So... I have a Quantum board

luxmatic

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Picked up a Gravitar at a yard sale 20 years ago and, when I got it home, found it had a Major Havoc and Quantum board inside - $50!!!

I'd love to play it! Only saw one once out in the wild at the Santa Cruz Beach Boardwalk back in the day.

What would it take to temporarily convert my Tempest to allow Quantum play? Not looking for a full blown conversion - just a cp swap and whatever else is needed.
 
Picked up a Gravitar at a yard sale 20 years ago and, when I got it home, found it had a Major Havoc and Quantum board inside - $50!!!

I'd love to play it! Only saw one once out in the wild at the Santa Cruz Beach Boardwalk back in the day.

What would it take to temporarily convert my Tempest to allow Quantum play? Not looking for a full blown conversion - just a cp swap and whatever else is needed.

You need to compare the diagrams and pinouts, to see if the 2 are compatible

Then build an adapter if they are compat
 
If you're wanting to do a control panel swap to play the game and want a project, and since the boardset is the heart and $ piece of the game, it might be worthwhile for you to:

-get on the list for a Quantum repro metal control panel
-get or wait on an overlay
-trackball you'd have to buy anyway
-find a Gravitar or Space Duel cabinet to set up as a dedicated Quantum unit
-if you don't want to convert a harness, Dokert here on KLOV is taking orders for the Quantum control panel harness now and plans to do the main harness later
 
If you're wanting to do a control panel swap to play the game and want a project, and since the boardset is the heart and $ piece of the game, it might be worthwhile for you to:

-get on the list for a Quantum repro metal control panel
-get or wait on an overlay
-trackball you'd have to buy anyway
-find a Gravitar or Space Duel cabinet to set up as a dedicated Quantum unit
-if you don't want to convert a harness, Dokert here on KLOV is taking orders for the Quantum control panel harness now and plans to do the main harness later

Perfect, thanks. I thought that Quantum was vertical like Tempest? I'm a bit confused. I also have a Gravitar.
 
Picked up a Gravitar at a yard sale 20 years ago and, when I got it home, found it had a Major Havoc and Quantum board inside - $50!!!

When I looked for my old posting to rgvac, it turns out it was 16 years ago and I paid $30. As the years go on, details get pretty muddy.
 
Perfect, thanks. I thought that Quantum was vertical like Tempest? I'm a bit confused. I also have a Gravitar.

Quantum is vertical like Tempest, you are correct (lucky) sir.

You could try hacking up an old Tempest panel to accept a trackball, however I think you would end up bashing your fingers repeatedly on the tempered glass when trying to play the game.

Atari made a recess in the front of the Quantum control panel, effectively making it deeper, allowing more room for fingers. The Trackball is also placed as far back on the panel as the housing will allow. Lots of motion going on with Quantum, more so than with, say Centipede.

I have modified a Gravitar cab to play Quantum with one of Takeman's repro control panels. It is not a simple bolt on affair. There is woodwork involved both on the control panel area and in hanging the monitor vertically. It also is a pretty tight fit in that orientation, they flyback focus knob is very close to the back of the cab.

This is what it looks like when you bolt a Quantum CP up to a Gravitar cab. As you can see, there is work to be done :)

Picture%252520002.jpg
 
Wow..

I've been around for a wee bit too long.. I remembered your story, then when you posted the groups link it all came back to me :)

Man, 1995.. I started collecting about a year after that..
 
Saw the Quantum at California Extreme this weekend - I see what you mean. I don't think I've ever seen another game with an inset control panel quite like that. Now that I've seen it, I'm less sure I want to take apart either my Gravitar or Tempest to accommodate this game.

The more I think about it, the more I think that the Tempest cab would be a better home if there was a way of getting a CP working there.

One thing - my Gravitar does have a track ball. Previous owner clearly had plans to play Quantum.

Quantum is vertical like Tempest, you are correct (lucky) sir.

You could try hacking up an old Tempest panel to accept a trackball, however I think you would end up bashing your fingers repeatedly on the tempered glass when trying to play the game.

Atari made a recess in the front of the Quantum control panel, effectively making it deeper, allowing more room for fingers. The Trackball is also placed as far back on the panel as the housing will allow. Lots of motion going on with Quantum, more so than with, say Centipede.

I have modified a Gravitar cab to play Quantum with one of Takeman's repro control panels. It is not a simple bolt on affair. There is woodwork involved both on the control panel area and in hanging the monitor vertically. It also is a pretty tight fit in that orientation, they flyback focus knob is very close to the back of the cab.

This is what it looks like when you bolt a Quantum CP up to a Gravitar cab. As you can see, there is work to be done :)

Picture%252520002.jpg
 
I've been around for a wee bit too long.. I remembered your story, then when you posted the groups link it all came back to me :)

Man, 1995.. I started collecting about a year after that..

Yes sir. Been a very long time. I do believe that mrbill2084 came by not to long after that post and had a look at what I picked up. He gave me some hints, and me and a friend worked on getting the monitor back up and running.
 
Well hell,
I'd give you 200 for the Quantum board, untested, if you give up on it. That's like 600 percent profit. It sounds like it would be a great money pit to build one from scratch. And didn't Dokert just about have the repro harnesses ready to sell. I think dptwiz has the cab reproed. Should use the same PS & Power Brick as Star Wars, Space Duel, Tempest....Just a few plugs to test it out. Of course, it would probably worth more on ebay. But after Tronic gets his repro blank pcbs made, and Vector Labs finishes their redesigned FPGA board, the value of the originals may be down quite a bit. ;)
 
I have a friend with a Quantum cabinet. He might be willing to sell it. On the other hand, he might be willing to buy the board if it becomes available. The cab has been converted. LMK if you are interested.
 
What would it take to temporarily convert my Tempest to allow Quantum play? Not looking for a full blown conversion - just a cp swap and whatever else is needed.

I used "Mark Spaeth's adapter" for the PCB and threw a Millipede control panel on my Tempest. I had to create a short adapter for the control panel wiring harness but it was playable.
 
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