DIY 32x-Gen Mixer Cable a Success!
Posted on May 15th, 2008 by JMT.
Categories: Articles.
Since I found another 32x cheap, but it was missing the 32x-gen adapter/mixer/pass-through cable, and it’s cheaper to just buy a complete system than the stand-alone cable (bizzare), I decided to try to make my own.
The do-it-yourself 32x cable:
I started with the genesis 1 to 32x adapter (just for convenience) since it has the same connections as the 32x and genesis 2 for plugging the adapter into.
I placed tape over the connector, and then poked holes with wire. Then I stripped the tips on 8 wires and then plugged in all 8 wires (only 8 of the 9 pins are used) into the holes. This ensures that the wires are at the correct spacing.
Then I took silicon and engulfed the end in about 1 inch of silicon, making sure to get it inbetween all the wires to securely hold them in place. The silicon will then form the mold to hold the pins in place, and by having them plugged in to the right connector, they will have the correct spacing/locations. It’s kind of like molding your own cable.
About 24 hours later, the silicon is dry, and I pull it out and take the tape off. I fiddle with the wires a bit to make sure they’re aligned right, and crimp the ends, etc. I also shaved the silicon so that it fits into the 32x hole (since the plug is recessed).
Then repeat for the other side. The tricky part is making sure you match the correct pins on each side. I just used a voltmeter to measure resistance across the pins to double-check. This one took 2 days to dry for some reason.
Then I plugged ‘er in, and it worked!
Click for full-sized images:
My Darius Collection
Posted on May 12th, 2008 by JMT.
Categories: Articles.
I thought I’d post my Darius collection. For one, I think it’s kind of cool. And I just got the Taito Legends which has Darius Gaiden and G Darius on it, so I’ll probably end up selling my existing copies, so I wanted to snap this picture while I still could.
There’s just something cool about Darius. It’s not that great of a shooter. I didn’t even have Sagaia on my list, but couldn’t resist picking up a complete in box copy at Halfprice for 5$. There’s just something cool about the giant mechanized fish theme. I like collecting themes. Like all the Sonics, and all the Marios, and all the Cottons, and all the Thunderforces, etc. And Darius is a nice collection.
Well, Darius is a good shooter. The weapons are cool, and the shield is cool. As long as you get the shield and a couple upgrades, it’s pretty fun and intense. The problem is if you don’t have the shield and/or only have basic fire, you tend to be screwed, even on the first level.
If you’re wonder why the Gaiking VHS is in there, I made a post about that a year or so ago. Basically, it’s a Japanese animation that pre-dates the first Darius arcade game, but the enemy is named “Davius” (could be mis-translation), and the enemy has a battlefleet of giant mechanized fish-shaped craft. It’s just too much to be a coincidence in my book.
Click to view full size image.
I Fixed a Broken Atari 2600
Posted on May 11th, 2008 by JMT.
Categories: Articles.
I found an atari 2600 at a flea market. Of course I got the “it worked the last time my kids played with it 300 years ago” response, which means chances of working are about 5%.
The unit would not turn on. So I cracked ‘er open.
The first thing I noticed was that the right-angle power plug was loose. In fact, it was so loose the soldered contacts weren’t connected anymore. The plug pins were kind of floating in the pcb holes. I tried holding it to the side to force contact, and it still wouldn’t turn on. So at first I thought that wasn’t it. I was also able to read +13v all through the unit.
Unable to find anything else to try, I figured I’d give that powerplug a try anyway. So I resoldered the 3 pins on. And lo and behold, now it works!
So if anyone has a non-functional 2600, check that power input connector.
But the story doesn’t end there. The On/off switch was very touchy. The system would reset itself constantly unless the switch was in just the right position. So I sprayed electrical contact cleaner inside the switch and played it back and forth a bunch. And viola, now the On/Off switch is as solid as the day it was born.
So if anyone has twitchy switches no their 2600, try spraying contact cleaner in them.
The contact cleaner also helps twitchy paddle-controllers, but only about 50% of the time. Also, the paddle controllers tend to need re-cleaning every so often, kind of like 5200 joysticks.
This 2600 I got came with 3 sets of paddle controllers. One was junked, one was twitchy, and the cleaner only fixed the player-2 paddle. However, the 3rd set of paddle controllers is as smooth as a baby’s bottom. Better than any of the sets I already had.
I Fixed a Broken 32X
Posted on May 11th, 2008 by JMT.
Categories: Articles.
I got a 32x in a box of junk at the flea market.
The 32x turns on and boots games, but the games didn’t play so well. Sometimes they wouldn’t boot easily, and when they did boot, they would freeze during intro screens.
In Doom, it was actually crash with a Bus parity error printed on the screen during the level select.
So that got me thinking, maybe there was a problem with the data busses.
So I cracked ‘er open, and I took out the two ribbon cables. I cleaned the contacts with an eraser, and then sprayed contact cleaner inside the connectors and plunged them a bit using the ribbon contacts.
Then I put it all back together, and viola, it works! No more crashes.
So, if anyone else has a crashing or non-working 32X, try cleaning the ribbon cable contacts.