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Are the emulations spot on?

Your VIC-20 has blue stickers on the ICs, too? Interesting.

Thats an 8085-2 you could be running it at a faster speed...

I guess I'm about 1 year too late but I use ArmSID in two machines and I'm very happy with those. One bread bin C64 and one C128. Good sound quality - sounds "real" somehow. I really can't say that I can hear any difference from the original MOS 6581. MOS 8580 might sound different but the ArmSID should emulate that one as well, I just can't say how close it emulates that one. So what did you get and what is your experience?

Duuude this is awesome! Retrofest was such an incredible time 🥰Buc-ee's hype too!

Dude dont feel bad the only SMD shiz ive done i made little templates for, which I got the idea from one kit I purchased that had these templates that you just laid over the ship and board and made it impossible to get solder anywhere else lmao.

The thing with soldering is: You can always get better at it. And people who don't think/remember/keep this in mind when they comment, really need to be reminded of it. Everything else after this line, is just me trying to help everyone who reads this comment get better at soldering. First: Clean the PCB with alcohol to get any manufacturing stuff off the board. It might look clean, but if you always clean the board, then it will always be clean. I say this, because the first shot of the board at 2:00 is a combo of tip choice, and some very strange solder/flux? Maybe the temp selection was wrong as well, I dunno. That was some strange soldering physics. It was not wetting the pins/pads like it needed flux, but you can see it there? But if the tip was far too hot, the flux would be liquifying... Anyway. That was strange, all around. It reminded me when I had a board that was, for whatever reason, coated in a thin layer of some kind of oil that would instantly oxidize the solder. 2:40 - Okay, the hot air should be the only thing touching the PCB. I can actually see the chip scooting across the PCB from the force of the air as well, so that is why there is an air adjustment. And you also want to have it more orthogonal/perpendicular to the board. I use it like a big invisible paintbrush, and wash it over the legs/package. It helps if you 'preheat' the board from the bottom, but it is not required. I also like to use tweezers to push down on the chip, more like rest them on top of it, but it also helps squish the pins into the paste and pad. Hope this helps!

It is better to have tried and failed than to have never tried at all. Success is falling down seven times and getting up eight. If it was easy then everyone would be doing it. I don't know much about it but I have a feeling that multiple failures lead to you not being able to accomplish your task. You will have to overcome each of them individually.

Flux, flux, and more flux. Rosin core flux! Without flux you'll have a heck of a time soldering that big chip with the tiny legs. Also, get a better soldering tip and or solder wire.

I didn't think it was possible for someone to have more ongoing projects than I do, but here you are :P. You've still got further with your RCT build than I have, I cheated and bought one with a pre-programmed ATMega pre-installed but haven't finished soldering some of the components onto it yet.

You should see some of my soldering...

I used an old arduino mega to build mine. Fashed the 2560 using an arduino uno as ISP, then transplanted the chip to the RCT. Anyway, if it ends up being the chip (which it kinda seems ok-ish) feel free to reach out and I can swap it for you.

Very brave to show your mistakes. Always worth remembering you learn far more from mistakes than just doing things the easy way. Glad you're not giving up and wish you luck for your next attempt

My first SMD soldering experiences were tough, too, so don't let this failure discourage you. Drag soldering requires *lots* of flux (I use tacky flux for it). You will eventually get the hang of it. I've not built a Retro Chip Tester Pro, but you do seem *so* close. It looks like the display didn't initialize. I have my fingers crossed that @8BitMuseum can point you in the right direction!

Hi, the Tester seems to work, because you hear the beeps when starting a test. It seems that there is an issue with the display only (maybe defect / contrast correct adjusted) or a bad contact from of one of the MPU contacts going to the display. You can contact me for support, pretty sure it is a minor problem.

I like your shirt

Found one of these at my grandparents house!

If you haven't done this already, invest in a mouster that allows you to use a USB mouse on a whole bunch of retro computers including Atari, Commodore 128, C64 and some others. One adapter to solve all of your retro mouse needs.

The 8085 was used in several S-100 computers; notably the CompuPro dual 8085/8088 CPU card. The Zenith Z-100 family of computers copied this design, since the pinouts of the two CPUs made it easy to put them on the same bus. The 8085 didn't compete well against the Z80, as the Z80 was faster and had a larger instruction set. But when the CMOS 80C85 came out, it gained a big advantage that earned it in portable and battery operated computers like the TRS-80 model 100. I note that you have an 80C85; not an original 8085.

nice font type for GeoWrite

Beware of the Amiga, it might be just an Atari in disguise! :P

I'm the exact opposite... Software I can do. Hardware, not so much! LOL At first I was going to suggest diving into GEOS programming. That's actually something I never could understand back in the day but as soon as I'm ever able to get back to where I once belonged with my beloved, aging Commodores... I just might try my hand at it again.

I always liked GEOS128 better for its 80-column full-page-width display, etc... but being an early-adopter / owner of a CMD SuperCPU64 and 16MB CMD RamLink, the *speed* of GEOS 64 + those 2 devices could not be matched by anything GEOS128 had to offer. If I'd ever owned a SuperCPU128, my tune would have changed but I never did so... it is what it is.

That old light-gray on dark-grey default "color scheme" sucked on a Commodore 1702 monitor with separate chroma/luma too. It's just a bad choice all the way around. I never could understand why that was chosen as the default. I always went with Blue on White, myself.

I had an 8085 trainer back in the 80's It had minimal memory, seven segment displays and a hex keypad. The glitchworks kit looks like more fun. I had to assemble the trainer kit also.

Hi! I'm Mark Fisher you saw doing the talk and workshops at VCFE! Really glad you liked it, was my first VCFE. I personally really enjoyed the event, flew over from London for it, looking forward to more, might catch you on the next one :D

Really nice video! Happy to learn of another New England retro enthusiasts! But you missed the best exhibit: mine. 🤣J/K.

I hear a slight audio drop at the beginnings and/or ends of your sentences, its like there is some auto-noise cancellation kicking in, that truncates the mic when it detects a slight pause in speech and takes a 100 milliseconds or so to kick back in.

I'm sold. When do they announce the date and location for next year?

Very cool. I miss The Weather Channel from the old days when it was all about actual weather. I've also had aspirations of restoring vacuum tube radios, but can't get out of my own way sometimes. It's nice to have an interest in the 'once new' things that started it all. Nice job on the video, informative and interesting without rambling on like my comment is doing.

I've been uploading everything to my GitHub, and will continue to document and expand as I can. github.com/Chef-Tom/TelstarAlphaRebuild

Amazing, looking forwards to th gerbers <3

Great video! Could you find a donor Telstar Alpha that might have a good switch? I don't know how rare they are, so maybe that's not practical... Keep us updated!

Great video Tom, always enjoy your videos. Also I love watching Dave Plummer

GEOS128 was a powerhouse during my middle school and high school years. Honestly, I mostly used it to write papers, GeoPublish, and use a few BBS's that made use of the graphical interface that GEOS provided. It was crazy to think that I was able to do everything on my FREE C-128 bundled with GEOS that most people would need a $4k Mac to do.

Hello, congratulations for this video which breathes new life into the fabulous time spent with our Commodore VIC-20.😉 In a few days, I will start creating an S-Video/Composite mod on my two VIC20s. For several days, I have been able to glean a lot of information on the Internet on this subject. The vast majority of VIC20 owners who have used this S-Video hardware mod have in some way "destroyed" the motherboard of their Vic20 with a cutter or screwdriver. Personally, I cannot imagine this type of process which consists of cutting tracks on the PCB (bakelite) of my VIC20. Today, I was finally able to better understand this problem of a video display improved by the S-Video hardware mod and understand why the final result is still not optimal. The fact of physically separating the two luminance and chrominance components on the Vic20 motherboard already poses problems in terms of signals, let me explain. The circuit (device) which manages the Video part of the VIC20 has been designed to deliver (mix) a Composite video signal with relatively sufficient quality for old screens (SCART socket, RF modulator). What happens when we separate the two Luma and Chroma signals? Both chroma and luma signals end up with various types of interference of all kinds. All S-Video mods performed on the VIC20 consist of adding a 75 ohm resistor and a 0.1 micro Farad capacitor, except that this absolutely does not solve the initial problem, even if the display result is better than initially (without this mod). In reality, this S-Video hardware mod is much too aggressive and does not really address this problem. To respond to this video display quality problem of the VIC20, it is necessary from the start to act on the Composite signal by applying a "corrective" to effectively improve the two components luminance and chrominance AND then reinject them into a new Composite signal “clean” (cleansed of all its impurities). Today, the vast majority of TV screens manage Composite (normal), few screens/monitors accept an RGB (Y/C) input. In conclusion, the S-Video hardware mod made on a VIC20 will never be able to give optimal results. Only ("corrective") processing of the Composite VIC20 signal can truly improve the video display quality, much better than that delivered by the S-Video hardware mod. Would you be interested in my work on creating a Composite mod designed to correct and clean both luminance and chrominance components of the VIC20 WITHOUT DESTROYING THE VIC-20?? Sincerely PS: adding a 75 ohm resistor only adds this ohmic value to that of the video cable connected to a screen. This is one of the reasons why this S-Video hardware mod is deficient and does not address the problem of improving the video display of the VIC20.

19:40 See, there's you mistake. You CANNOT compare it anything modern, because back then IT WAS what was modern. The contrast will skew your interpretation of what you're looking for. You can go in and use it for what it is. Accept its limitations and get familiarized with what it has to offer and the constraints you're bound by to enjoy it more, or don't. But if you compare anything retro to its modern day counterpart, you're most likely going to be let down. But lets not forget, it's the Retro pioneering that moved the Modern into existence.

I have dongle type test harnesses for the C64, which also work for the C128 with the exception of the keyboard. Also extra GALpla’s for the C64. If you want them let me know, I’ll send you a set!

saved from trash :C, im graving for one but in Germany u will never find one.

There is no color burst in the signal, so that might be a problem. You could try plugging the composite from the Pong system into the green component input on the TV.

I'll be keeping an eye ot for the next video on this!

So many reviews fail to mention that the 2600+ plays 7800 games. Apparently the box doesn't make that fact clear. I was glad that you were insightful enough to figure it out yourself in the teardown. In my opinion, the 2600+ wouldn't be worth the price without the fact it does emulate both consoles. One thing you need to try, which you didn't cover in the video, is that you're supposed to hot swap cartridges in the 2600+, something you were never supposed to do on the original hardware. This cuts down on the os and emulator reloading, saving a lot of time.

Loading GEOS 128 with a Pi 1541 robs you of the speed boost provided by the 1571/81 burst mode. I used the 64 version of GEOS way more than the 128 version - but when I finally got a 128 of my own I was blown away by how much better it was with an 80 column screen vs 64's 40 columns.

There is a list on the Atari website that shows which games currently work on the 2600+. I believe pole position 2 was one that does not work but they are working on a firmware update which will fix that game and others.

has an amiga500 look and feel about it.

That has been known for several months. It looks like EVERYONE but you knew the 2600+ plays 7800 games LOL!

Hey Tom what do you think about the Atari 2600 plus❤I love it looks so cool🕹️🕹️🕹️

I found your video amusing. Your mannerisms are that of someone who's lived under a rock and are blind and deaf to the world buzz of this release. I also was slightly amused because you had zero clue of the need to dump the cartridges to play. For that reason it is slower loading. It is smaller for reasons of modern boards since 1970s. Technology warrants smaller console too, is smaller for modern gamers who generally have so much clutter around their multiple setup areas. Same with 4 switches. There is no need for 6 And by the time you opened it, you know that it uses dip switches because of emulation. The other things I have to say are useless after you grasped. But you, as smart as you are, should know about the release.

While it looks like an Atari 2600 it is more like an Atari 7800+

Sure the Atari is great and all, but what I really want is some of those gummi bears.