JimmyIpock Posted December 18, 2016 Share Posted December 18, 2016 Someone asked about putting a 9 pin joystick connector in, I was able to do it without too much complication. 9 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+LS650 Posted December 18, 2016 Share Posted December 18, 2016 Last night while doing laundry I spent about 70 minutes playing a wide variety of games on mine. The Dpad is a bit looser, and I have to say is working better than I initially thought. The unit does have some incompatibilities but overall I am very pleased with it. I think I have an appropriate video cable sitting around somewhere, so at some point I will have to try using it with my TV set. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Asaki Posted December 18, 2016 Share Posted December 18, 2016 Someone asked about putting a 9 pin joystick connector in, I was able to do it without too much complication. Were you able to find all nine connections, or just the six that the joystick uses? 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Andromeda Stardust Posted December 18, 2016 Share Posted December 18, 2016 Someone asked about putting a 9 pin joystick connector in, I was able to do it without too much complication. Were you able to find all nine connections, or just the six that the joystick uses?This. Paddles or GTFO. Also I doubt the VCC pin has a full +5v to work with on a portable powered by a LiIon cell. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
doctorclu Posted December 18, 2016 Share Posted December 18, 2016 Someone asked about putting a 9 pin joystick connector in, I was able to do it without too much complication. Truly awesome. Can you show pictures on how you wired it up? Maybe a little video of the joystick port in use. And yes, inquiring minds wants to know if it allowed the use of a paddle controller? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JimmyIpock Posted December 18, 2016 Share Posted December 18, 2016 Truly awesome. Can you show pictures on how you wired it up? Maybe a little video of the joystick port in use. And yes, inquiring minds wants to know if it allowed the use of a paddle controller? This. Paddles or GTFO. Also I doubt the VCC pin has a full +5v to work with on a portable powered by a LiIon cell. Were you able to find all nine connections, or just the six that the joystick uses? I don't think paddles are ever going to work, atari paddles (potentiometers) are specified for 5 volts. The portable is using 3.8 volts. Assuming the atgames chip is wired for paddles (no reason to believe it is) then the readout of the analog pots would be skewed. The portable is totally digital, paddles are analog. I don't think paddles will ever work on the portable. Asaki, I found the six connections for the joystick (up, down, left, right, fire, ground). The other (+5v, paddle1, paddle2) don't exist on the portable circuit board. I'm happy to post detailed pictures of how I did the mod.. 4 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Arenafoot Posted December 18, 2016 Share Posted December 18, 2016 I don't think paddles are ever going to work, atari paddles (potentiometers) are specified for 5 volts. The portable is using 3.8 volts. Assuming the atgames chip is wired for paddles (no reason to believe it is) then the readout of the analog pots would be skewed. The portable is totally digital, paddles are analog. I don't think paddles will ever work on the portable. Suggestion here...... I'm electronically naive here so I'm just throwing out an idea.... it prob will not work..... Is there a way to add a battery pack inside an Atari Paddle controller to add the extra power needed (difference between the 3.8v built in and the needed 5v)?? Like I said just an idea.... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Keatah Posted December 18, 2016 Share Posted December 18, 2016 There's more to it. The portable doesn't have the circuitry to read an analog signal. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+GoldLeader Posted December 18, 2016 Share Posted December 18, 2016 So JimmyIpock, Does your mod allow the D-Pad to still work also? Or does it Only function now with a joystick plugged in? Good work BTW! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Arenafoot Posted December 18, 2016 Share Posted December 18, 2016 There's more to it. The portable doesn't have the circuitry to read an analog signal. Haa....got ya! I figured there was more to it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JimmyIpock Posted December 18, 2016 Share Posted December 18, 2016 Suggestion here...... I'm electronically naive here so I'm just throwing out an idea.... it prob will not work..... Is there a way to add a battery pack inside an Atari Paddle controller to add the extra power needed (difference between the 3.8v built in and the needed 5v)?? Like I said just an idea.... It might be possible to get the signal to 5 volts, but the real issue is that the portable doesn't have the paddle input lines into the controller. Also, i bet the atgames controller is running on 3.3 volts, 5 volts would likely destroy something. I really don't know of any way to move forward without some schematics and seeing the lines needed. I doubt there are analog lines on the portable. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JimmyIpock Posted December 18, 2016 Share Posted December 18, 2016 So JimmyIpock, Does your mod allow the D-Pad to still work also? Or does it Only function now with a joystick plugged in? Good work BTW! Yes, everything works as normal. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+Nathan Strum Posted December 19, 2016 Share Posted December 19, 2016 Just posted a ridiculously long review of the Flashback Portable in my blog. 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dgdgagdae Posted December 19, 2016 Share Posted December 19, 2016 Just posted a ridiculously long review of the Flashback Portable in my blog. Nice review. For me, the sound is just too bad for me to keep the unit. The buzz is annoying enough, but in game sound is even worse. Yars Revenge. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Andromeda Stardust Posted December 19, 2016 Share Posted December 19, 2016 So JimmyIpock, Does your mod allow the D-Pad to still work also? Or does it Only function now with a joystick plugged in? Good work BTW! I'm wondering though. Would this work with the trackball hacks, assuming you could somehow supply +5V to pin 7? That could be accomplished by hokking a 5V DC-DC boost converter between the 3.3V VCC and pin 7 of the controller port. This of course assumes the Flashback Portable properly emulates D+U and L+R. You could test with a Starplex or all button controller and the testcart ROM. Paddles can also actuate L+R and Driving controllers can actuate U+D without the need for 5V on pin 7. You'd be surprised how many emulators and USB converters don't properly emulate SOCD (simultaneous opposing cardinal directions) on a joystick. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Keatah Posted December 19, 2016 Share Posted December 19, 2016 Just posted a ridiculously long review of the Flashback Portable in my blog. It's a great review, covers a lot of aspects. Helps us decide if this will be a door prize at our winter tech bash. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Retro-Z Posted December 19, 2016 Share Posted December 19, 2016 (edited) Just posted a ridiculously long review of the Flashback Portable in my blog. Nice. My brief review a few pages back (when everyone was busy arguing about TVs... LOL) made note of some of the same stuff. I find the issues with the viewing angle of the screen to be really annoying after a little while. The viewing angle is so narrow that the player's left eye sees different colors/contrast on the screen compared to the right eye, and it can be a bit trippy sometimes. I've also noticed that the D-pad doesn't like being pressed down very hard. With a gentle touch, it works fine, but start getting heavy-handed with it and it'll send you in a direction you didn't intend. I also agree that the included game selection is pretty "blah". There are only 4-5 built-in games that I personally find worthwhile. 7/10 is definitely a fair score. If they revised the button/switch layout, integrated some type of paddle support, and used a better display, it would be a much better product. Edited December 19, 2016 by Retro-Z Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
atarifan88 Posted December 19, 2016 Share Posted December 19, 2016 Nice review. For me, the sound is just too bad for me to keep the unit. The buzz is annoying enough, but in game sound is even worse. Yars Revenge. You must have a bad unit. There are no annoying sounds on mine... 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+GoldLeader Posted December 19, 2016 Share Posted December 19, 2016 I wonder if they have quality "inconsistency" issues? I don't seem to have a lot of the issues people have... 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
KevinMos3 Posted December 19, 2016 Share Posted December 19, 2016 (edited) Not sure which of the Flashback Portable threads is the best to post this in, but here goes: I bought both the Atari and Genesis portables recently. I couldn't help but notice that the Atari screen is smaller than the Genesis one. It also seems the larger size was used in the pre-release units, but the smaller screen was used in the production ones. So, I bought an extra Genesis unit and swapped out the screen with my Atari portable. Now, I'm wondering if I made the right decision, so I'd like to know if anyone has knowledge on the differences between the two screens. Did AtGames use the smaller screen because it has better quality?.. better battery life?.. etc. - The smaller screen does seem a bit more vivid in color, but is it because of being a better screen? - Has anyone been able to accurately test the difference (if any) between battery life with the 2 screens? Perhaps someone who has both a pre-release unit and a production unit? - Does anyone have inside knowledge about the change, (Bill Loguidice, perhaps)? I took some pictures of an original unit (top and right) next to my modified unit (bottom and left). It's difficult to see much difference in the pics, but the size is approx 1/4" larger in width and the smaller screen is a bit more vivid. Edited December 19, 2016 by KevinMos3 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+LS650 Posted December 19, 2016 Share Posted December 19, 2016 I've seen some complaints about various issues, but really I'm pretty happy with mine. For less $50, if it lasts for a while I'll get my money's worth out of it. 4 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tep392 Posted December 19, 2016 Share Posted December 19, 2016 I'm wondering though. Would this work with the trackball hacks, assuming you could somehow supply +5V to pin 7? That could be accomplished by hokking a 5V DC-DC boost converter between the 3.3V VCC and pin 7 of the controller port. This of course assumes the Flashback Portable properly emulates D+U and L+R. You could test with a Starplex or all button controller and the testcart ROM. Paddles can also actuate L+R and Driving controllers can actuate U+D without the need for 5V on pin 7. You'd be surprised how many emulators and USB converters don't properly emulate SOCD (simultaneous opposing cardinal directions) on a joystick. You better take care not to feed 5v back into the UDLR inputs. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
doctorclu Posted December 19, 2016 Share Posted December 19, 2016 (edited) I wonder if they have quality "inconsistency" issues? I don't seem to have a lot of the issues people have... Dunno, you tell us. Load up this demo and let me know if you can see the text on the bottom of the screen scroll by. And by see I mean see all the text. One thing I've been noticing is on this demo, and Omega Race the bottom of the screen is kinda clipped off. Doctor.bin Edited December 19, 2016 by doctorclu 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+GoldLeader Posted December 20, 2016 Share Posted December 20, 2016 Dunno, you tell us. Load up this demo and let me know if you can see the text on the bottom of the screen scroll by. And by see I mean see all the text. One thing I've been noticing is on this demo, and Omega Race the bottom of the screen is kinda clipped off. All right. Will do...As I wrote that, I was thinking more in terms of some people have had D-Pad issues, I've had no problems...Some people have sound issues. Although I seemed to remember a little buzzing when I first got it, as of late I don't hear a peep out of it, unless I crank it all the way up... And I didn't realize there was a screen difference until now... Anyhow, [On my Pre-Production unit] ... I see all the text as far as I can tell and Omega Race looks fine (this is the Driving Controller (DC) Version)... And my camera has a way of making things look worse than they really are...Man I didn't even see those smudges until my camera flash caught them LOL...Anyway...Hope these help! 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
almightytodd Posted December 20, 2016 Share Posted December 20, 2016 Dunno, you tell us. Load up this demo and let me know if you can see the text on the bottom of the screen scroll by. And by see I mean see all the text. One thing I've been noticing is on this demo, and Omega Race the bottom of the screen is kinda clipped off. Isn't the "doctor.bin" a PAL demo? (2008 Trilobit, right? ...and it's in STEREO!) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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