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Thanks - didn’t know this hack! @Thomas Jentzschmaybe you have or can do a PAL version of it please? 🥺

Must admit, after seeing/playing Missile Command (played it to death in the past), I'm considering a VBXE install

What I usually see here used instead of small capitals are italics. For the same reason as the Wikipedia article mentions as a use case for small capitals. When I do see small capitals here it's in that case as the first few words in a new paragraph. Instead of indentations or just one large leading letter. But then they aren't small capitals in the font used, but a totally separate font used for the leading words. Sometimes even in a different color.

I've got 2 PS3's hooked up in my game area. One is a later slim model that my buddy gave to me without a harddrive, but for free. I installed a new harddrive and it runs great. I use that one for driving games like GT6, Daytona USA, and a few others that I play with my Logitech wheel. I've also got a stack of 12-15 AAA games that were given to me, but I don't see myself ever getting around to playing them at this point. The other is my original 80GB fat which has a dud laser (already replaced it once, 10 years ago). It also likes to spontaneously shut down when playing processor-intensive games (like GT6), presumably due to some kind of PSU or overheating issue. So, I've soft-modded it and filled up the HDD with a nice selection of shoot 'em ups and arcade-type games (mostly from PSN) which I play on a rotatable screen (for shooters that support TATE mode) and arcade controls. After over a year of use, none of these games have caused the shut down issue. I love that I was able to find a nice use for this busted old console which I was very close to just tossing in the bin at the electronics recycling center. The arcade style of the games list makes this particular setup a fairly common choice for me when I go down there, because I'm all about the "get-in-and-get-out" game experiences as opposed to the big 100+ hour time wasters.

I may sound preachy, but only because I feel passionate about issues of software piracy and IP theft in particular. I merely took a stand and stated my opinions on a very polarizing issue. Hard to believe in this day and age, huh? Someone who is actually willing to take a stand on a matter of consequence. But I am not trying to change anyone. I am not about imposing my beliefs on others, nor am I motivated to diminish your argument by taking it apart on a point by point basis as you have now done. I believe there is plenty of room on this forum for multiple viewpoints, including yours. I've said all I am going to say about this issue, and I shall now abandon this thread for good. The OP has long since sold his games, and this lingering thread is now showing all the signs of turning ugly. And nobody wants that. Do have a great day! -Ben

amazing, we are finally getting some VBXE software after all these years waiting

I'm not an expert, but most probably you need to redeploy it. It's not much of config. To be on safe side, i would only stoop old container, then deploy new one, an check if everything is working, then remove old one. As they use same ports both cannot run in parallel, but can use same share. Just review config of old one an adjust it to new one. It's only ports and path.

Besides prototype/unreleased stuff like the Atari 2700 and Kee Programmable Game System, I *think* the only ones I'm missing are the Atari 2800, the Irish all-black 2600jr., and, weirdly, a Sears Light Sixer. Otherwise, I think I've got every version, and then some: Atari 6-switch - heavy Sears 6-switch - heavy Atari 6-switch - light Atari 4-switch woodgrain Sears 4-switch Atari 4-switch - black Sears Video Arcade II Atari 2600jr. - small rainbow Atari 2600jr. - large rainbow Coleco Gemini Columbia Home Arcade Expansion Module #1 (for Colecovision) System Changer (for Intellivision II) VCS Adapter (for Atari 5200) For grins and giggles, I've also got a TV Boy and an Edu-Games 2600 (an Argentinian 2600jr. clone). If I had to pick a favorite, my gut tells me Atari Light Sixer. But, variety is the spice of life! 😁

You can also order them already done from Blue Sky Rangers for just $2 or $3 a set (which is quite cheap). I honestly don't know why anyone would want to take the time to print & cut these when they are so readily available. https://www.ebay.com/str/blueskyrangers?mkcid=16&mkevt=1&mkrid=711-127632-2357-0&ssspo=ex-C4Qt_Rhu&sssrc=3418065&ssuid=mEXHEiIoQQG&widget_ver=artemis&media=COPY

So true, and if you ask you'll get admonished by both the people who know the potential but refuse to explain, and the people who believe in mythical untapped Jaguar potential. But due to Moore's Law, you can make a reasonable guess of what it's capable of for a system of that timeframe and price.

You're entitled to your opinion. I would suggest trying a few more games and consider that the bits mean little to nothing. Try playing Tempest 2k, NBA Jam and other games. I personally really love Defender 2K but I also know that is not everyone's cup of tea. The Jaguar was positioned strangely in the market, not by design but by the unknown but inevitable direction of gaming. They were trying to out do the SNES and MD and did so quite well. They threw in very fast (For the time) 3D and they really did have some good ideas that could have been executed better. You look at the interviews by members of the Atari team from the time and tell me that those people weren't passionate and trying their hardest make the best with what they had. Some games suffered at the hands of inexperience, budgets or bad tools. The Jag is a 2D powerhouse and if you look at something like Skyhammer you can see just how much they were able to pull out of the system in terms of 3D. I'd bet that someone today could optimize that game to run better but only because we know more now than was known then. Could it out perform the PSX in 3D? Should it be able to? Hardware was increasing in power quite fast in those days and the PSX is how much newer than the Jag? Nothing I said here should be taken negatively btw. Hang out, enjoy the forums.

Yeah, that is true. We might never know why they were using small caps from their early days of making mining industrial electronics machines. There is a whole Wikipedia page about the history of small caps: https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Small_caps As for the video processing stacking the tms9918 a bit easier as the overlay circuit is inside the silicon but all versions can handle it, even the later improved models of v9938 had that option. On the ti99 when using the 9918 the extvdp is infact sent to pin 5 of the monitor part, but as @Tursi points out the SYNC line is fixed to the reset control stuff the missing pull to 9v circuit is not there, plus it has to be timed right as if you pull it for too long the vram stops being refreshed as well, causing data loss. I need to find the original ti datasheet that shows how it all works they made what was called a "application note" describing it in detail with the special 9v sync circuit detailed out.

You will usually only get a long IRG at the start of file (leader tone) when using CIO. When you write a record, the SIO output at the end should be logic 1 which is the same as the tone for IRG. You should be able to get a longer IRG by just having a delay between SIOV calls, and there should be no disruption in the leader tone. But don't use long IRG mode since it stops the cassette motor at the end of each write. Also since you're using SIOV you have the flexibility in that you can write out practically any record size that you want (I'm guessing you're probably already planning to do that) I used it in the day before I had a 1050 to create a fast loading AsmEd image - it had a loader that was a few blocks long then the entire 8K cart image was written as a single block. Also I used a VBI when writing it to increase the baud rate.

I guess the same reason why when you need a winter coat in February all you can find is a few on clearance but plenty of swimsuits.. retail stocks months ahead of demand. Plus in those days you had all those printed Christmas catalogs which I'm sure take a while to put together and you want your game to be included.

The cpu is a Rockchip RK3032. It's a dual core ARM chip running at 1 ghz. The GPU is Mali but I can't find anything on how fast it runs. The upgraded RK3036 has a Mali running at 400mhz so I'd assume less than that.

I decided to put some time into Resident Evil 4 - Wii Edition, and have probably played about 4-5 hours so far. Coming into this, the only RE game I've ever played was back in the late 90s when I rented the original for a weekend to play on PS1. I remember not caring much for it because I found all the weird fixed camera angles confusing and the controls were horrible. I can see RE4 is highly regarded game in general, and I've had a pretty fun time with it so far. The controls are leaps-and-bounds better than what I remember on PS1, but still a bit goofy with the Wii implementation. I really like the idea of using the pointer functionality to aim your shots with the analog stick on the nunchuk for movement, but it really bugs me how you can't move your view around by dragging the cursor to the sides of the screen, as is done in some of the other games I've played. Also, I feel like with these types of games, you kind of get a good feel for the breadth of the game's experience very quickly then it's just rinse/repeat for several hours while a flimsy "story" attempts to bolt on some context for why you're walking around collecting items and shooting things. So, while it was OK fun, I'm probably done with it.

Replacement 8bitdo Retro dongle on the way, hopefully this sorts it. Edit: before I return I documented/photo'd the board, this one is a V5 (MDRR 83FA V5), produced in May 2023. I'll follow up w/the replacement. I'd be interested if anyone w/a board made in 5/23 up through current has had the same issue(s?) - to that end, I'll peek at the replacement's board and document it.

Aren't we due for Xbox Vista? Instead we get "Wii U Wii U Wii U" like an ambulance. Or a Huey Lewis song "Do you believe in love? Wii U Oh-Oh Wii U"

Well I wrote it wrong, it was an earlier post on this very thread that you had been reading! Also I've been a member here since 2015, though I browse quite a bit I just rarely post.

Too much of a hassle to order from that nut job. Plus, his power supplies are more expensive and that isn't even including his shipping cost.

Interesting. Thanks for the information. Yes, I kept the replacement PIA in the computer, and all is fine now 👍🏼 And the Sys-Check 2.2 is working great as extended RAM. I’ve been checking out quite a few newer demos and games that require extra RAM. It’s a good preview before I install U1MB 😁 What other extended RAM test do you recommend?

With the huge number of excellent PAL titles available, a "Toggle PAL(50Hz)/NTSC(60Hz)" function would be essential; without having to completely reset the machine every time ...

It's actually easier to mix graphics modes than it is to add a DLI to change colors, DLI requires extra code, while changing modes only requires altering bytes in the display list. Basically all the 8-bits of the era are very limited in resolution and color placement. RAM was expensive, the 6502 can only access 64K directly and graphics chips were not that good. A 160x200 mode that could put 16 colors anywhere on screen would require 16K RAM and 320x200 at 16 colors would need 32K ram. That's a big ask for such limited systems! Instead systems like the Apple II, Atari and C64 limited graphics memory to about 8-10K and used various tricks to boost on screen colors. The common Apple II high res mode was 280x192 with 6 colors. But it really was a 2 color mode and relied on artifacting to produce colors. That gives four effective colors, but they also used one bit of every graphics byte to swap between orange + blue and green + purple. This color bit use is why it's 280x192 and not 320x192 like Atari. Atari can get 4 colors with artifacting, but not the 6 that Apple could. But on Apple you can't put green and blue pixels next to each other in the same byte, or orange and purple. So you have to keep those limits in mind when designing graphics On C64 160x200 mode is 4 color and 320x200 mode is 2 color just like Atari, but C64 divides the screen into character-sized cells where you can change the colors of those cells (4x8 cells in 160x200 mode and 8x8 in 320x200 mode). 320x200 with 2 color cells is hard to work with, but if a game manages to pull it off, the C64 version will look better than Atari, because Atari's color use is more limited in high-res. Many C64 games run in 160x200. Instead of using color cells, Atari uses DLIs to define color regions That means colors can change line-by-line instead of cell by cell- each approach is good for kinds of games, and worse for others. I've noticed if a game was designed on Atari, it will look best on Atari, If designed for C64, it will look best on C64 and so on. Finally differences in ports could be due to technical limitations, but it could also be due to quick and dirty ports. I've never played Druid, but looking at the graphics, it looks like a better job could have been done on Atari, but it also appears to be tile-based, and the color-cell approach of C64 can better suit tile-based games than the Atari DLI approach.

That's part of the longer term plan, yes. ..Al

you need a crew of trained cart assembly chimpanzees.