Aquarius Overlay Repros?

[psquare75]

With an upcoming multicart.. I think the question needs to be asked. Are there full size scans available of these?

[Rev]

uh oh. i have visions of psychostormtroopers orphan aquarius overlays boxed set going for 300 on ebay......

[psquare75]

That was before my time.

 

Anything I personally could do would look, well, home-made.

[jaybird3rd]

Aquarius overlays are tough to reproduce because, unlike Intellivision overlays, they aren't merely printed sheets of thin plastic. They're thick pieces with cutouts for the keys, which also have to be printed and cut to fit inside the keyboard and hand controllers.

 

I'd love to see new overlays made, too. They are pictured in the Aquarius manual scans that I've been involved in making, so you'll at least be able to see them that way, but having real ones that you can use with the real hardware would be the perfect companion to the multi-cart project.

[psquare75]

http://forum.arcadecontrols.com/index.php?topic=50583.0

 

I saw this.. which would work for getting the colors down.. It's just cutting out all those damn keys.

 

Edit:

 

Actually. I have a spare AQ.. I wonder if I took it apart, and used the reverse side of the top plate as a sort of template. hmm.

Edited October 7, 2010 by psquare75

[jaybird3rd]

You'd have a very hard time getting good square cuts doing it by hand. My impression is that the original holes were punched out. I also think they used some form of screen printing to print the original overlays; I'm not sure regular inkjet printers would work very well on solid plastic sheets.

[psquare75]

Jaybird, check the link I posted on the guy doing INTV overlays. It might not be 'saleable' but it'd be 'useable'.

[the-topdog]

I have scans of all of the cartridge overlays on my website

 

I have been working with a laser-fabricator to make reproduction overlays out of thick 8-1/2"x11" card-stock. They would be micro perforated but still attached to the sheets so that I could color laser print on the sheets and the end-user could punch them out.

 

I wanted it to be a surprise for Jay because we could offer sets as an option with the multi-cart project. How cool would it be to swap out overlays for each of the games on the multi-cart?

Edited October 7, 2010 by the-topdog

[jaybird3rd]

I'm sure it would work for personal use. Either that, or you could buy a box of those Avery full-sheet inkjet labels, print a high-resolution scan of an original overlay, cut out the keys with an X-ACTO knife, and stick it over top of an original set of Night Stalker overlays (which are the most common).

 

One of the things I like about the Aquarius as a gaming computer, incidentally, is that its chicklet keyboard can accommodate interchangeable overlays for every key. That's something you couldn't have had with a full-stroke keyboard. I can understand why Mattel opted for the thick plastic sheets, too: they were probably fairly cheap to manufacture in large quantities, and I don't think thinner plastic film (like the Intellivision overlays) would have held up.

[Cebus Capucinis]

Thanks for ruining the surprise!

[psquare75]

I didn't mean to rain on a parade.. It seemed like a logical question

 

/takes ball and goes home crying.

[jaybird3rd]

It didn't ruin anything! It was a perfectly logical question, and I think it demonstrates that there was already a demand for them, which I'm sure is something the-topdog was concerned about.

 

I think it's a great idea, and it's so exciting to see the momentum that's gathering around the good old Aquarius, of all things! First the multi-cart, then a complete set of manual scans, and now reproduction overlays! I'm especially pleased to see that it will now be possible for homebrew games to include their own custom overlays, which was something I was going to look into on my own anyway.

[Cebus Capucinis]

I am just joking around anyway, hence the . I think it's a fabulous idea and would love a full set!

[jaybird3rd]

I'm sure that the-topdog and I will be working out a package deal, where you'll be able to get a set of overlays along with a cartridge and (while supplies last!) a cartridge shell. With all that, and with complete high-resolution scans of the original game manuals to refer to, I think this will give you about 90% of the experience of owning all of the real cartridges, at a fraction of the price.

[psquare75]

Now we just need to figure out a use for the modem.

[jaybird3rd]

Now we just need to figure out a use for the modem.

I really don't think there is one, in today's world. I toyed with the idea of including the modem terminal software in the multi-cart, but I don't think I'm going to, mainly because it can never actually work without the modem hardware in the cartridge. I cut the QuickDisk-enabled version of Extended BASIC for the same reason. I'm going to put together a USB interface for linking the Aquarius to a modern computer (another one of my future projects), and that's about all the modem would have been useful for, except as a collector's item.

[psquare75]

Using an Aquarius to telnet into a text BBS would be fun for all of 20 minutes.

[the-topdog]

I didn't mean to rain on a parade.. It seemed like a logical question

 

/takes ball and goes home crying.

 

 

LOL! You didn't do anything wrong. I thought it was funny that it happened to be a project I was working on

[the-topdog]

Thanks for ruining the surprise!

 

 

Hold me Cebbie!

[+MattelAquarius]

Now we just need to figure out a use for the modem.

 

 

I've connected my Aquarius to an old laptop (circa 2000), and successfully (though I cheated a bit) ran StarTTY on it.

 

One thing I've learned, along with Martin at the Yahoo Group, is that modern modems, even if they claim compatibility with BELL 103 modems, don't seem to actually be compatible.

Edited October 8, 2010 by Jay Silverheels

[the-topdog]

Holy crap! The guy just finally gave me a quote, it is TEN TIMES the estimate he gave me, so I am investigating other routes to making these... including purchasing the equipment and doing it myself. If there is enough interest in this project, it may be the route to go.