gamerMac Posted September 15, 2017 Share Posted September 15, 2017 Thank you so much for sharing those- some of those forms have indeed not been posted before! I especially like the one that indicates "Offer expire June 30th, 1978"- the system had been pulled from retail months before that. That particular document might actually be an indication of continued game sales to wind down excess inventory, which itself would indicate a much longer sort of "availability" than what is generally assumed. Certainly that scenario is more likely than RCA running a promotion that would be valid for over a year. It also says nothing about any copies of Biorhythm, Speedway/Tag, or Gunfighter/Moonship Battle being available- yet more evidence that they were produced in much more limited numbers. Any excess inventory of those titles might well have been gone by the time this brochure was printed up. Can you also post an image of the backside of the system manual? There's at least two known versions, one of which has all of the games mentioned, with the notable exception of Biorhythm. What's the serial number on your unit, out of curiosity? There's a remarkable lack of consistency between what paperwork has shown up with what system numbers- almost as if it was all just random. The blue "Add-On Cartridge Order Form" came out of the game TV School House I, or mine did at least. The "A Unique Innovation" flyer was purchased with the console #155 that originally had the Bingo game with it on eBay earlier this year. All of the other items came with the console #119841. The owners manual has the games listed on back. Another console of mine that also has the owners manual with the games listed on back #81278. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gamerMac Posted September 15, 2017 Share Posted September 15, 2017 The blue "Add-On Cartridge Order Form" came out of the game TV School House I, or mine did at least. The "A Unique Innovation" flyer was purchased with the console #155 that originally had the Bingo game with it on eBay earlier this year. All of the other items came with the console #119841. The owners manual has the games listed on back. Another console of mine that also has the owners manual with the games listed on back #81278. IMG_6074.JPG Made a small mistake on the manuals... Console #119841 didn't have a manual with it. The manual came with console #177109. So, in theory, consoles from #81278 to #177109 should all have the same manual with the games listed on the back. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TLD1985 Posted September 16, 2017 Share Posted September 16, 2017 When it comes to the paperwork it's best to look at the part numbers to get an idea of when they were made. Some of the ones gamerMac posted have revision numbers such as 7.78 (July 1978) on them. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ubersaurus Posted October 4, 2017 Share Posted October 4, 2017 Update and call for assistance: I've been in touch with the Hagley library in Delaware, where a chunk of the Sarnoff collection (and RCA's Studio II stuff) ended up. In their collection are a bunch of cassettes containing program data, mostly stuff seemingly used for the Studio II, its coin-op predecessor, and the VIP computer. I've been talking with their digital archivist, and he's going to give digitizing one of those tapes a shot to see if it's possible to get usable data off them and convert it to a file that works on hardware and emulators. After consulting with the guys at the National Videogame Museum and a few other folks, I passed along their advice to him on how best to get usable wav files successfully. Which brings me to this. The test case is a cassette labeled "Swords/Tag-Bowling." He's gonna send me the wav file in a week or two when he gets it done. is anyone here familiar with converting a wav file back to a binary, and would be able to try and get it running on an emulator or on a console? Based on the label, it might contain the unreleased swordfighting game Joyce Weisbecker reportedly wrote, along with some variation of the built-in bowling game (a few cassettes have the Tag text with the program name, not sure what it may be referring to). If it's successful, he can digitize the rest of the tapes for a nominal fee and pass along the wav files for those, too. Among those include tapes with known games like Baseball and Biorhythm, along with "Coin-bowling," which might be the arcade version of that game. 5 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
flip Posted October 4, 2017 Share Posted October 4, 2017 Hi, That's quite exciting news! Converting a wav to data shouldn't be very hard: it is essentially binary data, that needs to be converted to bytes. Nothing a little script can't do... Let us know when you have something! FliP p.s. any sign of a tape containing the code for the test card perhaps? 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ubersaurus Posted October 4, 2017 Share Posted October 4, 2017 (edited) This is their full listing of cassettes, not all of which are for 1802 units... so maybe? Personal computer cassette tapes, 1978, 1982, undated [35 personal computer cassette tapes, many for use with RCA computers such as the COSMAC VIP & Studio-II.] Box AVD41 180-Basic Video-Mate 3 Game Package/180 Space War, undated; 1 personal computer cassette tape. AVD41 Baseball, undated; 1 personal computer cassette tape. AVD41 Biorythm/Secret Number, undated; 1 personal computer cassette tape. AVD41 C80 Op. Syst/Print C80-Lang., undated; 1 personal computer cassette tape. AVD41 Cassette Data Test/VIP 1K M Test, undated; 1 personal computer cassette tape. AVD41 Coin Bowling 4/Bowl 5, undated; 1 personal computer cassette tape. AVD41 Coin Bowling X2/X3, undated; 1 personal computer cassette tape. AVD41 Color Demo/Color Stars & Trek, undated; 1 personal computer cassette tape. AVD41 Color Etch, undated; 1 personal computer cassette tape. AVD41 Computer Bowling/Chase, undated; 1 personal computer cassette tape. AVD41 COSMAC 180 Bowling/Studio-II Quiz, undated; 1 personal computer cassette tape. AVD41 COSMAC Elf DIsplay/New Studio-II 5 Game Set, undated; 1 personal computer cassette tape. AVD41 Curses, Foiled Again, undated; 1 personal computer cassette tape. AVD41 Mines/Fighter VIII, undated; 1 personal computer cassette tape. AVD41 Music Original, undated [includes (Side 1) Sailors Hornpipe, Oh Susannah, Clarient Polka (Side 2)Sonata in G (Beethoven).] ; 1 personal computer cassette tape. AVD41 New KBD/Old KBD, undated; 1 personal computer cassette tape. AVD41 Numbers/1K MTest, undated; 1 personal computer cassette tape. AVD41 Paul's Printer/180 XL-1, undated; 1 personal computer cassette tape. AVD41 Print Snoopy/List Utility, undated; 1 personal computer cassette tape. AVD41 Shrink/Subjec, Color, undated; 1 personal computer cassette tape. AVD41 Snoopy Snipe Shoot/Color Runs, undated; 1 personal computer cassette tape. AVD41 Sorcerer's Island, 1982 [Commercially produced role playing adventure style games for Sinclair ZX81 PC.] ; 1 personal computer cassette tape. AVD41 STK. Prog./STK. Lang., undated; 1 personal computer cassette tape. AVD41 Studio II-TV Tennis, undated; 1 personal computer cassette tape. AVD41 Swords/Tag-Bowling, undated; 1 personal computer cassette tape. AVD41 T80 Exp. Ret./File Control, undated; 1 personal computer cassette tape. AVD41 Tag-Race/Gunfight, undated; 1 personal computer cassette tape. AVD41 Test World Language/Edit-List Word Tables, undated; 1 personal computer cassette tape. AVD41 Unidentified, undated; 1 personal computer cassette tape. AVD41 VIP-Kaladioscope/Videodraw, undated; 1 personal computer cassette tape. AVD41 VIP King Kong/Pinball, undated; 1 personal computer cassette tape. AVD41 VIP Lang./4096 Bit Picture, undated; 1 personal computer cassette tape. AVD41 VIP Music Demo_New, 1978 July; 1 personal computer cassette tape. AVD41 VIP Private Eye/VIP Tic Tac Toe, undated; 1 personal computer cassette tape. AVD41 Xmas Music & Show, undated Edited October 4, 2017 by ubersaurus 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Blazing Lazers Posted October 4, 2017 Author Share Posted October 4, 2017 Update and call for assistance: I've been in touch with the Hagley library in Delaware, where a chunk of the Sarnoff collection (and RCA's Studio II stuff) ended up. In their collection are a bunch of cassettes containing program data, mostly stuff seemingly used for the Studio II, its coin-op predecessor, and the VIP computer. I've been talking with their digital archivist, and he's going to give digitizing one of those tapes a shot to see if it's possible to get usable data off them and convert it to a file that works on hardware and emulators. After consulting with the guys at the National Videogame Museum and a few other folks, I passed along their advice to him on how best to get usable wav files successfully. Which brings me to this. The test case is a cassette labeled "Swords/Tag-Bowling." He's gonna send me the wav file in a week or two when he gets it done. is anyone here familiar with converting a wav file back to a binary, and would be able to try and get it running on an emulator or on a console? Based on the label, it might contain the unreleased swordfighting game Joyce Weisbecker reportedly wrote, along with some variation of the built-in bowling game (a few cassettes have the Tag text with the program name, not sure what it may be referring to). If it's successful, he can digitize the rest of the tapes for a nominal fee and pass along the wav files for those, too. Among those include tapes with known games like Baseball and Biorhythm, along with "Coin-bowling," which might be the arcade version of that game. Just to piggyback and expand upon this for us all: later this month we'll actually be making a weekend visit up to the Hagley to at last see all of the various Studio II items they have, many of which have brief descriptions that can be viewed here (Joseph Weisbecker Papers section): http://findingaids.hagley.org/xtf/view?docId=ead/2464_09.xml ... the "Swords" game in particular stands out, but the rest are also tantalizing. Conversations with those who saw the arcade machine that briefly preceded the Studio II indicated that the games on it were the same as those later included in the system itself, but there could easily be variations that a ROM dump/comparison would bear out. Hi, That's quite exciting news! Converting a wav to data shouldn't be very hard: it is essentially binary data, that needs to be converted to bytes. Nothing a little script can't do... Let us know when you have something! FliP p.s. any sign of a tape containing the code for the test card perhaps? Potential leads on surviving copies of the Tester I/ Diagnostic Cartridge (which could actually be two different items, for all we know) are being pursued and looked into. For example, trying to get a hold of Andrew Krieg, to find what his source was for the "Diagnostic" having been added to all the collection checklists back in 1997; the various Studio II Service Centers, which would have had copies, and from which a few people could still have one; and various former RCA employees who knew of it from back when. As for the actual code of the cart, it could well be at the Hagley. We hope to know soon. Even if we find one, or the ROM for it, we would still need a proper power adapter to have a functioning unit, to use on actual hardware. And any repro of the Tester would of course also have to include such an adapter. Technical info and specs for the power adapter would therefore be just as important to locate. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+stupus Posted October 4, 2017 Share Posted October 4, 2017 So the tester cart required it's own power source? Plugged into the cart? Where is that info from? 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Blazing Lazers Posted October 4, 2017 Author Share Posted October 4, 2017 (edited) So the tester cart required it's own power source? Plugged into the cart? Where is that info from? From the Service Manual that also mentions it- although this does assume that the Tester I and Diagnostic Cartridge are in fact the same thing. EDIT: from a few pages back: http://atariage.com/forums/topic/209519-rca-studio-ii-gold-mine-an-interview-with-the-studio-2-production-manager/page-32?do=findComment&comment=3583545 Edited October 4, 2017 by Blazing Lazers Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ubersaurus Posted October 5, 2017 Share Posted October 5, 2017 It sounds to me like it's a special power supply you plug into the Studio II to provide it the juice to run the cart, but without actually seeing it I don't know how one could say for sure. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
flip Posted October 5, 2017 Share Posted October 5, 2017 Since the power supply of the Studio II is somewhat special (via the RF lead using a splitter box), it may have been necessary to bypass this for testing a console. As I understand, the Tester cartridge had a connector for a special power supply. My guess is that this was a 5v/500mA regulated power supply that provider power directly to the main circuit, without passing via the RF cable. I've made some reproduction cards (single rom boards) that foresee a mini-USB connector. If you plug-in the card, and then the power supply, it fires up the console without the normal power supply. The RF cable can be connected directly to the television without the switchbox. I think this would closely mimic the original Test cartridge, if we ever find the rom image... There's a few tests described in the tape list, so fingers crossed. I've also found some documentation on tape interfaces for the Cosmac VIP - close cousin of the RCA Studio II: http://www.retrotechnology.com/restore/VIP%20Tape%20Format.html FliP Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jhd Posted October 5, 2017 Share Posted October 5, 2017 I've been in touch with the Hagley library in Delaware, where a chunk of the Sarnoff collection (and RCA's Studio II stuff) ended up. In their collection are a bunch of cassettes containing program data, mostly stuff seemingly used for the Studio II, its coin-op predecessor, and the VIP computer. I've been talking with their digital archivist, and he's going to give digitizing one of those tapes a shot to see if it's possible to get usable data off them and convert it to a file that works on hardware and emulators. Kudos on finding this resource and continuing to pursue it. It is great that not only has this material been preserved in an institution, but there is also the ability/willingness to make it available! Earlier in my career, I worked as an archivist at two major Canadian institutions. While both places had acquired small quantities of computer media, we had neither the technical knowledge nor the equipment to make it available. So, there are boxes of floppy disks (and other media formats) from the 1980s that may have valuable data just sitting in storage awaiting the future. In so far as I am aware, there is no unreleased software among these materials. One institution holds the records of a defunct magazine publisher, including a finished but unpublished issue of the last issue on some old Mac-format disks. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
flip Posted October 5, 2017 Share Posted October 5, 2017 In other exciting news: 2 more Visicom carts have been dumped! With the addition of CAS-110 (Maths Drill) and CAS-140 (Gambler I), it means that one (rather illusive) version of Biorythm (CAS-190) remains MIA... Not even sure anyone has ever seen that last one for real - though the same was said about Bingo, so there's hope... I've zipped up all five for your convenience in .st2 format - so they work in the Emma 02 emulator. I'll scan in the manuals and other documents as soon as I have a bit more time - they are in Japanese of course, but they might still be of interest to some... FliP Visicom_carts_st2.zip Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RayXambeR Posted October 5, 2017 Share Posted October 5, 2017 Oh, great news the last days! Congratulations to preserve two "new" Visicom carts! And I am very interesting in knowing more about the coinop predecessor of the Studio II. Having informations and photos about it will be fantastic to understand the conception of the Studio II. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ubersaurus Posted October 5, 2017 Share Posted October 5, 2017 In other exciting news: 2 more Visicom carts have been dumped! With the addition of CAS-110 (Maths Drill) and CAS-140 (Gambler I), it means that one (rather illusive) version of Biorythm (CAS-190) remains MIA... Not even sure anyone has ever seen that last one for real - though the same was said about Bingo, so there's hope... I've zipped up all five for your convenience in .st2 format - so they work in the Emma 02 emulator. I'll scan in the manuals and other documents as soon as I have a bit more time - they are in Japanese of course, but they might still be of interest to some... FliP I've got a pair of friends who are fluent in Japanese, so if there's any translation needed for those manuals I could ask either of them for help! 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TLD1985 Posted October 7, 2017 Share Posted October 7, 2017 In other exciting news: 2 more Visicom carts have been dumped! With the addition of CAS-110 (Maths Drill) and CAS-140 (Gambler I), it means that one (rather illusive) version of Biorythm (CAS-190) remains MIA... Not even sure anyone has ever seen that last one for real - though the same was said about Bingo, so there's hope... I've zipped up all five for your convenience in .st2 format - so they work in the Emma 02 emulator. I'll scan in the manuals and other documents as soon as I have a bit more time - they are in Japanese of course, but they might still be of interest to some... FliP 190 does 100% exist. I've posted photos of it before: Manuals.. I do have a pic of the cart somewhere... 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
etxmato Posted October 7, 2017 Share Posted October 7, 2017 Regarding the wav file conversion, it should be possible to load a wav file directly into my Emma 02 emulator. That is as long as it is of 'good enough' quality. Not sure what computer to use, maybe the VIP or an Elf might work. If you need help send me a copy of the file and I can give it a try. Cheers, Marcel 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TLD1985 Posted October 7, 2017 Share Posted October 7, 2017 (edited) Found them: CAS-190 (Which contains Biorhythm AND Bagua) Front and Back Box Front All Boxes and Sides All Instruction Films (I think 190 is at the bottom) Edited October 7, 2017 by TLD1985 4 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
flip Posted October 7, 2017 Share Posted October 7, 2017 Do you know who currently owns this and whether he would be willing to help out by getting it dumped? FliP Found them: CAS-190 (Which contains Biorhythm AND Bagua) Front and Back CAS-190_front.JPGCAS-190_back.JPG Box Front Package_CAS-190.JPG All Boxes and Sides Package_All_2.JPGPackage_All.JPG All Instruction Films (I think 190 is at the bottom) Film_All.JPG Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TLD1985 Posted October 7, 2017 Share Posted October 7, 2017 (edited) Do you know who currently owns this and whether he would be willing to help out by getting it dumped? FliP no, I found them years ago on some random Japanese guy's page with very little details and 0 contact information. Edited October 7, 2017 by TLD1985 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TLD1985 Posted October 9, 2017 Share Posted October 9, 2017 source of images: http://www.geocities.co.jp/SiliconValley/4130/ 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ubersaurus Posted October 10, 2017 Share Posted October 10, 2017 The digital archivist at the Hagley sent me this file a little bit ago this morning - it should contain the wav files of the Swords/Tag-Bowling tape. I'm at work and not an expert on this side of things, so if anyone wants to see if they can get it working on an emulator (and converted to a binary file if it's a Studio II game for reproduction/multicart purposes) that would rock. 2464_09.zip 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ekeefe Posted October 10, 2017 Share Posted October 10, 2017 Hello, I just took a look at the files provided. They were created as mp3 files, which are lossy. Maybe he can make them again as wave files using the following: 22050 Hz Mono 8-bit uncompressed The sound files look like this: The data seems to be repeated 3 times. Here is a single portion: The important sections of the signal: This gap may be a problem because the input circuit on RCA systems usually expects these equalization pulse right up to the data. I converted the mp3 data into a wave file, and loaded it into one of my systems, but the data looks wrong. Here is what I see: I have a file in my collection that is from an RCA VIP system. It was written by Joseph Weisbecker. He designed the 1802 processor and worked with the Studio II. My file is corrupt, but it is a sword fighting style game. Maybe this file was adapted for the VIP from the Studio II, or the other way around. I have the source code for this file but haven't had a chance to look into it. I hope this is helpful. ED 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ekeefe Posted October 10, 2017 Share Posted October 10, 2017 Hello, After further analysis, there are definitely three different "files" in the "AUD_2464_09_B41_ID01_01.mp3" file and two in "AUD_2464_09_B41_ID01_02.mp3". I am gong to try and hand decode the first few bytes, using the shape of the waveforms, to see if they make sense for a Studio II. ED Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ubersaurus Posted October 10, 2017 Share Posted October 10, 2017 I passed along your findings and request for re-digitization to him - I'll let you know when I hear back. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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