777ismyname

I need to check the PicoMite out. I've got the Color Maximites 1 and 2, but haven't been on The Back Shed in ages. And I'm also ready for a 1090 loaded up with goodies.

Daniel, I’ll gladly pay for a month for you, if you want to try it out. Edit: I’ll likely try it out for a month, too, to see how it collates information and such.

It looks awesome and will be very helpful!

@xxl, is this available for download?

Is there a quick method to print a PDF from Altirra that will show Atari graphical type special characters? Something like was common in magazine type-in programs, specifically in USR routines. I am away from home for a couple of days at one of my cabins and was wanting to work on a couple of things by printing them, and then going over and marking on them. I had printed some out (yay for Fujinet!), but left them at home It isn't that far, but is still 75 minutes away. All I've got here at the cabin are a couple of Windows laptops and Canon inkjet printer.

I was aware of being able to use PTRIG, but was not aware of how much faster it is! I just ran a quick test in Turbo BASIC XL (not compiled), scanning STICK(0), PEEK(632), PTRIG(0) each for ten seconds and counting how many iterations were made in a WHILE/WEND loop. PTRIG won by a mile. I'm definitely using it, where possible! EDIT: For kicks and giggles, I ran it through the TBXL compiler. STICK(0)=6744, PEEK(632)=6852, PTRIG(8132)=8132. Now I've got to try this in Fast Basic

Oops, I’m sorry @telengard, I got my threads mixed up. I had been talking to someone via DM that was thinking of messing about with Risky Rescue. I reckon I will work on it some next week Fwiw, Risky Rescue is a type in program from Antic magazine, from 1984. It was written in Atari BASIC, with a ML routine or two. I always liked the game, but the latency from joystick movement/trigger press makes it a bit tricky. Using TBXL or similar speeds the game up dramatically, making it even more difficult. My apologies

@telengard, did you work on speeding up aspects of Risky Rescue, by chance? I’ve given a good bit of thought about it for a while, almost exclusively because of the latency involved with joystick stuff and stock Atari BASIC.

Speaking of Advan, there is a utility on the utilities disk that will import Atari BASIC programs, albeit with some limitations. Advan and Fast BASICs are great choices, if you’re willing to give them a try. Both have inbuilt PMG routines. There is a slightly modified version of the Compute magazine PMG routine over at Atari Wiki, in the Turbo BASIC XL section (left side > languages > BASIC > Turbo BASIC. It uses a couple of TBXL commands, but they are trivial to change to plain Atari BASIC.

Thank you! I think the regular MiST will be my Christmas present to myself, and I will definitely keep my eyes open for an EclaireXL. I would LOVE to play around with the 2x/4x video stuff, to see what might have been, albeit 40 years later

@foftand all, do the MiST/MiSTer Atari 8 bit cores support the faster CPU and Antic/GTIA speeds of the EclaireXL? I want to get a MiST for myself for Christmas and was curious. Any plans for another run of EclaireXL in the near future?

I was just playing about with Risky Rescue, which I always dug. For kicks and giggles I ran it through ABC Compiler and the results are kind of comical - as in unplayable. I've thought a good bit about porting it to Fast Basic and TBXL. My favorite ANALOG magazine game was the QIX clone.

Want to sell it? I certainly wish someone would make another few in a batch! Have you played about with the graphics with the 2x or 4x increase?

Doesn't the EclaireXL do that, at least to a degree? Man oh man, I'd LOVE to have an EclaireXL! What you've mentioned here is what I've thought about for many years. Something as small as doubling the bandwidth of GTIA & Antic, maybe the 6502 to 7.16Mhz, would be really great to me.

Just went to buy a couple of things, saw thr notification on the site, and now seeing this. I appreciate all the cool Atari stuff you made. I hope all goes well for you, Gavin. Take care!