Mathias

Sice August the 26th we have opened the preorderings for the 2nd batch of Firebee computers. You can read all the background informations in the news article: http://firebee.org/fb-bin/news?action=full_news&idnews=223&lng=EN&offset=0 So far there are 36 preorders that came in the last weeks. Only 14 more before we are able to go into the next PCB production. So if you are considering about getting a FireBee computer, now would be a good possibility to support the project. http://firebee.org

The Atari Coldfire Project released the new website for the FireBee TOS computer. http://firebee.org

Okay, so if your finetuning is nice, and should not be lost, why not. It´s just that the Seldesk GEM application and the "welcome screen" just appeare once, as you might remember. But DarkLord will be able to start it manually. But the resolution is mandatory, as you can never know what other monitors can display. So the 640 x 480 in 16 Bit is really important. And the latest archive is the link above that I posted. FireBees still get delivered with it. The new FreeMiNT is available tomorrow, and user applicatoins like zView, Netsurf, ... have to be downloaded at their project pages. That may be why you go no answer (do you mean your mail from 19th of January?), as there is no new setup, and all the links to the new programs are at http://acp.atari.org (again when atari.org it is back in a few days).

Within a few hours sold, ... ;-o So who is the lucky person? Slor, do not forget to set it back to 640 x 480 resolution, or additionally in best case kick everything from the CF card and unpack the entire fresh FreeMiNT again (without booting afterwards!). So the new owner will have that nice "welcome feeling" as well. http://atari.nvg.org/firebee-mint/

Ah, and some important parts that I missed about unfinished stuff: there is recently no DSP and no Blitter implemented inside the FPGA. That means slooow scrolling as no Falcon DSP applications right now. The Blitter is under construction by Wolfgang Förster and will be done the upcoming months, for the DSP there is no timeline (its half finished) as we have no VHDL manpower recently (volunteers?). All updates for the FPGA are doable with a nice GEM programm from the desktop, like a "Firmware update". Works well for 2 years now.

TJ, the FireBee has FireTOS a slightly adapted TOS 4.04 for Falcons inside the ROM. So any Falcon manual will do or any TOS "first steps" - it´s the same TOS. So you will remember many things as soon as you work with TOS again. Next "layer" is the FreeMiNT setup that we deliver preinstalled at the Compact Flash card (if you like). It is a "GEM dedicated" MiNT without any Unix stuff. So if you are familiar with TOS GEM (again) you will be able to use this MiNT immediatly. Just graphical stuff, and several small new GAM applications for configuring. Only the MiNT- as XaAES config may be of interrest (later). You can try to answer some of your questions here: http://wiki.sparemin...x.php/Main_Page But belive me that MiNT is as easy as TOS itselve. You can use the preinstalled stuff to explore MiNT XaAES and the Thing or Teradesk desktops, without problems. If you step into any opened questions or problems, just ask at the various forums, Atariguys are nice people - and there is no silly question!Edit: you can find the Falcon Owners Manual here: http://dev-docs.atariforge.org/

First, the FireBee is a "Falcon Clone" not a replacement for STs (take a Suska if you like STE compatibility). It is also dedicated to GEM usage, and productive applications. Next point is; for how long now Line-A should not be used? And no, as it looks now there will never be a "Line-A" "native solution". Nevertheless there are 2 parts of software that are helpful: Vincents 68k CPU, that runs a software-emulated CPU at the FireBee, and now as well Hatari. Of course Hatari would need some improvments, and it is not that funny to "totally emulate" with 264 MHz, but it is possible. Of course our compatibility focus is at clean GEM applications, and everything else like ST-Stuff is a fancy addon. For example Klatzs first patch for Arcanoid, etc.

Well, as said, you need to ask exact questions. RSS is working, Netsurf is working quite well (even if you need to be patient, as it is not 100% optimized, and sometimes needs several seconds for rendering), of course no Javascript. USB (mice, kbd, sticks) are working very well, SD card, CompactFlash as well. Missing is recently; SCSI, ROM-Port, Game-Port, ACSI Not well working/recently under construction are: Printer (paralell), FLoppy (just reading yet), MIDI Thats why it is called "Alpha Status" Everything else is in good usable condition. About half of the GEM applications I am testing, are working out of the box. Tell me what you like to do and I can say if it works right now already. Edit: (Beside Typo), the screenshot is with 1680 x 1050 @ 32 Bit

Of course I got my own one, and use it on a (nearly) daily basis. But I am unsure you like some informations from somebody who is deeply inside the project? It´s still "Alpha - Edition" but it really feels like a computer, and is usable for several day to day (GEM-) tasks. As I wrote in the german forum some days ago, I am on my way to use it exclusively as only computer. That´s recently not possible, but the last months I often powered it up instead of my Mac to do small and quik tasks in more easy ways. So if you have exact or special questions please go ahead.

Thanks! Thats a very good initiative. That´s even a possibility for the time after tomorrow.

Some crossposting from atari-forum, as I consider this topic as very important. Many of you may know the german company "Cumputerinsel". They provided us with Atari Photoline as freeware, and gave us a rabat - just till tomorrow - for recent Mac or PC versions to see if there is an active Atari community (I know not the best solution). So please consider to get a Photoline licence, to perhaps attract "Computerinsel" for further Atari development! "Today and tomorrow you got the last chance to get Photoline with an rabate for just 55,- Euros if you order with "ACP" as code. Please remember, we got tha last Photoline for Atari (vers. 2.3) as Freeware plus that rabate if you order a recent Mac or PC (3.2) copy. I consider the success of this possibility as the latest indicator for the well known company "Computerinsel" if there is an Atari-szene at all! http://atari-forum.com/viewtopic.php?f=92&t=23553 http://acp.atari.org/ News from 2012-06-17 http://www.pl32.de "

DarkLord, no problem at all, It's just my poor english, that makes me unsure. As I said, I know it is not a price that everybody can simply pay. Thats expecially hard for us regarding teammembers and Atari users from countries where you earn much more less, let's say about 200-300 Euros per month, ... theloon, the outer layer is totally shielded! So no problems without case. But the mini-case delivering starts very soon as well!

OK, thats a solution as well, ... We always post just the website, as direct links may change etc. About the price, I know it is not that easy, but it is the best we could give to you when doing small series. There would be a series of several thousands (2000-5000) needed to lower the price significantly, ... and you know nobody of is is earning anything, we are all working for free. Nevertheless, look at the crazy prices for Falcons, CT6xies, PAKs etc. I think it is not that crazy, ... is it?

Hi all, we've done a 10 minute video about our Atari Falcon compatible computer and it's recent stage. You can watch some heavy multitasking action and mainly some online capabilities. It gives a very nice overview about recent software status. And I hope it will show as well the possible potential, as there is still no blitter implemented for example. See http://acp.atari.org

Yeah, i have a good working Debian at my PM9600 as at my G4 Dual 1,2 but I nearly never use it, ... no need for it.