-^CrossBow^-

March 30

I actually did try and get my scope to show those other readings However, either my scope isn't fast enough or something because I could NOT get my scope to look anything like that. Best I could do was the first diagram where I was kinda getting a square wave from it but it had a very rounded rise and seemed to trail on much longer in time than what those pics show. But, I do wonder if this is because I was using my 7800 with the STC and plugs on it. It was the closest console I had open to be worked on at the time. I will see if I can crack open a 2600 and give it another try later today.

March 30

4 minutes ago, GcMcM said:

I have the CleanComp mod coupled with a RetroTink 2x-Pro on my 2600 Jr. Using S-Video produces a very nice picture. Highly recommend.

I have a Jr with the same setup but the s-video wasn't very good and I stuck with the composite output on it. I'm staying with using UAVs in my setups since the pricing is the same when you factor in the shipping from over sears for the Cleancomp vs the UAVs I can get here in the States and in order to get the clean comp to provide a comparable picture on NTSC consoles, requires some additional components to be removed from the system. The UAV doesn't require any components to be removed. I do like that the Cleancomp has a simple install just soldering to the bottom of the TIA pins, but that also makes it more difficult to replace the TIA in the future if your TIA isn't in a socket since you would have to remove the CleanComp as a result and I've had many boards like that end up getting damaged when trying to remove them afterwards. So there is pros and cons to all here.

March 30

1 hour ago, Unstablewarpfield said:

I see I didn't answer this question. My plans are to open source the design on my Github. The latest revision uses one smaller IC for managing power instead of two LDO's and the number of 0201 components got down from 27 to 9. It's doable to solder these but 0402 is a bit more friendly towards home soldering. I couldn't get rid of all of them though. Before releasing this into the wild I'd like to know exactely how it performs on the Morph 4K so as soon as I have an analog bridge I'll give it a run on this scaler. It works on the Framemeister and I perfected timings on the OSSC which almost gives it an emulator-like quality. Haven't tried any of the Tink products since I don't own one. Things are moving ahead, but slowly. Also my health is still not where it should but, so that's not helping 😞

I only have a Tink2x SCART myself since I use an OSSC in my main AV setup in the game room. I believe thought, that if you have it working well for the OSSC, then it should be fine with the Tink series of products also. As for the Morph 4K, I don't know anyone personally with one and it hasn't been something I've looked at since I'm still only using a 1080P display in my game room. 1080P at the size it is in my small game room still seems perfect for me so not sure when or if I will make the 4k jump. Likely when the current TV goes out since 4k is all you can pretty much buy these days.

March 30

Check the voltage output on both of your voltage regulators. They essentially provide power to half the console components each.

March 29

45 minutes ago, Pitfall Harry said:

I don't know whether this is just another photocopy of a photocopy or what you're looking for, but there is a 2600 Field Service Manual available on eBay right now.

Atari 2600/2600A Field Service Manual on eBay

-Ben

Auction details on my ebay app state this is for a digital copy to be emailed to you. So they are charging $1 for something you can download for free from several places already.

March 29

16 minutes ago, JagChris said:

This is unfortunate. Its annoying to have to unplug the CD drive every time I want to use the GD.

If the CD function worked a bit better I would mind this, but yes... this is actually why I've not even been using my JagGD much at all is because I don't like the idea of having to remove my actual CD mech off all the time.

March 29

5 hours ago, batari said:

There’s an RGB video mod for the 2600. So then you have RGB out from any cart, not just the flashcart.

https://etim.net.au/shop/shop.php?crn=210&rn=552&action=show_detail

It isn't currently being made anymore. I was advised that the components to make it either weren't available for good pricing or couldn't be sourced and it needs to be redesigned with new components. This is somewhat mentioned at the top of that page in a blue banner.

March 29

21 hours ago, x=usr(1536) said:

The Atarimax SD supports both .a52 and .bin format ROM images, so you should be covered there.

One other thing it supports are .hyb (hybrid) images, which consist of a ROM image plus a data file that is loaded dynamically as needed. This lets games like AtariBlast! access a full 1MB of data on a machine with no external storage.

AFAIK, hybrid images are specific to the Atarimax SD; I don't believe anything else supports them. Not a big deal in practice, though.

This is correct along with the video playback files I have for Bad Apple and Dragon Lair follow a similar formatting for streaming data as needed off the SDcard.

March 29

19 hours ago, eightbit said:

Aha....I didn't realize the connector was 10v/5v/Ground.

Get one of these, the connector is right:

https://www.ebay.com/itm/304565876045

Use it to hack up your own PSU that will not cost $50

Someone actually opened one and just swapped the 5v and ground around, but I am not sure if providing 12v to the 10v would harm anything...it would definitely generate more heat. But, here is the pinout comparison:

Nice! Although it looks like the PSU is sealed shut so the easiest option would be to cut the cable somewhere and then swap out everything around that way. As for the 12v vs 10v. It would work as I'm pretty sure the voltage regulators in the system can handle it, but the added heat could be a concern as I don't believe they have much sinkage on those VRs. Could be a good candidate to try swapping out the +12 regulator with a DC-DC switching type as that could handle the added input voltage and not have any extra heat to worry about.

March 29

On 3/22/2024 at 8:06 AM, Kirkland said:

** Anyone with an oscilloscope willing to take some pictures of their screens to match what is shown on sections 4-44 and 4-46?

Thanks in advance for assisting.

Well, I have a period correct B&K 1474 that I use and these were about the best I could grab from it showing those signals and a few other pics to see if these might help? I could get direct screen caps on the STC screens but the color bars screen wouldn't match through an LCD quite right and this was about the best I was able to snap from my little PVM in the lab.

Yes, these are adjusted to bring out some of the contrast and lower the brightness down to make them more easy to see. Also some doctoring done to remove glare and background reflections on the tube. Feel free to use these if you want or let me know if you want me to try and get something better?

March 28

1 minute ago, Dopy25 said:

Oh nice! I see the stone age gamer PSU. That will probably be my best bet. And I totally forgot about yahoo auctions. I've never sued it so I'm not even sure how to.

I'm also debating on making an arcade stick. They don't have an encoder so it's super easy. I even thought about getting the USB-C neo geo controllers and modifying that to use 15 pin.

Thanks for the reminder of Yahoo Auctions, and the recommendation for SAG.

Yeap.. I don't use it all the time but I've gotten quite a few good deals (I feel) doing it. I use Buyee.jp as my proxy service to browse and bid etc. The auction I won for my controller as an example was about $30 shipped. It does have some small scuffs on it that was shown accurately in the pics of the auction. Aside from that little bit of cosmetic flaw, the controller works great! So that is one suggestion for something like that and if you use a proxy service like Buyee, or Sendico, then you can save some money that way vs eBay.

March 28

On 3/27/2024 at 10:01 AM, Dopy25 said:

Just got a Neo Geo CD and am hoping to find a reasonable priced controller or joystick. It can even be broken. I can repair it.

Also looking for the kinda proprietary power supply plug end. $50+ for either seems excessive to me.

Have lots of things to trade if you are looking for anything. Send DM and I will let you know if I have what you would want.

I ended up buying a new repro PSU from Stone Age Gamer over the summer for mine. And I got my NGCD controller through my proxy on JPN Yahoo Auctions for about half the cost I usually see them go for on ebay and that was with the shipping and fees.

March 27

1 hour ago, Blackened said:

That would be it. A Whopping $8.48!

Thanks Crossbow!

👍

March 27

On 2/23/2024 at 1:25 PM, RobDangerous said:

Duo jailbreak is out: https://github.com/analoguejb/Analogue-Duo-JB

I messed with this a bit but ran into some issues mainly with my CD games being played from the SDcard. They load up and work, but after about 20min in or so, the audio will suddenly start to play with a bad stutter and the entire game comes to a crawl while it does this. It will sometime recover from this and start to play normally again. But in all cases, once this happens, then the game will soft lock and the only option at that point is to end the game through the A-DUO menu.

So I really hope a jailbreak with the save states is able to get released as that would at least provide a work around for this since folks could save state as they play and not have to restart from the beginning after getting a lot of progress through a game.

March 26

On 3/21/2024 at 10:01 PM, TrekMD said:

I did and I like it. Nice way to look and read the manuals for the games.

If the Doc says its good then that is good enough for me. I just placed my order for one before they possibly can't be gotten anymore. I like that is comes with some game maps already in it along with passcodes. That means I wouldn't have to print that stuff out myself or look it up and have it all in one spot. Nice...

March 25

1 hour ago, DZ-Jay said:

I was going to say the same thing -- it seems to have a smoothing filter. Other than that, the colours look great. Is there a way to remove the smoothing filter?

-dZ.

Yeah the Rad2x has a switch to turn that on/off. Usually it is off by default, but it looks like their Rad2x arrived with it turned on.

March 25

It has been some time since I messed with this but I believe in the case of both Krazy Shootout and Mountain King you just get a black screen. In the case of the Pitfall, I want to say that it does come up but you won't be able to control Pitfall Harry.

March 24

6 hours ago, rbairos said:

Okay, update:
I've got my hands on a 7800, saw the issues with garbled graphics, and some audio, did a bunch of trial+error testing and now have a fix.
The issue is the 7800 doesn't let me ignore the A12 line like I can with the FB2 + 2600 (where I was using A11 as a proxy).

Running attached update.frm on the sd-card by itself should patch it to work:

(Please ignore poor CRT TV quality, think my blue died)

update.frm 92 B · 0 downloads

Going to give a try here in a bit as I've got a few 7800s out from service requests I can use it with. Will update this post with some results a bit later.

Yes! I just tested mine with this new FW load and it ran each and every power on on no less than 4 different 7800s (all NTSC) just now. So I'd say you got this working quite well! Now to study up on how to re-encode some other movies onto this.

March 24

5 hours ago, Blackened said:

Well, I was successful to some degree! I ditched the RF box and was able to get a picture but unfortunately no sound. I'm reading about some capacitors on the board that might solve the trouble... I also saw something about a repair kit that came with a bunch of new capacitors and other doodads that fix the most common 2600 issues. I'll have to see if I can find one of those again...

I believe this is what you are looking for?

https://console5.com/store/atari-2600-total-refresh-tune-up-cap-kit-new-capacitors-and-more.html

March 24

Wanted to update this thread as the issue has been resolved. It was in fact the Maria IC causing the issue. Once I removed the original, installed two 24pin sockets (as I don't have any 48pins on hand), and then popped on another Maria I pulled from a parts 7800. Good to go and Ballblazer once again looks like I would expect. Also, the squished look is actually how I have my monitor currently setup that causes that and it wasn't the Maria. But the extra graphics on the side was the Maria for sure.

So yeah, if you have a similar looking issue from your 7800 when doing an AV upgrade, then the Maria is the first place in this instance to place the blame. I'm guessing this Maria has always had these issues in the past and the owner never noticed since they mainly use a CRT to play.

March 22

5 hours ago, WicoKid said:

Well....just do it...I removed the Select switch and disassembled; cleaned, reassembled.....it is working. Still confused with the multimeter demonstrating the switch was working and several times, with the switch not even in the loop, the Atari did the auto-sleect thing. I did reflow J101 while cleaning the switch as well.

Thank you for responding.Will return here if recurs.

Excellent to hear! Now go play some games!

March 21

2 hours ago, paulwgraber said:

I assume that orange thing standing up is the audio tuning coil?

yes

March 21

7 minutes ago, SoundGammon said:

Forgot about that. And if memory serves, doesn't it short out the power supply on the 5200 if someone tries it in an unmodified system?

Not that I'm aware of... one of the parts of the mod is to feed the input voltage off the PSU before it gets to the regulators to an unsued redundant ground pin that you have to separate from the traces on the board and that becomes the input voltage for the VCS adapter.

March 21

1 hour ago, Atari800Xl said:

Hi guys I'm looking to buy a CX55 I saw a cheap one but the seller says it just makes a black screen when he uses it. Are these easily repairable?

Assuming the seller was using a 2port 5200 when they tested it? Because if they used a 4port model and it hasn't been internally modified for the VCS adapter, then you get nothing from the adapter when trying to use it.

March 21

15 minutes ago, mthompson said:

One drawback of the MTE test carts is that they all reverse the left and right controller displays. Not a deal breaker, but still annoying.

Yeah I've never understood why that is? I mean, I'm used to it but it is very odd. The Free Wheeling diagnostics corrects this as well.

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