A call for testing (Harmony Cart required)

[+SpiceWare]

Testing results as of March 5 at 10:42 AM CST

 

Success total 73

• 3 - NTSC Heavy Sixer
• 7 - NTSC Light Sixer
• 1 - NTSC Sears Heavy Sixer
• 3 - NTSC Sears Sixer
• 16 - NTSC 4 switch Woody
• 1 - NTSC Sears 4 switch
• 7 - NTSC Vader
• 2 - NTSC Jr Rainbow
• 4 - NTSC Jr
• 2 - NTSC Sears Video Arcade II
• 6 - NTSC 7800
• 1 - NTSC 7800 dumper bios
• 4 - NTSC 7800 w/expansion port
• 1 - NTSC 5200 adapter
• 3 - NTSC Coleco Gemini
• 3 - PAL Light Sixer
• 1 - PAL 4 switch
• 1 - PAL Vader
• 5 - PAL Jr
• 2 - PAL 7800

Failure total 5

• 4 - NTSC Jr
• 1 - PAL 7800

As you may or may not be aware, we've been getting the 2600 to doing some really cool things using Bus Stuffing on the Harmony Cart:

 

 

However, we've had a few people whose systems didn't work correctly with Bus Stuffing, causing the display to have vertical stripes, incorrect colors, etc:

 

So we're trying to get a handle on what the problem is, whether or not it can be fixed, and if it can't be fixed how widespread the problem is in order to determine if its worth going forward with Bus Stuffing or not.

 

To that end ZackAttack and I have created this test program:

PF1_power2_20170221b.bin

 

Which should output a display like this:

 

If you have a Harmony Cart, please run the above program on as many systems as you can and report back the results. If the display looks different than the above then please post a photo as it will help us determine what's going on. When reporting include the type(s) of system, which for me would be:

• NTSC Light Sixer - success
• NTSC 7800 - success

Also note that dirty contacts can cause issues with Bus Stuffing. So if you do see problems, try cleaning the contacts in your Harmony Cart, as well as your 2600's cartridge port (use Q-Tips soaked in rubbing alcohol) and then test again. When I last cleaned my Harmony Cart the results where this (unused Q-Tip on right for comparison):

 

To clean your cartridge port try flattening the Q-Tip with a pair of pliers before soaking them in alcohol, then insert/remove the flattened end a few times in each position of the cartridge port (unused Q-Tip on bottom for comparison):

 

 

I'll keep the top of this post updated with a running tally.

[+DrVenkman]

Cool topic and great tips for cleaning cart slots. I will test tonight on my fairly early 7800 (AT-84 serial number) as well as my regular 2600's (Light Sixer, Heavy Sixer, 4-Switch Woody and Vader).

[+save2600]

NTSC Light Sixer - success

NTSC 7800 - success

 

These are just two systems I keep hooked up, but will test others as they get pulled out of storage. Might be a while though as they're kinda buried.

[+groundtrooper]

NTSC - 7800 w/ Expansion Port and Composite/S-Vid Mod - PASSED

NTSC - 2600 Vader w/ Composite/S-Vid Mod - PASSED

 

These are my 2 easy systems to test.

 

I also have another 7800 un modded and my childhood Light Sixer that I can test when I have more time.

[+DrVenkman]

Cool topic and great tips for cleaning cart slots. I will test tonight on my fairly early 7800 (AT-84 serial number) as well as my regular 2600's (Light Sixer, Heavy Sixer, 4-Switch Woody and Vader).

 

Okay, I tested the systems I have out and available and all of them passed:

 

4-Switch Woody (NTSC, Rev 14 board): PASSED

Vader (NTSC, Rev 16 board): PASSED

7800 (NTSC, s/n AT-84xxxx, Expansion Interface): PASSED (*)

 

​Tomorrow I'll test my Tele-Games Heavy Sixer and Light Sixer, both NTSC. ​

 

(*) But ugh, what shitty RF this one has compared to the 2600's. Might be time to composite mod it.

 

[+playsoft]

NTSC Vader = passed

[davyK]

Do you want PAL tests?

 

I have a PAL 6 switch woody and 7800.

 

I also have a 4 switch NTSC woody with a composite mod but I only get a b&w picture at present with it.

[+SpiceWare]

Do you want PAL tests?

Yes, please

[maiki]

Atari 2600 Jr. PAL B (made in China)
Harmony cartridge from late 2013 (before the redesigned version with more RAM)

[accousticguitar]

It worked fine on my ntsc jr.

[+SpiceWare]

Added MayDay's results:

• NTSC 4 switch pass
• NTSC Jr fail

[+SpiceWare]

Added TheHoboInYourRoom's results:

• NTSC Jr. fail

 

Note: this was from before I changed the digits to NOT use bus stuffing. I can still tell that only bits 0, 1 and 7 worked as expected.

[+Nathan Strum]

A couple of tests:

 

NTSC Jr. (underside of board says Rev. F):

 

 

NTSC six-switch:

 

 

Will try to run some more tests - trying to get my other sixer working, and am in the process of re-capping my two four-switchers.

Edited February 27, 2017 by Nathan Strum

[yell0w_lantern]

NTSC Light Sixer - passed

NTSC Sears Video Arcade II - passed

NTSC Atari 7800 - passed

 

 

NTSC Jr - failed

Looks exactly like Nathan Strum's with the bar through the 7's. I do not know the board revision - too tired to check tonight.

 

IMG_5453.JPG

 

Edited February 27, 2017 by yell0w_lantern

[alex_79]

Here is the test rom running on my PAL 7800:

 

I will try on other consoles and report back, but those all run the bus stuffing demos without issues so I expect them to pass the test.

[+SpiceWare]

Here is the test rom running on my PAL 7800:

IMG_0073.JPG

Thanks!

 

I will try on other consoles and report back, but those all run the bus stuffing demos without issues so I expect them to pass the test.

I'll assume your other systems (Light Sixer, Vader, 2 Juniors) will pass, so have added them as such.

[+johnnywc]

Thanks for putting this together Darrell! I went up in the attic and dug out my systems and was able to run tests on all of them (all are NTSC):

 

Jr. - Passed

Vader - Passed

Sears 6-switch - Passed

4 different 4-switch Woody - All passed. Interestingly, one of them Failed on the first test (bit 7 was stuck), but after a quick cleaning of the cartridge port it passed. Are these results assuming everyone has cleaned their cartidge port/harmony cart?

 

I also tested your demo and a demo I'm working on and all passed.

 

Thanks again!

John

[+Nathan Strum]

Are these results assuming everyone has cleaned their cartidge port/harmony cart?

 

I did.

[+DrVenkman]

Are these results assuming everyone has cleaned their cartidge port/harmony cart?

 

I didn't clean any of my systems prior to testing. Admittedly I had cleaned them fairly well when I acquired them but the most recent was bought well over a year ago.

[+groundtrooper]

 

I did.

 

Same here. They were cleaned maybe six months ago. I didn't clean them when I did this test ROM.

[davyK]

Here's my results for my PAL 6 switch woody and PAL 7800.

 

2600: What is weird is this is what I get with paddles plugged in. I get a different image with a joystick. Like this but the stripes are bunched up on the left and they are grey.

 

7800: This is actually a rolling picture. Once or twice I just got a blank screen but just might be the Harmony?

Edited February 27, 2017 by davyK

[+johnnywc]

I was able to get my NTSC 7800 working - Passed.

[davyK]

Just read that I should clean my contacts - so I'll do that and repeat my tests. The fact that I am getting differing results may indicate that a cleanup may help.

Edited February 27, 2017 by davyK

[+SpiceWare]

Here's my results for my PAL 6 switch woody and PAL 7800.

That's unexpected. Bus stuffing only comes into play to draw the black behind the digits. The digits, sync, etc. are all standard.

 

... ...

 

BUS uses a custom bankswitching scheme - the Harmony Cart originally only supported the bankswitching in use from back in the day. Check the version of you Harmony's firmware by selecting the [.] line:

 

then hitting fire:

 

I'm running v1.05 which is when support for custom bankswitching was added.

 

 

3. Support for new bankswitching (such as DPC+) without requiring future BIOS updates

[R.Cade]

NTSC Coleco Gemini (French Canadian version) appears to work fine. The picture looks just like the original post.