CaptainBreakout Posted April 20, 2021 Share Posted April 20, 2021 That's ok. I have a eprom programmer. Does anyone know what kind of eproms work in these things? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+stupus Posted April 20, 2021 Share Posted April 20, 2021 Isnt there 2 chips in them and 1 is a more common 1 that doesnt have the game specific data? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
e5frog Posted April 20, 2021 Share Posted April 20, 2021 49 minutes ago, CaptainBreakout said: That's ok. I have a eprom programmer. Does anyone know what kind of eproms work in these things? Imagine taking the actual chip out of the DIL IC-capsule, the eprom. If you have the ones with a glass window you see the chip inside and thin wires around the edge mounted to a connection for the IC pins. Such a tiny chip is glued to the P(rinted) C(ircuit) B(oard) - and the thin bondwires are attached directly to the PCB, then. there's a plastic cap protecting the entire assembly . They aren't plain eproms but a logic device as well. Unless you have bondwire equipment and a spare custom chip or backwards engineer one and order from a chip manufacturer - that's not an option. atari2600land means you can swap the entire PCB, either from a donor or a brand new part built with old parts. I have some loose spare PCBs, which ones where broken? I can also make a reproduction board for all cames except a fully working Hangman - as it uses extra RAM and it hasn't been patched yet to work on the available platform. I got caught up with making a Swedish version when I was supposed to patch it... Anyway, saving your own words in Hangman doesn't work on anything manufactured lately. (Maze has RAM as well and has been patches). Most carts have two custom chips with half the data in either chip. Some late 20+ carts are suspected to use a plain eprom chip paired with a custom chip, mounted the same way. All game data is on that eprom. 1 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CaptainBreakout Posted April 21, 2021 Share Posted April 21, 2021 Wow... Thanks for the info. That's some intense stuff going on in these carts. I'm inquiring on returning the Hangman game, especially since the seller seems to have more copies so I'm hoping for an exchange for a working one. As for Sonar Search... I'll do a little more testing on it. If it turns out the cart is indeed flawed, I'll crack it open and look at the innards and report back here. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
e5frog Posted April 21, 2021 Share Posted April 21, 2021 1 hour ago, CaptainBreakout said: As for Sonar Search... I'll do a little more testing on it. If it turns out the cart is indeed flawed, I'll crack it open and look at the innards and report back here. Most common problems on a semi working machine are oxidized socketed chips, RAM or power. In your case it sounds like the cart connector assembly or flat cable _could be a problem. For carts it's chip covers coming loose, rattling around inside the case tearing off bondwires. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CaptainBreakout Posted April 21, 2021 Share Posted April 21, 2021 Would anyone here happen to have a copy of Hangman and/or Sonar Search they'd be willing to lend me? That would help me determine if it's my carts or the console. I'll happily pay for shipping and send a goodie or two back when I've tested the games. Pm me if you'd be into it. I'm in California. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ashevent Posted April 21, 2021 Share Posted April 21, 2021 1 hour ago, CaptainBreakout said: Would anyone here happen to have a copy of Hangman and/or Sonar Search they'd be willing to lend me? That would help me determine if it's my carts or the console. I'll happily pay for shipping and send a goodie or two back when I've tested the games. Pm me if you'd be into it. I'm in California. I'm on a 32 hours shift (firefighter) but when I get home tommorow, I might even have a spare. If not, I will, I just need to check it, been a while since I used them.. always use the multi-cart nowadays so save the originals! 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
IntelliMission Posted April 21, 2021 Share Posted April 21, 2021 I was born in 1980 and didn't know much about this console until I saw this topic. I must say the machine looks pretty mystical. The small number of numbered cartridges give it a cool "curated" and "Sesame's Street Count to 12 Song" feel. The joysticks feel pretty advance for its time, and I suspect playing games such as the cool version of pong, the tank combat game and Spitfire one year before the Atari 2600 was on the market must have been a blast for kids at the time. It's a shame there are such a small number of games and half of them are not very good, because games like Tetris show what the system can do. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mikebloke Posted April 21, 2021 Share Posted April 21, 2021 16 minutes ago, IntelliMission said: I was born in 1980 and didn't know much about this console until I saw this topic. I must say the machine looks pretty mystical. The small number of numbered cartridges give it a cool "curated" and "Sesame's Street Count to 12 Song" feel. The joysticks feel pretty advance for its time, and I suspect playing games such as the cool version of pong, the tank combat game and Spitfire one year before the Atari 2600 was on the market must have been a blast for kids at the time. It's a shame there are such a small number of games and half of them are not very good, because games like Tetris show what the system can do. Gaming market hadn't really been defined in 1976, especially the home one. I think fairchild tried to copy a bit of magnavox but with some better tech, but atari ultimately carved the niche of who would play video games and I think that section still makes up quite a lot of the modern market. Atari had the foresight to see what others had done and then decide what they would like to see. Fairchild was doing it to market and sell microchips, still stuck in their originating market as a semiconductor producer. Like you say though the controller was innovative, and you could see it working on a number of 80s console games quite happily (oh man, imagine playing intellivision games with anything other than that damn keypad!), but it never clocked on and nobody copied it. Some of the games people have made since, does indeed show off how it could have still been more competitive, but unless they were going to release another model with more colours and opening the doors to independent developers I imagine it wouldn't have got far. It would have taken a lot of investment to match Atari. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+atari2600land Posted April 21, 2021 Author Share Posted April 21, 2021 Just got Slot Machine on eBay. So now all I need is 24 and 19 (ha!) for a complete set. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ashevent Posted April 21, 2021 Share Posted April 21, 2021 12 minutes ago, atari2600land said: Just got Slot Machine on eBay. So now all I need is 24 and 19 (ha!) for a complete set. CONGRATS! I just need #20 and of course 19(ha) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+atari2600land Posted April 21, 2021 Author Share Posted April 21, 2021 Perhaps e5frog can have repro #19s for sale so we can complete all our sets? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
e5frog Posted April 21, 2021 Share Posted April 21, 2021 39 minutes ago, atari2600land said: Perhaps e5frog can have repro #19s for sale so we can complete all our sets? Sure... wouldn't be very difficult but it would just be a place filler for the real thing - the real #19 would still be missing. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CaptainBreakout Posted April 22, 2021 Share Posted April 22, 2021 If you repro'd one and sent it back to 1979, would it become authentic? ? 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mikebloke Posted April 22, 2021 Share Posted April 22, 2021 3 hours ago, CaptainBreakout said: If you repro'd one and sent it back to 1979, would it become authentic? ? Surely that would just be an counterfeit copy Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
e5frog Posted April 22, 2021 Share Posted April 22, 2021 14 hours ago, CaptainBreakout said: If you repro'd one and sent it back to 1979, would it become authentic? ? :'D Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CaptainBreakout Posted April 23, 2021 Share Posted April 23, 2021 (edited) I've spent the last 40 minutes looking around the internet for a translation of the Saba Videocart-20 Schach (aka CHESS) instruction manual. Cannot find. Anyone have a pdf of the instructions, or (better yet, since I only speak English real good) a translation? Maybe someone here has a scan of the german instructions for this cart. That would be real fun to run thru google-translate... (Especially multiple times). Edited April 23, 2021 by CaptainBreakout Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
e5frog Posted April 23, 2021 Share Posted April 23, 2021 3 minutes ago, CaptainBreakout said: I've spent the last 40 minutes looking around the internet for a translation of the Saba Videocart-20 Schach (aka CHESS) instruction manual. Cannot find. Anyone have a pdf of the instructions, or (better yet, since I only speak English real good) a translation? Maybe someone here has a scan of the german instructions for this cart. That would be real fun to run thru google-translate... (Especially multiple times). There's a summary in English "Superchess", it was posted in the Facebook group https://www.facebook.com/groups/1180282045468082. Attached. I have the German version in ascii here: http://channelf.se/gallery/txt/saba20.txt SABA Superchess.pdf 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CaptainBreakout Posted April 27, 2021 Share Posted April 27, 2021 Weirdest instructions ever. I love this system. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+atari2600land Posted April 28, 2021 Author Share Posted April 28, 2021 The ad at the very top of this eBay listing looks interesting. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
e5frog Posted April 28, 2021 Share Posted April 28, 2021 21 minutes ago, atari2600land said: The ad at the very top of this eBay listing looks interesting. Looks interesting, feels familiar but I can't find it on Dennis' site (which is about to be killed off). There's the unreleased keyboard carts on the list which sets the release time pretty well. Fall 1978 http://fndcollectables.com/CHANNEL_F_INFO/U_S_/Adds___Offers/BROCHURES/brochures.html http://fndcollectables.com/Fairchild/Brochures/cat2-outside-all.jpg http://fndcollectables.com/Fairchild/Brochures/cat2-inside-all.jpg CATALOG NUMBER CI 202520 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
e5frog Posted April 28, 2021 Share Posted April 28, 2021 (edited) Ah, this one: SUMMER SPECIAL FLYER Mentions the Summer Special is good through Aug 31 1978 http://fndcollectables.com/CHANNEL_F_INFO/U_S_/Adds___Offers/LETTERS/f.jpg http://fndcollectables.com/CHANNEL_F_INFO/U_S_/Adds___Offers/LETTERS/micenv1.jpg MICROTRONIX Summer Special Flyer & Order Form, Includes Game #1 through 17 & 21 as being available Also lists #18, 19, 20 & K1, K2, K3 as (*) noted titles, these were not available at the time of the flyer and were removed with the exception of 18 & 20 from the following Christmas flyer I've got a Microtronix labeled cart somewhere, back label sticker. Edited April 28, 2021 by e5frog 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+atari2600land Posted April 28, 2021 Author Share Posted April 28, 2021 Why was Galactic Space Wars and Pro Football described as Keyboard controllers when they apparently didn't need the keyboard controller because the games were released and the keyboard controller wasn't? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
FND Posted April 28, 2021 Share Posted April 28, 2021 30 minutes ago, e5frog said: 35 minutes ago, e5frog said: Ah, this one: SUMMER SPECIAL FLYER Mentions the Summer Special is good through Aug 31 1978 http://fndcollectables.com/CHANNEL_F_INFO/U_S_/Adds___Offers/LETTERS/f.jpg http://fndcollectables.com/CHANNEL_F_INFO/U_S_/Adds___Offers/LETTERS/micenv1.jpg MICROTRONIX Summer Special Flyer & Order Form, Includes Game #1 through 17 & 21 as being available Also lists #18, 19, 20 & K1, K2, K3 as (*) noted titles, these were not available at the time of the flyer and were removed with the exception of 18 & 20 from the following Christmas flyer I've got a Microtronix labeled cart somewhere, back label sticker. Yup thats it, I knew I had it BTW My other project fell through so the site will live on Not sure what happened but the image is loading very slow ? may have messed something up when poking around the CODE Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+atari2600land Posted April 28, 2021 Author Share Posted April 28, 2021 What is Microtronix? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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