Atari System 1 Monitor Replacement and VGA out

[btbfilms76]

Well I’ve had a sick Roadblasters monitor since I acquired this a few years back. It was not great when I got it and little by little I watched it die slowly each time it powered on. I was loosing color and detail so I decided to switch out the old monitor with a 19in VGA monitor.... Well this became a tricky situation because unless you do a very deep information dive you migh run into some problems - as I did. But I figured it out and I’d like to share everything that I came up with.

 

CGA/EGA/YUV TO VGA CONVERTER Is the piece you need to purchase but mine arived with no instructions so right away I needed to go searching online for them.

https://www.mikesarcade.com/estore/datasheets/GBS-8200-booklet.pdf

Mikes Arcade really had some great tips however the cable that came provided did not work... at all. I thought I had a broken board.

The other problem is the video cables coming off the System 1 PCB were 7 in total and I only had 5 options on the new converter.

So RGB makes sense - what about the other 4 cables? Where do these go? Luckily I found this

“The Scamatic Packet Suplement for the Atari System 1”. Now I’m able to see exactly what each color means. So instead of using the cables provided with the converter I soldered them directly to the board right at this point here.

I used RGB Black and Brown. No V sync No H Svnc

And then...

[btbfilms76]

Just when things started to get rolling the smell of smoke and burning electronics became present.

Tho old power switcher took a dive.

 

So after a visit to Amazon and two days later. A brand new one showed up and we’re back on track.

[btbfilms76]

I used the original monitor housing to mount the new VGA monitor, almost perfect fit.

The bezel fit right over it on the front, no problem

 

The picture quality was amazing but not perfect, I was close but not perfect, and I need it to look the way I remember. Even after going through all output board menus - which are all in Chinese unless you change it to English. I tried to get it dialed in but it still was a little washed out - I found this.

RGB fine tuning knobs, couple of twists and that did the trick.

Perfect!

 

I hope you find this helpful.

No more of this...

 

We’re all about this now.

[dgrubb]

Superb work! It's great to see old hardware receive so much love.

 

The picture quality was amazing but not perfect, I was close but not perfect, and I need it to look the way I remember.

 

Interesting point about fidelity here. Eyes change enormously over the course of adulthood, losing the ability to discern as much detail and colour luminance. By restoring it to your memory (which, being human, I presume, is somewhat less than perfect anyway) it's possible you're actually over-compensating and making the colours brighter than they really were.

[RickR]

Superb work! It's great to see old hardware receive so much love.

 

 

Interesting point about fidelity here. Eyes change enormously over the course of adulthood, losing the ability to discern as much detail and colour luminance. By restoring it to your memory (which, being human, I presume, is somewhat less than perfect anyway) it's possible you're actually over-compensating and making the colours brighter than they really were.

I feel like I've got bionic eyes now that I've had to get progressive lenses in my glasses.  I even make the "nuh-nuh-nuh" bionic sound when I use the bottom part of my lenses. 

[mummite]

Hello!  I am new here and found this forum by searching for help on LCD replacement for roadblasters. 

I have owned 3 Atari system 1 machines and one of them has a bad monitor.  I want to get the old RGB monitor out and use a VGA converter and replace the monitor tube.

Couple questions

-          Looks like the old RGB connector into the tube would not work since the wire pinout order is different.  So did you just cut the wires and re-solder them in that order.  From bottom up Red, Green, Blue, Black and Brown.  Other 2 wires V and H synch just leave out?

 

-          I assume all over plugs into the old monitor besides those 5 wires won’t be needed anymore.

 

-          How did you power the convertor and monitor just use an external power supply?

 

-          Also what monitor did you use?  To fit in the machine.

 

-          Is it easy to adjust the monitor to fit?  Picture and mounting

 

-          Is it possible to get a couple more pictures posted for reference?  The more the better also would love some pictures of what wires go to the power switcher.

 

Thank you and great work.  I really enjoy Roadblasters and would like to give this machine some life.  I wish my machine had a newer style power switcher.  That may be my next project on this machine.

I won’t be doing this for a bit, since the machine is not near me.  But I am collecting the parts and info for when I dig into it in the next couple months.

Also this is a great forum!  Good stuff

 

[Justin]

22 hours ago, mummite said:

Also this is a great forum!  Good stuff

Welcome to the forums @mummite! And thank you! Thrilled to see you found your way to us because of RoadBlasters. I hope you enjoy your time here, and I hope we can be helpful to you in breathing new life into your Atari System 1.

[btbfilms76]

On 2/28/2019 at 7:35 PM, mummite said:

Hello!  I am new here and found this forum by searching for help on LCD replacement for roadblasters. 

I have owned 3 Atari system 1 machines and one of them has a bad monitor.  I want to get the old RGB monitor out and use a VGA converter and replace the monitor tube.

Couple questions

-          Looks like the old RGB connector into the tube would not work since the wire pinout order is different.  So did you just cut the wires and re-solder them in that order.  From bottom up Red, Green, Blue, Black and Brown.  Other 2 wires V and H synch just leave out?

 

-          I assume all over plugs into the old monitor besides those 5 wires won’t be needed anymore.

 

-          How did you power the convertor and monitor just use an external power supply?

 

-          Also what monitor did you use?  To fit in the machine.

 

-          Is it easy to adjust the monitor to fit?  Picture and mounting

 

-          Is it possible to get a couple more pictures posted for reference?  The more the better also would love some pictures of what wires go to the power switcher.

 

Thank you and great work.  I really enjoy Roadblasters and would like to give this machine some life.  I wish my machine had a newer style power switcher.  That may be my next project on this machine.

I won’t be doing this for a bit, since the machine is not near me.  But I am collecting the parts and info for when I dig into it in the next couple months.

Also this is a great forum!  Good stuff

 

Hey there!

Glad you found the article here as this information is spread out all over the place and I wanted to highlight the work I was attempting to do, and keep it all on one sight.  As for your questions.

- Leave out the V & H Sync solder the rest just like in the pic.

- old monitor plugs wont be needed

-re wire the NEW power converter as stated on the front lable, it gets the power from another converter on the board. And the monitor s its own power supply, plunging the cabinet and monitor into one cable

- I believe its a 19” dell any 19” or 20” 4X3 monitor will work

- I used some cheap metal strips from Home Depot to make the bracket, most monitors have screw holes in the back for the stand or mounting, just use those, with a few washers you should be set.

Good luck!  Bring your machine back from the brink and give it some life.  

I will try to find some time to post some more pice soon. 

[Darquan]

I have an APB Arcade machine and I tried using the converter board also but I am not getting a signal to the monitor and the wiring I have on the machine right now is not the same color scheme you showed in your pictures.

I bought a converter board from Mike's Arcade and the 5-pin RGB connection as well. 

Any recommendations would be helpful.