APF Imagination Machine(s)

Hard to score one of those... How about a hat trick?


They're yellowed but seem quite in good condition, maybe never used and put in storage for years.
Unfortunately I'm missing the PSUs so I wasn't able to test them. I read somewhere that the MP-1000 has a built-in bridge rectifier + 7805 so a 9V DC should work.
For the Imagination Machine though, it requires a 13.8 VAC on a 4 pins DIN connector, hopefully they followed the same logic, just wondering why they used 4 pins. 2 power rails?
Anyone owns one of those? Information is very scarce on this unit.

 

Thanks for the info, the pic is hosted on a Google gallery so there must be some rights issue, weird... here I reupload it

 

Wow, nice finds dude.

 

Thanks, that's not all of it, I'm saving the masterpiece for later

 

That's quite the hat trick. I think I need to take magic lesons

 

Lol ya, they would deserve a good retrobright. Luckily those were made in USA with hard thick plastics.

Now here comes the teaser, sorry for the quality, I'll take some proper shots later:

 

while my curiosity is piqued.....all I can come up with for a guess is a piece of hardware made by General Instrume(nt)

 

Hehe, I give you a few more hints: no pic of it...at least in color, is available on internet. Officially it was never released so either it is a prototype or the only model in existence

 

Duuuuuuuude... I can't think of a single possible thing it could be then...

 

Here you go, I present you the unreleased, undocumented and pretty much completely unkown APF Imagination Machine II :
As you can see on this pic the unit is very yellowed and there are small bits of plastic off, probably due to a shock or something heavy sitting on top of it. The C key is broken but I believe I can fix that easily with some epoxy.
This machine is supposed to have the MP-1000 and Basic built in.

The logo is a different from the previous model:


The front of the unit has a INT (-errupt?) non latching switch and 2 DIN plugs for external controllers. It shouldn't be difficult to figure out the pinout based on the IM-1

The back of the unit has one audio jack connector and a RF out (or composite?...but I doubt it). Below is a molex connector for the PSU. It came with this adapter to female DIN which lead me to believe it uses the same PSU as the IM-1. The Reset switch looks like a toggle switch but it's actually a non latching one. The power button is different from the IM-1. The last color / BW switch is the same as the 2600.


There's a specifically labeled IM-2 on the bottom of the unit with a serial number, so unlike the bit of information available on the net, it seems it went into production as some point.

The last owner put some poke instructions on it too:

Now for the sake of videogaming history I hope someone is gonna come on this thread and help us out figuring out some more information on the PSU.
When I have a bit of time I'll open up the machine and poke around.

 

I'll give you $5 for it, INCLUDING shipping costs.

 

I wouldn't have guessed that....very impressive find.

 

If you open it up, you may well be able to figure out what PSU is required.

Lots of names of former APF staff here - including a (very old) e-mail address for an engineer. You should try contacting him or Philip Lipper and see if they have any information / designs. I'm sure the site owner would be interested to hear from you, and may be able to put you in touch with Philip.

The unit has a broken C key... you have a broken 0 key

 

Thanks retro, that was actually my plan

 

Wow, I really want an APF IM someday.....right up there with getting a Halcyon. One of only a few released systems i dont have. Very Jelly!

 

How did you get the IM-II? Can you imagine how rare it is?

 

Well, I'm not planning on keeping 3 of those, they're huge! At some point I will sell at least one of them. When I have time to open, test them and make sure they are fully functional, I'll put them on sale.

That's a long story and it still missing some pieces but here it is:

As I was walking in Bangkok where I usually shop for electronics or retrogaming stuff, I spotted that huge machine in a plastic bag in a flea market. As I came close to it and realize it was an Imagination Machine I asked the seller where she got it from.
She told me she got it from a very old store and that she actually had 10 units, 4 remaining, including the one I just bought.
So obviously I told her I'm interested but then she pointed out the last unit was missing the Basic cartridge... I told her I'll probably buy all of them but the one missing the cart as you can't operate it without it.
Still, she brought all the remaining units the next week and that's when I realized that last onet missing the cart was an IM-II.
So least I could do was to ask a discount on it since it was "missing a part" lol.

That women had no clue what this machine was, a few remaining labels from the local distributor pointed out to an old computer shop in Bangkok that I'll need to track down if it still exists.
I believe these machines were officially imported in the early 80's. I wouldn't be surprised if APF cleared their stock at a low price, exporting the IM around the world when they went out of business. It was a pricey machine in the US, imagine the price of an import with custom taxes, only a few Thais would be willing to spend that much money...but I'm just speculating.
I'm pretty convinced they've been modded to PAL as most imported hardware in Thailand from back in the day, but it's usually easy to revert to NTSC.

I contacted Larry Greenfield from the following page and pointed him out to this thread:
http://www.nausicaa.net/~lgreenf/apfpage.htm

Here's his reply:
Interesting that you found an IM-2... I've never seen one of those in person. I'd be of little help to you, but am curious about the IM-2. I'll check out the link you sent me in a day or so, after I catch up with the ton of stuff I have waiting for me to do Thanks!
PS: Actually, at some point would you be able to send me some pictures of the IM-2?
When I have time, I could put them up on the website (or not if you'd rather me not), but either way, I'd love to see a real picture of it..