dphirschler

Yay! This is good news indeed! Please keep us posted here on the progress of this. I will be wanting one of those boards. Darryl

Guess what? I found the manual! Still no sign of the keyboard overlay. Darryl

Is one better than the other? Are they the same only CF vs SD memory? Can I see some pics of the NanoPEB? Are they just a bare board or is there a case for it? Has anybody mounted one internally? Darryl

The audio out is a line level, so perhaps the 1/8" audio jack might be misleading as that usually indicates amplified audio. hmm... perhaps a small audio amplifier can be installed too. Headphones would be fun to use. Ag, then I need a volume knob or wheel... maybe I should put an RCA there. Darryl

Just ordered mine. Can't wait. Darryl

I was planning on running audio to a 1/8" mono audio connector. And I was also planning on removing the original monitor connection. Possibly put the audio-out connection there. Maybe there is a way to solder an audio connector in that same spot. Darryl

Who here has done the F18A VGA-out mod? I want to do the mod, but I'd like to hear from the others around here about it first. Also, I'd like to know more about the extra parts needed to finish the mod. Ribbon cables, VGA connector, mounting screws, other chips and stuff? Does it come with instructions? Where can I find the socket to put in place of the original chip, and how much is it? Darryl

OK, I took a closer look. The big manual and keyboard overlay are missing. I don't know how I got that wrong unless I was looking at the complete one (missing the cart) the first time. FWIW, I have the manual in pdf form. You still want it? It's $12.95 to ship priority mail. If so, then I need your address (in a PM). Darryl

Well, it's a Mitsumi beige keyboard... :-( There's got to be a way to restore it. Darryl

53102602 - I got nuttin'. two pair... And my keyboard dosen't work either. :-( Darryl

Here is a mod I did as a teenage on my beige console. I haven't seen it documented online anywhere. It's a very simple mod only involving drilling one hole in the case and soldering two connections on the power supply. The power switch is superior on the beige console, but no LED is a bummer. The hole is easy to drill and is marked by a guide inside the case. Drill a pilot hole there with a very small bit. Then drill into the case with the proper sized bit (about the size of the LED). It helps if you have an old black/silver console to look at. Then after your hole is drilled, solder in your LED. There are already two points on the PSU board for the LED. Make sure you solder +/- correctly otherwise the LED won't work. Leave long leads on the LED (just like the black/silver console), so you can bend it to fit into the hole you drilled. Put it all back together and admire your handiwork. I chose green back then. You you agree with my color choice? Later, if I ever install some sort of hdd inside the console, I will put second LED for when it is accessed. Darryl

OK, I took apart my console and verfied it's definitely connected to the keyboard pins. I don't even remember doing this one, although after I saw my handywork I remembered. I was pretty bold as a teenager. Here are some photos. Not a super good soldering job, but not too bad either, especially for an untrained teenager. I've seen worse. Darryl

OK, I will open the case tonight and see what keyboard is in there. Mitsumi = bad. So is there no remedy for the Mitsumi keyboards? Darryl

Any tips for restoring the keyboard. Of the two keyboards I've tried here, niether works. I imagine some contacts need to be cleaned. Has anybody else done this yet? I'd like to know how best to clean the contacts (that is if that is what needs to be done). Is it as easy as contact cleaning spray, or should I use isoprophil, or pencil eraser, business card, sandpaper? Maybe it's not contacts but something else... I don't even know hot to take the keyboard apart. I only know how to remove the entire keyboard unit. ... tips anyone? Darryl

Arrg! I can't play until my keyboard is fixed! I used to OWN this game back in the day... on a pirated copy no less! lol. Darryl

OK, I've read his page and examined his PCB. I have some minor improvements I want to make to the PCB. I'd like to make room for mounting holes, then spread out some of the traces a little. And possibly put a standard header for the PS2 connection. (or is that a standard header there?) Is anybody else interested in doing this mod? It might be cheaper to get multiple boards done at the same time. Darryl

I don't think it was a broken keyboard that motivated me to make this mod. Until now, my keyboard has always worked. But I am nearly certain this connector is wired to the keyboard pins. Arcade controll board is most likely. The baffling part is I don't even remember making this mod. I can remember soldering in a power LED (the beige models didn't have one). And songs from various obscure games (Midnight Mason still haunts me). I should try shorting various pins and seeing which keys get "pressed". Darryl

@River Patroller - I think you are right. I was hung up on video. But I believe I was going to do some external game panel. @Stargunner - I always loved my beige console. Is it cosmetic or is there something actually wrong with the beige consoles? Darryl

So I was going to experiment with loading an Adventure "cassette" from my phone via mp3 and my console keyboard only had two keys that worked. This is the console I just got from my dad. So I dug up my own console from my youth. I know exactly where it is, top shelf in the basement storage room. I last plugged it in about five years ago. Well, I got it down off the top shelf and as I was connecting the power and video, I noticed an extra plug on the back. I swear I don't remember doing this mod!! Obviously I did it, but I cannot remember what this mod might be. Any ideas before I tear into it? Oh, and guess what? The keyboard on this one doesn't work either. So my Adventure experiment will have to wait. Darryl

Gonna experiment with mp3 tonight. I'll report my progress. Look in the other thread in case I forget and put my reults there. Darryl

Question about the files attached above. There is ADVENTUR_1, ADVENTUR_2, and ADVENTUR_E. Which one is the game? Guessing there were three versions of the game? I think there was a three-item demo, which might be one of them. And I would guess that ADVENTUR_E is the full game. I fixed the SPIDEY, HULK, and BUCKY files too. I am experimenting with mp3 now. I've encoded to 256k VBR (160 avg) and will test it out. I want to do this from my phone. This sort of thing is BEGGING for an Android app. The way I see it, it would "play" fiad, WAV (and possibly MP3, OGG, FLAC and other formats)... and also be ready to record your programs or saved game progress. And it would automatically trim off the silence. Gonna try loading a game from the phone using mp3 tonight. I've compared the wav with the mp3 and there are extra jaggies in the mp3, but I am guessing it will load fine. I'll report back my progress. Darryl

They sure looked nice though. Didn't stand up on the shelf very well though.

One of the problems I always had with my TI was the bad connection from the firehose. If you move the console or bump it, it could mess up the connection. So you'd have to unplug it and replug it. The speech synth just made the likelihood of a bad connection even worse. So now I want to mount the SS internally in the console. I've read the "tutorial" at mainbyte. I am ready to do it, but I want to modify the design slightly. First of all, has anybody else here done this mod? Are you pleased with it? What (if any) are the side-effects? And most importantly, what would you change if you could do it again? Are there better solder points for instance? Is it hard to get access to other components for modding or service after the internal SS mod? My own idea is I want to be able to disconnect the SS (for service, upgrade, for repairs, etc). So I am thinking of running a ribbon cable to a connector and then plugging the SS into the connector, internally of course. Maybe it's possible to reuse the one desoldered from the SS? Also, I think I might want a switch installed to disable the SS. Perhaps there is a game that does not behave with the SS well and it's better to remove it. Thoughts?

It's yours. I'll find out how much to ship next time I am at the post office. I believe it's a binder, manual, disks, keyboard overlay, and reference card. That's pretty much everything but the cart. Darryl

I am very interested in modding my TI to use a standard PS2 keyboard. I never really got along with my TI keyboard. I was always fat-fingering keys because it was just a size smaller than standard keyboards. The standard 101 keyboard looks ideal to me. In my ideal world, I would map the F1-F11 keys to TI function keys (1-9, '0', '='). The arrow keys mapped to FCTN+ESDX (perhaps after hitting Scroll Lock it maps straight to ESDX without FCTN). Maybe even ALT to TI FCTN key (so you could still hit ALT+8 to "Redo", or just hit F8... or ALT+ESDX for arrow keys). Both F2 and “Insert”) could be mapped to TI FCTN+2 "Insert"). Who knows what to do with PGUP, PGDN, Home, and End? Anyways, I have no idea how to make this work. I would imagine a PS2 keyboard decoder would have to be hardwired in. I've seen pictures of the Rave99 Keyboard Enhancement, and that looks like exactly what I want! So my questions are: Is it (still or was it ever) available for sale? Has any further development been done on this? And if not, is there any interest here to continue/revive this project? Darryl