CrossBow

I've a new set of digital calipers. I assume Trek's cart would be the same as mine and you are only needing to know how thick the entire board setup if from the bottom of the PCB to the top of the chip he uses right?

The controllers on the Intelly 2 are awful! The buttons are stiff plastic that doesn't have much tactile feel to them and the keypad buttons are recessed and aren't bubble buttons like the model 1. The ONLY thing the Intellivision 2 has going for it over the model 1 is the smaller size and I think it does look cool. And the fact that the controllers on the model 2 can be removed as they plug in using the same standard DB9 jacks of many consoles of the day. Model 2 Intellys also use a separate power brick vs the attached AC cord that is on the model 1. Model 2's aren't compatible with some Colecovision games that do work on the model 1, but the model 2 can use the system changer whereas the model 1 requires a hardware modification to do this similar to what you do with the 4 port 5200 to enable it to use the VCS adapter. My preference has always been the model 1 units although they do generate a ton and heat and don't like be played on carpet.

Wanted to ask about some of this... Did you buy out someone's collection? I'm asking because I wasn't aware that anyone was willing to let those Anniversary 7800 carts go? I've got them as well and would never think to part with them so I'm curious if you already had the carts and just had Marc make you some boxes or ? Have to give you thoughts on those DC games. I've looked at them but didn't pull the trigger yet. Although I do have Izzy and that one is really fun! It was kinda short as I got through the game in a few hours as I recall but still quite fun to play. I tried to get one of those Astro-Grovers but wasn't able to at the time. Again, I assume you had the cart and had Marc make you a box? That Diner is in really good shape! Congrats on that! I have it CIB but the box on mine isn't nearly as pristine. I think I like playing Diner more than BT too and it is one of my go to games on the Intellivision that I fire up when testing consoles. Where did you get the case for your Jason vectrex multicart? I just got mine back in November but haven't even fired it up yet. I have it just stuck in a box out of the way for the time being.

I can't recall which of my sets first came with one of these. It might have been one of the Architecture sets I have but they have become more and more commonly found. I also wished they had them when I was kid. I can't tell you how many sore fingers and broken nails and cuts to the quick I had as a kid. Especially trying to separate the larger plates from each other and other thin pieces.

Likely true...but it was NEVER a killer app in my family! In fact I don't think we ever actually owned Pac-Man because all of my friends had it so if I wanted to play it I would borrow it from them or just play it at their house. Ms-Pac on the other hand... That was a very different story. Took me months to save up for a copy of that in the early 80s. My mother played it more than I did and got to be quite good at it too.

When I got m 4 switcher in the early 80s, it came with two additional games my parents had to have at that time. One was defender, the other.... Space Invaders. So I would say it was truly the first killer game that everyone had to have and pretty much everyone did. I'm pretty confident that all of my friends who had a 2600 also owned a copy of Space Invaders. It be interesting to know if SI might be the 2nd most common game on the 2600 next to combat just because the game sold systems on its own.

Then what is in place of where the RF would normally go on the mainboard just below that PCB then? I can see how that would be RF with the tuning coil on it but then why the different crystal? But you have to keep in mind I've never seen the insides of the PAL consoles and I've not found any service manuals for the PAL models either. But what few PAL versions I have seen the insides of from other people posting pics, they look very similar to the NTSC models. So yeah... kinda strange. Heck, it wasn't until end of year before last that I found out that some European models of the Intelly don't even use a power supply board inside them? I guess they were designed with external bricks similar to the colecovision and other consoles. That is why the first RGB board from Yannick has the holes on the sides of the board. He designed it to mount in the spot where the power supply board is on most other models because apparently in France they don't have power boards in them. That must be nice...

I honestly don't know since the NTSC consoles do NOT have this board. But if I were to guess, maybe it is some sort of video converter? Is your console SECAM or RGB in some way? In looking at the components on the board, I can see another variable cap and crystal on it similar to what should be on the main board. Lots of 74x logic and what looks to be a tuning coil. So it has to be related to video somehow.

I haven't had dominos... in a very long time. Easily been more than 20 years now? They weren't that good when I first remembering them coming here in my town in the later 80s and so was never impressed with them enough to try them again. However, my wife and I did get a pizza from Papa Murphy's last night LOL!!!

Not really weird as you are using a PAL system the games are likely squished due to the difference between the 50/60hz line frequencies is my guess. In other words I'm not sure that the Intellivision games are really PAL specifically programmed? Colors look different as well on your Armour Battle. On an unrelated note... why is your BBC Micro being used as a table for storing stuff on it?! LOL!

One easy to get to location for ground is actually on the left hand side of that large cap. The negative lead on all of the Intellivision power supply boards I've seen, is usually ground. That is if you are just checking the voltages from the ribbon cable off the power supply board to the main board. If you are wanting to check the voltages on the harness from the transformer to the power supply board, then you need to consult with the service manuals on which pins to have the probes on for testing that. I'm not sure if it is different between the NTSC and PAL/Euro models though.

We get the family sized one as we really like their pizza LOL!

There are a lot of options where I live. Most of the time we order Papa John's or pick up one from Papa Murphy's to bake. We tend to prefer Papa Murphy's over John but there it is. Use to get Pizza Hut all the time but over the last few years, the quality and taste has just really slipped beyond measure in our eyes. We have quite a few mom and pop places as well, but most of them have limited delivery or are quite a bit more expensive compared the usual places.

I used to order up a bigfoot from pizza hut when I was in the barracks in the military in the early 90s and it would keep me fed for a good couple evenings. As for Little Caesars, I've never been a fan of their pizza ever and don't order from them. Although I've heard their crazy bread was supposed to be really good? But I don't recall ever having tried it.

Dreadnaught Factor comes to mind as with that game, you can control how fast you move across by adjusting where the joystick position is.

I think those that complain about removing it, are those that grew up with the console. I personally didn't even know the Vectrex ever existed until I got back into classic gaming in the early 2000s. I don't recall commercials or ever seeing one on display when I was a boy so for me I have no nostalgia towards the console. As a result the buzz was a pita to me. One disadvantage.. yes there is one, to removing the buzz, is that some demos relied on the way that buzz was generated for sound. As a result the demo for Bad Apple has barely audible audio. No amount of volume adjustment or other fixes I've tried works to correct for this. Also the buzz-off didn't totally remove the buzz in my unit as there is still a tiny bit there, However, it is only audible through the internal speaker as the VAT captured audio does not have any buzz from it. I also own three mutlicarts: - VecMulti - Jason's Kopps Multicart that I received in November (about a year after I ordered it LOL) and... - a VecFever... The VecFever might be my favorite with the additional games it game with and the ability to run modified Vector arcade MAME roms through it and on the Vectrex. Although the PiTrex project has supplanted the VecFever in many regards. Additionally there is a VecFever II that has the ability to play rom images of much larger size and internal storage but I'm good with the seemingly unobtainium one I own.

Happy New Year Atari.io family! ITC# 79 was released this morning and I hope is interesting and useful for those looking to possibly install a UAV into a Sears Video Arcade II and/or Japanese 2800 console. Internally these consoles are very similar to the 4 switch design, at least in the main logic area. In this video I go over the process of how I found the points to attach to, go through the process of replacing the voltage regulator with a higher output variant and why it is needed, and show you what happens when you leave the 820Ω resistor in place that you are likely to find attached on pins 6 & 9 of the TIA on the bottom of the PCB and why it needs to be removed. As always, thank you for watching and support. Let's all work together and look towards a wonderful 2022!

What are the three multicarts that you own @RickR? I also have a small Veccy collection. Mine was a gift that was given to me just after the OVGE 10th anniversary expo I hosted. It was a present from my friends who were a part of the event as a thanks for hosting it. Since then, I've recapped mine (Really sucked since I didn't have my de-soldering iron back then), Installed two different no buzz type kits until I finally installed Charles Tweety's No Buzz kit and also his Vectrex Audio Tap modification as well. I've thought about seeing if those UV LED frames are still available, but that is really only useful with UV reactive overlays to go with it and when I calculate what all of that would cost (Since it mostly has to all come from the UK) vs how much I actually play the vectrex... I've not seen a justification in that. I play on mine with a modded genesis controller I did a few years back. My favorite games on the system is without a doubt Kristof Tut's releases of Vector Pilot and Vector Patrol as well as the homebrew release of Vectorblade. They really showcase what the Vectrex was capable of then and now!

As @Scott Stilphen noted you don't need a trak-ball because games that support and really use the analog controls will behave differently depending on how far the controller is moved from the center position. In the case of Vanguard's instructions, it clearly states that your ship will move faster the further you move in that direction. That alone would indicate it does support the analog nature of the controllers.

Or hit it with enough force to take it out of its L2 orbit and end up crashing into the moon or going out further into space. If lucky, it would only knock it sideways a bit that they could get it back into orbital alignment, but it doesn't have a ton of fuel on board either as we discussed. Interesting it is designed to take some hits and good forward thinking. Time will tell...

Here is something else I've always wondered... micro meteorite impacts? I mean it looks super fragile as you said and we know how often the ISS has been hit with a few things here and there. I'm surprised Hubble hasn't sustained more damage over its long lifespan than it has! But I just picture that entire sun shield umbrella looking like swiss cheese in just a few years time to say nothing of the exposed mirrors.

I hadn't really been following this until recently as I honestly was in the camp that it would never actually happen. I'm glad to see it launched without issue. But why wait so long for all the other parts to deploy?! Streatching it out over days and in fact nearly a month out. It would pretty much suck if there is a problem with those final deployments and the thing is already past Luna! Wouldn't exactly be easy or cheapish to send up a crew for repairs at that point. So why not deploy all the bits now to make sure when it is still more reachable closer to Earth?

Those voltages should be okay there. Although the 11.8 is a tad on the low side as the regulator is a 12v output regulator. If you probe the left hand pin, that is the input voltage going into the regulator... what does that read? Also, I don't think the AC input portion would likely be that different from the NTSC version since the transformer is still providing the initial input voltages to the PSU board. Sure the actual AC to the transformer is different being 220 - 240v at 50hz but I would think the outputs lines will be similar. I also was looking at some pics of PAL Intellivision model 1 units, and they actually looked to have the same similar PSU board design as the NTSC ones? So this is a pretty strange layout on yours. In looking at the BOM for the NTSC model 1 PSU, it seems there are only 2 zeners they used and they were basically 3.3v output types. The rest of the diodes are standard 4001 series likely designed as a bridge rectifier for converting the input AC voltages to DC for the regulators to take over from there. Another thing to check in regards to voltages, is to make sure you have the right voltage from the PSU through the power ribbon cable to the mainboard. The Intellivision is kinda finicky about the voltages and if it doesn't have enough juice or as much as it wants for a particular section, it will mistreat you with graphic corruption and other tantrums.

Thank you very much @- Ω - for those kind words! I often worry that I might not maintain the right comms with some clients because especially over the past year, the 'business' has picked up quite a bit and it seems there is always a console or 3 here to receive services. It is one of the reasons I've not posted as many videos as in the past. My priorities are my clients before YT vids... so if there are systems to be worked on, then the vids play backseat. Having said that, I am going to make a video soon that has long be needed I think and more or less requested I do. Thank you again though and I really appreciate it!

This must be a PAL console then? I've seen the insides of plenty of NTSC Intellivisions and never seen one laid out like that before? Are the initial input voltages from the AC transformer correct? I know you said you tested the voltage test points and that everything is a few volts off? So first thing is to verify that the input voltages are correct and begin to trace from there.