New (old) Intellivision Owner

[Bamse]

Hi

Had Intellivision when I was a kid and decided to get one again after seeing the rise in emulators both physical and code.

 

Personally I wouldn't want to play an Intellivision game with anything other than original controllers so decided to get one using Ebay.

 

After a bit of searching found one a bought it for £40 (not bad I think). It worked but the picture when tuned into either of my LCD tv's was awful.

Bought a new coax cable and also an old DVD recorder (Ebay again) and tuned it into that and then run the signal from the recorder to my tv via composite out phono's.

 

Picture is much better now.

 

Had a problem today. Cleaned my Soccer cartridge which worked OK before but was filthy. When I put it in the intellivision after cleaning however, all the sprites where artifacting (not sure if either of those terms are correct ?).
Tried other games and all the same, graphics were all wrong.
So took it apart and it was really really dusty inside. Cleaned out the inside and also cleaned out the connections in the cartridge slot with contact cleaner and a cotton bud best I could . It's all back to normal now so I'm assuming it was dirty contacts in the cartridge slot and when I cleaned the cartridge I dislodged some of the dirt in the slot itself.
Does that sound about right?
If so, how are others cleaning their cartridge slots?

 

 

 

 

[+DZ-Jay]

Yup, sounds about right. Using contact cleaner (or just isopropyl alcohol) and a q-tip should do the trick. The bad sprites could have been because of the dirty contacts: The cartridge feeds animation and graphics data into the console, so if the contacts are dirty, it could corrupt the data in transit. (I'm sure there are better and more technical explanations about bus signals and timing controls, but I'm not a hardware guy.)

 

-dZ.

 

P.S. Welcome to the Intellivision world!

[mr_me]

It could have been the cartridge slot, but both graphics and program code go through the same data lines so you'd think the game wouldn't run. It could have been something around the graphics system circuits on the mainboard.

 

Edit: And you're obligated to tell us which cartridges you had as a kid and which ones you liked.

Edited June 14, 2018 by mr_me

[IMBerzerk]

Hello Bamse. Welcome and welcome back. That's a nice unit, as many pics as I've seen of Inty units over the years, I've never actually seen the inside of a PAL unit. Very different from our NTSC types. Thank you for posting. I often purchase and resell Intys on eBay mostly to get good units out there for others to enjoy and have cleaned many a filthy unit just to get it working again. Good work bringing her back to life.

 

On a side note, there is a guy on eBay that sells new duck canvas covers that look great and fit like a glove in nice, retro style colors. I definate recommend getting one or some kind of cover for it.

 

Again, welcome.

Edited June 14, 2018 by IMBerzerk

[+intellivotion]

Welcome to the circus!

 

Side question: does your nickname come from this Bamse?

[+SoulBuster]

Welcome.

[vprette]

welcome

[m-crew]

Welcome to the Machine ... oh! I mean back . Its a great way to relive your youth that's for sure..

 

Let the fun begin rediscovering the games you already had and enjoyed to the rest of the original games.. Not to mention all the great new games that have been released .... Enjoy !!!

 

Cheers

[Bamse]

Thanks for the warm welcome everyone.

To answer some of the questions, it was pretty messy in there and I cleaned cartridge slot and the top of the main board and surrounding areas so maybe it was that that cured it.

 

Yes, I've noted that all the stripped down intellivisions on YouTube look different inside to mine. Was gonna ask why but it must be because they are all NTSC and as such we're built differently.

Not sure about getting a cover, maybe later. At the moment I just like looking over at it sitting on my rack, love it

 

My father was very generous when I was a kid, I remember have pretty much every game including the computer module, sound synthesizer module and melody blaster with keyboard.

I remember my favourite games being :

Advanced Dungeons and Dragons

Dracula

Shark Shark

Tron Deadly Discs

Night Stalker

Utopia

Sub Hunt

Although I remember my favourites swapping all the time back then and I'm sure I'm forgetting some.

 

Intellivotion - Close, that's the Swedish Bamse, my username comes from the Danish one below

[Bamse]

Just another question guys, I've seen people use a credit card with paper folded over it dipped in isopropyl alcohol to clean the pins in the cartridge slot by inserting it into it.

Is this recommended?

[+SoulBuster]

I would be leery cause the paper is now soaked and could tear easily and leave paper in the slot.

[Bamse]

Maybe soaked is the wrong word. Lightly misted maybe

Just so it's slightly damp with isopropyl.

I'm open to alternative suggestions though.

[+JasonlikesINTV]

Maybe soaked is the wrong word. Lightly misted maybe

Just so it's slightly damp with isopropyl.

I'm open to alternative suggestions though.

I've taken a cheap spare cart and wetted the pins with isopropyl alcohol using a Q-tip. With the pins still wet I inserted the cart 4-5 times. This could be harsh on the pins if overdone, but can be effective as a last resort. The value of using paper is that it's absorbent and potentially safer in the pins than metal on metal, but as mentioned it can tear and get stuck.

[+nurmix]

Alcohol swabs (pads) folded over the edge of a credit card and inserted / removed a few times in the cartridge slot is what I use. You need to find the thin ones, some brands are double thick and won't work well. The generic 'store brands' are usually the best for this.

 

 

 

 

 

Sent from my Keyboard Component using Jack's Conversational Intelli-talk cassette

Edited June 15, 2018 by nurmix

[Bamse]

I've seen someone use a folded business card on YouTube. That should be strong enough not to brake or rip and still be soft enough not to damage the pins. Think I'll give that a go.

[Gernot]

obviousely this differs even from my PAL inty

 

i guess the hint on the RCA cartridges is a quite good one to get rid of corrosion remnants, use a rubber from a pencil.

isopropyl alcohol is good to clean off fat and dust, but it can't erase corrosion, of course a rubber is abrasive but it's still better as corroded contacts,

one could use a glass fibre brush, but they are even more abrasive, so i think this quite old advice is quite good.

 

to be honest how careless i am and ever was with my electronic devices, corrosion was never a reason.

ok i don't sweat much, i remeber i had a teacher who just had to look at steel or copper and it started to corrode, in fact he had always wet hands.

while hmmm... mine was mostly greasy or heavy colored (so called working diseases or working class disease?).

[Gernot]

the mentioned cold solderings in the other thread are something i always look for at very first, this is a very common reason for many broken electronic devices especially for the hole through technique. the pcb is bathed in solder and sometimes it failed, a test might not show it but a use.

simply because to solder any metal needs that the workpiece is heatened up and then you add the solder, to bath it is not quite right but effective.

 

however that's still better as to glue them, when i dismantled my boombox because it didn't worked anymore i noticed a quite heavy piece of graphite glued with something that i would call gun-gum on the pcb. no wonder it simply fell off on a sunny day it's made for this purpose hmmm....

 

gun-gum is the wrong term, gun-gum is to stand heat, it's sticky and like tar when it's cold and simply hardens with heat, used to fix nah i wouldn't say guns but exhausts of any sort.

Edited June 22, 2018 by Gernot

[Gernot]

you guys live all in such neat places

 

[Gernot]

makes me feel like i'm a real proletarian but i don't mind - i am.

[Intymike]

makes me feel like i'm a real proletarian but i don't mind - i am.

 

 

Hm, you're from Switzerland...paradise on earth! Every cowshed is like a Ritz-Carlton.

[Gernot]

of course

but i'm unfortunately not a cow.

i'm not even a goat resp. a ram

i'm the worst what exists i'm an immigrant

i'm only guest in the land where i was born.

and if that wouldn't be enough bullshit there seem to be many who would like to literally build a fence around switzerland.

 

 

does that sound common?

Edited June 22, 2018 by Gernot

[Gernot]

but never mind i'm still alive

[blaidan]

For whatever it's worth... I too am an new/old Intellivision owner. When I was 2 years old, my parents got divorced. As I grew a little older, around the age of 11 or 12, my dad would come over every Sunday and we would just spend hours playing Intellivision games. Mostly sports games but also the likes of Sea Battle, Armor Battle, Triple Action, Auto Racing... pretty much anything you could play with 2-players. The nostalgia is amazing.

 

So, I recently just came across some Intellivision items on eBay as I was randomly searching for something else. I was like, "Ah, what good times that used to be." And I started doing some googling about the Intellivision. I was reading everything i could find. I came across this forum and was amazed at what had been going on to keep this great system alive and well throughout the years. I came across Byte Knight's Ultimate Flashback and was amazed at what he had done with it. So much so that I purchased a cheap Flashback shell and sent it to him along with my $ to build me an Ultimate FB system! By the way... for anyone that hasn't gotten one of these... it's amazing!

 

I've also since bought one of the original console units and purchased some of the CIB offerings from Elektronite & Collectorvision to play on the original system. Thanks to Soulbuster for being the conduit for some great games! I've had 2 flawless transactions with him, so I wanted to thank him personally for that.

 

Anyway, I just wanted to officially say "Hi" to the group and thanks for everyone's contributions. It's really been awesome to get back into the system I loved so much as a kid!

[+intvsteve]

Welcome! Great to hear your story and happy to witness another rekindling of interest in our favorite console around these parts.

[+SoulBuster]

I've also since bought one of the original console units and purchased some of the CIB offerings from Elektronite & Collectorvision to play on the original system. Thanks to Soulbuster for being the conduit for some great games! I've had 2 flawless transactions with him, so I wanted to thank him personally for that.

 

 

You are quite welcome.