A Totally Normal Atari 2600 Restoration & UAV Upgrade
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- Опубликовано: 5 авг 2024
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I refurbished 2 classic Atari 2600 games consoles and fitted them with s-video and composite mods (UAV - Ultimate Atari Video) for use at the North West Computer Museum in Manchester, UK.
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North West Computer Museum: www.nwcomputermuseum.org.uk
Ultimate Atari Video Mod: thebrewingacademy.com/collect...
North West Computer Museum Behind The Scenes Tour: • Behind The Scenes At A...
Naoki Atari 2600 Video: • UAV install into an At...
Atari 2600 Diagnostic Cart & Colour Calibration Instructions: forums.atariage.com/topic/270...
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Chapters:
00:00 Introduction To The Atari 2600 Console
01:36 Teardown & Exploration
02:48 Ultimate Atari Video (UAV) Composite / S-Video Mod Information & Kit Assembly
04:14 UAV Installation - Preparation, Component Removal & CD4050
06:10 Atari 2600 Repair - Reflowing The Power Socket
06:34 UAV Installation - Colour Wire, Power Supply & Composite Video
07:58 First Test & Diagnosing Some Issues
09:02 UAV Installation - Audio, S-Video & Final Wiring
09:50 Colour Calibration Using Atari Diagnostic Cart
10:41 Stripping & Cleaning Switches
11:24 Adding 3.5mm Audio / Composite Video & S-Video Ports
12:02 Repainting The 2600's Orange Bezel With Enamel Paint
12:53 Outro, Thanks, & More Information
Royalty-Free Music From Epidemic Sound: www.epidemicsound.com:
Intro: ELFL - Arcade Romance
Cornelio - Feriado
Forever Sunset - City Lights, City Dreams
Martin Klem - From Luna To Mars
Jules Gaia - Midnight Swing
Jules Gaia - Two Steps Back
Matt Large - And Then I Met You
Jobii - Meander
Outro: Yomoti - Before Chill 
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Great stuff Rees. I can vouch for the results of the UAV mod, thanks to your handy work on my Vader (which is now my most used Atari 2600). Great to see these legendary Atari's going back into use at the NWCM. I'll have to check that place out when I'm that far north again.
Sure, people hate hot glue. But I used to work on a medical device assembly line, and we used hot glue for exactly that same purpose on patient monitors, capnographs (CO2 monitors) and paramedic ventilators. It holds connectors together reliably and it peels off cleanly when you need to make a repair. I hate it too, but it's the right tool for the job.
There’s different kinds of hot glue. Industrial hot glue has a much higher melting point than craft hot glue.
Reliably? That's a laugh. There is nothing reliable about the connection of wires using hot glue... You do this on a medical device assembly line? What the fuck?
@@darrylkinslow5613
There are several commercial quality hot glue adhesive. They require a special hot glue gun since they melt at much higher temperatures than craft glue guns. They are all so much stronger than the cheap craft adhesives. Your probably used to.
Nobody asked you for your useless explanation. Medical equipment should not be put together with hot glue, at all.
@@darrylkinslow5613You know nothing, Darrly Kinslow 👩🏻🦰
Cracking episode Rees. And no need for forgiveness. I think the holes are justified in this case.
I know you're very much anti-hole, so that means a lot 😁
I love when you or Adrian Black show up out of nowhere! :)
Nice job! No judgment on the holes, but what I’ll typically do is solder the AV cable directly, zip tie to a screw post, and feed it out through the hole that the RF cable was previously fed through. Good of you to go all out with the UAV mod for the museum … I usually just use a basic cheap transistor amp! 😊
If you're worried about wire to board solder joints vibrating loose a small blob of electronics silicone on the solder joint solves that and can be removed later if necessary with a plastic scraper (also NEVER use common construction silicone on electronics it's corrosive to copper)
Whilst not ideal, I don’t see an issue with using the hot snot. It keeps things secure, and is relatively easy to remove if needed with isopropyl alcohol. Perfectly acceptable for this particular use case. I liked the chip solution. I have done similar for my own projects, especially handy when space is limited on one side of the board. It’s great that the museum will have a couple of these that will be reliable, with better than original picture quality, for new generations to enjoy. I have found that when repairing something that someone else has modded, it is particularly helpful if they have retained the original components, particularly in one case, where the mod board had failed and the original components were in a bag and were secured inside. Made it quick and easy to revert back.
It's perfectly fine to drill holes in the plastic cases of these consoles to add the new connectors. Also, these are not one of a kind item, and we're already adding new electronics in them by that point. On my book, it's all good! Hoping the museum visitors will be able to experience the glory of video games from the 70's!!
Nice! 🤩 I'd say that you can't have enough 2600 consoles, but that might be slightly exaggerated. There are only so many consoles one can play. Great that you donate two of these machines to the museum, sixers even, kudos!
I scored a Heavy-Sixer from a junkyard; it seemed to have been in the home of a heavy smoker before, and later half-buried in mud for decades, but after LOTS of deep cleaning of the case and board and replacing a bad RIOT chip, it works fine.
In spite of the RF modulator looking like a solid chunk of rust, it actually produced a great picture over RF (using a fresh coax cable, not the P.O.S. one from Atari which had been cut anyway) so I wanted to try preserving it by not removing those components from the board when I did the simple single-transistor composite mod.
The resulting picture was horrible with interference, completely unusable, so off those components went and then the picture was fine; so you really do need to remove those components, at least if you're doing the simple mod.
Not sure if you still need to with the UAV mod though; would have been interesting to have tried it without removing stuff first, to see how it looked.
Also, rather than drilling holes in a Heavy-Sixer case, I ran AV leads out the hole formerly used by the RF cable, and the cable wrapped around the internal posts for strain relief.
I think you did a great job fixing up these consoles! And I didn’t know that Atari originally planned on having the audio come through those speakers.
I wish this mod was available several years ago when I still had 6 various atari machines laying about. I ended up donating them to a friend who collects stuff like that and refurbishes it for various church groups. They all worked, to varying degrees just needed some love. I have recently rekindled my love of the old games, but not in their old format. Instead opting for retro gaming on an orange pi via retro arch. Which works really well, and I do not have to spend hours refurbing a nearly 50 year old machine. I also never really enjoyed blowing and cleaning, and futzing with the hardware to get a solid image...
I enjoyed watching you time lapse your work...that is attention to detail I would not have patience for...
It's always good to see some love for the old VCS.
There is a pub round here called the Brace of Pheasants :P
Sounds like the kind of place where I could get a nice ale 😁
The Northern Computer Museum is fantastic. I highly recommend it
Great video! That SMD warning made me shiver and parts of my anatomy that shouldn't pucker, puckered.
My first video game system, although mine was the Sears Tele-Video version. So many good memories!
Excellent video, I've never seen inside the 2600 before. Oh and I agree with the "nice" with the yellow paint
Nicely done, they look great!
This is awesome! Thank you! I didn't know about this mod. I actually have two PAL 6-switch systems that I've tried to composite mod (w/kits) but the result ended up worse than RF on BOTH systems, even after replacing a bunch of components and trying with multiple CRTs and power adapters. It even failed with a drop-in s-video mod and I never really did understand why even after asking in forums. Might give this mod a try, worst case I might narrow down the reason for my previous issues and I already have plenty of experience with removing and re-installing components in them =D
Lovely! I remember the days of playing Frogger and Pac Man on a 2600 when I was a kid. Great memories! Good idea about putting the connectors in the base, so that if an oops happens, it will be the cable getting jerked out of the plug versus ripped off the board.
hot glue certainly has its place, especially when it comes to modding old consoles
you solder a wire, and dab a bit of glue further down (NOT on the joint) in order to take the strain off of the delicate pads
Bravo Rees! I always enjoy your repair videos :)
Great to see vintage/retro consoles being updated/refurbished so they can actually be used using modern equipment - bonus that they're going to end up in a museum where the general public can get their hands on them! 😎
"There's only one way to eat a brace of coneys."
It's always surprising to see how small the boards are and how chunky the components are, especially after the way boards have looked for the past 20 or so years.
Kudos to the algorithm for sneaking this in. I love gaming repair channels!
Very professional on every level. Well done. In the end, my brain is too small for all this technical stuff, so I do appreciate the dry humor mixed in.
'ask me how I know' 😂
This video is truly captivating and soothing.
Thank you for the shout out! And excellent episode as per usual!
Fascinating! This makes me want to do a full reworking of mine! It's just chillin' in a bin somewhere. poor thing.
Very nice. It is Great that you fix and donate it to a museum !!
I physically feel the spring flying across the room. The pain. The struggle.
I live in NTSC land in Oklahoma City, I buy these things not working all the time, the fix is usually the big filter caps for the incoming power. So I just replace all of the electrolytics, and what I have done is to add the eBay, composite converter, and route the composite out through the original RCA cable. I won't buy a TV unless it has composite in, so I always make sure when purchasing that it's there. Even my 52 inch LG OLED curved screen TV has composite in, and Galaxian and Galga look awesome on that screen, as it does my original Atari Super Pong that has also been converted to composite out
Beautiful! I take you're familiar with Caig products, they're a variety of deoxidizers for old processors and computers such as this. Invaluable supplies for keeping tidy and working old 70s, 80s and 90s electronics
When you service mechanical switches like that, it's good practice to use Silicone grease (Dilectric grease) as they protect the copper contacts and buss bars from oxidation and because it's synthetic, the silicone never dries out or gets tacky which provides years of effortless smooth operation.. Don't forget to lube the detent balls (If they use them) as those are usually what hangs up those style of switches the worst.
Great stuff. Must try one of those uavs at some point
1:55 it’s actually a little bit more than just speakers. Each speaker was going to be for a specific player. That’s why the 2600 (NTSC models) can be modded for stereo audio. In fact, games like combat and video Olympics actually were programmed with this in mind.
Nope, left and right outputs. It had stereo sound... Had nothing to do with one speaker being for each player, the sound for player one would be on the left, and player 2 on the right due to the fact those are the sides those players would be sitting normally.
@@darrylkinslow5613 that’s… literally what I said.
@@DumbBunny5328 Lol, no it's not. You said "each speaker is for a specific player" which is not true, it has stereo sound. If each were for a specific player, it would be dual mono. Wow, read your own comment.
@@darrylkinslow5613 I think you misinterpreted what I meant.
@@DumbBunny5328 No, I didn't misinterpret. I read your comment.
i have famicom clone half of the pcb was missing, so i made a missing pcb part one sided , routed top layer with emanal wire and installed all ic's the right side up, but i fliped legs 180 degree so they are pointing up
it looks tragic, but works as oryginal, it even have hole drilled in the ppu, .... yes and i was the one who broke the pcb in half when i was 10 and drill the hole when the famiclone stoped working
fun part is it uses all oryginal ports exept av rca jacks and the reason why the console stoped working was also discovered while fixing it, simple solder wisker bridge
Rev B Coco boards often didn't clear the keyboard if you tried to do the piggyback technique to upgrade the 16k models to 32k. The "upside down under the board" trick was one of the many ways to get around that back in the '80's. Fun to see it again.
Part of why I used a Rev NC board in my coco 1 build. Just snip out one row of pull-downs, de-solder the RAM, solder in some sockets for 4164, move one jumper, job done; 64k Coco 1. Thanks to the NC board using a real connector with wires for the (coco 2 form factor) keyboard with a smaller bezel around it, you don't have the clearance problems the flat-cable models of Coco introduce.
Everything he said " ask me how I know" I couldn't help but laugh
Intentional or not, I love that you used the sarcastic "neat" where bender only pretends to press the camera button but is actually pressing the other side.
I wasn't aware there was a reasonably priced video output mod for these old 2600s. I have three out in my storage shed.. makes me want to dust them off and mod them up. I love collecting older consoles. I've got a couple of NES's, an N64, a Wii, a Wii U, Switch, Sega Dreamcast, PS1-PS5, Xbox 360 and Xbox One. I'm thinking about installing a component or HDMI mod on some of the older consoles too.
Nice Joystick :) I might need to buy one of UAV mods for my 2600, the board I fitted never worked that well and now I think it failed.
There were millions of those units made, so a few holes in a case or 2 won't hurt anything. It might be worth it to look at 3D printing a few lower shells and adding the holes for the public use models in the future.
for the soldering gluing use good flux, and some solder braid... ;)
I think my first time soldering something was the power jack on my 2600 clone. Also recall doing it for a couple other consoles, strange how often is seems to be a point of failure, even if consoles were always plugged on. Maybe the cable strain relief makes them a bit too stiff and heavy, and over time it builds up?
you used the technology connections thumbnail, clever
Pretty cool idea. You essentially turned a DIP chip into a surface-mount chip.
Vipe the black parts with some vinyl clean, it cleans the black plastic nicely, and does give some protection against fatty fingers, and easy the cleaning of then in the future, at least it does on my 2600 junior console, and joysticks. Just an idea.
Nice!
I didnt get a nes for tge longest time family just didnt have the money, games for the Atari were always poping up at lical DAVS and some if them were just grate in the early 90s Qbert,Joust,Jungle Hunt,Spider Fighter were just a few of the gems i had found..wish i still hsd them now.
Is there any way to also leave the RF output functioning as well? I was just wishing I could somehow share my Ataris with the public, but as much as I would like to try the S-video mod, I feel like the RF output is the authentic experience of this technology even if it's imperfect. Especially in a museum-like situation (but maybe I'm biased by being involved with a radio museum).
Great work Rees, looks really good.
Anyone know someone in the UK (RUclipsrs) that does re-balling?
I've got PowerVR Kyro2 that needs the reball, and an original Geforce 256 that works but has some weirdness on the VGA output, probably both make good videos.
Maybe you need to add a heat spreader if you're putting the top of a chip against the motherboard. Maybe it won't be a problem, but it's a possibility with a chip that was designed to have the top exposed to open air.
I think most boards are better for cooling than open air is
@@thewhitefalcon8539 Good point. Then let me change my story to "But what if it spreads heat to nearby components???"
I did an RF mod on a 7600 and what's cool on those is that it natively outputs the RF and just needs the jacks to hook up to.
(P.S. I drilled a hole in the side of the case there, too. Don't feel too bad.)
Mmh on my 2600 jr I let the rf modulator in the system without problems. I dont like removing function and I only reposition the rf port for a nintendo multi out port
Hey Rees you are the best!! Can you do some Amstrad stuff like PCW8512?? They are so interesting, the tiny little boot ROM said to be in the printer control chip, CP/M, Locoscript and games 😀😀
This video is how I discovered Atari made a modern Atari
Awesome. Where did you buy the power supply from?
I've still got a light sixer that i need to sort out. Maybe i should splash out on the UAV rather than some crappy thing I make myself.
I own 3 Atari 2600s and 3 5200 systems never had a problem one was even storedin a attic for 20+ years they are indistructable
I had a 4-port 5200 where the Player 1 port wouldn't recognize the Start button. The other controller ports worked with the Start button, but I only found 2 games that would start the game when Start was pressed on a controller other than Player 1.
Is there a way to add the RGB mod while keeping the RF modulator as an additional option?
On the hot glue parts, I'll allow it, reluctantly,
Thinking more about it though hot glue is probably the best cheap middle ground option for structural support for public use, it does help, and if it were to break with use it's not awful to remove and repair like a resin would,
Every tool has its legitimate uses, I guess,
2:44 on the bottom the 40 pin dip is your tia or co10444D, the smallest chip in the middle is the 6507 (6502 cost reduced) cpu, top chip is your 6532 ram, io for joystick and switches, and 128 bytes of total ram, the 4th Is usually a cd4050 for video mixing,
All of which can still be sourced, even new old stock exists, so just put some dip sockets, and google atari best electronics get original and remanufactured parts for everything from pong i.c to atari falcon parts
You can tell it's a pal unit because ntsc 2600 only use a single 3.579545mhz oscillator
Pal units need two, and still produce less color and run slower
As a newbie to your channel, I'm confused why the chip was soldered underneath ? Especially when there looked to be a socket in place on the other side to save you having to solder in the first place? Was it so you had extra room for the modifications?
2600jr was my first console 😊
I think it'd be cool to add back the unimplemented speakers on the console
Space in the bix was at a premium so to save space ICU where put in on the under side of the board this is why they look like there hand soldiered
I have like 3 of these, 2 are just for parts for my 6 switch.
11:00 They aren't just hard to find, they actually fall into the backrooms through the floor.
Forced SMD components, i like it!
I don't like the idea of drilling the case and I did not like using 4 pin jack as some tutorials suggerted so I found out USB type B fits perfectly in place of RF RCA and you get all the 4 needed pins :D Plenty of USB B cables are even shileded so all you need to do is just solder SCART plug to some old printer cable
Where can I get the UAV board?
Cool stuff :) I normally gunk switches with contact greese to help them stop corroding and getting gunk in them as easily :)
What brand is your desoldering tool?
Dont feel bad, i drilled holes in mine to add a pause mod... Its a heavy 6er
Did You Know, That If You Put An Amp On The RF Transmitter You Can Actually make Your Own TV CHANNEL ? Sort Of !
Meh...I've seen tons of old Ataris loaded to the gills with aftermarket mods. Back when I had one, it had been bodged to provide a direct RF output and had two aftermarket controllers(which was nice since the fire buttons were also on the stick), but it was my one console that almost never required blowing in the cartridge to get it going so there's that.
Just one question. How do you know?
I know nothing
What does it mean to know? How do you truly know you know? Does anyone know?
42
How do you know?
50 year old tec is still in use... in Voyager 1&2.
I wonder how it would look like if Baumgartner restored consoles instead of paintings 🤔
In American terms, it would be "a brace of pistols" :)
Has anyone ever discover
The location of
The ET cartridge dump
In the desert
HotGlue + IPA = no more HotGlue! so.... HotGlue Is Grate!
Mines just sitting in a box on my floor and it's in like brand new condition
If it's for a museum, wouldn't the original RF output be more appropriate?
Could you not bend the legs backwards? Instead of soldering it freehanded?
I have a back brace of pheasants, what of it?
I have not soldered yet but I do have a solder station brand spanking new and I've already watched enough soldering to realize it's easier than the stuff I did in college for welding class that was a royal pain in my ass and I still did not pass 90% of the students fail😂
ASK ME HOW I KNOW Joke Two Times In One Video?? YOU ARE A DAD !
Destruyo unas piezas de museo
Hoy existen muchos adaptadores de señal, por lo que no hace falta tal destrucción
I think hot glue gets a bad rap from hack modders using it to cover up their terrible soldering work. It makes sense to use it for structural integrity. of physical components like ports. Still it probably won't hold against jon q public the 200 lbs gorilla reefing on the thing. You probably needed something more aggressive with how hard it sticks to the case and connectors and rigid like epoxy.
Yeah, I can’t see hot melt being durable in this application. I also immediately thought that epoxy would be better. Or, ya know, panel-mount jacks that screw on…
Wouldn't it be better just to use emulation and just keep one console there for show? You can get replica USB 2600 joysticks which will work on emulation and still give the authentic game playing experience. Not only will that preserve the original consoles, but also keep them original by not having to modify them.
I have welded upside down as a welder on Steel this is just having the chip upside down You're Not underneath the board welding
I don't understand why it needed to be comp-modded in the first place. RF modulators aren't a particular reliability hazard, i've actually never seen one go wrong, and TVs do accept RF signal, that's what they're made for.
I think people are in general a little too obsessed with modding classic gear of all kinds to delete perceived flaws. Like if the system had blurry chroma and dot crawl, jailbars, etc, just leave it like that, it's part of the character. Some people grind capacitor replacements where no failure is predicted within 10-20 years, often completely unncessary as well. "I did some cleaning and reflowed one joint and she's alright" doesn't quite cut it for RUclips in this day and age?
Installing chips in dead bug orientation fairly common, especially in bodge jobs.
i have the best atari 2600 ever made worth as much as i say
Do you have any problems with modern solders being lead-free, or do you still use old stock when working on older boards?
You can still buy brand-new leaded solder, it’s still made. (Aerospace and military still use it almost exclusively.) And with old devices like this, you have to use leaded, because PCBs from that era can’t handle the higher temperatures of lead-free. (Heck, they barely handle the temperature of leaded. 1980s and earlier PCBs sucked!!)
In the video, there’s a shot where his solder is visible, and it’s a 63/37 leaded.
heads up i think ur auto exposure is still on, its changing during the parts of the video with face cam and its a little distracting
just wanna say, i love this video !
And why can't we just fix for fun?
1977 is not 50 years ago. Stop trying to make me feel old. I got an Atari 2600 for Christmas, probably when I was around 18. The earliest I remember seeing them for sale in the stores was the mid 80's. And there is no need for me to ask how you know, I've done exactly the same thing so many times. The only way to find those tiny springs, screws and occasional ball bearing that some slider switches have is to use a vacuum cleaner with a clean bag and a strong magnet. And I have nightmares about tightly packed SMD's. My old soniq 3D TV sat in a cupboard for two years until I could try to fix it. The Atari 2600 and 2800 are much easier to fix. I still miss the old valve TV's and radios, test equipment was rarely needed. You could see what wasn't working 99% of the time and they had lifetimes measured in decades.