Jump to content

Devin

Members
  • Posts

    487
  • Joined

  • Last visited

Contact / Social Media

Profile Information

  • Custom Status
    Its all HCLR to me!
  • Gender
    Male
  • Location
    Sacramento, California,

Recent Profile Visitors

16,261 profile views

Devin's Achievements

Moonsweeper

Moonsweeper (5/9)

33

Reputation

  1. I think that will do the job. How hard would it be to convert composite to VGA?
  2. I need some quick advice on hooking up an old Pong console. I'm an a teacher for a introduction to computer science course. We cover an array of topics - including video game history. So, we get to talk about the Pong Revolution, the Atari 2600, Pac-mania, etc... To give students some hands-on experience with computer history - and appreciate how fun a simple system can be - I put together a Pong Tournament using an old Super Pong IV. Traditionally, I have hooked my pong console into a VCR to convert the RF to RCA. The RCA was hooked into the wall panel or directly to the projector. However, they recently upgraded to a projector that only contains a S-Video and HDMI ports. What would be the best way to hook up the system? The wall contains a VGA port - used for hooking up laptops - so that is an option as well. Is there an RF to VGA converter? Or RF to HDMI?
  3. I think no. The falling bricks will be flikering player or missile. The ball is used for display the gates. New Anim demo : Torch and hourglass. Wow, that is some exceptional animation for the 2600!
  4. That's optimistic! :) Still, the site would sell far more staying with the 2600 format. ... and there are some exceptional 2600 programmers!
  5. A 7800 version would be interesting. Toyshop Trouble is a masterpiece! However... I don't know if they will sell better than a 2600 holiday cart. I'm guessing there are a hundred 2600 users per every one 7800 user.
  6. I forgot to mention that the LCD monitor (and other modern devices) are very, very, very picky about signal strength. Those old pong systems (and the Atari 2600) send an incredibly weak signal over the wire. It was good enough for the TVs of the time, but modern hardware doesn't react. If you want to hook up an old system, and are having trouble with signal strength, a good alternative is to use a VCR. You can plug the RCA (using a RCA-Coaxial converter) into the input on the VCR. The composite out is great for modern TVs. I conducted a pong tournament this semester and used a VCR to bridge my old Sears Super Pong IV to the overhead projector.
  7. Nothing is wrong. It looks like you have yourself a nice pong console! All the pongs - every GI-chip one (like the APF) and the Atari Pongs do not transmit audio over the cable. They don't even attempt to transmit silence. Instead, you always get various hissing and crackling. This is just the tech of the time. So, you will have to turn the audio down. Its the same with all of them. ... so, grab a beer, invite some friends over, put on some disco, and have a great time!
  8. Looks cool so far! I've heard about it raining cats and dogs... but never mice!
  9. Nay, the question is: what am I doing up this late?
  10. Atari graphics are quite unique amongst the consoles. There are only two sprites that can appear on the same horizontal line. Atari programs "chase the beam". They update the screen at the same time it is being drawn. The Atari has some built in features such as drawing sprites double-wide, quad-wide, and in duplicates of 2 or three. There are some timing tricks too. But, Berzerk is a pretty straight forward, expertly programmed, game. When it comes to Berzerk, each robot is the same sprite. The programmer just moves it horizontally depending on the next robot's location. The dead-giveaway is the horizontal blank "bar" on the right. The Atari doesn't draw the first 8 pixels on the right anytime one of the sprites is moved. I've attached a picture with lines showing the sprite's area. Robot's will not cross each other vertically, but horizontally can be lined up. The screen blinks with Otto shows up since the programmer is using the same sprite for the player and Otto - and only drawing one screen at a time. This way, Otto can be given the illusion of running (bouncing) at you horizontally.
  11. You can right shift the result 5 times to get the 1 you need. You could then use the 1 or 0 as an index into a table containing 0 and 255.
  12. Ah yes. Forgive my foggy old memory! 2000 ironically came out in 1989 - and that's the one I played. Still, this game has some very rare honesty for the time - in the lyrics. You've got the power! (Ha ha ha haaaa!) You've got the might! (No way!) Get ready for battle! (Give me your money!) Beat the Black Knight! (Ha ha ha haaaa!) Here's a video: P.S. It sounds like "right" rather than "might".
  13. I used to love Black Knight: http://www.flippers.info/blackknight.asp Its a pretty straight forward game which makes use of choir AD&D-ish music. EDIT: I actually found the background music! I can't remember if this was attract mode or during game play. 801 Black Knight.mp3
  14. I saw this on eBay, and it looks a bit odd. Its an auction for a Sears Atari 2600. The picture makes it look like there are 2 speakers built into the top of the console - like a classic Pong system. Was this normal for Sears 6-switchers? The system is nonfunctional. eBay Auction -- Item Number: 250824681018 EDIT: Added photo
×
×
  • Create New...