Tonight I installed the development environment for DCP+, I will fiddle around with it and hopefully be able to suck some additional cycles from my scan lines.
Ubuntu 14.05 - Check
Shared Folders - Check
ARM Compiler - Check
Test Source Build - Check
Using the DCP+ tools, I'll probably implement a horizontally scrolling broomball pitch... and dynamically build the scan line data (color, sprite, playball) using the ARM processor in the 4K of Display Ram.
Hopefully this will give me th
It's nice that Atari made its VCS Classic and Modern game controllers backwards compatible all the way back to the 2600 and 7800 systems.
Got it working! There were a number of various problems:
bad 9 pin cable
power issues (not fully resolved)
realized that my analysis of USB data packets was wrong.
my poorly written C code for the Rpi Pico
Here is the USB adapter in action:
So my biggest problem was that I had done th
Just got off the phone with an Operating System expert consultant I hired through UpWork.
For Mr. Boehm to really be usable, the OS for the Pi Zero will require a static file system and boot in under 8 seconds, with an ideal boot time of less than 2 seconds... in order to power the Mr. Boehm environment off the Atari joystick ports.
Short version of our conversation, is that the consultant thinks it could be done based on Raspberry Pi blog posts he's read such as:
h
Attached is a video of my experimentation using the Rpi Pico to convert SNES controller input into 2600/7800 joystick inputs. I apologize for the video not being better. But you can see how I can use the SNES shoulder buttons to control the flippers on 7800 Baby Pac-Man. I also tested it with 7800 Xenophobe, but I didn't record video for the xeno test. Though it worked great. Better than the actual 7800 controllers I have for it. It was also like playing the arcade version.
This time
I had to do some hardware adjustments, and there is still more code development to be done, but I was able to compete two new controller modes. Actually, I have a fifth mode completed, but because I need to write Atari assembly code to test it, it'll be a bit before I know that it is really working. Code refinement is next, and then I might have a PCB made so I don't have to worry about my prototype falling a part while I write Atari code for it.
That said, attached are 4 video for f
I kinda feel like I owe an explanation why haven't worked on the USB adapter lately. The explanation is "my day job".
About two years ago, I was given about 1500 sqft of space in my university's library to create a Virtual Reality lab. This was a really exciting opportunity for me as I ran a visualization lab up until 2006 at my old job... I feel like VR was what I was meant to do, but my job back then was on soft money... and when the soft money ran out, I had to find a new job.
My Harmony Cart arrived yesterday.
Since, I have started reading up on DPC+ bankswitching.
I bought the HC simply because I wanted to see the games I am developing on real hardware, but now I see that the features I want to add to Broomball will be so much easier (or even possible) with DPC+.
Quite frankly, I like the idea of writing the difficult logic parts of the game in C code rather than in assembly anyway.
Edit: Oh yeah - I forgot... I don't have my Atari system here. My mo
I work at Univ of North Dakota, and I know one of the archaeologist who participated in the ET Dig in the New Mexico landfill. http://www.thenorthwestern.com/story/entertainment/2015/01/09/archaeologist-donates-atari-cartridge-dig-university/21516519/ Not long after the movie about the dig was released, we had a screening on campus, which featured not only a discussion with the archaeologists, but also a good portion of my Atari collection... All of which was setup for people to play. Xenophob
Met up with my mom at the mall today, and got my Atari 7800.
In the same storage box I also found my old Fischer Price PXL 2000 video camera, a Christmas gift circa 1988, when video cameras were super expensive. The PXL 2000 was $99, and used high-bias audio cassette tapes to record 60 minutes of B&W video. Ahhh.... the memories... and extremely embarrassing attempts at making making music videos.
Alas, my family cannot see past my Amazon for xmas gifts.
So today, I added the link to the Atari Age Gift Certificate page to my Amazon Wish List using the "I want" box. Here's hoping that at least one person will copy & paste the link into a web browser.
I there is a better way, I'm all ears.
Updated the Broomsticks bin today.
Freed up 20 bytes of by implementing Indirect Indexed Addressing. Discovered in order to do so I had to swap all my X Register code with my Y Register code.
Then I used that extra ram to bounce the Quaffle around the screen.
http://8bitworkshop.com/?sharekey=f909be8aac064c47f5b0a2bd01793602
I added a full compliment of sprites for the pitch area. The original idea was to make the center of the pitch where the goalies and centers are located to split into an interlaced area. Where GRP0 would be both goalies on the A/B frames (no flicker, no space between scan lines), and GRP1 would be the alternating team centers on A and B (no flicker, but the center for each team would render on alternating scanlines).
If that makes since...
Anyway, I was having problems getting the timing
After a hiatus of 10 years, I have returned to try to finish a game. Hopefully the Atari Age community will keep me motivated, because admittedly, the going will probably be somewhat slow.
Where to start? I don't know if I have any great original ideas for game. Especially one that has really great graphics, so my plan is to try to turn the real world game of hockey into a somewhat visually appealing VCS game with halfway decent game play.
I guess the ultimate goal would be to have a com
I've received all the chips I need to wire up 2 ports on either 2600/7800 or the 5200.
Below is a photo of the chips for one port plus the multiplexer and the power switch. Also there is a photo of these chips wired up for all three controllers. However, I've temporarily wired it up to the 2600 cable as I don't want to dig my 5200 out of storage for now.
I haven't recorded another video because I need to rewrite my Python code to work with this new configuration.
After some additional hacking on the USB today, I have created a definition for the Atari VCS Modern Controller. So now both the Classic and the Modern controllers work with the 2600/7800.
Here's a link of me playing Baby Pac-man on the 7800 using the Modern controller. I apologize for the video. It's just to demo the fact that it works. It was hard to film one-handed, so I apologize for the controller covering the TV half the time.
USB Packet Payloads
Wher
Well... I'm using my 7800 for this demo, but... it's a 2600 cart... so... same thing right?
Attached is a video of me testing 4 player Paddle support with 2 x Xbox One S controllers (via Bluetooth) and 2 x Logitech Dual Action controllers (via USB). Once I have the chips for two more ports, I'll be able to test these controllers with Castle Crisis on my 4 port 5200.
Those with a keen eye might notice me tapping the "xbox start" button toward the beginning of the video. Th
So when you spend a holiday by yourself you get more work done. No sympathy needed. The family was here for Xmas, but I'm spending New Years by myself. For my New Years celebration I played Fortnite at midnight local time so I could watch the Fortnite fireworks and dance beneath the giant disco ball. I came in 2nd in the match though... so fail.
...but that's not why you're reading this...
USB for 5200
After beating my head against the wall this past week, trying to
Both 7800 joystick ports are now working.
I've mapped them to the left and right analog sticks on the logitech gamepad. Seems to be working great.
testcart.mp4
David and I got together tonight to work out the general diagram for the MrBoehm hat for the RPi. Attached you will find the pin/chip/gpio connections. He's now working out a schematic that we'll send off to a printer.
At some point we're going to ask for feedback from the Atari Age community. Probably after he finishes the full schematic for all four controllers.
mrboehm.pdf
My goal for my Pico based game controller is to make a USB interface so that I can use an 8BitDo SN30 Pro USB controller with the Atari.
The Pico C++ SDK supports TinyUSB, which should make it possible. In an earlier release, it did not have a USB game controller example, and with me not really understanding how USB works, I was at a loss on how to implement the Pico as a USB host.
However, sometime in the last few months, someone created code to for the Pico to serve as
The last week was a source of frustration, as I could not get the ADG715 SPST switches to behave as expected. When the switches were closed, they worked just fine, but when they were open, they intermittently "closed". There was voltage bleed over, which meant that the Atari 7800 was seeing random JS input.
Come to find out, the Raspberry Pi GPIO power was bleeding into the switches. The solution, was to double-ground (one ground to Atari ground, one ground to GPIO ground) 1 of the 8
Saturday David and I wasted a good three hours trying to get a Raspberry Pi 4B to boot using power from the 7800 joystick ports.
It didn't work. The recommended power supply for the 4B is 3 Amps. It's power requirement at idle is 600 mA.
I spent a good portion of this evening trying to get the boot time of an RPi Zero W down to something small enough to correspond with a cart change on the 7800. Best I could do was 28 seconds. Not bad considering that I shaved off 32 seco
I have been working on all-in-one Rpi Pico joystick design. However, in the meantime, David and I have also designed a new PCB that provides enhanced joystick features without needing a Pico. We gave up on the previous iteration of a Rpi Zero because of cost... and I got overburdened at work... and because the Pico was released. Yadda yadda yadda.
Anyway, here is a PCB design that does not require any kind of microcontroller or driver to use. I have built this on a breadboard and it
Not sure what I accomplished with this...
An example of getting the Pico to control the Atari 7800... and trying to get my Bluetooth for free.
Basically, I'm just trying to learn how to use the Pico to control the Atari while I wait for David to update the schematic for the joystick PCB.
This will also work with a standard SNES controller. Not counting the controller, or the wires, this is about $6 in parts including the Pico.
And, unlike the Pi Ze
After deciding on a new configuration for the USB/Bluetooth Adapter, I've been sidetracked by work. Specifically, I'm over a week behind on a paper I need to write, I'm way past the due date.
But I have severe writers block, and mostly I just stare at the computer screen for hours on end trying to type something, anything... and not having much success.
As such, I've had no free time to put into the redesign. Although, David and I talked about the new design a couple of w
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