CrossBow

You do know that the 5100 is the same width and only looks smaller because they did away with the controller storage section in the back. From that, it allowed them to lower the case shell height. But honestly that design isn't that much much smaller honestly. I've see this in person at the NVGM in Ft. Worth TX. But I have just noticed that it still seemed to require the dual 7805 voltage regulators. Look at those monster heatsinks they have on either side of the pcb? Apparently it must have gotten quite warm too because they added a lot more venting to the case shell for this prototype. The original sinks on the 5200 aren't nearly that large and they don't need to be because why they do get hot, they don't get as hot as say the 7800s regulator does for instance.

Not sure on that...but someone was making or might have made adapters that allowed the use of PS2 controllers on the 5200. So if that was possible, then I'm sure something using the DC or N64 analog is also likely possible. But that is way above my pay grade.

There is another AA member that has designed a replacement 5200 controller in the original style design aesthetic that uses a self centering stick. But I don't believe any of them have gone on sale yet or what the current status of that project might be? Only thing he did different in the layout was to put the start, pause, and reset buttons on the bottom end of the controller below the keypad section allowing him to raise the joystick up further. But aside from that, it looked to be about the same size and close shape of the originals.

I've looked around my local radio/electronics hobby shop here and they have a spot on their peg board for some, but haven't had any in stock for a few years now. Even when they did have them, they were huge. Not just the shaft on them which I think was about 2inches long, but the overall body of the trimmer pot was way too large to fit inside the 5200 controller housing. I think about the only option we can hope for is that someone creates a kit that allow for modern trimmers to be used that drop into place of the original but provide signals to the console that mimic the originals readings. Like using a 1k trimmer or something and using some logic to halve the readings from it back to the 5200 logic for instance. There is enough space inside the 5200 controller for a small PCB with such logic to be fitted inside I think.

Well, some of these items exist already are possibly being looked into. 1. - the biggest issue with this is the size of the parts themselves. The controller storage lid and front facia are large single pieces of plastic. So it would likely take a commercial grade type 3D printer that is large enough to make these pieces. I've also been told that larger pieces that are also pretty flat like the ones needed here, will warp quite a bit during the printing process which, also complicates things. My thoughts on possible solutions for this has been to simply have someone make a good quality silicone mold and perhaps make resin casting replacements? But that is beyond my skill set. 2. There was another member over at AtariAge that actually did create replacement back expansion covers with holes already milled for the RCA jacks. However, he didn't seem convinced that enough space could be done to have all three RCAs and the s-video. I of course know this isn't true because I actually hand drill spaces on these covers already and have for years that allow for the RCA jacks and s-video to all fit. It is tight I won't deny that, but it can be done. I don't know what became of that project though. One thing I did suggest that was really only possible with 3D printing was that the s-video jack could be made with the flat side already in place to better hold the s-video jack and help prevent slipping and turning. 3. Again, recently over at AtariAge, someone did post a 3D printed 5200 cartridge shell. It wasn't an exact copy of the Atari made ones though and was more of a copy of the smoother shell design without dust cover similar to what the game Meteorites cartridge looks like. Again, with all the ridges and detail on the 5200 Atari cartridge cases, it might be a bit too difficult to do with a 3D printer and likely require an actual injection mold to have to be made. I now that recently Albert at AtariAge has been looking into this for some time and I believe he now has replacement cartridge shells for the 2600 and 7800 now that are injection molded. I do have something new to share about the 5200 though!!! Evie over at Backbit.io has created a lot of cool products for the retro gaming community. One of her projects is the Backbit Pro flash cartridge. Now, the neat thing about this cartrige is that it is designed for multiple consoles and computers?! The main body of the cartridge contains the brains and SD card slot. But the end you plug into the console is done with an IDE type male connector on it and that allows the cartrige to use different PCB ends that plug into the cartridge allowing the flash cart to work on different kinds of systems. I have the cartridge and have the adapters to use it on the Intellivision and Vic-20. But... she did tell me that she is now designing a 5200 adapter for it?! So that would provide another means to have a flash cart for the 5200. Not sure it would have all the features that the AtariMax Ultimate SD cart can do, but it is still a nice additional option once released. Here latest firmware already pretty much has all the features needed to support the Intellivision games now including ECS bankswitching. While I haven't tested it myself fully yet, the cart can also be a RAM expander for my Vic-20. So..yeah it is a very versatile device. And having a 5200 adapter for it would be most welcome!

Possibly although the 5200 uses an odd 3 prong switch but I've never really tried to sus it out too much. I did manage to take one apart once and clean it I think? That said, I've likely got a switch or two from my donor boards I could remove if you need one.

I recently installed another UAV into one this past weekend does that count?

I don't have any issue with that. That is how I was approached to start testing games on the 7800 was via PM from the authors there and all discussions, bug reports..etc all happen within PMs for the most part dedicated to the game or program being tested at that time.

Well, I did find out that the palette issues with it on NTSC consoles is a well known issue and has been for years. But apparently due to the fact that most of the demoscene stuff and quite a lot of the more recent homebrews all require the use of PAL 8-bits, it was never considered a priority to create a core for the VBXE with NTSC palettes on it. Apparently if you have one of the U1MB upgrade boards in place, they did include an option on it to apparently program a new palette file to compensate but I hadn't really planned on getting one of those for as little as I play on my 130xe. As for testing of games, I've done quite a few lately mainly on the 7800 side of things. But that is largely in part because I have a Dragon Fly cartridge and it supports a crazy amount of different bank schemes for different games along with the added hardware in it to play covox, dual pokey, and FM music. I don't know what testing would be possible on my 130xe as I'm limited to just my FujiNet cart that I mainly use and I have an UnoCart for the 8-bit that is much faster at loading games, but also more limited in what it supports. I can understand the hesitation with letting folks test your games and programs. I don't know how feasible it is, but I would think it a good idea to put an ID code of some sort embedded within the coding so that if it were to be leaked out in the open, it would at least be possible to know who provided that initial leak or obviously was careless in who might have had access to their stuff and let it get slipped.

Let me summarize what this is about first of all because it is quite interesting on a few things I'm about to talk about. For those that aren't aware, the VBXE/VBXL is a video enhancement upgrade board that you install into your Atari XE or XL computer line that sandwiches in the middle of where the ANTIC IC is placed. What it does, is provide enhanced video features for games & programs that support it with higher resolutions and much more colors on the screen at once. The VBXE/XL boards have been around for nearly a decade so it isn't a new or recent upgrade option and can be purchased from several places but at about $100 for the board (at the time of typing this), it isn't a cheap upgrade but for what it does and providing a nice RGB output, isn't that unusual in cost compared to similar upgrades. Still, is the VBXE right for you? Let's talk about that... I will be honest upfront in that I only installed my VBXE into my 130xe the other night. Therefore you would be right to ask and to be thinking "How can he already have some opinions on something he has only had for a few days?". That is a very valid question to ask. However, it does take me to the first issue regarding the VBXE: - Lack of programs and games that really use it. There are quite a few demos that show off various features that are only possible with a VBXE along with a handful of games. But not nearly as you might think or possible expect from something that has been out and available for as long as it has. - Mainly designed for use on PAL Atari 8-bit computers. Many of the demoscene programs and games expect to be running on a PAL Atari 8-bit computer and not NTSC. As a result, some games might exhibit some glitching in places graphically and many of the demos will refuse to run at all and just give a message on the screen that NTSC isn't supported and do not go further on loading up. - Palette differences. The VBXE/XL allows for full compatibility with original games and programs but there is a small caveat that I've not seen listed on pages that sell the VBXE/XL boards. The issue is that the VBXE has a different palette programmed into it as compared to actual NTSC GTIA chips. As a result many games will show differences in their colors as compared to what you might be used to. In some cases, it doesn't make much of a difference and might not be noticed. In other more extreme cases it is quite obvious. Below is a comparison of this between two game title screens where the left is through s-video output and the right from the VBXE RGB output. There is a jumper on the bottom of the VBXE to select between PAL and NTSC. Mine arrived already set to PAL but switching this back to NTSC did not make any difference that I could see. The only difference in setting them is that some PAL games that do work on NTSC end up looking even more glitched than usual and usually missing some colors or sprite information. So I advise leaving that jumper in whichever position matches the computer type you are using it with. - Corrupted graphics when powering on or resetting the computer. As the VBXE is a separate video output device in the system, it seems as those the board might not initiate properly when powering on the computer or when pressing reset. The pics below show my Fujinet menu screen how it should look and how it might come up showing corrupted graphics. This never occurs when using composite or s-video from the actual monitor output and only happens from the VBXE output side. A reset will usually clear this in most cases although sometimes a full power off/on is needed. - Several games have received graphical updates that take advantage of the VBXE's enhanced abilities. Below is one of the more impressive and extreme examples of this from a recently released home brew port of the game Bomb Jack. There is a version that supports the standard Atari 8-bit computers and a version specifically for use with VBXE enhanced computers. Note that the title of the game is different between the versions, but it is the same game programmed by the same people. - However, not all games are as enhanced. The following example is of the two different versions of the game Jet Set Willy that has been ported to the Atari 8-bit comptuers. In this case the VBXE allows for a more faithful port graphically of the ZX80 Spectrum original vs the port done for the Atari 8-bits that works within the limitations of the original Atari hardware. So in a case like this, it is more about preference on playing a more faithful port vs any enhancements. So there is my overview of the VBXE add-on for the Atari 8-bit computers. In summary it has some excellent features that it can bring to the Atari 8-bit line that almost makes the games and graphics approach 16-bit VGA and more. But even after nearly a decade of having been on the market there is still only a handful of programs that a gamer would find use for and with some exceptions, the non VBXE versions of the games would likely be enough for most enthusiasts. I do really like the enhanced clarity you get from using the RGB output over the s-video and certainly over composite. It has to be said that my captures in these pictures don't really do justice to the output since my capture device seems to introduce some noise that isn't present on my actual TV screen when playing and jpg compression isn't doing any favors either. I will finish this post with a compilation of some other screen captures taken from the VBXE on my 130xe from some programs that support it along with a few pics of my VBXE install. Overhead view of my 130xe mainboard with both VBXE and UAV boards in place. Side profile of the UAV and VBXE boards installed. Due to clearance issues, I had to reinstall the UAV without any sockets to make it as low profile as possible. This isn't that ideal since it means the UAV is a pretty permanent part of this computer now. As per most of my RGB setups, I've elected to remove the original RF modulator and installed a 9-pin mini din wired for use with Sega RGB cables. This did require me to bypass the 75Ω resistors on the VBXE RGB output lines since those resistors are present in the Sega RGB SCART housing already and if left in place on the VBXE would have resulted in a darker and more duller picture output. Here is was the first initial tests of the VBXE with the s-video output from the UAV on the Left on the small CRT and RGB output from the VBXE on the right using my Retrotink2x SCART on the LCD.

Well as I sold my composite/svid/audio RCA Atari 8-bit cable for a client this past weekend. The only cable I have now is my s-video output only cable from Hercules for my Atari 8-bits and I'm pretty sure that isn't going to work on my Ti or Vic since those put out s-video from their monitor ports right? I see that Brewing Academy has them for the Ti with the longest offered being a 1.5m cable and composite/audio only. So I will see about adding one of those on my next order with them in the future.

I need to get a replacement AV cable for mine first. I kinda gave away/sold the one I was using with my Ti and Vic-20 to a client this weekend that brought their Atari 400 over for an s-video upgrade. They didn't have a cable for it... Is there a recommended site for a good quality cable for the Ti?

Last time I pulled mine out of its box was to verify the cable I had would provide decent composite output from it and to check out my copy of Dragon's Lair 😉

I have a HOKEY in my concerto that I picked up at PRGE. However, I have seen some graphical glitches on a few games like Commando and speaking of that, the audio is still not quite right in some places with the HOKEY in place. Fred has confirmed these issues and states he is looking into it. In the meantime, I've put a spare HOKEY into my older Mateos 16 in 1 cart as for what I use that for these days, the HOKEY is fine for it and will stick with using my DragonFly for actual multi game playing until the 7800GD comes out. HOKEY is a great thing to see and have, but it does require some specific tweaks to make it work on a game by game basis. All of the new homebrew releases for the 7800 at PRGE that required POKEY audio in fact used HOKEYs in them, but each game required the HOKEY to be tweaked to sound correctly and I think on some of the games, the code on them had to be altered for the HOKEY to work. So even popping in a normal POKEY into those games might not work due to the changes needed for the HOKEY to work in them. But I'm not cracking open my Popeye or Petscii Robots carts to test that. I do hope that whatever small issues remain with the HOKEY, Fred is able to iron out soon and able to provide a means to update the current ones.

Been a bit since there was any new content added to the Intellivision section here so I'm going to break up that ice a bit. Did anyone else besides me who attended PRGE also pick up any of the new Intellivision games from the Intellivision Revolutionaries booth? I picked up 3 games: Raiders of the Lost Ark Bank Panic Parsec I've only played Raiders and Bank Panic so far but they are both pretty impressive games! Bank Panic especially surprised me with how well it actually plays using the default controller. Using the keypad on that game to control the shots for the left,middle, and right doors is simple and prevents any fumbling which, is critical for this game since reaction times matter. And the overall graphics while of course not matching the arcade, are still quite good and it is just a general blast to play! Raiders... Hmm.. Okay. Now there are a TON of spoilers ahead for this game, so if you haven't played it or don't know how to play it and want everything to be a surprise, then do NOT read beyond this point. If you would also rather not read all of this and see it in action instead, then I did a live stream game play through to the end last night. It isn't very long since the game is pretty short to play if you know what needs to be done. Again, it is a complete walk through play of the game so only watch if that isn't important to you. https://www.twitch.tv/videos/1636291689 I will have to give Parsec a try soon since I was told it does support the Intellivoice module and has all the same speech as the Ti original. Although I was never that good at the Ti version, more games for the Intellivision can only be a good thing!

My replacement Aquaventure manual arrived the other day. It is funny because I doubled checked all of my emails from AtariXP and none of them mentioned the manual and only the replacement carts. So I'm not complaining just odd that I didn't receive an email regarding it being on the way or anything. In other news, I shipped my original carts back to them on Saturday, and they were already delivered by Monday?! USPS has been on their game with my shipments lately. I shipped a console back out to its owner on Monday afternoon and the owner got it yesterday morning?! It wasn't supposed to be delivered until today, so quite impressive times. And that was from here in Oklahoma to Connecticut. I need to look carefully at the replacement manual, because it actually seems like it it might be smaller and more cut down content wise than the original was? But I only took a cursory glance through the original. Enough to verify the missing page anyway in my original.

Where did you find this?! And what is on the Genesis cart or is it just a static item? I have the collectors edition of this from LRG when it was first released and it came with the sound track but only on cassette tape so I had to be creative with finding another version that I would want to listen to sometimes.

Pretty much arcade perfect near as I can tell and all the quarter munching difficulty that comes with it too! I'm likely to live stream some of the new games over the weekend to give others a look in more detail. But I wasn't even able to finish the second board on my play of it a bit last night.

Trust me when I say it isn't much. Compared to what I know @sramirez2008 and @TrekMD picked up plus others I saw walking about with several grocery sized cloth bags full of stuff. No... mine is a pittance in pickups for what a person might normally get a convention. And to be quite fair, there are quite a few more AtariAge releases I plan to get, but since many of them didn't have the boxes ready at the show, I decided I will wait until they hit the AA store next month. One game I've quite disappointed about is E.X.O. It was supposed to get released at PRGE, but due to issues with the HOKEY still not working right with it, that wasn't possible. It has been told to Muddyfunster that E.X.O. isn't likely to come out until 2nd or 3rd qtr of 2023 possibly.

Well Saboteur was the worst of them. But they all have that odd light edging on them where the lamination layer is very obvious. This isn't seen on the newer labels. So yeah again, I've no issues with sending them back these sub part quality initial carts. My current issue with both original and newer carts, is that there is some slop in the PCB because I have to kinda wiggle the cart when inserting it for it to actually seat and go into the slot properly. I don't seem to have this issue with other carts. But it is a minor thing.

My latest pickups are of course from PRGE 2022! I didn't get as much this year as I have in the past, but that was mostly due to just being very busy the entire weekend and also a lack of space in my suitcase for the return trip home. Additionally, I had a heads up that some of the new releases at AtariAge might not actually be available and boxes not available so I decided to wait until everything is in the store later for other stuff I'm wanting to get. That said...here is what I did grab. First up is a new Atari 8-bit game from the AtariAge booth. I already own Adventure II with all the feelies for the 5200, but I know that Ron made some refinements to the game on this newer XE release and I just couldn't say no to that box art! The other 3 are new releases from the Intellivision Revolution booth. And yes, that Raiders is indeed a remake of the 2600 game but with enhanced Intelly graphics! Parsec is a port of the Ti-99 game and even retains the Ti logo in the background and makes use of the Intellivoice module! These are my pickups mainly from the AtariAge booth. I was able to get the new release of Popeye for the 7800, along with Gorf Arcade for the 2600 and one of only about a dozen available working carts of Petscii Robots for the 7800. Petscii comes with a new SNES 2 Atari adapter that as the name implies, allows you to use the SNES controller with the game on a 7800. Astro Grover I picked up from John Hancock's booth and is one of the original 50 released and sold back during PRGE 2012. And I was even able to hand out a few of my new ITC cards to folks that were interested in console upgrades and services. The last of my pickups came from the AA booth, Songbird, and another vendor that had some excellent prices on games and hardware. I picked up Asteroite for the Jaguar, a Jaguar Gamedrive (My biggest purchase of the event), one of Fred's latest Concerto's with a HOKEY chip pre-installed, an extra HOKEY to use in whatever I want, an extra AtariVox+ for use mainly with my Vectrex, and then an interesting but very decent controller and the Mr. Do and manual for the 2600. To give an idea on pricing, the Mr. Do with the manual was only $15. That was a great price and I saw at least one other Mr. Do at the event sans manual and with a much worse label that a vendor was asking $40 for?! So yeah, I didn't pick up that much but I still manage to spend about what I always do all the same LOL!

@socrates63 Oh yes I was most certainly there indeed! My wife and I were the other two folks working the AA booth to help out Al and April. You also have a Sears INTV that I installed an earlier RGB upgrade board into in addition to the 5200 btw. Although we should talk about possibly having me replace that older board out sometime with one of the newer ones that works much better on today's scalers. As for PRGE I had a great time but it was also a lot of work for me this year. As some of you may or may not know, I had suspended my services to the public over the summer. The reason was because Albert commissioned me to work on a lot of consoles to have ready for PRGE this year. In total I upgraded and serviced 22 consoles that were all present at PRGE and setup for people to play and check out the new games on. So yes, it was more work than usual for me this year! I wasn't able to take many pics at all because I was so busy running around that I just didn't think about it honestly. But I did get a few pics of the setup after we had finished up late Friday night. Sorry for the bad lighting, but it was actually only about this bright during setup. I didn't pick up nearly as much as I usually do when I attend events like this. But that was mostly because I was limited on space in my suitcase for the return home. And as many of the games didn't have their boxes ready for the show, I decided I would grab them later when they are being sold in the store next month. What I did get, I will post in the new pickups thread. I do believe this was the most systems that AtariAge has has setup at once for any event. I think it was 40 systems in total? There were 5 Jaguars setup, 4 5200s setup, 7 7800s setup, and the rest were 2600s. It was one of the most visually impressive setups at the event this year!

I had meant to post this here earlier and forgot. But here is an example of why I have NO problem sending them my original non working carts. In the pics below you can see that my originally received Saboteur has a nasty bubble line across the middle of it where the lamination layer didn't take well. If you look closely, you can see something similar around the edges of the label as well and all three of the originally received carts have something similar on them. The replacement on the right looks great and doesn't have any of these issues, plus it actually works.

Well my plan to pick up a 32k sidecar or something didn't happen as it appears that the Brewing Academy didn't actually setup at PRGE. Although they were on the floor plan I never saw them. So I guess I'm back to looking for the best way to have a 32x expansion an still be able to use the speech module?

@TrekMD you even managed to catch me in two of those pics! Rare to catch a pic of me among my natural environment like that.