coleco expansion module#1

[Rik]

Hi,i just got hold of Coleco's expansion module #1.I have to unplug the module to play Colecovision games,is this right?,shouldn't you be able to play Coleco games with the 2600 module plugged in?

[joeybastard]

Welcome to AA

 

If I remember correctly, you have to unplug the VCS module to play CV games. I guess when it's plugged in, it takes the lead over the standard cart port.

[+else]

I've always thought a nice mod would be to have a switch on the colecovision to enable or disable the expansion port. That would make it so you could leave it plugged in all the time.

 

I've also always wondered why Coleco made it so that you have to unplug the controllers on the main unit and plug them in on the expansion module. I mean, couldn't they have come up with a better design so that the controllers could stay plugged in to the main unit???

[DanBoris]

Probably because they wanted to do it cheap and easy as possible. The expansion module is a complete 2600, which takes it power for the Colecovision and sends it's video signal through the Coleco's RF modulator. Having it use the controllers ports on the base would have been very tricky and taken a lot of extra work.

 

Dan

 

I've also always wondered why Coleco made it so that you have to unplug the controllers on the main unit and plug them in on the expansion module.  I mean, couldn't they have come up with a better design so that the controllers could stay plugged in to the main unit???

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[Rik]

Yeah,that damn expansion module(#1) is tricky to plug in too!I almost broke the damn thing the first time I plugged in.I was plugging it in on my bed,big mistake!.In order to plug it in you have to have both the colecovision and the module both perfectly flat on a hard surface,and its still a little tricky,ive learned to get a FEEL for it.Anybody else experience this?

[txsizzler]

Yeah, its unfortunate the way Coleco did that setup. I suppose it was for cost control

[DParker]

Never had any problems with the expansion and I was 12 years old at the time <:

[Smiley]

I won a boxed one from ebay awhile back, and I actually play the 2600 games more than I do the coleco games.

 

Having a blast playing Demon Attack on the module; very difficult yet addicting game.

[carmel_andrews]

Wasn't the columbia house games system 'gemini' based on the exp. module 1 (never saw gemini, only the exp. module 1 unit solo)

 

According to an old retrogaming radio piece, the Vic 20 supposedly also had a module for 2600 gameplay

 

One of the expansion cards supposedly designed for the 1090xl expansion box also claimed to offer 2600 gameplay

Edited August 29, 2005 by carmel_andrews

[The_Laird]

I can't understand why Atari let them release the module, was the 2600 technology not coyrighted

[+FujiSkunk]

I can't understand why Atari let them release the module, was the 2600 technology not coyrighted

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Coleco reverse-engineered their module, which at the time was still legal (it's legal now provided you dodge shifty EULAs and can afford a lawyer to handle the lawsuits that will come up anyway).

[Banquo]

Atari used generic off the shelf components to build the Atari 2600. There was nothing patented in it at all, that's why Coleco won in court. Anyone can freely build their own.

 

Anyway, sorry to dig up an older thread but I recently came across one of these modules and was curious about turning it into a standalone Atari 2600. Does anyone have schematics or know how to go about this. I have a broken ColecoVision that I could salvage the clock generator and other parts from if that's what's needed. Sounds like a fun little project.

[jsoper]

Atari used generic off the shelf components to build the Atari 2600. There was nothing patented in it at all, that's why Coleco won in court. Anyone can freely build their own.

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The TIA chip in the 2600 wasn't off the shelf.

Ironically, the colecovision was though. I wonder if Atari could have made a CV adapter for the 7800 if it had taken off. The CV bios was probably copywrited though, maybe it could have been independently duplicated.

[Banquo]

Oh, I read once the 2600 was all generic but I guess that was wrong.

 

Wasn't the ColecoVision basically just a stripped down MSX computer?

[Retro Rogue]

Oh, I read once the 2600 was all generic but I guess that was wrong.

 

Wasn't the ColecoVision basically just a stripped down MSX computer?

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No, a common missconception based to some collectors looking at it in hindsight a good 8 years or so ago and then putting up their thoughts on the web and in faq's. Consequently that "soundbyte" made its rounds and gets tossed around by people as fact now.

 

The Colecovision (released in '82 and started on in '81) was designed well before the MSX standard was created ('83). The confusion comes in the fact that because it used off the shelf TI parts and a z80 microprocessor (since its design goal was to make it more like a general purpose computer rather than just a game console, for future expansion), its somewhat similar to the specs that were later used for the MSX1 standard.

 

So in hindsite, you could say its a primordial MSX computer. However it was not designed with the MSX standard in mind because it didn't exist yet.

[Retro Rogue]

I can't understand why Atari let them release the module, was the 2600 technology not coyrighted

 

Atari used generic off the shelf components to build the Atari 2600. There was nothing patented in it at all, that's why Coleco won in court. Anyone can freely build their own.

944913[/snapback]

 

 

Coleco didn't win in court. The two companies settled out of court and Coleco wound up paying royalties for every Atari expansion unit and Coleco Gemini sold.

[Banquo]

Thanks, I guess I need to brush up on my history.

[Rik]

Never had any problems with the expansion and I was 12 years old at the time <:

920050[/snapback]

Got hold of a NEW Colecovision,no prob plugging in 2600 module either,thats because the copper piece at the connector on the coleco console isnt all [email protected]#$d up,and crooked from previous owners

Edited October 11, 2005 by Rik

[mos6507]

Could someone open up one of these and tell me what passes for a TIA chip inside?

 

I've NEVER had anyone explain to me how the 2600 clones were actually produced. No 3rd party was fabricating TIA chips were there? Atari had an exclusive lock on these I would think.

 

That would mean that Coleco and Mattel would have had to completely recreate the TIA chip from scratch and have a new custom chip created.

 

Atari had enough of a hard time doing this with the benefit of the original schematics for Flashback 2. I can't imagine this was practical to do in the early 80s.

[dgob123]

I took one apart and took some pictures

 

 

Three Chips on the board.

[Banquo]

About the connector, when I took mine apart I noticed that the bottom tin shield thing had actually been rubbing against and worn off the insulation from the traces on the bottom of the connector. That can't be good; I put a piece of electrical tape over the traces to protect them.

[mos6507]

I took one apart and took some pictures

 

 

Three Chips on the board.

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It looks to me like Coleco had to recreate the TIA chip from scratch. I really would be surprised that they didn't somehow "cheat" and conspire with the asian suppliers of the TIA chip to just make chips from the same masks and slap a label on it. It would be nice to read the legal paperwork to see what they had to say about it.

 

I would think that if they recreated the TIA that the Coleco would have poor compatibility, but it's pretty good, right?

Edited October 12, 2005 by mos6507

[jaybird3rd]

It looks to me like Coleco had to recreate the TIA chip from scratch.  I really would be surprised that they didn't somehow "cheat" and conspire with the asian suppliers of the TIA chip to just make chips from the same masks and slap a label on it.  It would be nice to read the legal paperwork to see what they had to say about it.

 

I would think that if they recreated the TIA that the Coleco would have poor compatibility, but it's pretty good, right?

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I seem to remember Steve Golson (codesigner of the Atari 7800 and cofounder of GCC) talking about this in the roundtable discussion he and Curt Vendel did on the 20th anniversary of the 7800. According to him, VTI designed Coleco's TIA clone, and when GCC needed someone to manufacture the Maria graphics chip for the 7800, they also turned to VTI because VTI had already designed the parts it would need to coexist with the TIA (which was added to the 7800 to make it backward-compatible with the 2600).

[mos6507]

I seem to remember Steve Golson (codesigner of the Atari 7800 and cofounder of GCC) talking about this in the roundtable discussion he and Curt Vendel did on the 20th anniversary of the 7800.  According to him, VTI designed Coleco's TIA clone, and when GCC needed someone to manufacture the Maria graphics chip for the 7800, they also turned to VTI because VTI had already designed the parts it would need to coexist with the TIA (which was added to the 7800 to make it backward-compatible with the 2600).

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So I'm assuming it was recreated using clean-room reverse engineering if Atari would have been willing to deal with them.

 

An impressive feat.

 

What about the Intellivision System Changer?