hasanc

October 16, 2021

On 10/11/2021 at 5:48 PM, scorpio_ny said:

@bfollowell,

I have heard the same thing about the Fluke meters. I will check out the Extech as well to see if they suit my needs.

Thanks! ?

Check this out: https://youtu.be/hGBwC0y-pnE

August 5, 2021

28 minutes ago, oo7 said:

hmm thanks for the suggestion, will try it if my sony one doesnt work out.

You could also try using an USB cable. It works fine on my 600 and 800XL with a few extensions attached (e.g. SIDE 3 and FujiNet).

July 16, 2021

On 6/24/2021 at 7:11 AM, orpheuswaking said:

Thanks @Simius that's what we thought. I ordered parts to make up a few so we will see how that goes.

what crimp tool did you use?

July 13, 2021

On 7/11/2021 at 1:50 PM, Back2skooldaze said:

Ive downloaded and extracted the 3.12.2019 and transferred to the root of the usb stick with the Mouster folder and after inserting in to the atarixl there is some flashing but when checking the firmware it has not changed? no matter if i put the firmware on the root with the mouster folder or inside the mouster folder or even just the firmware and no mouster folder the firmware will not change????

the firmware bootloader is not triggering?

The user manual at https://retrohax.net/the-mouster-project-is-here/ says that it'll look for /mouSTer/mouSTer.fw firmware update but only when /mouSTer/mouSTer.ini is not present. Maybe that was happening to you? Also, I don't remember having to use port 2 to update the firmware or configuration.

Anyways, glad you made it work

June 27, 2021

1 hour ago, Faicuai said:

The unit at the bottom (my original gift in 1984), produces a STRONG, rich color output... and the unit at the top (which I bought as back-up, and found it really cheap and intact) produces a much leaner, less denser color reproduction.

It might be my case as well (800XL NTSC). I'm curious now, I'll check the voltages and try to match these values:

https://www.maximintegrated.com/en/design/technical-documents/tutorials/1/1184.html

NTSC S-Video		PAL S-Video
Setup	53.57mV	Setup	0mV
Y	714.29mV (Peak Luma, 100% White)	Y	700.00mV (Peak Luma, 100% White)
C	626.70mV_P-P (75% Color Bars) 835.60mV_P-P (100% Color Bars	C	663.80mV_P-P (75% Color Bars) 885.10mV_P-P (100% Color Bars
Sync	-286.00mV	Sync	-300.00mV

June 27, 2021

9 hours ago, flashjazzcat said:

It's missing the 100R resistor.

I didn’t know, I’ll install one. Thanks! Maybe it’d explain why colors look a bit washed out in my 800XL.

June 27, 2021

On 12/13/2020 at 11:37 AM, Dmitry said:

Restoring factory defaults
--------------------------

[…]

7) select "Flash all",

when the message "Toggle the switch..." etc. appears, put the board back into the flashing mode using the jumper (or switch).

Hi, could you help me understand this part? I don’t know what switch I need to toggle. This is the Antonia board revision I have on my Atari 600XL:

It’s the ROM jumper that is removed to put Antonia in recovery mode? I should put it back in place while Atari is still turned on and waiting at the “Toggle switch…” prompt?

June 27, 2021

Step 3 in 800XL NTSC:

June 25, 2021

1. Beeblebrox
2. invisible kid
3. Philsan
4. Sub(Function(:))
5. Spancho
6. CAVOKER
7. 8bitguy1
8. Roydea6
9. pps
10. CharlieChaplin
11. Lord Thag
12. Wilheim
13. Dinadan67
14. TrekMD
15. martinez
16. Ndary
17. Oldyoldson
18. Hurrican

19. a6502

20. Allan
21. hasanc

June 20, 2021

Today I finished the Atari 600XL A/V mod by removing the RF modulator and installing a 3.5mm audio jack (I was planning to also include composite video since it's a TRRS connector, but for now it's only for audio):

Cheers!

June 13, 2021

46 minutes ago, christo930 said:

I think the trick with the little cartridge opening tabs lasting is the fact that they receive almost no forces

Fortunately that’s also my case. There’s no mechanical stress on the sliding button tabs during normal operation, they’re there only to keep the buttons from falling off, so I hope they won’t break again anytime soon.

June 13, 2021

16 hours ago, christo930 said:

I super-glued mine (probably dollar tree level stuff) in the 90s or early aughts and one of them is still on it. You only need one. Also, IIRC, I used a Combat or Pac Man cartridge for the piece. The early carts all have the same mechanism, just with the pins in different places. The cart opens the Atari and the Atari opens the cart.

The 2600 Jr is the best 2600. I like the Tele-Games Heavy 6er better, the but the Jr puts out a much better signal, even after cleaning the channel select switch.

Thanks for the suggestions!

I went with Gorilla super glue to repair this broken tab in my 2600 Jr’s Color/BW sliding button:

It was quite challenging (for me) to glue the broken piece back in place using super glue, but I made it:

Taking a closer look you can see a “hair line” where the pieces were glued together:

The button is now fully functional and it’s nearly impossible to tell it was ever broken:

I’m very happy with the results ?

June 2, 2021

On 5/31/2021 at 1:08 AM, atarialoha said:

Model 207?

LM-302 looks exactly like Andonstar ADSM302 that many people were recommending when I was looking for a microscope. The image quality is good and there’s enough space to use your soldering iron.

June 2, 2021

On 2/11/2021 at 8:17 AM, NISMOPC said:

I have one junior that was delivered with a broken tab (in the box) so I glued it back in place and been good so far. Not sure how long it will hold.

What kind of glue did you use? It’s still holding fine?

June 2, 2021

On 2/14/2021 at 1:40 PM, reverendshoebox said:

...Interesting. This video didn't really show an example of it being done, but I'll have to look into that a bit.

May 31, 2021

1 hour ago, flashjazzcat said:

That's no fault of Sophia 2's, to be clear. It generally happens only if the selected resolution is unsupported by the display device. Example: I installed Sophia 2 in a 1200XL last week, converted to PAL (handily, with Sophia 2, one need replace only the main crystal and ANTIC). DVI signal was out of range until (in this case) I installed U1MB, updated the firmware with the Sophia 2 plugin, then changed the resolution via the plugin using the legacy video until switching to the DVI source produced a picture. Thereafter, it's difficult to lose the DVI signal since the plugin tests a newly selected resolution and reverts back to the previous one if the user doesn't acknowledge that the new one worked.

Got it. In such case, I guess it shouldn't be too hard to create an auto-bootable disk or cartridge to let me reset or change resolutions easily when I have no video signal (e.g. by blindly pressing 1, 2, 3, etc. on the keyboard to try out different resolutions).

May 31, 2021

39 minutes ago, flashjazzcat said:

The latter. If I lost the DVI signal with a new display, for example, which didn't like the current resolution, I would not want to be fumbling around with RF just to see the configuration tool (especially if the channel switch is gone). Although the point is perhaps moot if the 600XL didn't have Y/C or composite output in the first place and one did not consider it important enough to add the monitor jack regardless of whether Sophia is installed or not.

I wasn’t aware of the video signal out of range issue, that’s worrying, I’ll have to figure out what to do. Meanwhile, I was watching your videos to learn how to remove the RF modulator (without damaging the motherboard) since I was planning to install an audio jack there, but maybe I could also add composite video (using mini DIN?) in case I lose the DVI signal.

May 31, 2021

On 3/29/2021 at 7:23 AM, Karl G said:

@Nathan Strum has a pretty good blog article on how to clean up the RF signal. I know a lot of people prefer RF for the authentic look with the "softer" look of the fuzziness, and the color artifacting.

Thanks for the link! I’m restoring an Atari 2600 Jr and after recapping, replacing power/video connectors and reflowing solder joints, I tried the Blue Jean Cables suggested by @Nathan Strum on his blog. The video signal now looks really good and I haven’t yet put the RF shield back in place! The fuzziness also brings back good memories, so I’m going to keep it as it is ?

May 31, 2021

2 hours ago, mytek said:

I tried uploading the zip to OSH Park, and it took a bit of time for the gerbers to be sorted, but eventually it seemed to work for the most part. I think it would likely work better if the extensions were more specific such as .GBL, .GTL, ect..

Because of its small size it's pretty cheap to have it made from them, and it comes with free international shipping.

Thanks for your suggestion about Gerber file format, I'll keep it in mind next time! and yes, it was pretty cheap to manufacture them, I paid around 13 USD total (including shipping from China) for 5 PCBs, but they sent me 10 PCBs for some reason ?

May 31, 2021

1 hour ago, Faicuai said:

Very well done, and doing the best you can with what you already had there.

Is the RF modulator stuck on ch. 2 or 3, or is it inoperative after removal of switch?

Lastly, can original shields be fitted back in place?

Thanks! The RF modulator is working fine but stuck at channel 3 and the RF shield doesn't fit anymore (Sophia 2 is maybe 1 or 2mm too tall? so a low-profile DIP socket for GTIA/Sophia 2 might help?).

May 31, 2021

5 minutes ago, venom4728a said:

Very nice, where did you find the HDMI Breakout board?

I made it using kiCad. First time doing a PCB so it's far from perfect but it's working for me.

Here are the Gerbers and BOM for those interested:

Sophia 2 HDMI Breakout Rev 1.2.zip

May 31, 2021

I finally got around to install Sophia 2 into my Atari 600XL NTSC. Since I didn't want to make any destructive changes, I made a simple mini HDMI breakout board and installed it where the RF channel 2/3 switch was located. Here are some pictures of the installation:

I hope it's interesting or useful to people that might want to do something similar. Now it's time to figure out how to get audio output ?

Regards,

Carlos

May 20, 2021

5 hours ago, orpheuswaking said:

Do you have a link to this? I'd be interested in getting something like that

May 20, 2021

14 hours ago, bfollowell said:

Even if all this is true, what is the benefit, or the appeal, of buying/building these two boards and using them in conjunction, only to get the same output that you can already get today using @Simius's excellent, with proven track record, Sophia DVI or Sophia 2? Is it just the appeal of making assembling something yourself?

I just wanted to mention, for anyone interested, that it’s possible to use RGBtoHDMI on Atari 8 bit computers with this additional board. I think it’s mentioned in their documentation.

13 hours ago, manterola said:

Also, unless you do something like Sophia (reading the raw data and actually replacing the GTIA), all these solutions end up digitalizing analog signals, which can be done externally by your monitor, or other device (like a retrotink).

ps:Is there an easy, cheap and precise way to measure the phase of the color signal?

A-VideoBoard documentation says that it uses an FPGA to recreate parts of the GTIA, enough of it to be able to generate an analog YPbPr video signal, so it isn’t a full GTIA replacement like Sophia.

May 19, 2021

On 5/13/2021 at 1:18 PM, atarilux said:

Has anyone tried this adaptor which was originally designed for the BBC Micro RGB Port? I actually saw this hacked again into being used in an Amiga, and the quality was very high. There are many screenshots on the wiki page, but none for the A8.

Home · hoglet67/RGBtoHDMI Wiki · GitHub

For those who dare to speak of the other side The video of the Amiga version is below:

(58) Amiga RGBtoHDMI (with a Pi) Updates - YouTube (Jan Beta)

My current Composite video to HDMI adaptor is far from perfect, hence the interest,

I think you can use it together with c0pperdragon’s A-VideoBoard to have HDMI output on Atari 8-bit computers: https://github.com/c0pperdragon/A-VideoBoard

It generates YPbPr video signal that you can convert to HDMI using hoglet67’s RGBtoHDMI board.

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