Vector-gasm... Cosmic Chasm!

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Mike A:
I am watching, but I have zero input to offer on working with a Pi.

I am just here for the vectory goodness.

bobbyb13:
Appreciate the moral support Mike!

The Pi is like anything else really I guess, but anyone who says it is easy to work with has been working with them for a while obviously.

And as I thought, the lines referencing Comic Chasm were missing from the total game list in vmmenu.cfg
My only guess is that when Chad was writing the code initially he just missed it.
When you include all the different versions of various games and then add to that all the Vectrex ones that are in there also it winds up being a LOT of titles- so it is easy to see something as obscure as CC being missed.

I added a line for CC following the convention I found in that file and when I fired it up again, it worked.

EDIT!! Here are those lines.

Cinematronics|Cosmic Chasm|cchasm|cchasm
Cinematronics|Cosmic Chasm|cchasm|cchasm1

Got to play some CC, a little Tempest, even a few games of Major Havoc - just because I could.

However, the oddness of the Pi continues in that the in game configuration doesn't always do what I expect it to and the spinner wasn't registering in Tempest Tubes for some reason.

More weirdness to run down.

Zebidee:
I'm keenly following your progress Bobby.

Although I'm more interested in the vector side of your adventures, your trials and tribulations with the Pi are also interesting to follow. I can see why you went with advancemame and Pi, it is really all you need. For now, I just read and let it wash over me, rather than trying to understand it all.

One of these days, when I've worked down my wishlist of projects, I'd like to similarly do a vector cab, possibly with a Pi. So this thread will be a useful resource.

bobbyb13:
The intent was to make this so that someone could sit down with the parts, scroll through this thread, build the thing, and have it just work- minus the months of agony!

As always, the devil is in the details.
I'll be stoked to hear from even one person at some point who followed this and found success with it.

The only bit left is particulars of setting up power for the monitor at this point really.
I have a lot going on this week so it may be a few days before I can add that here.

bobbyb13:
20+ hours of rain gave me a reprieve from some crap and a little time to mess around in the workshop.

So the Cosmic Chasm machine is going, and also plays Tempest and Tac/Scan well!
No blowing fuses any longer, boots without issue, controls are working well, BUT-

The image on screen still isn't what it needs to be.
I have been able to play with the yoke a bit and get purity to be OK and in the center of the screen convergence is fine but as you head to the perimeter it goes to hell.

I messed around with the position and orientation of the neck rings, position and tilt of the yoke, done a dance and pleaded with the vector gods and I still can't get it good.
I'll play it mind you, but at some points in some games it REALLY does not have the vector sharpness that the initiated know and love because the images shadow in various colors sometimes.

Now THIS part is making me nuts.

Tomorrow hopefully I can go buy a stack of refrigerator magnets (the thin flexy kind of bits you can cut into strips- it is what I have seen on tubes anyway) and begin experimenting.

It's comforting to know that at this point, with all new components laid out just so, and everything getting the voltage it wants, that I can play around with how the beam is defelecting at this point and not be afraid that I am going to blow something up.

What's wrong with just warping the trajectory of an electron gun beam a little, right?!

Seems like really the only things to be concerned about with Barry's Amplifone repro kit is to-

1. Make sure your deflection board is getting proper clean voltage.
2. The thing has room to breath (because it DOES get hot still- even with that massive heat sink on it.)
3. The yoke you are using doesn't require that you be at the maximum of any of the adjustment pots on both the USB-DVG and the deflection board, as I imagine that this would indicate that you are stressing the thing and that will most certainly affect longevity of compopnents.

My only real concern with the thing at this point is the question of HOW hot is TOO hot for the deflection board heat sink?

It appears to hover around 150-175 F most of the time but when I was working on yoke and ring adjustments and had a test pattern up for a few minutes the thing got HOT.
REALLY hot.
Like over 200 F

Right after a game of Tempest it is frequently at 185 F right over just one of the transistors on that heat sink but the temp drops quickly, and even then most of the heatsink never gets over 165.
The operating temperature of these things was quite a shock. No wonder so many vector monitors blew up way back when.

Not ONE of them really had adequate design/layout to accomodate cooling this stuff and I think the Electrohome G-08 was the worst because it was even more at the mercy of flaky voltage from the game boards than even anything Atari had made.

No matter what I may hear from anyone about component heat tolerance I will be putting a fan on this heat sink also.
Only question is should it be mounted directly to it or not and should it be pushing or pulling in relation to air movement across the heatsink.

Also looks like I will be putting some good size vent holes in this cabinet.

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