wasn't aware of the compatibility issues between certain 7800 models. Too bad, I was really looking forward to playing PMC on the 7800 with the composite upgrade. I was going to leave the other 7800 with the expansion port original and keep the rf output, since I don't know if the expansion port 7800s are more valuable to collectors.

I have a strange problem with the Pac-Man Collection cart on one of my two 7800s. It crashes and doesn't boot up past the initial Atari screen, or if it does get past that screen, it'll either freeze up, and show garbage graphics. I have an older model 7800 (one with the expansion port on the side), and it works fine on that one. I don't think this would have anything to do with it, but I should note that I recently did the RCA composite upgrade on the 7800 that it crashes on, and the other 7800 that it plays fine on still uses the RF connection. All the other games- both 7800 and 2600 work fine on both 7800s, including the games with the pokey audio. Is there anybody else who has had trouble with the Pac-man Collection game crashing, or could this just be a bad cart? If so, I don't understand why it would play fine on one 7800, but not on the other. Thanks

I'm definitely interested in a complete set! I would love for my activision carts to all look like new. I'm not looking to resell them, so I would want them to look as close to the original as possible.

No response here, so I listed it on eBay: http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=140746424924 Thanks

Mine: eBay Auction -- Item Number: 140746424924 Thanks for looking!

I'm thinking of selling my copy of the homebrew Atari Jaguar game Painter. I bought it new when it came out and only played it a handful of times. If you like Pepper II, Amidar, or Qix, you'd probably like this game. It has the original DVD-style case and is in excellent condition. I was thinking of putting it up on eBay, but thought I would entertain offers here first. I have no idea what it's worth, but if you are interested, please shoot me an offer via e-mail: joe@tillenterprises.com Thanks! Joe

Thanks Benny, but Yurkie is a no-go with me (long story). I'll probably just get the IC chip for the controller and fix it myself. I've repaired a ton of arcade games, so this shouldn't be a problem- just a matter of trying to find the time to do.it.

Thanks for your advice, everybody, but is there anybody else other than Yurkie who fixes and/or mods Colecovisions that you could recommend?. I would like to do the DIY, but I am so busy with business right now that I don't have time. If there is nobody else, where can I get this controller IC chip, and I guess I'll just do it myself. Thanks!

Hi folks, A couple months ago my Colecovision started acting weird. Player one is stuck in moving left mode and I believe a fire button is also constantly acting as if pressed on player one. No, it's not the controller, as I've unplugged the controller entirely and it still does it. I've also tried other controllers, and there's no change. So, I thought it must be a problem with the PCB. I also removed the PCB and checked the soldering on the player one joystick port to see if there was a short or a bad solder joint somewhere, but all seems fine. Could something have zapped the board and caused this? BTW, player 2 joystick port is working fine. Can anybody suggest something else for me to check? if I can't fix this myself, would somebody be able to fix this for me if I send it to you for a reasonable price? I also have another non-working CV I could perhaps trade you in exchange for fixing this one if you're interested... Please respond to joe@tillenterprises.com as I don't always check the forums. Thanks!!!

I agree. I would like to add that i was very disappointed to find that none of the new tvs have s-video inputs anymore. I have a super VHS and laserdisc player that have s-video outputs, not to mention I was thinking about modding some of the old game systems for s-video.

Just want to thank everyone for their input and advice! I got it working on the plasma with a pretty decent picture using a combination of a VCR and an antenna amplifier I bought at radio shack, but of course, it'll never be as good as playing it on a tube tv! . New technology is great, but for some things, older is definitely better...

I was thinking about trying hooking the atari up to the VCR via coax input and running the red white and yellow RCA composite to send the signal to the tv to see if that will work. I haven't tried the VCR yet on the new tv, but my laserdisc player with the composite outputs seems to work fine, so I'm hoping this will work. I'll try it tomorrow!

OKAY- I BOUGHT THE NEW TV TONIGHT AND.... IT WAS THE PANASONIC 50" 1080i PLASMA! The decision was made with all of your input and general consensus, of course! However, so far no luck getting the Atari to work right with it. I am using an unmodded 4 switch, with the RF to Coax adapter plug, and the picture displays on the screen, but it makes a "clicking sound" and seems like it's trying to refresh the screen constantly, almost like when you're trying to play a PAL game on a NTSC tv, except the picture isn't rolling. I can try to upload a video when I get a chance so you can see what I'm talking about. I didn't read the manual yet, but offhand, does anybody know if there's a way to manually adjust the signal or the refresh rate, or whatever might be causing the bad picture on the plasma?

Perhaps I should restate my original question, as there seems to be some confusion... Yes, obviously I prefer to play the old game systems on an original tube tv as intended. That being said, I am going to replace the large projection tv in my basement with modern tv, but still want to be able to play the old game systems on it, and wanted to know which would be better for this- plasma or LCD/LED.... I'm not asking if old games are better on an old tube tv vs today's tvs. I just want to know between plasma and LCD/LED, which would be better to run the old games on....

Yes, I also prefer to play Atari and old games on a tube tv, however, the tv I am replacing (the one I normally have the game systems set up on) is a large projection TV that fits like a glove in a built in entertainment unit in my basement rec room. To find a large enough CRT tube tv that would fit in there and still look good, it would have to weigh a ton! Plus, we also watch alot of movies and we also have new game systems that we play on there too, so I would want to upgrade to a modern TV to replace the old projection one, but still want to be able to play the old game systems on it, too. Plus, I do have a couple of nice tube tvs that I can always use to play the old games more authentically if I want!

Oh, the other question is- since the display on the Atari was meant for 4x3 size screens, do you normally stretch the screen so it appears widescreen, or have the TV display the Atari screen as how it was intended at 4x3? If you do display it in the original ratio, I'm assuming that you'll have those black bars on the sides of the screen, which could burn in, right? Sorry for all the questions, I just don't want to ruin an expensive new tv!

yes, I had heard that for plasma, Panasonic is the way to go. However, the guy at the store warned me that burn in is far more likely to occur with plasma vs. LCD/LED. I should note that I don't usually do marathon gaming sessions where the same image would be on the screen for an hour or more. I usually just play a few minutes of each game at a time (possibly up to 30 minutes), so I'm guessing that wouldn't hurt the TV, right?

Hi folks, Well my TV took a dump, and it's time to upgrade it anyway, so I've been researching what the best option is for me if I want to be able to play my Atari, Colecovision, INTV, etc without worrying about screen burn-in. I was leaning towards buying the plasma, but I was told that it was more susceptible to burn in with the old games due to the static images than the LCD or LED tvs. Any input or advice? Thanks!