Most liked posts in thread: Bally Arcade (Montgomery-Ward edition) full restore

Home improvements by day, masked modder by night...I'll be connecting electricity to my trailer today, just bought $150 worth of cable. Tonight continuing 7800 video mod...next on the agenda.

Thanks Paul, I'll try not to burn out, but I only have about a month to six weeks left before my business post-pones major personal projects until next winter again, so I'm in over drive trying to get as much done as I can. It'd be nice if next winter I can spend time on gaming and robot construction instead of repairs, restorations and upgrades. Hopefully I can get everything up and running this winter.

But until a couple years ago I didn't have most of my stuff, it was all in storage for nearly a decade and I've got a decade worth of repairs and restorations to catch up on now that I'm no longer living out of a suit case with possessions in storage. It's been since 2012 since I've been "unpacked" the way I am now...

 

Great to hear that this wonderful grand daddy of the retro console world is just about 100% there now, Matt.

A wonderful tribute to the old gal - an excellent gold-standard renovation job (again).

 

Well, I've been busy over at groups.io with the Bally Astrocade group with upgrading my Bally to full computer status, as I had mentioned before. I have a keyboard on the way for a keyboard project, adding a real keyboard to the Bally which currently has a 24-key calculator style keypad. But I have already obtained some new items for my Bally Astrocade that make it a real 32K computer, but just with only a keypad atm.

I have already started modifying the Bally for a keyboard and when I get the keyboard (an old-school, old-stock 54-key Jameco keyboard) I'll just connect the proper wires to a plug and plug it into the Bally! I'll have to make a case for the keyboard of course, most likely black with wood grain and gold trim like the Bally Arcade.

These include an item called The Lil' White Ram, which is sram, so there are switches on it referring to 2K and 6K, nothing to do with amount of ram for any given thing, but normal and alternate memory starting addresses so that data in extended memory is saved even if you plug in a different cartridge and hit the reset button. This basically plugs into the Bally's main Buss via a 50-pin edge connector, not unlike the Atari PBI, in this case, separate from the game cartridge port unlike the TRS-80's dual-purpose buss. It also plugs into the Bally Arcade's light pen port (yep, it has one! in addition to the four controller ports just like the 400/800) to receive it's power, apparently either there is no Power going to the 50-pin edge connector, or it is a different voltage than the +5V the memory upgrade needs. (The Bally also uses -5V, 10V, 12V)

Another item is the Machine Language Manager cartridge that goes with the manual I paid and showed in another thread.

And last, the Ulti-Multi cartridge with basically the entire Bally library on it. The I also got the Bally Basic manual and keypad overlay to go with the Bally Basic cartridge I already had. I might have already covered some of this stuff in other threads on here, but I thought it should all also be added to the Bally thread topic I started too.

 

I just found and purchased a vintage Sears cassette recorder that matches the motif of the Bally Arcade. It will need to be cleaned, repaired and restored, and I'll redo or add gold chrome trim to match the Bally's gold trim and wood grain and black colors. I think this cassette player might be brown plastic where there isn't wood grain, but it could be black, it's hard to tell until I see it in my hands. But if it is brown, I can paint it black in the solid brown areas to match the Bally anyway.

Now this is SERIOUS 70's styling with the Bally Arcade and this recorder, and wait until you see the keyboard I'm making for it!

 

I just noticed that this cassette recorder does no have a tape counter on it! I guess I'll have to steal one from another recorder and rig it to work in this one! Or I'll be limited to one program per side.

 

Your hard work never ends, Matt. Wonderful restoration work going on and improvisation seems to be your watchword at times. I mean this old beat up Sears tape cassette recorder beast, if it could talk, could tell some tales but not in a million years would it ever expect another shot of TLC from its owner. Amazing, mate.
This project deserves to be hailed as the Bally Arcade recovery of the year in terms of the attention to detail you've gone to.
Talking about beat up old beasts, no not me, Paul, hows about this brute I've found in the garage during today's spring clean...





WTF!?

Now if that thing could talk.

I would happily send it to anyone if I thought it would be of any use but seeing as though it weighs 2-3kilos, the postage would immediately rule this out but what a home-build retro brute this has been in its day.

What on earth would you fancy "marrying" this up to which would similarly reflect the equivalent aura and matching aesthetic?

As ever, answers on a postcard to the usual address and this behemoth makes your Sears look positively sleek and sexy, Matt.

GrrrRRz!

 

It looks to me like an old DIY kit one would order, assemble and install in your own case, most likely being made of metal or wood for the era. Nice find!

I wonder just how old the mechanism is since I think store bought recorders were relatively cheap for the consumer by the 70's if not sooner, probably 60's too. Maybe it was still a rich man's device in the 60's though.

I do have an 8-tack player (no recording), which I think I showed before with my JVC stereo system. It has a wooden case but I do think it was store bought.

It may be from late 60's or early 70's, could it be from earlier? It is made in Japan.It needs to be restored too, all the veneer on it's top has peeled off and it's missing a track light cover, I don't know if I have it or not. It does work still, though, last time I checked, been a few years now though. I have it with all my audio/video equipment in my entertainment center, but I haven't connected it up yet. My 8 tracks are still in storage somewhere if I have any left that weren't already lost.

 

I just noticed the serial number is 755...I wonder if this thing is worth something...I'm guessing the 755th made or maybe the fifth month of 1975 or the 7th month of 1955...what do you guys think? A Columbia Records product.

 

I just found one on ebay, about the same condition as mine but with the top veneer still intact for less than $20 and $20 shipping. So I might as well keep it.

 

As far as "marrying" your garage [made] recorder (apparently literally) @Andy Barr , Maybe an old ZX80 or ZX81 with a keyboard upgrade in a DIY wooden case?

 

Lovely pic of your 8track - you've got some incredible retro audio as well as micro gear tucked away there in Oklahoma, Matt.

I think you may have pushed me down this aisle for the "wedding" of the year, Matt...

 

@Andy Barr If I had seen that ZX81 up for auction I would have bought it for $30 right away too. Shipping might have been steep if he got it from England of course, but unless it was more than $100 I would have gotten it. $100 total with shipping would have been acceptable.

Not even because I couldn't do as good or better making my own case, but for the keyboard and a job already well done. Knowing myself though, especially with the prep work of varnish and probably a clear coat already done, I would paint it and that cassette recorder of yours (after some surface prep work) gloss black and make a Sinclair ZX81 label or badge to apply on the face above the keyboard.

Just because wood or even wood grain never really appealed to me in conjunction with electronics. I accept the Bally Arcade for having it and I will continue with that motif, but there were also all black and even all white Bally Arcade/Astrocade models released. So I could have totally customized mine to another model (white is cool of course) but this was a restoration not a custom mod, since the wood grain paint was still in good condition and black and brown plastics don't show yellowing as much if at all like lighter color plastics.

If the one in the video were mine, I would definitely be arguing with myself to leave it a varnished wood or paint it though, it does look damn good for wood. I'd rather have it than the Timex/Sinclair 1500 in the silver/grey Spectrum case with a chicklet keyboard. But if I married it with your recorder, both would need to be painted given the different color woods used for it's case/

 

Matt, I think you are gonna need a bigger house...You keep buying all these items..

Just wait until you meet the woman of your dreams and she wants rid of it all...














Pin pulled, get behind the wall and wait for fallout

 

The woman of my dreams, at this point in my life, will remain the women of my dreams unless she litrally falls from the sky into my lap. Unfortunately the woman in my family and those my two brothers married, along with tiring of the dating game I had been playing for 20 years completely soured me on ever finding a partner by my mid 40's. I'm a bachelor set in his ways and I know a relationship would never work out, just on my part alone, regardless of how well said partner might deal with me.

I was never ready for a family until it was too late either. If only our lifespans were to 100 average or more, and not half of it in degrading old age, but more or less young until at least 75, then I might be ready to start a family at my age. I've devoted my free time to my personal gifts and talents and intend to use it all toward my electronics/computers hobby, writing and art, all of which will overlap to some degree as well. It's time for me to start on my bucket list and enjoy life as a bachelor of solitude.

Don't worry, I sowed my wild oats for twenty years, I didn't miss out on sex or a chance at relationships, but I never met a woman that didn't want to change me into who they want me to be, so it just never happened for me. It just wasn't in the cards for me. Time went by too fast. An it wasn't until the last few years that I had my own land and home and everything paid for and in a position to enjoy the things I want to do. I'll probably work until I drop dead, but it doesn't even have to be full-time, even if the business becomes full-time I have a partner and can higher help. So I'll enjoy the simple hermit life as a tinkerer, adventurer and writer, artist, like Bilbo Baggins. Or a combination of him and Sam anyway...being my own gardener.

As to space for everything, you are right, if I hadn't acquired my office trailer. But now with my electronics workbench and 3D printer and 800CX system all moved to the trailer, it gave me plenty of room on one side of my 1200XL for the TRS-80 Coco 2(what ever computer chance had allowed) and the Bally Arcade one the other side, which was going to be reserved for another micro like the C64 or Coleco Adam, but since I've found out the Bally was designed to be turned into a full-fledged computer, and always supporting the under-dog, I've decided it will be the third micro too.

The Bally also doesn't have enough peripherals to take up much room. The console, the tape deck and a keyboard that will be about the same size as a 600XL is all it will ever have. A 32K Z80 computer that does have three custom chips like some other 8-bit micros had (2 or 3 anyway beyond the CPU). And, I'm not being in the least redundant in my choices either, with all being one of the top competing 8-bit CPU's of the era; the Z80, 6502 and 6809. Three unique CPU's all connected to unique custom processors that I can learn to program as part of my bucket list.

If I start acquiring more than I have now, like a C64 which is at the top of the list now, I will be in trouble for room, but maybe I'll have all my work benches installed in the office trailer by then too.

All my consoles, besides the Bally, still fit on or on top of my audio/video entertainment center, and if I get another console at all, it will only be a Sega Saturn and I can make room for it too.

This is of course assuming no future home expansions or shop expansions.

 

Ha ha, I knew your viewpoint on finding a woman, so was just being a tad of a dickhead

You grab whatever goodies you can, while you can..As long as you enjoy what you do, then it's the best thing for you.

Just rejigged my console stand so I can plug everything in and actually easily use it. Managed to lose my Xbox RGB scart lead in all this, one on the way. When I didn't want it, it was the first lead I found in every spot going, now I want it, gone.. Pseuds law.

 

That is the way it goes. My brother likes to joke that it is always in the last place you look, but seriously I always come across stuff I was looking for last week or last month while looking for something currently, which I don't find. I have started taking advantage and not just leaving the stuff where I found it, but getting it more organized in drawers and bins with labels.

Yeah, I some times forget I've practically shared my entire life history with you guys, at least in some areas. And that I would refer to myself as a "confirmed bachelor" except for the Victorian society connotations as to leave wiggle room for doubt when referring to a homosexual man, who would definitely have risked imprisonment at the time! And I am definitely heterosexual and not in denial. And would be happily open about it with you lot, if I was gay.

 

I have a new blog started on Atari Age upgrading the Bally Arcade into a full-fledged computer, this is not the restoration blog.

https://atariage.com/forums/blogs/e...er-upgrades-to-the-bally-professional-arcade/

new stuff, not mentioned here in it as well.

 

I have added more to the blog in various areas, mostly at the end where I added the tape recorder restoration part. Link above.

 

I added a short video to the blog showing the now working recorder in action. I now have the blog separated into sections, part 1, 2, etc. the video is near the bottom in the recorder repair and refurbish part

https://atariage.com/forums/blogs/e...er-upgrades-to-the-bally-professional-arcade/

 

Just a few pictures of my Bally professional Arcade in it's evolution into a computer. I have a custom mechanical 24-key keyboard I ordered and made a case for it with simulated walnut like the monitor, cassette recorder and Bally itself, and I also have a real walnut wood case and am awaiting the arrival of a custom keyboard (shown simulated in pictures) to go with it. I am wiring up my own keyboard/keypad matrix's to work with the Bally and it's keypad interface. All will be added to the blog eventually.

The keypad has so many labels because it covers the layouts for the Machine Language Manager (labeled in white text with black background and red labels with black text), Bally Basic numeric keypad (labeled in green, got compliment full keyboard) and the built-in calculator keypad layout identical to the original keypad on the Bally (white labels with black text)

It was $85 for that custom real walnut keyboard case! Less custom keyboard (about the same price) so went with faux/simulated walnut on the recorder, TV/monitor and keypad case. It will all be added, with details to the blog on AA eventually (linked in a post above).

 

Lovely to hear from you, Matt. Great work there on all the Bally Pro brilliance - you've done the old gal proud. What a set-up which just oozes 70s retro juices. I sincerely hope your mum's comfortable and you are all managing to keep things going, keep spirits up and work keeps you occupied and the dollars coming in etc. I'm just over a bad bout of Covid and a/w my heart pacemaker op date but other than that, we've all got to be grateful for our semblances of health, the fact we've got loving families and great friends around us, a roof over our heads/food on us plates - and no desperate dictator smashing the shit out of our communities/homes. Keep safe, peeps and keep smiling through these challenging times.

 

Apologies in advance if these ads have been posted up already but I just "stumbled upon" them and thought of you, Matt. They're not very large/detailed images but they might be useful to print out/enlarge and display alongside this beauty and it's rejuvenated peripherals?

 

Hello @Andy Barr ! I read your post above, liked it and saved the images you posted, but I didn't have the time for a proper reply.

I want to thank you for those ad images. Two of them, if not all three I haven't seen before. I'm not sure about the first one. But I am most excited about the Montgomery Ward Christmas catalog ad, which is of course my branded model; The Montgomery Ward Bally Arcade. Released similarly to what Sears did with the Atari VCS in their store version Sears Video Arcade and the cartridge games labeled under the Sears Tele-games brand.

Anyway, that's not the part that got me so excited. The Bally pictured in the ad is an unreleased model with unique colouring to any other Bally, including my released version of the M-W Bally Arcade. Though the red reset button and red Bally cassette cart release mechanism were seen in other revisions or models of the Bally Arcade/Astrocade, the eject button was always black with gold lettering on every model but the one shown in that Christmas catalog ad, which appears to be grey.

But the most drastic difference is the Bally's face plate. With a tan coloured outer trim and wood grain panel surrounding the keypad and cartridge port, never seen in a released model. I find that a shame, as I think it's arguably the best looking version I've seen, including the all-white Bally Library Computer editions.

With all the wood grain matching peripherals and TV I've assembled to match the Bally I have already, I just might custom paint it and give it the wood grain panel to match! Sort of a homage to what could have been, like my white Atari 800CX system to the vaporware design of the IBM 'Atari' PC.

Thanks again!

 

Now that I've thanked Andy and covered the images he posted, it's time for a pictorial update of my Bally.

The parts for my custom keyboard, to go with the real walnut wood keyboard case have started trickling in. All from different vendors as I searched for exactly what I wanted from several.

Yesterday the metal keyboard chassis arrived. It'll make a nice rigid backing to hold the keys. Though once the wiring harness matrix is installed I will be reinforcing it with some more stand-offs. Normally there wood be another backing to the metal chassis to better support the keys, but I'll need room to run my rat's nest of wiring. As you can see, it's a perfect fit and the screw stand-offs all match up properly to the spots made for them on the metal chassis.



Today I received the red and black custom key caps, with translucent lettering for LED back lighting, which I don't know if I'll do or not. I can see the text in real life well enough even if it doesn't show in pictures very well. And my keypad is opaque and so I couldn't do a proper back lighting on it to match.

I set up the key caps how they will be when the keys are installed. I'm still waiting for the Cherry keys to arrive, and the support parts for the larger keys and the space bar. Each coming from different vendors as well.

 

Mate,
I am so so impressed with the way this Bally baby gets better and better and better.
You're attention to detail, care and skills have transformed this grand old machine back from virtual obscurity to complete love, appreciation and putting her top of the pile in terms of making her look GREATER THAN EVER!
So glad to hear that some of those ads have ticked the box too and given you fresh impetus with ideas and finishing schemes etc.
It's amazing what you stumble upon online and before you started this thread, Matt, I'd never even heard of this amazing little wonder.
Long may you enjoy this hobby of ours and do the great things you do that brighten all our days and make us want to carry on enthusing about retro-computing and seeing what we can get up to next to improve something or another we've got kicking around in a dusty corner somewhere in need of a little TLC etc...
Cheers, Matt.
Keep the superb project images and updates coming - they are much appreciated on the forum.