Gladiator
This weekend Don & I picked up two arcade games that a co-worker of Marie’s wanted to get rid of. One was an Arch Rivals basketball game (converted Taito cab) and the other was a US Classic golf game (converted Super Pac-Man cab). Neither of them was working. One of Don’s favorite arcade games is Gladiator, which he played quite a bit back in the day at Studio 28. I managed to pickup a working Gladiator board on eBay about a year ago for him. I told Don I would convert the Arch Rivals to Gladiator and give it to him for all the times he has helped me move my games around (especially when we spent half a day moving my entire collection from my old house to my new house).
Tonight I finished the conversion. Luckily the Arch Rivals conversion was JAMMA and had most of the wiring I needed. I had to pull out the 49 way optical joysticks and put in 8 way sticks, along with player 1 & 2 start buttons. I also had to run wiring from the harness for the joysticks and button 3 for both players. I also pulled out the monitor and installed a cap kit in it. It’s got a pretty nice picture except for the fact that I can’t make the vertical size any smaller so some of the picture is off the screen. The horizontal width coil is missing the core so I can’t adjust that. It doesn’t affect gameplay so I’m not going to worry about it. Don will be thrilled.
Marie’s been off from work for a week now. She’s got another week off and then she starts her new job the following Thursday. Training for a couple of days and then they officially open the following Monday. The cool thing is family and friends get to come in and eat free food during the training. It’s a 50’s themed restaurant, complete with a jukebox. Can’t wait to check it out.
I really need to take some vacation days. I’m burnt out. I’m hoping to take a few days off in early November. Get some of these projects at home finished up and relax a little.
What band from the 80s are you?
I did something I never do - I took one of those multiple choice web questionaire’s. If you know me, you’ll find the outcome was quite appropriate:
You rule. in 15 years, you won’t be as known as you
are now, but most of the people that will know
you then will like you (or else I’ll beat them
with a stick). You’re nice to listen to.
What band from the 80s are you?
brought to you by Quizilla
tourettesguy.com
It’s so wrong but so damn funny:
http://www.tourettesguy.com/mm.wmv
I sometimes wish people would do crazy stuff like that to me. I love being freaked out. Very rarely does it happen. Watching horror & explotation movies since I was little has made me immune. My wife on the other hard is the easiest person in the world to scare. It’s so hard not to scare her as she makes it so easy!
Duran Duran - Astronaut
Sunday night I put my spare Asteroids Deluxe on eBay with a Buy It Now of $450 and it sold before the day was over. woot! The guy is coming from IL to pickup the game on Saturday. That will free up a little more room in my garage - getting me closer to being able to park my Jeep in it. I’m still not having much luck getting the invader hit and explosion sounds working in Space Invaders. Starting working on restoring the Asteroids I picked up at the Kzoo warehouse. The panel is almost sanded and ready for the new overlay. I tested the monitor and amazingly enough it works great. I’ll probably install a cap kit as I’m sure those 20+ year old capacitors are getting weak.
This week has been nothing but annoying problems at work. Everything from java not working in IE, windows security updates causing repeated blue screens and a switch that is giving me major performance issues. I was able to fix everything so far except this damn switch. Looks like I’ll have to pay Cisco for some of their expertise. Speaking of expertise, I really need to get my certification. I should start with the easy stuff like A+, Network + and work up to CCNA and MCSE. The big factor is the $$ it cost for the training. I guess I could always just buy the training books for the A+ and Network + certification but I really think I would benefit from classroom training for CCNA & MCSE.
I see that the new Duran Duran album just came out. Sampled some of the tracks and I dig it. I’ll have to get the album. They are one band I’m mad I never saw live back in the day. If they tour for this album, I’ll have to make a point to get a ticket.
The Pixies show is fast approaching. Can’t wait. I just know it’s going to be the best show of ‘04 for me. I saw that Ministry & Thrill Kill Kult are playing at the Orbit Room the day before Thanksgiving. Might be interesting to check that out as I haven’t been to Orbit Room since the Kill Hannah show.
Arcade repair woes
I’ve been spending alot of time the past week trying to get a couple of my arcade games that are in the garage up and running and ready for sale. I fixed the boardset in my second Asteroids Deluxe (bad 7905) and installed a repair kit on the AR board as it was putting out almost +7vdc. Unfortunately the repair kit didn’t fix it which meant the LM305 was bad. I got that in the mail today and it fixed the +5vdc. Last thing I need to do for that cab is replace the black light (it flickers even after putting in a new starter) and it’s ready to put on ebay.
I replaced the LM3900’s on two different sets of Space Invader sound boards and still don’t have a 100% working board. I even replaced the CD4016 on one of them hoping it would do the trick but no such luck. There’s only two or three other chips that could be bad but I’ll have to order these as I’m sure my local electronics shop won’t have them. I did order two of Alex Yeckley’s SI multigame which allow you to play SI & SI Deluxe on the same board. I installed it on my one working boardset and it works great. Now if I could just get the sounds all fixed up I could sell this Space Invaders cab.
Received the Asteroids board from Kirby that I needed for the cab I’m currently restoring. It’s missing four of the 2114 RAM chips and I’m sure there will be more than that wrong with it. Fortunately I pulled the monitor from the Asteroids cab and hooked it up to my Battlezone and it works great with a nice picture! I ordered a new control panel overlay as the panel is all rusted and will need to be completely sanded. I will also need to install a repair kit on the AR board and make a new back door.
I spent some time repairing the power supply in my Kickman cabaret. Got that working good but out of the two boardsets I have, neither of them works 100%. One boardset allows me to actually play the game but with no sound and erratic trackball movement. I’ll have to send these out for repair as MCR boardsets, especially Kickman due to all three boards being soldered together, are a pain in the ass to work on.
Friday is finally here at last. I’m really looking forward to hanging out with friends tonight, throwing back a few drinks and dancing my ass off at Club North while DJ Zombi spins the tunes.