battleman13

Progress! I have the lynx 1 that I bought in good condition just a few months ago working! C38 was leaking, and appeared almost like battery acid corrosion on a leg? Pretty much wore half the pad on the screen side of the board off. In a bit of a noob move, I continued to use a tip that was visibly shot because it was my favorite shape. I had thought I was responsible for ripping the rest of the pad off, but in reality, it was only on by a thread thanks to the leakage. I almost though all was for not, when I realized most of the through hole caps had little if any solder on the screen side of the board. So apparently, just having solder on the underside is good enough! Replaced C38, C39... (the two biggest power caps) and resoldered the speaker as it was barely hanging on. Inserted a game cart, and "INSERT GAME" but boy was I happy! This means that Mikey and Suzy are fine! I removed and reinserted my chips challenge game about 10-15 times, and IT WORKS! The screen even looks really good for an original screen, no "zones" as is customary with random "thirds" of the screen being different levels of brightness / contrast. Very awesome! Although I had really bad luck with the Lynx 2 and spare boards, I think I can get at least one of the 3 boards going... maybe 2. I probably won't have the time for quite a while, but I can use my oscilloscope and my working lynx 1 to diagnose my broken lynx 1 (grandfathers really) by studying the mikey / suzy activity. I suspect a bad mikey.

My votes are in over at itch.io Some feedback for the devs: Minimal - The start of what could easily be my favorite of the bunch in terms of an all around title. Veryyy early build though. I'd have liked to have seen the demo be a bit further along for a variety of reasons. Mostly, we are left to imagine what the finished implementation will look like in terms of how the game plays, and feels... difficulty and so on. The controls are nice and tight. The platforming is done in a way as to not be trivial, but not to be rage quit hard either. Sybils Nightmare Run - Sort of different from basically any other existing Lynx game alone nearly warrants it being finished. I just feel like there needs to be a "touch" more depth to the game play in terms of mechanics. I like the graphic style, the presentation. I played an hour or two without making a "chore" of it. Solid start. Time Loop - Very simple, but loads of fun. Again, love the graphics and art concepts... gameplay mechanics are good, controls pretty smooth. Things can almost feel a tiny bit "slippery" at times. When you get up to the max limit of clones, it almost feels too crowded. Getting goals above levels 20 plus nearly feels like luck. Took me quite a few attempts before I discovered the "turbo" button. Helps. I also discovered a little tactic that helps get you started early on, I won't spoil though A great homebrew title! Asteroid Chasers - I feel like for whatever reason, this one just doesn't hit home for me. It's a great example of awesome work for the system (as all these entries are really, and that's not just my excitement for more lynx titles talking!). Of all the entries, this one I had to force myself to spend the extra time with. I'm not quite sure why. Even after reading the instructions, it just doesn't feel intuitive to me. Although, that's likely a fault of my own and not the game. Kudos to the devs, while the game play seems a bit lost on me, the artwork is an interesting example of what the lynx can do! XUMP 2 - What can I say. No disrespect meant to any of these games, but of them all, I could easily peg this one as a retail release from back when the console was still in production. Amazing effort, tons of replayability, A+ in my book. Dead ringer in my opinion. Titan - This is "middle of the road" for me in terms of the titles. I can see it being top 3. The lynx has some good shooters, gates of zendocon is a pretty cool one, and I bring this up I guess because it enters a space in the lynx library genre that isn't sorely lacking, although I try to not let that factor influence my voting too much. The lynx is devoid of several genres, but that doesn't make the first entry into the space necessarily a good one no matter how needed it is and that's why I try to limit that factor when voting. I feel like further into development, this title will get stronger. I could see myself buying a copy.

The game looks really interesting to me, and fills a MUCH needed gap on the system. I think any homebrewer out there has a real chance at making an RPG ish title that would sell really well. Having said that, the website just says due to high demand and slow production time... none are available for direct sale. The only copy I could find on eBay was like $200.. Is there any place or any chance new copies are going to be available? I really wish there were a way to buy roms of some of this stuff. I'm sure some of you clever folks could work out a system. Could lower the cost, since you don't need to produce anything and the products could be available nearly indefinitely. Does each lynx have an "ID"... perhaps find a way to hash a password using the ID of the lynx... you send that hash in, then the author sends you a special copy of the game with the hashed value and that game will only run on your lynx. I mean... I get that perhaps that system of a system is pretty easy to defeat by simply programming out the hash check... buttt there are ways for detecting altered code as well.

So what did Atari do wrong. Well, it's more of what Nintendo did right. The NES had an amazing library of games compared to the 7800 and the fault was a mixture of the folks running Atari at the time and the stranglehold Nintendo had on some really good IP's both first party and third party. It's the same reason the gameboy beat the living pants off of the Lynx and the Game Gear. As a child (born in 86) in the early 90's... I had a game gear. Got a game boy color when it came out. The screen and hardware of the game gear was better, even the lynx had a better screen IMO... the library of the lynx though was just so limited. It never had a killer app like tetris or pokemon. Regardless of if or not you like those games, they sold MILLIONS of consoles. My grandfather had lynx units, that I really enjoyed playing, but my parents would never buy me one... the cost. They could get me and my brother both a game boy for the cost of one lynx. The gameboy pocket even further sealed that deal. Better screen, and two triple A batteries vs 4 AA's in the game boy (which lasted a long time) or six in the game gear (which could kill them in like 4-5 hours flat). That's the main fault IMO. Nintendo had, especially in terms of the game boy, an inferior product... but the software library was so much stronger in the eyes of the average consume, and the prices were so much lower... the competition had no real chance. The 7800, from what I've seen (never owned anything Atari other than Lynx units that I just bought within the last year or two) could have been a real competitor to the NES in terms of hardware. There just weren't nearly enough killer apps on the platform. The point of any video game system first and foremost is the games. If you don't have the games, it doesn't matter how amazing the hardware was. Nintendo has proven throughout the generations that hardware power can mean nothing.

I'm not 100% sure what the apline games cart is. Is is the full version of the game plus extras? Or just additional content? Do you somehow need to own a copy of alpine games to use this (doesn't seem likey?)

What are you using to burn carts! That looks very cool... digging the copy of timeloop sitting there. It's an interesting game, given how simple it can appear. Neat idea on the cart storage system

Looking good! Just might have to buy a copy. I'll try out the demo for sure.

I love mine! I bought 3 of em, and 3 Lynx 2 screens back in like.... March? Got em a few weeks ago. Haven't gotten fully around to fitting the screens yet, but did test the flash carts! I noted the exact same thing you did. Except mine were all slotted just fine, I had to remove them to load roms. Upon inserting, it's easy to get the sd cart wedged in between the slot on the board, and the casing. I nearly had to take one flash cart fully apart (had to pry on it quite a bit, loosen the adhesive) to get the SD card back. I also noted some variance in the casings. Most might not, but since I had multiples, I tested all 3. One fit much snugger than the others. One I had to insert and remove a bunch of times to get it to read. All 3 tested in the same lynx 2. It's also stated they might not fit the best in a lynx 1? I haven't tried. I can't wait for the new firmware to drop from atari gamer. It's overall a wonderful flash cart, at a great price. I can live with the case being "a tad disappointing", but I know they had a rough go at getting them done as well. I can be forgiving there. I'd possibly like to upgrade in the future. I got a black shell, but I saw BennVenn made some funky little multi color shells, I think the design is tweaked? I'll have to confirm that though. I'm happy though, easy way to try out all the new homebrew games from the latest round of the competition. Having a lot of fun with those!

So another update: I now have both of the two original Lynx 2 units I bought off ebay when I started this post. I also have my grandfathers broken lynx 1. Recently I bought another Lynx 1 and Lynx 2 as well as two spare Lynx 2 motherboards. That gives me a total of 3 complete Lynx 2 units, two complete Lynx 1 units and two spare lynx 2 motherboards. I spent about an hour last night testing out hardware. Swapped motherboards into a lynx 2 shell, connecting headphone to battery negative, and soldering a USB lead to the legs of C41 and inserting 5V via an old iphone charger. I did hook up the speaker, LCD backlight and LCD video ribbon. I did not keep connecting the flex circuit. I didn't want to cause wear to the carbon traces. Of that, I have two fully working Lynx 2 units. The remaining 3 lynx boards have some level of failures including, sound but no video (likely bad suzy?) one that displays no audio or video, and one that has rather glitchy audio and video. The original lynx 1 I had of my grandfathers still doesn't work. In the next few days I'll retest both of my complete Lynx 1 units. I suspect my grandfathers lynx 1 likely has a bad Mikey, but it's just a guess. The one with no video, I'm optimistic I can fix with a new suzy. The one that's looking dead with no audio or video, I'm suspecting a new mikey The one that's glitchy... I'm just not sure. I think I'll probably start with a full recap / power rebuild and then check and see if we get chips getting really hot. Could be anything and everything. Bad caps, cart slot issues, issues with mikey / suzy (not an expert on these.... but what I know is that Suzy is the GPU and basically Mikey does all else), ram issues. Best electronics has all the chips necessary. Unfortunately for the lynx 2, some of the chips are not cheap. Mikey's are $40 and Suzy's $30. The nice part is buying from them, it keeps from stealing parts for other units. Keeping from reducing the number of potentially workable lynx units from going down / motherboards getting thrown out potentially. My end goal is to get at least two fully working Lynx 2 units (which I technically have, would like a 3rd working) and the newer much better condition lynx 1 to be functional (didn't test it yet). I will be installing BennVenn screens into as many of the complete Lynx 2's as I can get working. If I can get the Lynx one going, it will eventually get that new screen treatment as well. I'd like to have a model 1 and model 2 for myself, and be able to give my grandfather back a working and refurbed model 2 with upgraded screen and a bennvenn flash cart. He's going to love it. I should be able to deliver that to him in the next few weeks. Just some ramblings of my attempt at lynx repair... who knows, maybe someday this might help someone else going down this same path.

It's a thought I've had go through my mind a number of times. As a young kid in the early 90's I was fascinated by the Lynx. I couldn't afford one, but my grandfather had two of them (one of each model). I enjoyed playing them for many years, but the DC power jack got damaged as they often did / do. So, now in my 30's and having some decent soldering ability and knowledge in the field (cut my teeth repairing pinball machines and other video game consoles). I have a bunch of lynx units, only one working.... waiting for repair. As of now, 2 of the lynx 2 units and 2 of the lynx 1 units as well as 3 spare motherboards. I ordered a 5 pack of cap kits and power rebuild circuits from console 5. Now not only do I realize it's not enough to potenitally refurb everything I currently have, but at some point 10 or 15 or 20 years in the future... I'll likely need to do these repairs again. Guess I'll need a few more cap kits / power rebuild kits and beyond that a spare kit for each lynx I keep so that in 20 years I'll have the parts I need.

That would be officially known as the "flex circuit". AFAIK, your best chance at being able to find another NOS replacement would be Best Electronics in California. They have a treasure trove of Atari surplus they bought when the company went out of business. They have many, many parts for a lot of Atari systems!

Ordered 3 of the Lynx 2 screens and 3 of the flash carts from BV. Can't wait for them to come in! I also dropped the $30 on console 5 for a 5 pack of the power rebuild kits, and 5 cap kits. I have 3 Lynx 2 units that are getting a recap, power rebuild and new BV screen.... I also have two Lynx 1 units that are at least getting a power circuit rebuild and recapping. One was a dead unit from my grandfather, hope I can get it running again. Another is one I bought off ebay for like $50 not working but in great shape. Might end up dropping another $100 on two Lynx 1 screens, but missed the original pre order for those.... might have to wait a bit! Still, I can't wait for the stuff to get in! I got the repair kits from Console 5 so I should at least get one or two boards prepped and refurbished so I can fit a screen as soon as I get it in!

Lynx and cheap don't really go together all that well these days... a "working" Lynx 2 will set you back 60 or 70 USD on average with a "working" lynx 1 unit probably more like 70 or 80 on average (more if it's in really nice clean shape). Now, it's fairly common knowledge all these years later that these units can use a power circuit rebuild as well as cap replacement on the motherboard. Buying one that already has it done can easily add $50 or more to those prices I talked about above. While I don't think the games are "expensive" (most of them) for what they are, they aren't "cheap" either.

I don't have a problem with the pricing. It's not cheap to make these short, limited run, hand crafted products. Everyone wants to get paid, from the people porting / writing the software to the people assembling the final product and there are raw material / printing costs involved. I certainly do not work for free, and given my financial obligations I can't afford to not get paid for my work or take too much time away from work to invest in an effort that won't yield similar financial results. The folks putting these ports, re releases and home brew products together have bills. It has to make economical sense for the people involved to want to keep doing it. Most aren't looking to earn a profit, or at least not a big one... most are hoping their involvement doesn't end up costing them too much money. For many its a labor of love, with a hope and expectation they won't take too big of a hit in the wallet for trying to offer something to the scene. I'd personally love to see Distant Lands come to market some day, as I understand that's likely never to happen? But the point is, this is a game that's been worked on, on and off, for years. $60 would be a steal of a price to pay. I'd likely pay $100 for it as it fills a devoid space in the lynx library. To be blunt, you can earn $60 spending a few hours mowing lawns or working other odd jobs. I don't really agree with the argument that $60 is too much to ask for these homebrews.

False alarm I guess, I just pulled out my other VA4 (the one from the ebay lot of two broken consoles) and tried to see if I could get it to work with the 32X. At first, no it wouldn't. Then I pulled it out and popped in the Sonic 2 cart and that wasn't working either.... so I reseated it a few times and nothing, reseated it a final time and it started working. I then put the 32X back in and put Sonic 2 in it, and it worked. I would normally guess it's cause the 32X was dirty causing it not to boot some times, but that wouldn't explain why the full board I got with the 32X and Sega CD worked perfectly with the 32X every time and I really haven't even cleaned it yet. I bet I just didn't have it seated well in the VA4's or perhaps their cart slots are a bit looser than the full board I had good success with?

I actually wound up getting a grand total of 5 Sega Genesis units since last summer. Picked up a Model 1 VA6 from ebay for either $25 or $30 sold as not working. It worked, the RF switch sent with it was junk. I ordered a composite adapter off the net for like $15 (got one with the 3.5mm stereo adapter to hook into the front) and it works like a treat. Then I picked up a model 2 unit from a local game store, not knowing really the difference or what I got at the time just jacked up because I got a sega genesis with a controller, power adapter, copy of sonic 2 and copy of mortal kombat 2 for a total of like $25 and tax (it was a local retro store special). Turns out it's a VA4 Model 2 and puts out some really nice composite video. Then I decided to just scour ebay on a whim a month later and found a listing for two Model 2 genesis units and in with them was a full board unit and ANOTHER VA4! I paid $20 for the pair, advertised as not working. Both needed cleaned up, DC jacks re soldered and controller ports re soldered. After that they work like champs. (I fully stripped, cleaned including cart slots, and re soldered DC jacks and controller ports on ALL of my model 2 units) Finally I just bought about a month ago a Sega Genesis Model 2, Sega 32X and Sega CD Model 2 combo off of ebay for $113 and some change (and I think like $10 or $15 shipping). The Model 2 is a full board and works (haven't given it the regular treatment the others got yet though), the 32X works (had to order a video cable to go between genesis and 32X) and the Sega CD is somewhat working but I think the laser is shot. Basically $200 invested into 5 Genesis units (including two VA4 model 2's) a 32X and a Sega CD! Not too shabby. I was also able to get an original mega everdrive v1 from ebay for $70 which I though was pretty good. Not quite as good as the X7 but good enough for my needs. I ordered some reset switches from crossbow as 4 of the 5 model 2 units I have are in need of a new reset switch, they don't work at all. Haven't got around to that yet. Now on to the point of all this... I'd like to sell off the two full board model 2 units BUT my main VA4 unit seems to not work with the 32X? The carts just never boot, everdrive or the sonic 2 cart. Works like a charm with a full board hooked to it. Does the VA4 unit have issues with the 32X that any of you have noticed?

I think you are going to start seeing more and more people look to emulation so long as there are proper options available that do not compromise too much. I had a large portion of the available game consoles since the late 80's early 90's and currently do not have many of them any more. I still have several systems, including a new found interest in obtaining Lynx stuff (never owned growing up, but my grandfather had a decent collection). As prices go up and up, more and more people will shy away. Eventually the prices will have to come back down although I guess that day will only come when the buying slows way down and people either get tired of having the money tied up or get sick of looking at the stuff waiting for someone to buy it. That leaves really only the true hard core collectors and advocates for the systems... when that happens the market will saturate a bit and prices will come down. I currently own very few "retro" systems, save my most favorite ones from my child hood. I do not plan to invest in most of them at the current and growing prices. I might invest in them if prices come back down. The two noted additions for me are several Atari Lynx and Sega Genesis consoles (as well as a SNES classic... but that doesn't really count).

I'd like to be added to the list for a flash cart as well! I'd like an uncased one with the case loose! Thanks! EDIT: How hard are the cases to attach? Do you have to glue them or can you just easily snap it on and off? I might change my order to a cased version.... my only lynx 1 unit currently does not work....

Maybe the VA4 Game Gear will be supported! But, probably not.... oh well, a man can dream! @McWill what do you think the retail price will be on the GBC kit? Similar to the Lynx and GG kits?

The backlight itself could be failing. A bit of a bummer, but it does make your 2110 unit a great candidate for a McWill install!

Is it a model 2110K? Those are regarded as lost causes these days. Sad, as mine from my own childhood is a VA4 (2110K) as well. Really enjoyed that unit.

Would love to see the Game Gear VA4 (Majesco) supported. A few months ago I pulled my childhood game gear out of the attic in my parents house. Fired it up to a burning smell.... decided it was probably bad caps. So I decided to get a cap kit (which sat here a good 2 or 3 months) and just a few days ago took a crack at changing them out. Wasn't too bad of a job. I have a decent solder station, and decent soldering skills. I took my time, and tried to do a good clean job. After about an hours worth of effort (spread out across 3 hours as I took some breaks) I had it all recapped and ready for testing. On my VA4, cap C58 (which I think is cap C70 on VA0/VA1) is a high voltage ceramic cap in the backlight circuit.. she was smoking and arcing on one of the legs. So that was the cause of my original fault I believe. The unit does play, but it plays blind... no backlight, nothing on the LCD. But it does respond to button presses and I can hear the sound nice and clear.... Looks like a perfect candidate for a McWill mod and a good chance to put my soldering skills to the test! Maybe also another reason to buy this really awesome USB microscope. it's cheap, works well... and it's a wayyyy better magnifier than microscope. I could just as easy get another game gear cheap, recap it and then McWill it.... and might do that. But there is something about keeping that old game gear from my child hood working!

Thinking of pulling the two older non working lynx units out and trying to get one or both of them going again.... So I do have the one lynx model 2 (that I got a pair of on ebay for $50) working fine. I almost want to convert it back to using batteries, remove that USB power mod, and fix the zenner and power jack to restore it to original condition. I'm thinking perhaps the Lynx 1 may have issues with either the Mikey / Suzy / or RAM chips.... is there a good guide out there for testing these chips with a scope? Is it possible to use those three chips from the Lynx 2 on the Lynx 1 board? From what I remember, I think the non working lynx 2 has a good board but bad LCD. I don't want to take apart my working lynx 2 again more than necessary as the end on those flex circuits flake off easy and I don't want to have to keep trimming it... but if the board on the non working lynx 2 is good then I just might be able to get another screen for it (maybe even McWill!) or salvage those chips to fix the lynx 1. I guess I'm wanting to confirm that the lynx 1 has damage to any of it's three most critical chips first, if there is good info out there on that. I did a bit of google searching, but nothing really came up other than it might be possible to buy the mikey / suzy chips from best electronics. Perhaps another option if I can confirm what ales the non working lnyx 1.

What were you using before? As I don't solder all that much (used to some arcade repair work, so maybe recapping a monitor and some other odds and ends work) I didn't invest in an expensive setup but I did find it worthwhile to pick up a hakko 936 clone soldering station on ebay. I got the Yihua 936 station for under $30 shipped and then picked up a set of like 7 or so different hakko tips that fit my cheap cloner station. It works really well, the key being that I don't use it a lot and often and that I got the good hakko tips for the iron. The tips are the biggest thing, and the main benefit of the station is being able to finely tune the heat of your iron. Some work requires heat to be dialed back to be just hot enough, and you have to be careful not to heat any longer than necessary. If your not using a station that offers the ability to control the temp, I'd recommend that. If you solder a lot, you might benefit from just buying a hakko station. I have maybe 15-20 hours of use on mine over the last 5 years and in that time the iron crapped out on me once. For $7 I was back and soldering again with a new replacement iron. I have some upcomming projects (sega game gear recap, soldering work on a genesis, perhaps a PS2 modchip) but it's all pretty light use for the iron. Having a tip that is the right size (not too small or too big) and also the right shape for the work you are doing is key to good results and things going much easier for you.

How exactly do I check the XTAL? I have a scope (never used before, but willing to try!) and from looking over the Lynx 2 schematic it seems there is mention of XTAL on the U2 chip? XTALI and XTALO. Is that right or no... Just curious where to probe and what to look for. Not totally lost on this stuff, just not quite sure about how to check this.