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I did the exact same thing and felt the same way. It was a good looking system.Jeff-20 wrote:I have always regretted turning down a boxed model 2 Channel F in the late 90s. I was an idiot. I've never come across one again. Sigh.
Music I've made with 1980s electronics, synths and other retro-instruments: http://theovoids.bandcamp.com (check the picture to the right when using this link, it's the japanese Channel F)With so many "Pong" clones on the market at this time, the Fairchild Channel F was a breath of fresh air. The Channel F was the first programmable cartridge based video game console. It was developed by Fairchild Semiconductors and released in 1976. With only 26 games, the console's success was very short.
FACT: Not only did Fairchild Semiconductors produce the first cart based system, they were the first to use a microprocessor for use in a videogame console. Also two of their employees became co-founders of a company called "Intel"...thank your lucky Pentium. The Channel F was was also the first videogame console to utilize a pause function, via the "Hold" button on the console that would freeze the game (or even speed it up).
http://www.cchaven.com/FAIRCHF.HTMLIt should be noted that some will argue that the original Magnavox Odyssey was the first programmable video game system, but this is not the case. The 'cartridges' used by the Odyssey simply rewired the machine in different ways and weren't truly programmable. Later games tended to just use the same cartridges as each other, relying on outside items such as game pieces and such.
I did too! I recently bought a Video Command controller. It looks like the channel f controller but it lacks some of the functionality. The top neither twists (which would have been lovely for paddle games) nor does it push up and down as I understand the channel f does (like two different fire buttons).ral-clan wrote: Small consolation is that I did pick up clones of those innovative joystick controllers that are VIC-20 compatible.
Correct. Channel F controllers was way ahead of their time in design and you could both push, pull and turn the firebutton. The only weakness was that they could have been a bit more robust.Jeff-20 wrote:nor does it push up and down as I understand the channel f does
Video Soft (incorporated on May 7, 1982, as Video-Soft, Inc. was a company in Santa Clara, California, United States, founded and headed by Jerry Lawson, who was previously the chief engineer behind the Fairchild Channel F system. It made games for Parker Brothers, Mattel, CBS, and Amiga.
http://www.gamesthatwerent.com/2011/01/six-vcs-games/Six previously unreleased Atari VCS/2600 games that were developed by Jerry Lawsons company, Video Soft, are at last being released! The games were mentioned in press releases from the early 1980s and were long thought to have been just one of the many vaporware titles that never materialized. Not only do they exist in prototype form, but all were far enough along in development to be playable, with half of them considered to be complete!
Thanks to Jerry Lawson and the efforts of a few, dedicated Atari fans, the prototypes were archived, new artwork was created, and cartridges were produced. Each includes both a box and manual, and production is limited to 100 numbered copies of each title. Only 100 of each will ever be produced. This is the single-largest cache of unreleased Atari VCS/2600 prototypes to ever be released at one time!
