Duplicator SP 280 made by Unimex

[shadowdoggie]

I recently spent a bit to get this unit shipped over from England. It's a Unimex Duplicator SP 280 and it allows you to make back-up copies of your games. You'd stick the game you want to copy in the Master Slot and then stick a copy cart like the one seen in the photo in the other slot. I have a few question I'm hoping someone can help me answer.

 

1. All of these are considered PAL correct? All Made in Germany?

2. Did they sell with a power cord or were you expected to use your Atari A/C adaptor?

3. Since this is PAL and came from Europe, is it safe to use my NTSC / U.S. A/C adaptor?

4. Will it only copy PAL games?

5. What will happen if I try to copy an NTSC game?

6. The Atari Controller Rarity Guide website, or whatever it's called said that the rarity level is a 9. Is this accurate?

 

Thank you for your help.

[shadowdoggie]

Sorry, here's the pic.

[A.J. Franzman]

3. Since this is PAL and came from Europe, is it safe to use my NTSC / U.S. A/C adaptor?

4. Will it only copy PAL games?

5. What will happen if I try to copy an NTSC game?

3. The Duplicator doesn't care what the OTHER end of the adapter plugs into (or what country it was made for), as long as the power that comes into its power jack matches its specs. The only time you really need to worry about that kind of thing, is if your item needs AC power as its input -- most of the world uses 50 Hz, while North America uses 60 Hz. Something like a clock may run at the wrong speed, and a transformer made for 60 Hz may overheat if fed 50 Hz.

4. & 5. It won't care what region the game is for, it simply copies the bits. If you give it an NTSC game, it will make an exact copy (therefore the copy will also be an NTSC game).

[shadowdoggie]

Thanks A.J.,

I plugged it in and it seems to be OK. It only came with one copy cart, as you can see, but my assumption was that I could re-write over anything that was already on this cart, however it appears that you can only write to the cart once. Can anyone confirm this?

 

I may be stuck with the PAL version of Mouse Trap and the difficult proposition of having to find more blank carts.

[jaybird3rd]

I would have just gotten an EPROM programmer and a handful of common 2600 games. It's easy to pop the old ROMs and replace them with a 2K/4K EPROM containing whatever game you want; I think those cartridge copiers could only copy 2K/4K games anyway.

 

What kind of memory chips did they use in those copy cartridges? It might be possible to replace the chip in the cart with a blank one so you can use it with the copier, but I suspect it's some ancient nonvolatile memory that can't be easily found anymore.

[shadowdoggie]

It really wasn't about copying all of my games as much as it was about just trying it out once to get a feel for how it worked. I think you're correct about the 2K/4K limitation though.

[Marc Oberhäuser]

I recently spent a bit to get this unit shipped over from England. It's a Unimex Duplicator SP 280 and it allows you to make back-up copies of your games. You'd stick the game you want to copy in the Master Slot and then stick a copy cart like the one seen in the photo in the other slot. I have a few question I'm hoping someone can help me answer.

 

1. All of these are considered PAL correct? All Made in Germany?

2. Did they sell with a power cord or were you expected to use your Atari A/C adaptor?

3. Since this is PAL and came from Europe, is it safe to use my NTSC / U.S. A/C adaptor?

4. Will it only copy PAL games?

5. What will happen if I try to copy an NTSC game?

6. The Atari Controller Rarity Guide website, or whatever it's called said that the rarity level is a 9. Is this accurate?

 

Thank you for your help.

 

1. I can't find any "Made in" notes on the box, the manual or the device. I guess they are made in East Asia and Unimex Germany made the distribution in Europe.

2. They were sold without any power cord. The manual states the requirements and also advertise an Unimex power supply:)

6. I would give it an 8 since a collector in Germany found a huge stack of copiers, copy carts and even Unimex branded joysticks in early 2000.

 

To rewrite you have to remove the label sticker which covers the EPROM window and then use a UV lamp to erease the EPROM.

[jaybird3rd]

To rewrite you have to remove the label sticker which covers the EPROM window and then use a UV lamp to erease the EPROM.

Ah, so the copy carts use regular EPROMs. That's interesting. Do you happen to know what type (27xx or 25xx)? If the cartridge board pinout is the same as a standard 2600 cartridge, I wonder if you could use any cartridge board as a "copy cart" just by mounting the correct EPROM on it.

[Marc Oberhäuser]

To rewrite you have to remove the label sticker which covers the EPROM window and then use a UV lamp to erease the EPROM.

Ah, so the copy carts use regular EPROMs. That's interesting. Do you happen to know what type (27xx or 25xx)? If the cartridge board pinout is the same as a standard 2600 cartridge, I wonder if you could use any cartridge board as a "copy cart" just by mounting the correct EPROM on it.

 

 

Haven't opened one. All nice boxed and with mint label:)

[shadowdoggie]

To rewrite you have to remove the label sticker which covers the EPROM window and then use a UV lamp to erease the EPROM.

 

Well, I'm so glad I lifted up the sticker to find some old Englishman's pubic hair stuck to the other side. That was just fantastic. Can't tell you how happy I was about that.

 

So exposing it to the sun's UV rays isn't enough, huh? Yes, I walked outside and pointed the thing at the sky and yelled "You blew it up! Ah, damn you! God damn you all to hell!". The vitamin E is good for your teeth I hear.

 

Guess I'll have to find a good UV lamp.

[shadowdoggie]

I thought that exposing it to the light in my fish tank might work, but I still have Mouse Trap.

 

I opened up the copy cart (see pic). Is the thing the arrow is pointing to considered the eprom (Sad I don't know this by now). Should I be able to pull that out and replace it with another? I have a bunch of pirate games that I've never been able to test and they would fit perfectly in here but the 'eprom' doesn't want to come out and I don't want to pull too hard and break it.

 

Tks!

Edited June 25, 2010 by shadowdoggie

[shadowdoggie]

For crap sake, how many times am I going to forget to attach a pic in one thread?

 

Is the thing the arrow is pointing to considered the eprom (Sad I don't know this by now).

 

Should I be able to pull that out and replace it with another?

Edited June 25, 2010 by shadowdoggie

[jaybird3rd]

Guess I'll have to find a good UV lamp.

You'll have to get a particular type of lamp to erase EPROMs; any old UV lamp won't work (well, it might, but not nearly as effectively). I believe EPROM eraser lamps operate at the same frequency as germicidal lamps, which is not the best thing to expose your eyes/skin to. That's one reason they come in enclosed metal boxes with a drawer for the chips. You're probably better off buying a dedicated EPROM eraser; I got mine on eBay for about $25.

[jaybird3rd]

I opened up the copy cart (see pic). If the thing the arrow is pointing to considered the eprom (Sad I don't know this by now). Should I be able to pull that out and replace it with another? I have a bunch of pirate games that I've never been able to test and they would fit perfectly in here but the 'eprom' doesn't want to come out and I don't want to pull too hard and break it.

Yes. It's a little hard to see it, but that looks like a 2532 EPROM, which is an old style 4K EPROM. You can still find them fairly inexpensively, on eBay or elsewhere, so you should be able to "erase" the cartridge by removing the old chip and plugging in a blank one. Other preprogrammed EPROMs that you might have should also work, but only if they're 2532 chips (the newer 2732 is pinned differently). Thank goodness they didn't solder the chip directly to the board!

 

To remove it, you can either get a chip pulling tool, or you can use a small slotted screwdriver. Insert the screwdriver between the chip and the socket, close to one of the outside corners, and very gently twist it to lift the chip out just a little bit. Do the same at the other corners, and eventually the chip will come out. If you'll be programming/trying several chips with this cartridge, you might want to consider getting a ZIF socket, which will allow you to insert/remove them very easily. Just make sure you don't insert them backwards; the little notch in the chip indicates Pin 1, which should always face the right side of that board.

[shadowdoggie]

Thanks for all of the great information. I have two carts with ZIF sockets, but I've never been able to get the games to work, so it looks like I'll finally find out if it's the games or the carts that are the issue.

[jaybird3rd]

One other thing: if you program a new chip and you want to keep it, find a piece of electrical tape (or some other adhesive that blocks light) to cover the little window on the top of the chip. If you have any leftover write-protect tabs for 5.25-inch floppies, I find that those work nicely, too. Covering the window will protect the chip from being exposed to the light, which will gradually erase it.

[CPUWIZ]

Here are pics of my NIB Unimex carts, as you can see, they did make a 8K cart as well.

[shadowdoggie]

One other thing: if you program a new chip and you want to keep it, find a piece of electrical tape (or some other adhesive that blocks light) to cover the little window on the top of the chip. If you have any leftover write-protect tabs for 5.25-inch floppies, I find that those work nicely, too. Covering the window will protect the chip from being exposed to the light, which will gradually erase it.

 

The 45 or so Pirate eprom games I have, all have white tape over the chip, but I have a feeling that over time the light may have found a way through because none of these chips work. Even worse, the working Pal ver of Mouse Trap doesn't work in either of my ZIF socket carts, so those don't work either. The good news is if I can find a way to erase what's on the old pirate chips, I may be able to copy new games on to them.

[+batari]

So exposing it to the sun's UV rays isn't enough, huh?

Sure it is. It just takes about a month

[A.J. Franzman]

Maybe somewhat longer if it has a white paper label over the window... but if those chips have been languishing on some swapmeet vendor's table for years, yes it makes sense that they'd be erased. They need to be covered with something really opaque, like a metal foil label (as jaybird3rd said, old 5 1/4 inch floppy write-protect labels work really well).

[shadowdoggie]

When I put in a source cart and a copy cart and then press start, the "USED" light turns on. Can I assume this is referring to the fact that the copy cart already has data on it?

[jaybird3rd]

When I put in a source cart and a copy cart and then press start, the "USED" light turns on. Can I assume this is referring to the fact that the copy cart already has data on it?

That seems reasonable. If it's working the way I think it is, that light only indicates that the chip in the copy cartridge is not blank; it doesn't necessarily mean that it contains valid data. The chips might be partially erased, enough to have destroyed the data but not enough to allow a copy. I think the best thing to do with them is to erase and re-use them.

[alex_79]

You can find a manual scan here.

[shadowdoggie]

You can find a manual scan here.

That was very helful. Thank you.

[tetrode kink]

You can find a manual scan here.

That was very helful. Thank you.

I'm sure he didn't intend it to be an unpleasant experience...