mindlord

I strongly recommend giving this book a perusal: https://archive.org/details/tibook_smart-programming-guide-for-sprites/mode/2up It is a strong primer on using sprites and writing games in TI-XB

As requested, a demonstration video. https://www.bitchute.com/video/8PxEr9mcoiSo/

Thanks for asking @retroclouds, It actually kinda started as a lark. I grew up with the TI99/4A, Tandy Color Computer, and a bunch of other home computers. I basically learned to code in BASIC before I could read. Time moved on, I learned some other languages, but BASIC has a special nostalgic place in my heart. So I set out to recreate that nostalgia and my granddaughter has an interest in programming. I wanted to gift my experience to her. From the moment that I found out about the Pi, I always felt that using a Raspberry PI as a platform for BASIC would be kind of neat. Feeling that the GUI got in the way a bit, and wasn't in the spirit of the classic computing I started with the Lite Raspberry Pi (Debian) OS. I really wanted to reserve as much OS juice for the environment as possible. Not having a window manager really free up the resources. I kept tabs on the development of QB64, FreeBASIC, and SDL_BASIC over the years, so I knew those were viable candidates for interpreter/compiler. QB64 seemed like a clear winner because the IDE was built in but unfortunately, the developers recently made the GUI a requirement - so that was a non-starter. SDL_BASIC is cool, but for reasons I can't recall - I think it couldn't access the Framebuffer from the console or something. FreeBASIC is quite mature, has an active community so I latched onto it. It's QuickBASIC-like dialect feels like home because that's what I coded in most as a teenager. Then... the painful process of finding a Linux console editor. I have a pretty specific wishlist. Multiple file buffers, syntax highlighting, common keybindings (ctrl-c for copy, and so on), one key compile and run. I tried what seems like every single editor, so I was forced to do the ridiculous and write my own. miEdit is based on kilo.c a lightweight editor and written in FreeBASIC. I wrote it specifically for Linux and the Raspberry Pi, so it's not very portable (or even desirable for Windows). Being written in FreeBASIC itself gives it some pretty nifty advantages, It's really easy to customize and extend for one. Direct access to the console and FrameBuffer for two. Fairly easily implemented offline help for three. The rest was just configuring the Raspberry Pi as lightly as possible, and to start miEdit at boot. Not big magic. I'm sure even more optimization is possible, but I'm a Linux user, not really a power user, or guru. I'll try to get a video up tomorrow, but I've been kinda sick this week, and work ate all my free time.

So, in short I created a Raspberry PI image that boot straight into a custom text editor that strives to provide a retro nostalgic programming environment. It's still just a baby, but it's getting better day by day. If you feel so inclined flash it to a card and pop it into a pi. It was developed with the PiZero in mind using the Base Lite Raspbian OS so it should work on any model Pi. https://drive.google.com/file/d/1oBwm6c_jPOt0XDy9IgL6f1puzAvEoMXm/view?usp=sharing

Bless you sir Sent from my SM-G960U1 using Tapatalk

Sorry I meant to post this on your other thread about upgrading the ram and basic Sent from my SM-G960U1 using Tapatalk

If I can do it with literally zero experience, you can. I dose it depends on the model, but.... Solder one jumper, pop old ram, socket in the new, pop the Rom, socket in the new. Sent from my SM-G960U1 using Tapatalk

Arrow zap Sent from my SM-G960U1 using Tapatalk

Once again, thanks to everyone for the advice and analysis. I've done some pretty extensive testing. Voltages and solder joints all check out okay. I've lifted and re-seated the chips on the main board and CPU card. Nothing really changed, so I set out to try some variety of xex, atr, and cas files and pretty much nailed it down to just having 32K of RAM. I'll have to put in an order for that upgrade once I get some scratch. At least now I'm 99% certain there's nothing wrong with the board or CPU.

Thanks for the analysis. Makes sense. I can verify that by specifically targeting applications that should work and applications that shouldn't. The ram card looks intriguing too. My retro stuff coffers are empty at the moment, but it's moved pretty high on the list. Sent from my SM-G960U1 using Tapatalk

Pictures are in order of my comments: Looks like she's gtia, and 32k. All the grim reaper mag disks do this. Berserk.com and berserk.exe give a blue screen with garbage at the bottom. Sysinfo.atr flickers garbage like this, but does things when I press keys. Sent from my SM-G960U1 using Tapatalk

Thanks for the input so far everyone. I'll get some tests together and take some photos/video of the behaviors. By "off the rails" the result could be any thing: blue/black screen static garbage random fluctuating garbage flickering garbage partially rendered text with graphical garbage intermingled Games that play, but the sprites and/or background are mangled Are there any specific titles that will provide clues that I should try? Sent from my SM-G960U1 using Tapatalk

I'm not an Atari expert at all, although I do have a fair amount of retro experience. I have a 400 that works most of the time. It'll play a large number of cartridges, and some disks, but it seems some common video modes or rom instructions cause it to go off the rails. I've tried two different ram cards so I'm pretty sure ram isn't issue. Heat also doesn't seem to be a factor. I've cleaned the CPU edge connector and re-seated any socketed chips I could find on the boards. I'm almost ashamed to admit that I tried the 1 inch drop test and things actually improved slightly. Any better suggestions? Sent from my SM-G960U1 using Tapatalk

Sounds like as it heats up something is getting loose. If star by taking out apart, reseating any socketed chips, checking the voltages on the power supply. Sent from my SM-G960U1 using Tapatalk

I use it for development, experimentation, and fun-n-games. I'm in for about $200. I have a beige unit that blew up about 2 weeks into ownership. A silver unit that's been going strong for awhile now. A cassette recorder, Flashrom99, nanopeb, 1GB CF card, and a small collection of cartridges, like extended basic, tunnels of doom, adventure, and such. I think I'm lucky in that I've managed to keep it cheap. The most expensive thing I've bought so far is the nanopeb, which I'm still not really utilizing. Sent from my SM-G960U1 using Tapatalk