Re: [stella] Strange Atari item found

Subject: Re: [stella] Strange Atari item found
From: Mark De Smet <de-smet@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
Date: Tue, 4 Dec 2001 20:28:00 -0600 (CST)
> "games and chips." I took chips to mean PCBs without their cases. What
> I got was just the chips without the boards and a strange "player" for
> them. Someone took an Atari board, removed the chip and soldered a
> "TexTool" to it where the chip used to be. This mod makes it possible
> to swap any of the chips and play whatever game with just this one
> board! For those of you who don't know what a TexTool is it's kind of

The socket you refer to is generically called a ZIF socket(zero insertion
force).  They are used when chips are commonly replaced to prevent bent
pins, and when there are too many pins to socket normally.

What this person did is technically quite easy, but quite odd that anyone
would do it.  The biggest question would be why.

I'm making the assumption that there are no chips in this cart.  Further
that the chips you are given do not have a glass window on the top(perhaps
under a sticker).  If there is a window, see Dan's post.  If not, it means
they unsoldered the chips from production carts.  I mean why go to all
that work, destroying so many carts to put them in chip form?

I guess you have shrunk the volume of a game collection, but you've added
to the nusiance.  I find that pulling an replacing a cart is much easier
than a chip, even with a ZIF socket.

Mark

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