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Keyword: ‘atari 2600’

Atari 2600 Repair

September 10th, 2014 No comments

Atari 2600 Repair

Defect:

  • The second joystick port doesn’t works properly.

Replaced parts:

  • Replaced 1 x 6532 RAM-I/O-Timer (RIOT)

Javatari v4.1 (Atari 2600 emulator)

April 12th, 2014 No comments

Javatari is a multiplayer Atari 2600 emulator written in pure Java with no external libs.

Features:

  • Client-Server multiplayer mode. Runs great in low-latency networks such as LANs.
  • Drag&Drop and Copy&Paste of ROM files or URLs. Very easy to try ROMs from websites!
  • Scanlines and TV screen emulation modes.
  • Real Atari console user interface.

Changelog:

  • New concept: Savestate Cartridges!
  • Store emulator state as Savestate Cartridge files to disk any time (press F8)
  • Savestate Cartridges can be distributed and loaded as normal ROMs.
  • Savestate Cartridges can also be embedded as auto-load ROMs.
  • Support for Starpath/Supercharger Tape ROM format.
  • Bugfixes and improvements.

Download: Javatari JAR v4.1 (Needs Java 6 or greater) (1014)

source: javatari.org

High Score HS2 Joystick Adapter for Coleco & Atari 2600 (Boxed)

February 13th, 2014 1 comment
High Score HS2 Joystick Adapter (Boxed)

Autopsy:

The HS2 is a joystick adapter to improve the playability (like a Arcade/Coin-op). The adapter is compatible with the consoles ColecoVision & Atari 2600.

Coleco Vision Secam (91162-D) with Y (B-Y) (R-Y) to RGB encoder

December 31st, 2013 1 comment
CBS Coleco Vision Secam

Autopsy:

This version of Coleco Vision SECAM (Péritel/Euroconnector) uses a PCB 91162 REV D which differs from the classical version with PCB 91209 because integrates an internal video encoder from Y (BY) (RY) to RGB which is separate from the motherboard.

This makes think that in theory all PAL versions that use the VDP 9929A with PCB 91162 REV D and RF output can be modified to have a RGB output signal by adding this external video encoder.

from Wikipedia homepage:

The ColecoVision is Coleco Industries’ second generation home video game console, which was released in August 1982. The ColecoVision offered near-arcade-quality graphics and gaming style along with the means to expand the system’s basic hardware. Released with a catalog of 12 launch titles, with an additional 10 games announced for 1982, approximately 145 titles in total were published as ROM cartridges for the system between 1982 and 1984. River West Brands currently owns the ColecoVision brand name.

In 2009, IGN named the ColecoVision their 12th best video game console out of their list of 25, citing “its incredible accuracy in bringing current-generation arcade hits home.”

Coleco licensed Nintendo’s Donkey Kong as the official pack-in cartridge for all ColecoVision consoles, helping to boost the console’s popularity. By Christmas of 1982, Coleco had sold more than 500,000 units, in part on the strength of its bundled game. The ColecoVision’s main competitor was the arguably more advanced but less commercially successful Atari 5200.

The ColecoVision was distributed by CBS Electronics outside of North America, and was branded the CBS ColecoVision.

Sales quickly passed 1 million in early 1983, before the video game crash of 1983. By the beginning of 1984, quarterly sales of the ColecoVision had dramatically decreased.

Over the next 18 months, the Coleco company ramped down its video game division, ultimately withdrawing from the video game market by the end of the summer of 1985. The ColecoVision was officially discontinued by October 1985. Total sales of the ColecoVision are uncertain but were ultimately in excess of 2 million units, as sales had reached that number by the spring of 1984, while the console continued to sell modestly up until its discontinuation the following year.

In 1986, Bit Corporation produced a ColecoVision clone called the Dina, which was sold in the United States by Telegames as the Telegames Personal Arcade.

source: wikipedia

Javatari v4.0 (Atari 2600 emulator)

December 16th, 2013 No comments

Javatari is a multiplayer Atari 2600 emulator written in pure Java with no external libs.

Features:

  • Client-Server multiplayer mode. Runs great in low-latency networks such as LANs.
  • Drag&Drop and Copy&Paste of ROM files or URLs. Very easy to try ROMs from websites!
  • Scanlines and TV screen emulation modes.
  • Real Atari console user interface.

Changelog;

  • Full support for the upcoming Java security requirements.
  • Both all-permissions and sandboxed deployment options.

Download: Javatari JAR v4.0 (Needs Java 6 or greater) (888)

source: javatari.org

Javatari v3.40 (Atari 2600 emulator)

November 27th, 2013 No comments

Javatari is a multiplayer Atari 2600 emulator written in pure Java with no external libs.

Features:

  • Client-Server multiplayer mode. Runs great in low-latency networks such as LANs.
  • Drag&Drop and Copy&Paste of ROM files or URLs. Very easy to try ROMs from websites!
  • Scanlines and TV screen emulation modes.
  • Real Atari console user interface.

Changelog;

  • Support for Harmony/Melody Cart flash memory and .cu images.
  • Star Castle Arcade highscores now working.
  • General performance tuning.

Download: Javatari JAR v3.40 (Needs Java 6 or greater) (965)

source: javatari.org

Mattel Electronics Intellivision (Secam Version) Boxed

November 17th, 2013 No comments
Mattel Electronics Intellivision (Secam Version)

Autopsy:

from Wikipedia homepage:

Intellivision PlimptonThe Intellivision is a video game console released by Mattel in 1979. Development of the console began in 1978, less than a year after the introduction of its main competitor, the Atari 2600. The word intellivision is a portmanteau of “intelligent television”. Over 3 million Intellivision units were sold and a total of 125 games were released for the console.

In 2009, video game website IGN named the Intellivision the No. 14 greatest video game console of all time. It became Mattel’s first video game console, though it was their only console until the release of the HyperScan in 2006.

The Intellivision was developed by Mattel Electronics, a subsidiary of Mattel formed expressly for the development of electronic games. The console was test marketed in Fresno, California, in 1979 with a total of four games available, and was released nationwide in 1980 with a price tag of US$299 and a pack-in game: Las Vegas Poker & Blackjack. Though not the first system to challenge Atari, it was the first to pose a serious threat to Atari’s dominance. A series of advertisements featuring George Plimpton were produced, that demonstrated the superiority of the Intellivision’s graphics and sound to those of the Atari 2600, using side-by-side game comparisons.

Mattel Intellivision SECAM Motherboard:

source: wikipedia

Commodore CHESSmate

September 30th, 2013 2 comments
Commodore CHESSmate

Autopsy:

from Secret Weapons of Commodore homepage:

Introduced CES 1978
Hardware 6504 CPU (28-pin 6502, 8K addressable memory, on-chip clock, IRQ line only) @ 1MHz, 6530 RIOT (64 bytes RAM, 1KB ROM, 2 I/O ports, 8-bit timer), 6332 ROM. Two ROM sockets; the 6332 is occupying only one of them. The 6504 is socketed; the remainder are soldered directly to the board.
Graphics and Sound If you can call it that. Four 7-element LED displays for the timers and four dome indicator LEDs. Piezoelectric beeper.
Eventual Fate Released summer 1978 in USA, UK and West Germany.

This chess machine is an 22 x 16 x 5cm (rear, approximately 8 x 6 x 2 inch; front is 3.5cm/1.2 inches high) machine, off-white (similar to early VIC-20s), with a dark brown base. The 7-element LEDs are in groups of two, one labeled “FROM (Time white)” and the other “TO (Time black)”; the four dome LEDs are labeled “Check”, “CHESSmate LOSES”, “CHESSmate IS PLAYING WHITE” and “CHESSmate IS PLAYING BLACK”.

The “keyboard” is a membrane setup (similar to the Sinclair ZX-80) with 19 keys (A-H, 1-8, NEW GAME, CLEAR, ENTER), but only 11 matrix lines (A-H and 1-8 share lines). A-H are also, respectively, labeled WHITE, BOARD VERIFY, CHESS CLOCK, DISPLAY TIME, STOP CLOCK, SKILL LEVEL, GAME MOVES, and BLACK. The rear plate reads: “Commodore International Limited / Power supply: AC adaptor model C160 / Power rating: AC 10V 600 mA / CHESSmate, 201490 01, made in Hong Kong / CAUTION: DO NOT OPEN MACHINE. UNAUTHORIZED SERVICE VOIDS WARRANTY.” This is printed in English, French and German. On the internal view, the ICs are, from left to right, the 6530 RIOT, the 6332 ROM (next to the empty socket for the option ROM), and the 6504.

The Chessmate was developed by Peter Jennings, the original author of KIM-1 Microchess, under contract to Commodore in 1977. The Chessmate’s hardware is in fact based on the KIM-1, but the ROMs are of course filled with Microchess 1.5, not the KIM’s monitor. This was the same version released for the PET; the empty ROM socket on Martijn’s board was intended primarily for upgrades to the chess program. The keyboard mapping is dissimilar to the KIM as well; some of the ports were actually used for sound, and Commodore made some rearrangements to the unit for ease of manufacture after Peter released the unit to them. While simultaneously released in the USA, UK and West Germany, it was significantly more popular in the latter country than in the others (presumably due to greater interest in chess there). Peter received a royalty for each unit produced, and still owns a first-production Chessmate (sadly non-functional) and the original KIM-1 used to create Microchess and develop the Chessmate’s custom version.

As mentioned, the Chessmate has very different ROMs from the KIM-1, and part of this difference extends to the RIOTs. The 6530 and 6532 RIOT “ROM, I/O and Timer” chips, a series of custom multifunction chips developed by MOS Technology, were designed as integrated-design cost cutters, reducing the chip count on the board as it gave the functionality of several chips and didn’t cost much more to manufacture than a regular ROM. Unfortunately, this has one important consequence: RIOTs are rarely transferable between units, because of differing CS logic between models, differing ROM contents, and some versions use fewer CS lines to get additional I/O lines.

This means that the RIOT you find in your Atari 2600 (yes, VCSes have Commodore-designed chips!) is not swappable with the RIOT you would find in a Chessmate, or in a KIM-1; even the KIM-1 by itself is bad on this point, since it had several revisions alone (my unit is Revision D). Martijn’s Chessmate has a RIOT labeled “6530 024 3279″, meaning produced on the 32nd week of 1979; this is one of the last 6530 RIOT production runs known, unfortunate because the later MOS 6532 RIOT is not pin-compatible with the 6530. The “24″ is also worrisome: this means there are no less than 24 6530 RIOT versions floating around in various units, and to the great despair of anyone wishing to repair a moribund representative of these intriguing units, virtually none of them are compatible with any other.

Download:

Video:

source: floodgap.com/retrobits/ckb/secret/

Philips VideoPac G7200

July 6th, 2013 3 comments
Philips VideoPac G7200

Autopsy:

The RGB cable of  Schneider (radiola/philips) VG-5000 computer is compatible with the VideoPac G7200.

from Wikipedia:

The Magnavox Odyssey², known in Europe as the Philips Videopac G7000, in Brazil as the Philips Odyssey, in the United States as the Magnavox Odyssey² and the Philips Odyssey², and also by many other names, is a video game console released in 1978.

In the early 1970s, Magnavox was an innovator in the home video game industry. They succeeded in bringing the first home video game system to market, the Odyssey, which was quickly followed by a number of later models, each with a few technological improvements (Magnavox Odyssey Series). In 1978, Magnavox, now a subsidiary of North American Philips, released the Odyssey², its new second-generation video game console.

In Europe, the Odyssey² did very well on the market. In Europe, the console was most widely known as the Philips Videopac G7000, or just the Videopac, although branded variants were released in some areas of Europe under the names Philips Videopac C52, Radiola Jet 25, Schneider 7000, and Siera G7000. Philips, as Magnavox’s Dutch parent company, used their own name rather than Magnavox’s for European marketing. A rare model, the Philips Videopac G7200, was only released in Europe; it had a built-in black-and-white monitor. Videopac game cartridges are mostly compatible with American Odyssey² units, although some games have color differences and a few are completely incompatible. A number of additional games were released in Europe that never came out in the US.

Download: Philips VideoPac G7200 Schematics (1365)

Playing Munchkin game:

source: wikipedia

Texas Instruments TI-99/4A (Boxed) + Speech Synthesizer

June 11th, 2013 No comments
Texas Instruments TI-99/4A (Boxed)

Autopsy:

from Wikipedia:

The Texas Instruments TI-99/4A was an early home computer, released in June 1981, originally at a price of US$525. It was an enhanced version of the less successful TI-99/4 model, which was released in late 1979 at a price of $1,150. The TI-99/4A added an additional graphics mode, “lowercase” characters consisting of small capitals, and a full travel keyboard. Its predecessor, the TI-99/4, featured a calculator-style chiclet keyboard and a character set that lacked lowercase text.

The TI-99/4A’s CPU, motherboard, and ROM cartridge (“Solid State Software”) slot were built into a single console, along with the keyboard. The power regulator board is housed below and in front of the cartridge slot under the sloped area to the right of the keyboard. This area gets very hot so users commonly refer to it as the “coffee cup warmer”. The external power supply, which was different according to the country of sale, was merely a step-down transformer.

Available peripherals included a 5¼” floppy disk drive and controller, an RS-232 card comprising two serial ports and one parallel port, a P-code card for Pascal support, a thermal printer, an acoustic coupler, a tape drive using standard audio cassettes as media, and a 32 KB memory expansion card. The TI-99/4 was sold with both the computer and a monitor (a modified 13″ Zenith Color TV) as Texas Instruments could not get their RF Modulator FCC approved in time. The TI-99/4A did ship with an RF Modulator.

In the early 1980s, TI was known as a pioneer in speech synthesis, and a highly popular plug-in speech synthesizer module was available for the TI-99/4 and 4A. Speech synthesizers were offered free with the purchase of a number of cartridges and were used by many TI-written video games (notable titles offered with speech during this promotion were Alpiner and Parsec). The synthesizer used a variant of linear predictive coding and had a small in-built vocabulary. The original intent was to release small cartridges that plugged directly into the synthesizer unit, which would increase the device’s built in vocabulary. However, the success of software text-to-speech in the Terminal Emulator II cartridge cancelled that plan. Most speech synthesizers were still shipped with the door that opened on the top, although very few had the connector inside. There are no known speech modules in existence for those few units with the connector. In many games (mostly those produced by TI), the speech synthesizer had relatively realistic voices. For example, Alpiner’s speech included male and female voices and could be quite sarcastic when the player made a bad move.

Playing Alpiner Cartridge:

source: wikipedia

Javatari v3.30 (Atari 2600 emulator)

May 12th, 2013 No comments

Javatari is a multiplayer Atari 2600 emulator written in pure Java with no external libs.

Features:

  • Client-Server multiplayer mode. Runs great in low-latency networks such as LANs.
  • Drag&Drop and Copy&Paste of ROM files or URLs. Very easy to try ROMs from websites!
  • Scanlines and TV screen emulation modes.
  • Real Atari console user interface.

Changelog;

  • Applets can now be detached from the browser window.
  • Once detached, all features are available including Full Screen.
  • Full Screen is now multi-monitor aware.
  • Updated, cleaner looks.

Download: Javatari JAR v3.30 (Needs Java 6) (899)

source: javatari.org

Javatari v3.20 (Atari 2600 emulator)

April 16th, 2013 No comments

Javatari is a multiplayer Atari 2600 emulator written in pure Java with no external libs.

Features:

  • Unique Client-Server multiplayer mode. Runs great in low-latency networks such as LANs.
  • Cheat and turn off Collisions. Finally discover the ending of River Raid!
  • Complete Save State/Load State functions.
  • Scanlines and TV screen emulation modes.
  • Real Atari console user interface.

Changelog;

  • Console Panel now shows the inserted Cartridge.
  • Customizable, dynamically rendered Cartridge Labels.
  • Built-in ROM information, based on Rom Hunter’s collection.
  • Better auto-detection of Paddles and CRT modes per ROM.

Download: Javatari JAR v3.20 (Needs Java 6) (851)

source: javatari.org

Javatari v3.12 (Atari 2600 emulator)

March 26th, 2013 No comments

Javatari is a multiplayer Atari 2600 emulator written in pure Java with no external libs.

Features:

  • Unique Client-Server multiplayer mode. Runs great in low-latency networks such as LANs.
  • Cheat and turn off Collisions. Finally discover the ending of River Raid!
  • Complete Save State/Load State functions.
  • Scanlines and TV screen emulation modes.
  • Real Atari console user interface.

Changelog;

  • Preliminary support for built-in ROMs.
  • Auto-load of built-in ROMs.
  • Auto-detection of Paddles Mode per ROM.
  • Option to start with Paddles Mode ON.

Download: Javatari JAR v3.12 (Needs Java 6) (784)

source: javatari.org

Stella v3.81 (multi-platform Atari 2600 VCS emulator)

March 7th, 2013 No comments

Stella release v3.8.1 for Linux, MacOS X and Windows is now available.

Changelog:

  • Added support for TIA RSYNC writes, thanks to Omegamatrix of AtariAge. This allows the recently released “Extra Terrestrials” ROM to run, as well as improving emulation of “Fatal Run” and several other test ROMs.
  • Fixed typo in TIA HMOVE writes, thanks to Thomas Jentzsch. This fixes the constant collision issues in “Kool-Aid Man”, and several other homebrew ROMs.
  • Fixed sound issues on OSX PPC machines (all sound was in little-endian format, but PPC is big-endian).
  • The OSX DMG archive now contains proper modification dates.

Download: Stella v3.81 (1171)

source: stella.sourceforge.net

Javatari v3.10 (Atari 2600 emulator)

March 6th, 2013 No comments

Javatari is a multiplayer Atari 2600 emulator written in pure Java with no external libs.

Features:

  • Unique Client-Server multiplayer mode. Runs great in low-latency networks such as LANs.
  • Cheat and turn off Collisions. Finally discover the ending of River Raid!
  • Complete Save State/Load State functions.
  • Scanlines and TV screen emulation modes.
  • Real Atari console user interface.

Changelog;

  • Better compatibility in Linux and Mac OSX.
  • AdAdded Joystick support (Windows and Linux):
    • Fully selectable axes with deadzone adjustment.
    • Paddles analog emulation with adjustable sensitivity and centering
    • Other console controls can be mapped to Joystick buttons

Download: Javatari JAR v3.10 (Needs Java 6) (794)

source: javatari.org