CrossBow

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.

It looks good and seems to play amazing. But I'm not a fan of how they are trying to implement the speech here. I can just make out 'Human' but the rest of it is just garbled beeps that I'm finding sort of grating to my ears. Still it is very impressive! I have a few CV home brews, but my experience with them hasn't been that great to be honest. As an example the latest CV 'brew game I picked up was Suite Macabre and apparently that game doesn't seem to want to work on most actual CV consoles?! I have 2 CVs one of which is all stock and my daily driver that is upgraded with RGB, Composite, and the new +5 ram. The game refuses to go past the 3rd screen and locks up the system. But on my stock console it works fine. But on a 3rd console I just installed RGB into only, it too locks up on the 3rd screen. There are other CV owners who bought the game and have the exact same issue using all stock CVs. But Collectorvision has not responded to any emails about it or comments in forums threads. So based on my experience with that game and my lovely adventures in dealing with the guys that created Risky Rick... I'm very leary of buying any new 'brews for the CV unless I know it has specifically been tested on several revisions of the console first.

Mine was the DC as well! But, it was after it had already ran its course. I of course saw the commercials on TV but I hadn't really paid attention to it to much to be honest. Then when they were being clearanced out, I was able to pick up one for about $50 and Shenmue was one of the games I happened to pick up for it. When I first powered it on and saw the intro to Shenmue, I was generally amazed because up until this point in my eyes, console hadn't and wouldn't ever catch up to the graphics that PC gaming could still provide. It has pretty much always been that way to me since I got my first PC in the late 80s. But here,,, with Shenmue I was seeing for the first time, a small game console that was producing graphics nearly as impressive to me as my GeForce TNT 256 I had in my gaming PC at the time. Sure there were differences in the quality of the polys and textures, but it was close enough that I got a renewed interest in not just the retro gaming that I had started to get back into, but was now interested about the modern console gaming as well. I found myself now purchasing lots of DC games on clearance at Circuit City and the like to see what else there was to offer. And I've been getting modern consoles as well ever since. Exception is the newest consoles since they haven't anything on offer to interest me that I can't also play on my PC as well. So the lines have been blurred quite a bit now. But yeah, in the early 2000s it was the DC that made me go Wow and take notice about how far console gaming had come since the N64.

The metal rectangular box on the main board is an RF modulator. But I thought you said earlier that the extra board shown to the right of the power supply board is also RF? So yeah... I'm more than a little confused on this.

Wait, there are two RF modulators on this thing? Why on earth?...

the one I posted can be used outside but then you have to run a separate ground off it to account for possible lightning strikes so it doesn't get into the house. The model I posted also isn't as large as it might look. I think it only measure about 12 - 16 inches wide and like 10 inches tall and I think it sticks out about 12 inches from the back to tip. So aside from it looking goofy, you could mount it on a small rod internally and hide is in the manner you spoke of as well.

Not sure I can be of much help on this, but I used to use something similar to what you posted about 10 years ago and signals were always kinda hit n miss with it. Then, I looked into a more directional yagi style antenna that was still non powered and could be used for indoor/outdoor use. I ended up purchasing something like this: https://www.amazon.com/GE-Directional-Mounting-Included-33692/dp/B00DNJZ58M/ref=sr_1_5?c=ts&keywords=TV+Antennas&qid=1642264957&refinements=p_89%3AGE&s=audio-video-accessories&sr=1-5&ts_id=172665 Like it states, I mounted it up in the attic pointed in the direction of where most of the local stations advised. We ended up receiving nearly 40 stations compared to the maybe 12 - 18 we were getting before with the other style. I bought a second one to attach to the bedroom TV and mounted it in the attic as well. I really like them because it is nearly like having the advantage of a large aerial without actually having to deal with the eyesore of it being attached to the house. So not sure what options you have to something like this, but I would think that if you can get it into the attic space, that will help quite a bit from getting it away from the noise blocking materials.

It would be way beyond cool if that is true and such a version were to ever show up. Fractalus is one of the reasons I sought out and bought a 5200 in the early 2000s. At the time, I didn't know the game existed on the 8-bits as well and was only aware of the 5200 version. That said, it is one of the games that makes great use of the stock controllers too.

What has been found of the ROM for the 7800 version is strictly an automated demo. It is a slight graphical overhaul from the 8-bit versions and I believe was a little smoother as well. I did NOT know the PC remake had finally received a new update?! I've been playing this on and off since I first found out about it several years ago. At that time the aliens hadn't been added in yet so this is very cool! As an homage to the original. Pay attention to the center view screen. You will see that they are essentially using the 8-bit version graphics in the view screen including the sprites for the original ships. So very cool!

Yes the voltage is more like 16v AC input. But I believe that has more to do with providing enough overall current to power the system. It transfers the power down through a voltage regulator on the power board anyway before it gets to the rest of the main guts. And because it is used to rectifing an AC current, the polarity of the PSU you use doesn't even matter. The reason I mention the 5200 is because the Intelly 2 and 5200 use a larger center diameter pin on their barrel jacks vs more common ones. Specifically the jack uses a 2.5x5.5mm barrel jack. Most other systems and devices at the time that used a similar barrel jack only used a 2.1x5.5mm jack. So again the center pin is a slightly larger diameter and the 5200 was the next thing I had on hand that fit and did the job. But yeah, I use the 5200 PSU when working on and testing Intelly 2 units that have come to me for service because it works and I don't have to keep a separate one on hand just for one console. The original NES also uses an AC power supply but like the Intelly 2, it rectifies that AC current to a DC current before it gets to the voltage regulator. As a result, you can actually power an NES all day long using a Genesis or SMS or Jaguar power supply. Again, the rectifier diodes in the console ensure that the current flows in the proper direction regardless of the polarity used from the DC power supply. I question why they didn't just use a standard DC supply in the first place back then. It might be that the AC was needed for all the attachments perhaps? I don't own any of the attachments like the system changer or the ECS so it is possible that the AC current was needed to power all of those items. But for just playing standard intellivision games on the console itself, a 5200 PSU will do fine.

What is the Spudster? I haven't got that one.

I concur on this order... However, the power brick is not an issue. You can use any DC brick as well provided it provides at least 1.5A of current and provides at least 9v input. I actually use a 5200 PSU with mine with out issue and have for years now. And that works out well because the the 5200 is a large brick, but it is detached from the rest of the cords so you only need a standard 2 prong plug into the outlet or strip and then the brick further down the line and then another cable to plug into the power port. Using a DC PSU I think is better anyway because the supply board inside doesn't have to work as hard since all of the rectification to convert the AC to DC is bypassed in that regard. Also, Console5 provides a replacement resistor to help limit the time needed with that single combo power/reset button. Basically you only hold it down for about 2 sec to power it off.

The Sears unit to me is the best one of the bunch and that is what I use as my daily driver. Controllers can be removed if needed for servicing easily, it uses the same internal parts as the standard model 1 so lots of stuff is interchangeable. In fact the interior layout is exactly the same. It is the center tray that is only molded differently to allow for the removable controllers. The cable harness that has the DB9 on it is snapped onto that center tray section and then uses the exact same molex style connectors onto the main board. There are differences in two of the IC chips but that doesn't affect the functionality at all. Until about a year ago, my Sears Intelly was actually using a standard Mattel 2609 mainboard in it.