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Breaking news: Intellivision flashback coming to retail


Rev

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Hmm, have to have nurmix chime in, i just copied his hand drawn specs.

 

 

Im 'assuming' they are controller cord ends....not the console.

Correct. Both are the controller cord ends.

 

Thanks for the cleaned-up drawing, Rev.

 

By the way, if I have time, I will make up a small batch of adapters to sell at CGE.

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Sorry my machine posted before I could fix it.

 

With the adapter already made, are there plans in place to mass produce them so that they will be available on October 1st? Thank you as I'm really looking forward to this product.

Nurmix brings up the topic of 'mass production' in the current podcast (Ep. 12) - but not deadlines. Sounds like if there are enough requests, mass production will be explored. I don't know what that number is. 25? 50? 100? I'm sure he'll need to do some legwork to find out what minimum runs are necessary for things like this for the price to be reasonable. I'd assume a small PCB w/ the two DB9s mounted on it would be the simplest way to go. A deluxe kit could include a short 'extender' cable. Never done anything like that myself, though. But it's fun to throw ideas out there and find out how wrong I am. :P

 

FWIW, once you have that adapter, if you have an Ultimate PC interface, you can use the adaptors it has for DB9 to the inline 9-pin connector for the original controllers to put an original controller on the Flashback. The other way around would require yet another adapter (the DB9 to female inline 9-pin plug) though, to hook to an original console. Or perhaps that's just a separate adapter altogether.

 

Ideally, you want something that's not permanent.

 

At least there shouldn't be any harm that would be done by hooking this up incorrectly. Happily, these are all passive devices.

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Nurmix brings up the topic of 'mass production' in the current podcast (Ep. 12) - but not deadlines. Sounds like if there are enough requests, mass production will be explored. I don't know what that number is. 25? 50? 100? I'm sure he'll need to do some legwork to find out what minimum runs are necessary for things like this for the price to be reasonable. I'd assume a small PCB w/ the two DB9s mounted on it would be the simplest way to go. A deluxe kit could include a short 'extender' cable. Never done anything like that myself, though. But it's fun to throw ideas out there and find out how wrong I am. :P

 

FWIW, once you have that adapter, if you have an Ultimate PC interface, you can use the adaptors it has for DB9 to the inline 9-pin connector for the original controllers to put an original controller on the Flashback. The other way around would require yet another adapter (the DB9 to female inline 9-pin plug) though, to hook to an original console. Or perhaps that's just a separate adapter altogether.

 

Thanks, Steve. That's correct, I will be looking into several different options, depending on demand. I would say that if more than 100 are needed, I will probably figure out a way to have them made somewhere. The adapters are not terribly difficult to make myself, but they are time consuming; with wire cutting and stripping, 18 small solder points and heat-shrink tubing.

 

The big problem for me, making them myself is that I can't find a source for the standard joystick "plugs" (that you find on the end of a Flashback controller or Atari 2600 joystick). I can only find the serial port type ends I use on my adapters - which have the screw hole "ears". And as I mentioned, with one of these style connectors, you can't directly plug it into the Intellivision II because the controller ports are recessed. So in my testing, I've been using a 6" joystick extension cable coming out of the Intellivision II, and my adapter cable plugs into that. I'd rather not have to add an extension cable to the adapter to keep costs down.

 

Your suggestion of a small "PCB" type adapter is a good one, provided the end that plugs into the Intellivision II is able to fit into the recessed port area.

 

As for making the adapters for the original Master Component, that's not a problem... I just need to find the motherboard-style connectors that are needed to plug the controller into the main board of the Intellivision. Yes, I could scavenge them from broken Intellivisions, but I'd rather find new compatible versions. I'll probably end up buying some similar PC type motherboard header connectors and re-purpose them.

 

So basically, I think there would need to be 2 types of adapter made... one for Intellivision II and Sears, the other for original / INTV consoles.

 

So... if anyone knows of a good source for either the "joystick plugs" or the "motherboard header connectors" for the original controllers / console, please send me a PM.

Edited by nurmix
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any news on possibility of being able to special order a complete set of overlays for the flashback?

What's with the intellivision.com address someone said was in the manual offering the opp to purchase more overlays?

right now there's no such site.

As far as the Intellivision.com stuff... Is that the one in the manual? Or intellivisionlives? The Intellivision.com domain is registered, but not sure what the story is with that.

 

This sort of thing is part of why product may be ready, but street date is months later. You need to get websites ready, tested, rolled out, etc. If you're doing it right (do NOT look at me - I don't even use a test domain myself - it's all live edits baby!), taking stuff live can be a real b*tch. Hence the lead times to deal w/ all the SNAFUs and FUBARed stuff you find. That's in addition to getting whatever print and digital ads ready, booked, proofed, etc.

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As far as the Intellivision.com stuff... Is that the one in the manual? Or intellivisionlives? The Intellivision.com domain is registered, but not sure what the story is with that.

 

This sort of thing is part of why product may be ready, but street date is months later. You need to get websites ready, tested, rolled out, etc. If you're doing it right (do NOT look at me - I don't even use a test domain myself - it's all live edits baby!), taking stuff live can be a real b*tch. Hence the lead times to deal w/ all the SNAFUs and FUBARed stuff you find. That's in addition to getting whatever print and digital ads ready, booked, proofed, etc.

someone earlier who got their hands on a flashback mentioned it was in the manual.

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Instructions are not in the manual, but the overlays are reproduced. They're somewhat low resolution, though, and not in color.

 

So Bill have you heard any plans about the other overlays being sold separately, maybe as a set, for those who'd like to buy them? I seem to remember someone a few posts earlier who got his hands on a Flashback say it said in the manual to go to intellivision.com to order more.

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So Bill have you heard any plans about the other overlays being sold separately, maybe as a set, for those who'd like to buy them? I seem to remember someone a few posts earlier who got his hands on a Flashback say it said in the manual to go to intellivision.com to order more.

 

I haven't spoken with Intellivision Productions about that. I'll ask them.

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You could use a joystick extender and solder your own end on it.

 

Like this one:

http://www.stoneagegamer.com/genesis-controller-extension-cable.html

 

Yep. In fact, you wouldn't need to solder an end to it. You'd just need to cut the cable in the middle, strip the wires, rearrange and solder back together, closed up with heat-shrink tubing. But, you would have a 'lump' in the middle of the cable. My first prototype (not the one I posted an image of earlier) was made just like this, with a 6" controller extension cable I had.

 

I could make them this way, as long as people don't mind the lump.

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Yep. In fact, you wouldn't need to solder an end to it. You'd just need to cut the cable in the middle, strip the wires, rearrange and solder back together, closed up with heat-shrink tubing. But, you would have a 'lump' in the middle of the cable. My first prototype (not the one I posted an image of earlier) was made just like this, with a 6" controller extension cable I had.

 

I could make them this way, as long as people don't mind the lump.

Lump? what lump?

I never noticed or saw the lump!

 

Please make them for people like me! Wolfy

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In terms of Flashbacks displaying on TV's, I will say that since all of the AtGames products are composite, regardless of the display technology used, you will most likely want to make adjustments on the display to optimize the picture quality. With that said, as was stated, it works on everything with a composite input. Having tested these on both CRTs and LEDs, I can't say one is necessarily better than the other for these devices. The picture quality is functional at best.

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