Atari Cat Box Arcade testin.pdf

Atari Cat Box Arcade testing system

http://devkits.handheldmuseum.com/Atari-CatBox/index.htm

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Atari Cat Box arcade board tester

Cat = Computer Assisted Troubleshooter

This cool little gadget is called the Atari Cat Box. It's a testing system that Atari sold to arcade

vendors back in the 80's to test their arcade games. If you have an Atari arcade game from the early

80's, you've probably noticed an extra edge-connector on the motherboard- This is one of the items

made to use that connector. It can basically communicate with the system board and report back

where problems are occuring. (It's not just that simple really, you have to connect the wire probes to

various points on the board and read the little display for information, etc, etc... But it does make it

easier than just trying to use a logic prode or scope.)

Here's the outside of the little case it's contained in:

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Atari Cat Box Arcade testing system

http://devkits.handheldmuseum.com/Atari-CatBox/index.htm

And a closeup of the 'controls':

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Atari Cat Box Arcade testing system

http://devkits.handheldmuseum.com/Atari-CatBox/index.htm

There's also another adapter called the Z80 Interface. This is used specifically for games that have a

Z-80 microprocessor in them. This interface would actually be plugged into the board in place of the

Z80 chip, and then plugged into the Cat Box.

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Atari Cat Box Arcade testing system

http://devkits.handheldmuseum.com/Atari-CatBox/index.htm

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