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Vectrex Serial Numbers

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VectrexMad!

unread,
Oct 5, 2009, 10:13:58 PM10/5/09
to
I am always interested to find out more about my Vectrex consoles no
matter how insignificant the information may seem to be.

I recently came across an old list of Vectrex serial numbers at:
http://users.tmok.com/~gauze/vectrex/


I thought I'd add mine but in doing so discovered I seem to have two
types of Vectrex console in my possession:
U003448A
U010700A
2017099


All UK models but anybody know why there are different numbers and
which type came first?


I would also be interested to see if any UK Vectrex consoles have
drastically different serial numbers.


regards


VectrexMad!
www.vectrex.co.uk


Roberto Nerici

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Oct 6, 2009, 5:00:40 PM10/6/09
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VectrexMad! wrote:

> I recently came across an old list of Vectrex serial numbers at:
> http://users.tmok.com/~gauze/vectrex/

Nice little resource. Anyone know how long this has been there?


> I thought I'd add mine but in doing so discovered I seem to have two
> types of Vectrex console in my possession:
> U003448A
> U010700A
> 2017099

I've just added my one. Mine is a UK too and is 2021906. I see "Mittens"
has added one since you did too.


> All UK models but anybody know why there are different numbers and
> which type came first?
>
> I would also be interested to see if any UK Vectrex consoles have
> drastically different serial numbers.

So mine is similar to your third one. I can see another couple with
similar serial numbers, but as you've noticed there do seem to be just
different numbering systems just for UK ones. Interesting...

Roberto/.

FURY

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Oct 6, 2009, 6:42:51 PM10/6/09
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Added mine.

Bardsey

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Oct 7, 2009, 1:24:13 AM10/7/09
to
added my new vectrex.
Japanese GCE
Model HP 3000
S/N 0060765

VectrexMad!

unread,
Oct 7, 2009, 7:19:09 AM10/7/09
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So being a Japanese model yours is the Bandai version right? If that's
the case that's interesting because there's nothing in its serial
number to distinguish it from a GCE US model - which is odd.

VectrexMad!
www.vectrex.co.uk

rudtherud

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Oct 7, 2009, 3:29:18 PM10/7/09
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hi ian ,
thank you i have receive the dongle
i ll add the serials of my 12 vectrexes
i have a japan unit to and will send the serial to

rudy

VectrexMad!

unread,
Oct 8, 2009, 7:07:13 AM10/8/09
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Wow Rudy,

> i ll add the serials of my 12 vectrexes

and I thought I was Vectrex Mad !!!

I had a contact from an owner of two Japanese Bandai vectrex consoles
and the serial number format is the same as
Bardsey's. So it looks like you can't distinguish between the Bandai
and the US GCE consoles by their serial numbers.

The more serial numbers added to the database the better the
conclusion.

regards

VectrexMad!
www.vectrex.co.uk

Bardsey

unread,
Oct 8, 2009, 10:30:45 AM10/8/09
to
for what its worth...:) .... i saw 3 different vectrex systems for
sale here (JP) last week and i bought the cheapest one (no carts or
overlays) each one looked different. There were 2 GCE models and one
Bandai. One of the GCE models had grey stickers on it, mine has red
stickers and the Bandai version had blue stickers (i have images if
anyone is interested).
When mine arrived to my home it seems the stickers are the same as the
GCE grey ones but someone has coloured them red with a felt tip
pen !!! hahaha ... i dont mind though, adds character

Roberto Nerici

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Oct 8, 2009, 1:56:10 PM10/8/09
to
VectrexMad! wrote:
> Wow Rudy,
>
>> i ll add the serials of my 12 vectrexes
>
> and I thought I was Vectrex Mad !!!

You are but Rudy is promoted to Vectrex Insane.
Twelve! I've only got one :-(


> I had a contact from an owner of two Japanese Bandai vectrex consoles
> and the serial number format is the same as
> Bardsey's. So it looks like you can't distinguish between the Bandai
> and the US GCE consoles by their serial numbers.
>
> The more serial numbers added to the database the better the
> conclusion.

Indeed. It will be interesting to see what patterns there are (if any).

Roberto/.

mostlyharmless

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Oct 8, 2009, 2:59:08 PM10/8/09
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On Oct 8, 1:07 pm, "VectrexMad!" <vectrex...@fastmail.fm> wrote:
> I had a contact from an owner of two Japanese Bandai vectrex consoles
> and the serial number format is the same as
> Bardsey's. So it looks like you can't distinguish between the Bandai
> and the US GCE consoles by their serial numbers.
>
> The more serial numbers added to the database the better the
> conclusion.
>
> regards
>
> VectrexMad!www.vectrex.co.uk


My Bandai has a totally different number, 300-580, all Bandais I've
seen has this format on the serial number. An interesting thing is
that the Bandai Machine states 26Watts on the back, the us states
40Watts.

Cheers
mostly

Bardsey

unread,
Oct 11, 2009, 10:50:31 PM10/11/09
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My Japanese GCE machine seems to be the same as the american ones (40
Watts), as do several other Vectrex consoles that i have seen in
Japan. Either both the GCE (made in Hong Kong) and the Bandai were
released into the Japanese market or many of the American machines
have found their way out here somehow... cheers,

hcmffm

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Oct 12, 2009, 4:19:06 PM10/12/09
to
I like the idea of collecting Vectrex serial numbers. But don't like the
design and layout of the webpage linked above very much.

Perhaps someone (e.g. "Vectrexmuseum"?) could host a webpage with such a
list and a form for adding serial numbers? The list should be simplle but
support various sorting.


Roberto Nerici

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Oct 13, 2009, 3:48:34 AM10/13/09
to
hcmffm wrote:
> I like the idea of collecting Vectrex serial numbers. But don't like the
> design and layout of the webpage linked above very much.

I agree, on both points.

> Perhaps someone (e.g. "Vectrexmuseum"?) could host a webpage with such a
> list and a form for adding serial numbers? The list should be simplle but
> support various sorting.

Sounds a good idea, but perhaps first someone should contact the current
page author and ask if they are interested in improving the page?

Roberto/.

hcmffm

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Oct 13, 2009, 12:37:12 PM10/13/09
to
>> ...

>> Perhaps someone (e.g. "Vectrexmuseum"?) could host a webpage with such a
>> list and a form for adding serial numbers? The list should be simplle but
>> support various sorting.
>
> Sounds a good idea, but perhaps first someone should contact the current
> page author and ask if they are interested in improving the page?
Yes, right, perhaps the current author can make some changes. I'll try to
contact him and will post here, again.


bone

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Oct 13, 2009, 8:02:34 PM10/13/09
to

Hi,
I just read this thread and I'm looking at the code, and all it does
is take the current index.html page and throws the newest entry on the
end, single flat file storage method on this back-end really dumb and
simple ;)

I checked the server and it does have php and mysql installed on it
now I'd have to talk to the guy who runs the machine as the mysql DB
is empty so not sure he's ok with people using it, but I give
permission to whoever wants to take these serial numbers and make a
new page with all the bells and whistles etc. anyway.

I do have some private code I could change for this purpose though, I
use it for keeping track of my music collection and it can sort on any
field and has a simple string search function as well. Shouldn't take
more than an hour or 2 to change it for this purpose.

What would be a list of fields you'd want to have available in this
list?
Country of Manufacture occurred to me when I was looking at my 2
Taiwan made ones and 1 Hong Kong made one.
One of the Taiwan made ones has the electrical shock warning pressing
into the plastic and the other has a sticker with the warning on it on
the back instead. for a system with such a short life span there are
quite a few minor variations it seems.

anyway got off track there ;)

FURY

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Oct 13, 2009, 8:08:35 PM10/13/09
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It would be good if people could also remove
their systems from the list in case they sell them.

hcmffm

unread,
Oct 14, 2009, 1:20:26 PM10/14/09
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> It would be good if people could also remove
> their systems from the list in case they sell them.
Hmm, perhaps the entries should have nicknames, only, or even no names at
all. Thus removing would be an obsolete function.


hcmffm

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Oct 14, 2009, 1:38:03 PM10/14/09
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Thank you, bone / gauze / unclefreddy / ..., for your immediate response via
mail and here in the newsgroup! Very good that you are open to suggestions
and even intend to implement the appropriate changes. :-)

Below a list of possible changes/improvements. I've marked the changes that
are important to me with '(!)'.

- Design/Layout (!)
I think the list should be more compact and list-like, i.e. there should be
one line per entry, only. (Currently each entry has two lines). Also, there
should be no spacing between entries, just one big table of entries would be
good.

- Features: Default Sorting (!)
Apart from the layout I think sorting would be most important. By default,
the list should be sorted by serial number or type and serial number. Not
sure if there's a need for manual/user-defined sorting.

- Features: Editing/Removing
Editing/Removing might be good, too, but the question is how to avoid misuse
of this functionality. Perhaps a verification mail/activation mail could be
sent to the specified mail address, but this might make things complicated
in programming and using. Perhaps the mail address of the list administrator
(you) and the offer for editing and removing would be simpler and achieve
the same.

- Contents
I think the contents are o.k.. Perhaps mail address could be internal for
later requests. A "Date added" and perhaps "Location" might be useful, too
(later we can feed Google Maps and display locations with Vectrexes
worldwide ;-) )

Best regards,
Helmut


FURY

unread,
Oct 14, 2009, 5:17:01 PM10/14/09
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I think people like listing them as "theirs".
I think that was the whole point of the list to begin with,
though maybe that's changing now.

dropde...@gmail.com

unread,
Oct 14, 2009, 11:00:14 PM10/14/09
to

Hey
I got the first steps done on making this happen, have a working DB
and PHP example with some code on the shell. Waiting for a list of
requirements (see the ones above but waiting for anymore input ...)
here's what I have so far though:

http://users.tmok.com/~gauze/vectrex/display.php

sorting should work, I preemptively added a checkbox to reverse sort
results.

I'm not huge on aesthetics so once the barebones tables/sorting etc is
in place if someone has some HTML/CSS to contribute I will be glad to
fold it in.

I am thinking emailing me to remove names if someone trades or sells
one is the easiest for me since implementing any kind of email
validation thing isn't anything I want to get into especially since I
have never used the mail account in this shell and it was several
thousands of mails in it already.
Helmut can attest to me being responsive at least so manual
manipulation of the DB shouldn't be a problem:)

hcmffm

unread,
Oct 17, 2009, 4:53:50 PM10/17/09
to
Very fast and good update! :-) I like the sorting and the layout much more,
now. After adding some css the list part will be finished, I think.

> Helmut can attest to me being responsive at least so manual
> manipulation of the DB shouldn't be a problem:)

Yes, prompt responses are confirmed. :-)

> I'm not huge on aesthetics so once the barebones tables/sorting etc is
> in place if someone has some HTML/CSS to contribute I will be glad to
> fold it in.

Any design/CSS volunteers? A Vectrex logo, some colouring and an easy to
read font would be enough for a start.

> I am thinking emailing me to remove names if someone trades or sells
> one is the easiest for me since implementing any kind of email

Manual removing and updating is fine. You simply have to add a note and your
mail address on the webpage.

Thank you & regards,
Helmut


hcmffm

unread,
Nov 23, 2009, 7:31:04 AM11/23/09
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It got a bit quiet, here. I'll try to provide a simple design (CSS or
similar) for the serial page, soon.


Havok

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Dec 7, 2009, 10:07:27 AM12/7/09
to
Just added mine to the older database. It's interesting that of the
other 7 Canadian models, mine is the only one that is branded GCE. All
the other models are branded Milton Bradley.

dropde...@gmail.com

unread,
Jan 11, 2010, 12:46:11 AM1/11/10
to
On Nov 23 2009, 7:31 am, "hcmffm" <h...@sfp-online.de> wrote:
> It got a bit quiet, here. I'll try to provide a simple design (CSS or
> similar) for the serial page, soon.

still waiting ;)

I got busy with christmas rush at work (oct 1-dec 31) but I just made
some time to finish the code part of this, please test adding
vectrexes to it and let me know if you find any bugs or problems

http://entropy.tmok.com/~gauze/vectrex/index.php

VectrexMad!

unread,
Jan 11, 2010, 7:36:35 AM1/11/10
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On Jan 11, 5:46 am, "unclefre...@jerk.org" <dropdeads...@gmail.com>
wrote:

As part of my research I am using the old list a lot at the moment as
I am trying to write an article about Vectrex serial numbers. What
would be useful assuming the new code is up and running is also an
optional cell for where the Vectrex was made e.g. in Taiwan or Hong
Kong. I also would be interested in an optional cell about the country
the Vectrex currently resides in.
Also would there be any easy way to get the existing data into the new
coded system?
Thanks for your efforts.
VectrexMad!

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