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Vectrex proto from the "Android" movie


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#1 Propane13 ONLINE  

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Posted Mon Mar 2, 2009 8:59 AM

So, I just got Atari 2600 Connection #98.
On page 1, there's an article about Eurocon 2008.

Apparently, some Vectrex collector showed a one-of-a-kind proto of vector-animations used in the movie "Android".
Has anyone seen this? I was actually curious to track down a little info about it, if there was any.

Thanks!
-John

#2 iwan-iwanowitsch-goratschin OFFLINE  

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Posted Mon Mar 2, 2009 9:15 AM

You can ask the owner directly..........http://www.atariage....hp?showuser=986 :cool:

Edited by iwan-iwanowitsch-goratschin, Mon Mar 2, 2009 9:16 AM.


#3 VectrexMad! OFFLINE  

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Posted Mon Mar 2, 2009 7:37 PM

View Postiwan-iwanowitsch-goratschin, on Mon Mar 2, 2009 9:15 AM, said:

You can ask the owner directly..........http://www.atariage....hp?showuser=986 :cool:

You can see a video of the Vectrex Android prototype at Eurocon 2008 (together with its owner Mayhem):



regards

VectrexMax!
http://www.vectrex.co.uk

Edited by VectrexMad!, Mon Mar 2, 2009 7:38 PM.


#4 nonner242 OFFLINE  

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Posted Mon Mar 2, 2009 7:44 PM

View PostVectrexMad!, on Mon Mar 2, 2009 8:37 PM, said:


Nice I will stop by hear and check on it often.

#5 Mayhem ONLINE  

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Posted Tue Mar 3, 2009 5:57 AM

Yeah that was me showing it off; it has now been dumped for preservation as well. However you can't get to the "hidden screens" unless you reburn it to a chip. Using a VecFlash, when you hit reset you go back to the cartridge menu instead!

As mentioned in the video, I got it from a well-known French collector at the start of 2008 who was getting out of the hobby. I got a fair few things from him, mostly beta/promo versions of games but I also received a proto lightpen that combined the released styled unit and the buttons into one controller.

#6 VectrexMad! OFFLINE  

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Posted Tue Mar 3, 2009 7:03 AM

View PostMayhem, on Tue Mar 3, 2009 6:57 AM, said:

Yeah that was me showing it off; it has now been dumped for preservation as well. However you can't get to the "hidden screens" unless you reburn it to a chip. Using a VecFlash, when you hit reset you go back to the cartridge menu instead!

As mentioned in the video, I got it from a well-known French collector at the start of 2008 who was getting out of the hobby. I got a fair few things from him, mostly beta/promo versions of games but I also received a proto lightpen that combined the released styled unit and the buttons into one controller.

Mayhem,

Last year Richard H author of VecFlash made some different windows download software, so that a single binary could be saved to VecFlash without the menu. In this way the VecFlash cartridge behaves exactly like a real cartridge. This will probably solve the issues you describe.

Regards
VectrexMad!
http://www.vectrex.co.uk

p.s. thanks for showing off these precious Vectrex finds! - I found the Vectrex lightpen/gun video interesting too.

#7 VectrexMad! OFFLINE  

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Posted Tue Mar 3, 2009 7:27 AM

Just found the link....actually Richard H. had provided this software in 2007, so more than a year ago.
The software for a single file download without the usual menu can be found at the following link:

http://www.vectrex.biz/VecDev.zip

but it only works for serial VecFlash cartridges, not USB VecFlash cartridges.


regards

VectrexMad!
http://www.vectrex.co.uk

#8 Richard H. OFFLINE  

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Posted Tue Mar 3, 2009 9:47 AM

Quote

but it only works for serial VecFlash cartridges, not USB VecFlash cartridges.
I re-did the USB loader too a while back, it's available to download from my page. To put the game into the menu slot (make it behave like a regular cart) select 'Dev' from the menu.


Quote

it has now been dumped for preservation as well
BTW are you going to make some carts of it ?

Just imagine a limited run of cool blue LED lit clear cart cases :lust:

#9 nonner242 OFFLINE  

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Posted Tue Mar 3, 2009 3:08 PM

View PostRichard H., on Tue Mar 3, 2009 10:47 AM, said:

Quote

but it only works for serial VecFlash cartridges, not USB VecFlash cartridges.
I re-did the USB loader too a while back, it's available to download from my page. To put the game into the menu slot (make it behave like a regular cart) select 'Dev' from the menu.


Quote

it has now been dumped for preservation as well
BTW are you going to make some carts of it ?

Just imagine a limited run of cool blue LED lit clear cart cases :lust:

I agree, and would buy one!

#10 VectrexMad! OFFLINE  

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Posted Wed Mar 4, 2009 10:02 AM

View PostRichard H., on Tue Mar 3, 2009 10:47 AM, said:

Quote

but it only works for serial VecFlash cartridges, not USB VecFlash cartridges.
I re-did the USB loader too a while back, it's available to download from my page. To put the game into the menu slot (make it behave like a regular cart) select 'Dev' from the menu.


Quote

it has now been dumped for preservation as well
BTW are you going to make some carts of it ?

Just imagine a limited run of cool blue LED lit clear cart cases :lust:

Richard, have you got a direct link to that file? - I couldn't see anything obvious on your website...

regards

#11 Richard H. OFFLINE  

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Posted Wed Mar 4, 2009 12:10 PM

Quote

have you got a direct link to that file? - I couldn't see anything obvious on your website...
It's on the front page. Here is the direct link.

#12 VectrexMad! OFFLINE  

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Posted Wed Mar 4, 2009 1:36 PM

View PostRichard H., on Wed Mar 4, 2009 1:10 PM, said:

Quote

have you got a direct link to that file? - I couldn't see anything obvious on your website...
It's on the front page. Here is the direct link.


Of course you are right!
- I assumed the VecFlash program (which is very visible on the website) was the older program there and was expecting a different file name, but yes, once extracted and executed there is the Dev option.
Many thanks....

#13 Mayhem ONLINE  

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Posted Wed Mar 4, 2009 8:28 PM

Cheers for the updated flash exe, I'll give it a go and see how the dump fares.

View PostRichard H., on Tue Mar 3, 2009 3:47 PM, said:

BTW are you going to make some carts of it ?

Just imagine a limited run of cool blue LED lit clear cart cases :lust:

This is something I have been weighing up; what to do with the dump now I've extracted it. Given I paid a fair bit of money for the chip, then I'd probably want a decent amount of interest upfront before even considering any reproductions. And it depends how much interest there would be for such a thing. It's not a game, it's not a demo, it's just an interesting curio. Therein lies the dilemma. Much that I might release it to the community anyhows, there is still the inherent danger of someone else then profiting from something that should be free...

#14 Vectrexer OFFLINE  

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Posted Mon Apr 27, 2009 5:58 AM

View PostMayhem, on Wed Mar 4, 2009 7:28 PM, said:

Cheers for the updated flash exe, I'll give it a go and see how the dump fares.

View PostRichard H., on Tue Mar 3, 2009 3:47 PM, said:

BTW are you going to make some carts of it ?

Just imagine a limited run of cool blue LED lit clear cart cases :lust:

This is something I have been weighing up; what to do with the dump now I've extracted it. Given I paid a fair bit of money for the chip, then I'd probably want a decent amount of interest upfront before even considering any reproductions. And it depends how much interest there would be for such a thing. It's not a game, it's not a demo, it's just an interesting curio. Therein lies the dilemma. Much that I might release it to the community anyhows, there is still the inherent danger of someone else then profiting from something that should be free...


Well some more the of Clear or Red cases are available for the run should you want to make one. What kind of volume would you need to make it worth your while?

#15 Mayhem ONLINE  

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Posted Mon Apr 27, 2009 10:14 AM

Hmmm... depends how much it would cost to produce. Case, board, 4K chip (yeah it's that small). I wouldn't ask too much either for it if a run was made anyhows. Fifty units perhaps? After all, if a bunch of NES heads can get together and stump up an amount to have DreamTR to release an NES proto, then who knows...

#16 Richard H. OFFLINE  

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Posted Fri May 1, 2009 9:45 AM

If you wanted to go with a lighted cart, you can use the boards I made for Mark Shaker (now sold by John Dondzila) and just put the LED and current resistor in place of where the EEPROM would go (see pic). I've done a mock-up and have the LED soldered to the back of the board, it seems to work well there. It's a clear case with blue LED (Chris has red and green cases too).

As far as a label goes, either none (just the EPROM sticker) or a cut-out one, which allows light to shine through the letters, might look nice.

Attached Thumbnails

  • Android_1.jpg
  • Andoid_2.jpg
  • Android_3.jpg

Edited by Richard H., Fri May 1, 2009 9:50 AM.


#17 Mayhem ONLINE  

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Posted Sun May 3, 2009 1:13 PM

Mmmm very funky. But how much would one cost to manufacture? Balance between costs and selling price... and interest of course.

#18 Richard H. OFFLINE  

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Posted Sun May 3, 2009 1:35 PM

Quote

But how much would one cost to manufacture?
50 x blue LED's + resistors - £4 (China inc shipping)
2732 EPROM (used) about £1 each
PCB's - I think these were a couple of $ for the version without a socket
Cases - I think Chris charged me about $4 each for the clear ones

You'll need an EPROM programmer if you don't have one already. A cheap one will do 2732 no problem.

#19 Mayhem ONLINE  

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Posted Sun May 3, 2009 9:14 PM

I asked partly because I wouldn't have the resources (currently) to manufacture a cartridge. No EPROM programmer for starters. Still, I will think it over. If there was going to be a CGE this year, then it is certainly something that could have been released there as a curio...

#20 nonner242 OFFLINE  

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Posted Sun May 3, 2009 9:49 PM

I would want one of those or sure....Looks sweet as hell all "TRON'D" up! :D
Put me down as VERY INTERESTED!

#21 Propane13 ONLINE  

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Posted Mon May 4, 2009 6:36 AM

I'm sure you could find someone willing to burn eproms for you.
I have an EPROM programmer, and I have a buddy that's highly into Vectrex games.
It would be a few minutes of work to burn eproms, try them out, and then send them off to someone for soldering/manufacture.

Of course, that adds the small risk though that with something like this, you're going through a third-party with the ROM, which you may not want to do.
But, I wanted to put this out there anyway-- I'm sure a lot of people could do this for you, which would save you money and headaches.

-John

#22 Megaman Legends OFFLINE  

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Posted Mon Jan 16, 2012 6:17 AM

http://www.ebay.com/...e#ht_500wt_1203

There is anoth one of these on ebay now

#23 Dino OFFLINE  

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Posted Sun Jan 22, 2012 10:25 PM

That's the same one??

#24 TrekMD OFFLINE  

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Posted Sun Jan 22, 2012 11:34 PM

Looks cool. Were any repro carts ever made for this?

#25 Mayhem ONLINE  

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Posted Mon Jan 23, 2012 12:51 PM

Yes, that was my one being sold on eBay. A little surprised someone bid, but there you go. They've paid, so must be more than a little serious about having it. No reproductions were made in the end, so you'll have to bug the new owner (if he raises his head anywhere) about that. Yes, I have a ROM dump, but I won't be making it public.




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