dphirschler

If it's what u am thinking of, I have a working Puppytown. Cute little song. Do I need to upload it? Darryl

I burned a Gazoo inage onto the EPROM. It seemed to fit. Are you telling me it won't work? Haven't tested it in a cartridge yet. That's tomorrow. Darryl

This clearly looks like a QI console. What's better, it appears to have the good keyboard (green, not brown). However, there is nothing to indicate if it is a v2.2 (1983) or the non-v2.2 (1981) software in it. http://www.ebay.com/itm/141444837484?_trksid=p2055119.m1438.l2649&ssPageName=STRK%3AMEBIDX%3AIT Darryl

Swapped three of my AMD 27C040 eproms with a friend of mine for some Intel 27512 eproms. And I have been able to program these with no problems... even the Check ID works. Darryl

Welcome to the community! This place is great.

Well, I think I've tried everything I can for the moment. I have ordered a powered USB cable. I don't have any other EPROM chips other than this lot. But I have a friend with some, so maybe someday soon. Not sure what EPROM chips he has. He's into pinball. Or maybe I can order some more chips on Ebay. Darryl

It's all FF when I read a freshly erased chip. If I fill the buffer with FF and then "Program", it works. After reading it, I see all FF. Blank check after this still reports that it's blank. Then I load gamecart.bin and try to program. It fails after the first byte. I then do a "Read" and see it's all FF except for the first byte which is AA. It appears to have written the first byte but cannot verify it. This works if I write one byte at a time. Darryl

It's a desktop PC, mid tower. The programmer is plugged into the front port. The chip fails blank check after writing FF. Doesn't that suggest that it actually wrote something? Darryl

It programmed! So what does this tell me? I can put FF's on it. Why not code? Darryl

Still having trouble. Here is what I am doing. See if you can find a flaw in my process: - Select IC "AM27040 @DIP32". - "Read from chip" (shows all FF's. I get the same if I "Blank check"). - File > Open. I select "Gamecart.bin". - File format: BINARY, Load mode: Normal, "Clear buffer with default". - I see the Gamecart binary data. - Options: check only in "Verify after" and SetRange: ALL. - IC Config Info: VPP 12.50V, VCC 5.00V, VDD Write: 6.25V, Puls Delay: 100us. - If I "Read ID", it gives me "8F 08" - Then I select "Programming Chip" ("program chip"?) - Check "CODE Memory" (what is this anyway?) - then I click "Program" Then it immediately gives me "ERROR! Address:0x000000 Buffer Data: 0xAA Verify: 0xFF". Then I have to erase the chip again. Darryl

VPP Voltage: 13.50V VCC Verify: 5.00V VDD Write: 6.25V Puls Delay: 100us It's the values it got from its own internal database. Should I change it to your values? BTW, it fails blank check after this error. Darryl

OK, more info here... I get "ERROR! Address:0x000000 Buffer Data: 0xAA Verify: 0xFF" Darryl

OK, I managed to get it to do a blank check successfully. But it errors out when I try to program it. I think it writes one byte and fails. Then I have to erase it again(!). What options should I check (or uncheck) when programming it? Again, these are AM27C040-150DC. Darryl

I forgot to check if my chip was socketed or not. Fortunately, I captured the answer in a photograph (I think). Take a look at this and tell me if you think it is socketed. Looks like it to me. The chip in question is just to the right of the slanted gray-colored object. Darryl

I think I can answer my own question regarding the black consoles. The newer ones are the ones without the "Solid State Software" badge. I make this decision based on the recent observation of the keyboard overlay tray. The newer design is a tray that can stack many overlays in. I never knew the black consoles did this. I just noticed it this weekend. Darryl

Here is my disk version from the 80's. Well, it's on this game disk. I haven't tested it though. Games_4.dsk Darryl

Wish I still had my Miner cart for this test. But I guarantee you it never crashed like that on me back in the 80's. Neither the cart, nor the disk version... Darryl

Don't even worry about it. It's no big deal. I willingly did that trade. But I am excited to have another non-v2.2 QI. I kind of missed it. I peeked into the case last night and there is definitely no top shield. I'll take photos later on this weekend. Darryl

Here is the first one... the one OLDCS1 now owns. I'll take photos of mine when I get a chance. Darryl

That's the thing, Tursi. This is not only a QI console, but a non-v2.2. It actually says "© 1981 TEXAS INSTRUMENTS" on the title screen. And it's the second one I've had in my possession. OLD_CS1 has the other one. Darryl

For the sake of clarity, it should be noted that the QI (Quality Improved) console only came in beige, but not all beige consoles are QI. And not all QI consoles are v2.2, as evidenced by my (and OLD_CS1’s) QI console which come with 1981 firmware. I currently have three beige consoles. Two of them are virtually identical to the black/silver console - the power switch and LED are really the only differences other than the color and lack of aluminum trim. The third one is a non-v2.2 QI, and it's is an entirely different beast. The internal board design for both the main board and the PSU board are quite different! TI eventually released the QI v2.2 console which took away some freedom for third party developers. So as far as I know, the different 4A consoles that exist are: 1. Black/silver with “solid state software” badge on the lower part of the cart port (near the power switch). 2. Black/silver without the “solid state software” badge. Are these newer or older? 3. Beige with 1981 internals 4. Beige QI non-v2.2 (1981) 5. Beige QI 1983 v2.2 I have noticed minor differences too. I have seen different keyboards on the black and the beige units. And I’ve now seen the red power switch on the beige unit. So the question for me is, how rare are the non-v2.2 QI consoles vs the v2.2 QI consoles. I believe the “stock” 1981 beige consoles are quite common. I think the QI consoles are rare anyways. But what proportion of the QI’s are v2.2 vs non-v2.2? Darryl

Wow. If your mind is in the gutter, that sounds bad. Lol It gets worse. Read on to find out how my friend’s joystick would not go up. I thought I’d share my story that happened today over lunch. A friend came over with some TI gear he just picked up. We tested out the joystick and the player one stick did not move up. Taking the stick apart, we decided to clean the contacts. So with some rubbing alcohol on a Qtip I cleaned the silver pad under the flexible board. To our horror, it cleaned the silver pad completely off! It was just GONE! I suppose those silver pads are nothing more than the same stuff on those scratch off lottery tickets. Too late now, it’s gone. So the lesson here is to only clean the underside of that flexible circuit board. Not wanting to give up, I got some metal duct tape (the real metal stuff), and applied a small square of it where the silver rub off pad had been. Worked like a charm! In fact, maybe it works a little better. It felt really good. So there is a fix for bad joysticks, possibly even an improvement. Now the thought occurs to me to use conductive paint instead of the metal tape. So that ought to fully restore it (probably better than when it was new). The conductive paint is normally used for repairing rear window defoggers in your car. This is theory, mind you. But then I am thinking this same technique could probably be used to restore and improve the Mitsumi keyboards. Aren’t they the same type of cheap-o contact? So perhaps I have a weekend project here. 1) Paint all the points on a dead Mitsumi keyboard. 2) let it dry. 3) enjoy restored/working (improved?) keyboard. Darryl

I just read on Mainbyte (never saw this page before) that you can also identify the QI’s by the power plug. QI only has two pins. This is important to remember because this clearly indicates that the QI internal power supply is NOT interchangeable with the non-QI power supply, something that until now, I had assumed otherwis Question, does the F18A mod work on QI consoles? I haven’t looked closely enough at it to see.

Well, looking back at the few photos I took of the other QI console, the cassette port was black and the PSU was green. It just had a bunch of red caps on it. But the power switch is blue on the other QI console. Darryl

I just received a new console and I suspect it's a QI. It looks similar to a QI console I used to have. I had recently traded away my QI console before I really knew what it was. Turns out it was a (rare?) 1981 QI console. I remember discovering some differences before I got curious and opened it up. The cassette port was beige (not black) and looking through the vent holes underneath, the keyboard was behind a shield. The side connector shield was aluminum, not copper. Inside I discovered a new PSU design and the mobo had a different layout. I took pictures too. Booting it up, it had a 1981 date on the title screen. Anyways, as I was saying, I just received what I suspect is another 1981 QI console. It boots up to a 1981 title screen. I haven't opened it up yet, but I can see the shielding protecting the keyboard. And the cassette port and side expansion port is as I described above. Oh, and one thing I haven't seen before. The power switch is red, not blue. Are there any other clues that can be observed from the outside? Can it be determined from the serial number? I'll eventually take it apart and discover its secrets. I do seem to remember the PSU being red, not green. Darryl