Tutorvision games - Interest check

[+intvsteve]

9 hours ago, Lathe26 said:

My other Tutor Pro (the 1st one I got) was also nonfunctional due to a broken RF connector.  Now, I have mostly confirmed that the RF modulator from Biwave Inc can be replaced by the far more common Astec version.  Out of view is a little TV showing Astrosmash running with a good picture.

 

So you wired this up directly - this implies that the Vcc on the main board can drive the Astec just fine, right? Is there a different footprint? (I suppose I could find out myself, but you've got all the parts just setting out right there! )

 

The Astec modulators mount to the mainboard with four tabs -- wonder if the Biwave does as well, and if they are in the same location.

[+Lathe26]

41 minutes ago, intvsteve said:

So you wired this up directly - this implies that the Vcc on the main board can drive the Astec just fine, right? Is there a different footprint? (I suppose I could find out myself, but you've got all the parts just setting out right there! )

 

The Astec modulators mount to the mainboard with four tabs -- wonder if the Biwave does as well, and if they are in the same location.

Short answer: it appears to be a drop-in replacement

 

Longer answer:

• The normal 5V Vcc doesn't power the RF modulator.  Instead, a higher voltage source drives it after passing through a resistor.  On the original Intellivision, this higher voltage is 12V while on the Tutor Pro this voltage was measured at 9.7V.  The resistor drops this voltage down to 6.4-6.3V, which is what the RF modulator sees.  The Astec datasheet has a list of resistor values to use that vary by what the starting higher voltage is.  On the Tutor Pro, this is R15 (56 Ohm, 1/2W) located between the channel selector switch and controller connector P4B (R15 is partly obscured by the white wire).
• The 4 tabs appear to align.  I won't be 100% positive until I remove the old RF modulator.
• The pinouts are an exact match as well.  Note that the wire colors are in the same order (except the hard-to-see black wirewhich just connects to the 2 metal chassis as GND).
• This should be a drop in replacement but I won't know until I disconnect the old RF modulator.

[+Lathe26]

RF modulator swap worked!  Both Tutor Pro are fully functional!

 

 

[+Lathe26]

 

[+fdr4prez]

31 minutes ago, Lathe26 said:

 

But which is the master and which is the apprentice?

[+Lathe26]

The higher rank (serial #) is the master.  The other still wears the blue dot of apprenticeship. 

[scalpel]

I am a little dissapointed... I recently bought 2 Super Pro System. They work but I don't have "INTV Corporation" title when I test a "network" games. So, I don't have the Tutorvision Exec... ?

 

[+Lathe26]

Correct.

 

Also, a metal shield (painted brown/black) is visible through the vent holes on the bottom.  Tutor Pros don't have this metal shield.

[mr_me]

They are very rare so the odds of finding one without checking is very low.  Even then, of the ones that have been found with a tutorvision intv1988 motherboard, only about half have the tutorvision exec.

[Swami]

3 hours ago, Lathe26 said:

Correct.

 

Also, a metal shield (painted brown/black) is visible through the vent holes on the bottom.  Tutor Pros don't have this metal shield.

and I’ve found you need a good up close shot of the vent or good lighting to tell or dark is dark

[intvnut]

On 1/7/2020 at 11:27 PM, scalpel said:

They work but I don't have "INTV Corporation" title when I test a "network" games. So, I don't have the Tutorvision Exec... ?

 

On 1/8/2020 at 11:17 AM, mr_me said:

They are very rare so the odds of finding one without checking is very low.  Even then, of the ones that have been found with a tutorvision intv1988 motherboard, only about half have the tutorvision exec.

 

Technically speaking, the "INTV Corp" title screen is a function of the INTV 1986 GROM, and not whether you have the TutorVision WBEXEC.  The message exists in the GROM chip, and so all INTV88 boards will have that modified message regardless of whether the WBEXEC is present.

[mr_me]

If it has the INTV Grom (rounded font) it most likely has the tutorvision INTV1988 motherboard.

 

But without a flash cartridge (or tutorvision cartridge), there's no way to know it it has the tutorvision exec without taking the intellivision apart.  If it happens to be missing the tutorvision exec, it can always be added through the cartridge port to make it compatible.

Edited January 10, 2020 by mr_me

[scalpel]

Thanks a lot all of you for your messages and information.

 

is the LTO could help me if I put a specific rom inside ?

[+Lathe26]

Also, the FW Diagnostic cart (homebrew) will identify whether the board is an INTV88 board and independently determine whether the WBEXEC is present.  Not sure how many of these were made.

[mthompson]

49 minutes ago, scalpel said:

Thanks a lot all of you for your messages and information.

 

is the LTO could help me if I put a specific rom inside ?

Freewheel posted a stand-alone Tutorvision detection ROM in the programming forum (here's the link). If you have an LTO Flash! or other multi-cart, you can run it and identify your console's chips.

 

Edited January 10, 2020 by mthompson

[mr_me]

If you put a tutorvision cartridge rom file (e.g. map mazes or shapes in space) in your flash cartridge and it runs correctly then you have a tutorvision exec.

Edited January 10, 2020 by mr_me

[First Spear]

With the exhaustive resources available to the Reynolds Research Department at The Intellivisionaries headquarters, it would be great if they could get a mic in front of the engineers or techs or designers that worked at Intv Corp during the “final run” of the console hardware, tweaking Tutorvision units to make them Super Pro systems and distributing them. 

[scalpel]

21 hours ago, Lathe26 said:

Also, the FW Diagnostic cart (homebrew) will identify whether the board is an INTV88 board and independently determine whether the WBEXEC is present.  Not sure how many of these were made.

I used it and for both, I have a standard intellivision ^^

 

Thanks for the clue  !