________________________________________________ / \ | _________________________________________ | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | DOS & Don'ts | | | | | | | | A Modern Newsletter | | | | for Vintage-minded Folks | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | C:\>Issue #14 December 2024_ | | | |_________________________________________| | | | \_________________________________________________/ \___________________________________/ ___________________________________________ _-' .-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-. --- `-_ _-'.-.-. .---.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.--. .-.-.`-_ _-'.-.-.-. .---.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-`__`. .-.-.-.`-_ :---------------------------------------------------------------: `---._.---------------------------------------------------._.---' ------------------ In this Issue... ------------------ Features ---------- Happy Meals: My Fast Food Memories, Grizzly Adam Early Innovation - Ramtek to Exidy, BlueMSX Just for Laughs - Our Staff's Favourite Jokes Columns --------- The Latent Image, Jon Mullin Retro Living in a Modern World, Grizzly Adam Bits & Bytes -------------- Unclassifieds Ads _....----""""----...._ .-' o o o o '-. / o o o o \ / o o o o o \ _|________________________________|_ / Happy Meals: My Fast Food Memories \ \____________________________________/ / by Grizzly Adam \ \____________________________________/ \~`-`.__.`-~`.__.~`-`~.-~.__.~`-`/ \ / `-.________________________.-' When I was a kid, few things were more exciting than the rare occasion when I got to go out for a meal. Don't get me wrong, we had plenty of pizza and KFC over the years, but these were typically carry-out orders. What I am talking about is what was the absolute peak of luxury for my young self- the kid-centered fast food experience. Burgers, fries, and pizza were all favorites of mine, even more so when the meal came with a toy. My paternal grandparents would often fill their AMC Eagle with a bunch of us kids on a random Friday night. Usually we were divided into groups of four, with each group going over subsequent weekends. The groups were comprised of the older boys, the younger boys, and the girls. The older boys were all roughly the same age, and same with those of us in the younger group of boys. I don't know how, but we managed to get 10 or 11 of us out on a trip with just my two grandparents (the oldest of my cousins may have already become adults at this point). We must have taken two vehicles, but I was very young and I do not remember the transportation details. I do, however, have a perfect memory for when I stuck my foot in my mouth (figuratively, that is, although that was something I was capable of doing at that age- not that I wanted to). We were at McDonald's, my favourite restaurant for most of my youth, and I wanted to sit with the others my age. There were no seats available at any of the kids tables. My grandma, an absolute darling of a woman, tells me that I can sit with her and Grandpa. A four year old me pipes up and rudely says, "I don't want to sit with the old people!" Grandma immediately responds back, "Well, what if these old people don't want to buy you supper?" Realizing my faux pas and how I had hurt my grandparents feelings while they were trying to do something nice, I quickly backpedaled and accepted the seating arrangement. We had an otherwise uneventful trip, but I still feel guilt over my actions some forty years later. Speaking of McDonald's, I got my first memorable Happy Meal toy during an early Hot Wheels promotion. Well, the toy itself I don't remembers as much as I do the Happy Meal box. It was 1985 and my cheeseburger meal came in a box designed to double as a garage for the toy car within. It felt like the meal came with a full playset, not just a car. I think some of the doll toys had similar packaging that could double as a house. My memory is fuzzy, but I think the "boy" and "girl" toys were both printed on the same box, with each design getting two of the panels. It was on another McDonald's trip, this time just me and my dad, that I got my favourite Happy Meal toy. It was August of 1987 and I was now eight years old. I didn't even know what the advertised toy was when I ordered my cheeseburger meal. We were seated in the solarium at the back of the restaurant when I opened the box and found Gonzo on a green tricycle. It turned out that McDonald's was running a "back to school" promotion featuring the Muppet Babies- one of my favourite programs. The toy was in two parts, with Gonzo able to be on or off of his trike. Gonzo himself felt really durable, and made of a hard rubber, softer plastic, or a mix of the two. The trike was a harder plastic with working red wheels on metal shafts, much like how Hot Wheels are made. The toy quickly became a large part of my play, being used with both toy cars and action figures. Just a month later we were across town at McDonald's big rival Hardees (or Har-Deez Nuts as my daughter insists). It was the very next month and the California Raisins were a national sensation. If I recall correctly, a claymation commercial was made featuring a group of raisins performing the Motown hit "I Heard it Through the Grapevine" as a way to promote California grown raisins. My whole family had been out shopping and we were hitting the drive-through for supper. I have no doubt that us kids wouldn't shut up about the toy and that was the whole reason we were eating at Hardees. We rarely ate at the restaurant and I think this may have been my first time there for a meal that wasn't breakfast. The toy wasn't part of a kids meal, but instead was available for 99 cents with purchase of a food item. I got a raisin wearing yellow chucks and sunglasses with a big blue boombox on his shoulder. It wasn't the skateboarding one that I wanted, but I was still happy. The toy was made of the same material as Gonzo was and was also high quality. The only other Hardees toys I remember getting were the Days of Thunder stock cars in 1990. I didn't even know they were having the promotion, but my dear aunt Pam did and she knew how much I loved NASCAR at the time. Thanks again, Pam! Believe it or not, but as an undiagnosed autistic kid I did not make a lot of friends or get invited to many birthday parties. However, I once had a friend named Shawn that chose me as his birthday meal guest at his favourite restaurant, Pizza Hut. This was the first time that I had ever been to the Hut and we each had our own personal pizzas- another new experience for me. It was November of '89 and the restaurant was having a Land Before Time promotion. They had a set of toys that were rubber hand puppets representing characters from the movie. Neither of us wanted the toy and we had little interest in the movie, so it was instead taken home to Shawn's little sister. These days I rarely get a Happy Meal outside of the annual boo buckets, but I am glad to have the memories of all of these happy meals. ------------------------------------------------------------------------- About Grizzly Adam: Grizz is one of those eccentrics that you read about. The type that people say marches to the beat of their own drum. His hobbies include writing, programming, computers, electronics, telephone systems, pyromania, and lawn care. Grizz's Website: grizz.atwebpages.com ------------------------------------------------------------------------- ================================================= | EARLY INNOVATION - RAMTEK TO | ================================================= | ######## # # # ####### # # | | # # # # # # # # | | # # # # # # # # | | ######## ## # # # # | | # # # # # # # | | # # # # # # # | | ######### # # # ####### # | ================================================= by BlueMSX While Exidy and Ramtek don't get as much attention as Midway, Atari, and Williams, they hold key roles in arcade history. Before we can talk about Exidy, we must first mention Data Disc Corporation. Data Disc Corp created early hard disk drives, audio, and video electronics in the 1960s. The technologies they developed would be used in hospitals, businesses, and even NASA space missions. In 1971, Charles McEwan and John Metzler split off from Data Disc Corp over disagreements with the company's usage of their imaging technology. They founded Ramtek in hopes of using similar technology to Data Disc to make a positive impact. Their first products were graphics terminals for mainframe, or mini, computers. They would also create medical imaging technology to pair with these terminals. In 1973 everything changed. Pong, a brand new electronic game from Atari Inc, became a massive hit. Ramtek, seeing the earnings from these early machines, would opt to throw their hat into the ring. That very year Ramtek would release its first creation: Volley, a close imitation of Atari Inc's Pong. They would round out the year with follow- ups Hockey and Soccer. Unlike other Pong clones from the time, these games didn't copy Atari's code or circuitry. The income which these games provided allowed Ramtek to continue their struggling high end video operations. Their next big game would come from a newly hired employee, Howell Ivy. Ivy had designed a Pong game in his spare time while working for the United States Air Force's Satellite Test Center. Unlike most Pong games at the time, his allowed the paddle to move in all directions. Despite paying him two thousand dollars, Ramtek would not produce his game, instead allowing Ivy to make something new. Clean Sweep, released in 1974, tasked players with destroying all the blocks on the screen by bouncing a ball off a paddle- two years before Atari's Breakout. Clean Sweep, made use of ROM and RAM instead of pure transistor transistor logic (TTL) chips used by most machines at the time, and was the first video game in which you could win a free play. Innovation would continue with Baseball, designed again by Ivy, which was said to have animated characters and be an impressive simulation of Baseball for 1974. However, it did suffer from issues during manufacture when its double board design strained its wooden housing along with general hardware failures. Ramtek's next game was Trivia, which was Ivy's last creation for the company. The generic title made use of a continuous loop tape in pairing with the logic board to display questions. Since TTL technology made it near impossible to store all the questions on board at once, the board would read each question off the tape as needed. To make the questions truly random, the tape would continue moving once the question was loaded into memory, and only read the tape again when the question was completed. Thus, the time it took you to answer would directly affect what question you got. A rather ingenious solution given the era and hardware used. In 1976, a fire broke out at Ramtek's main production plant causing millions of dollars in damages. However, with the emergency payouts from their banks, Ramtek was able to rise from the ashes. With their prior issues with video games, Ramtek would make a series of electromechanical games. M-79 Ambush, based on Sega's Sea Wolf, became their largest success during this time. Notably, it was the first game which could save the highest achieved score without players being able to erase it. In 1980, Ramtek pulled out of the video game market and sold off its game devision to Mel McEwan, Charles McEwan's brother. Meltec would be the result of this sale, best remembered for their game Boom Ball. Boom Ball was similar to Skee Ball, but used air cannons to fire the balls. This game and variations of it would keep the company afloat until the company was sold in 2003. Ramtek seems to have been deincorporated in 1996, but the exact nature of how this happened is not clear. What does this have to do with Exidy you may be wondering. Well, Harold Ray Kauffman and engineer Samuel Hawes had left Ramtek in 1973 to found Exidy- short for excellence in dynamics. Exidy's first creation was TV Pinball, released in 1974, and was said to be based on a prototype Ramtek was working on. The game itself, a clone of Atari Inc's Pong, used gel overlays to enhance its otherwise limited color. While it didn't push the envelope, it did help Exidy get their feet wet in the consumer market. They would also produce some electromechanical games such as 1975's Old Time Baseball. For distribution, Exidy would partner with well-known pinball manufacturer Chicago Coin to help develop their first original video game in 1975. This was Destruction Derby, or Demolition Derby for Chicago Coin, in which players used their car to destroy as many of the other cars on screen as possible before time ran out. This was Exidy's first big success thanks to its innovative gameplay for the time. Sadly, the partnership between Exidy and Chicago Coin wouldn't last due to the latter running into financial troubles. They would ultimately be acquired by Gary and Sam Stern (who had no interest in working with Exidy) to form Stern Electronics. The agreement with Chicago Coin meant that Exidy couldn't produce Destruction Derby anymore- and they didn't have much production capacity compared to Chicago Coin if they could. Technological limitations meant that creating a new game from scratch would be costly. Howell Ivy, who had just come onboard with Exidy, would help to create a new version of Destruction Derby, called Death Race. The graphics of enemy cars were replaced with stick figures, which the player was tasked with running over before the time ran out. Originally, Exidy was unsure what the stick figures were supposed to be and early materials for the game suggested the player could make them whatever they wanted. The final premise seen on the game's flyer seemed to be that the stick figures were either gremlins, the undead, or simply monsters. While the technology used didn't allow for heavy detail in the graphics, the themes of the game combined with the monsters screaming while turning into tombstones upon defeat sparked major outrage. Exidy would attempt to backtrack things as best they could, but the damage was done. Ultimately, Exidy had to discontinue production despite an increase in sales for 1977. Notably, a movie called Death Race 2000 was released around the same time, where hitting pedestrians was a key plot point. While it's not known if Exidy's Death Race was meant to imitate the movie or not, it's original name during development was Death Race 98. Whatever the case, Exidy would create new games such as Super Death Chase and Score in 1977 in hopes of remedying things. Super Death Chase was basically the same as Death Race, replacing the stick figures with skeletons, but didn't pass its location tests (likely due to Death Race's reputation). Score was a major graphical overhaul of Death Race which went in the complete opposite direction. In Score players would take control of a teenager trying to "score" a date by driving around the screen before the time ran out. Score also failed its location tests. With the need for greater change, Exidy would soon branch out. Car Polo (1977) resembled Atari Inc's Breakout. In Circus (1978) players used a seesaw to launch a clown to pop balloons The game would become Exidy's biggest success yet. Around this time, Exidy would briefly branch out into home computers with their Exidy Sorcerer microcomputer. It used the S-100 expansion bus, also used in systems from Altair and South West Technical Products Corporation, but packed it into a case a fraction of the size of the other systems. It had impressive graphics for the time and was easily expandable via the S-100 bus. However, it would only be a modest success against other more popular computers such as the Apple II. Back on the arcades, Exidy would release Star Fire in 1978. The game bears more than a passing resemblance to Star Wars both in appearance and gameplay. The game was notable for its use of color graphics, and was the first arcade game with a high score table where the player could enter their initials. The game had been independently created by Ted Michon, Susan Ogg, and David Rolfe, who'd been peddling the game to manufacturers such as Bally Midway. (Sidenote: Rolfe would later help create what would become the Mattel Intellivision.) Bally Midway would continuously demand changes to the game. including adding a witch as an enemy at one point, before ultimately turning it down. This allowed Exidy to acquire the game instead. Exidy would also acquire Vectorbeam Co. from Cinematronics in 1978, renaming them Exidy 2. They would create some vector games such as Vertigo, a 3D space shooter that sadly didn't pass its location tests. The game, quite rare today, is to have given the playtesters motion sickness. Their next game, 1979's Crash, copied Sega's Head-On a bit too closely as it nearly led to legal action by Sega. The game was pulled and modified to create Targ in 1980, which combined Head-On's gameplay with shooting elements. This was followed up by Mouse Trap in 1981, which was inspired by Pac-Man and featured doors which could open and close off parts of the maze. Interestingly, a graphic for Chuck E. Cheese is unused in the game's code, suggesting they helped to fund the game as they'd done with others at the time. Venture was a dungeon crawler game, the first of its kind for the arcades. It featured enhanced music and sound effects that helped it stand-out amongst the competition. Exidy would also create the Max-A-Flex system, which used an Atari 600XL computer in an arcade cabinet (similar to Nintendo's Playchoice 10) where you could play a game from the system under a coin based time limit. The system used four games from First Star Software, but was dropped when arcade operators figured out how to use any cartridge game with the system, cutting Exidy out of the picture. After this, Exidy would branch out into light gun games including the well-known title Crossbow. Designed by Ivy, Crossbow featured digitized- sample-based audio and very advanced graphical hardware for the time. Crossbow was a major success for Exidy, but their next major game, Chiller would go down in infamy. I won't go into heavy detail but this torture simulator made Death Race look tame by comparison. With the advanced graphics hardware shared with Crossbow, Exidy added very realistic and violent detailing for many parts of the game, which once again cast Exidy in a bad light. Despite things, Exidy would continue with light gun games until 1988, with Who Dunit being their final video game release. The company appears to have disincorporated in the late 1990s with Kauffman passing away on July 3, 2015. The majority of Exidy's software is, as of now, in the public domain. Ramtek and Exidy aren't as well remembered as other companies- or in Exidy's case maybe not remembered for the best reasons. They did help make arcade games more mainstream, push what could be done on a technical level, and introduce so many firsts. I feel both hold an equally important place in arcade history alongside the likes of Atari, Bally Midway, and Williams. Happy Gaming! ------------------------------------------------------------------------- About BlueMSX: BlueMSX, Blue for short, enjoys retro technologies, history, and learning for the sake of learning. She has been interested in retro electronics and media for nearly as long as she can remember. This fascination means that she has a lot of great stories to recount. Blue's philosophy can be summed up by the quote, History is like a puzzle- the more pieces you have the more sense it makes. ------------------------------------------------------------------------- _________________________________________________________________________ | ___ __ __ _______ _______ _______ _______ ______ | | | || | | || || | | || || _ | | | | || | | || _____||_ _| | ___|| _ || | || | | | || |_| || |_____ | | | |___ | | | || |_||_ | | ___| || ||_____ | | | | ___|| |_| || __ | | | | || | _____| | | | | | | || | | | | | |_______||_______||_______| |___| |___| |_______||___| |_| | | ___ _______ __ __ _______ __ __ _______ | | | | | _ || | | || || | | || | | | | | | |_| || | | || ___|| |_| || _____| | | | | | || |_| || | __ | || |_____ | | | |___ | || || || || ||_____ | | | | || _ || || |_| || _ | _____| | | | |_______||__| |__||_______||_______||__| |__||_______| | |_________________________________________________________________________| | | | OUR STAFF'S FAVOURITE JOKES | |_________________________________________________________________________| Grizzly Adam: I decided to call this piece "Just for Laughs" because that is the number of jokes I know- FOUR! Jon Mullin: What's brown and sticky. A stick. Don't use that joke, it's horrible. BlueMSX: It's like the joke about a broken pencil, it's a bit pointless. Grizzly Adam: Did you hear that Kevin Bacon converted to Judaism? He is now Kevin Turkey Bacon! BlueMSX: Okay, so I got a great one here. Two guys walk out of a bar. One guy says to the other guy, "Hey, is that the moon?" The other guy says, "I don't know, I don't live around here." Grizzly Adam: A man lay spread out over three seats in the second row of a movie theater. As he lay there breathing heavily, an usher came over and said, "That's very rude of you, sir, taking up three seats. Didn't you learn any manners? Where did you come from?" The man looked up helplessly and said, "The balcony!" BlueMSX: Clever! I've got another. A police officer is on the side of a highway late at night watching for speeders when he sees a car coming down the road that's barely moving. He thinks of himself that a car moving that slow is just as dangerous as one that's speeding, so he pulls them over. The window opens and it's a bunch of old ladies. The officer asks them why they were going so slow. The one driving points at the Interstate 15 sign and says, "We were just doing the speed limit." Grizzly Adam: What do you call a rhinoceros crossed with an elephant? Elephino. BlueMSX: What do you call a naked Piano? a harp! Grizzly Adam: Waiter: Would you like your coffee black? Customer: What other colors do you have? BlueMSX: I got another one. Back in my day we didn't have telemarketers, we had Mormons. Grizzly Adam: Back in my day we didn't have Jehovah's Witnesses, we just had Jehovah. BlueMSX: What did the tree say to the woodcutter? I'm stumped! Grizzly Adam: Back in my day we didn't have Jehovah, we just had darkness. Bea Thurman: Hi, sorry I was in a game. What's Mozart doing in the afterlife? Decomposing Jon Mullin: What do you call a dog with a fever? A hot dog. What type of dog leaves a permanent mark? A Shar Pei BlueMSX: So a pirate walks into a bar with a paper towel in his hat. The bartender asks him why and the pirate says, "I've got a bounty on me head." Bea Thurman: What happens when you eat aluminum? You sheet metal. Grizzly Adam: This paranormal investigator was examining a haunted house when suddenly a ghost appeared. The investigator asked if he could take its picture, and the ghost agreed. Unfortunately, however, when the negatives were developed they were blank. It seems the spirit was willing but the flash was weak. Bea Thurman: The ocean is a bit rude, I try to have conversations with it but all it does is wave. BlueMSX: How about this one. Why are ghosts bad liars? You can see right through them! Or what do you call a vampire whose car breaks down three miles from a blood bank? a cab! Jon Mullin: A couple is arguing. The man takes his pants off and tells the wife to put them on. She says "they're too big." He says "exactly, they're big which is why I wear the pants in this house." She then takes her pants off and says "we'll try mine." He says "I can't get in them, they're too small." She says "if you keep this up you'll never be in my pants again." Grizzly Adam: That reminds me of the one where the rich lady comes home and tells the butler, "Jeeves, take off my blouse." She goes on, having him remove her blouse, heels, shirt, stockings, and even the more intimate garments. Finally she says, "If I ever catch you wearing my clothes again, you'll be fired!" ----------------------------------------------------------------------- [] [] [] [] [] [] [] [] [] [] [] [] [] [] [] [] [] [] [] [] [] [] [] [] ----------------------------------------------------------------------- | The Latent Image - with Jon Mullin | | | | This Month: | | Is there truly a retro film? A Long-winded Ramble | ----------------------------------------------------------------------- [] [] [] [] [] [] [] [] [] [] [] [] [] [] [] [] [] [] [] [] [] [] [] [] ----------------------------------------------------------------------- There are two film stocks I love more than any other: Kodak Gold and Fomapan Action 400. These film stocks are both on the more affordable end of things, but in terms of being "retro" only one can fit that bill. To fill in that gap, companies have come up with retro inspired films that provide the look of an old photograph without the years of waiting for it t o fade over time. Do these retro films really feel retro, or more like an instagram filter? Furthermore, does shooting certain film stocks feel more "retro" than shooting others? Fomapan's main film emulsions are unchanged for years. They are a true retro film stock that is still produced today. It's grainy and contrasty yet still holds fine details well. The catch with Fomapan is that it gets repackaged as a retro styled film. Lomography sells it as Lady Grey and Earl Grey. In reality, it's just Foma's 100 and 400 speed films. If you are looking for a really retro film stock, look at Fomapan. Alternatives like Kodaks Tri-X 400 have been changed to be sharper and have more modern qualities. It still has nice grain and the retro feel, but it isn't the same Tri-X as back in the day. Ilford also offers their HP5 Plus which has a bit less contrast and has smoother gradation in my opinion. This is another emulsion that has evolved over the years. The HP5 of today is much more flexible, detailed, and finer grained than your grandpappy's HP5. So yes there is still a retro film stock still in production today UNCHANGED, but the other stocks aren't bad choices. Just not a true retro feel like good old Fomapan. What about color negative film stocks? Are there any that remain unchanged from the past? The short answer is no. Kodak Gold 200, along with its sister films Ultra Max 400 and Pro Image 100, have seen many changes over the years as well. They are now finer grained and have a much wider range of tones. Even Kodak's Portra and Ektar line has seen massive changes over its lifetime, providing even finer grain and higher quality. Fujifilm also makes color negative film, but not as many as Kodak at this point. They only currently offer the consumer film stocks simply called 200 and 400. This film is evolved from the old Fujicolor consumer films which means that yes it has also grown to be sharper, with better exposure flexibility, and has finer grain than its predecessors. So what is there for color film? As for the "vintage style" films, there are quite a few interesting options. One is the new Ilfocolor Vintage 400. It has a unique look of easily blown highlights and vibrant colors that feels like it was shot on an old point-and-shoot. This makes it a fun film for a day out at the park or hanging with friends. Lomography does sell some vintage style films, but shoot them and you'll notice they look eerily similar to Kodak's consumer line up of Pro Image 100, Ultra Max 400, and Ultramax 800 (which is only available in Kodak's disposable line up). Be aware of these if you want a truly retro look, these modern iterations of these films has left some fellow photographers slightly let down. Harmon is another company who went for the vintage look with their Phoenix 200 film. The catch is that shooting it can be quite challenging. It's got intense contrast with deep blacks, and its saturation is so intense it can only be described as inky. Though the film is unique, with a nice vintage feeling grain, it just doesn't have the retro feel. So of all this film, we have one confirmed "retro" film stock. There are a bunch of films who have evolved over the years, while others try to emulate the past. The reality is this, film is film. It will always be film, and what makes it special is the characteristics of said films. Does Harmon Phoenix look vintage? I don't think so. Does shooting it remind me of times long gone? Absolutely! Film photography isn't about "is the film a vintage looking stock?" Film photography is about the experience of taking control, trusting the process, loving the unique looks, and learning patience. Most of the film stocks of old are gone or changed for a reason. Maybe, just maybe, these changes will help someone pick up their grandparents old film camera to experience taking a photo just as it was done many decades ago. ------------------------------------------------------------------------- About Jon Mullin: Jon has been photographing professionally since 2008, but has been surrounded all his life by the small and quirky point and shoot Kodaks that his father collected. Now he photographs pets and people in unique and interesting ways. Jon's Website: jonmullin.com ------------------------------------------------------------------------- ,---. ,---. / /"`.\.--"""--./,'"\ \ \ \ _ _ / / `./ / __ __ \ \,' / /_O)_(_O\ \ | .-' ___ `-. | .--| \_/ |--. ,' \ \ | / / `. / `. `--^--' ,' \ .-"""""-. `--.___.--' .-"""""-. .-----/ \------------------/ \--------. | .---\ /----------------- \ /------. | | | `-`--`--' `--'--'-' | | | | Retro Living in a Modern World | | | | | | | | with Grizzly Adam | | | | | | | | This Installment: My Custom Arcade Machine | | | |_________________________________________________| | |_____________________________________________________| Over the last few months I have detailed the arcade and disco spaces that my spouse and I have been working on creating. I mentioned in issue 11 that I had picked up a used Arcade1up Rampage machine with 4 games on it: Rampage, Gauntlet, Defender, and Joust. I was particularly disappointed with the button mapping for Defender, which made it very difficult to play. I also found the controls to be unreliable, which I traced to a flakey encoder board. For those uninitiated, the encoder board interprets the joystick and button inputs and sends them to the mainboard. I reflowed all the solder joints on the encoder board and replaced the 40-pin ribbon cable that connects the encoder board to the main board. After this, everything was fine for about a week before the troubles started up again. I eventually had enough and made the decision to convert my Arcade1up Rampage machine to a RetroPie setup. Let's get into it! At first, I had reservations on spending more money on the cabinet, but that was before I realized that I could sell the factory mainboard on eBay and recoup most of my money. With that settled, I started to put together a parts list to get things going. I chose a Raspberry Pi 3b+ to be the core of the project because it was inexpensive yet powerful. I mounted the Pi to the side of the cabinet using four 1" standoffs to allow for easy swapping of the SD cards. To power the Pi, I opted for a 12VDC to 5VDC 3A step-down converter with a micro-USB end. This allowed me to continue using the Arcade1up official 12VDC power supply, thus keeping things simple. I also acquired a Arcade1Up HDMI Monitor Conversion Kit from ArcadeModUp.com that allows me to connect the Pi to the cabinet's display via HDMI cable. It was a plug and play solution, and runs off of 12VDC just like the old motherboard, so no new wiring was required. Why the Pi and the display sorted, it was time to turn my attention to the control deck. The control deck has a total of 3 four-direction joysticks, each with a coin button and two gameplay buttons- a total of 21 total inputs. I picked up a twin pack of USB encoder boards, each with 20 inputs. While this may seem like I just missed being able to get everything on one board, I did (and still do) have plans to add more buttons. The control deck had most of the same connectors as the encoder boards, only the joystick connectors needed the ends replaced. This was one of the most fiddly bits of the whole project, but went pretty well overall. I had initial concerns about how to keep all the buttons straight when mapping, but then I realized that I didn't have to know where each button connected and all I had to do was press the button during the mapping process. The final major component I needed is an audio amplifier. While the Pi is capable of outputting line level audio signals, if you actually want to hear the sound through the speaker then an audio amp is necessary. I settled on a 100W amp (50W for each of the two channels) and mounted it in a similar fashion as I did the Pi's board. Because of an oversight on my part, I was not initially pleased with the amp and ordered a 150W amp from ArcadeModUp and installed it in place of the 100W amp. Either of these amps is perfectly capable of doing the job, and I will link to both at the end of this article. With all the major components now inside the cabinet, it was time to work on making it all work together. For simplicity, I am going to keep focused on the hardware this month and will cover the software side of things next month. That being said, we will fast forward to when I have the RetroPie software installed and running and am able to play games. It wasn't long before I noticed an issue- other than plugging the machine in (or unplugging it), I had no watch to turn the machine on and off. After doing a little research, I discovered that pins 5&6 on the Pi's header could be used to trigger it to turn on. After a little more research I found a script that would monitor the same pins and initiate a shutdown sequence. With this knowledge, I removed the factory ON-OFF power-switch from the control deck and replaced it with a momentary switch with the same form factor. The new switch is actually basically the same as what the newer Arcade1ups are equipped with. With the new switch in place and connected to pins 5&6, I could now initiate the Pi's bootup and shutdown from the control deck. Next, I connected the video board and audio amp to a relay. The relay, controlled by the 5VDC of one of the Pi's USB ports, causes the video and audio to turn on whenever the Pi has power. I also wanted to make some cosmetic changes. I didn't particularly like having the list of the four games the Arcade1up originally supported on the front of the cabinet- I wanted it to look like a Rampage machine, dang it! So I removed the front of the cabinet and was happy to find the other side of the board painted plain black. I then cut a hole in the center of the board and installed a working coin door. What's more, I added some microswitches to the coin return buttons and connected them to the second encoder board. I also removed the front from the cabinet riser and turned it around so that it would no longer be branded as Arcade1up. Overall the machine is looking much more like its arcade counterpart. Finally, since the Rampage cabinet doesn't have a lighted marquee, I ordered an arcade topper to make the machine stand out. The topper is about three times as tall as the original marquee and features artwork by Brian Colin. I really like the topper, but I did not enjoy doing business with Szabo's Arcades. Enough said. The only hardware issue that I haven't managed to get sorted is some noise from the audio amp when connected to the same power supply as the Pi. I have tried several isolation tips without much success. As a workaround, I am currently powering the amp with its own power supply. If I can't figure out a way to remedy this, then I will end up putting the second power supply on its own relay so at least it will shut down with the rest of the machine. Next month we will take a look at the software side of things and maybe a few finishing touches. Until then, stay retro! ------------------------------------------------------------------------- About Grizzly Adam: Grizz is one of those eccentrics that you read about. The type that people say marches to the beat of their own drum. His hobbies include writing, programming, computers, electronics, telephone systems, pyromania, and lawn care. Grizz's Website: grizz.atwebpages.com ------------------------------------------------------------------------- ================== | UNCLASSIFIED ADS | ================== _________________________________________________________________________ | There's just one place to go for all your spatula needs: | | SPATULA CITY | | Home of the Spatula! | | Shop any of our 7 locations! | |=========================================================================| | We have a giant warehouse of spatulas for any occasion with thousands | | to choose from in every shape, size and color. And because we eliminate | | the middleman, we can sell all our spatulas factory direct to you! | |-------------------------------------------------------------------------| | GRADUATIONS * BIRTHDAYS * BAR MITZVAHS * DOMESTIC & FOREIGN | | HOLIDAYS * ANNIVERSARIES * MUSICAL | |-------------------------------------------------------------------------| | This weekend only - SPECIAL LIQUIDATION SALE | | Buy nine spatulas and get the 10th one for just one penny! | |=========================================================================| | NO MONEY DOWN! WHY PAY MORE? EVERYTHING MUST GO! OPEN 'TIL MIDNIGHT! | |=========================================================================| | Don't forget, they make great christmas presents, and what better way | | to say, "I love you" than with the gift of a spatula? | |-------------------------------------------------------------------------| | WHERE DO YOU GO WHEN YOU WANT TO BUY NAME BRAND SPATULAS | | AT A FRACTION OF THE COST? | | ___ ___ _ _____ _ __ __ _ __ __ _____ _ __ | | ,' _/ / o |.' \/_ _//// // / .' \ ,'_/ / //_ _/| |/,' | | _\ `. / _,'/ o / / / / U // /_ / o / / /_ / / / / | ,' | | /___,'/_/ /_n_/ /_/ \_,'/___//_n_/ |__//_/ /_/ /_/ | | | | WE SELL SPATULAS AND THAT'S ALL! | | Find us in the yellow pages under "spatula." | |-------------------------------------------------------------------------| | "I like their spatulas so much, I bought the company." | | -Cy Greenbloom, President | |_________________________________________________________________________| * * O R A N G E * * O R A N G E * * *********************************** * * * ***NEWS BULLETIN*** * * Kind of hungry? * *********************************** * Try Orange Orange frozen yogurt * * INSPECTOR ZENIGATA OF INTERPOL * * Fro-yo really isn't that good, * * IS REQUESTING TIPS FOR THE * * but it's good enough! * * LOCATION OF THE NOTORIOUS * * Now serving the Burbank Area * * THIEF, LUPIN III! IF YOU HAVE * * * * ANY INFORMATION, CALL IN RIGHT * * * O R A N G E * * O R A N G E * * * AWAY, AND DON'T FALL FOR * * LUPIN'S TRICKS! * LOST: 1 IMPACTICAL GLASS SLIPPER * +81 592 024-1971 * IF FOUND, RETURN TO CINDERELA *********************************** CASTLE FOR REWARD. IF YOU'RE HOT. (USE SERVANT ENTERANCE) With a sweet citrus flavor, . .. .. .. .. .... .. .. .. .. .. . CITRANIUM is the drink for you! :Get your PRESCRIPTION: POULTRY at: Made fresh daily (from concentrate) :Columbo's all You Can Eat Chicken: at APERATURE SCIENCE : Downtown L.A. : CITRANIUM: It's science in a can! : "Just one more wing." : . .. .. .. .. .... .. .. .. .. .. . ----------------------------------- Are you Patriotic, looking for EXTERMINATOR DESPERATELY NEEDED work, mechanically inclined, or all MY HOME IS OVERRUN WITH GREMLINS of these things? You can support 502-5221 Ask for Rand your Empire by building Tie- Fighters here at Used Computers available at SIENAR FLEET SYSTEMS. BUBS' CONCESSION STAND Employee benefits and competitive Slightly not working Tandy 400, pay far exceed our competitors. Compy 386- only slightly shotgunned SIENAR FLEET SYSTEMS: ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Bringing Jobs and Prosperity Dedede Aftershave to Lothal and beyond. What's that smell? Apply today! ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ ----------------------------------- RESET SURVEILLANCE CENTER Want a whole new snack is Seekin' funding for continued like you've never seen before? monitorin' of reality alterin' the perfect office snack? resets. Pledge to fund the Reset Your prayers have been answered Surveillance Center and help with Muppet Labs all new our UNSTOPPABLE MOLE POWER! EDIBLE PAPER CLIPS Call to pledge today! Delicious, nutritious, 555-5959-RESETTI and nickel-plated! .---------------------------------. Useful around the office, | .-----------------------------. | the perfect TV snack, | | | | and are totally harmless. | | Bubs' Old Pizza | | MUPPET LABS: where the future | | It's-a really old! | | is being made today! | |_____________________________| | *Muppet labs is not responsible |_________________________________| for any ill health effects. ----------------------------(\/) (;,,;) (\/)----------------------------- (((_.-=-._.-=-._.-=-._.-=-._.-=-._.-=-._.-=-._.-=-._.-=-._.-=-._))) ))~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~(( (( > < )) )) EDITOR: Grizzly Adam (( (( > ASSISTANT EDITOR: Jon Mullin < )) )) PUBLISHER: Grizzly Adam (( (( > < )) )) WRITERS (( (( > --------- < )) )) Grizzly Adam (( (( > BlueMSX < )) )) Jon Mullin (( (( > Bea Thurman < )) )) (( (( > http://dosanddonts.mywebcommunity.org < )) ))...............................................................(( (( > SHARE ME! PUT ME ON YOUR SERVER, SEND ME TO YOUR FRIENDS! < )) ))...............................................................(( (((`-._.-'`-._.--._.-'`-._.--._.-'`-._.--._.-'`-._.--._.-'`-._.-)))