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JCat

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About JCat

  • Birthday December 5

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  • Gender
    Male
  • Location
    New York
  • Interests
    Retro video games, computers & vintage toys/games. Writing, RPGS, Coffee, Sci-Fi movies and any horror movie with Vincent Price, Stereoscopic 3D technology, web design, i-devices, Theme Parks, Rollercoaster Tycoon, politics, staying up all night, not being a lemming.

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  1. Great work! A few mediocre titles made it in, yet no Centipede or Millipede? No Necromancer? ...thats one of the top 5 of all time in my opinion. Oh, and the original Star Raiders? The was Ataris system seller, the killer app if you will.
  2. Thank you for the detailed reply, Phaeron. It was very helpful!
  3. Altirra is my go to emulator for the computer and 5200. Just love it. I went through the documentation, command line help and google searches to no avail. Sorry for all the questions, but I want to get this all sorted out. What is the purpose of saving an image in a drive? For example, you have a game on 4 discs, and and you drop them into 4 drives to use the rotation feature. Now if you exit Altirra, it warns you about saving Drive memory. I see each Drive has its own save function. Where do you load these back in? This may not be possible, but can you do a save state on a game with it's drive configuration (like the above), then load the state back in and have the drives also return in their order? I've tried, but the drive slots are empty when I load a save state. Ultimately, I just want to be able to play multi-disc games without having to re-attach them with each session. Is there a way map an exit command to the joystick so Altirra can shut down (and I can get back to my front end?). Thank you!
  4. Thanks, I'll give that a look over. Yes, that's what I meant, thanks. I'm wondering why he rigged up that input as opposed to going through the normal din connection? The power supply he included is for that added input. Is it because of the ram expansion? Yeah, there is no shielded lid unfortunately. I wouldn't mind, but right now, they're pricey on eBay. Thanks, that's actually quite helpful! Oh, thanks! I didn't know about this color pot. Glad I didn't screw the case back yet...
  5. How difficult is it to put in a new board? Also, where are you folks sourcing them these days?
  6. Thanks, Umberto. I have a feeling the B/W problem when using an upscaler has to do with the type of procedure Sal used for S-Video. Just popped the top. Here's the inside of Sal's work, which includes the S-Video and and some kind of added power out port.
  7. A regular M/M S-Video through the upscaler, with an HDMI output. Thanks. Yes, definitely had color (and bad horizontal lines) when I had it plugged into an S-Video Monitor back in 2011, but I no longer have that monitor. Anything now would have to have HDMI which is why I got the upscaler (which works because I tested it with a SNES). As for the RF, this was a reply I got from Sal back in 2011 " I already disconnect the RF when I install the S-Video. it's probably just the version of the motherboard that is in it. Also the TV that you use can also have an effect. Have you tried it on a different TV?". The power supply says SPC Technology. Switching Mode Power Supply. Input: 100-250V - 47 - 63hz 0.5A / Output: 5V 3.5A. One end uses a standard PC power cord that you plug into the PSU. I'll look up this Ingot thing. I never opened the unit, but I will look for some videos on how to do so, and post it here. Thanks. That would related to the question about interference, but I'm super concerned on getting this thing to output color. I know other people were successful using an upscaler, but it sounds like they didn't use the method sal posted, or did himself for other machines.
  8. Back in 2011, I was hunting for an upgraded XL system, and pretty much didn't know where to turn. I found Sal's site which offered XLs with upgraded memory. He had one product advertised simply called an "Atari XL" (or XL+ I forget). It had the 128 upgrade and S-video out. I wasn't sure why he didn't have model number, but the pic looked like an 800XL and I was fine with that. After paying with Paypal, it took quite a while for things to get going, to the point, I was going to cancel and ask for a refund, but he said the money was spent, and sure enough, the next day, I got a tracking number. When I received the product, it turned out to be an upgraded 600XL. I was somewhat OK with that -- probably cause I had to wait so long. My problem was, the S-Video output was awful, with thick, vertical bands. If you moved the power supply, the bands would pulse for a second. I tried various cables and 2 different monitors...same problem. I emailed Sal and he did respond a number of times with various suggestions, but nothing seemed to work. I was able to use it, but was so unhappy about the interference. After a while, I put it aside and it's been in the closet for years. Now recently, I've gained my interest back (and finally free time) in the retro scene, playing around with emulators and loving Altirra to death. This inspired me to take out the 600XL again, but the problem was, I no longer owned an S-Video capable monitor/TV. After reading some older topics here, I decided to try a Tendak upscaler with S-Video to HDMI out from Amazon. Someone here in the forum apparently had good luck with it. Well, unfortunately, that wasn't the result I got. The actual upscaler is great, however, it only outputs in B/W from the 600Xl. So, that brings me to these questions: Is this B/W problem due to the type of upgrade Sal installed? I saw in other topics, there was an S-Video upgrade/mod that seemed to be quite popular, and the recommended option among most of the responders. I know Sal removed the composite out of the 600XL, as that output now only supports audio. Is there something I can do, or is this too far gone. I have some soldering experience from a few past modifications, but I'm far from an expert. Thanks for any suggestions (sorry for the long backstory).
  9. Transfered over the latest Altirra to the emulator folder in Best Game Pack, and now it's running perfectly smooth.
  10. Thanks for the replies - yes, vsync is ticked. I'm going to go back in and see if it's just some setting that is different between both - like something I have not checked off or on.
  11. I'm late to the party as I go through my emulation phases, and haven't been around for ages... I know this pack is no longer being updated, but I absolutely love what I downloaded. Just curious - I noticed when playing games, the frame rate seems to a bit off when compared to using the latest stand alone Alterra. For example, when playing the Atlantis rom, the ships have a slight stagger/jitter when moving across the screen, but in straight Alterra, they move much cleaner, like the real deal. I tested other fast moving games with the same results. Is it because the Best Game Pack is using an older version of Alterra? Thanks!
  12. One of my favorite emus, no doubt. Would love to see this running on an Android or IPad some day, though the iPad would have to be jail broken.
  13. Agreed! I still remember the first day of purchasing my Atari 400 and StarRaiders weeks after the debut. Stuck with Atari all the way to the end of that era. My favorite years were no doubt, the 8-bit.
  14. Droid800 works fine on a Kindle Fire. I only wish it were on an iPad 2 as well. I also wish I can figure out how to actually enable basic for some games that required it.
  15. Hello and Happy New Year. I haven't been around for quite some time, but I am glad I found this topic. Early in the year, I was on one of my Atari 8-bit highs, and decided to really get involved with my retro hobby by purchasing a system. I was using emulators for quite some time which are great, but I wanted to play around with hardware via Ape Interface. After a lot of research (unfortunately, not enough) I decided to give kjmann a shot and purchase one of his upgraded "XL systems with the extra ram and pre-installed S-Video output; I paid with PayPal. Ten days went by and I didn't hear a thing from kjmann .. was waiting for at least some kind of update? I sent a few emails and never received a reply. I finally sent an email asking that the order be canceled, and I finally got a reply. He said he was sorry but could not cancel as the money was already spent to buy new inventory for his store, and "the system is probably in the mail already". I then asked for a tracking number, and received no reply. After a few days later and multiple tracking number requests, I finally got the tracking number. It arrived approximation 20 days after payment. I don't mind waiting, but at least be upfront about any delays - I was left guessing.. Well, it turned out this beefed up XL was actually a retrofitted 600XL. The original pic on his site made it look like an 800XL or 1200XL, as the 600XL's smaller footprint is easy to distinguish. OK, well, I figured, with the ram upgrade and S-Video output, I'll live with this model. Well, add salt to the wounds, the S-Video output was horrendous. It had horrible vertical bands, and I tried it on four different TV sets and two monitors. The weird part was, upon turning on the unit, I would get anywhere from 10 seconds to a minute of a clean signal, which would give way to vertical bands and remain that way until I turned the unit off. I emailed Sal and he was quick to respond with various things to try but nothing really worked. I even tried a new power supply I had around the house which had the same specs, and no differences. The final response was something like ' I wish could be of more help -- it works on my TV fine'. Well, at least the company that supplies the A.P.E interface came through with fast shipping.. but the XL fiasco from jkmann was a lesson in frustration and disappointment. I was going to post my opinion back in May, but saw no other complaints and figured maybe I was being unreasonable expecting more. Today I decided to visit the forum and do a search on jkmann again, and sure enough, this topic shows up. I should have simply taken it up with PayPal, so that was very stupid on my part. Oh well, live and learn
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