T-Squared
Veteran Member
I have fallen in love with this VR helmet, and I hope that I am able to produce schematics of a cost-reduced hobby version of it. (i.e. through-hole components instead of more-complex SMD components) Some components are not even made anymore, or have been succeeded by smaller and more efficient components, which I hope can be used here. Much of the connection components are proprietary, and in that case, I could probably use connections which are not proprietary (for example, the connector which allows the "CyberPuck", a game-interaction peripheral, to connect to the helmet, uses a connector similar to a 4-pin RJ-11 or RJ-45 connector, but could use an actual telephone or Ethernet connector as a replacement.)
I am one of the rare people who collects stuff like this, and I just could not find it in my heart to keep it all to myself, because VR and retrocomputing is now bigger than ever, and I think it would be ill-advised to allow this system to pass into complete obscurity. I am in the middle of repairing mine (Which has actually gone well despite the amateurish mistakes I have made. All I need to do now is replace one of the video generator chips, as I blew out the blue color channel on it by accidentally reversing a capacitor on the helmet board.)
So far, this is what I have collected as far as components go:
https://www.dropbox.com/s/i70har6tzvmamb7/VFX 1 COMPONENT LIST.docx?dl=0 (THIS WILL CHANGE AS I FIGURE OUT AND ADD MORE OF THE COMPONENTS.)
Much of these components are not in demand, and so are cheaper to buy. Furthermore, there are several components that can be replaced with other brands' ICs.
While I have nearly found all of the IC components, I have unfortunately not been able to find any information on a pair of the same components on the VIP ISA board:
a SOP-chip marked "ƆCLink CL62064F-70 9412 E", with 28 pins.
The head-mounted LCDs are probably not going to require an addition to the list, because I believe the video is only channeled through the displays as an analogue video signal (like an old camcorder's viewfinder does, since the video is controlled by the aformentioned video generator, a RAMDAC.), so one could provide their own driver board and properly-sized LCD displays.
Schematics (which I hope I can put together properly) will follow soon.
I understand that there might be intellectual property rights being infringed, but Forte Technologies, Inc, the original manufacturer, folded a LONG time ago, and much of the technology in this project is obsolete. (If anything, one can make a clone of an Adlib sound card in this day and age.)
I am one of the rare people who collects stuff like this, and I just could not find it in my heart to keep it all to myself, because VR and retrocomputing is now bigger than ever, and I think it would be ill-advised to allow this system to pass into complete obscurity. I am in the middle of repairing mine (Which has actually gone well despite the amateurish mistakes I have made. All I need to do now is replace one of the video generator chips, as I blew out the blue color channel on it by accidentally reversing a capacitor on the helmet board.)
So far, this is what I have collected as far as components go:
https://www.dropbox.com/s/i70har6tzvmamb7/VFX 1 COMPONENT LIST.docx?dl=0 (THIS WILL CHANGE AS I FIGURE OUT AND ADD MORE OF THE COMPONENTS.)
Much of these components are not in demand, and so are cheaper to buy. Furthermore, there are several components that can be replaced with other brands' ICs.
While I have nearly found all of the IC components, I have unfortunately not been able to find any information on a pair of the same components on the VIP ISA board:
a SOP-chip marked "ƆCLink CL62064F-70 9412 E", with 28 pins.
The head-mounted LCDs are probably not going to require an addition to the list, because I believe the video is only channeled through the displays as an analogue video signal (like an old camcorder's viewfinder does, since the video is controlled by the aformentioned video generator, a RAMDAC.), so one could provide their own driver board and properly-sized LCD displays.
Schematics (which I hope I can put together properly) will follow soon.
I understand that there might be intellectual property rights being infringed, but Forte Technologies, Inc, the original manufacturer, folded a LONG time ago, and much of the technology in this project is obsolete. (If anything, one can make a clone of an Adlib sound card in this day and age.)
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