Fairchild was (and still is) a manufacturer of electronic components mostly designed for industrial and government use, so it's no surprise that the Channel F's hardware was innovative but the games they created for it were stodgy and unimaginative -- while a company like Atari who consisted of a bunch of young hippie potheads who did nothing but design video games all day was able to come up with more creative and entertaining games!
When Steve Jobs worked at Atari everyone hated him because he stank so bad - apparently he didn't believe in using deodorant because he thought the chemicals were bad. Well, we see how that turned out. The big fat Steve who ate McDonald's and never exercised is still alive in kicking.
Nope, Jobs died because he was a hippie who tried to treat cancer using homeopathic remedies. A person in his position, with his wealth, could have lived a much longer life had he aggressively treated himself with the latest and greatest in medicine. Modern medicine actually works - well at least when there is a free market involved that rewards people and companies for coming up with new cures and new technology.
I had one of these when I was a kid. It was the first "electronic game system" I ever had! It was actually pretty cool for its time, and I enjoyed it until I got the Mattel Intellivision in 1980.
Jerry Lawson was one of the most important figures in video game history and it's good to be reminded of his major contribution to the industry- the video game cartridge!
The bit about "finding" the 8-Bit Guy still in your living room hours later was priceless, and so was the part where you just joined him, and then a third guy showed up, and you all had a blast trying to beat your scores at the games you had just, more or less, dumped on, LOL. I just picked up a faulty Fairchild Channel F myself and hope to get it back to working order. Back in the 80's, I had never seen one, but I've heard about them, and Jerry Lawson, since the 90's, and my curiosity got the better of me. I wish I'd picked one up twenty years ago when they were a lot cheaper, though. @.@
I saw this console in the store when i was 7 or 8 my mother thought it was too expensive...later on i got an Atari 2600 where my love for games began. Thanks for Making this video..brought me back.
Suddenly: Saba Videoplay & Nordmende Teleplay :) Yes, this console actually got licensed. Also: MHz means nothing - see 6510 in the C64 vs. Z80 in the ZX Spectrum Fun fact about 8-Track cases ... the Exidy Sorcerer computer used actual salvaged 8-track cases for their cartridges.
I remember when I first saw Pong. I couldn't figure out what "Magic" was used to get a TV to do. At the time, everything shown on a TV came from broadcast TV signal, so it was mind boggling how a TV could be controlled by game device.
My family had one of these back when I was a kid, though we only had the first 7 carts for it. Was still working up till about a decade ago, when it was damaged during a move. After seeing some videos on other old gaming consoles, I'm kind of curious as to how it was to program the Channel F... well other than the limited space it had.
Great collab there guys. For my taste though console video games didn't get to be real fun until the Japanese entered the market and threw their weight around.
ah yes back in the day when switching video cards meant playing a whole new game and not renewing your faith in the PC master race and of course 8-bit guy is here to explain it instead of making stuff on his own channel XD
I'm wondering : how exactly do 480i CRT handle a 120 pixel high raster. We all know that for the 8-bit and 16-bit consoles (and most ps1 games, etc)displayed on SD sets(480i), the raster has 200 something pixels on the vertical axis. So by by using the 240p "hack"(show only every other line, 60 times a second, wich expands the raster twice has high since it adds blanked lines on every other line), the picture here fills up a whole SD screen, with perfect alignment of 1 pixel line on each scanline. But what about a 120 something high raster, like that of the Channel F? is 1 pixel line of the raster spread over 2 scanlines?
Magnavox Odyssey had cartridges. People seem to make distinction between them as not being a game but changing code, so can say Channel F first cartridge machine. They didnt change anyting its why they a footnote in history book and without this first cartridge wouldnt even be worth a foot note. Doubt anyone could name a single game they did. Yet could name dozen atari and Activision games for the actual game changer 2600.
Do you know you could play Pacman on the grandstand of Fairchild system submarine Hunt was game system was good as well and dodgy was a lot of fun I bought is when I first came out
He's known but he didn't invent the console and doesn't hold any patents on it. Two engineers at a small company called Alpex invented the prototype even putting the eprom game chips in plastic "cartridges". Fairchild leased/bought the technology and they converted over to the F8 (from Intel) and shrunk it down to a smaller "console" size. Is Jerry Lawson important in gaming history? Sure, but he didn't do what you think.
+RogerRHF it is.. and you can also move your goal post too by using the push/pull feature of the controller. (not shown in video) So there are lots of things you can control. I was impressed.
wow. love your videos but you knocked it out the ballpark with this one. 1. never heard of channel f, 2. your production value is superb (the cloning) 3. 8bitguy/ibookguy cameo perfect!
Awesome episode. When I saw your doppelganger I thought for a second that the two of you were going to fight in the retro mirror match tradition. Love the show. Keep it up!
The video color selection for the 8 colors in the single pallet were not optimal: The choices were: Light Grey, Light Green, Lavender, White, Black, Red, Green, and Blue. No yellow, no orange.
I always wanted this system back in the 90's, I also still have the Popular Mechanics magazine from 1976 with the Atari VCS and the Channel F being anounced to enter in the US market (with a lot of other systems that didnt got the FCC approval xD), I saw that back then and I wanted one so much. But I got instead an Atari 2600 Jr with 72 built in games (this was in 1991 as I remember), my first game, Enduro my first virginity lost, River Raid. But as far as I can tell the market back then was making a slow begining, cheap games that anyone could understand was the way, when creativity and programming techniques came, more complex things were created, so at the end the Channel F is not THAT BAD, its just how it started.. and lets be realistic... if this console is "oh-so-basic", then.... what in the flying hell would be the original Magnavox Odissey? D:
Had that console when i was a kid, loved the game "Cat and mouse" a maze game, but the joystick controller were weak and stopped working after a couple of years or something, that was pity. I so badly want to play that game console again.
No, the CPU was not divided into three separate 40pin packages. The CPU is just one 40 pin package. The other two in the image is the program storage units (ROM), they were able to keep pin count down on the CPU by having ROM with their own logic for program counter etc and just use the ROMC control signals to control it. You did need at least two chips to do anything useful, a CPU and one program storage unit, later on these came package in the same capsule. 128x64 is the number of bits that can be addressed in the Video RAM, you don't see all of it on screen, especially since the two columns that encodes the palettes are placed on column 125 and 126. Emulators like MESS/MAME shows 102x58 pixels - you often see even less on a real TV. channelf.se/veswiki/index.php?title=VRAM
6:33 - I owned one of these back in 1979 (yes I bought it and Videocart -10 on sale along with a new color TV) . The only games I played was "Maze" and the built-in Pong. I do recall the awful video 'ghosting'! ) Probably Fairchild's attempt to get more 'colors' outta this thing!
Had one of these when I was a kid. Great memories. But the games were eh. Did collect many of the games and sadly, I still have them, somewhere. The console died.
Fairchild was (and still is) a manufacturer of electronic components mostly designed for industrial and government use, so it's no surprise that the Channel F's hardware was innovative but the games they created for it were stodgy and unimaginative -- while a company like Atari who consisted of a bunch of young hippie potheads who did nothing but design video games all day was able to come up with more creative and entertaining games!
I watch you!!
+vwestlife me too
+vwestlife woah, me too
When Steve Jobs worked at Atari everyone hated him because he stank so bad - apparently he didn't believe in using deodorant because he thought the chemicals were bad. Well, we see how that turned out. The big fat Steve who ate McDonald's and never exercised is still alive in kicking.
Nope, Jobs died because he was a hippie who tried to treat cancer using homeopathic remedies. A person in his position, with his wealth, could have lived a much longer life had he aggressively treated himself with the latest and greatest in medicine. Modern medicine actually works - well at least when there is a free market involved that rewards people and companies for coming up with new cures and new technology.
The Channel F controller is just like a Bop-It.
I had one of these when I was a kid. It was the first "electronic game system" I ever had! It was actually pretty cool for its time, and I enjoyed it until I got the Mattel Intellivision in 1980.
Jerry Lawson was one of the most important figures in video game history and it's good to be reminded of his major contribution to the industry- the video game cartridge!
www.fastcompany.com/3040889/the-untold-story-of-the-invention-of-the-game-cartridge
The bit about "finding" the 8-Bit Guy still in your living room hours later was priceless, and so was the part where you just joined him, and then a third guy showed up, and you all had a blast trying to beat your scores at the games you had just, more or less, dumped on, LOL. I just picked up a faulty Fairchild Channel F myself and hope to get it back to working order. Back in the 80's, I had never seen one, but I've heard about them, and Jerry Lawson, since the 90's, and my curiosity got the better of me. I wish I'd picked one up twenty years ago when they were a lot cheaper, though. @.@
With the big 1 2 3 4 buttons, and the shape of the cartridges, it definitely took inspiration form 8-track.
This brings back memories of my brother and me playing games on the Channel F.
I saw this console in the store when i was 7 or 8 my mother thought it was too expensive...later on i got an Atari 2600 where my love for games began. Thanks for Making this video..brought me back.
Great vid guys, i laughed so hard at the last bit
Suddenly: Saba Videoplay & Nordmende Teleplay :) Yes, this console actually got licensed.
Also: MHz means nothing - see 6510 in the C64 vs. Z80 in the ZX Spectrum
Fun fact about 8-Track cases ... the Exidy Sorcerer computer used actual salvaged 8-track cases for their cartridges.
Awesome to see your collab :)
I remember when I first saw Pong. I couldn't figure out what "Magic" was used to get a TV to do. At the time, everything shown on a TV came from broadcast TV signal, so it was mind boggling how a TV could be controlled by game device.
My family had one of these back when I was a kid, though we only had the first 7 carts for it. Was still working up till about a decade ago, when it was damaged during a move. After seeing some videos on other old gaming consoles, I'm kind of curious as to how it was to program the Channel F... well other than the limited space it had.
I love it when your wife gets pissed at you.
Good stuff as always bud!
Proof that you can have fun on TH-cam! :P
Nice collab, guys.
Great collab there guys. For my taste though console video games didn't get to be real fun until the Japanese entered the market and threw their weight around.
+kamiotokonoko I agree. This is the only "pre-crash" console I own. It's so historically significant that I felt it deserved it's own video.
4:58 - That's the sped-up version used in "Airplane!" ;)
great fantastic vid.
This was waaay before LAN parties.
Waaaaa the 8bit guy, now that is a surprise
This was very interesting.
ah yes back in the day when switching video cards meant playing a whole new game and not renewing your faith in the PC master race and of course 8-bit guy is here to explain it instead of making stuff on his own channel XD
you and David have the same wall paint supplier
*very silently* "hey guys..."
7:30 The 8-Bit Guy's face is hilarious . I'm still laughing, best scene ever hahahahahahahahahahahahaha.
Greetings guys!
Thank you Fairchild. For Intel, for AMD, for pushing technology forward
Find the 2001 Sheen home video center from 1982!
That actually look likes a fun version of pong.
Nice video.
We must have run through 3 or 4 pong machines before Atari came out. Never had a Fairchild, though.
Oh, check this out: a crossover episode! Cool!
Mr. Obsolete Geek, how did a fellow Alabamian end up in the Dallas area? ROLL TIDE!
Wow the thing has more V ram than actual ram.
Channel F in the chat
Black's BBQ omfg dude yesssss!!!
Today is its creator birthday
Sentence in commercial: *never get's old* they should be sued for false advertising :D
I'm wondering : how exactly do 480i CRT handle a 120 pixel high raster.
We all know that for the 8-bit and 16-bit consoles (and most ps1 games, etc)displayed on SD sets(480i), the raster has 200 something pixels on the vertical axis. So by by using the 240p "hack"(show only every other line, 60 times a second, wich expands the raster twice has high since it adds blanked lines on every other line), the picture here fills up a whole SD screen, with perfect alignment of 1 pixel line on each scanline.
But what about a 120 something high raster, like that of the Channel F?
is 1 pixel line of the raster spread over 2 scanlines?
Yes
I like that hat, Roll Tide!!!!
That was the most unenthusiastic "alright" I've ever heard.
The Rotator looks like the illuminati symbol
Magnavox Odyssey had cartridges. People seem to make distinction between them as not being a game but changing code, so can say Channel F first cartridge machine. They didnt change anyting its why they a footnote in history book and without this first cartridge wouldnt even be worth a foot note.
Doubt anyone could name a single game they did. Yet could name dozen atari and Activision games for the actual game changer 2600.
to be honest, i couldn´t care less for this console, but your review was really really good and funny :D
Lol, video cards!
moar 8bit guy
Apple II .... used a MOS 6502 ...
[Shows a Synertek 6502]
:-/
It is compatible with the wrong cartridge!
I just had to re sub. TH-cam please stop doing that crap! Love this video.
still better than one mans lie
Any videos on cancel games for the few net And any video on the keypad With games to go with-it I think was won with A space
Hilarious at the 4:55 mark.
Didn't the Magnavox Odyssey(The first home video game console) use interchangeable ROM cartridges?
Ash No.
The Odyssey as circuit cards with no rom chips.
There are more like keys /switches to swap between internal games.
ha bee gees part :)
Was that your twin?
Do you know you could play Pacman on the grandstand of Fairchild system submarine Hunt was game system was good as well and dodgy was a lot of fun I bought is when I first came out
omg u giks ;)
I dont know if this tip helps But there is a loud highpitched tinkybell in the background music. Had to stop watching
The Obsolete Geek + 8 Bit Guy + LGR + Techmoan = Chaos
could be the best video ever. awesome stuff Rob
The joysticks on this thing always seemed incredibly unique. I'd love to see their design somehow adapted for some sort of modern game!
Thank you both! Love both of your channels!
The channel F had set a new standard for video games systems.
Obviously informative, but super funny as well... loved seeing 8-Bit Guy hang out for the fun! Keep up the great videos!
Excellent video! IMO, Jerry Lawson should be right up there with Nolan Bushnell, in terms of being a well-known pioneer in the video game industry.
+David Halligan I agree. Had the system been more successful I think you'd hear his name mentioned more often.
dave4shmups Perhaps because he was black?
I don't know, but I sure hope that's not the reason.
He's known but he didn't invent the console and doesn't hold any patents on it. Two engineers at a small company called Alpex invented the prototype even putting the eprom game chips in plastic "cartridges". Fairchild leased/bought the technology and they converted over to the F8 (from Intel) and shrunk it down to a smaller "console" size. Is Jerry Lawson important in gaming history? Sure, but he didn't do what you think.
That pong at the end actually looks fun, you can move around going after the square lol.
+RogerRHF it is.. and you can also move your goal post too by using the push/pull feature of the controller. (not shown in video) So there are lots of things you can control. I was impressed.
+The 8-Bit Guy It is in fact a work of art. I am going to get one myself because it just catches my interest.
it's literally virtual air hockey lol
I have the german version of the channel F, SABA VideoPlay :)
I'm very proud of the fact I own this system
+Oliver It's a piece of history!
Gaming Pal Ollie I'm a german and I have a SABA Videoplay too! :)
wow. love your videos but you knocked it out the ballpark with this one. 1. never heard of channel f, 2. your production value is superb (the cloning) 3. 8bitguy/ibookguy cameo
perfect!
+Ninja Master Thanks!
The Obsolete Geek: where middle aged men meet to relive their childhood
Awesome episode. When I saw your doppelganger I thought for a second that the two of you were going to fight in the retro mirror match tradition. Love the show. Keep it up!
That really is the best version of Pong ever. Don't have a Channel F but that's one reason I'd love to get one.
I just love the way it sounds!
''Never gets old!''
Now the console is old
What an obscure yet interesting corner of TH-cam keep it up
The video color selection for the 8 colors in the single pallet were not optimal: The choices were: Light Grey, Light Green, Lavender, White, Black, Red, Green, and Blue. No yellow, no orange.
i love your channel!
I also remember how well shielded it was the ENTIRE PC board was encased in metal!
I was really surprised when you brought in The 8-Bit Guy.
4:54 that was awesome the way you and 8 bit guy looked at each other
I always wanted this system back in the 90's, I also still have the Popular Mechanics magazine from 1976 with the Atari VCS and the Channel F being anounced to enter in the US market (with a lot of other systems that didnt got the FCC approval xD), I saw that back then and I wanted one so much. But I got instead an Atari 2600 Jr with 72 built in games (this was in 1991 as I remember), my first game, Enduro my first virginity lost, River Raid.
But as far as I can tell the market back then was making a slow begining, cheap games that anyone could understand was the way, when creativity and programming techniques came, more complex things were created, so at the end the Channel F is not THAT BAD, its just how it started.. and lets be realistic... if this console is "oh-so-basic", then.... what in the flying hell would be the original Magnavox Odissey? D:
Magnavox's system would be considered garbage.
Man that Astro City cab looks super clean. You must've spent some time and elbow grease on that sumbitch. I'm a little bit jealous.
Were I the only one who expected Techmoan to appear out of nowhere when they inserted the 8 Track cart into the Channel F?
8-Bit Guy out of nowhere!
The channel f looks a lot like an 8-track player with the numbered buttons
Hello #8bitguy thank you for sending me to this channle, both your shows are awesome
very interesting and entertaining guys, keep up the good work.
Had that console when i was a kid, loved the game "Cat and mouse" a maze game, but the joystick controller were weak and stopped working after a couple of years or something, that was pity. I so badly want to play that game console again.
To me just the term Fairchild is full of promises, fantasies and laser future.
The 8-track joke was the best bit
great video
That actually looks kinda fun!
great video
thanks
Cool collab video!
No, the CPU was not divided into three separate 40pin packages. The CPU is just one 40 pin package. The other two in the image is the program storage units (ROM), they were able to keep pin count down on the CPU by having ROM with their own logic for program counter etc and just use the ROMC control signals to control it.
You did need at least two chips to do anything useful, a CPU and one program storage unit, later on these came package in the same capsule.
128x64 is the number of bits that can be addressed in the Video RAM, you don't see all of it on screen, especially since the two columns that encodes the palettes are placed on column 125 and 126. Emulators like MESS/MAME shows 102x58 pixels - you often see even less on a real TV.
channelf.se/veswiki/index.php?title=VRAM
This was my 1st gaming console :-)
6:33 - I owned one of these back in 1979 (yes I bought it and Videocart -10 on sale along with a new color TV) . The only games I played was "Maze" and the built-in Pong. I do recall the awful video 'ghosting'! ) Probably Fairchild's attempt to get more 'colors' outta this thing!
I used to have one of these, and a Commodore PET...
I took them apart before I came to realize I might want to hold onto them... ;_;
Yay editing tricks allow two of the same guy!
Had one of these when I was a kid. Great memories. But the games were eh. Did collect many of the games and sadly, I still have them, somewhere. The console died.