JACKPOT! Look at what I got! **Update** Made some progress on the CompuVision!

[WhereEaglesDare]

Look what I managed to get today, hadn  a friend that was looking to off-load some junk, he said he got many of these years ago and never hooked them up or even looked at them...  just forgot he had them, I don't know if any of them even work...
I hope they do!  New additions to the game room.

Boxes full of stuff:


PlayStation:


Atari 5200:


Game Gear Missing the Battery Covers:


Bentley Compu-Vision WITH BATTERY COVER:



Odyssey 2:




TI-99 Home Computer System:

Still has the packing materials



FREE VOICE SYNTHESIZER?!  WOW!

[Ginsu Victim]

Hell yeah, TI-99/4a! I still have mine, though I haven't hooked it up in a LONG time.

[WhereEaglesDare]

Hell yeah, TI-99/4a! I still have mine, though I haven't hooked it up in a LONG time.

Sad to say, the only thing that is working out of the lot is the TI-99/4a... and that is the lamest one!  I brushed off some of my OG BASIC Skillz and did some arithmetic... and then got bored real quick.  The 5200 boots up but the games wont start or fire or nothing...  the Bentley wont do anything and neither will the Odyssey2.  I smell a PC Case Mod coming on out of the 5200...

[Ginsu Victim]

I still have all my cartridges for it

It's not lame!

[WhereEaglesDare]

I still have all my cartridges for it

It's not lame!

I need to ebay me some carts for it, you recommend any?

[smalltownguy]

The 5200 boots up but the games wont start or fire or nothing...

Do the games appear to be working? I'd bet my bottom dollar that the controllers' contact points have corroded. I had the 5200 system, and I can tell you that over time my joysticks required increased pressure to register button pushes over time. After a while, a few buttons had to be pushed so hard I had to resort to using pen tips, etc. The issue was corrosion/crud buildup on the contact points on the PCB. Had I known then what I know now, I would have de-cased those controllers and taken some emery cloth or circuit board cleaner to the PCB's to get them working again.

Give it a shot before destroying it -- it could be a simple fix to restore a vintage system.

[lilshawn]

wonder if the offer is still good for the free synthesizer? if you have a friend at the post office, you can get them to post stamp it for 1983... maybe it got lost in the mail  i do it all the time for mail in offers... though not this late.

[AtomSmasher]

I still have all my cartridges for it

It's not lame!

Haha, same here.  I even have the game Parsec and it's manual proudly displayed on my desk at work since it's the first game I ever remember playing.

[Ginsu Victim]

I still have all my cartridges for it

It's not lame!

Haha, same here.  I even have the game Parsec and it's manual proudly displayed on my desk at work since it's the first game I ever remember playing.

Parsec was awesome back in the day. Hunt the Wumpas, as well.

[Frigo]

The 5200 boots up but the games wont start or fire or nothing...

Do the games appear to be working? I'd bet my bottom dollar that the controllers' contact points have corroded. I had the 5200 system, and I can tell you that over time my joysticks required increased pressure to register button pushes over time. After a while, a few buttons had to be pushed so hard I had to resort to using pen tips, etc. The issue was corrosion/crud buildup on the contact points on the PCB. Had I known then what I know now, I would have de-cased those controllers and taken some emery cloth or circuit board cleaner to the PCB's to get them working again.

Give it a shot before destroying it -- it could be a simple fix to restore a vintage system.

Agreed - the 5200 controllers are notorious for breaking. Try picking up a 3rd party controller on ebay or something, before you toss it out...

Or you could give it to me if you don't want it. 

[danny_galaga]

can you use Sega Master System controllers on it? Or is that just the 2600?

[WhereEaglesDare]

just the 2600    Im gonna work on it this weekend, there are quite a few tutorials on fixing them.  Oh wait!  this weekend is pay day weekend!!!  that means I can finish building my new workbench and work on my cab some more!!!  well, I get to it   

[Mikezilla]

Is it sad that I only know what one of those are? Guess which one lol 

[WhereEaglesDare]

Is it sad that I only know what one of those are? Guess which one lol 

Come on, you should know atleast the PS1 and the Game Gear... 

[Ginsu Victim]

Is it sad that I only know what one of those are? Guess which one lol 

Come on, you should know atleast the PS1 and the Game Gear... 

Yeah, I thought the same thing.

[Mikezilla]

Oops forgot about the game gear. Damn. Me am tard.  PS1 and Game Gear. The rest of the things are relics to me.

[missioncontrol]

Are the O2 controllers plug in type or do they look hard wired?

[WhereEaglesDare]

Are the O2 controllers plug in type or do they look hard wired?

They are hard wired

[missioncontrol]

Are the O2 controllers plug in type or do they look hard wired?

They are hard wired

have you tested them yet? I found mine needed a good cleaning on the insides to get them to work properly...

[WhereEaglesDare]

Are the O2 controllers plug in type or do they look hard wired?

They are hard wired

have you tested them yet? I found mine needed a good cleaning on the insides to get them to work properly...

The Odyssey 2 wont power up at all, I am looking for a service manual and I need to fool with it when I get the chance.  I got some work to do on my cabs before im allowed to take on even more projects

[WhereEaglesDare]

Took the Atari Controllers Apart and cleaned them out, one of them kinda works, but the other works awesome, the right side fire buttons dont work, but the left side does so its fine.  Here is what I did.



First take the bezel off, that holds the pause and start buttons in.



Then take the screws out of the back and pull it all apart and lay it out.



Then clean the contacts on the controller, first I tried using a Qtip and Rubbing Alcohol, but it didnt work, I looked on the internet and found that a pencil eraser works fine, so then I gave that a try and bingo!



Didnt take long, I looked on the net and found that there are people that make new refurb kits with gold leads and new buttons and stuff, I could totally fix these controllers for about 25 each, but Im going to go yard sale hunting for a lil while before I start buying that stuff..

BTW Pole Position is AWESOME on this thing!

[ahofle]

A little off topic, but this mouse with 17 buttons came up on woot a couple days ago.  Hilarious comparison to the 5200 controller in there:

http://sellout.woot.com/Blog/ViewEntry.aspx?Id=14071

[WhereEaglesDare]

A little off topic, but this mouse with 17 buttons came up on woot a couple days ago.  Hilarious comparison to the 5200 controller in there:

http://sellout.woot.com/Blog/ViewEntry.aspx?Id=14071

Indeed.  If this didnt use analog controls I would just mod it and use a happ comp stick and throw some buttons in to something and play, but I have to figure out how to emulate the analog controls perfectly without using potentiometers.  I have been thinking of turning one of the controllers into a mouse...  Fire button being left click

[hypernova]

Now you need the trackball.

Your game library needs River Raid and Miner 2049er.

[Malenko]

barnstorming FTW!

[delta88]

Hmm I wonder if my granparnets still have theirs hooked up to the big screen 42" CRT they have ....

[missioncontrol]

Hmm I wonder if my granparnets still have theirs hooked up to the big screen 42" CRT they have ....

why not I still have my Atari hooked up to a 36" CRT

[WhereEaglesDare]

My buddy in Kentucky found a box... it was obviously abandoned... not knowing what was in it he just took it....  and behold!!




An Atari 2600, Trackball, Two Joysticks,  a set of paddles, FOURTY GAMES, and an AC Adapter...  but it didnt have the RF Modulator.  He couldn't get it to work and didn't care to and mailed it to me here in South Carolina.  I take one of the RF Modulators off of my Odyssey 2 and hook it up and it works AWESOME.  The console it self looks in great shape, needs to be cleaned, but other than that it is perfect.

[Frigo]

I need friends like yours.

[RandyT]

My buddy in Kentucky found a box... it was obviously abandoned... not knowing what was in it he just took it....

Good thing it didn't turn out to be a scene from Se7en

That's a good score.  These old systems are getting harder to come by and the price on them has been going up steadily.  It's not easy to find someone just "junking" them at yard sales anymore.  Makes me glad I started re-collecting them 10 years ago.

[Malenko]

you hid ET well in the first pic, not so much in the second

[ahofle]

you hid ET well in the first pic, not so much in the second

 

[WhereEaglesDare]

If you look at the second pic you can see my son snatching one of the games while i was taking the picture...


Didn't ET start the VG Crash in the early 80s?

[Dr Zero]

The 5200 was my first console and still my fave I have about 14 of the blasted things LOL

Here is a link to the parts you need to rebuild your sticks
http://www.best-electronics-ca.com/5200.htm they also have a kit for the 2600 sticks

You know you can get a rca to coax adapter like this http://www.amazon.com/RiteAV-Female-F-Type-Coax-Adapter/dp/B000V1O1LM and you can ditch the rf box.

[SavannahLion]

Didn't ET start the VG Crash in the early 80s?

It's just a well known marker. The crash occurred because the market was just flat out flooded with worthless crap. ET was one of those games Atari had banked would sell consoles. I guess they grossly over estimated the abilities of the programmer to pump out a decent game in such a short time.

[WhereEaglesDare]

You know you can get a rca to coax adapter like this http://www.amazon.com/RiteAV-Female-F-Type-Coax-Adapter/dp/B000V1O1LM and you can ditch the rf box.

Cool, I am planning on putting composite and maybe SVideo out on the 2600 on it....
I may rebuild the controls on the 5200 but Id rather find some awesome after market ones that dont play like ---steaming pile of meadow muffin---....

More GOOD NEWS:
got the Bentley Compuvison kinda working...

http://puttheglasseson.com/consoles/compuvision/repair/index.html

Looking for schematics for it so I can troubleshoot the filters.

[WhereEaglesDare]

Didn't ET start the VG Crash in the early 80s?

It's just a well known marker. The crash occurred because the market was just flat out flooded with worthless crap. ET was one of those games Atari had banked would sell consoles. I guess they grossly over estimated the abilities of the programmer to pump out a decent game in such a short time.

The PACMAN port is horrible and it turns out it is the top selling 2600 game.