ColecoVision tabletop ideas

[Pixelboy]

StaringLizard started a thread in the Classic Gaming section to present his newest creation, namely a Commodore 64 emulator in an amazingly tiny form factor:

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uI4o9XAFLt0

 

Watching the video led me to think about a ColecoVision version of his hardware, and I attached a few pictures below to detail some ideas I had. The main idea would be to have a tabletop-style enclosure for the device, and for the emulator to offer custom keypad options that make use of the touch-screen.

 

I think this could actually be a cool form factor for the ColecoVision Flashback 2.

[Troy_Whelan]

You mean a stand alone CV unit with a screen!?! Include the ability to charge a battery pack and I am sold! I would love to be able to play a table top version, but being able to play anywhere without a cord would be the ultimate for me. Awesome idea Luc!

[NIAD]

What??? No Roller Cont., Driving Module or SAC controller support?

 

Just kidding! Really cool idea Luc.

[Troy_Whelan]

Even better with a "lap/leg grip" on it so I can sit the unit on my lap and keep it stable while playing on the couch!

[+nanochess]

What? without support for the Expansion Module #1?

 

Good idea! I suppose it could be re-used some of these Chinese pads with Android and create a Colecovision emulator. 70$ or so for the hardware, the software would be the interesting thing.

 

Although the joystick and buttons could be a complicated thing...

[Pixelboy]

Even better with a "lap/leg grip" on it so I can sit the unit on my lap and keep it stable while playing on the couch!

Can you give me a better idea of what you mean by "lap/leg grip"? In my enclosure mockup, I made the base wide enough to make it possible for the user to play it on his lap. With such a large plastic enclosure, there would probably be more than enough room inside for a battery pack, although it would drive up the price of the unit and also make it more complex (the hardware would have to constantly monitor the battery and react properly when the battery needs a recharge).

[bennybingo]

I would buy one of those in a heartbeat!

[Hyperboy]

I would buy one of those in a heartbeat!

Hell's Yeah!

[retroillucid]

Someone absolutely NEED to make this!

 

Please?

[Pixelboy]

Here's another quick mockup, just for fun.

[Troy_Whelan]

Can you give me a better idea of what you mean by "lap/leg grip"? In my enclosure mockup, I made the base wide enough to make it possible for the user to play it on his lap. With such a large plastic enclosure, there would probably be more than enough room inside for a battery pack, although it would drive up the price of the unit and also make it more complex (the hardware would have to constantly monitor the battery and react properly when the battery needs a recharge).

As an example, see this eBay auction for an Atari 2600 accessory. This one is not great, but the idea is to be able to set the unit on your lap and not worry about it moving all around. the Atari unit has to be held with one hand but the leg grips allow you to then play a game with the other hand. I have seen some that are like an H on its side such that the bottom pieces go under your legs to hold the accessory and the console sits on top so you can play. Same idea as using suction cups on a table except this would allow you to play anywhere without having the console move or having to hold it with one hand.

 

http://www.ebay.com/itm/Atari-2600-joystick-controller-GAME-CONSOLE-New-in-Box-NIB-Tabletop-or-Laptop-/111409895770?pt=US_Other_Video_Game_Accessories&hash=item19f08c195a

[StaringLizard]

The hardware and software that I made was just a silly personal project that I had. I always wanted to make a C64 emulator but never got around to do one until now.

I'm not sure but I guess for the project Pixelboy suggests (with emulated sound) it is possible to buy a Raspberry-Pi board (~50$) and put a ColecoVision linux emulator on that board (there should exist a few already?). I think Raspberry-Pi supports anything that is needed.

It is also the exact same form factor as the board I made.

 

I would love to try this myself but now with a baby and all, I have limited time and fixed schedule

[chart45]

wow touch screen overlay i want it

Edited July 18, 2014 by chart45

[Pixelboy]

The hardware and software that I made was just a silly personal project that I had. I always wanted to make a C64 emulator but never got around to do one until now.

There's nothing silly about it, my friend.

 

 

I'm not sure but I guess for the project Pixelboy suggests (with emulated sound) it is possible to buy a Raspberry-Pi board (~50$) and put a ColecoVision linux emulator on that board (there should exist a few already?). I think Raspberry-Pi supports anything that is needed. It is also the exact same form factor as the board I made.

Yeah, but yours has DB9 ports.

 

 

I would love to try this myself but now with a baby and all, I have limited time and fixed schedule

Well, that confirms it: Babies are homebrewer killers.

 

Oh well, I do hope you will consider the project, given your experience with this kind of hardware+software development. You got the touch-screen to work properly with your software, and you have experience with coding an emulator, in addition to having experience developing custom hardware. This alone makes you one of the best people around to make a ColecoVision version of your device. I read on your personal web site that the software side of your C64 Memwa was done quite quickly and the result was fast code that's not well-structured. If you were do redo the work from scratch for a similar ColecoVision device, I'm sure there are parts you would code better, based on your valuable experience.

 

On our end, many people in this small ColecoVision fan community have experience and interesting connections for making custom hardware and custom plastic enclosures, and I know for a fact that there are people here who would gladly invest their money into your R&D effort, as long as you remain committed to finishing the project and give us regular status report (even if there's no progress for certain periods of time).

 

All this to say that there's an opportunity here to create something that many people could play and enjoy.

[StaringLizard]

I took a quick peek at the hardware and CPU used. I was rather surprised to see that the CPU is clocked rather high at over 3 Mhz. I was also surprised to see that the Zilog Z80 is still selling today (although the code written for the original ColecoVision would not work I guess). It would be a fun project but honestly, I must say that my strength is (at least for the moment) totally drained with my previous project. If anyone else is up for the job I would be happy to help with questions or any type of lightweight support.

[Pixelboy]

Alright, thanks for the consideration.

[Dr. D.]

Have you have seen this 2005 project? (Long-timers here probably have.) It is a genuine CV game board trimmed to fit into a custom-CNCed case. And it does run on batteries. Of course, it is not small, but if you want a tabletop format, the same idea could work.

 

 

*Dr. D.*

Edited July 22, 2014 by Dr. D.

[Troy_Whelan]

Have you have seen this 2005 project? (Long-timers here probably have.) It is a genuine CV game board trimmed to fit into a custom-CNCed case. And it does run on batteries. Of course, it is not small, but if you want a tabletop format, the same idea could work.

 

 

*Dr. D.*

Yeah that is a really cool, but not cheap item. Truly one-of-a-kind. IIRC the guy who had it made almost immediately sold it on eBay. Never saw it for sale again.

 

Although that is cool, I would prefer a larger screen with touch capabilities like being discussed earlier in this thread. Tabletop / laptop version as opposed to a handheld version.

 

Troy

[NIAD]

I think you got that right Troy. I seem to recall Ben Heck spending A LOT OF TIME on this handheld CV and then the person that bought it from Ben quickly flipped it... after pushing very hard for Ben to make it in the first place.

 

Very cool indeed, but a PSP-1000 that's been soft-modded is a lot cheaper alternative for on the go CV gaming. It's not perfect, but better than nothing.

 

While it's always interesting to read thru threads like this and imagine "what-if", I personally have enough ways to get my CV fix via real hardware (3 CVs, 3 ADAMs) and emulation (multiple PCs both desktop and laptop, a modded Wi and a modded PSP-1000). That's not to say if something like this was actually made that I wouldn't buy one as it would be impossible to pass up!

[Dr. D.]

I seem to recall Ben Heck spending A LOT OF TIME on this handheld CV and then the person that bought it from Ben quickly flipped it... after pushing very hard for Ben to make it in the first place.

 

That's just plain evil and wrong

 

While it's always interesting to read thru threads like this and imagine "what-if", I personally have enough ways to get my CV fix via real hardware

 

About 15 years ago, I built an all-in-one MFM hard drive system with internal drive, internal Orphanware serial board with DIP-switches to select the serial baseport, an MIB2 with 2 serial/1 parallel port, internal 2400 bps pocket modem with phone connector routed to the back, 256K memory expander, internal audio amplifier with speaker routed to the front, DB-9 and DB-25 connectors on the back for easy access, internal fan. Everything in an ordinary ADAM system console. It did need a separate power supply for the hard drive. It worked in 2005 when it went into storage, but when I took it out last year, the hard drive had died I took it all apart for troubleshooting (fortunately taking photos at each step), but have not had time to reassemble it. Anyone got a 3.5-in MFM drive they want to part with? I do have backups of all 10 EOS volumes on 10 1.44 MB floppies that are still readable; I never did anything with the TDOS partition.

 

I have always wanted to build an ADAM laptop. Or more like "luggable". The cost of a decently large color LCD screen (at least 6", preferably bigger) was always the hardest thing to justify for a project. Plus I wanted to build an external 2-tape box with its own power supply that would just hook up via ADAMnet cable. This would require either scrounging a tape 6801 from an existing motherboard or else programming a new 68701. And at that point, I would want it switch-selectable to be tape 1/2 or tape 3/4, which would require mods to the tape drive firmware (assuming that there were a spare input for the drive select). Nowadays the Compact Flash-based IDE HD card would make a non-tape system possible. All the floppy disk drive cards are big (and the Coleco ones run *SUPER HOT*), so it would be a challenge to have an internal floppy drive. Overall, the power supply requirements would be significant.

 

There was a guy from San Diego who came to ADAMcon 5 (and I think a few others) who had an ADAM that he built into a small suitcase. I have also seen ADAMs put into PC tower systems; this makes disk drives of all sizes easy. One of these even had remapped the keyboard matrix from an AT keyboard into the ADAMnet keyboard controller, so a regular AT keyboard could be used with the ADAM.

 

The floppy disk I/O code that I wrote in assembler for ADAMserve last worked under Win98 (it is too low-level for Win2K and up); it works under Win95 and DOS. If ADAMem could be modified to include this code, then you could have an "ADAM laptop" just by using an old x86 laptop with good color screen and one 1.44 MB floppy drive. Moreover, if ADAMem could emulate either the Orphanware or MI serial ports but pass the info to a standard PC serial port, you could get telecomm software like ADAMlink V to work. But nobody has ever made a "magic box" ADAMnet-to-serial converter, or ADAMnet-to-Ethernet converter, or ADAMnet-to-USB converter, etc.

 

*Dr. D.*

Edited July 23, 2014 by Dr. D.

[NIAD]

I couldn't believe all the extras that you were able to pack into that ADAM Memory Console when you made all the pics available... 121 in all! The entire electrical grid in your area must have taken a big hit everytime that you turned on that big, bad, mother.

 

Here's a couple of the pics to wet the appetites of all the modders around here and lord knows you must have needed them to reassemble everything.

 

 

[NIAD]

I found the pics that I have of the "ADAM in a PC Desktop Case" that was made by Thomas Mackie and have included the better pics. There were a few others that installed an ADAM system in a PC Desktop and the one that I liked the most was Jim Walters' system IIRC.