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7800fan

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Posts posted by 7800fan

  1. Posted

    Turbografx 16 can have save games via addon such as Turbobooster Plus and Turbo CD system. Also Backup Booster and Ten No Koe for PC Engine or Coregrafx. All are pin compatible with each other although connector shape is a bit different, the USA model has a trapezoid shaped connector and Japanese model has rectangle connector. A little filing will fix that ;)

     

    Anyway I can't find any info on how the backup part worked. I do know it involved an SRAM chip, a battery watchdog of some kind, a capacitor, and maybe another chip to handle communication with the host system.

     

    My TG-16 has the CD system but the Turbo Express doesn't and can't interface at all. I was wondering if it was possible to hack in a memory save function.

    • Like 1

  3. Posted

    I wanted to go with LD1117S50TR as it's smaller than most 7805 and other regulators. When I used Google translate, all the pictures and text were separated and all the text were bunched on the top, which made matching what the text with the picture hard. The poster didn't use anything like pic 1, pic 2, etc to refer to specific picture. Also Google didn't translate all the text: (no idea if it has typo or if Google didn't have these in their vocabulary)

     

    rausgebrochenem

    bastelter

    Zinnberg

    Lötkünsten

     

    It's hard to tell what to remove and what to keep with jumbled up pictures.

     

    What I ended up doing was to copy the whole thing to word (Open Office) and I translated only a block at a time to maintain the space between pictures. This is what I ended up (and schematic for Lynx II power supply, original one \stolen from AA member and revised based on what I can figure from that German site)

    First: remove and cut (in red)

    20fx6Xa.png

     

    Then these mods:

    4h3W1KB.png

     

    Since the new regulator chip would bridge where the 2 diodes were removed, no need to add wire. But it is odd that the user on German site needed to add wire from battery + post to Vin pin of the chip when the schematic shows the battery is directly connected. Maybe the original schematic is wrong in where the + input of the battery is? Or that German version of Lynx is wired a bit different? I'll have to check the continuity on my Lynx when I take it apart to do the mod. (got 2 on hand and 2 more somewhere, planning to do another LCD mod and make it into mini arcade)

  5. Posted

    File this under WTF were the engineers smoking when they designed the controller. They wanted to cram a total of 15 buttons (2 of the side buttons are the same) and 16 direction disc over 8 wires (9th wire is common ground). The side button were carefully done so it won't interfere with the disc or keypad but the keypad and disc shares some of the same wires so when one is being used, other can't be used without strange result. This is even mentioned in instruction not to use keypad and disc at the same time. The number of times I got killed in AD&D because I didn't release the disc to use the pad is staggering.

  6. Posted

    Isn't Vectrex prone to blowing out the very rare and long out of production dual Op Amp? The original chip was intended with the original 5" CRT model but when Milton Bradley took on Vectrx, they wanted bigger display and it was basically cobbled together without changing the Op Amp chip so it's being overworked to handle larger yoke for larger CRT.

     

    Unless someone found a way to replace with modern part, when that chip blows, you got flat line or a dot in the CRT and nothing else for the image.

  7. Posted

     

    Right now it's mostly just sketches and rough prototyping. I'm exploring the feasibility and if I can even pull it off. I'm confident that I can develop the joystick controls and tie them into the Lynx board. It'd be arcade controls with four action buttons (B, A, Option 1, and Option 2). A pause button will be present somewhere on the front. A dedicated "restart" button would be handy, I think (no pun intended). There will also be a switch that "rotates" the controls for vertical-oriented games. You physically rotate the screen and just flip the switch to toggle the joystick control orientation. The coin-slot area would probably have the "on" and "off" buttons. I still need to lock down a source for the rotating screen hardware and figure out a reasonable case design. I'll start a thread if things get real serious. :)

     

    Emehr, you've sparked my curiousity. Do you have a thread discussing this mini-arcade? Please share when you start working out the details :-)

     

     

     

    Right now it's mostly just sketches and rough prototyping. I'm exploring the feasibility and if I can even pull it off. I'm confident that I can develop the joystick controls and tie them into the Lynx board. It'd be arcade controls with four action buttons (B, A, Option 1, and Option 2). A pause button will be present somewhere on the front. A dedicated "restart" button would be handy, I think (no pun intended). There will also be a switch that "rotates" the controls for vertical-oriented games. You physically rotate the screen and just flip the switch to toggle the joystick control orientation. The coin-slot area would probably have the "on" and "off" buttons. I still need to lock down a source for the rotating screen hardware and figure out a reasonable case design. I'll start a thread if things get real serious. :)

     

    I'm also interested. I picked up a few iCade sets from Khol's a few years ago when they were marked down all the way to $7.49 each. I had considered making mini arcade cabs but many of the classic game consoles weren't small. I do have a PCE sitting in pieces (PCE and Coregrafx are both tiny) and easily works with most cheap LCD.

     

    Lynx LCD mod would be interesting to try but I'd have to find a very small VGA LCD or one that is RGB and is VGA compatible. Failing that, a VGA to composite converter but that'd add a lot of bulk and iCade isn't exactly roomy.

  9. Posted

    Saw this mentioned a few times but the only detail I could find is on a non-English site with some missing picture. When I tried to translate it, I poor translation like there's too many technical words that isn't in Google's vocabulary.

     

    Can someone give me an easy guide for dummies? Seems like it involves removing a few parts and a transistor that is prone to failing and replacing with a regulator but which pinout and where. And not all picture are clear if it's for Lynx 1 or 2, both used different numbering.

  10. Posted

    It depends on how you look at it. Some people do not complain about bubble mailers. If they send out 100 boxed games in Bubble mailers and only actually hear one complaint, they don't see an issue...so I get what Keetah is saying.

     

    Not with how eBay handles defect. Get 2 or 3 complaints and seller starts slipping in rating, get higher FVF and lower listing/exposure. A few more complaint and seller loses selling privileges.

     

    Big sellers with 100's daily sales and less than 1% failure can absorb the complaint but smaller time sellers are more easily harmed by complaint or neg about crushed game box.

  11. Posted

    I would have to call BS on that story. From my cursory look at the laws, that ivory would be exempt due to it's age. Worst case it should be returned to the seller if it can't be exported. It's not illegal to own it so it can't be confiscated.

     

    This. The item was likely in USA before ivory became illegal. Currently you can keep item with ivory that was collected before the law but you can't move it cross border anymore.

  12. Posted

    Found another rant on eBay forum. Seems a seller sold a vintage musical instrument for a large amount but it never got through GSP facility. Seems it was confiscated and destroyed because it contained possible ivory inserts. Real ivory has been banned for decades so anyone who doesn't know, their musical instrument can be confiscated if it's going to cross international border.

     

    Seller didn't lose any money, buyer got his refund. But to destroy something about 300 years rather than to refuse and return it to the seller and warn seller not to sell it outside USA. That's like melting Statue of Liberty on purpose.

  14. Posted

    Dang nice paint jobs!!! I may need to do something. How about purple Adventurevision? Or Tutorvision and its icky light blue cart to better match brown and black? :D

     

    A few months ago I decided to buy and try and fix old video game consoles.
    In retrospect... This was a pretty big mistake. I bought a lot, ended up with more than I could possibly do, managed to get many running but others were unfixable (IE all those random consoles and game stuff I gave away on the free thread)

     

    I know the feeling. PSX/PSOne turns up very often at local Goodwill and Salvation Army for under $5 (I pay up to 10 with original AV cable and controller) and 9 out of 10 times it has bad laser. $5 on eBay and it's working but now I have around 30 working PSX and 6 PSOne. I'll probably sit on these for 20 years when PSX/PSOne becomes rare then maybe it'd be worthwhile to sell. Like how I used to find many Atari 2600 consoles everywhere cheap but now it's rare and eBay seems to go around $50.

  19. Posted

    There's a number of threads on eBay community forum, nearly all of the negative.

     

    Buyer often get shafted harder on taxes and duties because it's always collected. When seller ships direct to buyer, there's a chance it can get through without any taxes tacked on. With GSP, it becomes 100% guarrantee it will be taxed.

     

    Packages are usually repacked to make it smaller and lighter to save on shipping. At the expense of protection. I've read some horror stories including:

    CIB virtualboy game getting repacked and buyer gets only the cart, GSP threw away valuable mint box and manual

    several mint 32X boxes arrived crushed like they drove a steamroller over the lot to shrink it.

    Sealed games arriving unsealed or even cart only, the idiot at GSP does need to be sure the main item is included.

    Set of very old porcelain dolls arrived in small box with no protection, you guessed it, now as 10,000 piece porcelain puzzle set.

    One item arrived in UK very wet and musty

     

    If there's one good thing, when buyer files complaint GSP eats the loss and seller is spared. So you are safe sending that extremely rare sealed 2600 Air Raid knowing well it will end up either crushed badly, soaking wet, or missing the box. The buyer usually gets to keep the good.

     

    From the seller's view it seems easy and quick, no custom form to fill out or anything. But seller can get negged for damaged or incomplete goods because of GSP. I try avoid them as much as I can, even though eBay keeps turning on allow GSP in my preference and in my listing. :x Clearly eBay doesn't understand any part of "NO" and going by other seller's complaint, I think eBay is just being idiot trying to shove GSP onto everyone in hope of making more money from higher FVF. In the end they are probably losing more to lost or damaged goods.

     

    So far this year I've had zero international sale. Since eBay keeps ignoring my preference and shoving GSP onto me, I've made my listing USA only instead just to spite them. The only benefit to seller who doesn't care that valuable and irreplaceable items are getting damaged is the seller won't lose a penny when buyer complains.

    • Like 2

  21. Posted

    One of my relative got me hooked onto Intellivision way back in early 80's and he's nearing ripe retirement age so he might be interested in my Intellivision lot if I pass away before he does. My little brother may want my NES lot.

     

    If both do pass away before I go, there is no one else in my family that has any real interest in Intellivision or anything else that looks like they should be in Video Game Museum. Odds are the Intellivision and just about everything else will end up at estate auction and probably bought out by Sumguy who will flip it on eBay

     

    I should get the little label maker so I can mark the modded game consoles. 7800 with AV mod, Lynx with LCD mod, SNES mini with S-Video fix, TG-16 with S-Video mod, PSOne with mm3 mod, etc.

  23. Posted

     

    Or an old Intellivision, I've heard of lot of these burnt out after playing just too much.

     

    Because of odd design. For some reason the engineers at R&D choose to put the power switch *after* the transformer so the transformer is always running, always leeching power, and always warm. Putting the power switch on the main side would have helped some.

     

    That still leaves the chip creep. No matter how much glue they used, the chip will creep out of the sockets. And those chips do run warmer than the chips in 2600. Maybe because Intellivision runs on 56 different voltage as opposed to a single 5v that most game console uses.

    • Like 1

  24. Posted

    Update: woke up feeling refreshed, decided I can spare a few hours before I go back to sleep for the morning sap run. The project took me about 1 hour from initial disassembly to removing unneeded parts to wiring to checking it twice to reassembly. It was a pain in the butt to reassemble it with 2 LCDs inside.

     

    The first time I turned it on, I got no picture. Sound worked as normal, and some glow from the seam around Lynx shell but no image on the front.

     

    Was I supposed to remove the old LCD first? :D The instruction made no mention of removing the old LCD first.

     

     

    Kidding aside, I did remove the old LCD first and set it aside. The Lynx worked on the first try.

     

    So one hour work time if one's fairly experienced with soldering and has decent solder iron and good desoldering tool. I could probably do it in 45 minutes if I turned off the TV and kept my cats out.

    • Like 2
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