Which 5200 would you recommend to a new owner in 2023? The 4 port, 2 port or something else?

[+x=usr(1536)]

1 hour ago, Flyindrew said:

My question. Does anyone exist in the year 2023 who would do the 4 port modification for the CX55?

Best person to field that question: @-^CrossBow^-.  He does really good work on these consoles.

[+-^CrossBow^-]

14 hours ago, x=usr(1536) said:

Best person to field that question: @-^CrossBow^-.  He does really good work on these consoles.

Not sure about that... I've never done the 4 port modification. It kinda scares me since one of the connections is from the actual main input line voltage from the adapter to one of the pins of the cartridge port. That means, there is a constant 12v active on the cartridge port even when the console isn't powered on! If you weren't aware the CX-55 has an internal 7805 so it uses that constant 12v that is piped into the port to power the CX-55. Why they didn't attach +5 directly from one of the already installed VRs inside the 5200 I will never pretend to understand other than I suspect the VRs might not be up to the task of doing this directly.

 

 

[ApolloBoy]

4 hours ago, -^CrossBow^- said:

Not sure about that... I've never done the 4 port modification. It kinda scares me since one of the connections is from the actual main input line voltage from the adapter to one of the pins of the cartridge port. That means, there is a constant 12v active on the cartridge port even when the console isn't powered on! If you weren't aware the CX-55 has an internal 7805 so it uses that constant 12v that is piped into the port to power the CX-55. Why they didn't attach +5 directly from one of the already installed VRs inside the 5200 I will never pretend to understand other than I suspect the VRs might not be up to the task of doing this directly.

I've done it twice so far and I even designed a little PCB that helps out with the process. Honestly it shouldn't scare you considering the 2-port 5200 has the exact same setup with unregulated voltage present on the cartridge port.

[+-^CrossBow^-]

29 minutes ago, ApolloBoy said:

I've done it twice so far and I even designed a little PCB that helps out with the process. Honestly it shouldn't scare you considering the 2-port 5200 has the exact same setup with unregulated voltage present on the cartridge port.

Very nice. I honestly didn't know about the unregulated power on the pin until I got my BBPro adapter for the 5200 and was trying to understand why it worked differently between the two consoles. It is because in the 5200 2 port model, the reset to menu button on the BBPro cart is doing something involving that unregulated power vs the 4 port not having it. So in the 4 port console I have to solder in a wire from the Antic/4050 Reset line to pin 28 on the cartridge port and that ends up getting triggered to do the same thing. But yeah...honestly I'd never looked into the mod requirements in the past because I never had a need to do it myself and simply wasn't aware until that point. Now that I know that... it means that a person working on a 2 port that has power plugged in, needs to be aware of this fact because it would be possible to cause a short when working with the console and not even be aware something had happened in the process. There is also now a warning being sent with the 5200 BBpro adapter because it is possible to plug that in backwards and...that wouldn't be good on a 2 port 5200 with the power plugged in.

 

 

[0078265317]

If you are lucky enough like me you can find a 4 port with an asterisk in the serial number.  Mine did not work at first but Atari-dna fixed it for me.  The astrisks play all the 4 port titles and the 3 that do not work on the 2 port version.  And its works with the VCS adapter out of the box no modifications.  Best of both worlds

[RockLobster]

17 minutes ago, 0078265317 said:

And its works with the VCS adapter out of the box no modifications.

Fortunately this is one feature that'll be a "nice to have" since between two 2600's (one hooked up), a 7800 and ColecoVision expansion module, I have more ways to play physical 2600 cartridges than I care to already!

[0078265317]

4 minutes ago, RockLobster said:

Fortunately this is one feature that'll be a "nice to have" since between two 2600's (one hooked up), a 7800 and ColecoVision expansion module, I have more ways to play physical 2600 cartridges than I care to already!

I found another asterisk finally.  But too bad he modified it.  But at least its not too bad price wise.

 

5200 asterisk modified

 

Or forget the VCS adapter.  Just get a 5200 jr.  It's small and compact and take very little space.  And just use that for 2600 games and leave the 5200 alone.

[+x=usr(1536)]

1 hour ago, 0078265317 said:

I found another asterisk finally.  But too bad he modified it.  But at least its not too bad price wise.

Interesting composite mod - or, more accurately, the changes to the expansion port door:

 

 

Don't believe that I've ever seen one labelled like that, or with the power also brought in by the A/V jacks.  It's really clean-looking; I wonder if it was part of a kit being sold at one time or just really tidy work.

 

[0078265317]

6 minutes ago, x=usr(1536) said:

Interesting composite mod - or, more accurately, the changes to the expansion port door:

 

 

Don't believe that I've ever seen one labelled like that, or with the power also brought in by the A/V jacks.  It's really clean-looking; I wonder if it was part of a kit being sold at one time or just really tidy work.

 

So 75 + 56.05 shipping to me.  So 131 dollars and 5 cents.  Is is really worth that much?  He just tested it to power and not really play games.

[0078265317]

Also here is another custom job.  But the white and gold is weird looking.

 

Atari 5200 white and gold

[+x=usr(1536)]

6 hours ago, 0078265317 said:

Also here is another custom job.  But the white and gold is weird looking.

 

Atari 5200 white and gold

I have to say: that really reaches heights of awful that few others can aspire to.  Nice find.

[+Stephen]

3 hours ago, x=usr(1536) said:

I have to say: that really reaches heights of awful that few others can aspire to.  Nice find.

Even down to the rotten bell-bottom logo.

[+x=usr(1536)]

2 hours ago, Stephen said:

Even down to the rotten bell-bottom logo.

I love it when people use that one on hardware that existed well before the logo did.  It really speaks volumes about the person I'm dealing with.

[Flyindrew]

16 hours ago, 0078265317 said:

If you are lucky enough like me you can find a 4 port with an asterisk in the serial number.  Mine did not work at first but Atari-dna fixed it for me.  The astrisks play all the 4 port titles and the 3 that do not work on the 2 port version.  And its works with the VCS adapter out of the box no modifications.  Best of both worlds

You’re 100 percent right and lucky I might add. Ideally if you can find a “4 port asterisk” consider yourself lucky.  

[0078265317]

18 hours ago, x=usr(1536) said:

Interesting composite mod - or, more accurately, the changes to the expansion port door:

 

 

Don't believe that I've ever seen one labelled like that, or with the power also brought in by the A/V jacks.  It's really clean-looking; I wonder if it was part of a kit being sold at one time or just really tidy work.

 

So is this worth 75?

[0078265317]

Ok, found another asterisk.

 

5200 asterisk

[0078265317]

And one more.

 

5200 asterisk

[+-^CrossBow^-]

4 minutes ago, 0078265317 said:

And one more.

 

5200 asterisk

Those last 2 you posted are newer made 4 ports and might even have the power modification already done on them also given they are using the 2 port bottom shell that has the hole in place for the power port. 

 

That said, I've had at least two 4 port 5200s that came in for upgrades that had '*' serial number stickers, but did NOT have the actual modification performed inside them. My guess is that the main boards had been swapped out in the past. Like wise, I've had at least 1 that arrived that did NOT have the asterisk and had been modified for use with the VCS adapter. So while it is a good chance that the asterisk will indicate it has been modified for VCS adapter compatibility, it isn't a guarantee today.

[0078265317]

3 minutes ago, -^CrossBow^- said:

Those last 2 you posted are newer made 4 ports and might even have the power modification already done on them also given they are using the 2 port bottom shell that has the hole in place for the power port. 

 

That said, I've had at least two 4 port 5200s that came in for upgrades that had '*' serial number stickers, but did NOT have the actual modification performed inside them. My guess is that the main boards had been swapped out in the past. Like wise, I've had at least 1 that arrived that did NOT have the asterisk and had been modified for use with the VCS adapter. So while it is a good chance that the asterisk will indicate it has been modified for VCS adapter compatibility, it isn't a guarantee today.

My asterisk also has the hole at the4 bottom for the power but no power port.

 

http://mvvg.blogspot.com/2019/12/4port-5200-asterisk.html

[+x=usr(1536)]

3 hours ago, 0078265317 said:

So is this worth 75?

Well... Both of the upper case plastics are intact, so that's a plus, and overall it's reasonably tidy.  I'd like to know more about the composite mod that's been installed (I doubt it's a UAV or similar since there's no S-Video output), but wouldn't really let it sway my decision one way or the other - mainly, seeing the quality of the work is more important to me than what's actually in there.

 

The downsides are no controllers, power supply, or switchbox.  The unit is basically being sold as-is and untested (it says it powers on, but a 5200 can light up the LED and still do nothing), so it's a gamble.  Then again, if it turns out to be truly dead you've got a chance of recouping some or all of your costs by parting it out, so there is that.

 

Hitting the BIN button means it's basically $105 by the time that shipping is factored in, and $30 in shipping is a bit high.  At $75-$85 shipped, I'd be happier with the purchase - but I also already have controllers, etc. laying around.  If I didn't, I'd probably keep looking for something that would be in the $50-$60 range shipped, or plan on not using it until I could pick up controllers and so forth.

 

Tough call.  It doesn't seem like a bad possibility to me, but I'd probably look around a bit more before deciding to pull the trigger on it or not.  There are three days left to go on the auction, so at least there's time to evaluate other machines.

[+-^CrossBow^-]

3 minutes ago, x=usr(1536) said:

Hitting the BIN button means it's basically $105 by the time that shipping is factored in, and $30 in shipping is a bit high.  At $75-$85 shipped, I'd be happier with the purchase - but I also already have controllers, etc. laying around.  If I didn't, I'd probably keep looking for something that would be in the $50-$60 range shipped, or plan on not using it until I could pick up controllers and so forth.

A well packaged full 5200 console is going to cost about this on average to ship. Just how it is with the size of the box needed to ship one. In fact the last 5200 that was sent to me with full case shell in place, the owner was hit at the post office with an oversize box fee making it cost them nearly $40 to send it to me. I was able to send it back cheaper using UPS but yeah... 5200s aren't cheap to ship if you want it to arrive safely intact.

 

Also, it could still have a UAV and they opted to not install s-video. Believe it or not, I've had that requested a few times because the owner doesn't have a way to use the s-video and is only concerned about composite initially. I've also had a few of them come back to get that added in once they did purchase something like a Retrotink or similar and could then use the s-video output. So we just don't know without pics of the work inside.

[+x=usr(1536)]

13 minutes ago, -^CrossBow^- said:

A well packaged full 5200 console is going to cost about this on average to ship. Just how it is with the size of the box needed to ship one. In fact the last 5200 that was sent to me with full case shell in place, the owner was hit at the post office with an oversize box fee making it cost them nearly $40 to send it to me. I was able to send it back cheaper using UPS but yeah... 5200s aren't cheap to ship if you want it to arrive safely intact.

You know, that's a fair point.  I haven't shipped one in a couple of years, so chances are my shipping numbers are a bit off.  Thing is, there're other 5200s on eBay with shipping in the region of half of what this one is asking, so from the purely external standpoint it looks to be on the high side even if it might not be.

15 minutes ago, -^CrossBow^- said:

Also, it could still have a UAV and they opted to not install s-video. Believe it or not, I've had that requested a few times because the owner doesn't have a way to use the s-video and is only concerned about composite initially. I've also had a few of them come back to get that added in once they did purchase something like a Retrotink or similar and could then use the s-video output. So we just don't know without pics of the work inside.

Yep, and I thought about that.  While it's definitely a possibility, it's not one that I'd count on.  But, as we've both said already, the only way to know is to see what's inside.

[0078265317]

31 minutes ago, x=usr(1536) said:

Well... Both of the upper case plastics are intact, so that's a plus, and overall it's reasonably tidy.  I'd like to know more about the composite mod that's been installed (I doubt it's a UAV or similar since there's no S-Video output), but wouldn't really let it sway my decision one way or the other - mainly, seeing the quality of the work is more important to me than what's actually in there.

 

The downsides are no controllers, power supply, or switchbox.  The unit is basically being sold as-is and untested (it says it powers on, but a 5200 can light up the LED and still do nothing), so it's a gamble.  Then again, if it turns out to be truly dead you've got a chance of recouping some or all of your costs by parting it out, so there is that.

 

Hitting the BIN button means it's basically $105 by the time that shipping is factored in, and $30 in shipping is a bit high.  At $75-$85 shipped, I'd be happier with the purchase - but I also already have controllers, etc. laying around.  If I didn't, I'd probably keep looking for something that would be in the $50-$60 range shipped, or plan on not using it until I could pick up controllers and so forth.

 

Tough call.  It doesn't seem like a bad possibility to me, but I'd probably look around a bit more before deciding to pull the trigger on it or not.  There are three days left to go on the auction, so at least there's time to evaluate other machines.

105 is not bad.  For me shipping is 56 dollars and 5 cents.  So 75 + 56 dollars and 5 cents shipping to me.  So 131 dollars and 5 cents.  So too much for me.

[+-^CrossBow^-]

25 minutes ago, x=usr(1536) said:

You know, that's a fair point.  I haven't shipped one in a couple of years, so chances are my shipping numbers are a bit off.  Thing is, there're other 5200s on eBay with shipping in the region of half of what this one is asking, so from the purely external standpoint it looks to be on the high side even if it might not be.

Yep, and I thought about that.  While it's definitely a possibility, it's not one that I'd count on.  But, as we've both said already, the only way to know is to see what's inside.

Well, I can tell you that unless they are shipping it via some super slow method without any insurance, they aren't shipping 5200s for $15. Not a full size console anyway. I think the cheapest I've been able o send out back to someone was about $25 and it was because they were just the next state over, was sent UPS ground without insurance and the box used was just about the same size as the 5200 itself. Not something I'd usually advise given how fragile the 5200 plastics are. But the one I'm talking about was just the bottom shell and main board. Nothing else...

 

So yeah... ebay auctions with shipping in the $15 - 20 range... might not arrive in one piece is all I'm saying, or the seller ends up having to eat the cost out of the auction win.

 

[LANC3L0T]

On 5/1/2023 at 2:24 PM, RockLobster said:

Oh that's right!  I do like that better. 

Seems like with all the weigh-ins, I'm gonna gun for a 4-port (either variety) unless I come across a 2-port for a ridiculously lower price.

 

Thanks everyone!

First off, I love the RockLobster name you picked... straight from the Amiga 500 motherboard!

 

Second, I agree on the 4-port model.  I bought a couple of them initially and did the power mod on both.  It is very easy, and does away with the need for the funky RF box.

Here is a link to a really good discussion on the modification: 

I have since bought a 2 port model as well, simply because it was cheap and I wanted both versions.  😄

 

Also, I bought a 5200 DB15 to DB9 adapter from RetroGameBoyz.  It allows me to play most 5200 games with a Sega Genesis controller (or any standard 9 pin joystick for games that use one fire button).

Here is the link to that: https://retrogameboyz.com/products/atari-5200-db15-to-db9-adapter-with-keypad-sega-genesis-amiga-amstrad-commodore-joystick-pad?variant=39399140720695

 

Also, you guys mentioned M.U.L.E. for the 5200.  Since it requires bank-switching, I have no idea how to get the game onto a new cartridge PCB.  If anybody has the ability to do this, I would be willing to pay for it.  M.U.L.E. is my favorite game on the C64 (and that was ported from the Atari PC version).  I know I could buy the Atari 5200 Ultimate SD Cartridge, but the $130 price is quite high.

Here is the ROM I found in an old AtariAge forum.  Check it out on the 5200 emulator, it is amazing!! MULE.bin