Junie

quote: Originally posted by atarigamer: Get MSN Messenger or AIM (AOL INSTANT MESSENGER) . . I am now downloading AIM, it seems it's the way to go. After all on the profile page it even asks for AIM, perhaps that's what most Atarians use?

quote: Originally posted by atarigamer: Junie, do you have any instant messegers? [ 11-14-2001: Message edited by: atarigamer ] Nope, not after recieving instant messaging spam on ICQ, and the fact people can reformat a hard-drive from ICQ. I am stricly a e-mail kinda guy. Perhaps I may use ICQ again to talk to people here at this board.

quote: Originally posted by liquid_sky: are you losing your mind? go for a domain, e.t. is so easy to find I would agree. At least with the domain your site will be more snazzy, and easier for people to remember and type. A unopened cart of E.T. is only useful for looking at if you don't open it, of course there is the collector aspect. If you do open the E.T. it is even more common. The best anwser is.. What do you want more? Junie

Thanks for the very fast update of my Avatar! I think the animation adds something more to the image, perhaps a sense of game play? Junie

quote: Originally posted by atarigamer: About nintendogeeks.com , it was I site that I bought when I was an Nintendo fan. It has been shut down, and for some reason 300 people come to the site every day to see if it is ever gonna come back. Anyways. Just to clearify, you will sign the domain name nintendogeeks.com over to anyone who will trade? How much time is left before the domain name needs to be re-registered? Junie

As mentioned in another thread-- Add hardware cataloging, a nice extra would be a area for a short description for the hardware like the game label info. That way you can enter if you have a Atari 2600 4-Switch woodgrain or All Black "Darth Vader". Of course what type of Atari system-- Heavy Sixer, 6 Switch, 4 Switch, JR., etc. My idea posted in the other thread... Add the option to specify if the game is dead. That way you can still inventory the game, but you will know it is dead. Adding a option on the New Game function like the Boxed checkbox, for example [ ] Dead Game Junie

I just updated my Avatar image to animation, and the image is only 509 bytes I hope there is no hard feelings I just had my Avatar updated and I am going to request a update to my animated image now Junie

I might be a bit partial, but I would have to say H.E.R.O. Runner-up would be River Raid. But by the look of the Kaboom post done, it seems Kaboom won. Some ideas... H.E.R.O. -- Perhaps a twist of Tomb Raider, where the Hero rescues archologeist from ancient buildings/towns. Maybe actually have the Hero preform emergency first-aid to the trapped people. For example simple mouth to mouth like the game play of Final Fantasy 7, when Cloud does it to save the girl (with the dolphin) in the small village beside the Army Base (The Big Gun looking area on the map by the ocean). River Raid -- Have the game where the plane can fly high and low, simular to Desert Falcon. Add in some tanks and submarines, or simply add the ability for the enemies to fire at the plane. And getting rid of alot of the fuel refilling, I think the fuel tank needs to be patched, the refilling seems to be the main concern of the game play. Junie Junie

quote: Originally posted by Pitfall Harry: The colored ones are more purdy. Ben I would have to agree, the color ones look better I currently have 4 Red label games. 2 are color and 2 are B/W Solaris - B/W JR. Pac-Man - B/W Radar Lock - Color Venture - Color Junie

quote: Originally posted by StanJr: appropriate for your name, Smart Patrol! All of the new avatars look great. Way ta go Junie, sticking with the old school! I had to have a true picture of H.E.R.O. It holds a special place with me, besides I think a actual screenshot has more appeal. By the way does the Avatars have any size limits? I noticed the Pong Avatar has animation, and thought perhaps I can snazz mine up a bit Junie - New Sr. Atari Fan

quote: Originally posted by Smart Patrol: Joe Grand, the creator of SCSIcide has custom 2k/4k PCBs. I use old Pac-Man and Defender boards which is more work but cheaper and gives me gold contacts. None of the custom boards I've seen have gold contacts, which makes me wonder if they'll eventually have to be cleaned more. Making plated gold contacts may be possiable. I have a few "cheap/easy" ideas of how to do it, I am not how sure it would turn out though. Of course there has to be some actual plating way to do it. Perhaps it can be done cheaply. I'll look into this matter. quote: Originally posted by Arcadenut: [QB]I'm interested. I would like to see a board that could also be used as a Mutli-Game board. Here is a link to making a Multi-Cart out of an old Activision Cart: http://members.home.com/rcolbert1/multi.htm A design based off this should also allow for single game EPROM's as well. They would leave out the dipswitch and just solder one of the pins as if the dipswitch was set. Hell, I'd pay $2 a cart for those :-)[QB] This will definetly be one of my custom PCB's, a very great idea. Of course instead of adding a piece of perfboard I would simply make the PCB bigger and do a redesign. A bigger PCB will undoubtly raise the cost of the PCB, so I am glad to see you're willing to pay more-- I can't produce it at the same cost. At any rate as soon as I get the measuring tool tomrrow evening I can start laying out the original PCB's (I Have 3 different original versions to work with) and then start on the custom PCB's. Junie

For a controller I would have to agree with everyone else, a Paddle is the way to go. A paddle with perhaps a hand grip (the finger groove type) wrapping around it, of course a left handed grip (After all the Atari buttons were left hand operated). Perhaps the hand grip could be made out of/ or covered with a rubber or foam material-- simular to a Super NES one handed controller. I don't know if I am the only one but when my hands start to sweat the Paddle seems to slip a bit. Junie

I have a new custom Avatar as well, but I made mine. After some editing of a screenshot and a short e-mail message to the editor, I am quite proud of my new Avatar. Many thanks to the editiors for allowing me to use a actual H.E.R.O. screenshot Junie

quote: Originally posted by Chuck Gill: Junie, Here's a crude wiring diagram. http://www.zutco.com/atari/Board.jpg I've shown red slashes where I cut the traces and red dots where the connections are. -Chuck Thank you for the prompt reply. I am going to start work on it tomrrow evening once I get a tool to make acurate size measurements of the original PCB. Please excuse these questions below for their "stupidity", I have never personally made a Homebrewed game. I don't have a Eprom programmer, just a PIC programmer. After reading the Hozer instructions (again) and looking at your picture, only 4 of the pins appear to be used from the 14 on the chip is this correct? Do you use or know what a 74ls04 hex inverter is? I assume this allows the Eprom to fit in the original ROM chip holes. Also is there any differnce between the Green and Blue color lines in your picture? Perhaps one color is the front of the PCB and the other color the back? Junie

quote: Originally posted by Chuck Gill: I would be interested as long as it fits in a standard Atari case and was already drilled and traced to accept a 2732 and the LS7404. $1.00 does not seem unreasonable to me. Yes the one I pictures above is in a Atari Video Pinball case (The game was dead on arrival) I will create as many different PCB layouts as there are different needs. If you will tell me what changes need to be made to a original Atari PCB to work with 2732 and the LS7404, I will start work on the new PCB's. Junie

I am certainly glad to see there are people interested. If for not anything else, simply to preserve the original Atari games Well I am still trying to find out exactly what changes need to be made to the original PCB's for use in Homebrewed games. If anyone knows the exact changes needed let me know and I will begin work on the new PCB layout. Currently I am out of the etching chemicals and don't have the PCB layout, so here is a picture to show you one of the Atari PCB's cut to shape and put in a Atari cart. I have never included pictures before so I hope this works.. Please excuse the roughness, it has been done by laying a acutal PCB on the board. Once I have the PCB layout done I can produce much better results. Currently I am not sure how long it will take to create them, I would estimate it would take me about 10 minutes. Most of the time would be the etching time of the chemicals. Everything is hand done, perhaps in the future I can get actual PCB tools to shorten the time. I am willing to produce the PCB's for any Atari system. I would simply need a PCB of the system to create the PCB layout, and of course I need to know what changes need to be made for the Homebrewed carts. As soon as I find out what changes need to be made from the original Atari PCB's for the Homebrewed games I will start work on the layout. Once I get the layout finished hopefully I can produce some samples of the new PCB's shortly after. Junie

As mentioned in a lost thread, some people are interested in creating custom/new PC board's and Cart cases. I personally have looked into making a new PCB for the Homebrewed Gamers. I don't have any fancy PCB cutters or anything, but I have been exprimenting and basiclly created the Atari cart PCB with common tools I have. The cheapest price I have found for the rough 2" x 2" double sided PCB would cost $0.48 and have found a way to etch the PCB for about $0.15 Throw in some solder (To connect the 2 sides at the points) and the material to cover the PCB and your looking around $0.85 a PCB. Then add in a very small profit to cover the time involed and your around $1.00 a PCB. The resulting PCB is professional grade PCB. The etched PCB is always acurate and high quality. I am not sure if Randy at Hozer or any of the other Homebrewed gamers are willing to pay $1.00 for the PCB, when they can get games for $0.25 - $0.50 for both the game case and PCB. I have gotten PCB software to customize the PCB so that the PCB is acutally customized for Homebrewed games. No more connecting pins together or wiring pins to other places, simply solder the Eprom in the PCB and your all ready to go. If I can find a cheaper supplier of double sided copper clad PC board then perhaps the cost will be cheap enough for Homebrewed games to want the PCB's. Or perhaps they do now.. Of course you have to remember this is a brand new, freshly created customized, PCB-- So it will cost more. If anyone knows where to buy a 2" x 2" double sided PCB for less than $0.48 please respond. The supplier I found sells the PCB in much larger boards. I simply calculated how many 2" x 2" squares would fit on the board and divied the cost of the PC board by the amount of squares. Anyone have any thoughts on this or are working on creating custom/new Atari cart cases? Junie

As far as double posting goes, why do it? Seems silly to me, not to mention having to skip repeated messages... So does anyone here actually have one of the cheating devices? Never a double post - Junie

quote: Originally posted by Nukey Shay: You could use a serial-port extension cable as an extension Which are you referring to-- The cable is already to go? Or simply use the cable for the wire when making a extension? The only type of cable I have found ready to go, only connects a few of the pins, not all 9 of them. For example a mouse uses only 5. Junie

I just finished creating two extenstion cords for the Atari controllers. They were made with a 9 Pin Male and a 9 Pin Female D-Subminiature connectors. I used some wire I already had, some 22 AWG single strand wire. I actually braided the 9 pieces of wire together, they look almost like one piece of wire. Then I soldered on the connectors, after I used my Digital Multi-Meter to find out where the same wire was on both ends. I finished up my connections by securely wrapping it in electrical tape. I plan to later add the connector housing's, once I get some more cash to give it a more proffesional look and make it a lot more strong. I got the connectors at Radio Shack for $1.49 each. So it cost me $2.98 per joystick extension cable, and some time. The extension cables are about a 1/4" short of 9 feet So now I can play the Atari just about anywhere in my room. 9 feet might be a bit over-kill, but the extension cords work great. I tested them with a Joystick and a set of Paddles. Also I created a simple adapter to allow me to play my Atari on my newer cable ready TV. I didn't feel like paying $7 or more, so I simply made it from parts I already had so it cost me $0. It consists of a coaxial cable cut in half, I use one of the parts, and at the end of it I added a RCA Female jack. I simple stripped the wire and connected and soldered the middle wires together and the other wires. Then I finished it off with electrial tape as well. The Atari to TV cable has to be hooked-up and unhooked to switch between TV and the Atari, but I don't care. Perhaps I'll throw in a small project box and a switch to make it a actual switch box. The image from the Atari seems to be a lot clearly than the image I get from my switch box and older TV. Of course I don't have to turn the dial on my newer TV to fix the sound which is nice I plan to make a Y-adapter so I can have a joystick and a set of paddles always plugged in. My only complaint about the joystick extension cables is that the set of paddles are both laying in bed. Perhaps I'll make a special Y-adapter and split the set of paddles so I can leave one of them by the Atari and the other where every I am playing Anyone have any other Atari cable ideas? Junie

Is it possiable to create a simple Y splitter to connect both a joystick and a set of paddles to the player 1 port on the Atari? For example a 9 pin male with two 9 pin females, comming off the 9 pin male. Or if you perfer change the wording to plug and socket.. I personally am looking for something that will allow me to keep a joystick and a set of paddles always connected. Instead of having to chose a game depending on whats currently connected or constantly changing them. If the Y splitter is possiable for two, can the Y splitter be made for 4 or more? Joystick, Paddles, Track Ball, Number Pad, Indy 500 driving controller, etc. Also can this be done exactly the same for the Player 2 port? Junie

quote: Originally posted by Mitch: Here's an adapter. It's not real cheap though and you will need to mod the 2600 for composite output. Thanks for the reply. The $59 price tag isn't that bad, it is better than buying a new TV, but I was looking more for a hack to do it or something. I will keep it in mind, it is exactly what I am looking for though. Many Thanks Junie

Or perhaps some type of convertor that connects inbetween the the TV and Atari? After running the wires from the Atari switch box over the monitor connector plug the only thing I can get the monitor to do is go white and roll the blank screen or show random blue spots on the screen. Junie

Wow is what I have to say too. I also like your Atari 2600 Menu Multicart, on your web page. I hope you do get around to mass producing these items. Do you have anything else you are working on? Simply amazing.. Junie

I was thinking about going, after all it is only about a 4 - 5 hour drive from my house. Perhaps next year I can save up some cash to actually get some games when I go. That's why I decided not go, don't have any cash to get anything. Sounds like it would have been fun, perhaps it'll be even more fun next year when I go Junie