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Fixing That Old Game System
larsoncc writes "Emulation is a great way to preserve past game systems, but what if you could keep these digital dinosaurs running for decades? Well, you can, and some of us do. It's not easy for me to 'let go' of that vintage (circa 1978) Magnavox Odyssey2, or toss my Atari 7800 in the closet because I don't have a power supply. Here's my article to help you solve common problems with 15 different systems, and general tips for the others. Viva la TI-99/4a!!"
Here is what I use: Windex, Radio Shack component cleaner and Q-tips. Windex for the exterior and the RS component cleaner for RF leads and cartridge contacts. Occasional Amour-All to give it a nice shine if you're gonna advertise it on eBay.
How do I fix my old PSX? My Original Playstation. I know the "turn upside down" trick...but for the life of me, I can't seem to find any place that sells laser assemblies anymore. If I ebay or froogle for it, all I get is tons and tons of stuff for the ps2.
Damn technology.
You're all bastards!
As for nobody making an emulator for your favorite obscure system... well, nobody's stopping _you_ from doing that. The emulator not playing it right can be annoying, however.
Also, you can probably use the original controller as well, if you are game for a little hardware hacking.
File under 'M' for 'Manic ranting'
IF you still have the casettes, you might try recording them to wave files and looking for/writing a program that can decode them. I think I remember that the stella interpreter for Atari 2600 could read its casette recordings.
Google turns up a whole bunch of emulators for various Sinclair machines; I can't reccomend one in particular since I haven't used them, but you can probably find a good one for your machine.
I used to read Caltizzle. I was a lot cooler than you.
The disk drives (1541 and 1581) were notorious for getting out of alignment. There was actually a small BASIC program written to help "knock" it back into alignment. You can see it on this page, near the bottom.
Anyone who would do this instead of emulating or contributing to the (largely open source) emulator community is missing alot of things about how fun classic gaming has become.
Alot of people have trouble setting up emulators. This is due to the fact that most games play much better with 3rd party plugins than the original included plugins. Do a little research, or just try this:
Get yourself a boat load of roms. (shareaza, irc, google, there are ways). Then install zsnes, set the video to 1024x768 and turn on hq3x.
This improves the playability of old snes roms so much that it is amazing. Especially with a high quality usb controller (i like the saitek p2500), and a projector. Mario is over a foot tall and not jaggy at all! People come to my house ALL THE TIME, just to play dr. mario with foot long pills.
Another big favorite is mortal kombat 4 (n64 edition) on 1964 with the jabo video plugin, at 1024x768, with 8x AA and 8x ansio enabled. The people are nearly as tall as real people and their blood sprays all over the room.
Another key element is a good little surround sound system. I like the logitech z640 set of speakers and a cheap audigy, but there are other options.
It's cool to restore old consoles as a hobby, but for raw playability and user experience, a kick ass PC set up right with a projector and wireless gamepads, seriously takes it. None of my friends even play their xbox/ps2/gamecube anymore! (They do play vice city ALOT on this particular pc setup, can't wait for the pc version of san andreas!!!)
rhY
I hold very few opinions. I hold information based on observation and fact. If you wish to disagree, please use facts.
To add a bit to this:
The Commodore 64 has a sound chip called the SID (Sound Interface Device) chip. It had a few different versions, but it has a really distinctive sound. I won't go into the nitty gritty tech-specs, I'll just say it had 3 voices. Interested parties can employ google.
Emulation gets close, but audiophiles would know that the sound isn't quite the same when you compare an emulated SID to a real one.
Musicians pay BIG money these days for a MIDI device that has one or more SID chips in it so they can use it as a synthesizer. Personally, I just paid $50 for a C=64 MIDI interface so I could utilize one of my 64's in my studio. I believe that that's the retail price when it was new in 1983.
A little known fact: the engineers at MOS (later Commodore Semiconductor Group) that designed the SID chip later left Commodore and founded Ensoniq, which in its early days made bona-fide synths. Most people either love their synths or hate them (I love them, for the record.)
Back to the point: emulation can get close, very close in some cases, but it's not exactly the same thing. Especially when you're dealing with these old chips that had exploitable flaws.
--J(K) DOS is like Unix in exactly the same way that a pinto is like an aircraft carrier.