Look what I dug out of my garage...

[Albert]

 

Hmmmmmmmmmm.....

[DZ-Jay]

Zis muss mean zomezing. Zis is importahnt!

[Keatah]

What do you think you're going to do with them?

[Albert]

What do you think you're going to do with them?

Well, right now I am testing them.

 

..Al

[+save2600]

Aww... the one with the Stickler (P2) looks hurt.

 

BTW: closet Intellivision fan, huh? I knew it!

 

When you launching the IntelliAge sister site?

[AtariBrian]

Wow , did you know you had them somewhere ? Or you forgot about them and now you just had a huge thrift find ... in your garage .

[Albert]

Aww... the one with the Stickler (P2) looks hurt.

Yeah, I wonder how easy it is to wire up replacement controllers.

 

When you launching the IntelliAge sister site?

I have a few things on AtariAge I need to take care of first, but I am actively working on those (getting the forum updated to 3.4.8 a few days ago was the first in a string of things I am working on..)

 

..Al

[Albert]

Wow , did you know you had them somewhere ? Or you forgot about them and now you just had a huge thrift find ... in your garage .

Yep, I knew they were there. I have a reason for pulling them out.

 

I've tested five of the systems so far. Three of the five work, the other two just give me a black picture now matter how I play with the carts. Is this common? Also, the RF output varies quite a bit. Of the three (so far) working systems, only one of them has what I would consider a "decent" picture. The other two just look terrible. Which isn't a big deal right now, as I'm going to have a few of these modified for composite output.

 

..Al

[pimpmaul69]

Yep, I knew they were there. I have a reason for pulling them out.

 

I've tested five of the systems so far. Three of the five work, the other two just give me a black picture now matter how I play with the carts. Is this common? Also, the RF output varies quite a bit. Of the three (so far) working systems, only one of them has what I would consider a "decent" picture. The other two just look terrible. Which isn't a big deal right now, as I'm going to have a few of these modified for composite output.

 

..Al

the two with the black screen, are you pressing reset after powering on. It is very common for them to have that problem.

[Albert]

the two with the black screen, are you pressing reset after powering on. It is very common for them to have that problem.

No, I haven't tried that, but I'll plug those two back in and see if that helps. Will report back here after I've done that (only have a few more of the systems to test.. The current system I'm testing crashes after a few minutes (running Atlantis), so I may have to burn in the ones I intend to have modified with composite video output.

 

..Al

[+Special Teams]

Hmm...are you bringing those with you to Portland? To demo new homebrews maybe?

[Albert]

One thing I'd like to do is clean the cartridge connector on these machines (at least the ones I have an immediate need for). Does anyone have suggestions on the best way to do this?

 

Thanks,

 

..Al

[Keatah]

I wonder how much can be fixed with the "basics"..?

 

1- Clean and re-seat chips and sockets

2- Clean switches and cartridge contacts

3- Ensure clean power is making its way to the important logic parts

4- Examining the solder joints

[Keatah]

Practically and easily I would recommend many insertions and removals of a cartridge, and cleaning the cartridge with alcohol and Q-Tip in between. The dirt loosens and eventually transfers over to the Q-Tip via the cart. Try it 5 times and 5 times again. Alternately you can fold some paper to almost the thickness of a cart edge connector and wet it with alcohol. Push it in and out. I do this with my USB ports all the time. Blow any stray paper debris/fibers out afterward.

 

If it works, you can up your game and get some DeOxit contact (or other) contact cleaner/lube. Use folded paper to blot it on the contacts, just don't spray willy-nilly because that becomes a dust attractor. Never use sandpaper except in the worst of the worst cases, you don't want to remove any metal from the slot contacts.

 

Back in the day I made myself a slot cleaner. Don't laugh, it's from the mind of a 6 year old. I took apart a common game and sanded down the cartridge contacts, sanded them away in fact, thereby making the edge connector thinner. Then I mounted some cloth to it, or just used the cartridge as a way to wedge the cloth inbetween the contacts in the console. I even made a logo/label for it. It was of a broom and lightning bolt. I made one for each system I had and ESPECIALLY for the Apple II, because I was always hauling it to my WaReZ conferences on my RadioFlyer. And things would vibrate and were always being taken apart.

[pimpmaul69]

One thing I'd like to do is clean the cartridge connector on these machines (at least the ones I have an immediate need for). Does anyone have suggestions on the best way to do this?

 

Thanks,

 

..Al

take a credit card type card, pt a piece of white paper then on the end the you are going to scrape along the inside of the slot pour 91% isopropyl alchohol. Now stick wet paper side inside the slot and repeatedly scrape back and forth. You will find the paper black when you pull it out

[ACFinPGH]

One thing I'd like to do is clean the cartridge connector on these machines (at least the ones I have an immediate need for). Does anyone have suggestions on the best way to do this?

 

Thanks,

 

..Al

Alcohol wipe over a credit card typically works well.

[Albert]

Thanks for the tips. I'll definitely start by using isopropyl alcohol on an existing cart and insert it repeatedly, periodically cleaning off the cartridge fingers. I also like the idea of using a credit card with isopropyl alcohol-soaked paper wrapped around the edge, I would be a bit concerned about paper breaking off in the connector, but I have reasonably thick paper I can use that would help reduce that possibility.

 

For now, I have three systems that work well enough that I can send them off to be modified. I may have to swap one or more of the controllers, but I can do that when I get the systems back. Need to clean these up first, a bit.

 

..Al

[pimpmaul69]

As far as the paper if any does come off you can blow it right out. Unlike cotton it doesnt get caught in it.

[First Spear]

 

 

Time for an Intellivision advanced computing cluster?

 

 

 

Hmmmmmmmmmm.....

[Albert]

Time for an Intellivision advanced computing cluster?

Has someone created an Ethernet cart and TCP/IP stack yet?

 

..Al

[Crazy Climber]

I sense playable demos at a show soon...isnt groovybee near completion of a few games?

[+intvsteve]

Thanks for the tips. I'll definitely start by using isopropyl alcohol on an existing cart and insert it repeatedly, periodically cleaning off the cartridge fingers. I also like the idea of using a credit card with isopropyl alcohol-soaked paper wrapped around the edge, I would be a bit concerned about paper breaking off in the connector, but I have reasonably thick paper I can use that would help reduce that possibility.

 

For now, I have three systems that work well enough that I can send them off to be modified. I may have to swap one or more of the controllers, but I can do that when I get the systems back. Need to clean these up first, a bit.

 

..Al

Somewhere I actually have a dedicated cartridge slot cleaner that I've used for cleaning those… Gotta find it...

[Keatah]

Initially I was almost afraid to open this topic.

[Keatah]

Practically and easily I would recommend many insertions and removals of a cartridge, and cleaning the cartridge with alcohol and Q-Tip in between. The dirt loosens and eventually transfers over to the Q-Tip via the cart. Try it 5 times and 5 times again. Alternately you can fold some paper to almost the thickness of a cart edge connector and wet it with alcohol. Push it in and out. I do this with my USB ports all the time. Blow any stray paper debris/fibers out afterward.

 

If I wasn't clear. You only do the Q-Tip on the cartridge. Q-Tips don't fit inside the slot. Not easily, all sorts of bendage and breakage happens!

[Albert]

If I wasn't clear. You only do the Q-Tip on the cartridge. Q-Tips don't fit inside the slot. Not easily, all sorts of bendage and breakage happens!

Oh, no, don't worry, I have no intention of sticking Q-Tips into the cartridge slot!!!

 

..Al