Jacob Rose Posted July 2, 2005 Share Posted July 2, 2005 Battlezone is the replacement. Dang, no kidding. Just think of it as buying a copy of Thrust+ (for slightly less than the Atari Age store sells it)... I am very sorry, but I have to disappoint everybody here. I had to cancel the deal because "Atari" and I could not come to agreeable terms to satisfy both sides. This sucks. 863672[/snapback] 863701[/snapback] I think Thrust is the best arcade-style game for the 2600. I've even had visions of building a cabinet around it someday, complete with a spinner ("driving controller" - if you haven't played the game with the DC, you haven't played it!). What a shame! I'm sure I'll still get one or two for myself to tinker with, but the FB2 is less compelling as a gift item now. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Shaggy the Atarian Posted July 5, 2005 Share Posted July 5, 2005 Hey guys, I just created a little FAQ for the Flashback 2. Take a look at it and let me know what else I can add or correct on it. I think I may have something wrong on the games list (Is Atari Climber still on the list?) so LMK. http://www.staticgamer.com/modules.php?mod...aflashback2_faq 883895[/snapback] Question number 5 - Reproduction is the correct word for it hardware wise. The Flashback 2's main chip is an exact reproduction of 2600 hardware in a single chip format. Case wise, it's of course changed a bit. And yes, the switches changed due to costs. 884631[/snapback] OK, I've changed the wording of the answers mentioned. Thanks for pointing those things out for me, I knew that there would be a few inncorrect items there. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Curt Vendel Posted July 5, 2005 Share Posted July 5, 2005 Gentleman... start your soldering irons Slight change in design, the footprint of the cart connector was causing some routing issues, so the contact points on the PCB are clearly marked and the silkscreen now has a legend detailing the cartridge connector points and what jumper to solder to enable/disable the game rom/cartridge connector. See attached. Curt fb2_silkscreen_final.zip Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gulag picture radio Posted July 5, 2005 Share Posted July 5, 2005 Do my eyes deceive me, or are there jumpers marked "L" & "R"? Could that possibly mean that the Atari's two oscillators are routed so that I can actually keep them separate? This would be awesome news for games like Skeleton + and Synthcart that benefit from having "stereo" output. Oh please, oh please... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PCBored4404 Posted July 6, 2005 Share Posted July 6, 2005 (edited) umm... as an average joe, i barley understand whats on there, which area if where the solder points are? if its clearly marked, i cant read it, so can someone please clearly explain to me where they are? Edited July 6, 2005 by PCBored4404 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
keilbaca Posted July 6, 2005 Share Posted July 6, 2005 umm... as an average joe, i barley understand whats on there, which area if where the solder points are? if its clearly marked, i cant read it, so can someone please clearly explain to me where they are? 886536[/snapback] me too so don't feel bad Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sidcrowe Posted July 6, 2005 Share Posted July 6, 2005 Leave the flickers in, if there are any. Keep it real. Nice box, but the symmetry of the unit itself is off. The console buttons---arggh! Still love it, though Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PCBored4404 Posted July 6, 2005 Share Posted July 6, 2005 i wonder if the buttons can be exchanged with the orrigional switches from a heavy sixer. curt, can it be done, ya know, just inlight of what sidcrowe said Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ZylonBane Posted July 6, 2005 Share Posted July 6, 2005 Eh, I'll just paint them over with silver model paint. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Curt Vendel Posted July 6, 2005 Share Posted July 6, 2005 i wonder if the buttons can be exchanged with the orrigional switches from a heavy sixer. curt, can it be done, ya know, just inlight of what sidcrowe said 886745[/snapback] Would be a little difficult to do, the footprint for the switches are much smaller then the old original switches, plus the Game Reset and Select switches are gold contact/conductive rubber footprints on the boards, so you'd have to do some very careful surgery. Perhaps spraying them silver as someone suggested would be the better route for you to go. Curt Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jacob Rose Posted July 6, 2005 Share Posted July 6, 2005 Eh, I'll just paint them over with silver model paint. 886824[/snapback] I, for one, think the orange buttons look pretty good. If the console were full-sized, they would look weird, but it's tiny, and I think they did a nice job with the design for the size it is. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PCBored4404 Posted July 7, 2005 Share Posted July 7, 2005 ill just paint em silver too, ya know what? i wanna be an individual, so im painting them Chroam, hehehehh, * Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BeerGnome Posted July 7, 2005 Share Posted July 7, 2005 ill just paint em silver too, ya know what? i wanna be an individual, so im painting them Chroam, hehehehh, * 887280[/snapback] hey.. modding is going to most likely require custom cabintry. so if you want to repalce the pushe button thingies with the original switches go ahead.. a switch is a switcha after all. if you cant mount them directly, then just re route them' the mod I intend to do is mounting directly into my computer via a video capture tv tuner cars, the board is going to be put intoa 5.25 bay with all controls inthe face plate, witht eh cart port mounted in a floppy bay. the only limit you have is your imagination and your wallet.. so let fly Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PCBored4404 Posted July 7, 2005 Share Posted July 7, 2005 Amen, now how about helping me and keilbacca know where the Cart port print on the diagram curt gave us is? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ATARIeric Posted July 7, 2005 Share Posted July 7, 2005 Amen, now how about helping me and keilbacca know where the Cart port print on the diagram curt gave us is? 887417[/snapback] after I do mine will I then post a picture Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jsoper Posted July 7, 2005 Share Posted July 7, 2005 Amen, now how about helping me and keilbacca know where the Cart port print on the diagram curt gave us is? 887417[/snapback] The problem with silkscreens is that they don't you very far. Running a bare board through a scanner to show the holes and surface mount pads is better. So is a photo of a stuffed circuit board with a ruler next to it. Guess we gotta just sit tight. Feels like I'm back in 1982 impatiently waiting the couple months to get a 2600 for Xmas. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BeerGnome Posted July 8, 2005 Share Posted July 8, 2005 now heres another stupid question about the board.. will the cart port area be actually drilled and contacted out? as in all I have to do is drop the port in and flow it together? for those that are not solder freindly.. relax.. its really not all that difficult.. just get the right guage rosin core solder, a little bit of flux paste really helps, and a nice steady hand with a pen iron is all you need. as far as I can tell this mod is just adding a part, and its really just going to be a drop n place type of operation with no real need to know exactly what yer doing and the whys and hows and whats Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Curt Vendel Posted July 8, 2005 Share Posted July 8, 2005 now heres another stupid question about the board.. will the cart port area be actually drilled and contacted out? as in all I have to do is drop the port in and flow it together?for those that are not solder freindly.. relax.. its really not all that difficult.. just get the right guage rosin core solder, a little bit of flux paste really helps, and a nice steady hand with a pen iron is all you need. as far as I can tell this mod is just adding a part, and its really just going to be a drop n place type of operation with no real need to know exactly what yer doing and the whys and hows and whats 888031[/snapback] That was the original intent, but the single sided board design to keep costs down prohibited the routing of the lines to make such a mod that convenient, so the contact points will need to be soldered with a ribbon cable to a cart connector. Curt Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jsoper Posted July 8, 2005 Share Posted July 8, 2005 That was the original intent, but the single sided board design to keep costs down Curt 888061[/snapback] Wow, that's even more retro than a 2600, now we're getting back to pong days Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PCBored4404 Posted July 8, 2005 Share Posted July 8, 2005 That was the original intent, but the single sided board design to keep costs down prohibited the routing of the lines to make such a mod that convenient, so the contact points will need to be soldered with a ribbon cable to a cart connector. 888031[/snapback] umm..... what do you mean? you dont have to drill open the solder points, and add solder em? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BeerGnome Posted July 8, 2005 Share Posted July 8, 2005 now heres another stupid question about the board.. will the cart port area be actually drilled and contacted out? as in all I have to do is drop the port in and flow it together?for those that are not solder freindly.. relax.. its really not all that difficult.. just get the right guage rosin core solder, a little bit of flux paste really helps, and a nice steady hand with a pen iron is all you need. as far as I can tell this mod is just adding a part, and its really just going to be a drop n place type of operation with no real need to know exactly what yer doing and the whys and hows and whats 888031[/snapback] That was the original intent, but the single sided board design to keep costs down prohibited the routing of the lines to make such a mod that convenient, so the contact points will need to be soldered with a ribbon cable to a cart connector. Curt 888061[/snapback] oh thats still going to be fine though. I'm assuming in old IDE cable is going to be fine.. a little extra work.. but even a novice should be able to pull that off in an hour or so. and for those novices out there.. the best way to do that.. by my experience is to start withteh red wire as your #1 wire, split them back and bend each one so they alternatie in diresction.. anchor the one wire then youll be able to manipulet every thing else fairly easily. now is there going to be a need to install some type of switch or cut any traces to be able to acces this functionality, or will be installing the cart port allow you to overide the onscreen menue and go directly to the cart? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gulag picture radio Posted July 8, 2005 Share Posted July 8, 2005 That was the original intent, but the single sided board design to keep costs down prohibited the routing of the lines to make such a mod that convenient, so the contact points will need to be soldered with a ribbon cable to a cart connector. 888061[/snapback] I'm going to make it a personal rule that in order to be "authentic", you've got to use one of those rainbow colored ribbon cables from the 80's - if you can still find one. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BeerGnome Posted July 8, 2005 Share Posted July 8, 2005 That was the original intent, but the single sided board design to keep costs down prohibited the routing of the lines to make such a mod that convenient, so the contact points will need to be soldered with a ribbon cable to a cart connector. 888061[/snapback] I'm going to make it a personal rule that in order to be "authentic", you've got to use one of those rainbow colored ribbon cables from the 80's - if you can still find one. 888114[/snapback] no no.. I wanna keep all things galager and Mork and mindy away from my hardware at all costs Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Curt Vendel Posted July 8, 2005 Share Posted July 8, 2005 Atari FB2 PCB - First Look... I will have a website up in about 7-10 days with a full walk-through of the FB2, case, insides, pcb, joysticks, etc... Here is the PCB, note that the Michele chip (2600in1) is a 3.3v chip, so contact point 23 is a 5vdc feed provided to properly power the cartridges without risking damage to the system board... another note - while the Atari CX-22 trakball does work on the fb2, you have to wait about 1-2 mins to ensure that the cap's are fully enegized to run the optical encoders, if you want to make certain that you powered controllers are fully powered right off the bat, yet another flashback-hack will be to bring that 5vdc feed over to the joystick ports and cut out the 3.3vdc feed. I will have some very insightful details, plus a lot of hidden notes and faqs about the FB2, some quirks and interesting things to note about it, the menu and the games on a new site dedicated to the Flashback 2 console. Curt PCB.zip Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gulag picture radio Posted July 8, 2005 Share Posted July 8, 2005 (edited) Atari FB2 PCB - First Look...yet another flashback-hack will be to bring that 5vdc feed over to the joystick ports and cut out the 3.3vdc feed. I will have some very insightful details, plus a lot of hidden notes and faqs about the FB2, some quirks and interesting things to note about it, the menu and the games on a new site dedicated to the Flashback 2 console. 888131[/snapback] It would be really rude of me to say "holy shit" while I try to contain my excitement, wouldn't it? Edited July 8, 2005 by gulag picture radio Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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