2600

The Atari 2600 (also known as the Atari VCS) is a home video game console by Atari, Inc. Released on September 11, 1977. One of the most successful consoles of the second generation era, the 2600 enjoys an extensive software catalogue and is a historically significant system, often credited with popularising the use of microprocessor-based hardware and interchangeable ROM cartridges.

Models

Various models of the 2600 exist though all are relatively similar in terms of performance. None of the stock hardware revisions can output any signal other than radio frequency (RF). Modern television sets are often not able to tune into the 2600's signal at all, making using the stock hardware difficult without an authentic CRT television.

To get around this limitation, several modifications have been developed. The Atari 2600VEC Purevideo module is widely regarded as the best composite video modification, while RGB video, composite and/or S-Video can be added using Tim Worthington's 2600 RGB kit

RGB mod region free

Tim's RGB modification for the 2600 effectively makes the console into a region free machine. Normally, when playing out of region games on a 2600 the image is in black and white. Tim's mod corrects this and also allows for the colour palettes to be adjusted to match their native region.

Please note however, Tim's RGB mod cannot change or correct the systems base clock, which is optimised for its native region. That means the refresh rates are off-spec when using out of region software. Refer to the table below to see the refresh rates you can expect.

Refresh Rates

On	PAL Console	NTSC Console
PAL Game	50.00hz	50.31hz
NTSC Game	59.59hz	60.14hz

Models tested

• PAL Woody 4-switcher with Tim's RGB kit
• NTSC 6-switcher with Tim's RGB kit

XRGB-3 Specific settings

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XRGB-Mini Specific settings

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OSSC Specific settings

As the OSSC requires a RGB or Component video input, you will need to fit your 2600 console with Tim Worthington's RGB mod in order to use it with the OSSC.

For stable sync, Sync opt->H=PLL pre and post coast should be set to 3.

External Links

[1] AtariAge.com Atari news and community
[2] Atari 2600 on Wikipedia