Ian Primus Posted June 16, 2001 Share Posted June 16, 2001 http://cgi.ebay.com/aw-cgi/eBayISAPI.dll?V...item=1246446869 I found this while attempting to find an Atari 7800 console. It _looks_ real, but I don't see a hex inverter to compensate for the eproms, and the eproms themselves _should_ have little sticky labels over the glass window, to prevent them from being erased. Just a thought. Ian Primus ian.primus@usa.net Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Eckhard Stolberg Posted June 16, 2001 Share Posted June 16, 2001 This is just a normal Ballblazer board with a chip socket installed. The chip under the "proto 88" sticker is the POKEY. And while the numbers are a bit hard to make out, I think that the ROM in the top right corner is the normal Ballblazer ROM. It should work in this board. About the EPROMs: nowhere in the auction description does it say that the EPROMs would work in this board or that they even do contain any data. You could make the board work with EPROMs by installing an inverter chip and a capacitor into the free spot to right of the POKEY and opening the wire jumper below this spot, though. You could even make it work with EEPROMs by changing the two wire jumpers below the two resistors. It still might be a genuine Atari loaner cart that was send out to magazines for reviewing the final version of the game while the carts still were in production, though. But before you bid on the EPROMs you might want to ask the seller about their content first. Ciao, Eckhard Stolberg Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ian Primus Posted June 17, 2001 Author Share Posted June 17, 2001 I'm not going to bid, I don't even have a 7800. That's what I really want. I was just wondering... Ian Primus ian.primus@usa.net Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Eckhard Stolberg Posted June 17, 2001 Share Posted June 17, 2001 It seems that Tempest has won this auction. And judgeing from how much he seems to like posting in this forum, we might find out if the EPROMs contain any prototype games in a couple of days. Ciao, Eckhard Stolberg Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tempest Posted June 17, 2001 Share Posted June 17, 2001 I don't know if it's real or not, but It's too odd an item to pass up. I emailed the seller and they said they got it with a large batch of Atari stuff from an ex-programmer, but they haven't tested it. Odd are the EPROMS had something at one point but are probably dead now. Maybe I'll get lucky? It seems too elaborate a set up to be a fake. I'll let everyone know what I find out. Do you think they'll work without modification? Tempest Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+Mitch Posted June 17, 2001 Share Posted June 17, 2001 It looks like they just posted another one on Ebay. It's a little fancier than the last one. http://cgi.ebay.com/aw-cgi/eBayISAPI.dll?V...item=1247470043 Mitch http://atari7800.atari.org Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tempest Posted June 17, 2001 Share Posted June 17, 2001 Yeah I don't know what to make of that. It has a little switch on the side that mine doesn't have. Hopefully I'll have an answer for you guys before that auction ends. These do look a little supsicious but I still think this is too elaborate for a hoax. Tempest Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
davidbrit2 Posted June 18, 2001 Share Posted June 18, 2001 Those look INCREDIBLY bizarre. Even if they aren't legitimate prototypes, I still think owning a 7800 cartridge with a universal ZIF socket would be pretty darned cool. I'll have to keep an eye on this one. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TunnelRunner Posted June 20, 2001 Share Posted June 20, 2001 Just a word on the 5200 'prototype' board from the same seller. I was interested in that item (from the same seller), but only curious as it looked suspicious. My suspicions were confirmed by Curt at the Atari Historical Society, who advised me to pass up on it (he has several of these type boards, they don't say 'prototype' on them). Let us know, Tempest, what you get! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tempest Posted June 20, 2001 Share Posted June 20, 2001 Yeah Curt told me that as well. That doesn't mean it's a fake, it's just that Curt has never seen one with prototype written on it before (he thinks they did that to make it look more authentic). Like I said before, I would hold off buying these until we get some answers (soon hopefully). The sell said she had more so it's not like they're going to disappear anytime soon. At this point I'm suspicious but still keeping an open mind because her story and some of the evidence seems to support what she says. Tempest Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Eckhard Stolberg Posted June 20, 2001 Share Posted June 20, 2001 quote: Originally posted by Tempest: I'll let everyone know what I find out. Do you think they'll work without modification? The board you won should only work with the original Ballblazer ROM, not with any of the EPROMs. (OK, other 32K ROMs like Ms. Pac Man should work too.) The second board should support 32K EPROMs, if you'd put an inverter chip into the second ZIF socket and flipped the switch. Atari apparently designed the Ballblazer POKEY board to work as a prototype or loaner board too. They specifically left a space for the inverter chip on the board and added some wire jumpers that let you chose between a game on a ROM, an EPROM or an EEPROM (all with 32K). These board probably are real, but you could get the same thing done with a normal Ballblazer cart, that Oshea still sells for $2. So I hope that you'll get a hundred dollar's worth out of the included EPROMs. Ciao, Eckhard Stolberg Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tempest Posted June 20, 2001 Share Posted June 20, 2001 What would I need to do to the board to make it work with non 32K EPROM's (who knows what games are on those EPROMs)? I assumed that if a game didn't use the POKEY chip it would just ignore it. What's the difference between the board I won and the one with the switch? Tempest Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Alex Posted June 20, 2001 Share Posted June 20, 2001 I don't know if they're still running, but check the sellers other auctions and you'll see they have similar setups for the 2600 and 5200. Interesting. I have a couple of ZIF socket 2600 boards myself with about 100 EPROMs. I know one set came from a guy who worked at TI, and they used to copy the games that they were manufacturing for Atari, and they used the ZIF boards for themselves. Pretty cool, although all the EPROMs are just released games. On another note, I have several 7800 prototypes that actually have "Prototype" machine etched on the board. I didn't see any differences from the released copeis of those games, but I haven't done an in-depth comparison yet. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tempest Posted June 20, 2001 Share Posted June 20, 2001 Yeah I have setup like that too but I've never seen one for the 7800 or 5200 before. http://www.msu.edu/user/reicher6/2600protos/eproms.jpg What do most 7800 protos look like. I've seen three, two were just EPROM's on a board (GATO and Pitfighter) and mine is in a PPII case with a white label on it. http://www.msu.edu/user/reicher6/otherprot...os/karateka.htm I'm just hoping there's anything on those EPROMs, even released games. Tempest Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Alex Posted June 20, 2001 Share Posted June 20, 2001 I'll get them scanned in and dumped next week. I assume there's some kind of checksum program we can run to determine technical differences if it isn't evident in the gameplay. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Eckhard Stolberg Posted June 20, 2001 Share Posted June 20, 2001 To Tempest: All the EPROMs on the picture have 28 pins, which means that they can contain 8K, 16K or 32K of data. There is no need to make any changes to the board because of this. The EPROMs probably all are 32K anyway. There is no difference between the two boards itself. The other one only already has installed a second ZIF socket and a switch. You can do that to your board to (or to any other Ballblazer board, if you don't want to mess around with your expensive purchase). The difference between a 32K EPROM and a 32K Atari game ROM is only that the chip enable line has to be inverted. Where the second board has the smaller ZIF socket you can install a 74LS04 inverter chip. Where this board has the switch there is a wire jumper on your board. If this jumper is closed, the chip enable line will be fed directly into the (EP)ROM chip, and if the jumper is open, the chip enable line will be taken through the inverter chip first. The other board uses the switch so that it can play EPROMs as well as normal ROMs. You are right about the POKEY chip. It shouldn't be a problem for any games up to 32K. To Alex: If you want to know if two binaries are the same, you can just use the DOS file compare command. At the DOS prompt type "fc /b file1.bin file2.bin" and it should tell you where the differences are. Ciao, Eckhard Stolberg Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tempest Posted June 20, 2001 Share Posted June 20, 2001 Ok, forgive me for being so thick, but does this mean my board already has the inverter chip on it or that I would need to add one? Will it play those EPROMs or do I need to tweak with something first (you mentioned a jumper I'm not seeing). Tempest Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Eckhard Stolberg Posted June 21, 2001 Share Posted June 21, 2001 Your board is just like the normal Ballblazer board. It will only play normal production ROMs. To be able to use EPROMs with your board you still have to add the inverter chip. If you look at the picture of the board, you can see a big chip with a "proto 88" sticker on it. This is the POKEY chip. To the right of this chip you can see two rows of solder spots going down. This is where the inverter chip has to be soldered in. Under those two rows, right before the edge of the board, there are two other solder spots connected with a little piece of wire. It's a bit hard to make out on the picture. You have to remove this wire to enable the inverter chip. Now your board should work with EPROMs but not with normal production ROMs anymore. Ciao, Eckhard Stolberg Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tempest Posted June 21, 2001 Share Posted June 21, 2001 Ok I see it now. So I have to solder in my own inverter chip? Oi! What a pain in the ass. If this was a real test board why wouldn't it have this done already? I suppose it could be an incomplete test board but consider me VERY suspicous now. Tempest Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MrRetroGamer Posted June 22, 2001 Share Posted June 22, 2001 So are we saying that these gizmo's may not be anymore that an expensive conversation piece that looks cool, but probably doesn't do much of anything special??? Tempest, did you get these items yet in the mail. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tempest Posted June 22, 2001 Share Posted June 22, 2001 Not yet, I held off paying for it until I got some answers. I don't know what to make of this yet, stay tuned for more details I guess... Tempest Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MrRetroGamer Posted June 22, 2001 Share Posted June 22, 2001 Darn, I was hoping you could shed some light since I have a possible deal in the works for some similar items too. Have you looked at all the other stuff she is selling? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tempest Posted June 23, 2001 Share Posted June 23, 2001 Yeah and I don't know what to make of that stuff either. Part of me wants to believe her because it looks real and her story sure sounds legit, but the skeptical part of me says there's something fishy going on. Maybe if we could get one of the DP guys to look at it (John Hardie maybe) he could tell. Tempest Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MrRetroGamer Posted June 23, 2001 Share Posted June 23, 2001 Well, keep in mind that in the middle of all those rare computer chips she has up for auction, she's got an auction for CHOCOLATE CHIP COOKIES too!! LOL http://cgi.ebay.com/aw-cgi/eBayISAPI.dll?V...item=1248344820 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Wntermute Posted June 23, 2001 Share Posted June 23, 2001 mmm Chocolate Chip cookies... Just be glad they're not EPROM chip cookies. ^_^ Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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