The Onyx Jr. Console from Microdigital - A 2600 with pause

[+Atari_Warlord]

Those are good pix.. and based on what I see in the "top" pix, we would need to see the bottom as well...  

 

O.K., I'll see what I can do tonight.

[Stingray]

Pretty wonky looking with all the jumper wires in there. Wonder if it came from the factory that way or if somebody's been monkeying around with this one.

 

-S

[kisrael]

I remember some homebrew Vectrex multicarrts that added a pause switch...except it blanked the screen and "froze" the sound. I wonder if this is similar?

 

In some ways it looks a bit like the old coleco gemini/ Columbia Home Arcade (my first system..) though the controller has no paddle, it seems about the same design.

[keilbaca]

yeah a pic of the bottom side is needed, as to where we have no idea where the pause switch is going on that side.

[+Atari_Warlord]

The pictures didn't come out very well, I couldn't find an angle that didn't give bad glare. The pause switch is the fourth from the bottom right.

[+Atari_Warlord]

Here is a closer shot of the bottom right.

[keilbaca]

Is there a way to get an angle on the pics, to keep the glare away from the traces from the pause switch? The bottom one goes to ground of course, but those traces are kinda blurred out with the glare.

[Csonicgo]

"This is your standard issue Atari 2600 game system, soldier! Take good care of it!" "Yes, sir, sir!"

 

god I was thinking the SAME THING. now where's chopper command?

[keilbaca]

Any word on the pics? Please?

[Brad2600]

"This is your standard issue Atari 2600 game system, soldier! Take good care of it!" "Yes, sir, sir!"

 

god I was thinking the SAME THING. now where's chopper command?

 

How about Battlezone? Chopper Commando?

 

[Brad2600]

Oops. I meant Commando Raid.

 

"Chopper Commando" is what I used to call Chopper Command.

 

[AtariDude]

Nice system. I would love to have such a system. Maybe we can pester the new Atari to release the Flashback unit II to look similar.

 

Again, congrats on the new system.

[Zonie]

That thing is cool!

[Godzilla]

I want one :-)

[+Atari_Warlord]

O.K. here are some more pictures with the light source behind the board.

[keilbaca]

Has anyone else traced this? This is what it appears to me. It comes from the pause switch (first switch from the left). It is an on-on switch, making it ground out that pin. Then the trace runs up, and on the other side there are 4 wire bridges to the right to the bottommost chip. On the bottom of the solder side, the trace goes to the 3rd wire from the left. From there, it goes up and goes to (I think the stella chip), but either way on the solder side, counting from the bottom right to the left, the 4th pin over. Can anyone confirm this?

[TomBrazil]

Hello Guys,

 

I was out for a long time, working too much, and had no time to pay attention to my collection. Sorry for not posting pictures of the Onyx pause system, but it seems our friend Waggie replaced me for good thanx man!

 

Today I turned my Onyx on to test the pause system. Funny, I'm not sure it is working. When you pause the game, the imagem goes out, it's like the console itself is turned off. Untill here, ok, I've heard that before, it's part of the mechanism. But the pause doesn't seem to be working at all, cause, when I returned to the game, I was already dead. I tried with Pac-Man and Super Breakout, and the pause seems not to work really.

 

Anyone has a clue? Is my Onyx malfunctioning or is the pause feature just like that?

[keilbaca]

CPUWiz got a hookup with an Onyx Jr, and his pause works... he doesn't have it yet, but the person that got it for him says it works.

[Alexandre_Taito]

Keilbaca showed me the path, and here it is:

Tombrazil, your Onyx is working ok, the pause function in Onyx blanks the screen since the pause on without blanking the luma components would just show garbage on screen.

 

Keilbaca, the RDY pin cannot be activated anytime. Reading the 6507/6502 datasheet, it says "this input signal allow the user to halt the processor on all cycles EXCEPT WRITE CYCLES. A negative transition to the low state, DURING OR COINCIDENT WITH PHASE ONE (o 1)will halt the microprocessor with the output adress lines reflecting the current adress line fetched. ..."

 

Note the Onyx uses a 6502...Maybe because the 6507 DOES NOT GIVES YOU THE o 1 CLOCK PHASE, but just the o 2!!! So you cannot determine the right time for the RDY signal be driven low.

 

If you pay attention to the photos, you will see that you have a 74'00 (NAND gate) and the pin 1 is connected to pin 3 of the 6502 which is...o1 clock phase output!!! :oD So Onyx must allow the RDY signal to go down ONLY when o1 phase is "in".

 

So, there is the onyx mystery, that is how the pause circuit seems to work.

 

Greetings from Brazil, Alexandre

[keilbaca]

Interesting... so you can't do this to a normal atari, unless you replace the 6507 with a 6502. If you replace the chip, would the atari take it right away? or would you have to make some jumpers for it to work right?

 

and how do you drive the rdy signal low? you mean grounding it? I'm sorry, I enjoy electronics a lot but I'm still a newbie at it...

Edited May 8, 2005 by keilbaca

[Alexandre_Taito]

Interesting... so you can't do this to a normal atari, unless you replace the 6507 with a 6502. If you replace the chip, would the atari take it right away? or would you have to make some jumpers for it to work right?

and how do you drive the rdy signal low? you mean grounding it? I'm sorry, I enjoy electronics a lot but I'm still a newbie at it...

851440[/snapback]

 

Dunno about the 6507 -> 6502 change. The Dynavision is ready to have the main CPU changed, but never saw that in other ataris. Of course, I can take a look on that. Pulling the signal low, in this case, you should use a SPDT switch (just like the onyx), disconnect it from the circuit and pull down to GND thru a 1K resistor.

 

Hope that helps!

[TomBrazil]

Keilbaca showed me the path, and here it is:

Tombrazil, your Onyx is working ok, the pause function in Onyx blanks the screen since the pause on without blanking the luma components would just show garbage on screen.

 

Hi Alexandre... I was aware of that, problem is, despite the blank screen, pause is not working at all. When I turn it off to continue the game, I discover it wasn't paused and I just lost a life...

[Alexandre_Taito]

Hi Alexandre... I was aware of that, problem is, despite the blank screen, pause is not working at all. When I turn it off to continue the game, I discover it wasn't paused and I just lost a life...

851482[/snapback]

 

You may try change that 74'00 on the left of the board. Or you can send me the game to fix, if I win that (expensive!!! AAAAAHHHH) 7800 you are selling today . Send everything togheter and I fix it for you at no charge.

[Bruce Tomlin]

Interesting... so you can't do this to a normal atari, unless you replace the 6507 with a 6502. If you replace the chip, would the atari take it right away? or would you have to make some jumpers for it to work right?

The 6507 is just a 6502 with most of the internal signal pads unconnected to external pins.

 

But you will need an Atari-style 6502C because a regular 6502 doesn't have the HALT line, which is required for 2600 WSYNC to work.

[keilbaca]

Interesting... so you can't do this to a normal atari, unless you replace the 6507 with a 6502. If you replace the chip, would the atari take it right away? or would you have to make some jumpers for it to work right?

The 6507 is just a 6502 with most of the internal signal pads unconnected to external pins.

 

But you will need an Atari-style 6502C because a regular 6502 doesn't have the HALT line, which is required for 2600 WSYNC to work.

851540[/snapback]

 

Doesn't the chip have more ram too? If I am not mistaken it does, thus this would be a good upgrade...

 

I noticed that on pin 3 on the 6507 is also a clock lead. The atari schematics label it 00, but one has it labeled 01. So, it could work... if I could get schematics of the pause switch, exactly what to get, hook up and what to ground, I can give it a try on my Atari Jr.