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Everything posted by vtk
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i checked your video, regarding your screen issues, that certainly is not normal and there is certainly something faulty with that vectrex
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sometimes (if you dont mind having the back cover off and your hands inside the vectrex when the unit is powered on), you can 'massage' or apply some pressure to the chips (such as the socketed chips like the VIA chip), and see if what is happening on the screen changes. if it does, then that can help pinpoint if a chip is not functioning properly or is not seated in the socket very well/poor connection. doing this method i repaired a vectrex in the past when i noticed that if i touched (squeezed a little) the polystyrene (funny looking silver barrel) capacitors in the integrator section, the already erratic screen would change.
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what's the biggest tile you have managed? i got stuck at only getting to 512 for ages (which was worrying as i started to realise if i just move the tiles around randomly without thinking i can sometimes get 512 anyway) haha however, lately i have made a 1024 tile a few times, so might reach 2048 eventually (if i can slow down as i tend to play fast and impatiently, which no doubt is not a good idea!)
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hey i saw on facebook you wrote that you fixed the problem so that's nice news for people here who are wondering how the problem was fixed, it was a bad ic301 chip (the MC1408P8 chip)
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cool ok, there are some very smart technical guys on the facebook group so hopefully you will get their attention
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hey, sorry to hear you are still having trouble i think it would be a good idea next, to join the vectrex facebook group and ask for help there, because perhaps some of the guys there can give some good advice, so give that a try ok here is the group to join: https://www.facebook.com/groups/104852679725118/
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hi, yes i would recommend getting some spare 6522 chips for example, from here: http://www.ebay.es/itm/141938603118
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is your IC207 (6522 VIA) chip soldered in, or in a socket? if it is in a socket, try re-seating the chip and then see if the patterns (vectors) on your screen change or, with the chip in place, you can apply pressure to the IC207 chip with your hand as the vectrex is booting up and see if the shapes of the vectors on the screen change. if they do, you would need to check IC207 is soldered ok without bad joints or if the socket is dirty or bad, or, the chip itself is bad
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yes they are exactly the same and no differences in gameplay etc its a good idea to get a writeable flash/usb/microsd type of multicart so that you can play new homebrew games which come out, rather than the limited non-writeable carts out there some options for the writeable carts are the vecmulti cart, or the soon to be released vecfever cart for the vecmulti you can try sending a message to the creator called Richard, to see if he has any left in stock here is a link if you wish to send him a message: http://atariage.com/forums/index.php?app=members&module=messaging§ion=send&do=form&fromMemberID=2630
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u can see the brightness adjustment control in the pic above. even if the knob is missing i expect it can still be turned using something else, eg. small screwdriver or piece of plastic etc note: it might be possible to adjust the brightness without removing the vectrex casing, by instead inserting something through the hole in the vectrex rear casing, but i havnt tried that myself so dont know for sure. good luck
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first advice is to stop using that vectrex as you run the risk of damaging the screen (screen burn) because that vectrex has the brightness set to maximum. you need to figure out a way to turn the brightness down. it should be set at a level so that the white dot in the middle of the screen, just about disappears so then you can no longer see the white dot in the middle of the screen. what u should do next is take the back off of the vectrex (5 screws) and then inspect what is left of the brightness control. you may get lucky and the brightness control can still be turned from inside the vectrex. once you set the brightness down so that the white dot in the centre just about disappears, then you wont ever need to touch the brightness control again, so it's not the end of the world that the knob is missing.
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it would be a very good device for someone who wants to take the easier road of writing vectrex games in BASIC and have the added advantages of various useful features (many of which makes writing games easier etc), not to mention the added processing power ... but.. at the moment it kind of seems like there isnt much of a 'scene' going on with this device, eg. people chatting about it and swapping code and games coming out etc (that might change in the future though, or it might not. who knows!)
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possibly something useful here: http://www.ukvac.com/forum/any-advice-re-vectrex-mod_topic347856_page2.html
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with the vectrex unplugged from mains socket, you could try turning the volume knob all the way up, then all the way down (not switched off though), then all the way up again, all the way down, repeat doing that about 30 times... then when u try the vectrex again, see if the behaviour of the sound issue has changed at all you could try reseating the soundchip if you are confident with removing and reinserting socketed chips (it's prob not the problem but if comfortable removing/reinserting chips, might as well try) also as already mentioned, some switch cleaner spray in the on/off/volume pot, but as you may have already guessed, you have to take half the vectrex apart to get to it, unfortunately
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looking forward to some screenshots too yay (i expect u know this already but just in case, i find if you use your digital camera in a dark room on the powered-up vectrex (without using the camera flash of course) then you get a nice screenshot (or video footage) doing that, and not just of the overlay reflection)
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i agree with lord innit, you should use a strong piece (tube/rod) of steel/metal which has a hole in it to push onto the remaining 'stub' you have of the old joystick shaft you can use a JB WELD type of product in the hole in order to make a strong bond (you wont be able to pull off the new shaft again, don't use the joystick for at least 24 hours though so it dries ('welds') properly).. remember when you apply it though, some of the epoxy might come out of the bottom of the shaft, so wipe that off before it dries, using a cotton swab
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dont worry u will be safe doing the adjustments because all you do is switch off the mains power between each adjustment u do. simple. it will take longer but at least there wont be power on when u are doing the adjustments. information to centre (move) the screen is shown in the link below: (see the piccy with the red arrows) (you can also resize (stretch/shrink) the screen using some small pots inside on the circuit board) http://atariage.com/forums/topic/219152-vectrex-screen-centering-help/ so power off... remove back casing of the vectrex. turn one of the tabs on back of the neck a little bit. get your hands out of there and then power on, check if you turned the tab the right way, and enough. if not, turn off power, adjust it again.. and so on.. start with one tab first (eg. horizontal) and when happy, do the second tab (vertical)
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hi, i'm afraid not, i had another vectrex which is working so i ended up just putting this non-working vectrex away in the cupboard
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hi again all, i just read an update on the vectrex32 smartcart forum, that the first batch had all sold out, but now a there is a second batch available if anyone is interested they are back in stock, to purchase one, go here: http://vectrex32.com/buy/
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they are plastic, there are a pair of them in each vectrex controller, but note that they are not the same (one is bigger than the other) i could post you a pair of them richard if you like? please note though, that being used, they will have some wear on them, so on the bits which are worn down a little, for your 3d printing would you be able to compensate for that? here is a picture below to show you the wear i mean (i have circled in red where there is some wear to the plastic (it has become thinner, so less strong than when new), due to where the metal joystick shaft pushes against the plastic pieces in order for the joystick to move around 360 degrees)
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hi all, thought would share that there's an interesting new vectrex item out: http://vectrex32.com/ http://www.ebay.com/itm/142093867197 http://vectorgaming.proboards.com/thread/1764
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hello, with the vecmulti the games do not always load and sometimes you have to reset the system and then when reattempt to load, they load ok? if this is the case, i think that is normal, as this happens with my vecmulti also
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ah i forgot about this it looks like he put the price up and sold them all now