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Justin

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  1. Like
    Justin reacted to TrekMD in HOW ATARI XE MARIO BROS. GOT THROWN IN THE DUMP   
    Love reading these!
  2. Thanks
    Justin reacted to Video 61 in HOW ATARI XE MARIO BROS. GOT THROWN IN THE DUMP   
    P.S. - we found 3 new eproms. theyre all for the xe. 2 of them i know what they are. one of them i can’t read. expect me to make another "raiders of the lost eproms" blog post about this sometime soon with the latest update for you.
    thank you,
    lance
    www.atarisales.com
  3. Like
    Justin reacted to CrossBow in RAIDERS OF THE LOST EPROMS - UPDATE!   
    The IPL/Monitor label..looks exactly like the labels used on actual Parker Bros proto and WIP games. Same size lable...same looking dot matrix font printer used to print that label. 
    So I'm wondering if that might not be something from PB? I know it looks a lot like my labels on my PB protos of SW:TAG WIP build and Rls1 of Gyruss that I own.
    Also...IPL usually means Initial Program Load or Loader. So it could essentially be a firmware type chip for something unrelated?
     
     
  4. Like
    Justin reacted to Mitch in RAIDERS OF THE LOST EPROMS - UPDATE!   
    I have both chips for the fixed 7800 Impossible Mission. While they fixed the original bug they introduced a new one. The new bug involves the bonus game that gives you free items when you win. After a couple rounds it will tell you that you entered the wrong sequence every time. Even if you got it correct. That may be the reason it didn't get released. I posted the ROM out on the internet a few years ago, if anyone wants to try in an emulator.
    Also, Commando used a Pokey sound chip but no extra on cart RAM.
    It's great to see this stuff, I hope you can find more working games.
    Mitch
  5. Like
    Justin reacted to Jinroh in RAIDERS OF THE LOST EPROMS - UPDATE!   
    Great stuff Lance! 🙂
    Would be interesting to see what comes of those EPROMs. 🙂 Wonder why the Touchdown Football is labeled so late if it's NTSC. Maybe someone actually made it more fun? 😛
    Sending the defective carts to South America is bleh, not something I agree with, but in the Tramiel mindset, it keeps from having to destroy them, and how can you get bad press for a bugged game pre-internet if it's all the way down in South America, I'm sure that crossed their minds.
    The monitor EPROM maybe is a code debugger of some kind of burn in or test cart, who knows. 😛
    Interesting stuff as usual. ❤️
  6. Like
    Justin reacted to Video 61 in I MAY HAVE FOUND ROAD RIOT 4WD FOR ATARI 7800 - ALONG WITH MORE INTERESTING ATARI 7800 EPROMS   
    hi,
    thanks for the info. thats how i get the the atari logo to pop up on some of these e-proms. the save mary e-prom that i was using, was a single 27256.
     
    lance
    www.atarisales.com
     
  7. Thanks
    Justin reacted to Mitch in I MAY HAVE FOUND ROAD RIOT 4WD FOR ATARI 7800 - ALONG WITH MORE INTERESTING ATARI 7800 EPROMS   
    Also worth mentioning, I checked a 7800 Motor Psycho proto I had near my desk and the number 2 EPROM is in the upper position.
     
    Mitch

  8. Thanks
    Justin reacted to Mitch in I MAY HAVE FOUND ROAD RIOT 4WD FOR ATARI 7800 - ALONG WITH MORE INTERESTING ATARI 7800 EPROMS   
    I am pretty sure those Save Mary EPROMs are for the 2600. If you look at the edge of the chip you can see the bottom half of the text AM2764. I have a set of 2600 Save Mary EPROMs and they have the same text. They are 8KB chips.
    For the PAL 7800 games, are you testing on a PAL 7800? PAL 7800 games won't work on a stock NTSC 7800. You can swap the NTSC BIOS with universal "Asteroids" BIOS and then they will play.
    Nice find on the Road Riot 7800, I hope you can find the other half of the game.
    Mitch

  9. Like
    Justin reacted to TrekMD in EXPERIMENTING WITH RECHARGEABLE BATTERY OPTIONS FOR SURVIVING A LONG TERM POWER OUTAGE WITH ATARI LYNX   
    Cool ideas!  I have solar panels on my house and a 25 KW generator should there be power loss (like during hurricanes) that can run my entire house.  I never considered, however, getting rechargeable batteries or a solar charger for those batteries.  I'm going to look into that.  I saw some chargers on Amazon that run for about $100.  Those look nothing like what you have posted here, though. 
  10. Like
    Justin reacted to Jinroh in EXPERIMENTING WITH RECHARGEABLE BATTERY OPTIONS FOR SURVIVING A LONG TERM POWER OUTAGE WITH ATARI LYNX   
    Very good ideas Lance! The solar charger is a good idea. Weird about the uneven battery discharge though. 🤔
    I don't vape, but I have some rechargeable vape batteries I planned on doing something with years ago, those could be used in a series with a circuit to run a Lynx I think. They are 5v each so they would work nicely I think with a custom barrel connector to slide into the Lynx. 
    Charging, could also be done with a crank charger. One of those could be built with junk drawer stuff. Geared DC motor, voltage regulator, capacitors, etc.
    During Hurricane Floyd in 2003 I think it was, I had my Sega Genesis Nomad and its battery pack. That lasted me well enough to play Sonic 3 for a while. 😄
     
  11. Like
    Justin reacted to DegasElite in EXPERIMENTING WITH RECHARGEABLE BATTERY OPTIONS FOR SURVIVING A LONG TERM POWER OUTAGE WITH ATARI LYNX   
    That is when you are not using the Lynx or Battery Pack for an extended period of time.  Forgot to add that.
  12. Like
    Justin reacted to DegasElite in EXPERIMENTING WITH RECHARGEABLE BATTERY OPTIONS FOR SURVIVING A LONG TERM POWER OUTAGE WITH ATARI LYNX   
    This is all good advice. One thing to add: People who want to use batteries might want to take the batteries out of their Lynxes and Battery Packs. This is so that people can prevent energy from sapping out of the batteries. I don't know if this applies to NiMH or other rechargeable batteries, but it applies to alkaline batteries. At least, that's my experience. It also prevents battery leakage. I just thought I would add that in there. Thanks.
  13. Like
    Justin reacted to slobu in EXPERIMENTING WITH RECHARGEABLE BATTERY OPTIONS FOR SURVIVING A LONG TERM POWER OUTAGE WITH ATARI LYNX   
    I guess it depends on your scenario.  My first thought was a small solar panel kit that charges up batteries.  The second thought was that the Lynx eats batteries.  So, would probably emulate the Lynx on something more versatile like the Dingoo 320 or PSP - both of which have TV out for projector use.
  14. Thanks
    Justin reacted to CrossBow in EXPERIMENTING WITH RECHARGEABLE BATTERY OPTIONS FOR SURVIVING A LONG TERM POWER OUTAGE WITH ATARI LYNX   
    Few things...
    Changing out the original LCD with one of the newer IPS kits apparently will extend the life of the batteries since the newer LCDs consume much less power than the original screens. Especially since the high voltage is disabled as part of those LCD upgrades.
    There is a charging kit you can get to install into the Lynx II console that is specifically designed for using NiMH batteries in the lynx. Essentially the system always runs off batteries in this modification and the standard AC port now becomes the charge port. I've not done or offered this as a service due to the fact that the modification kills being able to use AC power by itself on the Lynx afterwards. But, it is an option.
    One interesting thing to test would be to try finding and installing a LiON pak into the external Lynx battery pack to replace the D cells. With enough watt hours on the cell you might get quite a bit of gameplay from such a setup when combined with an LCD upgrade.
     
  15. Like
    Justin reacted to sramirez2008 in EXPERIMENTING WITH RECHARGEABLE BATTERY OPTIONS FOR SURVIVING A LONG TERM POWER OUTAGE WITH ATARI LYNX   
    Great blog! I haven't given this (power outage) much thought, but after reading this, I'm going to purchase rechargeable NIHM batteries for my battery pack.🙂
  16. Like
    Justin reacted to Video 61 in I MAY HAVE FOUND ROAD RIOT 4WD FOR ATARI 7800 - ALONG WITH MORE INTERESTING ATARI 7800 EPROMS   
    hi everyone,
     
    i did plug the riot eprom into my 7800 dual chip set cartridge board, and did get a reaction. bright yellow screen with background noise. so the 7800 is trying to read it, but lacks the second e-prom, i tried it in both sockets, worked better on the bottom one.
    also got the atari logo on the xenophobe, but that's it. it requires the second chip also. it might be a beta version.
    i found more eproms, nothing on the labels, they were so old they had fallen off. but it was dark inside the tube, so they may have survived. when i plug them in, like just about everything i ever had got out of atari, they show graphics and sound, only garbled. telling me they need more than one e-prom, and which board, and or which platform are they for?
    a puzzle for sure.
    lance
    www.atarisales.com
     
  17. Like
    Justin reacted to Sabertooth in I MAY HAVE FOUND ROAD RIOT 4WD FOR ATARI 7800 - ALONG WITH MORE INTERESTING ATARI 7800 EPROMS   
    I look forward to hearing more about this discovery. Thanks for sharing Lance!
  18. Like
    Justin reacted to TrekMD in I MAY HAVE FOUND ROAD RIOT 4WD FOR ATARI 7800 - ALONG WITH MORE INTERESTING ATARI 7800 EPROMS   
    Oh man, that is an excellent find!  Recently three "new" 2600 titles were found and now you have a "new" 7800 game found.  Amazing that so many year later, games that were never released continue to be found!
  19. Like
    Justin reacted to - Ω - in Atari 5200 Thoughts   
    When it comes to the joysticks, I like the RetroGameBoyz all-in-one joystick.  It's a self centering digital unit that has knobs for centering the joystick and also has the keypad built-in so there is no need foy Y-adapter cables.  The UAV modification with an HDMI adapter brings it into the 21st century for modern TV sets and it's picture quality is only something we could dream about back in the day.  Now of course if you are going to go to that expense, you NEED the Atarimax cartridge to finish the setup.  
  20. Like
    Justin reacted to CrossBow in Atari 5200 Thoughts   
    The 5200 is my second favorite Atari console only bested by the 7800 for me. I've always like the original controllers since I first played the system using one of them. Over the past 20+ years now, I've done the foil dots bit on them to keep them going but after having to do it after every 2 or 3 years (due to the dots eventually falling off), I got sick of it and over the summer I purchased two gold set replacement rebuild kits from the new Atarireapairparts.com website. Installed them in a matter of minutes and I don't think I will have to touch them ever again at this point.
    That said, I also have a set of the Wico controllers (I don't like this, they don't feel right and they actually break stupid easy internally.). But the command control keypad that they also use is quite nice and well built. So I also have one of the older AtariAge redemption adapters that lets me use that Wico keypad and a Sega Genesis 3 button controller with the 5200. For games that require the more digital precision, that is the setup I will use. But even still I mostly use the original controllers when I play on the 5200.
     
  21. Like
    Justin reacted to RickR in Atari 5200 Thoughts   
    And lets not forget the awesome Trakball they made for 5200.  It feels like a real arcade controller. 
  22. Like
    Justin reacted to CrossBow in Atari 5200 Thoughts   
    Oh yeah! Missile command is pretty much arcade like with it on the 5200.
  23. Like
    Justin reacted to TrekMD in Atari 5200 Thoughts   
    I got a 5200 in 2007.  In fact, I got two, as I got both a 4 port and a 2 port system.  I have always liked the games for the console as it has some unique titles and some exclusive ports as well.  I was aware of the issues with the controllers, so I immediately got the gold upgrade for mine.  I also got a WICO controller.  The main issue is the controller does not self-center, something that Atari was working on but never released due to the crash.  Overall, though, I'm happy with the system.
  24. Like
    Justin reacted to Atari 5200 Guy in Atari 5200 Thoughts   
    You guys have made me rethink the 5200 when I was starting to lose all hope.  I never thought I would hear others, besides myself, say they like the CX52s.  My confidence in the system has been perked up.  Thank you.
  25. Like
    Justin reacted to Atari 5200 Guy in Atari 5200 Thoughts   
    I have to say I am genuinely surprised and impressed at the responses I’m getting from other 5200 owners.  It has been unexpected.  For many, many years now I’ve heard others who have or had a 5200 complain about the controllers.  Even its sales showed issues with the controllers. But I never expected to hear people say they actually prefer the original controllers over anything else.  I was not expecting to hear that.
    I dearly love my 5200.  Like some others I have at least 40 years experience with it.  Without internet to guide me I spent lots of time with used systems trying to repair faulty controllers not really knowing half the time what I was getting myself into or how to fix them.  I do have to thank my Mother for all those Atari finds in those garage sales and Salvation Army store visits.  She always grabbed them up.  I use to have a stock pile of replacements. When she passed the house got broke into.
    And I wasn’t talking bad about the system.  On the contrary I was thinking a “what if” scenario. Like what if the games were given the ability to check what type of controller you was using? You connect an adapter and can use any Atari 2600 compatible joystick combined with the 5200 controller.  You’re given the option to use analog or digital controls. You then play the game using whatever controller you’re comfortable with.
     
     I'm not going against the standard controllers as I feel they are what make the 5200 unique. I was, instead, wonder If Atari knew they had an issue with the controllers they didn’t just make a quick fix like a controller adapter?  It would have made more business sense.
    Yes!!  The Trakball controller is pretty awesome and works with a lot of 5200 games.  You should try using it with Pole Position sometime. That’s a real challenge! And unlike the Colecovision trackball it doesn’t need a separate power supply. 
     
    So maybe I have been looking at the 5200 all wrong.  I was under the impression most people really disliked the system due to its controllers. 🤔 Maybe I need to do my own gold upgrade and see what happens.
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