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Seal to Whales from Datatech Enterprises discovered


Schitti

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It is time for for some News from AtariBoxed :cool:

 

We are happy to show you today some box-scans and screenshots of this very rare game, maybe never shown elswhere before.

As of today, this is the only version of which I know so far.

Our supporter AdryMorci has found this game boxed a while ago and made some scans and screenshots for us.

Many thanks to him.

http://www.atariboxed.com/index.php?go=detail&modul_refnumber=454

 

post-17534-0-11278900-1536911843.jpg

Edited by Schitti
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It is time for for some News from AtariBoxed :cool:

 

We are happy to show you today some box-scans and screenshots of this very rare game, maybe never shown elswhere before.

As of today, this is the only version of which I know so far.

Our supporter AdryMorci has found this game boxed a while ago and made some scans and screenshots for us.

Many thanks to him.

 

http://www.atariboxed.com/index.php?go=detail&modul_refnumber=454

 

attachicon.gifseal_to_whales_atariboxed.jpg

 

Great work, guys!

 

It looks like a Pengo type game, but it's not the same as Pengo, Frisco or Stone age.

 

I truly hope the ROM will be dumped.

 

It's a unique VCS game.

 

Thanks for sharing!

 

8)

Edited by Rom Hunter
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Great work, guys!

 

It looks like a Pengo type game, but it's not the same as Pengo, Frisco or Stone age.

 

I truly hope the ROM will be dumped.

 

It's a unique VCS game.

 

Thanks for sharing!

 

8)

 

:thumbsup:

I also thought about Pengo when I saw the first screenshots.

 

gameplay and sounds are different.

Edited by Schitti
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  • 3 years later...

Datatech Enterprises Co. was another name/brand of 創宏科技股份有限公司 (Chuanghong Technology Co., Ltd.), also known as 香港创辉电脑有限公司 (Hong Kong Chuanghui ["Colorful"] Computer Co., Ltd.). They are the same entity as what became known globally as DTK Computer. According to a page on Baidu they were first formed in Taiwan in 1982. Sources compiled at Wikipedia say 1981. The (archived) company website says capital was first raised in 1981, and DTK Group was founded the following year.

 

They became a somewhat well-known PC hardware manufacturer. Here's their "dtk" logo on a motherboard, along with a 1988 BIOS setup screen.

733511137_286-dtkcircled.thumb.jpg.5b7b4b553d7c0bda598526e01af6c619.jpg 286bios_01_s-datatech.jpg.3549a849a39d4b6db447b41370514d23.jpg

 

Their oldest registration of the dtk trademark in Taiwan has an application date of 1/31/1986. The application for a USA trademark was filed in the same year.

firstdtktrademark.thumb.PNG.42e43ddc807bde0779cedf9065a7eb67.PNG dtk-USA-trademark.PNG.639f49e64fc13ba2af211b969bd17202.PNG

 

An advertisement for PC hardware on page 192 of the November 1986 issue of Byte Magazine is what confirms that this is the same company behind the distribution of Seal To Whales; the ad mentions Datatech Enterprises, shows the "dtk" logo, and names the same Taipei PO Box address that is found on the back of the Seal To Whales box and on the cartridge label.

datatech-dtk-byte1986nov.thumb.PNG.01972227f05bd01b731e1515b2b50a2d.PNGDECbox.PNG.fedb62a1e998f3f12e3566f31afb65c1.PNG

 

To be clear, this only outlines what Datatech Enterprises Co. was, and none of this should be taken as any kind of suggestion that DEC was the developer of Seal To Whales. I agree with @Rom Hunter that this is probably the same game as what Home Vision would have called "Whales".

 

whales.PNG.a7bffbd3073126ed4de20e4559470555.PNG

 

@AdryMorci can you provide any additional information about Seal To Whales? Was it found in Spain or somewhere else? Has a ROM been dumped?

Edited by Ballblaɀer
extraneous image post
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On 4/10/2022 at 12:49 AM, Ballblaɀer said:

 

DECbox.PNG.fedb62a1e998f3f12e3566f31afb65c1.PNG

 

 

Interesting to me is that they used the copyleft symbol. I wonder why.

It was around and in use in 1983 - I checked.

Edit: I mean the word "copyleft" and not necessarily the symbol. Apparently formally described by Richard Stallman in his 1985 Gnu manifesto, but used in some form or another since at least 1976.  Incidentally, I have met and shown Richard around my (then) hometown for a day a few years back. That was an experience I'll never forget.

 

Edited by Andrew Davie
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On 4/15/2022 at 11:58 AM, Schitti said:

No news.
We still couldn't work anything out.

If the owner is brave enough to swap cartridges without powering off the console he can try the following "Poor Man's" dumper.:P

 

Things you need:
- An Atari 2600
- A Supercharger or a flashcart such as an Harmony to run the dumper rom.
- A way to record the audio output of the console (e.g. by connecting the headphone jack of the TV to a PC soundcard)

 

The procedure is the following:

  1. Load the dumper rom. The screen will show two vertical bars with cycling colors while an audio tone is played.
  2. Without powering off the console, unplug the cart with the dumper rom. If the 2 bars are not there anymore, or they're no longer cycling different colors, the program crashed. In this case power off the console and try again from the beginning.
  3. Without powering off the console, plug the cart to be dumped. Again, if the program crashes, power off and retry from the beginning.
  4. Start recording the audio
  5. Press the RESET switch until the screen goes black.
  6. When the colored bars reappear, the recording can be stopped (or you can press RESET again and record the game a few more times, which increases the chances to obtain a good dump. Trying different recording volume settings is a good idea too).
  7. Save the recording as uncompressed "wav" file and post it here

Point "3" is the most critical, as it's fundamental that you manage to plug the cart to be dumped without crashing the program (which is running from the console RAM). My 6-switch console always crashes in that step, but my Jr. only rarely does that. So in case of troubles it's worth trying a different console if possible.

 

Here is a short video of me successfully dumping a "Space Invader" cart with the Jr console connected through RF to a crappy 5" B&W portable TV. The headphone output of the TV is connected to my PC soundcard input and I use Audacity to record the audio.
Note that I cut the video so that shortly after the recording is started, it fades to the end. In reality it takes about a minute and a half to dump the game!

 

Roms for flashcarts:

2600dumper_4k_520baud_PAL.bin

2600dumper_4k_520baud_NTSC.bin

 

Audio files for Supercharger/Cuttle Cart

2600dumper_4k_520baud_PAL.wav

2600dumper_4k_520baud_NTSC.wav

 

PAL and NTSC versions only differ in the framerate of the display. And they're quite off specs too (270 scanlines for NTSC, 300 for PAL), but they should be good enough for most TVs. In previous versions I didn't even try to generate a stable image, but modern digital TVs often mute the audio if they cannot sync to the signal...

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7 minutes ago, alex_79 said:

If the owner is brave enough to swap cartridges without powering off the console he can try the following "Poor Man's" dumper.:P

That sounds a pretty much like my SaveKey dumper. But with totally different output. :thumbsup: 

Edited by Thomas Jentzsch
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I have versions for some bankswitching methods, but I'm pretty sure this game is 4k, so I only posted that one.

 

2600dumper_sa.zip

 

7 minutes ago, Thomas Jentzsch said:

BTW: How solid is dumping via audio? 

It's very reliable in my experience, even using RF. I've been using this method for quite a few years. You only need to play a bit with the volume levels.

 

 

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