There are different kinds of hoarding problems.
Some people just can´t stop buying random stuff, other just can´t throw away things they already have.
I'm thankfully very frugal, so I'm not accumulating too many tech items..or at least I only buy them when they are a very good deal.
But I have a hard time saying no to something that is virtually free.
By pure chance I came across a vintage games console in a pile of trash.
Not a typical find and not a typical 80s/90/s console of Japanese origin; but a Philips Videopac G7000, the european version of the Magnavox Odyssey 2 made in 1978.
Needless to say I immediately snagged it up.
The console was wrapped in a bundle of cables, which turned out to be the hardwired joysticks and power adapter.
The power adapter is the only thing not hardwired to the console and is notorious for being hard to replace as it uses a very weird proprietary tiny connector.
The whole system was very dirty so a cleanup with IPA was on order.
Before taking it apart I plugged in the power brick and set up a random old TV to see if it would boot. In some pictures online I saw that the device should (in theory) put at least garbage data on the screen when no cartridge is present. Some units even seem to have a built in game.
But nothing showed up.
Putting my new Keysight Oscilloscope to work I poked the antenna connector, but no video signal was found.
I verified voltages by poking around the bare board inside (the case is mostly empty, and accounts for the giant keyboard array on the front used for math and writing „games“).
The internal power supply is just made up of two lm7805 + Caps and the output reads 4,85 Volts.
So, in theory, this is above the 4.5V voltage limit for the 74 series logic on the board.
So at least for now I can conclude that it is not a simple power issue.
Unfortunately, poking around the board further reveals no tangible signals. It is like the unit is stuck in reset or maybe the clock is not generating.
I found the manual for the device online and my heart jumped for joy as it came with full (a bit cryptic) schematics!
These schematics show that the Cartridge slot is just a port to plug in a rom/ramcart that is simply parallel addressed. So If I would get this device working again I could make my own ramcart for it. Given that I would find suitable parts and learn to program for this ancient system.
People have done it before, but my search only led me to corrupt gerbers and defunct websites, so I guess I'll be starting from scratch.
Now here is the big set of questions for YOU:
Should I try to repair the G7000, is it worth the hassle? (Some ICs seem rather hard to find.)
Is it a sacrilege to use parts of it for a new project, or a justified way to save parts from the e-waste pile?
Do you have project ideas that could Involve this device in one way or another?
While I await your ideas, I will just add the G7000 to my hoard alongside a PAL Intellivision in similar condition. And maybe do mental training to get my hoarding problem somewhat under control.
