Got my Tollian Web Board Working!

Robotronguy

Well-known member

Donor 2013
Joined
Aug 11, 2008
Messages
2,169
Reaction score
74
Location
Tooele, Utah
Ive had this Tollian Web board for years,never really had a way to test it until now.So yesturday i started making an adapter harness that would plug into my black widow game with the amp monitor in it.

Plugged the board in the game tonight and nothing.Changed the AVG chip with a known working one and still nothing.Changed the 2 cpu chips and still nothing.

So i got another major havoc board i had that worked but had vector issues and started comparing boards.I found that my dedicated board was missing the smaller 9.00mhz crystal on it.I took the crystal off my working board and soldered it on the dedicated board.Plugged it in and turned it on and it worked!!!

So now i finally have a tested working Tollian Web Board!!

Here are some pics.
 

Attachments

  • IMAG1363.jpg
    IMAG1363.jpg
    100.4 KB · Views: 176
  • IMAG1366.jpg
    IMAG1366.jpg
    101.9 KB · Views: 180
  • IMAG1367.jpg
    IMAG1367.jpg
    105.5 KB · Views: 164
  • IMAG1372.jpg
    IMAG1372.jpg
    90.8 KB · Views: 264
  • IMAG1376.jpg
    IMAG1376.jpg
    99.3 KB · Views: 169
The Major Havoc PCB I used to have also had "Tollian Web" silkscreened on it. Does that make a difference in the game itself or is it just some relatively obscure production factoid.
 
The Major Havoc PCB I used to have also had "Tollian Web" silkscreened on it. Does that make a difference in the game itself or is it just some relatively obscure production factoid.

There must be some performance difference as they use different rated crystals. From what I've read you can't just plop a conversion board into a dedicated machine to test it, but I could be wrong.
 
Mine was a Space Duel cabinet and it used a spinner, not a roller. Maybe that is the difference. A different frequency crystal would seem to indicate that the rest of the hardware is quite a bit different as well. Not sure why that is. I sure miss my MH. Never should have sold that one.
 
We've been talking about the differences at length over on this thread:

http://forums.arcade-museum.com/showthread.php?t=262927

Basic answer thus far is this:
Mj. Havoc was designed to be used with the Amplifone monitor. It was available as dedicated and conversions. The conversion pcbs use slower crystals and add jumper wires to slow the board down so the WG6100 will look better since a WG6100 is a slower drawing monitor. Also, the Tempest and Space Duel conversion boards have pincushion circuitry and correct the pinouts to match the cabinet. I think a diode is added somewhere to make the optic board on the spinner output faster, but don't quote me. Anyways, you can read all about it at the link above. and I have found it a very interesting post....even if I did start it.

And congratulations Robotron guy. You give me hope on getting my MH pcb going. I think you can find those crystals at either Bob Roberts or mouser FWIW. Thanks for posting.
 
Last edited:
We've been talking about the differences at length over on this thread:

http://forums.arcade-museum.com/showthread.php?t=262927

Basic answer thus far is this:
Mj. Havoc was designed to be used with the Amplifone monitor. It was available dedicated and conversions. The conversion pcbs use slower crystals and add jumper wires to slow the board down so the WG6100 will look better since a WG6100 is a slower drawing monitor. Also, the Tempest and Space Duel conversion boards have pincushion circuitry and correct the pinouts to match the cabinet. I think a diode is added somewhere to make the optic board on the spinner output faster, but don't quote me. Anyways, you can read all about it at the link above. and I have found it a very interesting post....even if I did start it.

And congratulations Robotron guy. You give me hope on getting my MH pcb going. I think you can find those crystals at either Bob Roberts or mouser FWIW. Thanks for posting.

Thanks for the kind words Black Matrix,If you need any high rez pics of my boards,PM me and i can email ya some.

I have a local electronics store that has those Crystals,ill make it there this week to pick up a few different types.Here is a pic of the crystal i put on it.
 

Attachments

  • IMAG1365.jpg
    IMAG1365.jpg
    103.2 KB · Views: 82
The Major Havoc PCB I used to have also had "Tollian Web" silkscreened on it. Does that make a difference in the game itself or is it just some relatively obscure production factoid.

Tollian Web is the dedicated MH PCB.Too bad ya sold it.That one is a lot more sought after than the conversion one,although they are both very wanted either way. :)
 
Back in the mid 1990's my first Major Havoc board was a Tollian Web board that I got off of Rick Schieve. I used it with a Tempest adapter and played it in a Tempest cabaret until I got a spare Space Duel cabinet to move it to. I don't recall there being any playability issues using the TW PCB in a Tempest or Space Duel (both had a WG 6100 in them).
 
What are the chances that we'll see a repro of the MH bare PCB, like Quantum? I know nothing, just wondering. Seems the demand, like Quantum, would be there.
 
MH/Tollian Web boards sell for ~$400. A bare board would set you back $175 + parts. Those parts include a Quad Pokey, an AVG, DAC's and two 6502 CPUs. All parts would probably set you back $200-$250. Then you have to build the board (10-20 hours of your time). These are just not rare enough that you would need to build one from scratch. They are out there, and they are regularly available for sale on eBay.

This game also changes hands regularly in the conversion format. You can easily find a complete working conversion for $600-800. Phoenix arcade has most of the artwork available for the Tempest conversion and he has the overlays for the MH/SD conversion and he has all the graphics for the dedicated Cabinet.

I just don't see the demand being there for a run of reproduction boards. It doesn't make economic sense if you can buy complete boards for less than a repro.
 
Ill take one right now if it were reproed....would love to have my hands on one.Anyone else?
 
Back
Top Bottom