First Spear Posted August 6, 2016 Share Posted August 6, 2016 Where is (was) the R&D lab where the Intellivision was made? I'm not getting anything from the Intellivision Lives or Papa Intellivision website on the early "hardware was born" angle. Thanks. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mr_me Posted August 6, 2016 Share Posted August 6, 2016 (edited) Hardware at Mattel Toys, Hawthorne, Ca. Software at APh Consulting, Pasadena, Ca http://www.intellivisionlives.com/history.php Some of the hardware was based on a system developed at General Instrument. Edit: i think engineering at mattel and aph started at least in 1977 as they did have something to show at the 1978 las vegas ces in january. Edited August 6, 2016 by mr_me Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Games For Your Intellivision Posted August 6, 2016 Share Posted August 6, 2016 It is a reworking of the GIMINI video game system at GI. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
freewheel Posted August 6, 2016 Share Posted August 6, 2016 There's some interesting documentation on the GIMINI over at http://pong-story.com/GIMINI1978.pdf Unfortunately you can't actually USE that link, because their idiot hosting provider doesn't understand how the Internet works. Just copy/paste it into a new tab, or in many browsers, when you get the error, just click in the address field and hit enter. Starting on page 49, you can see their ideas of a programmable PONG system, incorporating the CP1610. If you read the "Full Range" system description, it sounds close - but not quite - to the Intellivision's capabilities. Pretty neat. There's also what can be best described as an "Intellivision Junior" in the "Mid-Range" system - basically an Intellivision without the STIC. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mr_me Posted August 7, 2016 Share Posted August 7, 2016 (edited) Strange to see the stic ay-3-8900 in 1977 and 1978 gi catalogs. This document indicates it was not expected to be ready until March/june 1978. http://papaintellivision.com/pdfs/CCF10232011_00000.pdfEdit: from what I've read GI got full ownership of rights to the chipset technology from the development partnership with Mattel. Edited August 7, 2016 by mr_me Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mr_me Posted August 7, 2016 Share Posted August 7, 2016 In this GI catalog its looking alot more like an Intellivision. https://www.google.ca/url?sa=t&source=web&rct=j&url=http://www.wass.net/othermanuals/GI%2520MicroElectronics%2520Data%2520Catalog%25201978%2520index.pdf&ved=0ahUKEwj-1rKzyq_OAhWm6YMKHRTlCN4QFggoMAA&usg=AFQjCNFlb0ZltY3BNYoTADfsGVd39ZyArA See page 18. Its missing the larger exec. I'm guessing GI could not sell Mattels version of the exec. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+Lathe26 Posted August 7, 2016 Share Posted August 7, 2016 In this GI catalog its looking alot more like an Intellivision. https://www.google.ca/url?sa=t&source=web&rct=j&url=http://www.wass.net/othermanuals/GI%2520MicroElectronics%2520Data%2520Catalog%25201978%2520index.pdf&ved=0ahUKEwj-1rKzyq_OAhWm6YMKHRTlCN4QFggoMAA&usg=AFQjCNFlb0ZltY3BNYoTADfsGVd39ZyArA See page 18. Its missing the larger exec. I'm guessing GI could not sell Mattels version of the exec. I like that they have the EduCALC catalogs on the same site at http://www.wass.net/othermanuals/. This is one of the few cases where my interested of Intellivision and the HP 48SX calculator cross. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+DZ-Jay Posted August 8, 2016 Share Posted August 8, 2016 I believe that the main differences between the GIMINI system and the Intellivision is additional programmer RAM, the addition of GRAM, and of course, the EXEC framework. -dZ. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mr_me Posted August 9, 2016 Share Posted August 9, 2016 I believe that the main differences between the GIMINI system and the Intellivision is additional programmer RAM, the addition of GRAM, and of course, the EXEC framework. -dZ. Probably true at first but one GIMINI variation in these catalogs has the exact same chipset as the Intellivision, likely as a result of the GI/Mattel development partnership. Looks like anyone could have bought the Intellivision chip set (minus exec) from GI. It was all soon outdated anyway. Gram and scratchpad ram were not unique and could be sourced anywhere. The GIMINI is just a chip set not a complete system? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+DZ-Jay Posted August 9, 2016 Share Posted August 9, 2016 Probably true at first but one GIMINI variation in these catalogs has the exact same chipset as the Intellivision, likely as a result of the GI/Mattel development partnership. Looks like anyone could have bought the Intellivision chip set (minus exec) from GI. It was all soon outdated anyway. Gram and scratchpad ram were not unique and could be sourced anywhere. The GIMINI is just a chip set not a complete system? Actually, the GIMINI was hardware to read from GROM. There was no GRAM, and additional modifications were made to the chipset in order to do arbitration and mapping to it. So, no, they were not the same. Or are you saying that the updated GIMINI chipset included GRAM as well? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mr_me Posted August 9, 2016 Share Posted August 9, 2016 Not sure if GI sold those standard ram chips but a GIMINI chipset supported gram according to their catalog. GI had the same exec and grom chips in their catalog. I wonder what was on it? I'm thinking some of the stuff in the GI catalog may have been vapourware as some of it (eg stic) was still being developped in early 1978. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+DZ-Jay Posted August 9, 2016 Share Posted August 9, 2016 Not sure if GI sold those standard ram chips but a GIMINI chipset supported gram according to their catalog. GI had the same exec and grom chips in their catalog. I wonder what was on it? I'm thinking some of the stuff in the GI catalog may have been vapourware as some of it (eg stic) was still being developped in early 1978. Yeah, I saw that (GIMINI 8900), but I also suspect it may have been vapourware at that point. The IntellivisionLives.com site says that the system available in the catalog was the GIMINI 6900 (which does not show up in that catalog). The site also states that the design did not support graphics RAM at all. GI was enthusiastic about working with Mattel and helped make design changes. (The most important of these was adding a way for programmers to define new graphics for each game; the original design only allowed for a ROM library of graphics that would be used for every game. Design & Development artist Dave James insisted this would be a debilitating limitation.) That could be a faulty memory, but it seems rather specific. -dZ. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+DZ-Jay Posted August 9, 2016 Share Posted August 9, 2016 OK, here it is: in the 1977 catalog (which makes sense, because that's when development started). Page 4B-39 It mentions the CPU, RAM, and the video system, which contains GROM and the STIC. -dZ. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
intvnut Posted August 23, 2016 Share Posted August 23, 2016 (edited) There's some interesting stuff in this document on PapaIntellivision: http://papaintellivision.com/pdfs/CCF10232011_00001.pdf In particular, see page 35. Although the whole document is fascinating, including changes to the cartridge pinout, tweaking the amount of scratch RAM, and referring to the AY-3-8914 as AY-3-8910. Also, the discussion of the STIC II and STIC III emulator boxes (actual big boxes full of discrete TTL that emulate the chip while it's being developed) establish the timeline for the actual STIC chip development pretty tightly. I don't know if you've ever seen one, but they're pretty crazy looking beasts. On the specific case of the AY-3-8910/8914: Elsewhere I have a scan of the early AY-3-8910 datasheet that actually describes the AY-3-8914 memory map; I suspect GI figured out its memory map sucked, but it was too late to change it for Mattel, so Mattel got their own version of the chip. I do remember seeing a different PapaIntellivision document requesting changes to the PSG, in particular to remove the "output" mode from the I/O ports, and to change how the counter registers get reloaded. (I don't think the change is in the 8914, though, but I've seen the MAME source for the 8910 and the behavior they describe reflects Mattel's request.... odd.) Edited August 23, 2016 by intvnut 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
First Spear Posted October 28, 2016 Author Share Posted October 28, 2016 The Intellivision hit the test market on a certain date, I wonder what that was? http://www.intellivisionlives.com/bluesky/hardware/index.htmlSays "1979" but there had to be a date to that... Christmas? Halloween? Somewhere in between? Springtime when the lambs were in the field? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mr_me Posted October 28, 2016 Share Posted October 28, 2016 That was discussed here. http://atariage.com/forums/topic/240750-is-there-an-exact-date-for-the-introduction-of-the-intellivision/ So it was introduced at CES june 1979. My understanding is that the test market happened in 1979 Christmas season at Fresno, Ca. The wider release release happened in 1980 Christmas season. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mr_me Posted October 28, 2016 Share Posted October 28, 2016 the intellivisionlives website has an earliest exact release date of 1980 August 25 for NBA Basketball, LV Poker & BJ, and Space Battle. If anyone can remember or has a receipt of an Intellivision from early 1980 please comment. Or if anyone remembers anything about the 1979 test market please comment. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Eric7100 Posted October 28, 2016 Share Posted October 28, 2016 If anyone can remember or has a receipt of an Intellivision from early 1980 please comment. Or if anyone remembers anything about the 1979 test market please comment. Sorry... at the time, I was just learning how to wipe my own butt. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hyperboy Posted October 29, 2016 Share Posted October 29, 2016 Sorry... at the time, I was just learning how to wipe my own butt. He said 1979 not 1999. Sent from my non beer holding hand. 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+DZ-Jay Posted October 29, 2016 Share Posted October 29, 2016 He said 1979 not 1999. Sent from my non beer holding hand. Ooooh snap! 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Eric7100 Posted October 29, 2016 Share Posted October 29, 2016 He said 1979 not 1999. Comical... 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+Lathe26 Posted October 29, 2016 Share Posted October 29, 2016 Comical... No, this text is comical. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+intvsteve Posted October 29, 2016 Share Posted October 29, 2016 No, this text is comical. Non Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+Lathe26 Posted October 29, 2016 Share Posted October 29, 2016 Non More like 'sans'. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
wolfy62 Posted October 29, 2016 Share Posted October 29, 2016 I got mine Christmas 1980 and as far as I can remember, my Dad and I picked one up the first chance it was available. I live in the Los Angeles area, we used to shop at Gemco where we picked up my Odyssey 2 a few years before that as well! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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