S-Video mod.

[atarian1]

Any luck?

 

-Chris

 

No time! I need 28 hours in a day.

I hope to start again this weekend...

[cwilkson]

Any luck?

 

-Chris

 

No time! I need 28 hours in a day.

I hope to start again this weekend...

 

I'm currently on a 37 hour day. I think. You should try it!! The only downside is that most people put way too much emphasis on the earth's period of rotation. (purely arbitrary if you ask me) They won't understand (or accept) your new high-efficiency lifestyle.

 

 

-Chris

[+Nathan Strum]

Well, after having it sitting on a table staring at me for 5 months, I finally found some time to install the CyberTech mod today in my 6 switch.

 

First impression is that the engineering on it is really impressive. It's a nice, compact design, and is very well put together. I like the fact that everything (short of tools) is included.

 

The installation instructions are straightforward enough, but it would be nice to have a picture or two in there. Perhaps an URL pointing to a more detailed online PDF file? If I have the chance, I'll put something together - I took a bunch of pics as I was installing it.

 

The video quality looks very good. Although I can't say how good until I can haul my 2600 into work and look at it on a decent monitor. Once I do, I'll update my mod comparisons page with a full review of it. (The irony of all of this is that my TV at home is quite old, and only has RF input. So I'm going from S-video to a composite adpater into an RF modulator. Despite all of that, it still looks noticably better than the 2600's RF output. And yes... I do need a new TV.)

 

Installation went less than spectacularly though. I have both a 6 and 4 switcher, and the pins on the CyberTech board absolutely refused to go into either one. In fact, on the 6 switch (which has a white socket) I could see where the mod's pins had made grooves into the sides of the pinholes as I tried to push that sucker in there. Believe me - I pushed hard, too.

 

So... time to dig out the Dremel (although a nail file would have done the trick). Looking up at the pins from below, they're square at a 45 degree tilt. Based on the grooves the pins were making, I could tell that they were too thick (as opposed to too wide), so I filed 'em down just a little. Like so:

 

 

Even then, it took considerable effort leaning on an IC insertion tool for leverage to get it seated all the way. Several times I thought I had it, but when I flipped on the 2600, I got various states of nothing or garbage. Eventually though, it got in, and I got a picture. Success!

 

Well, almost...

 

On the first few attempts putting the 6 switch back together (in hindsight, I should have installed it in the 4 since it's easier to work with), the mod came loose, and I had to re-seat it again. This time, I used a multimeter to check for continuity from the chip through to the bottom of the 2600's circuit board. Turned out one pin on one corner wasn't quite getting all the way down.

 

After that was fixed and I tried putting it back together again, something was causing the color to drop out. Eventually, I figured out that the connection for the chroma (attached to the capacitor lead) had broken loose, because the cables were rubbing up against it as I stuffed it all back together. (You can't ditch the RF shield in a 6, since it's what actually holds everything together, so it had to go back on.)

 

Once I got that sorted out, and managed to route the wires so they didn't hit anything, it worked fine.

 

However, now I can't get the top back on the 2600 all the way. With the cables sticking out the holes in the top of the shield, there's not enough clearance to put the whole thing back together. The round S-video cable seems to be the culprit, so I may ditch that for a flat one. As it is now, the deck of the 2600 sticks up in the middle. If I cinch it down, it pinches the cables.

 

Not really how I wanted to spend my afternoon, but it's working now. (Having a "stereo" 2600 is very cool, but it takes a little getting used to.)

 

Given the problems stuffing it all back together, I think just installing it in the 4 switcher would have been easier, since I could have left the RF shield off. Oh well, I wanted it in the 6, and in the end, it was worth the effort. I think most of my struggles came with getting the mod to seat properly in the socket.

 

For anyone considering one of these mods - buy the IC insertion/extraction tools Radio Shack sells. The chip really didn't want to come out of my 6 switch, and I never could have gotten it out without an extractor (important - pull straight up until it comes out, never rock it side to side or you'll bend the pins). Also, the insertion tool comes in handy for putting it back into the mod, since it will squeeze the pins inward to make insertion easier. (The 4's pins weren't spread outward, so it wouldn't have needed it.)

 

A few suggestions for Chris...

 

For an S-video cable, consider using a flat one if you can find them instead of a round one. It's more flexible, has better clearance, and they're generally better quality than the round ones.

 

Longer cables would be really nice to have included. Or, perhaps the Atari2600.com store can sell S-video and RCA couplers (either inline, panel mount, or both), as an option. The cables are far too short as-is.

 

Even though I don't have any problem with soldering, I had an idea for a solderless version. Would it be possible to use the same type of slide-on connectors that the 2600 joystick uses on its circuit board? This would make installation possible for anyone (thick pins notwithstanding), and the lines could still be fed through the holes in the RF shield.

 

Finally, it'd be nice to have that one capacitor fully on the circuit board, instead of dangling by its lead. It seems a little bit fragile that way, and caused me some problems. That's pretty minor though.

 

All in all though, the issues I had are all pretty minor. I'm really looking forward to seeing this on a broadcast monitor at work, and I'll post some uncompressed frame grabs as soon as I can.

 

Thanks for all your hard work on making this mod, Chris!

[cwilkson]

Hi Nathan,

 

Well' date=' after having it sitting on a table staring at me for 5 months, I finally found some time to install the CyberTech mod today in my 6 switch.[/quote']

Thanks for the detailed write up. I'll respond in detail at some point. Right now I'm getting ready for the biannual cross-continent drive. I'm just here for 5 minutes and thought I'd poke my head in to answer questions before I disappear for a couple of weeks.

 

Finally, it'd be nice to have that one capacitor fully on the circuit board, instead of dangling by its lead. It seems a little bit fragile that way, and caused me some problems. That's pretty minor though.

 

Ah...I was confused at first. I'm so used to thinking about the Rev 1.0 boards, that I forgot about the chroma cap. It was accidentally left off the Rev 0 board, but it was fixed back in January, along with some other minor things.

 

ON the s-video cables, I have no idea what's being shipped with the boards...they are sourced by Atari2600.com. If it's the super huge (just smaller than Monster Cable) size, you'll never fit it in a 6'er. But I doubt that because they're a lot more expensive. Given what it sounds like you have, here are some quick suggestions. First make sure the cable runs left to right over the RF shield. Then it'll fit (partially) in one of the grooves in the top case. If it's still bulging, remove the outer rubber sheath from the cable. You might get 2 smaller cables, or 4 individual wires (plus maybe a bare wire). Any of these is fine. The bare wire (if it exists) is ground and so is the shield...it's ok if they short. That's the way I did the prototype that's pictured at Atari2600.com, BTW.

 

I finally got a copy of the board a couple of days ago. Installed it in my JR and used an LCD projector to play on a 10 foot white board. It was AWESOME!!!! I didn't have speakers on hand, but still...it was 10 feet wide.

 

Have fun at work!

(and don't get busted )

 

-Chris

[atarian1]

+-------+-------+-----------+----------------+

| pin 6 | pin 9 | sat pot   | chroma voltage | (measured)

+-------+-------+-----------+----------------+

|  0v   |  0v   | no effect | 1.37v          | (1.368v)

|  0v   | +5v   | no effect | 1.93v          | (1.934v)

| +5v   |  0v   | left      | 1.58v          | (1.579v)

| +5v   |  0v   | right     | 0.833v         | (0.866v)

| +5v   | +5v   | left      | 1.72v          | (1.723v)

| +5v   | +5v   | right     | 2.47v          | (2.431v)

+-------+-------+-----------+----------------+

 

Hmmm....that looks like crap.  I don't know how to get a monospaced font in here, so you'll have to deal.  

 

Anyway, whatt you measure should be very close to the design spec above.  When I say very close you should hear "almost exactly...within a few mV".  When the pot is turned to the right and pin 6 = +5v, the values could be a few tens of mV away, but no more.  This is because pots don't truly zero out sometimes.  

 

Some of your numbers are way off.  So try repeating the measurements, but this time measure the voltage at the middle pin of the saturation pot.  It's the one right beside the big electrolytic cap.  For your peace of mind, these are indeed the values you should see.  I included the measured values from my partially stuffed test  board next to the calculate values.

 

-Chris

 

I don't understand the chart. Am I suppose to connect the pin 6 and pin 9 to something?

[cwilkson]

+-------+-------+-----------+----------------+

| pin 6 | pin 9 | sat pot   | chroma voltage | (measured)

+-------+-------+-----------+----------------+

|  0v   |  0v   | no effect | 1.37v          | (1.368v)

|  0v   | +5v   | no effect | 1.93v          | (1.934v)

| +5v   |  0v   | left      | 1.58v          | (1.579v)

| +5v   |  0v   | right     | 0.833v         | (0.866v)

| +5v   | +5v   | left      | 1.72v          | (1.723v)

| +5v   | +5v   | right     | 2.47v          | (2.431v)

+-------+-------+-----------+----------------+

 

Hmmm....that looks like crap.  I don't know how to get a monospaced font in here, so you'll have to deal.  

 

Anyway, whatt you measure should be very close to the design spec above.  When I say very close you should hear "almost exactly...within a few mV".  When the pot is turned to the right and pin 6 = +5v, the values could be a few tens of mV away, but no more.  This is because pots don't truly zero out sometimes.  

 

Some of your numbers are way off.  So try repeating the measurements, but this time measure the voltage at the middle pin of the saturation pot.  It's the one right beside the big electrolytic cap.  For your peace of mind, these are indeed the values you should see.  I included the measured values from my partially stuffed test  board next to the calculate values.

 

-Chris

 

I don't understand the chart. Am I suppose to connect the pin 6 and pin 9 to something?

 

Umm, sorry. It's a truth table. Pins 6 and 9 and the pot position are the inputs and the chroma voltage (at the middle pin of the pot) is the output. For each row, you connect the inputs as directed (e.g. for the second line: pin 6 = 0v, pin 9 = +5v, pot = "don't care"). Then you measure the output. The "chroma voltage" column is what you should expect, and beside that I added the value that I actually measured from my unit.

 

-Chris

[+Nathan Strum]

Well, crud.

 

After getting my 2600 successfully back together (I ended up splicing individual thin wires to the cables, and those clear the case), I found that at least some of my intermittent problem was due to the cartridge slot.

 

The little dust door in there isn't closing anymore, and doesn't keep the cartridge positioned correctly against the contacts. But it doesn't affect Atari carts - only third-party ones (especially Activision - they must have thinner boards). Anyway (this actually does have something to do with this thread), while I was removing the cartridge slot to fix it (the little "spring" sponges in there have rotted, so I'm going to try and replace them with foam weatherstripping), that chroma capacitor on the CyberTech card finally broke off at the lead. So there's no way to solder the thing back onto the board now.

 

I just wrote Atari2600.com in hopes they might send me a replacement cap. But the thing's dead until I can find one. Any suggestions if they can't get me one?

 

Oh well, I can finish fixing the cart slot in the meantime. (And I'm done using parentheticals in this post.)

[Paul Slocum]

I installed it in my heavy sixer last night. The picture is so good it almost looks like an emulator.

 

My only complaint is the length of the S-Video cable. I think the best solution would be to include a cable with a female connector instead of male. Then you can just plug in a cable of whatever length you need. Sure you can get an extension cord, but people are a lot more likely to have an extra male-to-male around.

 

-paul

[cwilkson]

I installed it in my heavy sixer last night. The picture is so good it almost looks like an emulator.

 

My only complaint is the length of the S-Video cable. I think the best solution would be to include a cable with a female connector instead of male. Then you can just plug in a cable of whatever length you need. Sure you can get an extension cord' date=' but people are a lot more likely to have an extra male-to-male around.

 

-paul[/quote']

 

I repeatedly requested this, apparently to no avail. I'm sorry. I thought it had been corrected but I guess not. It's a problem, a big one, and one that I have no way of correcting. The short cable (pigtail) was a compromise between having a jack on the board (space and cost concerns) or having a panel jack (more cost, plus users would have to alter their console case). The idea was that I would have female pigtails for both video and audio, so that any standard a/v cables could be attached. But as I'm not the distributor, I don't have any control over what's being shipped.

 

This whole experience has been very frustrating for me too. Many apologies.

 

At least you're getting a good picture.

 

-Chris

[cwilkson]

Well' date=' crud.

 

Anyway that chroma capacitor on the CyberTech card finally broke off at the lead. So there's no way to solder the thing back onto the board now.[/quote']

Bummer.

 

I just wrote Atari2600.com in hopes they might send me a replacement cap. But the thing's dead until I can find one. Any suggestions if they can't get me one?

Well, I forgot the value of that cap. I think it was 330 pF??? Anyway, the "new improved" value is 2.2nF (=.0022 uF), 50V. You can probably get one at Radio Shack. Actually, probably not. But you can try. In the meantime, you can connect the chroma wire directly to the board where the cap was. The vertical bars at the screen edges will be worse, and the ghosting will be worse, but you'll still get a pretty good picture overall.

 

Hope this helps!

-Chris

[Paul Slocum]

The idea was that I would have female pigtails for both video and audio' date=' so that any standard a/v cables could be attached.[/quote']

 

Ah I see. Yeah, that makes the most sense. The audio is less of an issue since RCA extenders/gender changers are easy to find and cheap. I have several of those sitting around. But S-Video extension cables/adapters tend to be more expensive and not always solved by a quick trip to Radio Shack. I'll foward my complaints to atari2600.com.

 

Fortunately, for some of the stuff I do the short cables will work.

 

-paul

[cwilkson]

First impression is that the engineering on it is really impressive. It's a nice' date=' compact design, and is very well put together. I like the fact that everything (short of tools) is included.[/quote']

Thanks. A lot of effort (and I mean a *lot* of effort) went into making this an easy kit, no matter which 2600 variation you have. It's good to know that it is appreciated.

 

The installation instructions are straightforward enough, but it would be nice to have a picture or two in there. Perhaps an URL pointing to a more detailed online PDF file? If I have the chance, I'll put something together - I took a bunch of pics as I was installing it.

I thought about that briefly, but I was so hosed (still am) that I couldn't do it. Plus I only recently received my own boards, and they aren't even stuffed yet.

 

The video quality looks very good. Although I can't say how good until I can haul my 2600 into work and look at it on a decent monitor. Once I do, I'll update my mod comparisons page with a full review of it. (The irony of all of this is that my TV at home is quite old, and only has RF input. So I'm going from S-video to a composite adpater into an RF modulator. Despite all of that, it still looks noticably better than the 2600's RF output. And yes... I do need a new TV.)

 

Wow. That's way too many signal conversions.

It hurts me.

 

So did you get to look at it at work yet?

 

Installation went less than spectacularly though. I have both a 6 and 4 switcher, and the pins on the CyberTech board absolutely refused to go into either one. In fact, on the 6 switch (which has a white socket) I could see where the mod's pins had made grooves into the sides of the pinholes as I tried to push that sucker in there. Believe me - I pushed hard, too.

The grooves are expected. The plastic holes are actually pin guides...the actual sockets (inside) are much larger. It could be that this problem is more common than I first believed. There's not much that can be done, although I like your solution of filing the wirewrap pins.

 

Even then, it took considerable effort leaning on an IC insertion tool for leverage to get it seated all the way. Several times I thought I had it, but when I flipped on the 2600, I got various states of nothing or garbage. Eventually though, it got in, and I got a picture. Success!

Aha. Those insertion tools are overated and overused. To install this board into the Evil Sockets From Hell , you should apply steady, unrelenting pressure with the palm of your hand. This is best (most safely) done with the motherboard sitting on a towel on the table, and the TIA chip *not* installed. You can apply uneven pressure, to get one end started then the other...this helps considerably.

 

On the first few attempts putting the 6 switch back together (in hindsight, I should have installed it in the 4 since it's easier to work with), the mod came loose, and I had to re-seat it again. This time, I used a multimeter to check for continuity from the chip through to the bottom of the 2600's circuit board. Turned out one pin on one corner wasn't quite getting all the way down.

Push harder!

 

After that was fixed and I tried putting it back together again, something was causing the color to drop out. Eventually, I figured out that the connection for the chroma (attached to the capacitor lead) had broken loose, because the cables were rubbing up against it as I stuffed it all back together. (You can't ditch the RF shield in a 6, since it's what actually holds everything together, so it had to go back on.)

 

Once I got that sorted out, and managed to route the wires so they didn't hit anything, it worked fine.

This is the kind of mechanical problem that delayed the release for *way* too long. All of the most common problems were taken care of with the Rev 1 board. I think. I hope.

 

However, now I can't get the top back on the 2600 all the way. With the cables sticking out the holes in the top of the shield, there's not enough clearance to put the whole thing back together. The round S-video cable seems to be the culprit, so I may ditch that for a flat one. As it is now, the deck of the 2600 sticks up in the middle. If I cinch it down, it pinches the cables.

See my earlier post for suggestions on this one.

 

Not really how I wanted to spend my afternoon, but it's working now. (Having a "stereo" 2600 is very cool, but it takes a little getting used to.)

:D

Sometimes it's subtle, like in Combat. Sometimes it's intentional, like in Skeleton. Sometimes it's....Pitfall II. I actually started to hate the Pitfall II theme a long time ago. None of my prototypes have audio on them as a result. A funny story: I got ready to have to PCBs manufactured and was just about to hit the "submit" button, when I realized there was no audio on the production boards! That was a close one.

 

A few suggestions for Chris...

 

For an S-video cable, consider using a flat one if you can find them instead of a round one. It's more flexible, has better clearance, and they're generally better quality than the round ones.

 

Longer cables would be really nice to have included. Or, perhaps the Atari2600.com store can sell S-video and RCA couplers (either inline, panel mount, or both), as an option. The cables are far too short as-is.

See my earlier post. And my previous rant. Cables are the bane of my existence.

 

Even though I don't have any problem with soldering, I had an idea for a solderless version. Would it be possible to use the same type of slide-on connectors that the 2600 joystick uses on its circuit board? This would make installation possible for anyone (thick pins notwithstanding), and the lines could still be fed through the holes in the RF shield.

This is an interesting thought. I wish I had thought of it (or you had suggested it) before the Rev 1 boards were done. I'm not sure what the quality would be, but it's certainly something to consider if I ever have to do a redesign.

 

Finally, it'd be nice to have that one capacitor fully on the circuit board, instead of dangling by its lead. It seems a little bit fragile that way, and caused me some problems. That's pretty minor though.

Apparently not so minor...you broke it completely off. It's fixed in the Rev 1 board.

 

All in all though, the issues I had are all pretty minor. I'm really looking forward to seeing this on a broadcast monitor at work, and I'll post some uncompressed frame grabs as soon as I can.

I can't wait! I have no way of doing screen grabs except with my PC. Or with a camera. And that's lousy.

 

Thanks for all your hard work on making this mod, Chris!

And thanks to you and everyone else for being so patient for so long. For not giving up when even I wanted to. Feedback like this is what makes it a fun hobby.

 

-Chris

[cwilkson]

S-Video extension cables/adapters tend to be more expensive and not always solved by a quick trip to Radio Shack.

 

Actually, they do sell them (gender changers). And all the stores I've been to actually stocked them, in one the the parts drawers. I was amazed to find what I needed, but there they were. The part # is 278-455 (snagged from their website). They are indeed expensive...over $5, but they work well.

 

-Chris

[+Nathan Strum]

So did you get to look at it at work yet?

 

Not yet. I broke off the cap lead before I had the chance. So until I can get that replaced (no word from Atari2600.com yet)' date=' it's dead meat.

 

The grooves are expected. The plastic holes are actually pin guides...the actual sockets (inside) are much larger. It could be that this problem is more common than I first believed.

 

Even with the grooves it made, it just wouldn't go. I was afraid of breaking the motherboard, so I went with filing the pins instead.

 

Those insertion tools are overated and overused. To install this board into the Evil Sockets From Hell , you should apply steady, unrelenting pressure with the palm of your hand. This is best (most safely) done with the motherboard sitting on a towel on the table, and the TIA chip *not* installed.

 

Actually, the tool worked well for me, because once the TIA chip is seated, the tool is completely straddling it (as long as you let go of the plunger!) and is actually pushing down only on the socket at that point. Then I could apply direct pressure to it as needed.

 

See my earlier post for suggestions on this one.

 

I tried stripping the sheathing off, but felt that the wires were a bit too flimsy that way to run the several inches that were needed. So I spliced on individual solid wires (leftover untwisted-twisted pairs from a cat 5 cable) and ran those from the mod out through the holes in the shield, then I put heat shrink tubing over the splices and bare ground wires. That worked fine, but I think it's what finally broke the cap lead. The solid wires are a little stiffer than stranded ones.

 

Sometimes it's subtle, like in Combat. Sometimes it's intentional, like in Skeleton. Sometimes it's....Pitfall II.

 

I was surprised to find Pitfall 1 only seems to use one audio channel. It's pretty minimal sound. Midnight Magic very is cool, since the music has two part harmonies and makes for a great stereo effect.

 

This is an interesting thought. I wish I had thought of it (or you had suggested it) before the Rev 1 boards were done. I'm not sure what the quality would be, but it's certainly something to consider if I ever have to do a redesign.

 

When I was making the mod comparison page, I was trying to figure something like that out, so I could quickly swap between mods. The joystick-type connectors didn't even dawn on me. What I ended up using was something like this. It's a pcb-mount terminal strip. (The linked one isn't exactly what I used, but it's the only thing I can find online that's similar.)

 

Here's mine:

Just stick the wires in the holes, and cinch down the screws with a small screwdriver.

 

Apparently not so minor...you broke it completely off.

 

Yeah, nothing to solder onto. Not even a stub.

 

I can't wait! I have no way of doing screen grabs except with my PC. Or with a camera. And that's lousy.

 

Well I'm hoping I can get it fixed soon. If you can tell me the specs on the capacitor, maybe I can find one locally at Fry's.

[cwilkson]

[Well I'm hoping I can get it fixed soon. If you can tell me the specs on the capacitor' date= maybe I can find one locally at Fry's.[/quote]

I did...look above.

 

.0022uF, 50V BTW. It's a standard value. If Fry's doesn't have one, use two .0047uF caps in series. The voltage rating isn't that important, but try for at least 25V since it's an external lead.

 

-Chris

[+Nathan Strum]

I did...look above.

 

.0022uF' date=' 50V BTW. It's a standard value. If Fry's doesn't have one, use two .0047uF caps in series. The voltage rating isn't that important, but try for at least 25V since it's an external lead.[/quote']

 

Thanks - I completely overlooked the earlier post. I'll see if I can dig one up.

[Paul Slocum]

Actually' date=' they do sell them (gender changers). And all the stores I've been to actually stocked them, in one the the parts drawers.[/quote']

 

Some stores have S-Video stuff, but last time I needed something S-Video related, I had to go to several stores before I found what I wanted. I sent a complaint to Atari2600.com about the cables.

 

I just realized I need to desolder my wires and run them through the RF cable hole in the Atari's case. I thought the connectors would fit through the hole since the RF cable's RCA did, but the RCAs and S-Video connectors from the card are too big. And I don't want to drill since this is my only heavy sixer.

 

-paul

[Albert]

Actually' date=' they do sell them (gender changers). And all the stores I've been to actually stocked them' date=' in one the the parts drawers.[/quote'']

 

Some stores have S-Video stuff, but last time I needed something S-Video related, I had to go to several stores before I found what I wanted. I sent a complaint to Atari2600.com about the cables.

 

Yeah, finding S-Video cables is easy, as long as they are standard cables. Once you need to find extension cables, connectors that let you bridge two cables, or gender changes, it definitely takes more work to search around (you typically won't find these items at most stores like Best Buy and Circuit City).

 

I just realized I need to desolder my wires and run them through the RF cable hole in the Atari's case. I thought the connectors would fit through the hole since the RF cable's RCA did, but the RCAs and S-Video connectors from the card are too big. And I don't want to drill since this is my only heavy sixer.

 

Even though Chris had warned me in advance, I stupidly forgot to feed the first pair of cables through the hole before soldering them in. Rather than desolder the cables, I simply got out my dremel tool and made the hole a bit larger. For the other four systems I modified, I wisely threaded the wires first.

 

I think some printed instructions are in order to point out things like this, as well as detailing exactly how to solder the cables to the board.

 

..Al

[+SpiceWare]

S-Video extension cables/adapters tend to be more expensive and not always solved by a quick trip to Radio Shack.

 

Actually' date=' they do sell them (gender changers). And all the stores I've been to actually stocked them, in one the the parts drawers. I was amazed to find what I needed, but there they were. The part # is 278-455 (snagged from their website). They are indeed expensive...over $5, but they work well.

 

-Chris[/quote']That's where I got mine from. It's a new store too, so the part hadn't "been there a while". I had to ask for it and they dug it out of the parts drawer. There wasn't any packaging for it, just the loose part.

[+Nathan Strum]

Even though Chris had warned me in advance' date=' I stupidly forgot to feed the first pair of cables through the hole before soldering them in. Rather than desolder the cables, I simply got out my dremel tool and made the hole a bit larger.[/quote']

 

I did the exact same thing. Fortunately, I didn't have to do much cutting - only about 1/16 of an inch. Shame on Atari for not making the hole bigger in the first place.

 

I'll be adding this to my overview of the mod, too.

[cwilkson]

I think some printed instructions are in order to point out things like this' date=' as well as detailing exactly how to solder the cables to the board.[/quote']

 

As far as I know, the retail kits are shipped with printed instructions that are pretty detailed. Can anyone verify this for me?

 

Al, yours was a special case because of the bulk purchase. Including some written info never entered my mind when I gave them to you. That one is completely 100% my fault. Sorry about that. |

 

-Chris

[Kialan]

For those who need SVideo extension cables...and other things:

 

http://www.svideo.com/svidcabmal12.html

 

Yes. Svideo.com. Who would have thought

[Paul Slocum]

As far as I know' date=' the retail kits are shipped with printed instructions that are pretty detailed. Can anyone verify this for me?[/quote']

 

Mine did. The instructions specifically mention to feed the wires through the RF shield first, but don't mention anything about feeding them through the plastic case. I would add that in.

 

I noticed my black is a little too light. HMOVE bars are clearly visible even on a black background. Will adjusting one of the pots fix this?

 

-paul

[Albert]

Al' date=' yours was a special case because of the bulk purchase. Including some written info never entered my mind when I gave them to you. That one is completely 100% my fault. Sorry about that. |[img']style_emoticons/default/icon_innocent.gif[/img]

 

Ahh, okay, no problem.

 

..Al

[+Nathan Strum]

Mine did. The instructions specifically mention to feed the wires through the RF shield first' date=' but don't mention anything about feeding them through the plastic case. I would add that in.[/quote']

 

My instructions do say to feed the tinned ends through the cabinet back, but it's easy to miss. Again... photos or illustrations would be most helpful.

 

I'll definitely post photos up on my site of the process, once I get things working.

 

Anyway...

 

After slogging endlessly through Fry's (do they ever restock?), I managed to find a pair of .0047uF caps (no .0022 uF's). So I got them hooked up, put my 2600 back together, and the mod is working again.

 

Except the #$%#@ slot still is having problems with Activision carts. Some work, but if you wobble them just slightly - poof! Game over.

 

So I guess I'll have to pull it apart again, and look into spreading the contacts in the slot so they grab better. Ick. What a chore.