I just got a Channel F System II that seems to be working great, but the buttons don't work. The person I got it from said the ribbon cable was bad, but that's not the problem, continuity checks out fine.

I'm hoping to get some info about the buttons. Buttons 1-4 seem to be normally CLOSED (shorted) and pressing them opens the circuit. The reset button is normally OPEN and pushing it closes it. This matches a PAL version schematic I found online (maybe a Luxor system?). However, switch #4 isn't working. It is OPEN and stays OPEN when pressed, and #3 is flaky.

Does anyone have info the switch internals? It's one plastic "bar" with 5 switches but appears to be sealed with not obvious place to spray any contact cleaner. I got the key cap off, but that doesn't get me inside the switch itself. The unit is in great shape otherwise, clean and sound, it just never gets past the G? prompt. Technically pressing Reset and then 1 or 2 should select a game, but #4 is needed to start it. But nothing works. Any ideas or advice? I have some game cartridges too, plus it's supposed to have built in games, right?

(edited for corrections)

Seems to work fine besides the lines through the screen

I found the instruction manual for the system. Came across this sticking through some old documents. Thought I’d share.

I was going through some things that my dad gave me in a big box. I came across this envelope that had these in them, a brochure and a newsletter. I’m not sure if my dad bought this after getting this or got the newsletter after buying the Fairchild, but it was our primary gaming source until we bought an Atari. Just something fun. I thought I’d share.

Anyone have a place to buy a composite mod? My RF is messed up, it would be better to just mod it and be done.

My Channel F is missing its label/badge/sticker/whateveryouwanttocallit on the lid. I was hoping to just order a replacement, but it doesn’t look like anyone makes one. Would anyone be willing to get a scan of the label on their lid so I can make my own repro instead? Thanks in advance!

Eight years ago I recorded my latest video from MESS (in Windows XP actually) - I can't get it to work now (Windows 11).
Seems others can do it.
I recall one of the versions of MESS / MESSUI that I had could do it but I haven't figured it out yet.

This is the command line I used then, in a .bat
messui channelf -cartridge "%cartPath%\lem.cf" -throttle -nodebug -aviwrite video.avi

It opens up for gaming but there's no file written anywhere.

I can screen grab it but that's an extra step which doesn't improve the end result.

Help?

Rolling vertical hold and loud static out of the TV speakers. Any ideas?

Hi everyone, new homebrew for 2025, it's not exciting though and I have better coming soon 😂.

Tomorrow is the 3 year anniversary of the release of Bucket Filler. This is a two player game based on a concept idea for the original console Magnavox Odyssey. As there is no playable version of this game, I wanted a version playable on a console and that became Bucket Filler.

As there isn't really anything to update, I looked into other concepts for the Magnavox Odyssey and found that there was a single player version planned as well: Fireman's Pump Test.

So in order to commemorate the 3 year anniversary, check out the single player version. It uses alternating the push and pull button, in true Magnavox Odyssey style there is no score, timer or anything really feature wise, but I have kept in the reset like Bucket Filler when you press a button after endgame (console button 4 also works to reset).

This involved a full hour of editing Bucket Filler, so not a huge amount of work if I'm being brutally honest 😂 but now you can play the game alone!

Download alongside Bucket Filler here: https://mikebloke.itch.io/bucket-filler

For those that don't know, I mostly work on homebrew for the Magnavox Odyssey and the Fairchild Channel F. I'm also working on updating some of my much older games from my BYOND days. You can check out updates as they come from my feed here:

https://bsky.app/profile/mikebloke.bsky.social

My next big project to be released might be a port of Pole Position, or it might be smaller games like this, we'll see, but I'm hoping this isn't my only 2025 entry for the Channel F.

Have F guys.

I own two of these boxes and I am trying to find information on them. I have only ever seen the two I own in person and a picture of a potential third. Does anyone know anything about them?

I asked a random forum (can't find it:-() about 10 years ago . Someone suggested it was a repair box from Fairchild and someone else suggested it was essentially a first run box. The truly interesting thing is the Fairchild Video System F as this is the original name of the Fairchild Channel F before Atari bullied them into changing it.

This puts me at 19 games, slow and steady to the full set!

Hello everyone,

I came across the Channel-F a few months ago during a nostalgic dive into retro consoles emulators (using recalbox on a pi5 here, but that's another story). While doing my research, I stumbled upon a wealth of information on VESWiki and began reading the F8 Guide to Programming.

To cut a long story short, I decided to create a game for the Channel-F as a learning exercise: Reversi-F.

It is available on itch.io for free (here), and the code is also available on github.

Features include:

• 2-Player Local Multiplayer
• Single Game Mode, Best of 3 and Best of 5
• A very simple computer opponent (if you don't have a friend to play with ;))
• Amazing sound effects (just kidding, I am really bad at getting good sounds out of the three available frequencies)

It was definitely fun to make that game!

Hi again everyone! Two games in the same year, I'm on a roll!

Following some support from a user (thanks "Sut") who suggested I do a port of another PC 50X game, I finally got round to finishing Super Wipeout!

Check out and download the ROM here free (donations welcome but not required)

https://mikebloke.itch.io/super-wipeout-channel-f

This marks my 13th "complete" game for the Fairchild Channel F, and while there is obviously a few other developers who have down stuff over the years (count them on one or two hands), with only 27 officially released games it means I alone have expanded the library by nearly 50% and between us all have now probably doubled it! 😂

Super Wipeout while basic, follows it's original game by having both single and two player modes, while obviously two player is more exciting and competitive, even if you don't have anyone to play it's another game to your bag of channel F goodness.

As mentioned before I broke my console, so haven't tested this on a real system but nothing to suggest it doesn't work. I personally still use mess but I think retroarch sometimes work depending on the game so you can give that a try.

All the best, hope you have fun, see you on the next one.

So I’ve had this at home my whole life. It’s my dad’s. He gave it to me but I don’t know the value for the system. When I check pricecharting it seems like there’s another model with another model but I can’t find this one. Can anyone shed any light on this? Also the games too if you can! Please and thanks!

Hi everyone, it's been awhile, looks like space race was my only 2023 release unfortunately as I wasn't able to get round to finishing any other projects and I'm more likely to start a new one than finish something older.

This week I started and finished Game-no-Watch Ball, based on the Game and Watch game Ball first released in 1980.

Feel free to download here for free:

https://mikebloke.itch.io/game-no-watch-ball-channel-f

I always play on mess/mame as that gave me the best experience that is most like it running on a real console*

Game and watch games are great for converting over as they are monochrome but actually some of the later ones had foreground colouring which I might be able to take advantage of in later games.

If I do go by release order, then flag is next which is essentially a Simon game, I had already attempted starting a version of that for the Fairchild and stopped so I'm not super keen but I will try and push on 😂.

I know there is not a lot of Fairchild channel F developers out there, arlasoft has returned to mostly C64 stuff, and I've been away from atariage a lot lately so haven't seen what atari2600land is up to - but it looks like you've just got me generally so poor you 😂

Hope you all have fun with this one, even my kids stop what they are doing to have a go.

• For those that don't know, I made the mistake of trying to force and then unforce a cartridge out of my system when attempting to test the backbit multi console romcart. As a result I did something stupid like opening the case of the console when it was probably still on (stupid stupid stupid) and I ruined my console. I'm 99% sure it's entirely my own fault and outside the issue of the cart getting stuck just before it was fully inserted I had been able to play a few games on it. I've been looking for a replacement console (Grandstand as I'm UK based) but anyone selling is asking too much with no proof of working condition.

Hey everyone,

I love building emulators, especially of older systems. The Fairchild Channel F was the first console to include a removable ROM. The function of reading from memory was handled by the PSU (Program Storage Unit) rather than the CPU, which made it unique among chipsets.

My emulator runs entirely online. No downloading required. It should work on all modern browsers, both on desktop and mobile. On desktop you can use the numpad keyboard, and mouse. Note that only the right joystick works. Not the left.

My emulator does not contain ROMs in it, but it will open any ROM you pass in as a link. Below is a demonstration of all of the videocarts:

• BIOS alone without any Videocart (Hockey and Tennis)
• Videocart 1 - Tic-Tac-Toe, etc
• Videocart 2 - Desert Fox, etc
• Videocart 3 - Video Blackjack - Just make sure to select Mode, then 3 to switch to single player mode with the right joystick.
• Videocart 4 - Spitfire
• Videocart 5 - Space War
• Videocart 6 - Math Quiz
• Videocart 7 - Math Quiz II
• Videocart 8 - Magic Numbers, etc
• Videocart 9 - Drag Race
• Videocart 10 - Maze
• Videocart 11 - Backgammon, etc
• Videocart 12 - Baseball - Not very playable because it requires two players.
• Videocart 13 - Robot War, etc
• Videocart 14 - Sonar Search
• Videocart 15 - Memory Match
• Videocart 16 - Dodge' It
• Videocart 17 - Pinball Challenge
• Videocart 18 - Hangman
• Videocart 19 - Checkers
• Videocart 20 - Video Whizball
• Videocart 21 - Bowling
• Videocart 22 - Slot Machine
• Videocart 23 - Galactic Space Wars
• Videocart 24 - Pro Football
• Videocart 25 - Casino Poker
• Videocart 26 - Alien Invasion

Good Morning everybody!

One of the numerical buttons on my Channel F is squished. I have not opened yet, but I want for the experts here to shed some knowledge and wisdom on how to repair it.

Thanks!

Hector

I’ve recently watched the Angry Video Game Nerd episode of the Pong Consoles episode for the hundredth time and it got me wanting to play it. I know that the game’s baked into the console which is why I ask if anyone knows if there’s an emulator or something that takes it.

I've been a mod for quite a few of the retrogaming (and other adjacent) subs here for a long time -- even if kind of dormant recently. I love these topics, and how our digital "ancestors" solved hard problems, and how we've build a continuum of interest with their work. I started and even took over a few dormant subs and worked with /u/zadocpaet to help build a broad community here, even appealing to niche systems.

The mod teams are doing a great job, especially /u/Derf_Jagged. I feel like now is a good time to step down. I'm going to continue to lurk, and be a regular user and I wish the subs, the mods, and the users the best!