Fairchild Channel F!

[Rev. Rob]

Hello all!

 

Anyhow, I have been a long time visitor of this particular website and have never registered until now. So, I am kind of excited to join a game community that shares my enthuasim for retro games.

 

After many years of desire, I recently picked up a working Channel F VES with eleven games. It was love at first sprite, I tell ya! To me, there's just something very special about pioneering consoles like this. Microvision is another machine that has a special place in my heart.

 

Kind of as a tribute, I researched the console and contacted Fairchild Semiconductor, and wrote the following detailed article.

 

Here is the link: http://www.revrob.com/content/view/66/49/

 

The above link is better formatted and contains images and scans I took of the manual, but for everyone here who is like me and who doesn't enjoy clicking links, I have pasted the full text below. I hope that the history comes alive as well for you as it does to me!

 

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Fairchild Channel-F Video Entertainment System: The first modern game console

 

In the 1970s, a company called Fairchild Semiconductor had been watching an emerging market of electronic entertainment. Video arcades had already become wildly popular, and Pong-style games systems that could only play built-in games were amazing sellers and excellent revenue generators for companies like Magnavox, Atari, and Coleco. Fairchild, a Silicon Valley pioneer, was about to break ground in a new territory, one that no other game company had yet entered.

 

No stranger to innovation, Fairchild Semiconductor was founded in 1957 as a subsidiary of the Fairchild Camera and Instrumentation Company, and led the way in developing semiconductors from a new space-age material called silicon. In 1964 Fairchild introduced the first linear integrated circuit.

 

In the mid 70s, the company drew up plans to enter the microprocessor market. Research and design began on the F8 chip, a 1.78 MHz 8-bit microprocessor. The first public outing of this design came as Fairchild was poised to make video game history.

 

Technology Race

 

In 1976 Fairchild rushed to the market its Channel-F Video Entertainment System amidst internal worries that rival RCA would beat them to the market, and just in time for the Christmas season. Video game sales were very much seasonal at this point in history.

 

RCA, the TV manufacturer, was also working on getting a console of their own to the market, one with a cartridge design. They called it the Studio II. The concept of the ROM cartridge meant that manufacturer could first sell a game system, and then profit off of selling game programs to be used on the system. Previously this had not been accomplished.

 

In August of ‘76, Fairchild beat RCA’s Studio II console to the market. RCA lagged behind and didn’t even make the Christmas season, launching in early January 1977 instead. Fairchild won over RCA in every other way imaginable as well. The underpowered Studio II produced embarrassing graphics, the console output in black and white only even though the games were programmed in color. RCA killed support for its console by the end of the first year with only eleven games released.

 

The Channel-F became the world’s first reprogrammable video game console. In English that means it was the first cartridge based game system that the world had ever seen. The media was delivered in a ROM cart, which would become the industry standard for two decades, until CDs based games gained mainstream acceptance in the late 1990s.

 

What about the Magnavox Odyssey?

 

In 1972, the world’s first game console, the Odyssey, was released by Magnavox. Though it was able to play interchangeable games, it used “game cards,” not ROM cartridges. The game cards were circuit boards that actually altered the console’s circuitry. Game variations on the Odyssey usually involved a deck of playing cards, a game board, and TV screen overlays. This way each game card was capable of supporting a multitude of different “games.” In the end, many Odyssey titles are closer evolutionary cousins to traditional board games rather than modern video games.

 

Design

 

The Channel-F, know originally as simply the Fairchild Video Entertainment System, was a breakthrough in many areas. Its banana yellow cartridges could hold variable amounts of data. The F8 processor at the heart of the console was able to produce enough AI to allow for player vs. computer matches.

 

The console’s design very much represents the home electronics décor of the era. With its wood grain exterior and back fiberglass finish, it would have been well disguised in any home entertainment center of the day, very much resembling an 8-track player, which were still popular at the time. In fact, the game cartridges and boxes share the dimensions of 8-track cassettes.

 

To add to the aesthetic appeal, the controllers tucked away in a special compartment hidden from view to prevent unsightly wires.

 

Hand-Controllers

 

Fairchild took a new direction with its “hand-controller” design, one which had never been seen before, and would never resurface thereafter, (which is unfortunate). To the uninitiated, the stick-like controller is confounding. However, it is the in actuality the perfect ambidextrous controller and remained unparalleled until Nintendo redesigned controllers forever with the Famicom (Nintendo Entertainment System or NES in America) in 1985.

 

The Channel-F’s controller can be held in either the left or right hand. The triangular head can be tilted in eight ways for directional control. That’s not all. The head can be twisted left or right for additional movement. Finally, the top of the hand-controller can be plunged-in or pulled-up to perform separate actions. This system allowed for exceptionally intuitive control.

 

With eight-way directional control, and potentially four action buttons, the Channel-F controller was far more advanced than the famous Atari joystick.

 

Sound and Graphics

 

One area where the Channel-F shows its primitive origins is in its sound capabilities. It sports a single on board speaker that produces beeps and tones.

 

The graphics, while not exceptionally good, were also not that far behind some of its peers, such as the Magnavox Odyssey2. It was however inferior to the market leader, Atari’s Video Computer System, better known as the 2600.

 

The F8 chip was only able to produce single-colored sprites, and only had eight colors to choose from at a resolution of 128 × 64 with 102 × 58 pixels with help from the only 64 bytes of system RAM, half the amount of the 2600.

 

Games

 

A total of 26 games were released for the console between 1976 and 1981; 21 of published by Fairchild themselves. Two additional games, Tennis and Hockey were built into the system.

 

Within its library exist some true gems, as well as some awful stinkers. Among the most innovative is Videocart 9. (Catchy titles these games had, I know!) Videocart 9 was also known as Drag Race. It takes full advantage of the Channel-F’s brilliantly conceived controllers by using it as a gear shifter.

 

Unfortunately, Videocart 9: Drag Strip faces a dilemma that hurt the appeal of many games in the Channel-F’s library. It was two-player only. Though the F8 could produce powerful enough AI for some player vs. computer games, (Videocart 4: Spitfire being a perfect example), many games were too complex. This is perhaps the console’s greatest shortcoming.

 

Sometimes the console’s AI goes too far, as with the Channel-F iteration of Tic-Tac-Toe, in which it is impossible to win.

 

Fairchild Abandons the Videogame Market

 

Only three years after it re-imagined what a home videogame experience can be, Fairchild Semiconductor left behind the market and their console forever.

 

Popular belief has it that intense competition from Atari is what spurred the decision. However, this is not the case. In fact, Fairchild had planned a redesign for the original Channel-F and drew up early plans for a follow-up; though no know prototypes or diagrams are known to exist. Most likely, it never made it past the planning phase.

 

Fairchild Semiconductor resorted to niche markets in the 1970s as it lost mainstream appeal for its core business. In 1979 the company was bought by an oil field services company by the name of Schlumberger Limited. Wanting nothing to do with the videogame “fad,” the decision was made to sell off the Channel-F business.

 

A digital watch maker called Zircon Corporation was eager to expand its business and bought up the rights to the Channel-F, and with them all of the games and the redesigned console, which Zircon released as the Channel-F System II.

 

Unlike its older brother, the System II featured sound that was produced by the TV, not an onboard speaker, detachable controllers which were not yet popular in 1976, and more of an 80s-esque futuristic design.

 

Zircon went on to release five more games for the system over the three years, some of which were already in development by Fairchild. By 1981, the Channel-F, once a retail hit, was pushed off of store shelves and sold only in catalogs.

 

Videocart 26: Alien Invasion (pictured right) was the last game released for the system, and that was in ’81. It was sold only by mail-order, and came in a plain white box, a far cry from the rainbow-multicolored box art that used to attract the attention of shopping consumers in department stores and malls across America.

 

The great videogame crash hit in 1984, permanently putting an end to the console, which by this time, was already largely forgotten.

 

The Clones

 

Licenses of the hardware and cloners carried the console overseas, where the Channel-F was know by many different names and took different shapes. This was a common practice in the early years of consoles. In Germany it was known as the Saba Videoplay, Nordmende Teleplay, and ITT Tele-Match. In the United Kingdom Grandstand rebranded it as the Adman. A Swedish version is known as the Luxor Video Entertainment System.

 

Fairchild Semiconductor and Zircon: Where are they now?

 

In 1997 “Fairchild Semiconductor was reborn as an independent company, heralding the return of a company steeped in the history of innovation and infused with the design talent and manufacturing capabilities to reshape the technology of the twenty-first century.”

 

The company currently employees over 9,000 people worldwide in four states and six separate countries.

 

In 1980 Zircon finally found a home for themselves in the marketplace when they developed the StudSensorTM, an electronic tool “designed to detect wood and metal studs and other objects hidden within walls, above ceilings, and under flooring.” Zircon continues to successfully manufacture and distribute electronic hand tools. Their products are marketed in 30 countries.

Edited June 1, 2007 by Rev. Rob

[supercat]

It's interesting to note that the Channel F has more circuitry in it than the Atari 2600 that emerged in the following year, and yet the 2600 manages to do a lot more with its smaller amount of circuitry. The Fairchild's hardware has to generate an entire frame of video without processor intervention. Except in the simpler cases, the 2600 can't even manage a line of video without processor intervention. The key observation in the design of the 2600 and evolution of 2600 games is that video hardware is only required to draw a specific object on screen while that part of the screen is actually being scanned. When the electron beam is elsewhere, the hardware may be used for something else.

[BassGuitari]

It's nice to see another Channel F fan. Very nice article, also!

 

I like to think of the F as the "Charlie Brown System;" it's not such a bad little system, it just needs a little love.

[Lord Thag]

I have never really gotten into the Channel F, though I have one with fifteen or so games. The gameplay is just to awful. It is certainly an interesting piece of history, though. I still think it's funny that the Atari 2600 ended up being so long lived DUE to the fact that is was designed cheaply. The ability to only load one scanline at a time allowed for an amazing number of sneaky techniques that allow for games like Pitfall and the like. Too bad the Channel F never got the same love.

 

Also, I'm not sure if this is archived anywhere, but there was a speech by the main guy responsible for the Channel F at one of the CGEs. A friend of mine told me about it. There is a lot of very funny information about this company. For instance, most of the games were programmed by this crazy genius who sort of lived at the office (and in his car), and doubled as the janitor. He would occasionally freak out and punch holes in the wall and stuff. He programmed the world's first easter eggs into the 'F games, and would go into department stores and trigger them and lock up the display units. It's a very interesting speech (and I'm sure I'm missing a lot of it). I wonder if anyone has archived it?

[Rev. Rob]

I have never really gotten into the Channel F, though I have one with fifteen or so games. The gameplay is just to awful. It is certainly an interesting piece of history, though. I still think it's funny that the Atari 2600 ended up being so long lived DUE to the fact that is was designed cheaply. The ability to only load one scanline at a time allowed for an amazing number of sneaky techniques that allow for games like Pitfall and the like. Too bad the Channel F never got the same love.

 

Also, I'm not sure if this is archived anywhere, but there was a speech by the main guy responsible for the Channel F at one of the CGEs. A friend of mine told me about it. There is a lot of very funny information about this company. For instance, most of the games were programmed by this crazy genius who sort of lived at the office (and in his car), and doubled as the janitor. He would occasionally freak out and punch holes in the wall and stuff. He programmed the world's first easter eggs into the 'F games, and would go into department stores and trigger them and lock up the display units. It's a very interesting speech (and I'm sure I'm missing a lot of it). I wonder if anyone has archived it?

 

It's one YouTube, sir.

 

The awesome gameplay is what made the thing so great. Those controllers were second to none until the NES arrived.

[+Lynxer2007]

Nice. I love reading about old game systems and the companies that produced them. I don't have a Channel F, but I do have an Odyssey. If I see one on Ebay or somewhere, I'll pick it up and try it out. I enjoy collecting game systems. Thanks for the article.

[tantone56]

True, that was a really cool article. Makes me want to go and get the system now.

[e5frog]

Nice article, short and precise, only objection is this sentence:

 

The F8 chip was only able to produce single-colored sprites, and only had eight colors to choose from at a resolution of 128 × 64 with 102 × 58 pixels with help from the only 64 bytes of system RAM, half the amount of the 2600.

 

The F8 chip has no support for sprites at all, everything needed to be plot on the screen must be plot directly into the video-RAM, so "multi-colored sprites" is possible (multi-colored moving objects really), but it would ofcourse take a lot more time to plot them. Also, if there's a collision with graphics that was supposed to be in the background, the background that was over-plot:ed has to be re-drawn.

Like in Pac-Man we need to redraw the dots everytime a monster passes over

 

I guess you could compare it to a white-board, you only have three pens: red, blue and green, and then the background can be changed on each line, if black background is chosen all the paint on that line turns white.

 

And a spelling mistake there (forgotten word really) "... resolution of 128 x 64 with 102 x 58 pixels " visible, and that's approximately, on most tv:s it's even less, in MESS they have chosen what I would say is the maximum visible resolution.

 

Other than that - great article!

Edited August 11, 2007 by e5frog

[jboypacman]

Great read thanks Rev.Rob!

[Bryan]

It's interesting to note that the Channel F has more circuitry in it than the Atari 2600 that emerged in the following year, and yet the 2600 manages to do a lot more with its smaller amount of circuitry.

The big difference is the 6507. The F8 is complicated and slow, but the 650x processors could keep up in real time and Atari leveraged that fact.

[Zonie]

Good article, But the company ownership is backwards. Fairchild was acquired by National Semiconductor in the late 70's, then spun off to Shlumberger in 1997. It now operates as a wholly owned subsidiary, If I recall.

 

Fairchild operates a couple of older FABS located on a nice little superfund site in South Portland, Maine. They share some grounds and buildings with National still.

[shadow460]

I used a joystick that was similar to the Zircon models for a while. Actually, I think it was a rebranded Zircon stick, and maybe re-wired a bit for the VCS. Great controllers.

[e5frog]

I've got one of those, in near mint condition - unfortunately it came without the box:

 

 

The twists are connected to the POT Y and POT X connectors on the Atari/VIC interface, but I don't know what happens if you ground the POT pin since they're usually connected to +5V through a variable resistor.

 

To fire you press down (which makes it useless for speed-shooters), the pull up function is not connected to any wire.

[Video]

The controller for the Fairchild is darn cool. I've only seen one system working, and that was LONG ago, but I seem to remember likeing to draw pictures on it...

[Jess Ragan]

Anybody got pictures of the first twelve Fairchild cartridges, or preferably, their boxes? I may need them for a future video review.

[e5frog]

FND has a page:

http://www.fndcollectables.com/CHANNEL_F.&...;/1_thru_5.html

 

I also have one:

http://go.to/channelf

Edited September 11, 2007 by e5frog

[Jess Ragan]

Ooh, thanks! It's just what I needed!

 

Also... I'm having difficulty getting my Channel F to work with my television set. There's a whole lot of snow on the screen and there doesn't seem to be a 3/4 channel switch anywhere!

[+SpiceWare]

Nice article! I recall playing a Channel F a few times at one of my grandma's neighbors, though what I mostly recall was the bright yellow cartridges.

[e5frog]

Jess... if you have a new tv-set they don't always like these old machines, try running the signal through a VCR or on an older TV... Hope you get it to work.

[FND]

Good article, But the company ownership is backwards. Fairchild was acquired by National Semiconductor in the late 70's, then spun off to Shlumberger in 1997. It now operates as a wholly owned subsidiary, If I recall.

 

Is the date above a typo ? it should be 1978 or 1979 not 1997. Here are some supporting news paper clips, the first one

does not have a date printed but the second one mentions the year 1978

 

The hand written dates on the articles were written in I believe by the person who cut them out back in the day, but this

is only a guess as I found them this way in some paper work that came with a Channel F system I purchased sometime ago.

 

[Jess Ragan]

Thanks for the advice, e5frog. I actually did connect the console to a DVR player rather than directly to my television set when I tested it. I'd connect the system to a classic television set, but there's just one problem... I don't have one! A composite monitor is the most old-school display I've got!

 

By the way, if any of you are interested, here's a letter I received from Heather Gruwell, a representative at Zircon:

 

Jess,

 

I apologize for taking some time to reply. I needed to speak to our legal council to find out the answer. Yes, we still own the rights to Channel F Video games and to a number of modules created for this system.

 

---

 

I pressed her for more information but she clammed up, stating:

 

We don’t discuss our plans for our intellectual properties with members of the general public, and if you continue to be interested in finding further information, please feel free to contact Amy Gee at 408.963.4522 and she will be happy to talk with you.

 

So if you're wondering what Zircon has planned for the Channel F, this is the number to call!

[e5frog]

Has anyone called?

[8bitgamer]

When I was a kid, my two best friends each had a Fairchild Channel F. It seems crude now, but we had fun with the little system that could (or at least tried).

[FND]

I've got one of those, in near mint condition - unfortunately it came without the box:

 

 

The twists are connected to the POT Y and POT X connectors on the Atari/VIC interface, but I don't know what happens if you ground the POT pin since they're usually connected to +5V through a variable resistor.

 

To fire you press down (which makes it useless for speed-shooters), the pull up function is not connected to any wire.

 

Just found this Zircon add which kinda solves the speed-shooter problem.

 

Brochure states these were also available for

the Atari VCS, Atari 400/800, PET, & VIC-20 Computers

 

The brochure could not have been released any earlier then Christmas season 1982 since it references the book

Ken Uston's Guide to Buying and Beating the Home Video Games which was published in May 1982

 

 

 

Edited November 23, 2007 by FND

[e5frog]

Cool!

 

I have never seen a Channel F with a "Jet-Stick" though - and Casino Poker is mentioned (again) as Casino Royale... Perhaps these were only plans that never happened. Never seen a unit with that bright eject-button either...

 

I've seen the button on a Video Command Joystick however.