Upcoming mods in 2015

[zapiy]

Really can't wait to see development.

[retromod]

The weekend was full of work for both new mod's.

I soldered the first prototyp of the PCB's and improved the PCB by my "learnings" (so next revision will be easier to assemble).  Next days the first megadrive will be fitted and extensively tested.

During preparation of the power supplies I noted that the megadrive 1 is the only megadrive having a reversed +/- in comparison to the megadrive 2, megacd and other components. As most megadrives dies due to wrong power supply I worked on a final solution: the +/- pins will be corrected so be compatible with megadrive 2 and megacd. Additional a polarity protection will be integrated. As I deliver a brand new power supply with the consoles this seems to be the perfect solution: no risk to damage the console anymore and on the other side compatibility with power supplies specially as the standard of polarity is having + pin inside (and not outside as current mega drive 1).

The preparation of Atari 2600 Woodgrain consoles is also ongoing. I restored several Woodgrain chassis and repaired some consoles. All looking like brand new. I prepared the 5V power supplies as well. Here I'm waiting for arrival of the main PCB's of the EX Mod. Some submodules are shared between the Megadrive and the Atari so overall assembly is easier and faster. Open is the preparation of the remote joystick as this starts if I got the missing one delivered.

The new advertising for the upcoming mod based on the Atari woodgrain console..


slogan: a legend is back... and then lists all the features.

[retromod]

The "EX" Mod PCB's for the Atari 2600 is on it's way. Just got a message from supplier that it left the building a few hours ago with target "germany".  So only a few days left until arrival.

[retromod]

Due to some blaming on AA and a relation to an Atari homecomputer club I decided to drop all current and future projects for the Atari homecomputer series.

So no RGB, no stereo/stereo-surround, cartridge housing repro, SIO connectors/plugs or bridge chips. The team behind of some projects are informed and fully agreed moving over to other projects or systems. It is unlikely those projects will be continued due to exclusive rights. Current spare part offers and kits will be sold but no further one offered. The spare parts will be used for the Atari 5200 devices currently in refurbish state.

All existing 600XL, 800XL, 1200XL and devices will be sold soon or given away for free on public facilities.

This will reduce the number of parallel projects so having more time and resources for other systems. Sadly to say that Atari homecomputers were the real reason to return to retro business. But the community is not the same as in the 80's. Current one seems having no interests beside soldering and not keeping the Atari homecomputer spirit alive so not worth to spent any additional minute.

[zapiy]

Sorry to hear that. I suspect you have thought about it long and hard so you know your making the right decision. For you.

[retromod]

Sorry to hear that. I suspect you have thought about it long and hard so you know your making the right decision. For you.

yes it seems the only way. Friends support me and also decided to stop any projects/activities for the Atari homecomputer line and this is a great confirmation doing the right thing here. 

[retromod]

The EX-Mod is a little bit delayed due to illness of my family.

On weekend I had only time to complete the remote joystick prototype for the Atari EX Mod. It only lacks the   auto fire feature.

The design of the Megadrive is now complete and also the first prototype of the box is ready. So a production of them is now able.  Some missing parts arrived as well but the Atari mod-mainboard is still on it's way but most likely will arrive this week. So looking forward of completion of the Atari 2600 EX Mod consoles as well.


Final design of the 25th Anniversary Edition and box.



After the initial development megadrive I started to fit the first production pcb into another megadrive for testing purpose. Hopefully there is less to do so I'm able to use this machine as a production master.

Additional Atari 5200 arrived last week so having about 50 consoles in stock for modding purpose. I rearranged the spare parts as not needed for Atari homecomputers anymore (see previous announcement). Also found a new home for about 40 pokey chips which are now used for spare parts of Atari arcade devices. Unknown state of boxes full of SIO cables and the first components for the SIO repro connectors and plugs.

[retromod]

the Atari 2600 EX mod pcb's arrived in larger quantities!   

[retromod]

I'm ask very often what kind of benefit the audio mod for SEGA and most likely SNES have.

The SEGA megadrive offers high definition stereo and uses digitized audio rarely in games. Newer games uses it more often, whereas in older one there is non-existant. the SNES as opposite fully uses digitized audio output.
That's why my first attempt to improve the audio experience on the SEGA failed. The used approach improves the audio output for digitized audio only so you only heard a full blown audio output only for collecting rings in Sonic or at the title screen but not during audio effects done by audio generated by the audio chip (whereas digitized sound is handled by the Z80 processor).

So I decided to use the invented mod only for the most likely upcoming SNES mod. Nice having a problem solved you might have later 

The megadrive console suffer from different audio issues on the MD1:
- stereo only available on front plug and this one is handled by a bad and cheap amp which is for headphones only
- sound is thin and output is not really full blown
- audio is not loud enough on TV sets by using SCART or composite output

All this is addressed by my audio mod. So no loudness adjustment if switching to console, no overdriven audio output for stereo (as most mod's uses the amp output for headphones). Additionally the audio has now surround tone added, so output sounds much bigger and all audio effects/mods are supported by this mod (not only digitized one). You are able to enable/disable this effect by onscreen menu.  it sounds really great playing Sonic for example and you will notice the difference significantly. Instead of a cheap amp to improve loudness level I use a dedicated circuit which do not alter/filter the audio output like generic IC does.

On MD2 the mod bypasses the stereo fix only and offers all the other features of the MD1 mod.  And of course it is worldwide unqiue like my Stereo/Surround mods for Atari/Coleco/Intellivision consoles.

[retromod]

Yesterday I tested a new HDMI chipset on a protoboard together with a Sega Megadrive and the result is really good. There was no noticable lag, qualitiy issues and the video output compared to our enhanced RGB mod for the Sega console looks identical.

As the used chipset requires a lot of digital logic it only fits currently into a Sega Megadrive 1. I try to tweak and reduce them of course to also fit into the Megadrive 2. But not sure if this will work as SMD parts only. I also tested this chipset with Atari 2600 and even 7800 and the result was bad. Most likely the upscaling and non-standard signal of the Atari consoles was the problem here.   

Due to the positive result of this chipset we will discuss further steps and most likely soon offer an HDMI mod for the Sega Consoles. Big advantage is that this new chipset already contains the loyality payment for the HDMI initiative so it is legal for use (even it is more expensive than using illegal FPGA implementation).

[retromod]

status update for the "EX" Mod's for Sega Megadrive and Atari 2600: shipping target is after eastern!

[retromod]

I just updated the Atari 2600 Junior Value Line Edition with a glossy brezel which looks closer to the original Irish version of the console. There are also plannings to offer more advanced mods for that type of console as it sold very strong in the past. It is the cheapest solution getting latest state of the art mod's for Atari 2600 games.


Front: Value Line 2015 version, in the back original Atari Irish version

Due to broken SMD chips the EX Mod is delayed. We ordered a new batch which arrived yesterday. Meanwhile we are in production of the Atari 2600 Junior White Edition (limited to 10 consoles). A special version of the Junior console painted in white color with silver brezel, silver function keys in a nice box with power supply, games and Nunchuk controller. AV Plus composite video SCART output, simple stereo mod (without surround).



EX Mod completion starts just after delivery of the White Edition.  All pre-orders are still valid.

[retromod]

all current development efforts are now available on our facebook website.

[guest5733]

Is there any way to contact you for this mod other than Facebook to purchase this?

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-N910A using Tapatalk

[Shadowrunner]

Is there any way to contact you for this mod other than Facebook to purchase this?

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-N910A using Tapatalk

The website in his signature is his and there's contact info there.