Jacob Rose Posted August 11, 2005 Share Posted August 11, 2005 Just got an autodetect circuit working for cartridges... I was thinking of using a microswitch inside the cartridge slot...can't wait to hear what you came up with! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
uosipa llamxew Posted August 11, 2005 Share Posted August 11, 2005 Curt works with some sneaky designers BTW. I'll post more later. <--- Very interested! I can't wait to see the pics and hear how your complete mod turns out. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
keilbaca Posted August 11, 2005 Share Posted August 11, 2005 And, we're going to be the only people to notice, as the average gamer has never played quadrun, and had no idea that it had voice to begin with Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bradhig Posted August 12, 2005 Share Posted August 12, 2005 Why didnt they just add a cartridge port to it so no one has to hack it? I wanna be able to play my 2600 carts because my atari 2600 has a flakey power switch. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Atariboy Posted August 12, 2005 Share Posted August 12, 2005 They don't want to deal with customers when they go to plug in 25 year old carts and want to know why they don't work, that's why. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Icculus Posted August 13, 2005 Share Posted August 13, 2005 Whats up guys...picked up my flashback and joined the forums, I want to do this mod right, and then we'll see how far I get into this stuff (meaning 2 weeks later Im going to be asking for advice on vintage 2600's ) Anyways, the cosmetics of this...how are you guys planning on making this look clean- I was thinking dremel and bondo, but i dont really care to paint- any ideas? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
hookem Posted August 13, 2005 Share Posted August 13, 2005 I'm also interested in doing the mod, and was wondering where is the best place to purchase the cart connector & guide? I know there are 2 links on Curt's page with vendors, but I didn't see the parts on either site (need to call, probably). Is there another source? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ATARIeric Posted August 13, 2005 Share Posted August 13, 2005 I'm also interested in doing the mod, and was wondering where is the best place to purchase the cart connector & guide? I know there are 2 links on Curt's page with vendors, but I didn't see the parts on either site (need to call, probably). Is there another source? 910615[/snapback] you will need to contact them & mention the parts you want, I will say this that you want the "2600A" cart connectors, those are the straight connectors with long pins, those connectors should make the work easier because the 2600A's arent slanted connectors. If anyone is looking for just the connectors, I have the 2600A cart connectors with long pins, roughly 15 left today. PM if interested. Thanks, Eric Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Icculus Posted August 16, 2005 Share Posted August 16, 2005 Ok, so finished soldering the 24 pads on the board onto my ribbon cable while im waiting on the cart connector, and got the switch done (used a single radio shack dpdt). My question is this, when i switch to the cart and hit power, what should come up on the screen? The normal fb2 menu comes up when its off, but when i turn it on crazy random graphics and noises come up, different every time. Im guessing i must have botched something, but i was very careful not to bridge connections and used some desoldering wick on the 2 i did- any suggestions? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
A.J. Franzman Posted August 16, 2005 Share Posted August 16, 2005 Are you saying you turned it on with the switch in "cartridge" position but no cartridge connected? What did you expect to happen? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Icculus Posted August 16, 2005 Share Posted August 16, 2005 Heh...thats the thing AJ, i have no idea. The last 2600 i played was my buddy's about 4 years prior, so i have no idea what the system does when you try to boot it without a cart, i was just expecting a blank screen- i take it thats not the case? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lord Thag Posted August 17, 2005 Share Posted August 17, 2005 The normal fb2 menu comes up when its off, but when i turn it on crazy random graphics and noises come up, different every time. Im guessing i must have botched something, but i was very careful not to bridge connections and used some desoldering wick on the 2 i did- any suggestions? Yeah, that sounds about right. The 2600 gets all these crazy colored lines shooting everywhere when there's no cart in it. Quite psychadelic. You're probably ok Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Icculus Posted August 17, 2005 Share Posted August 17, 2005 Whew...good to hear. Now after making myself look like an idiot, id say its about time for more millipede Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RARusk Posted August 19, 2005 Share Posted August 19, 2005 I just read through the cartridge port hack and looked over the pictures. Pretty damn cool. However, my main question concerns video. It looks like the unit does standard Composite Video but can it least do S-Video off of the motherboard? I strongly prefer RGB Analog but it doesn't look like the unit outputs that. When I get one of these units I will do the cartridge port hack but I will put the motherboard in a real 2600 case. That way I have room to do whatever I want to the motherboard. I have several 2600jr boards and I can desolder a cartridge port from one of those. I will also mount the 9-pin ports in the front and take a PS2 AV plug and put it in the back so I can use PlayStation AV cables. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
River Raider Posted August 19, 2005 Share Posted August 19, 2005 Hey guys! Does anyone have any more detail on the black wire that goes to C4? (the position not the explosive) Curt's guide is a little sketchy on that detail. If anyone has pics of where the black wire is supposed to be positioned, that would be great! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Icculus Posted August 19, 2005 Share Posted August 19, 2005 RR- its labeled right there on the PCB. All you gotta do is find where the black wire comes from (NOT the chip, the pad on the far left) and then look at the pad directly to its right- that should be C4, and should be labeled as such on the PCB. Easy Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
River Raider Posted August 19, 2005 Share Posted August 19, 2005 RR- its labeled right there on the PCB. All you gotta do is find where the black wire comes from (NOT the chip, the pad on the far left) and then look at the pad directly to its right- that should be C4, and should be labeled as such on the PCB. Easy 914803[/snapback] Right, Icculus...I got that. But is it the top or bottom of C4? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Icculus Posted August 19, 2005 Share Posted August 19, 2005 Sorry bro...should be the top one. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
River Raider Posted August 20, 2005 Share Posted August 20, 2005 You will move the Black wire from IC2 to the other side of C4, then at J3 you'll need to add a jumper. I recommend you buy a single pull, single throw (SPST) Toggle switch and wire it across J3, this will allow you to enable/disable the onboard ROM chip. For the IC2 C4 connection a 3 way switch wired to the black wire on the common and one wire to the original location and an additional wire to C4 will allow you to switch from the original wire run to the C4 run. You'll need to drill open 2 holes for your two toggle switches. Its some extra work, but worth it since you'll be able to continue using the 40 built in games and then switch to using cartridges when needed. Am I reading this correctly when I assume that TWO switches need to be installed to switch between the onboard ROM games and the cartridge port game? Sorry about being an electronics noob, but hey, I don't want to screw up my Flashback 2....I've grown quite fond of it. If anyone has more detailed pictures of the cartridge mod, I would appreciate being able to see them. I would love to do the switchless cartridge mod like John Soper's, but his little electrical diagram might as well be heiroglyphics to me. PICTURES, man! I need more pictures! Solder Noob signing off! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
A.J. Franzman Posted August 20, 2005 Share Posted August 20, 2005 If you can't handle John's method, you can use 1 switch. http://www.atariage.com/forums/index.php?s...ndpost&p=904271 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PacManPlus Posted August 22, 2005 Share Posted August 22, 2005 (edited) Hi! I can't find the thread where Berzerk was mentioned as not working, but being that I just did my cartridge hack today I decided to try Berzerk VE - It works! No voice, but at least it plays! Jr. Pac-Man, though, has some interesting issues... (dots not edible, some dots are the 'big dots', etc...) I actually used the header from the floppy ribbon cable (had to bend the pins somewhat so they would fit in, but it worked! Now I can remove the cart slot whenever I want (which I will have to do in order to cut the hole in the top shell). Also I had mentioned in another thread about an RC battery I am using for this unit. It is a 7.2 volt 2 amp battery, and so far it has lasted more than 40 hours! NO LIE. I'm still waiting for it to die out so I can recharge it. Bob Edited August 22, 2005 by PacManPlus Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PacManPlus Posted August 22, 2005 Share Posted August 22, 2005 (edited) Dig Dug doesn't work (more screen glitches), Ms. Pac-Man does work, as does Defender. I don't think any of the 'extra ram' games will work (Dig Dug, Defender 2, Jr. Pac-Man...) Oh - and one major let down: Dave Widel's multi-cart doesn't work either When you select a game it returns immediately back to the menu. (I had plans on just keeping that in the slot possibly even inside - you can fit 200 games on it... It would have been a 240+ game unit!) Bob Edited August 22, 2005 by PacManPlus Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jsoper Posted August 22, 2005 Share Posted August 22, 2005 Cool, someone else has done it, now I don't have to take all the heat Have you tried Pitfall 2, Cosmic Ark, Galaxian, Sprintmaster? Any weird glitches on the last three? Dig Dug and Defender 2 were screwed up for me too. The extra ram chip occupies a portion of the address space. It passes the A12 cart enable signal onto the rom for some addresses and swallows it for others. Maybe the timing is too tight? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PacManPlus Posted August 23, 2005 Share Posted August 23, 2005 (edited) Pitfall 2 does not work... Nor H.E.R.O. Pitfall does work (duh), as does Kaboom, and Megamania Cosmic Ark has the display glitches like shown either in this thread or another thread that has a picture of it. Same deal with Galaxian - the 'extra row' is there and the enemy ships that don't 'go away' after being hit. (I don't have Sprintmaster) Bob Edited August 23, 2005 by PacManPlus Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Feralstorm Posted August 23, 2005 Share Posted August 23, 2005 Does Missile Command on a cartridge show the same display oddities as the built-in? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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