BassGuitari

I've got some questions about this system I'm hoping some of you might be able to answer:

1.) Does anyone have a scan of the Telegames Personal Arcade manual, or any paperwork associated with the DINA/Personal Arcade?

2.) The system's video processor is a TMS9918A. I'm pretty sure mine got cooked at some point (when I first power the system on, I get a black screen with a white static line or two across the middle; eventually, you can make out garbled graphics, and even more eventually, the video display will be correct...sometimes). I have some spare TI99/4a systems I could cannibalize another 9918A from, and I have a semi-working Colecovision I could pull a 9928A out of. I want to do a video mod (actually I have to; I tried to retune the RF output to Channel 3 and I think I broke the adjustor...it's stuck somewhere between Channel 6 and Channel 7 now). Would you recommend the 9918A or 9928A for this?

3.) Could the DINA's Taiwanese BIOS be swapped out for Colecovision one? I think I'd just leave it the way it is, but I'm curious. I thought the green splash screen with the Chinese logo* was odd at first, but it's kind of grown on me.

4.) Is it possible to mod the Pause button to work with Colecovision cartridges? Or would that require additional components, as with the Atari 2600 Pause Kit?

5.) There are two spaces on the board near the BIOS/ROM where it looks like ICs were designed/intended to be placed, but were not. I read somewhere that some Colecovision controller ICs could go there, allowing full use of the Colecovision controller (and, presumably, the Roller and Super Action Controllers as well) and keypad. Can anyone confirm this?

6.) What the heck is the expansion port for? Apparently no expansion devices for either the Colecovision or SG-1000 are compatible with it. Was Bit Corp. planning to release an expansion for the DINA themselves?

Thanks!





*I understand this to read "Chuang Zao Zhe 50," which was the original name of the DINA console as conceived by Bit Corp.

I wasn't sure where to put this, so I'll ask here.

I'm trying to work a deal on craigslist with a guy selling a Timex/Sinclair 1000, a ZX81, and -the real reason for my interest- a ZX80. He's got all three of these systems plus two 16K Memotech RAM bars, 10 software tapes (mostly of the TS1000 line, but there's a third-party tape in there, and what looks like a home-made tape), a battery adapter (looks like a little box that plugs into the power/ear/mic jacks) and a manual and power supplies. He wants $75 for it all and doesn't seem to want to budge. He'd have to ship it (we're a couple of hours apart), so it'd probably end up being closer to $90.

My gut tells me (as does a little research) that this is an awesome deal; apparently ZX80s can get very spendy. But it's still not exactly an insignificant amount of cash, and there are more responsible things I could be doing with the money. Still, I feel like I'd be stupid to pass it up. It's not often you see a ZX80 here in the United States, or even a ZX81. Even "our" Timex/Sinclair 1000 doesn't turn up in the wild very often (eBay, on the other hand...).

Should I pull the trigger on it?

I've got an Aquarius printer that, when it prints at all, only prints garbage. It occurred to me that the printer cord could be the culprit (internal wire breaks and whatnot), but it seems in good shape, and if the cord's the problem there's nothing I can do about it anyway; where am I going to get another unless I buy another printer that includes the cord? So I'm hoping I'm either doing something wrong when I try to use it, or there's something else that's fixable.

I followed the manual's directions to power on the printer, then power on the computer, then enter LPRINT CHR$(255) in BASIC. This gets the printer ready to rock and roll, at least theoretically (the printer at least advances the paper and makes some noise to let me know something happened). But from there, if I use, for instance. the CALL command, I'll get either some weird garbage and symbols, the text from the screen (like it's supposed to do) but in weird formatting with huge gaps and out-of-place characters, or nothing at all, depending on which printer mode is selected.

The only paper I have for it is the roll that's in it, and I have no reason to believe it isn't original Aquarius printer paper from 30 years ago.

It's not the end of the world if I can't get it running -all I do with my Aquarius is play Astrosmash and Night Stalker- but it'd be cool to have a complete and fully-running Aquarius setup (or as complete as you can get without the 4-color Plotter and Modem ). Thanks in advance for your advice.




(Sidebar: anyone have any idea how to get the tape counter on the Data Recorder to...you know...count? My Data Recorder works fine, except the tape counter doesn't move.)

Anyone know a good way to do it? I've got one with a cracked number pad I want to replace, but with the controller's screwless assembly and all, I don't want to break anything.

I've got some spare Intellivision II controllers, but they've yellowed faintly and don't match my console. Figured I'd just swap out the number pads.

Thanks in advance for any advice!

I had a surprising epiphany yesterday. A couple of them, actually. And I fear I may require therapy.

I had a weird hankering to play Donkey Kong. Don't ask, I can't explain it (although, I've been playing a lot of the C-64 version of Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles lately; maybe that has something to do with it?). I had my Intellivision II out (because it's my favorite Intellivision), so I had to put that away to make room for a Donkey Kong-compatible console. I chose my trusty Tandyvision and promptly booted up Donkey Kong.

So I'm playing Donkey Kong, and three things occur to me:

1.) I'm having a pretty good time playing Donkey Kong. On Tandyvision.
2.) The Intellivision II controllers are more comfortable than standard Intellivision controllers. They fit in my hand better, and the pressure-sensitive fire "buttons" are oddly more responsive and comfortable than having to physically press in a little nubby plastic thing.
3.) For the first time, I'm bummed that the Intellivision II can't run Donkey Kong.

I played Donkey Kong for probably over an hour last night. I almost broke 100,000 points in one game, which, although I'm sure it's no record score, it can't be healthy, either. A lot of people believe that DK is the worst of all DK ports and probably the single worst Intellivision game, and I'd have to say they're probably right, at least on the first count. I've written my share of unkind things about DK in the past, myself. But now, I dunno...beneath the half-assed graphics and clunky control, I'm finding there's a decent game hidden in there.

Bring on the straightjacket.