theor

The price will only go up with time, especially for the sixers, as they become harder to find and more collectible. They're more than a console, they're a piece of history. So yeah, good luck finding one for $25. In Europe a sixer typically sells for 60-90€, maybe around 50-60€ for the Vaders and Jr. It mostly depends how collectible it is, a boxed heavy-sixer will sell for a lot more, and that's their actual price. Now if you only want to play and don't really care about the console itself, buy an USB 2600 joystick and use an emulator, the experience will be the same and will only set you back $25.

Also, back in1975, the state of the art in "game programs" was Pong and Tank (Combat), so that's what the 2600 was designed for. Games like Space Invaders wouldn't happen until three years later. When the NES arrived, pretty much everything had already been invented, they just had to throw some hardware to handle it. There's no possible comparison, and yet because of its RAM-less video hardware, the 2600 managed to successfully implement 4 way scrolling and features from games released 10 years later. I'm still in awe when I think about it.

It was actually designed between 1975 and 1976. The first microprocessor, the 4004, had just been invented. Everything else used TTL logic. I don't think MrBeefy realizes what a prowess the 2600 was in the mid 70s. CPU, RAM, ROM, cartridge... we take that for granted, but the 2600 was the first machine to bring that on the table, 43 years ago. It was science fiction come true. http://www.computerhistory.org/revolution/computer-games/16/185/758 It was such a novel machine that not much off-the-shelve electronic existed to support it. The TIA was more or less the first graphic chip ever (although a few mainframes had some dedicated circuity) and had to be prototyped using wirewraped TTL on breadboards, as seen above. Science fiction come true. The 2600 started it all, everything about it is unique. The NES, meh... The engineers tossed together a few existing chips and voila. Nothing fancy about it.

I don't think that's related to Atari in itself, but to what it represents in your subconscious. The longing to simpler times, to the innocence of the youth, when there was joy and love and excitement. And going back to playing those games is first and foremost a way to connect back to that safe space, and disconnect for a moment from the dullness of life.

I edited in the meantime because my post sounded unintentionally rude, I didn't mean to say Atari was legacy but that it felt that way to some younger people. As for the T-shirt, well, I had an Atari wallpaper on my laptop two weeks ago and it got praised by a couple guys in my office, both in their forties. Younger people don't care or don't know what the fuss about Atari is about, they've only known Nintendo and Sony. It's basically the same for the C64 / ZX Spectrum / CPC 464 generation, they speak fondly of something that younger people haven't known.

There's no way AC can leak inductively down the 7805. And no way to get 125V DC from a 9V/1A AC adapter. Did you mean 5V DC after the 7805 and 125V AC from the mains? If so, then the next step is to check the solders on the main board and reseat the 6507, RIOT and TIA. Use an antistatic wristband or at least periodically ground yourself before / while handling the circuit.

-1: I think Atari feels legacy to most people, it's a brand for a gone age, like IBM or Oldsmobile. You get no respect for wearing those shirts, except by old timers. Then the hardware, as a whole, sucked TBH. Their was the huge and clunky 5200 and its awful controller, the "meh" 7800, the overpriced and "kitchen sink architecture" Jaguar... Nintendo and Sega were the new cool kids on the block and there was nothing that could be done against that. Also Atari never had an avatar like Nintendo and Sega had with Mario and Sonic. Its management was awful and the market saturated with trash games. -2: Personally I don't feel anything special for Atari, but neither do I for Nintendo actually. I'm just in love with the 2600 because it's so unique.

Born in 84, my first computer was a 8086 MSDOS 3.0 PC in 1989, and my first console was the SNES in 93. I'm passionate about retro computing, computing history, and I also love simple machines and languages. I've built a simple stack TTL computer, played with a lot of logic circuits in Logisim, fantasize about owning a PDP11, have tried Unix systems all the way up to the very earliest versions, wrote programs in Forth, LISP, Haskell, you name it... But there's one machine that stands out among this crowd, and it's the 2600. I am absolutely fascinated by this piece of hardware, there are simply so many unique things about it. It's the most retro hardware one can gets his hands on. It's the console that started everything. It's a mere CPU-in-a-box that will make most programmers flip the table and give up on it because it's so hellish to program, but achieving anything useful with it is a technical award in itself. It's a fully documented machine that can be fully understood by a single mind down to the transistor. It has no framebuffer, 128 bytes of memory, yet it can run a game like Solaris. Some of its games like Boulder Dash or Draconian are technical wonders like exist on no other platform. No other console takes so much craftmanship, and no other console runs such über optimized assembly jewels. It's simplistic hardware, yet it takes mastery to tame this beast, and that makes it captivating. Finally its game have a very particular aesthetic that brings back memories from my early childhood. Blocky graphics on a black background, scrolling rainbows... there's something about those that I just like. It's the console of the Space Age, the console of Shoot'em up like the SNES was the console of RPGs. I will not play the latest AAA titles because they leave me unimpressed and I just don't have time anymore for all the storytelling, but I was in awe when I first tried Draconian, Star Castle Arcade, Super Cobra Arcade or Boulder Dash, because man, it's just unbelievable to write code that's so tight. I enjoy the craftmanship and the technical prowess more than the game. So the Atari 2600 was in my book since 2003 until I finally made the step to get myself one and restore it. I don't play much but it's sitting in my living room in all its glory. And heck, it looks a hell of a lot better that a PDP11! As for playing, Stella stays on my laptop whenever I feel like trying a new homebrew or playing a classic.

To start with the basics, what's the voltage in front and after the voltage regulator? You should have 9.x Volts in front , and 5.0 +-0.2 Volt after.

Pliers and a towel on top of them to avoid any damage to the fragile threading. Be prudent when you pull them off, the levers are just plastic, you wouldn't want to break one pulling too hard. Gentle, clockwise and anti-clockwise motions work best.

The board makes an electrical contact with the PCB ground so I didn't want to keep the contact loose or mess with it. The good news is it only took little sanding to insert the cartridge effortlessly. There was just one tight spot, near the top left corner, and 10mn of sanding later the friction was completely gone! Unfortunately I still have an issue with those red label carts: they won't open the flap soon enough, so the connector gets blocked by the flap instead of inserting. Inserting the cart diagonally isn't possible when the aluminum housing is mounted, so I have to keep the flap open with a cable tie before inserting the cart. No problem with the black label carts. Apparently there seems to be a dimensional tolerance issue with the sixers and red label carts.

I didn't remove the chips completely, just enough to lift them up and put them back to scrub away some potential corrosion. Besides I doubt I would be getting a picture if I had put it the wrong way. I'm leaning toward the LCD monitor, it probably doesn't like the VCS and won't sync with it. I don't want to mod my VCS, so unless someone knows an alternative I'll probably need to buy a small CRT TV, or at least a proper LCD TV (not a computer monitor with an RF adapter). I was hoping to save space but probably expected too much from the RF adapter. Here's the adapter in action, it sounded like a nice idea: https://nintendosegajapan.com/2015/10/22/how-to-play-ntsc-j-rf-only-consoles-on-pal-televisions/

Sure, I used the "Orange foncé" tint, reference PC1MC. 4€ on Amazon. By the way I moved to the electronic part and cleaned the solder flux off the two PCBs. It's now in a really pristine state, both inside and outside. Here's the switch part with the new voltage regulator. I used gold thermal grease to replace the old paste which didn't age well. The TIA PCB also looks a lot better and hopefully will withstand the years better now:

Thanks for your answers, that's a good thing to hear about the PCB. Good news about the flux also, I feared it was this dreaded glue. So I gave it another try and realized the cartridge wasn't pushed all the way down the connector. When I did, I got some kind of picture, so my VCS is fine. Hooray! Yet this surprised me as I really applied a lot of force on the cartridge earlier, and when I reassembled everything, I realized the cartridge, Solaris, won't even go half way down the slot! I almost had to pry on the console to take it out and the cart edges have been damaged a little... I guess I'll have to sand the aluminum slot a little, it's way too tight a fit. So now here's what I get : Some possibilities now include a faulty RF cable, or an NTSC game since I have a PAL VCS. There's no clue on the label whether its NTSC or PAL. It may also come from this MTVBox RF to VGA adapter device. It would make sense because as I fiddled with the settings, I got a black and white picture at some point (and some noise coming out of the speakers). I barely had the time to take a screenshot: I think I'll have to try with another game and with an actual CRT monitor. But at least my VCS is fine, I'm relieved.

Hi everyone, I've purchased and restored a light sixer, but I think it may be broken. Here's the kind of output I get when I turn it on, either with a cartridge or not: - black screen with a static white bar on the left - wriggling white bars - jumping and wriggling rainbow lines (with sound) I can record a short video if that would help. Of course I've cleaned the cartridge and the connector before going further. When I received it, the motherboard was covered with brown glue residues, typical of the late 70s and early 80s PCBs. I understand this glue turns conductive and corrosive with time and indeed some tracks were wrinkled, so I carefully removed the glue with white gas (naphta), isopropyl alcohol and an old toothbrush. The PCB looks somewhat OK now without the glue, expect for those wrinkled tracks and the tarnished look: Next I replaced the 7805 voltage regulator, lifted and reseated the RIOT, 6507 and TIA. The chips all run somewhat hot, the RIOT even uncomfortably hot after a while, although I can't conclude yet it's dead. Also I don't have a VCR or a CRT TV, I'm using an RF to VGA adapter (which might be a problem itself, although unlikely I think). Hopefully it's not beyond repair. How should I diagnose the problem from there? Thank you

I haven't got any reply and don't think I'll ever receive one unfortunately, it looks like the devs moved along. I'll post their reply here should I receive something, or PM you if this thread has gotten too old to dig up. BTW, there's actually a lot of people here whom I admire their skills. Yours and stephana's for the x86, asm and verilog related low-level emulation, but also Darrel Spice Jr, Thomas Jentzsch, John W. Champeau and all the 2600 homebrew programers. I'm still in awe when I see Star Castle Arcade, Super Cobra Arcade, Boulder Dash, and most impressively, Draconian. The latest 2600 homebrews feel like NES games, it's almost hard to believe.

While this may look boring after so many eponym threads, I may have found some new tricks while restoring my freshly arrived light sixer. Keep reeding! It starts casually with a filthy, 40 years old PAL light sixers found on eBay, probably made somewhere between 1978 and 1980. This is actually the first time I see one for real as I was too young in the 80s. Boy, am I excited! It's not in bad shape but it's covered in grime and will need a complete clean up. The electronics work, although I'll probably want to replace the voltage regulator later. As expected, the inside is filthy. OK, let's start by soaking this up. I'll take care of the PCBs in the meantime. The RF shield did a good job protecting the TIA PCB those past 40 years... ... although I'm surprised by the very crude quality of these late 70s PCB. Look at the weldings under the joystick ports... There's iron oxide underneath the TIA socket and on the voltage regulator dissipator. Some WD40 and a good scrubbing took care of it. Otherwise the switch assembly is in good shape. A bit of dielectric grease will still help the switches. Back to the housing. Scrubbed with a tooth brush, rinsed, now I won't have to wash my hands after I touch it. Time to soak the bottom part. Now comes the painting job. I had already purchased a paint stick for the bezel. I'll let it fully dry first. A slight sanding of the bezel helped remove the old paint residues and the new paint stick to it. The whole painting job merely took a minute. I applied several layers. Now comes the hard part: the corroded switches. Vinegar didn't do much, neither did baking soda. I ended up polishing them mechanically using a driller. That may be a new trick. Better, but still not good as new. Next I used linseed oil on the caps, which may be another new idea. It has three interesting properties: - it dissolves the oxides - it makes the aluminum shine - it forms a shiny, plastic like polymer after drying that will prevent further corrosion I could still remove some oxide a hour later, way longer than I expected. I had already remounted the console. Now they look new, if slightly worn down after 4 decades. Also there's no more oxide to remove and the threading hasn't been damaged as I feared after a mechanical corrosion removal. So far so good. I also applied some linseed oil on the bezel with a Q-tip to form a shiny protective layer on the matte orange paint. The paint alone wouldn't withstand the years, and I want this restoration to last. The result is gorgeous. Next I'll focus on the electronics, then order a Harmony Encore cart. That's for another chapter.

Great find! A comment suggests a phase offset between the 6507 and the TIA as the cause of an artifact in Pitfall. I see there's a plan to port their Python code to C++, which would help the framerate quite a bit. Too bad they didn't go past v0.1. I feel like dropping them an email.

Thank you both for chiming in. Actually I wasn’t aware that Stella v5 used physical modeling and thought it still used rom hacks. This is exactly what I wanted to address, and given this false assumption this makes most of my post somewhat irrelevant. I wasn’t expecting to simulate the flow of electrons in semi conductors. My idea for an emulator was to have something akin to Verilog as an engine, I’m not sure if that has ever been attempted for low to average complexity circuits like found on the VCS. DirtyHairy has a point, at such a deep level of emulation, other effects such as impedance mismatches, propagation delays, components aging should also be modeled, which would consume a large amount of power for little benefits. However I thought this may also be the point because low-level emulation brings the most return for analog circuits simulation. Besides game consoles, I’ve seen LLE successfully used on analog modeling software synthesizers, which are able to replicate the sound of electronic analog instruments much more accurately by modeling their circuits, especially oscillators, transistors and capacitors, instead of using pre-made wave tables from their sound waves (which sounds a little sterile) - at the cost of a lot of CPU usage, obviously. The VCS is a special beast because despite being digital, there’s so little abstraction that I feel safe saying the analog non-linearities of its circuits matters more than on later hardware, so I thought there might be some accuracy to gain here. I think you proved me wrong with Stella v5, the links you posted were very insightful in that matter. By the way, I admire your coding skills, the both of you.

Hi everyone! After reading Racing the Beam a few months ago, the VCS started to captivate me and I got more and more interested in its hardware and its emulation, which eventually led me here. The fact that the VCS games run so close to the metal essentially means that the emulator has to be cycle accurate, what some would call low level emulation. Yet despite its cycle accuracy, even the most accurate emulators such as Stella simulate the expected results and not the actual physical/electrical behavior of the circuits, like a SPICE engine or the DICE emulator do for old TTL arcade games. This means the emulator has to be programmed to mimic all corner cases and catch up as they are found. It couldn’t expose a hardware bug by itself, or help discover a hardware trick like the HMOVE strobe (I suppose). It can only be programmed to mimic these artifacts once discovered on the real thing. While emulating at transistor level is completely out of question for more complex hardware such as the NES - yet it has been attempted and there are working prototypes - I suspect this could be done in real time for the VCS. The 6502/7 is only made of 3500 transistors, the TIA has 6193, the RIOT probably in between. That’s a likely total somewhere south of 15000 transistors, intimidating but for comparison, the NES PPU alone has more than 16K transistors, disregarding all its other chips. Plus the schematics are available and documented for each of the VCS chips so there's little to no reverse engineering required. If horsepower would really happen to be an issue, then maybe : - we could discard the real time approach and only emulate at the hardware level as a slow-motion debugging mode - a hybrid approach with a traditional high level 6507 emulation and low level TIA emulation could be used (maybe as an optional engine in Stella) - the emulation could happen a bit higher, at the logic gates level, so there's less circuit to model Granted, a circuit level emulation wouldn’t be useful for perfect accuracy for a 3rd gen console like the NES since the hardware is much more abstracted and you get a framebuffer, so even the cycle accuracy isn’t vital. But for a VCS, I suspect it could help finding, debugging and testing new hardware tricks right on his laptop without the need for a Harmony cart on the real thing, something even a real VCS couldn’t do unless there were logic probes on the chips and the ability to set breakpoints. What do the pros here think? Could this be a worthy? I’m not a developer and wouldn’t be able to help much on the code if it happened, but I wanted to discuss this in case it could be an idea. Further reading, including some transistor level 6502 and NES PPU emulation: http://www.visual6502.org/JSSim/ https://github.com/trebonian/visual6502 https://github.com/SourMesen/VisualNes http://www.qmtpro.com/~nes/chipimages/visual2c02/ https://hackaday.com/2014/12/18/counting-transistors-in-the-playstation/