falcon_

I also worked on this a bit, checked a few things, then rechecked, ohya, Rybags said the VCOUNT can differ sometimes for one clock cycle... So taking that into effect, I offer for your amusement :-) Technically I did not test this routine.... ; ; ntsc/pal detect on atari gtia ; ; uses A X and Carry ; detectgtiamode .stage1 lda VCOUNT ; does not interfere with DLI's! rol ; waits for VCOUNT => 128, shifting msb to carry for looping. bcc .stage1 sei ; interrupts off when beam almost off screen, VCOUNT=128+, no more DLI .stage2 tax ; store old vcount in X lda VCOUNT ; load new vcount bne .stage2 ; if zero,then X contains max vcount value and drop out of loop cli ; interrupts on ... DLI back txa ; X should be aprox 131 or 156 decimal sbc #16 ; even out the #'s. allows for tiny variations!! rol ; we can use msb into carry to tell video mode rts ; assuming a jsr? ; ; on exit ; carry 0 = ntsc, carry 1 = pal, X contains max VCOUNT aprox 131 or 156 ; end detectgtiamode

JAC! that's a new one I have never heard before. Good one! &falcon

what about simply using: lda $00ff instead? lda $ff will definitely assemble to zp. wouldn't that do it?? &falcon

Hmmm, that's a good solder point to know about IMHO. I'll file this away in my drawer of developer theory. I already liked the 'LUM' project (anyone else?) and your thought means the other side is available for 'special video input' too. There are curious possibilities here...<devious laff...> &falcon

I have a fully socketed 800XL with Rev A keyboard (the nicest). Unfortunately I doubt I could be coaxed to sell at any price...... ....how much would you pay? (really it's my favourite Atari, I just teasing) ==falcon==

Excellent just excellent! I love it more because to be honest I seriously have thought this idea lately too. But you did the case backing, which I didn't consider. I have been thinking recasing my XL and whether to keep the stock kb or translate a bigger(pc) kb. Lots of room in that case now! Right on!

Very impressive!! Many thanks for this, it should be an invaluable reference! mysterious quote: How do you define relevant ? It all depends...

Would this be an easy chip to reproduce with a PIC? I second this thought. Couldn't the m3002 be emulated by a current AVR/PIC/ARM ?? @Fox-1 You have the datasheet, and certainly what is needed from the chip for the atari clock to work is known. I say there could be a decent replacement made using a new microcontroller for < $3. Comments anyone?

The RasperriPI is TOO KWWL - mainly the price! If it were $200 there wouldn't be as much to rave on. I'm glad to see someone else thinking like I would/have. There could be much power available to _alter_ the A8 in magical ways we haven't thought about yet! There is a video on YT of the Rasperri playing Quake1 on 1080p and it's decently smooth! Is 128 Meg ram enough??? dream=on Imagine - installing a rasperripi INTO your atari for feature upgrades and unlimited software and development on your XL/XE.... It could provide interpretation or execution of code hosted on the rasperri. You could program A8 games/apps using custom Python or Java or BASIC or even LUA! Oh and C++ or Objective-C or LISP! Tools to make better entertainment using the ole A8 hardware... dream=off Could be interesting. falcon_

Um, I see... What do you mean by 'CPU'?? Is it some cpu-core in the circuitry? You said to tell you what I/we want. Can I inquire to the type of possibility we are thinking about here? What _can_ I suggest?? thanks! falcon_

Interesting! What I want?? I want that good ole Atari Magic Then what scale of possibility are we talking about here? Can you make a full cpld video processor chip, or just tweak or alter the standard GTIA?? I bet the community would be more happy with a hybrid approach, as would I. Using the original HW to the max, and 'improving it' to make that small leap for atarikind.... falcon_

Wha Wha?? This sounds interesting! Could you please elaborate, Bob? Kwwl project folks!

Something like the fast and powerful VCS (Visual) batariBasic would be perfect! http://bataribasic.com/ http://www.atariage....r-batari-basic/ I wonder how big a jump it would be from the 2600 version? That idea is certainly interesting! I think I've seen bAtari comment negatively about porting bB to the 'big system'. I would enjoy having some similarities with bB! I definitely was going to eliminate the need for line#'s and have 'real source code'. Since the code in bB must be so small, I wonder if there's a 'nucleus' part/structure that can be used, with permission? I wonder how the DPC+ is going? I would really value a good clear description of just what DPC+ does - I have some idea but, eg; I rarely even see what DPC stands for in the vcs threads nor how the '+' differs. (Do the authors know??? ) I was surprised when the polls on this site show that most ppl (other than asm) use TurboBasic; not Action! or even C! So that's partly why I am interested in an expandible turbobasic. Many can contribute to it! Imagine; having a 320K XE and loading up a 180K game! (or more) Peace!