So what would be involved in making an Intellivision module?

[Pixelboy]

I don't know much about the Intellivision hardware. Does it use off-the-shelf parts? Are these parts easy to find today? Assuming there would be no design restriction for the casing of an Intellivision expansion module, how hard would it be to include the Intellivoice into said module? My first guess is that an Inty expansion module would bypass the ColecoVision's VDP and output directly to RF, like the Expansion Module #1 does.

 

If I remember correctly, the controllers of the Inty II are the only ones that are detachable, right? Are the controllers of the Inty Flashback detachable?

 

I'm just trying to satisfy my curiosity on the subject. Please don't read any further into it than that.

[+grips03]

Sears and Intv2 have removable controllers.

 

Flashback controllers are removable, but have a different pin out than the Sears / Intv2. Flashback controllers will work on the older consoles with adapter cables that changes the pin out back to what Sears / Intv2 uses.

[Kiwi]

Intellivision uses a lot of custom computer chips, so you would have to sacrifice an Intellivision to make a expansion module. CP1600 is a 16-bit processor along with the graphic chip, the STIC. It uses 16-bit memory for it screen, gram data, and 16-bit RAM, I don't know the exact amount of 16-bit RAM if I had to guess, it would be 2K-word RAM. It also have about 256 bytes of scratch memory.

It's a pretty neat system to work with and IntyBASIC makes is easy to make game for it.

[Kamshaft]

Maybe use a FPGA solution for the custom chips?

[juice2839]

Maybe use a FPGA solution for the custom chips?

 

It would not be cost effective. You'd have to invest a God awe-full amount of time into putting the custom IC's into a FPGA and the cost would be high. You can buy a working Inty for $15-30 bucks. On top of that the CV is 8 bit and the inty is 16 bit. You'd seriously be better off setting an inty on top of a CV and calling it a module..

[Pixelboy]

It would not be cost effective. You'd have to invest a God awe-full amount of time into putting the custom IC's into a FPGA and the cost would be high. You can buy a working Inty for $15-30 bucks. On top of that the CV is 8 bit and the inty is 16 bit. You'd seriously be better off setting an inty on top of a CV and calling it a module..

And that's probably why Coleco's rumored Inty module never went beyond the prototype stage.

[GroovyBee]

Maybe use a FPGA solution for the custom chips?

Already been done :-

 

http://atariage.com/forums/topic/242970-fpga-based-videogame-system/