Testing Atari Pokey Chips without Cab/PCB

Purity

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Has anyone worked out any methods for testing Atari Pokey chips without using a cab or PCB in the back of a cab?

I've been working on a method to test Atari Pokey chips on an Atari 7800

Here's where I am upto so far......I'm just trying to figure a way out how to test the input pins at the moment

Would be interesting to hear if anyone else has done any similar work on this

 
I've been interested in this topic (though haven't done anything practical about it). With Pokeys getting scarce, I assume someone is (or will be) working on some kind of repro, in which case a test system would be useful.

I always manage to get by testing them in boards, but it would be nice to understand more about exactly how they fail, as there are definitely different failure modes, some of which will trip error flags in the self-tests, while other types of failures don't.

Subscribed.
 
I use a centipede PCB with a ZIF socket for the POKEY on my test bench, it actually does not test all the functionality but it's better than nothing.

a guy that I work with and I were talking last week and he was actually interested in trying to RE and produce a functional plug and play replacement for the POKEY
not sure if he'll do it or not, I told him he should start a kickstarter or gofund me campaign to pay for this time and some equipment. I'd certainly kick in $100 or so bucks if he were able to make a repro.

-brian
 
I'm not very versed on Pokeys and the like, but I did hear that certain copies of Ballblazer for the Atari 7800 had the pokey on the board. I believe it was the red label versions that had it. Could totally be rumor, but that's what I heard. I do have a red label Ballblazer cart BTW.
 
I've been interested in this topic (though haven't done anything practical about it). With Pokeys getting scarce, I assume someone is (or will be) working on some kind of repro, in which case a test system would be useful.

Pokeys are still cheaper than the smallest FPGA that'll fit a Pokey.
 
Pokeys are still cheaper than the smallest FPGA that'll fit a Pokey.



Yeah, I figured there was a good reason, something along those lines.

Like everything else, it will be a matter of the cost of original parts rising past the cost of repros, to trigger something being done. But I'll take 'doable and expensive' over 'not doable at all'.

I really wish I had time to become more well-versed in this area, but can the Pokeys be fully implemented in FPGA? I'm really not familiar with the full range of capabilities that are available in today's FPGAs (nor have I really dug into the specifics of Pokey internals).
 
Yeah, I figured there was a good reason, something along those lines.

Like everything else, it will be a matter of the cost of original parts rising past the cost of repros, to trigger something being done. But I'll take 'doable and expensive' over 'not doable at all'.

I really wish I had time to become more well-versed in this area, but can the Pokeys be fully implemented in FPGA? I'm really not familiar with the full range of capabilities that are available in today's FPGAs (nor have I really dug into the specifics of Pokey internals).

Not completely, but most of it can... what can't can be implemented with discretes on the carrier board.
 
Atari 7800 + Ball Blazer car with ZIF socket? Wouldnt be the most thorough of tests, but probably catch most problems.
 
Atari 7800 + Ball Blazer car with ZIF socket? Wouldnt be the most thorough of tests, but probably catch most problems.

I have discussed this with other collectors.

I believe that if you test the 4 audio channels, the random number register, and the inputs on pins 8-15, you've covered most problems you will experience with a Pokey on an arcade PCB, and that's what I'm trying to achieve. I believe that's a fairly comprehensive test
 
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