Doc4 Posted February 6 Share Posted February 6 I picked up a Magnavox Odyssey 2 and, I haven't confirmed this just yet, but it appears the Voice module is permanently attached to the system. I certainly can't remove it. There is an old ribbon cable coming out of the Voice module going directly into a cut-out on the back of the system where it looks like it's connected directly to the motherboard. Also, the power cable on the Voice is coming out of the system body. How does this usually connect to power? I can't find a single image of that online. I'll add some images later, just thought this was odd. Maybe someone modded it and permanently attached the Voice to it? Also missing the top-right grill, it's just covered with plastic. I'm going to try to disassemble it tonight to see what is going on inside, something is rattling around in there. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+atari2600land Posted February 6 Share Posted February 6 The Voice has a input that is similar to a cartridge slot. You just put it in the Odyssey's cart slot. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Doc4 Posted February 6 Author Share Posted February 6 Got it, but I'm not able to remove it. Again, there is a ribbon cable connecting it to the Odyssey 2. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Flojomojo Posted February 6 Share Posted February 6 It’s probably just stuck on there real good after 41 one years of being there. I don’t know what the ribbon cable is though. This current eBay auction for an o2 and voice module includes 2 AC adapters which makes me think it has its own power supply. How strange it is that I can’t find a scan of the owners manual for The Voice? Here’s that auction if you wanted to ask the seller a question. I think you were right to go to Atari Age first though. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
drchuckradio Posted February 6 Share Posted February 6 That ribbon cable is really baffling me. As for the power, the Voice doesn't have its own power connector. It gets power from the main O2 console. The RF cable looks odd, with an additional (power?) cable coming out of the same hole. Very strange. Would be interested to see what you find as you disassemble it. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Doc4 Posted February 6 Author Share Posted February 6 (edited) Right!? Where is the user manual for The Voice? I couldn't find one either. I know the power supply is separate though, in this case, the console has a power supply that I can detach while there is no visible means to detach the Voice Module power. Edit based on drchuckradio's comment: I have two power connectors though I'm not sure why then. I assumed both needed power. I'll get this disassembled later and take some pics, hopefully, we can see what is going on here. Edited February 6 by Doc4 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DanBoris Posted February 8 Share Posted February 8 On 2/6/2024 at 1:58 PM, Doc4 said: I picked up a Magnavox Odyssey 2 and, I haven't confirmed this just yet, but it appears the Voice module is permanently attached to the system. I certainly can't remove it. There is an old ribbon cable coming out of the Voice module going directly into a cut-out on the back of the system where it looks like it's connected directly to the motherboard. Also, the power cable on the Voice is coming out of the system body. How does this usually connect to power? I can't find a single image of that online. I'll add some images later, just thought this was odd. Maybe someone modded it and permanently attached the Voice to it? Also missing the top-right grill, it's just covered with plastic. I'm going to try to disassemble it tonight to see what is going on inside, something is rattling around in there. That is very strange, not sure why anyone would do that. Maybe the cartridge connector on the system was broken so they just hard wired it to the slot in the voice module? Would be really interesting to see what is going on inside. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Doc4 Posted February 8 Author Share Posted February 8 (edited) Apologies, I haven't had time to open this up yet. It's on my list of things to do though. Just checking, but is it normal to not have the smaller vent holes on the right side of the Voice module, or is this just a variant? Edited February 8 by Doc4 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DanBoris Posted February 8 Share Posted February 8 (edited) 1 hour ago, Doc4 said: Apologies, I haven't had time to open this up yet. It's on my list of things to do though. Just checking, but is it normal to not have the smaller vent holes on the right side of the Voice module, or is this just a variant? There is a picture on this site of one that doesn't have the vent. It appears without the vents in all the advertising I have been able to find, but pictures of the actual unit seem to always have it. That vent is right over the ROM board so it's possible that the early models didn't have it and they later discovered it was needed. http://www.videogameobsession.com/videogame/odyssey/odyssey2.htm Edited February 8 by DanBoris Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Doc4 Posted February 8 Author Share Posted February 8 34 minutes ago, DanBoris said: There is a picture on this site of one that doesn't have the vent. It appears without the vents in all the advertising I have been able to find, but pictures of the actual unit seem to always have it. That vent is right over the ROM board so it's possible that the early models didn't have it and they later discovered it was needed. http://www.videogameobsession.com/videogame/odyssey/odyssey2.htm I haven't seen any on eBay without the vent, but I haven't been looking very long either. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Doc4 Posted February 8 Author Share Posted February 8 I found this article on the Voice but can anyone confirm this statement highlighted below? This could explain the two power adaptors if this was an early unit. Creative Computing Video & Arcade Games magazine (Vol. 1, No. 1 / Spring 1983 / Page 60) https://www.atarimagazines.com/cva/v1n1/odyssey.php Quote The Voice module is made of the same material as the Odyssey2 console and is styled similarly. When plugged into the cartridge slot, The Voice looks like an extension of the original unit. The module leaves the keyboard uncovered and allows for access to the on/off power switch. The Voice has its own built-in speaker and volume control. The slot in The Voice is on a slight angle which makes inserting a cartridge seem incorrect, and there is no cover over this slot, a situation which could lead to dust build-up on the exposed connector. The Voice comes complete with a new AC adaptor that is meant to replace the one that comes with the original system. There should be no compatibility problems with the adaptor as it has both male and female plugs. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DanBoris Posted February 8 Share Posted February 8 52 minutes ago, Doc4 said: I found this article on the Voice but can anyone confirm this statement highlighted below? This could explain the two power adaptors if this was an early unit. Creative Computing Video & Arcade Games magazine (Vol. 1, No. 1 / Spring 1983 / Page 60) https://www.atarimagazines.com/cva/v1n1/odyssey.php It's quite possible that the voice module was supplied with a higher current AC adaptor to support the extra load of the voice hardware. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Doc4 Posted February 12 Author Share Posted February 12 (edited) I finally had a minute to open this up and take some pictures. The Voice Module has been hex bolted to the main body (see images) which explains why it doesn't come off. I was able to remove the Odyssey2 motherboard and I believe the Voice Module would come off in one piece because I could feel the connection from the cartridge slot, but I stopped before doing that to see what the consensus was. The General Instrument board has a ribbon cable leading to the Voice Module and there are two power supply units, one for the Odyssey2 and one wired to that small power board. Controllers appear to be shot, but they are removable. I'm not very familiar with everything going on here but please ask questions and I'll do my best to answer. Let me know what you think. Note that something was rattling around in the main body and it turns out it was this smaller power board. This smaller board and the larger General Instrument board were taped to the top lid at one point (see images). Most of this tape disintegrated and wasn't holding anything down so I removed the loose bits and taped these back down with some Kapton tape. Like a weirdo, I save the old tape. Hi-Resolution images included. IMG_6877.HEICIMG_6876.HEICIMG_6875.HEICIMG_6872.HEICIMG_6871.HEICIMG_6870.HEICIMG_6869.HEICIMG_6868.HEICIMG_6866.HEICIMG_6865.HEICIMG_6864.HEICIMG_6863.HEIC Edited February 12 by Doc4 1 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DanBoris Posted February 12 Share Posted February 12 1 hour ago, Doc4 said: I finally had a minute to open this up and take some pictures. The Voice Module has been hex bolted to the main body (see images) which explains why it doesn't come off. I was able to remove the Odyssey2 motherboard and I believe the Voice Module would come off in one piece because I could feel the connection from the cartridge slot, but I stopped before doing that to see what the consensus was. The General Instrument board has a ribbon cable leading to the Voice Module and there are two power supply units, one for the Odyssey2 and one wired to that small power board. Controllers appear to be shot, but they are removable. I'm not very familiar with everything going on here but please ask questions and I'll do my best to answer. Let me know what you think. Note that something was rattling around in the main body and it turns out it was this smaller power board. This smaller board and the larger General Instrument board were taped to the top lid at one point (see images). Most of this tape disintegrated and wasn't holding anything down so I removed the loose bits and taped these back down with some Kapton tape. Like a weirdo, I save the old tape. Hi-Resolution images included. IMG_6877.HEIC 2.04 MB · 0 downloads IMG_6876.HEIC 1.93 MB · 0 downloads IMG_6875.HEIC 1.79 MB · 0 downloads IMG_6872.HEIC 1.27 MB · 0 downloads IMG_6871.HEIC 1.48 MB · 0 downloads IMG_6870.HEIC 2.11 MB · 0 downloads IMG_6869.HEIC 2.08 MB · 0 downloads IMG_6868.HEIC 2.07 MB · 0 downloads IMG_6866.HEIC 1.77 MB · 0 downloads IMG_6865.HEIC 2.02 MB · 0 downloads IMG_6864.HEIC 1.98 MB · 0 downloads IMG_6863.HEIC 2.3 MB · 0 downloads This is very interesting, this looks like a prototype of some sort. That's not what the normal voice module PCB looks like. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Doc4 Posted February 12 Author Share Posted February 12 (edited) 46 minutes ago, DanBoris said: This is very interesting, this looks like a prototype of some sort. That's not what the normal voice module PCB looks like. I didn't open the Voice Module, everything in the images is in the main Odyssey2 body. There does appear to be something in the Voice Module though. Edited February 12 by Doc4 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DanBoris Posted February 12 Share Posted February 12 18 minutes ago, Doc4 said: I didn't open the Voice Module, everything in the images is in the main Odyssey2 body. There does appear to be something in the Voice Module though. The board with the ROMS has pretty much all the voice circuitry. The SP0256 is the voice synthesize chip, and the ROMS hold the voice data. The other large is a parallel to serial converter which is needed to convert the eprom data into a serial interface that the SP0256 uses. The production version uses serial ROMS so doesn't need that chip and takes up less space. The other board in the case appears to be a voltage regulator that is being used to power the voice board. The only thing that is missing is the audio amplifier. If the PCB is still in the voice module it might be using the one in there. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Doc4 Posted February 13 Author Share Posted February 13 I'm waiting for a couple of games to show up and I'm going to test this out. I'm not sure if these joysticks will work but they have been cleaned up. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Flojomojo Posted February 13 Share Posted February 13 Seems weird to see hand-written labels on a mass-production game console, right? Maybe it was someone's amateur hobby project to modify the innards. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Doc4 Posted February 13 Author Share Posted February 13 Seems like it would have happened years and years ago with an unreleased version of the Voice (Note that there are no vents on the right side). As far as I can tell the Voice was only ever produced with that additional ventilation. However, this has occurred to me as well and I wouldn't even know why someone would mod it this way. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Flojomojo Posted February 13 Share Posted February 13 Can you share where you picked it up, or any clues as to where it might have been manufactured? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Doc4 Posted February 13 Author Share Posted February 13 I was told this came from an estate sale where the owner had possibly worked for Magnavox and that there were several prototype games purchased by the buyer as well. I'm taking everything with a grain of salt here as I bought this on eBay and I'm not trying to push the idea this is definitely a prototype but even if it isn't it sure looks like it may have been a pre-release testing unit or something to that effect. Does anyone know of or have a legitimate Odyssey2 / The Voice prototype or dev console? Curious if we could compare notes. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DanBoris Posted February 13 Share Posted February 13 1 hour ago, Flojomojo said: Seems weird to see hand-written labels on a mass-production game console, right? Maybe it was someone's amateur hobby project to modify the innards. This is definitely not a production unit. The board is made by General Instruments who made the voice synth chips. The production unit used serial ROMs for the voice data which would be difficult to use during development, so this board allows you to use stock EPROMS instead. Games could also contain additional voice roms in the cartridge so this may be been used to develop new voice games. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
videopac.is@live Posted April 9 Share Posted April 9 Maybe this schema can help? Voice ICs.pdf Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DanBoris Posted April 9 Share Posted April 9 8 hours ago, videopac.is@live said: Maybe this schema can help? Voice ICs.pdf 37.01 kB · 5 downloads That for the production version of the voice (I actually drew this). It's quite different from what is seen in this version. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Doc4 Posted April 9 Author Share Posted April 9 I'm working on getting DanBoris clean shots of the boards in the system. I'm the bottleneck right now, but I'm working on it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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