I had an original Aquarius that I bought when they first came out. I went back to Montgomery Wards (remember them?) where I had bought it to get some accessories two months later, and they had stopped carrying the Aquarius. That was it. Done. :) Nonetheless, I had a lot of fun with it. Utopia was my favorite game, and I didn't really bother playing anything else. Something happened to it while I was working in a PCB assembly shop and the engineer there fixed it, and asked the ladies who did the hand soldering at the shop to pull all of the chips and socket them for me. They were a fantastic bunch! I happened to run into another engineer in Colorado Springs, and he offered to build me a 16k RAM expansion board for $75. I still have that board, it's a hand-built wire wrapped board that really looks nice. And it still works (as of the early 2000's). Definitely one of a kind. :) I had to replace the computer itself as it was stolen by the movers when we moved to Tennessee. I've replaced the regulator in my Aquarius for one of the EZSBC units, as well as removing the TV modulator and replacing it with the DIY Composite board made by the same guy who made the Aquarius+ (Sean). Small world! And I have done business with Sean before, he's a great guy and he makes great stuff! :) Nice to see the Aquarius getting some love.
My parents couldn't afford a computer and I wanted one so badly. I was around 10 or 11 years old. Found the Mattel Aquarius at the thrift store in the toy section. It was complete! Asked my mom to get it and she did. I had a few hours of fun but then we had a house fire and it was damaged. Later on at 14, I got a C64 from my teacher who saw I was interested in it. Got into programming which I still do today (I'm a game dev!). Later upgraded to bigger and better machines. I've forgotten all about the Aquarius until coming across the Aquarius Plus. That jogged that memory for me! This is cool that something like it exists.
Using needle nose pliers to insert and remove jumpers can break them! I know, I've done it in the past! LOL Just use your fingers, they are not hard to insert or remove 🙂
i found a Aquarius computer in a thrift shop back in the 90's. i think i payed $10 for it. i saw outer Aquarius computer brand new in the box. but they were asking $50 for it. but i didn't have the money at the time.
I’m assuming the small chips between the FPGA and the Z80/RAM are level shifters. FPGAs don’t like the 5V that old parts run at, they tend to top out at 3.3V.
That was my first computer :) Had two games, Tron and Night Stalker. The controller was terribad. Upgraded to a Spectrum then Amstrad CPC. Still think the Aquarius looks cool.
nice video. Interesting machine this one. I wonder how much it would cost to make one by pcbway with the maker files? Do you happen to know? How does it compare to the x16 in its capabilities?
I haven't priced that out yet, but the size of the PCB and the BOM looks like somewhere in the $200-$300 range for a single unit, but you would definitely save a lot by ordering multiple
As for the X16, it isn't nearly as capable as far as gaming goes. The graphics and sound are much more limited. But the addition of built-in WiFi gives it a big edge with connectivity out of the box. For the X16, it will require some sort of expansion card or an IEC dongle like FujiNet to accomplish that.
You need an USB keyboard which is still able to speak PS/2 protocal, I guess, to get the keyboard working. At least so it works with my ZXUNO+, also FPGA based.
I'm in the UK and I've owned a couple of them over the years, bought very cheaply in the 90s from car boot sales. One of them was complete with a range of cartridges like LOGO and different RAM expansions, plus a 4-colour pen plotter, all mint in original boxes. I sold them all on eBay eventually, as they fell into that void where I have no nostalgia for them, and there's nothing compelling about them that would make me want to use them.
@@Zeem4 I have seen similar where somebody has bought a not so popular system and maxed it out. They probably didn't know what they were buying at the time. Not a system I have any curiosity about to be honest.
Yes. With the ESP32 as the "boot brain" and the fact that the Spartan 6 is an "empty jungle gym", you could write whatever you wanted... an Atari VCS / 2600 would be possible, as the two DB9 ports are already there, and you could create an expansion port adapter that takes original carts OR run the ROMs from SD.
Kinda of a neat system back in the day. Rather cool update to it too. I had never used that system, was more of a commodore and Apple kid. Worth looking into myself!
I love retro and vintage computing, but I'm afraid the nostalgia for the Aquarius is lost on me. We had one in 1984 for about 5 minutes and it was a cheap, poorly conceived and terrible machine even then. The only game we had was a Lode Runner clone, just flickery, jerky character graphics. The only good thing was the matching cassette recorder that came with it: when we eventually got a Spectrum, that tape dec would load stuff that other tape decks wouldn't!
Seems cool! Although if the documentation is so lacking despite a full unit existing, that you can't say much in Reviews. Man, it's just another 'one of these'....
"1983, inauspicious year for USA videogaming." The rest of the world was Speccying, MSXing, Amstradding, C64ing along and wondered why the heck the USA, those folks filled with "FREEDOM" would allow such tight control over the hardware they bought, with Nintendo releasing such a stranglehold on developers. :D
I had an original Aquarius that I bought when they first came out. I went back to Montgomery Wards (remember them?) where I had bought it to get some accessories two months later, and they had stopped carrying the Aquarius. That was it. Done. :)
Nonetheless, I had a lot of fun with it. Utopia was my favorite game, and I didn't really bother playing anything else.
Something happened to it while I was working in a PCB assembly shop and the engineer there fixed it, and asked the ladies who did the hand soldering at the shop to pull all of the chips and socket them for me. They were a fantastic bunch!
I happened to run into another engineer in Colorado Springs, and he offered to build me a 16k RAM expansion board for $75. I still have that board, it's a hand-built wire wrapped board that really looks nice. And it still works (as of the early 2000's). Definitely one of a kind. :)
I had to replace the computer itself as it was stolen by the movers when we moved to Tennessee. I've replaced the regulator in my Aquarius for one of the EZSBC units, as well as removing the TV modulator and replacing it with the DIY Composite board made by the same guy who made the Aquarius+ (Sean). Small world!
And I have done business with Sean before, he's a great guy and he makes great stuff! :)
Nice to see the Aquarius getting some love.
My parents couldn't afford a computer and I wanted one so badly. I was around 10 or 11 years old. Found the Mattel Aquarius at the thrift store in the toy section. It was complete! Asked my mom to get it and she did. I had a few hours of fun but then we had a house fire and it was damaged. Later on at 14, I got a C64 from my teacher who saw I was interested in it. Got into programming which I still do today (I'm a game dev!). Later upgraded to bigger and better machines. I've forgotten all about the Aquarius until coming across the Aquarius Plus. That jogged that memory for me! This is cool that something like it exists.
Using needle nose pliers to insert and remove jumpers can break them! I know, I've done it in the past! LOL Just use your fingers, they are not hard to insert or remove 🙂
Great video! Thanks for spending time with our little orphan computer!
"Unlike others" made me laugh
i found a Aquarius computer in a thrift shop back in the 90's. i think i payed $10 for it. i saw outer Aquarius computer brand new in the box. but they were asking $50 for it. but i didn't have the money at the time.
I’m assuming the small chips between the FPGA and the Z80/RAM are level shifters. FPGAs don’t like the 5V that old parts run at, they tend to top out at 3.3V.
That's correct
That was my first computer :) Had two games, Tron and Night Stalker. The controller was terribad. Upgraded to a Spectrum then Amstrad CPC. Still think the Aquarius looks cool.
nice video. Interesting machine this one. I wonder how much it would cost to make one by pcbway with the maker files? Do you happen to know? How does it compare to the x16 in its capabilities?
I haven't priced that out yet, but the size of the PCB and the BOM looks like somewhere in the $200-$300 range for a single unit, but you would definitely save a lot by ordering multiple
As for the X16, it isn't nearly as capable as far as gaming goes. The graphics and sound are much more limited. But the addition of built-in WiFi gives it a big edge with connectivity out of the box. For the X16, it will require some sort of expansion card or an IEC dongle like FujiNet to accomplish that.
You need an USB keyboard which is still able to speak PS/2 protocal, I guess, to get the keyboard working. At least so it works with my ZXUNO+, also FPGA based.
This was a minor also ran here in the UK.
I'm in the UK and I've owned a couple of them over the years, bought very cheaply in the 90s from car boot sales. One of them was complete with a range of cartridges like LOGO and different RAM expansions, plus a 4-colour pen plotter, all mint in original boxes. I sold them all on eBay eventually, as they fell into that void where I have no nostalgia for them, and there's nothing compelling about them that would make me want to use them.
@@Zeem4 I have seen similar where somebody has bought a not so popular system and maxed it out. They probably didn't know what they were buying at the time. Not a system I have any curiosity about to be honest.
hmm, with some reprogramming of the FPGA, this could morph into an MSX computer - then would be a sizeable catalog of software titles to run
That would be a cool project!
Yes. With the ESP32 as the "boot brain" and the fact that the Spartan 6 is an "empty jungle gym", you could write whatever you wanted... an Atari VCS / 2600 would be possible, as the two DB9 ports are already there, and you could create an expansion port adapter that takes original carts OR run the ROMs from SD.
Very cool video. Thanks!
Thanks, TJ!
"it's not a game system until someone makes Tetris for it" - how about a minimal version of Doom? Been done for 8-bit before? 😅
It's been done for the VIC-20, and this is a lot more capable!
Kinda of a neat system back in the day. Rather cool update to it too. I had never used that system, was more of a commodore and Apple kid. Worth looking into myself!
Now you need to test how it plays Bad Apple demo.
You need an AquaPad to complete the setup..
I remember the original Aquarius from the abyssal depths of my mind
I love retro and vintage computing, but I'm afraid the nostalgia for the Aquarius is lost on me. We had one in 1984 for about 5 minutes and it was a cheap, poorly conceived and terrible machine even then. The only game we had was a Lode Runner clone, just flickery, jerky character graphics. The only good thing was the matching cassette recorder that came with it: when we eventually got a Spectrum, that tape dec would load stuff that other tape decks wouldn't!
Seems cool! Although if the documentation is so lacking despite a full unit existing, that you can't say much in Reviews. Man, it's just another 'one of these'....
"1983, inauspicious year for USA videogaming." The rest of the world was Speccying, MSXing, Amstradding, C64ing along and wondered why the heck the USA, those folks filled with "FREEDOM" would allow such tight control over the hardware they bought, with Nintendo releasing such a stranglehold on developers. :D
Do you use a blunt potato knife on purpose so you can talk more, or is that just coincidental? 😂
The original intellivision SUCKED but so did Atari