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FINALLY GOT ONE!!!!! - Atari Lynx


Atari Creep

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54 minutes ago, Justin said:

Here we go. Strap in kids. I'm gonna go out on a limb here and say battery life doesn't matter. 🔋

As a proud Game Boy Advance owner I'm going to say that it does. At least on long road trips or something. At home it couldn't matter less.

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29 minutes ago, HDN said:

As a proud Game Boy Advance owner I'm going to say that it does. At least on long road trips or something. At home it couldn't matter less.

I had a cell phone in 1989, the same year as Lynx. None of us complained about size or battery life to any meaningful degree. Those things were trivial in comparison to the outright technological miracles that were the dawn of portable communications and entertainment.

 

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1 hour ago, Justin said:

Here we go. Strap in kids. I'm gonna go out on a limb here and say battery life doesn't matter. 🔋

I agree with you on this one but to be fair when these came out I was in high school.  I had the original GameBoy and the Game Gear.  I didn't get a Lynx until much later.  I took both to school and, frankly, I loved the Game Gear better but I got more play time on the GameBoy.  So my comment was based on the time those machines were battling it out.  In the modern days battery life doesn't matter any more.  For their time both the Lynx and the Game Gear were the more powerful and more impressive systems hands down.

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11 hours ago, Justin said:

Here we go. Strap in kids. I'm gonna go out on a limb here and say battery life doesn't matter. 🔋

While it may have mattered to some, I'm going to largely agree with you. I would say Nintendo's market share, head start, Tetris, lower price point, marketing power, game selection and third party support are all bigger reasons why the Game Boy beat the Game Gear, Lynx and Turbo Express.

Besides, battery conscious gamers like myself bought AC adapters for home, recharable batteries for on the go and this for long car trips:

1563735445_s-l4002.jpg.d842e36f49976d1e51152d2d4abbaa24.jpg

The No Swear Gamer on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UChtJuo040EOCTVziObIgVcg

Host of The Atari 7800 Game by Game Podcast on iTunes, Stitcher and YouTube

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1 minute ago, nosweargamer said:

While it may have mattered to some, I'm going to largely agree with you. I would say Nintendo's market share, head start, Tetris, lower price point, marketing power, game selection and third party support are all bigger reasons why the Game Boy beat the Game Gear, Lynx and Turbo Express.

Besides, battery conscious gamers like myself bought AC adapters for home, recharable batteries for on the go and this for long car trips:

1563735445_s-l4002.jpg.d842e36f49976d1e51152d2d4abbaa24.jpg

There are always solutions, but they're just less convenient. At least the Lynx had a backlight.

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I know someone else mentioned the McWill mod to improve the screen issue? Coincidentally just seen THIS video, now this is for the LYNX II so not sure how or if it might apply to an original LYNX but interesting still. 

UPDATE : Ah ok, noticed early in the video the AD where he ordered the mod states MCWILL LCD UPGRADE KIT FOR ATARI LYNX II (REDESIGNED VERSION 2)

SO PERHAPS THIS IMPLIES THE ORIGINAL DESIGN WAS FOR THE ORIGINAL LYNX? 🤔

 

I am Rob aka MaximumRD aka OldSchoolRetroGamer and THIS is my world http://about.me/maximumrd

"For you, the day Bison graced your village was the most important day of your life. But for me, it was Tuesday."

 - M. Bison

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McWill - WILL in fact give this machine a whole new lease on life... don’t skimp on this upgrade, its worth every penny.  I cant think of a better way to spend the money, it will totally blow you away @MaximumRD nice job on posting the video.

Host of The Jag Bar • Lynx Lounge  7800 Avenue

:youtube: Watch now on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCrhPvmALbHpBUqrbBOms5Vw

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There are two versions of the McWill and which you get depends on which model you have. The Model 1 that @Atari Creep purchased is more of a challenge to install the McWill into mainly due to the fact that the LCD on that model is part of the mainboard itself so aligning the replacement screen can be more than fun..

I've installed quite a few of these and the McWill is excellent no doubt! However, when I want to just pick up my Lynx to play a game on it for a bit, I will usually reach for my BennVenn LCD modded on instead as the max brightness of the McWill screen is harsh after a while to me. In fact, if I do play on my McWill modded Lynx, I'm always using the pseudo scan-line mode to bring the brightness down a tad on it.

So if you don't need the VGA output of the McWill, I do feel that in most cases, the BennVenn kit is the better route for most Lynx gamers. It is a cheaper kit since it doesn't provide VGA output ability, and you can adjust the brightness on it using the backlight button to 7 levels plus pseudo scan-lines just like the McWill screen. There are differences in the way games look between them, but if you didn't point them out to someone, they likely wouldn't be able to tell the difference between one or the other aside from the brightness levels.

I've also been told though I've not tested it myself, that the BennVenn screen is more power efficient and thus batteries last longer with that LCD kit as well.

Regardless of which model LCD kit a person should choose, you cannot go wrong with either and the difference between them like watching your favorite movie on VHS for years and then watching what it really should look like on Blu-Ray on a nice modern TV.

 

See what I'm up to over at the Ivory Tower Collections: http://www.youtube.com/ivorytowercollections

 

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@CrossBow, do you offer the same service on the Sega Game Gear?  I've been thinking about having a nicer screen installed on mine.  I'd love to hear your opinion on that one.

The Lynx screen updates are awesome.  I've seen them both (McWill and BennVenn) and they both look great.  Mine has the McWill.  No regrets.  DO IT!

 

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Yeap...I've done quite a few GGs with the McWill. Far as I know that is the only best solution for the GGs is the McWill but that one costs a little more to do because it requires a little more labor to install. Or at least it does for me due to the SMD parts invovled. Also if it hasn't been recapped, that is really required at this point even for the newer Majesco units. Although it is worth nothing that the Majesco units aren't compatible with the McWill currently. But the price of the kits is the same between the GG and the Lynx systems at about $100 shipped for the kits thereabouts. I don't have any McWills currently on hand and would have to order one in. Shoot me a PM on this if you want more details...pricing..etc.

 

See what I'm up to over at the Ivory Tower Collections: http://www.youtube.com/ivorytowercollections

 

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4 minutes ago, CrossBow said:

Yeap...I've done quite a few GGs with the McWill. Far as I know that is the only best solution for the GGs is the McWill but that one costs a little more to do because it requires a little more labor to install. Or at least it does for me due to the SMD parts invovled. Also if it hasn't been recapped, that is really required at this point even for the newer Majesco units. Although it is worth nothing that the Majesco units aren't compatible with the McWill currently. But the price of the kits is the same between the GG and the Lynx systems at about $100 shipped for the kits thereabouts. I don't have any McWills currently on hand and would have to order one in. Shoot me a PM on this if you want more details...pricing..etc.

 

I will, thanks.  Mine is a Majesco model.  I'll see if I can find a Sega model that has a decent gamepad.  Or please let me know if you have a completed unit for sale. 

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3 minutes ago, RickR said:

I will, thanks.  Mine is a Majesco model.  I'll see if I can find a Sega model that has a decent gamepad.  Or please let me know if you have a completed unit for sale. 

No complete units for sale. I don't normally do that accept in cases where I might already have spare units on hand I don't need and decide to finally refresh them out for sale later. Did that recently with a fully modded 4-port 5200 that was essentially dead that I brought back to life and then later sold and also a Vader 2600 that wasn't modded but had been fully refurbished inside with new caps, new power jack...voltage regulator and tuned...etc.

 

See what I'm up to over at the Ivory Tower Collections: http://www.youtube.com/ivorytowercollections

 

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On 9/24/2020 at 12:33 PM, RickR said:

I will, thanks.  Mine is a Majesco model.  I'll see if I can find a Sega model that has a decent gamepad.  Or please let me know if you have a completed unit for sale. 

I see the original Game Gears go for some fairly good deals on eBay from time to time.  I've been watching them myself as I'd like to get a second to practice on before I replace the caps on my more expensive blue model.  

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