Aquarius Tape lead pinouts & manual scans

[BSA Starfire]

Hiya All,

 

Can anyone help me out with a few things on the Mattel Aquarius?

I could really use the cassette port pin-outs so I can make up a lead to a standard tape deck(regular jack plugs) so I can save off my BASIC masterpieces

Also does anyone have manuals scans for the Dungeons and Dragons & Night Stalker & Snafu games?

I finally got hold of the mini-expander & pads a 4K & 16K ram packs and a bunch of games so I'm finally getting some use out of the beast.

Quite impressed by Burgertime when you use the mini-expander, the music certainly improves, the pads are OK in the not OK Intellivision way but do benefit from at least being smaller and not having those awful side triggers, anyhow anything is better than trying to play on that keyboard! I do however like the overlays.

Snafu also has some funky sound effects when used with the expander.

In my opinion it's not a bad little machine, however the mini-expander & 16K ram pack should have been built in at the start rather than as expensive extras, the machine is pretty much useless without them.

D&D looks to have potential, but I really need the manual to figure out what is what.

Haven't played Tron or Nightstalker much yet but I'm assuming they are much the same as the 2600 versions, guess I'll see.

 

Anyone have spares of Utopia and Astrosmash?

 

Best,

Chris

[darthkur]

This site has a lot of interesting info: (contains data about the rare cassette games that required the 16k pack.)

 

http://www.vdsteenoven.com/aquarius/

 

Here's one specifically on the D&D Tarmin game

 

http://mikejbonner.tripod.com/id39.html

 

....and info from the Bluesky Rangers:

 

http://www.intellivisionlives.com/bluesky/...arius_tech.html

 

 

Where did you find you copy's of Burgertime and Tarmin? I still need those myself.

 

 

 

 

Instructions for the cassette cable taken from : http://aqemu.classicgaming.gamespy.com/aqfaq2.htm

 

 

So, if you do not own the Aquarius Data Recorder package, the first thing you must do is construct a cable to connect your Aquarius to an ordinary cassette recorder featuring a MIC (MICrophone) jack and an EAR (EARphone, Speaker or Monitor) jack. The cable will have a 5-pin male DIN connector on one end, and two 3.5mm miniplugs on the other (and may have a third, smaller plug, which will plug into the REMote jack of the recorder, but which is not supported on the Aquarius). Those connectors should be available from RS or other electronic source, and along with them you will need a length of cabling with at least four separate wires.

 

Rather than starting from scratch, you can try modifying an RS cable (sometimes encountered in thrift stores) by disattaching wires and reconnecting them in the right place. Either course will probably require a soldering iron.

 

If you look at the cassette port on the back of the Aquarius, you will see a 5-pin female DIN socket. The holes are numbered:

 

3 1 Port on back of Computer

5 4 (or DIN plug pins viewed from the BACK)

2

 

As noted above, this numbering will be the same if you look at the BACK of your 5-pin male DIN plug (the side to which the wires will attach). If instead you view the FRONT of your DIN plug (looking down on the pins that will be inserted into the socket), the numbering will be the mirror image:

 

1 3

4 5 DIN plug pins viewed from the FRONT

2

 

DO NOT GET THE TWO ORIENTATIONS CONFUSED! The holes/pins are assigned the following functions for the Aquarius:

 

Pin 1 MIC (tip of one plug)

Pin 2 Ground (outside of both MIC and EAR plugs)

Pin 3 EAR (tip of other plug)

Pin 4 (Not used)

Pin 5 (Not used)

 

You will solder one wire to the back of Pin 1 of the DIN plug, and the other end of that wire to the center (going to the tip) of the back of one of the miniplugs; this miniplug will be your MIC connector. You will solder another wire to the back of Pin 3 of the DIN plug, and the other end to the center (going to the tip) of the back of the other miniplug; that will be your EAR connector. Of the two remaining wires, solder one each to the outside of the back of the respective miniplugs; then, solder the other ends to the back of Pin 2 of the DIN plug (Ground). Obviously, the MIC connector will then go to the MIC socket, and the EAR connector will go to the EAR socket, of your cassette recorder.

Edited August 14, 2009 by darthkur

[BSA Starfire]

Thanks, you've been incredibly helpful

The Burgertime came with the machine I bought ages ago on ebay-UK.

The D&D and all the other stuff I got from the gentleman who runs this site:

http://www.geekvintage.com/mattel-aquarius.php

Has some nice info and images, he was a great person to deal with too.

He seems to still have a copy of D&D for trade.

 

Best regards,

Chris