Vectrex, another 6809 machine

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Rolo
Posts: 228
Joined: Sun Feb 10, 2013 7:36 pm

Vectrex, another 6809 machine

Post by Rolo »

Hi, did you notice? On November 1st, there was the official "International Play Your Vectrex Day". Check it out on "http://vectrex.wikia.com/wiki/Internati ... ectrex_Day"!
It's also a MC68A09 machine (a little bit faster and quite different). So I thought I'd "meet" somebody of you there. I was there, just a little bit, but still... :oops:
Any Vectrex people here, or only pure "Dragons"? Pssst, sorry, didn't want to offend somebody :lol:
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snarkhunter
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Location: France

Re: Vectrex, another 6809 machine

Post by snarkhunter »

Hello,

I do remember the Vectrex game console, but never actually had one. It was famous for providing super smooth vector graphics that were reported very similar to some arcade machines. The "wire frame" kind of graphics for its games made it quite a curiosity then.

I think the high price (both console and games) and the lack of colour was a serious drawback, although I remember some kind of plastic filter one could lay over the display, thus getting pseudo-colours.

I did not remember it had been such a short-lived machine (from 1982 to 1984 only)...
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Rolo
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Re: Vectrex, another 6809 machine

Post by Rolo »

The lack of color was somehow system inherent. I read somewhere, the hole story started with GCS acquiring 120.000 (if I remember that number correctly; else any other big number:)) of black and white TV-tubes for cheap money. After that they started deliberating, what they could do with those :D . So, even the start of that project is simply marvelous!
All the games came with so called "overlays" - coloured plastic slides which you put in front of the screen. Having your own "TV-set" for playing games was revolutionary those days. Most families had only one TV-set and that stood in the living room. Parents would dictate what was watched. Access was limited. Children had not much to say.
The machine is unique, even if the screen starts pumping with every new object that is displayed. The frame rate is not constant. Great turning and resizing effects!
Also sound cabling is not ideal: A lot of high voltage deviation noise is coupled into the sound circuit. I changed to a shielded cable and to another way through the housing. Far better now!
There still is a vivid home-brew scene and also some good emulators. Just goooogle...
I hope next year, we will be more at the "International Play Your Vectrex Day".
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Rolo
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Re: Vectrex, another 6809 machine

Post by Rolo »

Banner_VectrexDay-468_60.jpg
Banner_VectrexDay-468_60.jpg (14 KiB) Viewed 8555 times
Did anybody join this year?
I forgot :(
jedie
Posts: 655
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Re: Vectrex, another 6809 machine

Post by jedie »

Oh, Vectrex... Nice machine... I started to implement it in my Emulator project, but it's more work than i expected :oops:
... too many ideas and too little time ... Related stuff written in Python:
Dragon 32 emulator / PyDC - Python Dragon 32 converter: https://github.com/jedie/DragonPy
DWLOAD server / Dragon-Lib and other stuff: https://github.com/6809
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Rolo
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Re: Vectrex, another 6809 machine

Post by Rolo »

And again:
International Play Your Vectrex Day 2015
International Play Your Vectrex Day 2015
IntVecDay.jpg (9.97 KiB) Viewed 8194 times
Have a look at: http://vectrex.wikia.com/wiki/Internati ... ectrex_Day
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famicomic
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Re: Vectrex, another 6809 machine

Post by famicomic »

November 1st has passed, but I post.

I have Japanese Vectrex "Kosokusen".
6809 was used Fujitsu PC as FM-7/77/8/11 in Japan.
but I didn't have these, so I already have NEC PC-6001mk2 (Z80).
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Rolo
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Re: Vectrex, another 6809 machine

Post by Rolo »

And again: November 01 2016
BannerVectrexDay.jpg
BannerVectrexDay.jpg (21.84 KiB) Viewed 7856 times
http://vectrex.wikia.com/wiki/Internati ... ectrex_Day
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