Supercharger mod

[Wolf9545]

I just want to be sure that I fully understand the mod before I open up the supercharger and do it. I cut the trace that is the 6th pin from the right like the picture says, I place the IC chip on the back of the supercharger board but with the chip's text facing me (so that when I look at the back of the supercharger's circuit board I can read the chip) and keep the notch on the chip up. The switch will be used how? Also, I looked at Radio Shack but I didn't happen to see the IC chip that is listed. Does Radio Shack still sell it?

Edited March 20, 2006 by Wolf9545

[+SpiceWare]

You read that right.

 

Nope, they stopped selling stuff like that. I found the chip at Fry's Electronics when I did mine. I later did 2 more for my brother & sister and had to order them online as Fry's was out of stock. I don't recall where I got them, but a Froogle on 74HCT32 turns up some places.

[D.Yancey]

The switch is used to activate the modified circuit in one position, so the Supercharger won't crash while playing regular 2 and 4K games. With the switch in the other position, you will still be able to play normal Supercharger games. Make sure not to toggle the switch when the unit is powered up.

[Wolf9545]

The switch is used to activate the modified circuit in one position, so the Supercharger won't crash while playing regular 2 and 4K games. With the switch in the other position, you will still be able to play normal Supercharger games. Make sure not to toggle the switch when the unit is powered up.

 

I picked up a SPDT push button switch. That way I don't have to make sure that there is enough room for the actual handle of the switch. That is the correct type of switch right?

What I got.

[A.J. Franzman]

SPDT is correct - it doesn't matter if it's toggle, rocker, slide, push-on/push-off, etc. (EDIT: as long as it's not momentary). Just use whatever you like and can fit into the case somewhere sensible.

 

Also, you could use DPDT too. You could just use one pole, or wire the poles in parallel. If you don't understand what that means, just stick with SPDT and it'll be harder to do it wrong.

Edited March 22, 2006 by A.J. Franzman

[+batari]

I just want to be sure that I fully understand the mod before I open up the supercharger and do it. I cut the trace that is the 6th pin from the right like the picture says, I place the IC chip on the back of the supercharger board but with the chip's text facing me (so that when I look at the back of the supercharger's circuit board I can read the chip) and keep the notch on the chip up. The switch will be used how? Also, I looked at Radio Shack but I didn't happen to see the IC chip that is listed. Does Radio Shack still sell it?

The 7432 is just a quad OR gate, and you are only using one gate. So you should be able to use two diodes and a resistor in place of the 7432.

 

Has anyone done this?

[Wolf9545]

So I found out that the switch that I bought was too big for the case. So I am using this one instead. Link

 

The only thing I am not to sure about is which wire to connect to which side? Does it matter or should I just follow the picture that I posted before?

[A.J. Franzman]

So I found out that the switch that I bought was too big for the case. So I am using this one instead. Link

OOPS, that switch is no good - it's a momentary style ("MOM." in the description). This means that the button must be held down for the switch to be in the second position. You need a push-on/push-off instead if you want to stick with pushbutton style.

 

Also, in their image, the switch on the left (standing up) is a different style - DPDT rather than SPDT. You can see it has 6 terminals instead of 3.

Edited March 22, 2006 by A.J. Franzman

[A.J. Franzman]

The only thing I am not to sure about is which wire to connect to which side? Does it matter or should I just follow the picture that I posted before?

Only the wire shown going to the middle terminal must be in the middle; the other two don't matter as long as they're not both on the same terminal. Swapping them only affects which way the switch must be set for each mode. If you use a different style of switch, the terminals may not be in line or may not be in the same order. In that case, the wire shown as going to the middle terminal would need to go to the terminal marked "C" or "COMMON".

Edited March 22, 2006 by A.J. Franzman

[Wolf9545]

So I found out that the switch that I bought was too big for the case. So I am using this one instead. Link

OOPS, that switch is no good - it's a momentary style ("MOM." in the description). This means that the button must be held down for the switch to be in the second position. You need a push-on/push-off instead if you want to stick with pushbutton style.

 

Also, in their image, the switch on the left (standing up) is a different style - DPDT rather than SPDT. You can see it has 6 terminals instead of 3.

 

Actually if you at it it looks like they show both types of switches.

I have finally found a switch that will work. I have also completed the mod. Since it is complete how do I use the switch? I am assuming that in one position I use it like a normal Supercharger with the "Stella get a ..." cd. In the other position I can use it to load the emulated roms that are turned into wav files. Am I correct?

[A.J. Franzman]

how do I use the switch? I am assuming that in one position I use it like a normal Supercharger with the "Stella get a ..." cd. In the other position I can use it to load the emulated roms that are turned into wav files. Am I correct?

So you modded it without even knowing what the mod does

See Post #3 above.

[Wolf9545]

Wow am I dumb. I was too excited about doing this mod that I forgot that it was posted. Is there a specific game that someone knows that won't play on a unmodded system so I know that this works for sure?

 

Nevermind I found one. It is Sorcerer. I tried loading it in one position and afte the load the game crashes. In the other position I get the game, yay! I noticed though that in the mod position the "Stella gets a ..." games don't work; is that normal?

Edited March 23, 2006 by Wolf9545

[Wolf9545]

I have converted all of the Atari roms from the bin file to a wav file and I have them stored in a folder the letter of the first word (Bezerk would be in B, etc.) I want to burn them onto a cd in mp3 form but I don't know of a batch wav to mp3 converter. Does anyone know of a program?

[Wolf9545]

What is limiting the supercharger from playing games that are more than 4K in size? Is there anything that can be done to make it play them?

[A.J. Franzman]

It only has about 6K of RAM memory, and the next larger standard ROM size is 8K. There is nothing you can do to make it work with larger games.