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Nebulon

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  • Gender
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  • Interests
    Retro games, retro music, retro fashion, ....

    Anything with cool neon lines.


    Currently surrounded by:

    ColecoVision + various modules
    Vectrex
    Atari 400
    Atari 800
    Atari 800XL
    Intellivision
    SEGA Genesis
    SEGA Dreamcast
    XBOX classic
    XBOX 360s
    TI-99/4A white
    TI-99/4A silver
    Sinclair ZX1000
    Commodore 128
    Commodore VIC-20
    Apple IIe
    Amiga 500
    Amiga 2000
    Amiga 4000/040
    Amiga 1200
    Atari 1040 STe (4MB)
    Tandy Color Computer 2
    Tandy Color Computer 3
    Tandy 1000 HD
    Playstation 2
    Gamecube
    GBA
    PSP
    Sony MSX2
    TRON coin-op
    Various coin-op headers and system boards

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  1. You'll be happy to know that it is, indeed, a tank. The game is directly based on the Bolo series of books (like the one you've presented). And now for some music:
  2. From what I can tell, the Texas Instruments document doesn't explicitly mention using the TMS9918 cascading technique for overlaying external video. If someone was making a custom retro computer would there be any gaming graphics benefits to cascading two (or more?) TMS9918A chips together? Would you get more sprites? A link to the TI article (section 3-7, PD p. 50): http://www.cs.columbia.edu/~sedwards/papers/TMS9918.pdf Going back to the external video overlay topic, I'm pretty that was what Coleco had in mind for their canceled laserdisc module for a home version of Dragon's Lair. Electronic Games: December 1983 p. 18 (First hint of Dragon's Lair CV with hardware) March 1984 p. 30 (Announcement of laserdisc player module and Dragon's Lair) https://archive.org/details/Electronic_Games_Volume_02_Number_12_1984-03_Reese_Communications_US Computer Games: April 1984 p. 21 (ColecoVision planning to release laserdisc module with Dragon's Lair) https://archive.org/details/Computer_Games_Vol_3_No_1_1984-04_Carnegie_Publications_US
  3. After playing Space Harrier on a stock Atari 800XL, that sealed the deal for me and placed The Atari 8-bit line at top of the stack in my books: Super Pac-Man was nicely ported to it as well. And Mr. Robot is a great example of GTIA colors put to good use. Having said that, there are a few gems that get me to visit the C64 from time to time like the excellent port of Satan's Hollow and -- or course -- R-Type. Again though, the Atari 8-bit systems get more attention from me for sure. I really appreciate the wider color palette, compared to the C64 (and the brighter colors that are available, along with the cool shading that the A8 series can do). It's worth noting that, although the C64 is capable of scrolling more smoothly, the A8 can scroll pretty darned well.
  4. When Joe mentions the Amiga, it might seem confusing because the Amiga is associated in people's minds with Commodore. However, the Amiga is essentially the successor to the Atari 800 and was designed independently because Atari's management in 1982 turned down Joe and Jay's proposal to make what we now know as the Amiga (what Joe refers sometimes to as "the third system" with the Atari 800 being the second system). See the following: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6YqDOKXQk1w https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1DnLmEaIhpQ&list=PLOT5j3ELi5BY9abqksYqI4U9ZH07bOtIV http://www.blitter.com/~nebulous/amiga-articles.html
  5. Joe Decuir addressed this question in an interview. The Atari 400 was intended to be a console. The membrane keyboard was attached in order to support games like Star Raiders, without the need to plug in a separate keypad.
  6. After helping to edit two books on the history of the Amiga and digging through a ton of info from people like Joe Decuir, I can unequivocally say that the Amiga is indeed the successor to the Atari 800. It was the reason why Joe and Jay left Atari in the first place. Joe had completed the rough block diagram of what would become the Amiga back in 1982. Supporting information follows: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6YqDOKXQk1w https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1DnLmEaIhpQ&list=PLOT5j3ELi5BY9abqksYqI4U9ZH07bOtIV http://www.blitter.com/~nebulous/amiga-articles.html
  7. You people are god-like. Thank-you!!
  8. Hey, all I need is one more button so that I don't have to reach for the Space bar whenever I need to deploy a smart bomb in Defender.
  9. Anyone know a good budget fighting stick for the Playstation 2 that works well for Pac-Man and Ms Pac-Man? I've tried a few brands of varying quality already, but the throw is too long -- making it tough to make the corners in the mazes.
  10. Inspired by seeing vector classics like Gravitar and Major Havoc running too fast on the Xbox One, I decided to start this thread. The question is, what home ports of classic games do you think ended up being a disaster? It could be for any console from the SNES/Super Famicom on up to present day. In particular, the ones that I find most interesting are when the console clearly has the stats to bring the arcade experience home but, due to whatever reason (usually a lack of attention to detail on the part of the programmers or studio), just doesn't.
  11. Anyone been successful getting the Chinon FZ-354 DS/DD 3.5" diskette drive working on an Amiga? If so, I don't suppose you could clue me in to as how you did it, could you? I've have two of the Japanese version of the FZ-354 and so far I've tried two different configurations: One with just J2 soldered closed. And the other with J18 closed and J20 open (J2 was left alone on this one). Both drives have their jumpers set to: DS0, MM, RDY, and TTL/C-MOS I'm trying to get either one of them working as DF0: on a stock Amiga 2000. So far, I've read every page in the following forum and no go (that's where the advice on soldering pins together came from): http://eab.abime.net/showthread.php?t=30944&page=22 And, yes, I have a couple of working Amiga Gotek drives. However, I still like using diskettes.
  12. Yet another good example of an Amiga 4000 put to the task back in the day: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qrMpyxBzwBA
  13. And I see you can get a better price.... Someone's making new Amiga RGB cables: https://www.ebay.com/itm/AMIGA-Monitor-RGB-Kabel-Cable-2-Meter-Analog/322844103990?hash=item4b2b021536:g:8lYAAOSwehZZ7jyj https://www.ebay.com/itm/Amiga-RGB-Monitor-de-Cable-2-Metro-Analogico/323874465672?hash=item4b686c2788:g:-9wAAOSwSlBYwDsh
  14. Well, for what it's worth, I tried the following and they all scanned both NTSC and PAL successfully -- using the matching Amiga RGB cable: Commodore 1080 (Toshiba), 1084 (Philips/Magnavox), 1084s (Daewoo), 1902 (Philips/Magnavox). Before you buy an RGB cable, be sure to check the back of the monitor to see if it's a DIN (round) or D-shell (rectangular-ish). Philips/Mag usually use these: https://www.ebay.com/itm/Amiga-23-pin-female-to-6-pin-DIN-male-monitor-RGB-video-cable-Used/303332375571?hash=item46a004bc13:g:2rsAAOSwglldr-QK Daewoo monitors typically use D-shell: https://www.ebay.com/itm/Amiga-23-pin-female-to-9-pin-D-female-monitor-RGB-video-cable-Used/293292762956?hash=item44499c674c:g:QEEAAOSwIRhdr-Xt https://gona.mactar.hu/Commodore/monitor/Commodore_monitors_by_model_number.html
  15. Does anyone know where I might be able to find a repair manual PDF for a Magnavox Commodore monitor? In particular, I'm thinking of the Magnavox 8CM515 (AKA the Commodore 1902A). Many eons ago, I watched someone repair this one (it was making a high-pitched noise). While working on it, he said that it was usually the backplane for the flyback transformer. He then placed the monitor on its front, took the rear cover off, and re-soldered 6 or 8 points with high-temperature solder. That same monitor worked fine for another 20 years. He's no longer in my neck of the woods, and I'm looking to have this monitor repaired again (since it started acting up just last week). If anyone has any tips or experience fixing flyback issues on 1080, 1084, or 1902 monitors, please feel free to post your wisdom here. I can then relay that to someone out here who might be able to get it up and running again. Here's a few links showing the type of monitor that I'm thinking of: http://classiccomputers.info/down/monitors/Magnavox_Professional_80_Model_8CM515.pdf https://gona.mactar.hu/Commodore/monitor/Commodore_monitors_by_model_number.html
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