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bad robot

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Posts posted by bad robot

  5. Posted

    Hi.

     

    I'm looking to making some bare Colecovision Cartridge PCBs does anyone have any schematics or a link to some. I was thinking of making a batch of bare PCBs & sell any surplus at cost and make some plastic cases using a 3D printer so they'd look just like the original ones.

    The idea of 3-D printing plastic cartridge cases is interesting , making low cost plastic cases held together with a few self-tapping screws ?

  6. Posted

    Best in my opinion when buying TMS99xx ICs to build a test rig to check that they work as soon as you get them. a TI-99/4A makes a good test rig for testing TMS9900s,TIM9904s,TMS9901s etc best if possible to fit ZIF sockets to motherboard for ease ! For TMS9995 ICs then you could use a Powertran cortex or Tomy Tutor (though these are difficult to get and expensive) or probably easier to build your own little test rig .. see Stuart site : http://www.avjd51.dsl.pipex.com/tms9995_breadboard/tms9995_breadboard.htm

  7. Posted

    There is a relatively cheap source for TMS9900 CPUs on eBay, but you won't find them in that search. Look for S9900 chips. Milpartsonline has them as sets of four for $10. These are NOS chips from the second source for TI chips. They also made S9901s, S9902s, and S9914s.

     

    I have my personal supply of the various TI chips, but they are not for sale. I do tend to avoid the ones from China--but oddly enough, some of those have turned out to be OK as well, as they are apparently fakes made using the original masks. . .

    So someone in (China ? ) has the original masks for the TMS9900,TMS9995 etc... interesting thought .. this means they could theoretically go back into production ! Though it's hard to believe someone would go to all the trouble of re-manufacturing old ICs like the TMS9900 etc

  9. Posted

    Just make two versions.. one with PAL/NTSC output (analogue TV 50./60Hz) and a VGA monitor chip..each chip having a different designation.. i.e. TMX9918TV (PAL/NTSC TV) & TMX9928VGA (VGA Monitor ) ? There where several version of the Original Chip TMS9918,TMS9928,TMS9929 etc.. But I suppose the main reason to do this (make a one Chip solution) would be cost to get each chip down to below $10 ! Mass producing these would drastically cut the cost and open them up to all sorts of uses both industrial and hobby. So in principal it's a good idea ... but actually doing it would be somewhat more difficult !

  10. Posted

    Probably best to look at What the Ti-99/4A needs ??

     

    Things like (possibly) ?

     

    Real Time Clock

    Silicon disc (possibly a DS12C887 512Kx8bit NVSRAM)

    CF Card reader

    Turbo mode (accelerator board)

    More I/O ports even USB ports ?

    A Hard Drive interface ?

    An Infra-Red interface for wireless keyboard/mouse joystick ?

     

    Well you get the idea !!

  11. Posted

    The Obvious PROJECT is build a completely NEW TI-99/4A .. the way it should of been built .. with more RAM , better graphics etc , yet still 100% backwards compatible.

     

    TMS9900 CPU (as in original)

    TIM9904A

    TMS9901s

    TMS9902s to give serial I/O

    MORE RAM

    MORE ROM

    possibly even using a 74LS612 Memory Mapper?

    Cartridge Slot as in original

    V9958 video with 192K VRAM

    SN76489 PSG

    YMZ284 (AY-3-8910) Sound Chip

    Real Time Clock

    Maths FPU (AM9511 or similar) to speed up maths functions

    8255 PIO for internal PATA IDE (CF card or Hard-Drive)

    etc etc

     

    Have a Turbo Mode where the TMS9900 is clocked at 16MHz(4MHz internall) , done by software.

    a NEW Ti-99/4A using real hardware is well overdue, but it is a big project and can you get the people to do it ?

  14. Posted

    I've been pondering for some time about building my own Super Colecovision console/computer and now I feel iit's the time to strike ! So I've bought some breadboard, wire, already had tools soldering iron etc and am now doing a draft design and looking at what components ICs I'll need. OK my knowledge of microcomputers and electronics isn't great, but that's the whole point I'll be on a steep learning curve and even if I don't make a working Colecovision (which is most likely) at least I tried and learnt stuff on the way !

     

    Is anyone else doing a similar sort of thing >?

     

    Hi.

     

    Did you get any interest in a Z80 hardware group ??

  15. Posted

    something like this :

     

    Z80 CPU

    Cartridge Slot (32K Cart as original)

    8K SRAM

    8K SRAM

    8K SRAM

    8K EPROM

    74HC138 + 74HC139 Memory decoders,

    (24K SRAM + 8K OS ROM)

    GAL22V10 I/O decoder

    V9958 VDP

    TMS4464-10 DRAMs 4 or 6pcs

    CXA1645 or CXA1145 PAL/NTSC Encoder

    SN764789 + AY-3-8910 PSGs

    8255 for CF card reader

    etc

    There's already similar things being developed on other sites..so it shouldn't be too hard to knock a prototype out ?

  16. Posted

     

    Can you elaborate on that? There's money grabbing and then there's the practicality of putting out a mass market product. It's not as easy as simply wanting to do something. In most cases, there are very practical reasons why things are done the way they are, particularly in the case of the Flashbacks.

    Firstly a commercial company would only look at projected profit, the item, in this case a Colecovision console is irrelevant. They'd calculate expected sales profit per unit , R&D cost, royalty fees etc etc and see if makes commercial sense. They have no sentimentality just Dollar signs, plus most companies are run by lawyers and accountants rather than engineers, Engineers usually come low down on the pecking order. Design and building a 'True' Colecovision console that Colecovision Fans want would be madness in their eyes.Something done for the love of it or not for profit would look observed to their business model !

     

    An example of this can be seen in the Recent ZX Spectrum Clones that were made to cash in on middle aged Spectrum users. Most True Speccy fans were not particularly impressed by the Sinclair ZX Vega etc though they still sold quite a few units. The Colecovision FLASHBACK is another example of cashing in on a Retro Console !

  17. Posted

    The Basic idea is sound, but as soon as MONEY is mentioned a 'Trust' issue arises and people become sceptical/cynical which is understandable.

     

    If some means of reliable and trustworthy Group funding could be found as well as enough donations/contributions then it might work ... but there's an awful lot of IFs & BUTs !! It's unlikely a commercial company would understand such a venture as it's already been done (FLASHBACK) and they only see Dollar signs !

  23. Posted

    Hi.

    About a year ago I had to cost a Very similar project (Single Board Computer SBC ) to this based on legacy ICs for a client. It didn't use a TMS9900/TMS9995 CPU, the costing where for a professional company to design and build from a 'Design Template' a Z80 SBC with video , sound and I/O etc. Three companies give free quotes which ranged from $10,000 to $15,000 to design/Build and functional test several prototypes. The price didn't include writing any software, OS etc.

    So for a 'Kick Start' project , to work you would probably need to raise $15,000 !!

     

    Hope this is useful ?

    I'll pay ........ when I win the Lottery !!

     

    LoL

     

    ** Though jokes aside .. I still know companies that do TMS9995 type stuff !!

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