Jump to content
IGNORED

FS: Fairchild System (Channel F) Multi-Cart, pre-order now.


e5frog

Recommended Posts

Uhm... well... not really but yes, there's a different version of Hangman with German words and no scaffold as well - not that the US market would be much interested. I guess they didn't like the version of Hangman that Fairchild made. Then there's a different #1 with German text on Tic-Tac-Toe and a different #3 with German abbreviations for the BlackJack game - not really their own releases. Those are the only different official releases I know of.

 

They are all on the Multi-Cart.

In the beginning the Chess cart (SABA 20) was used as the base for the Multi-Cart. I choose to leave the LED out when I made a cart from scratch as it required at least an extra logic circuit to mask the address and I wasn't really keen on drilling holes for the LED in cart and label, especially since the current PCB is less than half the length so it would also require a pair of wires and maybe some glue. It could be possible to place a few high intensity LED on the edge of the current PCB to make it visible that the computer is thinking. Sean and I discussed if we should hack it so it was displayed on the screen. The reason for the LED is if you play at the highest difficult setting the calculations can take many hours for the computer and you wouldn't have to leave the TV on to see when it was done. There's an Easter Egg in the menu code that flashes the LED, somehting you'll only be able to tell if you have one of the early Multi-Carts built on a SABA#20.

Edited by e5frog
Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 4 weeks later...

Hello

 

I dont think this has been answered yet. Did you make a PLD/GAL replacement for the 3853 chip, or you bought a bunch of NOS chips from a broker and made custom boards? I don't really need to get all the games, just want to make a few homebrew tests.

 

Cheers

Edited by viande
Link to comment
Share on other sites

@viande: I'm using NOS 3853 for now, it would be good to get some replacement for it. An FPGA is probably needed, the microprocessors available are just a tiny bit too slow still. Sean Riddle looked at a PIC32 but that wouldn't work. With the interest and rate of games available the current stock seems to last for a few years more though.

 

@Jaymeister: I've shipped four from batch five so far and I got a shipment of PCB:s late last week that wasn't mine so I'm waiting for a reply from the manufacturer what to do with them, recycle and they make new ones and ship them to the right customer or send them back at their expense (of course). I'll see if I can have a few PCB:s made at work but we are very expensive compared to ordering from Hong Kong so I can't really afford to buy all PCB:s there. Sorry to keep you waiting and thanks for your support.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I'm excited to hear that the first 4 have shipped! I'll be anxiously checking my mail box! Come on #51!!! :)

I never had this system as a kid, so I'm really looking forward to your Multicart time machine!

Hey Jaymiester, not sure why your cheering on my cart! Did you maybe mean #50, or are you just really excited about me getting my cart???? :-D

 

---- Batch #5

50 Jay

51 Charles

52 Bryan

53 Brendan

----------------- all above have been shipped

 

charles

Edited by evg2000
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Have any of the boxes for the Multicarts been finalized yet?

 

A second test print has been ordered, has not been delivered yet, maybe I should remind him, seems like he could be a bit forgetful with this kind of small orders. There were some oops and sorrys when I bought the labels - but they came out fine in the end.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 1 month later...

I had four boards made at work, haven't heard from my Chinese supplier.

 

54, 55 and 56 will most likely be ready to ship the coming week, if not then first thing next year (not that far away).

So, hoping you'll get them as a Christmas-present.

 

For 57 I don't have a shell ready but I have a shipment coming any day so as soon as that comes it will soon be shipped as well.

 

Need to get those PCB:s before I can continue with 58.

 

 

Regarding boxes: will have to wait until next year.

Edited by e5frog
Link to comment
Share on other sites

If you'd like to reserve the next in line your payment is welcome. I haven't decided if I'm going to make another batch after this one but there's about 20 left on the current one.

 

 

See first post for reservation/payment.

Expected delivery is in January.

Edited by e5frog
Link to comment
Share on other sites

I finished the circuitboards for carts 54, 55 and 56 and they are now in testing. The PCB I had for #57 got damaged on the connector so I had to modify it in an ugly way and decided to keep it for testing instead... so the only waiting pre-order (#57) has to wait for the long long overdue PCB delivery. Tried calling them earlier this week but only got an answering machine, Don't know if my PCB:s have been shipped, if they are still on their way back from the guy who got them instead of his or what is happening. I guess I shouldn't have been kind and said that I could wait for the return to be shipped to me.

 

Anyway, I'll have time to finish the carts during the Christmas-mini-holiday, will ship 54-56 early January. With my new paper corner cutter I don't have to cut the round corners on the front label by hand any more - should look perfect!

 

Currently talking to a guy about producing my own cart shells with 3D printing, would be fun to have carts in other colors! I plan to check the cost of a look-a-like shell and then I might aim for some cost reduction (bare necessities) if it's way too expensive. Would be nice being able to make some carts without needing a donor.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 2 weeks later...

Gave up on my PCB-supplier and ordered a new batch of 14 cards from another place. It was a little more expensive but hopefully I'll have them in hand within two weeks.

 

Did some work on adding Pac-Man intermissions on the Multi-Cart, looks promising but I haven't tried the bank switching yet as it's not emulated in MESS.

 

 

EDIT:

Tried it out and Pac-Man on the Multi-Cart is now as complete as the normal version. Wohoo!

Going to test it some more to make sure I haven't introduced any new bugs.

 

 

Happy New Year!

Edited by e5frog
Link to comment
Share on other sites

I have one from the first batch and really love it!

 

Is there a difference in the ones you are making now from the original version? I think I read somewhere that the new ones have the full Pac-Man version instead of a reduced version. Any other changes? If so then I might like to get one of the newer versions too. :-)

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I don't remember exactly but there has been small changes now and then. There's more software now than in the beginning, I think the prototypes surfaced after I first started making these. Pac-Man was included as an earlier less finished version in the beginning (just as the 50 Pac-Man carts aren't exactly the same regarding program contents, labels etc). Other updates in homebrews has been made.

 

The same game restart upon reset is a rather new addition, I started to offer startup pictures at one time to gather funds, name or other message at start-up combined with four favorite fast start options was also something to make them more personal but that has been streamlined away as it was a lot of work and took time - not so much to program it but for people to choose games...

 

So now there's a game for every button combination instead, the most popular choices from the personal carts were used.

 

PCB has been developed over time, current one is easier to assemble, less prone to interference and also smallest one yet - I'm planning to do no more revisions on that one.

 

 

In my opinion I have been annoyed by the return to the menu after a reset, don't know why I didn't take care of that earlier. Imagine going through the button combinations when starting a game and getting the last press wrong - according to Murphy's Law it's not one of the fast start carts - have to go through the menu first and it's of course the one cart exactly in the middle so you have to go the longest way... start the game again... make the same selections and of course you happen to make the same wrong press again as there's a typo in the manual... so again...

 

... no better to be able to press reset like it was a real cart and just have to re-do the selections. ;-)

It's only a change in the programming so no new hardware or anything, all except the manually switched Multi-Cart I first made could function the same way.

 

Oldest menu I have is from 2004-04-14 (yes, that's how we write dates in Sweden)

Don't know if any carts were sold with this one.

 

Start screen only has a single beep, next one only Sean Riddle's name (without hsi work we wouldn't have the Multi-Cart at all), game selection screen is single color (green).

Contents is cart 1-26, Democart, alternative version of Maze, German cart 1, German Hangman and Chess - that's it no homebrews at all.

...

 

Last change was a full Pac-Man, haven't gotten to IK yet but that's the next in line. I might take a break from the Multi-Cart building after this batch to have time to work on it.

 

Don't know if I have forgotten anything.

Edited by e5frog
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Join the conversation

You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.
Note: Your post will require moderator approval before it will be visible.

Guest
Reply to this topic...

×   Pasted as rich text.   Paste as plain text instead

  Only 75 emoji are allowed.

×   Your link has been automatically embedded.   Display as a link instead

×   Your previous content has been restored.   Clear editor

×   You cannot paste images directly. Upload or insert images from URL.

Loading...
  • Recently Browsing   0 members

    • No registered users viewing this page.
×
×
  • Create New...