CollectorVision Phoenix Game Console

[retroillucid]

10 minutes ago, Ikrananka said:

 

...  Now where do you plug in that rather large printer?

 

Nnnoooooooooo! 

[Ikrananka]

3 minutes ago, retroillucid said:

 

Nnnoooooooooo! 

I do think that the least you could do is to make a working mini version of the printer to go with the ADAM core.  You could even put the Phoenix power supply in it ?

[retroillucid]

2 minutes ago, Ikrananka said:

I do think that the least you could do is to make a working mini version of the printer to go with the ADAM core.  You could even put the Phoenix power supply in it ?

[jblenkle]

Yeah, who cares about the printer...but where do I plug in my Speech Synthesizer and Midi Interface?

26 minutes ago, retroillucid said:

As long as no one is asking ''How will I plug my Daisy Wheel Printer to the Phoenix?'' 

Please, no!

 

[ChildOfCv]

8 minutes ago, Ikrananka said:

I do think that the least you could do is to make a working mini version of the printer to go with the ADAM core.  You could even put the Phoenix power supply in it ?

Maybe it could print out on receipt paper

[HDTV1080P]

PS/2 keyboards are currently out of production and have been replaced with USB keyboards. However it might take a few years until PS/2 keyboard inventory is depleted online. It might be possible to use a USB keyboard by purchasing a USB female to PS/2 male adapter converter if the keyboard driver is compatible.

A Laser printer in theory could be connected to the expansion port on the CollectorVision system and with the proper driver installed ADAM owners would be able to print to a Laser printer just like existing ADAM owners already use modern Laser printers. The ADAM core could load Smartwriter on boot and possible one day a new version of Smartwriter could be created that supported 80 column video display over HDMI and also built in spell checker that underlined misspelled words in red.

The ColecoVision came out in August of 1982 and then in October of 1983 the Expansion module #3 ADAM computer came on the market. The ADAM computer had better games then the ColecoVision with Supergames like Buck Rodgers, Donkey Kong, Donkey Kong Junior 5 screen, Zaxxon, Subroc, Jeopardy, Family Feud, and many other classic Coleco games made exclusively for the ADAM computer. Some ADAM games have been ported over to the CoelcoVision in recent years thanks to Team Pixelboy .  

[phoenixdownita]

38 minutes ago, HDTV1080P said:

.... one day a new version of Smartwriter could be created that supported 80 column video display over HDMI and also built in spell checker that underlined misspelled words in red. ....

[Tursi]

On 6/19/2019 at 6:15 AM, Pixelboy said:

 

Perhaps, but do all those PS2 keyboards found on eBay work without any issue with the Phoenix? PS2 does not automatically imply plug-and-play, and some of these keyboards have a lot of extra keys that other keyboards don't.

 

If purchasing a PS2 keyboard off eBay is a throw of the dice where compatibility with the Phoenix is concerned, I'd rather have an official keyboard that's guaranteed to work, and that every Phoenix owner can order from a specific online store.

 

I haven't tried it, but I wouldn't be too worried. The PS/2 spec is pretty straight forward and works pretty well. I implemented a PS/2 adapter for the TI-99/4A and once I actually understood the specification and implemented it properly (ie: operating at the right clock edge), it worked with everything I threw at it. I tested against old AT keyboards, cheap PS/2 keyboards, and even one rather pricey PS/2 keyboard. Dozens of people since have used it without any comments about keyboards that don't work. The extra keys will either have unique scan codes, or show up out of band, but they shouldn't impact the base protocol (the ones I tested were unique scan codes). The only place you might have issues is internationalization. The keyboards will still work, but the keys may expect a fixed layout (such as US), meaning that whatever is on the keycap, you're going to get the US meaning. Not saying this is how Phoenix works, I don't actually know, but it's my experience with PS/2. 

[Pixelboy]

56 minutes ago, Tursi said:

I haven't tried it, but I wouldn't be too worried. The PS/2 spec is pretty straight forward and works pretty well. I implemented a PS/2 adapter for the TI-99/4A and once I actually understood the specification and implemented it properly (ie: operating at the right clock edge), it worked with everything I threw at it. I tested against old AT keyboards, cheap PS/2 keyboards, and even one rather pricey PS/2 keyboard. Dozens of people since have used it without any comments about keyboards that don't work. The extra keys will either have unique scan codes, or show up out of band, but they shouldn't impact the base protocol (the ones I tested were unique scan codes). The only place you might have issues is internationalization. The keyboards will still work, but the keys may expect a fixed layout (such as US), meaning that whatever is on the keycap, you're going to get the US meaning. Not saying this is how Phoenix works, I don't actually know, but it's my experience with PS/2. 

Cool, thanks for your input. 

 

[Master Phruby]

On 6/21/2019 at 10:27 PM, HDTV1080P said:

A Laser printer in theory could be connected to the expansion port on the CollectorVision system and with the proper driver installed ADAM owners would be able to print to a Laser printer just like existing ADAM owners already use modern Laser printers. The ADAM core could load Smartwriter on boot and possible one day a new version of Smartwriter could be created that supported 80 column video display over HDMI and also built in spell checker that underlined misspelled words in red.

 

Or you just buy Atari Writer 80 with an XEP80 interface module.

 

[insertclevernamehere]

Yawn!  I click on here and it's more stuff about printers.  It's a game console people.  Why would I want to use it for boring stuff that boring computers do? ?

[Serguei2]

11 minutes ago, insertclevernamehere said:

Yawn!  I click on here and it's more stuff about printers.  It's a game console people.  Why would I want to use it for boring stuff that boring computers do? ?

Phoenix Adams is planning and it's a computer.

 

That's why we're talking about printers.

 

Sounds like printers are popular for Adams owners.

[killersquirel]

I know that I'm psyched for the Phoenix. As someone whom has never owned an Adam, I'm really excited for the potential Adam core. Hopefully we will be able to write to the SD card like the disks could back in the day. It would be great to have your high scores saved in the games that utilized that function and would be great for the upcoming Phoenix games to save high scores to the SD card as well.

 

[Swami]

1 hour ago, killersquirel said:

I know that I'm psyched for the Phoenix. As someone whom has never owned an Adam, I'm really excited for the potential Adam core. Hopefully we will be able to write to the SD card like the disks could back in the day. It would be great to have your high scores saved in the games that utilized that function and would be great for the upcoming Phoenix games to save high scores to the SD card as well.

 

If it's like the 8bitsforever SX1 MSX FPGA, everything disk or tape related needed to be loaded from sd like from an original disk drive, rather than simple pop-up menu like the AtariMax or Harmony carts and I ended up using some of the homebrew menu software like Sofarun, etc., etc.

[Swami]

8 hours ago, Pixelboy said:

Cool, thanks for your input. 

 

The only issue I've ran into with using a PS/2 keyboard for atypical uses is if it uses more amps than intended, then it will not be able to communicate.

[Serguei2]

So we need to type 'LOAD

1 minute ago, Swami said:

If it's like the 8bitsforever SX1 MSX FPGA, everything disk or tape related needed to be loaded from sd like from an original disk drive, rather than simple pop-up menu like the AtariMax or Harmony carts and I ended up using some of the homebrew menu software like Sofarun, etc., etc.

So we need to type LOAD¨program¨ to load something. The old way.

[Swami]

1 minute ago, Serguei2 said:

So we need to type 'LOAD

So we need to type LOAD¨program¨ to load something. The old way.

Not sure about the Phoenix. That's how the SX1 works. I imagine many people prefer it that way, even if it is more of a PITA.

[HDTV1080P]

4 hours ago, killersquirel said:

I know that I'm psyched for the Phoenix. As someone whom has never owned an Adam, I'm really excited for the potential Adam core. Hopefully we will be able to write to the SD card like the disks could back in the day. It would be great to have your high scores saved in the games that utilized that function and would be great for the upcoming Phoenix games to save high scores to the SD card as well.

 

In theory the ADAM core should emulate ADAMnet and the SD card slot should work similar to the MicroFox ADAMnet Floppy Disk Drive emulator. However instead of having a LCD display the ADAM software programs would appear on a onscreen menu system just like the ATARIMAX USB and SD cartridges.

Edited June 24, 2019 by HDTV1080P

[retroillucid]

Here's how our weekend looked like...
It's coming!!

[Loafer]

Very cool, can't wait to here "started to ship!".

[Swami]

6 hours ago, HDTV1080P said:

In theory the ADAM core should emulate ADAMnet and the SD card slot should work similar to the MicroFox ADAMnet Floppy Disk Drive emulator. However instead of having a LCD display the ADAM software programs would appear on a onscreen menu system just like the ATARIMAX USB and SD cartridges.

How do you know how it should emulate, in theory, or are you saying this is how you want it to be emulated?

[HDTV1080P]

11 hours ago, Swami said:

How do you know how it should emulate, in theory, or are you saying this is how you want it to be emulated?

If ADAMnet is not emulated then all the existing ADAM software on SD cards and microSD cards would not run. There is existing ADAM software on SD cards and the MicroFox Adamnet Floppy Drive emulator reads those SD cards. If for some odd reason ADAMnet is not emulated by the CollectorVision ADAM core then a new operating system and a software patch would need to be installed to all existing ADAM programs so that ADAMNet could be bypassed. 

 

Its just logically that the ADAM core would emulate ADAMnet and that would be the method I would be personally interested in to maintain 100% compatibility with all existing ADAM software. One should be able to take a SD card or microSD card out of the MiroFox Floppy Drive emulator and stick the SD card in this new CollectorVision ADAM computer that has a ADAM core, and the new ADAM computer should be able to read the SD card. Now since the CollectorVision ADAM compatible system does not have a built in LCD display, a onscreen menu system similar to ATARIMAX’s SD Wafer Drive would need to be created so that one can change between disk images.    

Edited June 25, 2019 by HDTV1080P

[SegaSnatcher]

Its a damn shame someone wasn't making brand new 2.4Ghz Coleco controllers with better stick and button response.  

[Loafer]

My lazy ass would love a wireless solution.  Come to think of it I have I think an old pair of wireless Snes controllers I wonder if they will work?

[Bmack36]

10 minutes ago, SegaSnatcher said:

Its a damn shame someone wasn't making brand new 2.4Ghz Coleco controllers with better stick and button response.  

I did try to reach out to 8bitdo to see if they would be interested in doing a controller like that, but never heard anything back. Although that was about a year and half ago.