
  ------------------------------------------------------------------------
RCA Studio II FAQ v 0.2

Original version by Jack Spencer Jr (eevill@dreamscape.com).  (who has WAAAAY 
too much time on his hands).
Some annotations and updates by Paul Robson (autismuk@aol.com)
Last updated on 8th November 2000. 
  ------------------------------------------------------------------------

==================
FIRST THINGS FIRST
==================

I would like to take the time to thank my contributors, without whom, this
FAQ would go like this:

Q: What is the RCA Studio II
A: I dunno.

  ...And that'd be it!

Here they are in no particular order:

   * "petebuilt," for his promotional materials
   * Dean Dierschow for starting the cartridge list
   * Andrew Krieg for finishing it
   * John Dondzila for the CPU
   * Lee Seitz for the power requirements.
   * "Dr Ido" for info on the *COLOR* Australian clone, the Sheen M1200
     BOISSEAU Olivier for info on the MPT-02, a European clone.
   * Ward Shrake, for his work on archiving the Vic 20 and  Arcadia 2001,
     an inspiration to me.
   * Not to mention the "Dream System" intro (his was for the Arcadia
     2001.  I rewrote it for the Studio II)
   * and me, Paul Robson, owner of http://www.classicgaming.com/studio2

There are liable to be countless other sites I got this or that tidbit
from, but forgot to write them down and couldn't find them again. Thanks,
you guys.

Really.

If you recognize information that obviously came from your site and would
like to receive credit or would like to contribute to this FAQ, please send
it to me at eeville@dreamscape.com


=====
INTRO
=====

Many of you may be wondering "why the Studio II?"  "Do I like it?"  "Did I
have one as a kid?" "Are you going to eat the rest of that?"

Oh, no.  Help yourself.

As for the Studio II, to my knowledge, I have never played one.  I am doing
this FAQ is because I am a video game nut and believe all video games
deserve their place in history.  The first FAQ I tried to do was on the
Creativision, but that was almost entirely taken from Andrew Davies's site,
so I felt like I needed to try again.  I looked toward the earlier systems.
Fairchild's Channel F already had a FAQ, so next in line was Studio II.

The Studio II is often the butt of jokes due to the primitive nature of the
hardware.  This does not reflect on how fun it is to play any of the games,
mind you, but why have just plain vanilla when you could have vanilla
chocolate and strawberry?

The going opinion on the Studio II is that it is a pathetic video game
system and I cannot help but agree with many of the reasons for this view.
For the purpose of this FAQ, I wanted to take a more even-handed approach
and bring out the systems good points.

Then I though, to hell with it.  If the system is crap, there's no way to
put a positive spin on it.

I'm just going to tell the truth.

As it turns out, I managed to uncover loads of  "new" information on this
system.  This makes me feel like I actually accomplished something, unlike
the Creativision FAQ.

Just so long as no one calls me Studio II boy. (This goes for me too ! PR)


************
*DISCLAIMER*
************

Most of this FAQ is comprised of facts, which no one can really claim
propriety of.  The balance is comprised of my of ideas, notions, theories
and impressions.  If you feel the need to copy and/or steal these things,
that's your problem.  This FAQ may be reproduced in its entirety so long as
it's on a not-for-profit basis.  If RCA couldn't make money on the Studio
II, nobody should.

AMAZING 1977 "DREAM" SYSTEM
===========================
Imagine for a moment that you are back in the summer of 1977, cruising
through your favorite store.  A new thing had been sweeping the neighbor
hood known as "home video games."  Most of them only played a version of an
arcade game call Pong, although others played different games,  like
soccer. The main thing about these games is that they all had contained
within them the games that they played.  So to play any new games, you had
to buy a new system (oh boy, hockey!)

You see the box for a new game system. You read the packaging. It claims to
have 20,000 bits of memory.  You have no idea what that means.  People just
weren't as computer savvy back then, but it sounds like a lot.  It doesn't
look too much different from your Pong system except, instead of dials or
levels for  controllers, it has numeric key pads. The TV screen's image is
in black and white, and not too different from most Pong games.  What sets
it apart is the strange slot in the back center of the unit.  Things called
"cartridges" fit into this slot to allow the unit to play games.  Some of
you may be familiar with this concept from the Magnavox Odyssey.

However, according to the pushy salesman, the difference between the two is
that the Odyssey is a just like the Pong units.  All of the games are
actually within the unit itself.  It's just that, rather than having a
switch or button, the Odyssey used separate cards.  This new system is
"programmable" which means that the cartridges contain computer code to
make the system play games.  This means a practically infinite number of
games could be made for it, but writing new code.

This salesman is desperately trying to teach you all about computers within
five minutes to close the sale.

Most of the games available now don't seem like much, but there's a game
called Space War.  Star Wars is a big hit in movie theaters, so this game
might be fun.  There are also some sports and board games.

All this, and the system is reasonably priced, so you can talk your parents
into buying it for you. Why, they'd have to see that it was the best system
ever made!

So what is this dream system, you ask?

It is RCA's "Studio II" system, as they had originally envisioned it.

Yes, I mean it. The lonely, forgotten, much-maligned Studio II system.

I kind of stole this intro from Ward Shrake, although it has been
completely rewritten, since his original piece was about the Emerson
Arcadia 2001. Personally, I find the two systems run somewhat parallel to
each other since both were designed with a "small advance" in mind.  Both
came out with little "breakthrough" technology added.  Mostly, they just
wanted to one-up the competition.  Little did they realized that they both
be one-up squared by another system that was designed to break new ground.
For the Arcadia 2001, it was the Colecovision.  For the Studio II, the
Channel F, which came out a couple months before hand, and the Atari Video
Computer System, which outclassed them both.  The Studio II lacked color
and this is what made it such a laughingstock in the video game
marketplace.  The Studio II became a rather pathetic footnote in video game
history.

[BTW, I asked Ward his permission to bogart his intro, and he was happy
someone thought it was good enough to copy]


=======
HISTORY
=======

RCA released the Studio II in January of 1977 and sold for about $149.95
with cartridges going for about $14.95-$19.95.  RCA had been offered the
Odyssey, invented by Ralph Baer, but Magnavox actually got the rights and
produced the Odyssey.  RCA executive must have been upset at letting an
obvious advance in consumer electronic slip through their fingers.

At this time, Pong was the game of choice and countless imitators were
flooding the market.  RCA must have wanted to one-up the competition, both
Magnavox and the Pong manufacturers with the Studio II.  The Odyssey had
several game cards that plugged into the unit to allow different games to
be played.  However, the cards were merely jumpers that unlocked the games
were contained within the unit itself.  The cards contained no programming
code. RCA was taking advantage of the rapidly evolving computer technology
to have programmable game cartridges.  That is, the cartridges would
contain a game code that the main unit would translate into TV fun!

This would have worked except the rapidly evolving technology surpassed the
Studio II very quickly.  The Atari 2600 was released later that same year.

The Studio II would have had the distinction of being the first
programmable game system, but Fairchild released its Channel F system the
previous August, beating them to the market by mere months.

RCA produced nine games for the Studio II and it left the video game market
in 1979, now twice burned.

The Studio II was one big missed opportunity after another.  Since the unit
looked similar to a pong unit, it would have made a more logical choice as
the first programmable system instead of the superior Channel F, what with
it's more primitive "Pong-like" styling and Black & White technology.  This
either reflects how fast technology was advancing or how cheap RCA was in
producing their product.

It wasn't all technology, however.  The real advantage Atari had was not
it's superior hardware, but it's licenses.  VCS sales were poor until Atari
released the popular arcade game Space Invaders.

Could the Studio II have done as well if it got a popular arcade license?
I doubt it.  It might have done Space Invaders well enough.  It's a pretty
simple game.  But Pac-Man on the Studio II would have looked worse that the
2600 version.  I just doubt the system would have had the power to last too
long.  It might have paved the way for the Studio III, had it been
successful, but RCA seemed too half-hearted in its pursuit of the video
game market for of this to be a possibility.

Overall, it is a fairly rare system since it never sold well.  Chances are
most people either threw theirs out or packed it away after they got an
Atari.  This means you're more likely to find one shoved in a corner of the
attic when you buy a house, covered with mouse droppings and icky spiders
than to find one in a thrift store.  Most collectors accurately view it as
a novelty.  There is little about the system to make it important, other
than it was one of the first programmable systems.  It does have a slick,
retro look.  Most collectors will buy one if they find one, but it's
usually the first thing to go when they need to make space.  The only other
attraction the system has is because it was such a poor seller, there is a
definite, finite list of games for it.  This makes collecting a complete
library much easier than, say the Atari 2600, with its 900+ games,
regardless of the rarity issues.


===========
DESCRIPTION
===========

I can't tell you much about the unit, physically, since I don't have one
(yet).  The unit itself measures about _x_x_ and is yellowish beige in
color.  On both the left and right of the unit it has numeric keypads.
There are arrows by the key to indicate there use as directional control.

I think it's laugh-out-loud hilarious that this thing and Mattel's
Intellivision were the only two systems at the time to feature
16-directional controls.  (the 8 keys and press two adjacent keys together
to get the other 8 directions.)  I am not sure if the Studio II could
actually support 16 directions.  Pressing two keys together may just make
the unit smoke. (PR: No, it won't)

Between the two keypads is a metallic plate.  Starting from the front of
the machine, there is a clear (reset) button, a power indicator light.

Right at the back of the plate is the cartridge slot.  Much has been
written/copied about the cartridge slot being unique since it has two rod
that insert into holes in the cartridge which is the opposite of what we
normally expect.  I will now dispute this claim using their own example,
the Atari 2600.  2600 carts do have two tabs that insert into the console,
to keep the cart straight, but there are also two tab that insert into the
cartridge!  They only have a function with Atari manufactured carts, to
unlock the cart and allow a panel to slide back to expose the connectors.
This device is, presumably to protect the circuits and connectors from
dust, but only official Atari carts had this feature, so it is
understandable the two console tabs were overlooked.  Besides, the Studio
II has two really big honking metal rods that insert into the cartridge, so
they deserve some mention.

PR: The Studio IIs prongs have a very similar function. There is a sort of
metal comb that connects all the pins together, presumably as an
anti-static device. This comb is pushed
up and out of the way by the rods on the console box. If you look up the
holes you can see the edge of the lifting bar. Dismantling a Studio II
cartridge involves, basically, brute force.

Only a single 18' cord comes out of the back right of the unit which plugs
into the selector switch.  The switch, in turn hooks up to the television
set (preferably an RCA unit ;-) as well as a wall outlet for power, similar
to the Atari 5200.  The game/TV switch also acts as the power switch, which
is a good thing since there is no power switch on the unit!  This make the
Studio II a very compact and tidy system, with a minimum of wires. I (PR)
hate the bloody cable. You can't remove it. It's only tidy when it's next
to a TV !

All of the sound comes from a speaker in the center of the unit.

The cartridges themselves measure 8 x 11.5 x 2 cm and are of a similar
yellow color with even yellower labels of them.  The boxes have
unremarkable artwork on them, which have nothing to do with the blocky
graphics, I assure you. Instruction manuals are a must since to start the
game tend to require pressing the right key for the option you want.
Otherwise the screen remains blank.

The games were divided into four categories, much like the "Network"
concept Mattel had for its games, TV Arcade, TV Casino, TV Mystic and TV
Schoolhouse.  The educational TV Schoolhouse was an interesting innovation
for video games which at the time consisted of hitting a ball back and
forth, but the Channel F had this first, too, with Math Quiz I & II (games
6 & 7 respectively, therefore part of the initial release).

The only other thing about the cartridges worthy of mention is that they
only have connectors on one side of the circuit board.  This is probably
because the unit didn't need/couldn't handle any more information coming in
(PR: and also the 1802 multiplexes its address bus which saves 8 pins.)


TECHNICAL
=========

For more detail than any sane person could ever want see the technical
information page [at http://www.classicgaming.com/studio2/techinfo.htm].

I don't know much about the Studio II, tech-wise.  That's OK, that kind of
stuff goes right over my head.  Here is what I have:

Processor: RCA COSMAC 1802

MEMORY: 20,000 bits

If memory serves, there are 8 bits to a byte and K means 1000, so,
20,000/8=2,500 bytes  = 2.5KB  Wow, Air-Sea Battle for the Atari was about
2KB, that was this things total memory!

Power:  9 V DC, ?

Graphics: B/W (see below) 128x64 or 64x64 (64 x 32, PR, can theoretically
do 64 x 128)

A fellow named Andrew Modla who works for a company called Tekla Inc.
stated he programmed more than half of the games for the system. The system
itself was coded by Joseph Weisbacker, who is now deceased..


****************************
*STUDIO II AROUND THE WORLD*
****************************

Europe: Hanimex MPT-02
----------------------
This unit was manufactured by the same Asian company that made the  Arcadia
2001 clone MPT-03, but it was distributed by a different company, Hanimex
instead of Prestige.  This explains why the MPT-03 has Studio II-like
cartridges and the same cart slot with two rods that insert into the
cartridge. (PR: This too is a colour machine. Studio II Carts will work on
it, in two colour mode (not necessarily black and white !))

The MPT-02 sports detachable controllers with cords about 2' in length.
This give it a bonus over the Studio II for that reason alone.


Australia: Sheen M1200
----------------------
This unit differed from the RCA Studio II in three major respects.

1) The unit is black in color.
2) It has a separate power cord, rather than power being routed through the
   TV connection box
3) Its color

That's right, *C*O*L*O*R* The Sheen M1200 had a color output.  When I put
forth the theory that the games were color, but the hardware could only put
out b/w, "Dr Ido" had this to say:

"If I still had one here I could open it up and give you some part numbers
to compare with the ICs in the Studio 2, specifically the display
controller.
The video/rf out in the sheen m1200 is on a daughter card, could it be the
studio 2 (or at least the display controller) is color, but the rf daughter
card only generates a mono signal.. or (unlikely) its a PAL system and
therefore you get black and white on an NTSC TV.."

I haven't been able to confirm nor refute these claims.  Most Studio II
collector I have met remain skeptical.  (PR: They are wrong, it does
exist). The Studio II had a plain black & white output, no shades of gray,
like you saw when you put your Atari 2600 on B/W.  This leads me to believe
the games were just B/W, but some hardware enhancement applies colors to
the games.

Except "Dr Ido" states the built in game "Doodles" had up to 8 colors.

This confirms the original set of theories the games are color, but the
unit only produces B/W.

I have no idea why RCA would make the unit B/W except, perhaps to save on
costs or they had the unit designed by an outside company that uses PAL.
The unit works fine on PAL, but puts out B/W on most other TV standards.
In this case, RCA must have just been stymied by costs and wanting to get
into the market quickly, and so couldn't correct the color problem. (The
actual reason is the availability of an off the shelf chip , the
CDP1861:PR)

None of this has been confirmed.  Windy theories....

The M1200 contains the following ICs (functionality by PR):

IC1: CDP1802CD [Processor]
IC2: CDP1864CE [Video Chip ; 1861 = BW NTSC,1862 BW PAL..... 1863 = COL
NTSC, 1864 = COL PAL ?)
IC3: CD4515BE [the keyboard multiplexor]
IC4: CD4081BE
(there is no IC marked IC5)
IC6: CDP1858E [colour chip ? this is a guess !]
IC7: CDP1822NCE [256 x 4 byte main RAM x 4 = 512 x 8, same as S2]
IC8: CDP1822NCE
IC9: CDP1822NCE
IC10: CDP1822NCE
(no IC marked IC11)
IC12: ROM CDP1833CE 87201 845 (C) 1978 [2k ROM + 1k for colour 
  enhancements?]
IC13: ROM  CDP1833CE 86676 832
IC14: ROM CDP1833CE 86676B 845
 (no ICs marked IC15 IC16. Probably removed. You could plug the 1833 into 3
  of the 4 1831 sockets and it would work.)
IC17: CD4019AE
IC18: CDP1822NCE [probably the colour RAM]
IC19: CD4069UBE

unnumbered ICs:  CD4069UBE, CD1001BE [4001 probably PR]


EMULATION
=========

The Studio II is not emulated at present, and this is not surprising.
There just isn't any demand for it.  With all of the work it takes to
emulate a piece of hardware and dump the ROM's and such, it would be nice
to have a better payoff than the Studio II output.

Well, now it is. There are five emulators at present : the original STEM,
the 2 C DOS STEMs and WinStem. Peter Trauner is working on a driver for
MESS.


Cartridge List
--------------

Andrew Kreig has the most complete cartridge list for the Studio II, this
is his list.

 C - Common These carts can be found fairly easily at thrift  stores, in
     sale posts on the 'Net, or in Atari  vendor catalogs (yes there still
     are some vendors!).

 U - Uncommon    A little harder to find, but they pop up on the 'Net
     frequently.

 R - Rare Very elusive to find carts.  Some vendors still have them in
     stock, but they are generally more expensive

 ER - Extremely  These are very, very hard to find.  They usually have a very
      low production run.  Consider yourself  very lucky to come across one!

 PR - Prototype Never formally released.  Only pre-release prototypes
      exist.  The ultimate rarity!

 FW - Game is included in firmware on the RCA Studio II.


 Manufacturer  Cart #    Title                                  Rarity Dumped
 RCA           18V403    77 Baseball (TV Arcade IV)             U      Y
 RCA           18V700    Biorhythm (TV Mystic Series)           ER     N
 RCA           18V600    77 Blackjack (TV Casino I)             U      Y
 RCA           5008331   Demonstration Cart                     ER     N
 RCA           18V401    76 Fun with Numbers (TV Arcade II)     R      N
 RCA           18V405    Gunfighter/Moonship Battle (TV Arcade) ER     N
 RCA           18V501    Math Fun (TV School House II)          R      N
 RCA           18V400    76 Space War (TV Arcade I)             R      Y
 RCA           18V404    Speedway/Tag (TV Arcade ?)             R      Y
 RCA           18V402    77 Tennis/Squash (TV Arcade III)       C      Y
 RCA            n/a      Tester 1 (Diagnostic Cart)             ER     N
 RCA           18V500    76 TV School House I                   R      N
 RCA            FW       Bowling                                -      Y
 RCA            FW       Patterns                               -      Y
 RCA            FW       Doodle                                 -      Y
 RCA            FW       Freeway                                -      Y
 RCA            FW       Adding                                 -      Y


Hanimex MPT-02
--------------
  MG-202  Concentration Match No
  MG-203
  MG-204
  MG-205
  MG-206
  MG-207
  MG-208
  MG-209
  MG-210
  MG-211
  MG-212  Spacewar Intercept No


MISCELLANEOUS
=============

Q: Why is it called the Studio *II*
A: I don't know and RCA isn't returning my calls.  As far as the "studio"
name, a quick search will pull up countless sites involving RCA studios for
RCA recording arm, especially Studio B.  B being the second letter of the
alphabet. I (PR) think it is just a flash sounding name :)

It is possible there was a Studio I which may have been a dedicated system,
like Pong.  I am unsure if RCA released such a thing.    It also may have
been the name they had for the Odyssey before they lost it to Magnavox.

So many questions, plenty of theories, no real answers.


Q: How do I convert my Studio II to put out a color display [or] feed the
   sound through my TV?
A: I really don't know and I don't have the technical expertise to even
   try, much less a unit to experiment with.

I believe the sound can be fed if you screw around with the speaker output.
Good luck.  Don't fry yourself.

As far as the color, if the Studio II does happen to be PAL, then to get
color, you'll have to buy a PAL TV.  Otherwise it should be replacing one
component or other.  If I get any info on this, I'll put it here. (PR: As
far as I can see, the Black and White models are NTSC (USA), and the Colour
models are PAL (Europe, Australia). This might just be the technology
improving by the time they released the PAL models, or maybe they realised
B/W wasn't good enough).

Q: How about some promo stuff?
A: OK, you asked for it:

An entertainment center for family fun for use with your home TV. Including
5 video programs built-in with added programs available.

Introduction to RCA Studio II

RCA Studio II Brings tomorrow's world of home video entertainment to you
today. with the Studio II, you'll transform the TV set in your home into an
electronic entertainment and educational center for the entire Family.

The heart of the RCA Studio II is a 100% solid-state micro-miniature
computer called COSMAC. It is smaller than a fingernail and contains over
5,000 transistors. Other solid-state devices provide over 20,000 bits of
memory which are used to store programs.

Five built-in creative, educational and action programs are included with
the Studio II. Additional programs are available in plug-in type
cartridges.

Additional new and different games and educational or creative programs
will be made available allowing you to enhance your Studio II library of
entertainment.

Text from a promotional pamphlet:

FUN
ACTION
A WHOLE NEW WORLD OF GAMES
Studio II
RCA
NEW ADD-ON CARTRIDGES AVAILABLE

-----------------

Studio II
keeps the fun coming.

Introducing Tennis/Squash and Baseball.

These two action sports cartridges will add hours of enjoyment to your
studio II

FUN
ACTION

-------------

TV ARCADE III
TENNIS/SQUASH    18V402
Two action games on one cartridge.  You select any of the 3 ball speeds and
3 different racquet sizes for each player.

TENNIS
A two-player game where each player can have a different size racquet.
Watch out for the "English"-it can fool you!

SQUASH
A one-player game with all the excitement of tennis.

TV ARCADE IV
BASEBALL    18V403
A two-player game that recreates the action on the diamond.  Pitch, bat,
field the ball and see the batter run the bases.  Scoring is automatic.


RCA
-----

Some of the great games currently available that should also be in your
Studio II library.

TV ARCADE I
SPACE WAR    18V400
Two exciting space age action games that require skill and timing.
*Horizontal intercept 1 player
*Vertical Intercept 2 players

TV ARCADE II
FUN WITH NUMBERS    18V401
Three challenging number puzzles that will (garbled) your sharpness and
entertain you.  Studio II (garbled, garbled, garbled) randomly.
Guess the Number-1 player-you against the computer
Guess the Number-2 player
Reverse-1 player

TV SCHOOL HOUSE I
MATH AND SOCIAL STUDIES    18V500
Basic and advanced puzzles in history, math, geography and other subject of
interest.  Comprehensive handbook included.

See your RCA Studio II dealer for these exciting add-on cartridges.  Or use
the enclosed ordering envelope if cartridges are not available locally.

RCA Studio II

  ------------------------------------------------------------------------
The RCA Studio 2
  ------------------------------------------------------------------------

