Atari Firefox

[Alpha1]

Chin up. You have picked the worst most unreliable game ever to restore!

 

[DanP]

Olls hit the nail on the head. This is one machine I'd suggest getting running on MAME first so you can play it while you're finding and repairing all the original parts. Obviously use the existing wiring while you do it!

Dan

 

[Alpha1]

I'm waiting for Mr Spicers laserdisc replacement PCB.

 

[forcefulfil]

Chin up. You have picked the worst most unreliable game ever to restore!

even more than my Atari Dragons lair?

btw can u dig me some ld players up?

 

[Jodo]

The boards are going off to be checked whilst I get the voltages right in the cab under dummy load as has been suggested. I think I'll also have to box the factory AR2 as it has no test loops and replace it for a later model that has them to make this easier. I am away from home at the moment so can't keep the momentum on testing I would have liked this weekend.

 

[Jodo]

Olls hit the nail on the head. This is one machine I'd suggest getting running on MAME first so you can play it while you're finding and repairing all the original parts. Obviously use the existing wiring while you do it!

Dan

I would Dan but Ordyne has said if I MAME it, he's going to come around and kick me really hard in the balls

I believe him.

 

[karlcdoe]

Hahahaha! Well look at it this way by luck or not I managed to get two star riders working (no idea if they still work as they are buried behind other cabs at this exact moment) so I reckon you have every chance although the Panasonic player in star rider is clearly a better unit than the nasty phillips. I would say FF must be more unreliable than dragons lair though since they both essentially have the same laser player but dragons lair has *much* simpler logic boards; anyway if you mame it I agree with Ordyne and the speech emulation is poor from the last couple of demos I have seen but on the plus side you can send me the entire contents of your cab so I can run it in my ROTJ....

 

[DanP]

I'd MAME it only while you were collecting the missing bits/fixing the broken bits, but I would do it properly so you don't damage anything original. It's easy to do, just have to make your own adapter. Bit of connector, wire and solder is all it takes. Sup to you, I'd just hate to have a cabinet non working for what could be a long time (years?). EOD I want to play the games, MAME is better than nothing imo

Dan

 

[karlcdoe]

Thinking about it if the Phillips player in FF is anything like as noisy as the one in Atari DL then not being able to hear it whir and scream will also violate the experience... does MAME emulate the sound of that Anyway, I was thinking about putting a MAME firefox in my ROTJ to be honest but I have too much real hardware to sort out first. So much cr@p so little time.... Without wishing to float too far off the topic is it really that 'easy' to MAME a FF? I mean you'd have to get an adapter for the yoke and source quite a few connectors and a few bits and bobs if you weren't going to butcher the loom?

 

[DanP]

Yeah a Jedi/FF multigame setup is on my list too. I think you just need a solution for the yoke (either one of the real ones or a hacked up Sidewinder), then a harness adapter and you're done. You can use the AR2 to amplify the sound and use the speakers in the cab, pretty simple really.

Dan

 

[Jodo]

I haven't done any research on this but I have the USB adapter from RAM. I was going to get a board that slots into the PCB guide rails, mount the PC hardware on that and use an inline amp and run cable to the existing speakers.

This demands a separate thread. Apart from removing the spade connectors I wouldn't have to touch the main loom? I could even use the FF fans to cool the PC setup.

 

[Ordyne]

Im going to kick you in the head not the balls.. Its going to hurt.. a lot...

 

[trm]

Jodo - we'll protect you from that mingy Ordy guy (or just give you a Yellow Pages to stand on so he can't reach to punch

).

Looking at your loom shots so far I would think that a zero-impact MAME would be quite possible, and very cool.

 

[gridrunner]

I think if you're going to abandon those excellent, reliable players and opt for an adapter and solid state drive to replace the laser disc, I'd be inclined to go the whole hog and replace the board set as well and mame it. You could play Mach 3 and maybe even Astron Belt

Is Firefox properly emulated now?

gridrunner2012-11-29 13:46:33

 

[Jodo]

Firefox plays well but the resolution / ghosting on an LCD monitor looks naff. I'm hoping it will look a damn sight better on a CRT

 

[DaveAS]

Mame will only look right if it can handle interlacing properly when driving a 15KHz monitor. Not sure if it can or not.

 

[DanP]

Whatever MAME does it will look better than a blank screen

 

[Alpha1]

Mame will only look right if it can handle interlacing properly when driving a 15KHz monitor. Not sure if it can or not.

Hi Mr. Viper!

What's the status on the LDP replacement pcbs?

 

[DaveAS]

Mame will only look right if it can handle interlacing properly when driving a 15KHz monitor. Not sure if it can or not.

Hi Mr. Viper!

What's the status on the LDP replacement pcbs?

Still on hold. I'm renting in Bristol at the moment and while I've got a board up there, I don't have room for a Firefox.

Here's the LD PCB driving a telly. Sound quality is horrible because I used my phone to take the video.

I had problems with the comms interface back in August and haven't been able to revisit since. It worked fine on the previous revision and I suspect I may have trashed one of the level converter chips on the board.

I might drag the cab out over Christmas and have another go at it.

--
Dave
VicViper2012-11-30 14:17:59

 

[DaveAS]

p.s. Picture distortion at the bottom is in frames where the game blanks the bottom inch or so of the display. I save some space by chucking away the bits you can't see. The original player also produced distortion in this area when seeking, which is why it's blanked.