CrossBow

Price was double? How much did you pay then if you don't mind my asking? I think when I bought m UNO from TBA it was only about $50 at the time and just a tad more with shipping so I felt that was a pretty good price. The UNO is really nice but I've found a few disk images that it just simply doesn't seem to want to work with. As a result, I've found myself using my FujiNet more these days. But I still pop in the Uno when I need to load up something fast! I also ended up getting a replacement case for mine as the original case from TBA.... didn't last long. The case on the one you received looks pretty nice!

Why didn't you just order one from The Brewing Academy? Are the out of stock there or something? That is where I got my Uno for my 130xe, but found out later it has some issues with some ATRs and XEX and so I find myself using my FujiNet 90% of the time now. My only issue besides the compatibility, is the 3D printed case that TBA provides. I ended up spending more money for a much better quality 3D printed case to house both my Uno and FinalGrom carts in.

Honestly, nothing in that complicated pile is complicated. You put in a game and turn on the system and start playing for the most part. Sure the Xbox had updates etc. but it was part of the start of online stuff back then. And while those controllers in the later gen consoles shown might have quite a few buttons, how does it compare with the original Intellivision controller or with how many possible buttons could be created on that touchscreen that the Amico is using on the controllers? Pretty sure it will still be quicker to power on and be up and gaming even on that Xbox in that complicated systems picture than it will with the Amico or any of the current modern systems today.

This says quite a lot right here: https://www.ign.com/articles/intellivision-ceo-tommy-tallarico-steps-down?fbclid=IwAR08bWduz5K2Gp80pQKhXbdZC4e08sRg74laY4JWwxaysdiPgth7tCV-IgM NM. I see that this was already known but I just found out about it so my apologies.

This one was quite tricky and I'm still not 100% convinced this was the full cause. However, grab a snack and a drink cause here we go... An older 2600 heavy sixer was sent for just a refurbishment and no upgrades. Basically just replacing out the components that come in a standard console5 refurb kit. But I immediately knew someone was off about this console before I even opened it up due the bulging I could see in the front facia switch section near the left side of the cartridge port? Upon opening it up I also found that whomever was inside this previously (and I know someone was), had also applied some very sticky foil tape around the RF modulator housing? I think this was done to improve the picture output as this H6 does have pretty poor RF output compared to most I've worked on. I actually removed this foil tape completely. Took the RF modulator from off the switch board and disassembled it. I then removed and applied new solder to all components on the RF board as much of the solder was looking pretty old and I could see what looked like old joints with some possible hairline cracks starting to form. This along with the refurb kit has improved the RF output a little but not as much as I've seen in the past. I suspect the RF modulator itself has some other issue going on but as it is the 3pin version, they aren't that common for replacements. Also the tuning coil in these appears to be locked in place as this one just didn't want to move and I didn't want to chance cracking the core trying to force it. So it is stuck in the position it was given from the factory around the channel 3 area. Some of my TVs did have issues locking onto this console's signal but of course the CRT downstairs had no problem with it. So what about the power issue that this Blog is titled for? Well, after doing all of this, the console still had a strange issue where sometimes when powered on, I would just get a blinking screen of snow and black...snow....black...snow...black. Something I hadn't seen before. Since you always ASAP electronics issues I first checked the input power which was given me a steady 13.2v on the input side. This would drop to about 12.4v when the console was powered on which, is to be expected for the additional load once the rest of the circuit is active. It was when I checked my voltages on the new voltage regulator that was also installed that I found something very odd! I was getting a 12.3v reading on the input pin of the VR which, again is quite normal, but what wasn't normal was that the output pin of the VR was showing 11v ?! It was then, using my meter that I found that somewhere the input and output pins of the VR were shorted. How this console worked in the past is beyond me because 11v off the output pin of the VR would also be getting sent to the mainboard in the metal housing and that can't be good! In looking at the old schemes for these boards the only spot I could see that might cause this was taken up by this rather large guy here: That is a 2w Allen Bradley style resistor. According to band colors, this is a 68Ω 5% resistor. I took it out of circuit and sure enough the short I was getting between the input and output pins of the VR went away. But the resistor was reading 71 - 72Ω which is within the 5% tolerance spec. But taking a chance I powered on the system without it and it came right up and appeared to be working just fine. I then left the system running moon patrol for about 8 hours yesterday to make sure everything was good. And it was fine. My understanding is that this resistor was added to reduce the current on the input going into the VR so it wouldn't get crazy hot. But the VR was replaced and I drilled a hole into the heatsink so I could use a screw and nut to secure the heatsink to the VR vs the clips that were used on these originally along with new thermal paste. That 8hour session of moon patrol did get the heatsink warm but not enough to burn as I could keep my fingers around it without it getting too hot for me to touch. So perhaps the older VRs couldn't dissipate the heat as well and this is why these large resistors are only present on the very early model H6 units. It might even be the first one I've seen that has one as most of the others I've worked on I don't recall seeing it present. Anyway, I'm going to power on and test this system again today to be sure it is still working properly but hopefully it is good to go, and ready to go back to its owner.

Well, while I don't have enough for a full controller build, I did use some of the older 3 contact domes like those found on CX-40 controllers to replace some missing buttons for my test 5200 controller in the lab and while it took some fiddling to get them to line up and work, they do work and seem to work well. Ideally it would be nice if some slightly smaller domes could be made with the 4 contract points even smaller than the ones that C5 sells to make them easier to install and be usable. Not sure how well they would work on the graphite coated mylars though as I would suspect the metal dome to eventually wear aware the conductive graphite coating.

Isn't Cosmic Carnage kinda in the same genre? But yes I do really like Smash T.V. and I do own Xenocrisis for my Genesis. Wonderful game but I'm awful at it as I can't progress very far. Likely because it really wants and needs a twin stick setup to really get far in the game and I just haven't been able to acclimate to the control schemes for the game.

I don't think I knew that the Williams Collection was available on the PS2? I'm pretty sure I have it for the Wii? The one pinball game I do own for the PS2 and is pretty darn trippy in the fantastical sense is of course Flipnic. I play that one anytime I turn on the PS2 these days.

I understand that, I meant... going through AA to make these up as again the work there has already been done and it likely would have been much cheaper to just procure Al's services to make these up or possibly license whatever from Al to sell them the boards and program them up themselves.

In my case, I found that my game carts read better through the jagCD cart slot than they do on the actual jag itself. So... yeah I keep it on there and even got a dust cover specifically for the jag+jagCD combo since I always have them together.

I've got a working JagCD but rarely use it. Battlemorph is probably the one game that has the most hours of use from the JagCD. When I first got my Jag and JagCD combo back around 2002 or so, the JagCD didn't work at first. But a small tweak on the laser diode trimmer took care of it and it has been working since. Although again, I don't really use it that much although it is always attached to the Jag.

I'm more curious why they didn't reach out AA to get boards for this purpose? AtariAge already has the Melody boards that can pretty much do what their board design claims to do so I'm not sure why they went to reinventing the wheel. Unless the current Atari just has NO idea about the existence of AA? Either way, it looks to be a good design so I'm going to be more curious about how well it works with not just the 2600, but all the various clones, and the finickiness of the 7800 console revisions.

I'm going with knights with the top half being their face shield down and the long pointy bit is each Knight or Warlord sticking out a sword. At least, that is what I always thought when I was a boy.

No. My wife and I do not currently own any pets nor the desire to do so. When I was younger, I grew up around dogs and cats always present in our house. But once I moved out and got on my own I've never owned a pet since. The main issue is that my wife and I don't want to have to worry about leaving a pet with someone to look after if we should go out of town for a bit. Heck, we don't even like asking for friends to come by the house to get the mail and bring it inside when we are out of town. So, no pets at this time.

Yeap... if you take a look I just got some of them brought over. The issue was that I did have the RSS option disabled on hardware blog I have over there and thus, couldn't import it initially. Now I need to figure out how to get the new entry I made here... over there... LOL. But I think I can get it figured out and now that the AA one is linked to here, anything I do there should cross over to here as well then?

I will see what I can do, but I honestly don't see the RSS icon on either of my Blog sections here or at AA. Then again, I don't believe I checked that option to be on when I initially created them and that is likely why I don't see them.

I've never figured out the RSS thing so I would need some explanation and assistance on how that is done exactly?

I don't do the blog thing that much but figured some folks here might enjoy a bit more in depth look and explanation on some of the stuff I've done. I also have created a few blogs over at AA as well but it isn't something I do on a regular basis or schedule.

Here at the Ivory Tower, I get quite a few requests for console services. It might be an actual repair to get a console working back to full factory function or refurbishment of a working condole to ensure it works for another 40+ years into the future. But by and large most of my requests are to enhance a console in some way. Usually through audio/video upgrades etc. But on more rare occasions, I will be sent a system that has already had work done to it either by the original owner or from another and requested to further enhance. Because of just how I am... In such requests I usually undo most of what has been done before when it requires it. Sometimes I will use existing wiring and just trim it up or tighten loose AV jacks that have been installed. But in this particular instance, I had a Sears Intellivision console sent that had been prior upgraded with a composite video output and had an earlier RGB board installed into it. It was requested to give the entire system a once over and correct any wrongs found while also upgrading the current RGB with one of the newer offerings. I'm writing this blog because some might feel that with a console already having been prior worked on before and semi working already, that the amount of work required to upgrade what has been done before might be less work than doing it on a console that hasn't been touched or modified in the past. In most cases... this is far from the truth as you will see with this particular Intellivision. First let me show you some pics of what it looked like inside when I first opened it up. I do not know exactly who did the original work, but it is pretty representative of the kinds of work I find in these systems sent to me to fixed and upgraded further. This is a picture of the power supply board when I first opened up the system. Nothing horribly an issue here, but it would seem that whomever was in this before did apply new thermal paste on the VRs, but they used too much as you can even see it on the legs of the VRs below. They also didn't replace out the high wattage 12Ω resistor that is the grey tube thing near the center. You can see on the left hand side it is starting to show signs of breaking down as it is starting to flake. To be fair, it might not have been this way when it was last worked on. This is the original composite video upgrade that was done in the past. My only issue here is that the wires these older kits from the guy in Turkey used, are a bit thin and break easy. The wiring was also not tided up and left long. Likely so the main board could still be removed in the future but some tidying would have been nice to see. Here are the original RCA jacks that were installed as part of this kit. Again, the wiring is left long and not secured in any way. Also, the RCAs had worked loose and were free spinning. This results in dimming picture output because the ground connection is off those metal tabs. If they jack is free spinning, that means the ground tab isn't very secure and is barely making contact. This is what I found when I removed the controller tray. That PCB is the older 'Fred' RGB board. It was not attached at all and was loose inside this section of the Intellivision. First, this area is NOT for installing boards like this. This area is empty because it was thought you would store the power cord inside this section when the console wasn't in use. So if someone had done that here, they very likely would have pulled something loose off this RGB board or started to fray the AC cord. Either way... this is NOT acceptable in any situation and should have been installed elsewhere in the system. Because of the board laying in here loose, it stands to reason that the RGB output jack is here as well and yes it is. This isn't too much an issue but again not idea. For starters, it is a bad idea to route any AV outputs near power sources and we have that large AC transformer just a few inches away. But mainly bad because as you can see, the wiring is again loose here and would have separated easily over time. The RGB jack was epoxied into place and I do not have any issues with that since that is really the only option you have for these type of panel mount jacks and is something I do myself. The RGB board gets its signals from the U10 color IC chips, the same way the current RGB boards do. But in this install a separate breakout PCB was used where the original IC was removed and installed into a single wipe socket on the breakout PCB. The PCB was then stuck into the original single wipe socket that the IC chip was originally in. This seems overly complicated since it is just as easy and provides a better connection to just solder to the bottom of the PCB to the pins where this chip is located. My main issue here is the cheap single wipe sockets of the original not being replaced out with higher quality, and the use of single wipe on the PCB breakout board. Now for what I has been corrected and redone... First is the power supply board was recapped and new high wattage 12Ω resistor installed. I also cleaned up the VRs and redid the thermal compound with higher grade stuff. The older composite only board was completely removed as composite output was being replaced by the new all in one board combo that I installed. This is Crayon King's older v5 RGB board with one of his separate expansion boards on top. This provides not only RGB that is of much better quality and compatibility to the older board, but provides the best composite I've seen from an Intellivision, plus a really excellent s-video output as well! Here is the new RGB board combo installed on the main PCB with all the new wiring in place. I installed a new AMP brand dual wipe socket for the U10 color IC chip and attached it back onto the mainboard. As a result, the wiring needed for the new RGB now attaches at the bottom of the PCB to the pins that are connected to the U10 color IC chip. The scorching in the lower right is quite normal and is a result of the stupid amount of heat that the two 3906 transistors in that part of the board experience. It gets hot enough to discolor the PCB. I always replace these transistors as part of any Intellivision model 1 refurb because the originals are ticking on their last lives at this point. Can't do anything about the heat, but at least with new ones, they should last as long as the originals have to this point. The other wires from cartridge port are for a power LED that is being added to the console at the owners request. That is actually the exact same method INTV used when they added the power LEDs to the Super Pro System and INTV III consoles. The RCA jacks were redone using star lock washers to hold them in place more securely. I also added in an additional Red colored RCA for dual mono output so the owner of this console doesn't have to keep using an audio splitter. This also allows for a future stereo upgrade later should a nice kit come along that provides that. You can also see the new s-video panel jack that has been added since that is available, why not add it? A switch was also installed to allow for palette switching on the new RGB board since it comes with 2 different palette options. Since the original RGB output jack ended up having bad internal pin connections anyway and was giving video drop outs, I had to crack out the original and replaced it with a new matching type. To help with keeping things more tidy, I used a breakout board for the jack and secured the wiring more. Here is what the entire rear of the console looks like at this point. Have to keep in mind that the Red RCA, the s-video jack to the right of that, and the RGB on the far right have been replaced. You can see the toggle switch used for the palette change here as well. I have it facing downwards as there is plenty of room for it, it makes it easy to find and flip and doesn't protrude beyond the normal width of the casing. I add colored boots to the switches so they don't seem quite as obvious. And that is all I have at the moment as I'm still finalizing this console. But everything is tested and as you can see in these pics, I use connectors for all wiring that is attached to the case shell so that it is easier in the future to remove the mainboard for servicing completely from the shells. The point here is that just as much work and maybe more goes into working on a system that has already had work done in the past and it shouldn't be assumed that because some of this stuff was already in place, that it results in less labor being needed to upgrade further.

Hmm... probably been since around October maybe? Trying to remember when I bought the replacement case shell for my FinalGROM cart as that is when I finally setup the SDcard to check it out. But was kinda limited on what I could actually play as I still don't have a sidecar for it.

I didn't pick up Gorf as I'm not a huge fan of the game. But I did pick up Gooninuff and that one is some really good fun! Not sure if there is an ending to it, but I think I got up to level 4 on my last play of the game during a live stream sometime back.

Correct, the same fix for the Activision carts work for the SC games as well. Disabling the extra timing circuit by clipping (or better desoldering) one of the legs from C64 on the right hand, middle portion of the main board. In fact SC games not working or not, can be replicated using the UNO or Harmony since it is the extra timing circuit that makes those games incompatible with the SC. I did a video showcasing all of this sometime back.

That is what has been reported in the past. But so far every 7800 I've attempted to use my SC with has worked just fine. The main issue is that the dust pegs on the SC are not spring loaded and they extend quite a bit forward. As a result, the SC is not able to be seated in all the way into the cartridge port of the 7800. Even if you have one that has been modified to allow for 3rd party carts to fit, it still won't without further modification. The issue is that the section on the cartridge port on the ends where 7800 carts fit? You know the extra cart slot section? Well, just off from those is where the dust pegs enter for 2600 carts to fit. But, at the very bottom of those openings is additional molding on the cartridge sleeve where screws are used to hold the sleeve down onto the main board and against the actual cartridge slot. If you remove those sections of plastic, then the SC can seat down all the way to make proper contact and work. Same with Tigervision carts that are similar. However, doing this means that the only way the cartridge sleeve can stay in place, is with the small plastic snap tabs that also lock it down. If those should break, then the cartridge sleeve would have too much slop and move around making it kinda of a challenge to insert games sometimes. Curt Vendel was supposed to be working on a solution for that but I never got to see the designs he came up with to try and counter again this. The most obvious solution would have been to extend the plastic molding downwards through the main board openings and then use a small piece of plastic that you would then attach the screws into. This way it would be attached below the PCB and not through it and topside of the PCB as it does currently.

I also agree that Phaser Patrol is superior to both Star Raiders and Star Master on the 2600. But I didn't even know that game existed back in the day. In fact, the first time I even heard of the Super Charger was shortly after I got back into retro gaming and a buddy of mine at work at the time mentioned the game and SC and I was like...what heck are your talking about? He then brought it up to work one day for all of us to check out. I only finally got around to buying a SC with Phaser Patrol as the pack in about a year ago to test with my 7800. Good to report it does work just fine on my 7800 but did require me to modify my cartridge port to allow it to fit all the way in.

I'm not a fan of the 2600 version of the game at all. Like @AtariSphinx stated, Star Master is a better game in this regard. The touchpad was a cool idea to include, but the actual game play was far too choppy overall to be enjoyed. And yes, it was actually the 5200 version of the game along with Fractalus that made me seek out and get a 5200. Star Raiders on the 5200 is even better than the 8-bit as it takes advantage of the analog controls of the 5200 while having the keypad also right at your easy reach for the functions.