Fairchild Channel F protos

[extrarice]

Over the weekend I picked up a Fairchild Channel F system and 25 or so games. When I got home I started looking at the cartridges and noticed that one had an interesting label: "Not FCC Approved. For Demo Purposes Only. Not For sale." I decided to open up that cartridge to take a look, and found what I assume to be a prototype of Numbers Up. I haven't powerd up the system yet so I don't know if it still works. Click on the thumbnails to see a larger picture (or go straight to the directory here







Some of the other cartridges did not look like production Channel F boards, so I'm not sure exactly what these are. I have two or three other carts that look like this:







I contacted the seller and he told me:

"We are the original owners. My dad was part of a team of engineers that developed the game when he worked at Fairchild. That is how we got the game with those particular cartridges. Hope you get it up and running."

[Konata]

Wow.  You lucked out man! Don't sell those, that's a GOOD piece of history right there!

[extrarice]

Yeah, those protos are like two years older than me. 

[RedWolf]

Yeah, those protos are like two years older than me. 

That's awesome, extrarice.  Congratulations!  Want to write a short article about it (your story and your protos) for VC&G?

[extrarice]

Yeah, those protos are like two years older than me. 

That's awesome, extrarice.  Congratulations!  Want to write a short article about it (your story and your protos) for VC&G?

Thanks I'll try and get something written this weekend (it'll probably be a little short, since there's not much info to tell). I'll also see if I can get the system working and get some screenshots to go with it.

[RedWolf]

Yeah, those protos are like two years older than me. 

That's awesome, extrarice.  Congratulations!  Want to write a short article about it (your story and your protos) for VC&G?

Thanks I'll try and get something written this weekend (it'll probably be a little short, since there's not much info to tell). I'll also see if I can get the system working and get some screenshots to go with it.

That would be cool.  Let me know when you're done.

[extrarice]

That would be cool.  Let me know when you're done.

Almost done with a little write-up. Unfortunately, no screenshots to accompany the article - the power supply makes a horrendous noise when plugged in, so I didn't want to risk electrocution or damaging the console or carts. 

[Konata]

That would be cool.  Let me know when you're done.

Almost done with a little write-up. Unfortunately, no screenshots to accompany the article - the power supply makes a horrendous noise when plugged in, so I didn't want to risk electrocution or damaging the console or carts. 

Is it more of a weeeeEEEEEOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOORRRRRRRSH or a BEEEEEEEEOOOOOOOOOOVVVVT?

[extrarice]

Almost done with a little write-up. Unfortunately, no screenshots to accompany the article - the power supply makes a horrendous noise when plugged in, so I didn't want to risk electrocution or damaging the console or carts. 

Is it more of a weeeeEEEEEOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOORRRRRRRSH or a BEEEEEEEEOOOOOOOOOOVVVVT?

It's more of a sound of electricity arcing over a break in a wire, and the brick felt like it was vibrating.  Unfortunately, the power brick is hard-wired to the console, so I can't just swap it out easily for something similarly power rated.

[RedWolf]

Almost done with a little write-up. Unfortunately, no screenshots to accompany the article - the power supply makes a horrendous noise when plugged in, so I didn't want to risk electrocution or damaging the console or carts. 

Is it more of a weeeeEEEEEOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOORRRRRRRSH or a BEEEEEEEEOOOOOOOOOOVVVVT?

It's more of a sound of electricity arcing over a break in a wire, and the brick felt like it was vibrating.  Unfortunately, the power brick is hard-wired to the console, so I can't just swap it out easily for something similarly power rated.

That sounds really bad.  You should probably fix it.

[extrarice]

It's more of a sound of electricity arcing over a break in a wire, and the brick felt like it was vibrating.  Unfortunately, the power brick is hard-wired to the console, so I can't just swap it out easily for something similarly power rated.

That sounds really bad.  You should probably fix it.

When I get some spare cash I'll see if like Radio Shack or a local electronics repair guy can swap out the power supply for another one.

[extrarice]

The re-write is ready, RW. I PMed you with the download link.