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Turns out AtariSA messed up the translation for Sandbox mode when they meant Shoebox mode...

New AtariAge member just saying hello!

Look closely and you'll see a it's in a shoebox marked CONVERSE (about 5:40).

The video was some anonymous user claiming to have a prototype, which Atari denied was real (per @Historian). It said "Converse" on top: But for e3, Atari did have a black box running the show. If any news outlets knew this, they did not relay it to their readers. A month or so later Atari admitted their "gamestation" was a box with the picture shown below, though they didn't confess they were being deceptive by having a bunch of non-working (but power-LED turned on) Ataribox shells on the table: Hey, waitaminute. Let me play with brightness and contrast on that box. WTH:

"New Atari Console that Converse Shoebox?"

Thanks Arturo, to be honest I'm still playing with the encoding format a little bit. Will keep your suggestion in mind. Anyway, yesterday I implemented the magma raft. Here's how a level that uses it looks like. Next, will see if I can figure out those moving magma walls...

Big announcement! Shoebox mode installed Note: Shoes not included.

Here's some more nerd candy. I scanned a set of red production main boards on my flat bed scanner at 600 DPI to yield this result. These can be zoomed in for extreme detail. So much so, that you'll likely see dust particles that were present on the boards when I put them in the scanner. Please don't let those visual aberrations mislead you into thinking the quality of the PCB fabrication is not numero ono A+ and of the highest quality. Only my scans are a poorer quality than reality .

Although this was originally discussed in the 1088XLD topic, I felt this needed a topic of its own in order to not derail the XLD discussion more than I already have. So I decided to branch this off into its own topic. Let's talk about a GBS-8200 (HD 9800) XLD carrier board for high quality almost zero lag RGB to VGA output conversion, with RGB sourced from either a Sophia or VBXE. In fact I'll be calling this board RGB2VGA-XLD from this point forward to keep things simple. To obtain optimum results from the GBS-8200 which is a Chinese produced off the shelf Arcade Video Conversion board, it'll need to have the original firmware in the TV5725 video scaler chip replaced with custom presets (video parameters). Luckily the GBS-8200 pretty much comes ready to do this right out of the box, only requiring the addition of a 4-pin header (P5) and a jumper (P8), and some sort of external processor to poke in the new presets. Edit: my intentions are to create this in a carrier/mounting board version for the XLD, as well as a small I2C plug-in only version to just modify the GBS-8200 presets, thus keeping the target system this is aimed at more generic (i.e., XE, XL). There are some very nice 3D print designs that can be used to house a GBS for external use. The first attempt at creating custom presets for the GBS-8200 that I am aware of, was done by a guy with the alias of dooklink over at the schmups forum. His project revolved around the use of a Raspberry Pi to reprogram the presets via a bit-banged I2C interface. Later a guy by the name of Bruce Abbot at bhabbot.net.nz figured out how to get this working on a ATTiny681 chip, which is what I ran my initial tests with. However recently I decided that I wanted to transition this over to a different embedded processor chip called the PIC, which would allow for re-flashing via a JOY2PIC, just like all the other PICs currently being used on the 1088XLD. However my endeavours to do this have not faired well, and I have hit a wall which I have yet to climb over. Basically I think my scaler preset tables are correct and my I2C routines seem to be working properly when checked on a scope, but thus far no dice on getting a proper image to appear from the VGA output. My PIC code is being written in Great Cow Basic which is a free code development package, thus allowing it to work for either an AVR or PIC chip, while being done in an easy to understand syntax allows modifications to be easily made by others that chose to do so. Well assuming I can get this work in the first place . Here's my code... Initially I only have it targeting a PAL display, but once I get this working it'll be a simple matter to add a switch to change to NTSC mode. I also I plan to migrate this into a PIC12F1572 8-pin PIC, which sells for around $0.71 a piece. #chip 16F1847 ;Define I2C settings #define I2C_MODE Master #define I2C_DATA PORTA.0 #define I2C_CLOCK PORTA.1 ; #define I2C_BIT_DELAY 200 us ; #define I2C_CLOCK_DELAY 20 us ; #define I2C_END_DELAY 20 us #define I2C_ADDRESS 0x2E ;address of the slave device ;Define Switch and LED ports #define LED PORTA.2 ;==================================================== ; Main Program Loop ;==================================================== Dir LED Out LED=0 ;turn ON LED wait 500 ms for segment = 0 to 5 I2CStart I2CSend I2C_ADDRESS I2CSend 0xF0 ;access Bank Register I2CSend segment ;set to New Bank (point to segment) I2CStop I2CStart I2CSend I2C_ADDRESS if segment=0 then I2CSend 0x40 ;register start address for Segment 0 else I2CSend 0x00 ;register start address for Segment 1-5 end If index = segment+1 readtable Slen, index, Nbytes ;retrieve segment length ;send the presets for register = 1 to Nbytes Select Case segment Case 0 readtable P0, register, data Case 1 readtable P1, register, data Case 2 readtable P2, register, data Case 3 readtable P3, register, data Case 4 readtable P4, register, data Case 5 readtable P5, register, data End Select I2CSend data next register I2CStop next segment ;all done - flash LED Do Forever: wait 500 ms LED=1 wait 500 ms LED=0 Loop ;==================================================== ; Preset Tables ;==================================================== ;Define Segment Lengths Table Slen 32 144 64 128 96 112 End Table ;288p 50Hz 1280x1024 Preset Tables Start Here ; Bank 0 --------------------------------------------------------------------- Table P0 ; 40-5F: misc. data 7, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 174, 223, 4, 5, 195, 163, 26, 1, 97, 0 144, 12, 62, 0, 0, 100, 2, 179, 6, 123, 0, 56, 1, 0, 0, 0 End Table ; Bank 1 --------------------------------------------------------------------- Table P1 ; 00-2F: input format 96, 224, 100, 255, 255, 255, 255, 255, 255, 255, 255, 79, 134, 5, 89, 203 18, 0, 71, 0, 44, 3, 92, 0, 87, 3, 135, 0, 111, 2, 16, 0 56, 0, 146, 3, 155, 6, 159, 6, 4, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0 ; 30-5F: HD bypass 202, 0, 128, 0, 63, 0, 128, 44, 204, 0, 0, 0, 0, 1, 192, 0 0, 1, 192, 0, 0, 1, 192, 0, 0, 1, 192, 0, 0, 1, 192, 0 0, 1, 192, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0 ; 60-8F: Mode detect 208, 34, 32, 39, 65, 62, 178, 154, 78, 214, 177, 142, 124, 99, 139, 118 112, 98, 133, 105, 83, 72, 93, 148, 178, 70, 198, 238, 140, 98, 118, 156 0, 0, 53, 0, 0, 12, 202, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0 End Table ; Bank 2 --------------------------------------------------------------------- Table P2 ; 00-3F: deinterlace 255, 3, 204, 0, 0, 0, 5, 5, 7, 0, 76, 4, 204, 152, 255, 73 33, 136, 142, 0, 0, 0, 124, 35, 214, 208, 0, 16, 0, 0, 0, 16 81, 2, 4, 15, 0, 0, 76, 12, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0 0, 0, 52, 0, 136, 71, 3, 11, 4, 100, 11, 4, 143, 0, 0, 0 End Table ; Bank 3 --------------------------------------------------------------------- Table P3 ; 00-6F: Video processor 244, 164, 194, 176, 164, 6, 23, 124, 194, 150, 0, 0, 6, 8, 128, 226 164, 15, 16, 172, 128, 152, 194, 35, 2, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0 0, 0, 0, 96, 3, 0, 207, 38, 32, 220, 17, 224, 47, 32, 240, 64 26, 0, 0, 0, 125, 31, 44, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 144, 0, 2 3, 0, 0, 248, 31, 248, 31, 248, 30, 208, 32, 248, 10, 142, 30, 48 0, 56, 8, 36, 10, 11, 234, 26, 0, 0, 26, 0, 196, 63, 4, 4 155, 128, 9, 233, 239, 127, 64, 210, 13, 216, 223, 63, 0, 0, 0, 0 ; 70-7F: PIP 8, 0, 180, 5, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0 End Table ; Bank 4 --------------------------------------------------------------------- Table P4 ; 00-1F: memory 130, 48, 0, 0, 48, 17, 66, 48, 1, 148, 17, 127, 0, 116, 0, 6 0, 146, 1, 1, 150, 5, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0 ; 20-5F: capture/playback + FIFOs 0, 43, 3, 31, 255, 255, 207, 255, 255, 31, 0, 164, 30, 0, 128, 0 0, 0, 0, 8, 0, 0, 16, 180, 204, 179, 0, 2, 0, 4, 3, 0 4, 0, 105, 0, 255, 255, 7, 255, 255, 7, 0, 68, 0, 224, 40, 62 192, 0, 0, 0, 104, 1, 192, 180, 204, 90, 204, 76, 0, 0, 0, 0 End Table ; Bank 5 --------------------------------------------------------------------- Table P5 ; 00-1F: ADC 216, 0, 87, 241, 0, 0, 63, 63, 63, 127, 127, 127, 0, 0, 0, 0 0, 144, 179, 198, 0, 0, 32, 206, 133, 130, 0, 0, 0, 0, 128, 4 ; 20-6F: Sync processor 208, 32, 15, 0, 64, 0, 5, 0, 0, 0, 15, 0, 0, 4, 0, 4 0, 47, 0, 40, 3, 21, 0, 4, 4, 15, 10, 0, 0, 0, 192, 3 11, 39, 6, 126, 6, 0, 192, 5, 192, 4, 192, 52, 192, 103, 192, 103 192, 0, 192, 5, 192, 192, 33, 192, 5, 192, 1, 200, 6, 0, 0, 0 0, 0, 0, 15, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0 End Table Here's the register map for the TV5725 video scaler chip on the GBS-8200: TV5725 Register Map.pdf The full document describing the registers: TV5725 Registers Definition v1.1.pdf And the programming Guide: TV5725 Programming Guide.pdf The TV5725 is one very capable chip, but as such, it is also very complicated. So I wasn't about to write the new preset tables from scratch, and instead copied this over from the original ATTiny681 project, although for test purposes I divided it up into the different segment (bank) assignments and functions. The following describes the I2C communication for updating the TV5725's internal registers. With an I2C read being done by using a slave address of 0xAE, and a write uses a slave address of 0x2E. To set a base address (also called a segment), 0xF0 is sent following the 'write' slave address, with the next byte sent equal to segment 0-5 which sets the register bank you'll be talking to. Finally the register address within the segment is sent, then followed by the new preset data. 10.2 I2C writing When writing to 5725, the slave address is AE/2E H . A control sequence as following: • Write to One Control Register Start Signal Slave Address Byte (R/W Bit = Low) Base Address Byte Data Byte to Base Address Stop Signal • Write to Consecutive Control Registers Start Signal Slave Address Byte (R/W Bit = Low) Base Address Byte Data Byte to Base Address Data Byte to (Base Address + 1) Data Byte to (Base Address + 2) Data Byte to (Base Address + 3) .................. Stop Signal If any of you coders see where I'm going wrong please feel free to point it out . The original ATTiny681 code: GBS_Control-ATTINY681.tar.gz

Salutations all, I am new to the world of the TI-99/4a, I purchased one, which should be arriving tomorrow, because of the sleekness of design and the fact that it would be a fun project for me to revive. I wanted one when I was a kid, and now it seems that fate has granted my wish, for the small cost of $28.75. I got my Bachelor's in Elec. Eng. and went to work for a tech company in Folsom CA. Since I began working there, it was seemingly a derivative of what I wanted to do when I went to school. I miss the Voltmeter, the soldering iron, and the smell of components removed from a board. I was the proud owner of the Commodore 64, long long ago. Now it seems I am to restore this TI-99/4a. I have been working with Raspberry Pi's and making smaller gadgets for the house. including trying to get a old 3 section serial port keyboard functional. Aside from doing JediMatt's Sidecar, are there any recommendations as to where I should go for a routine bring up of this sleek system? Thank you all kindly for your criticism and advice, M.

https://imgur.com/gallery/ohGquy7

I saw someone posted these somewhere and I was reminded this was the last time this same version of Atari announced hardware to be released. Are we still waiting on these from 2014? (Items depicted are for illustration purposes only. The phrase "Atari is Back" is not meant to suggest Atari is back.)

@Historian locked the Reddit thread because it was confirmed by Atari to be a fake. On a side note, all but one of the "prove the haters wrong" YouTube comments have been memory-holed.

Pressure Cooker - Game 1 B/B 106,410 Played on: Original 'Vader' (Batari S-Video mod). PAL cart. Happy with this. Will hang up my chef boots. Man this game gets you pinging. Good fun! My cx40 wrists are telling me off though.

I love how specific the comment "they may have shipped the first 100" is.

There is a definite Strategy to this game Once you set up the " Gap " to be close to the middle of the screen it then requires some patience and fast fingers Ive added a video to show how I played it It does take some LUCK too! Good Luck!

63,225 for pressure cooker..finally won my patch!!!

Here are the equations from reverse engineering, with permission from Don O'Neil, and credits to Jeff White who did the RE. title { Function: Geneve Pal16R4A. Designer: Western Horizon Technology. Specifications: Standard wait states/Geneve default Date: 12 May 1992. } include p16r4; /* input signals */ pin19.oe = 0; /* output signals */ pin18.oe = 1; !pin18 = ( !pin4 & !pin3 ) | ( !pin9 & !pin3 ) | ( pin9 & pin4 & !pin14.q ) | ( pin5 & pin4 & !pin15.q ) | ( pin5 & pin4 & !pin16.q ) | ( pin9 & pin4 & !pin17.q ); pin17.d = ( pin9 & pin4 & !pin17.q & !pin14.q ) | ( pin9 & pin4 & !pin17.q & !pin15.q ) | ( pin9 & pin4 & !pin17.q & !pin16.q ) | ( pin9 & pin4 & pin3 & pin16.q & pin15.q & pin14.q ) | ( !pin19 & !pin17.q & !pin14.q ) | ( !pin19 & !pin17.q & !pin15.q ) | ( !pin19 & !pin17.q & !pin16.q ) | ( pin3 & !pin19 & pin16.q & pin15.q & pin14.q ) ; pin16.d = ( pin9 & pin4 & pin17.q & !pin16.q ) | ( pin9 & pin4 & !pin17.q & pin16.q ) | ( pin9 & pin4 & pin16.q & pin15.q & pin14.q ) | !pin19; pin15.d = ( pin9 & pin4 & pin15.q & pin14.q ) | ( pin9 & pin4 & !pin16.q & pin15.q ) | ( pin9 & pin4 & !pin17.q & pin15.q ) | ( pin9 & pin4 & pin17.q & pin16.q & !pin15.q ) | !pin19; pin14.d = ( pin9 & pin4 & pin14.q ) | ( pin9 & pin4 & pin17.q & pin16.q & pin15.q ) | !pin19; pin13.oe = 1; !pin13 = ( !pin6 & !pin5 ) | ( !pin8 & pin5 ) ; pin12.oe = 1; !pin12 = !pin7 & !pin2; /* PIN19 = CRU BIT FOR VDP WAIT STATES */ /* PIN04 & PIN09 = VDP CHIP SELECTS FOR READ AND WRITE */ /* PIN03 = NOT READY, CONNECTED TO GATE ARRAY AND SOUND CHIP */ /* PIN11 = CLOCK */ /* PIN06 = WRITE ENABLE */ /* PIN05 = MEMEN */ /* THE ABOVE TWO MAY BE REVERSED */ I created a logical circuit using Logisim from these equations; see the attached circ file (zipped). Logisim is a great Java-based tool for drawing logical circuits and for doing simulations with them: https://sourceforge.net/projects/circuit/ For easier interpretation: The *.q pins are the outputs of the respective flipflops, while the *.d pins are their inputs. pal.circ.zip

Watchers By The Shore Photo taken by Lanty's Tarn, Glenridding, Cumbria (English Lake District) 2008 Watchers.xex

ROLLAGE! OINK! 1BB : 999,999

Make that 16,200 with 8 medals. I can shave a few points off because I did kill some enemies just to get through all 8 levels. The game is pretty easy after a few practice rounds.

I like this game, but this will be my only post. I think the key to getting lower scores will not too pick up more than 2 Grenades, avoiding the enemies as best you can and NOT losing any lives. Losing a Life sets you back to a point in the stage where you have to repeat and thus scoring more points unnecessarily COMMANDO 1BB : 42,200 & 8 MEDALS

Pressure Cooker 71,455

Blueprint: 5050 Had 4950, but didn't want to leave that extra bonus point on the table, so went back and broke 5000. .

Running the 6505 code on 6502 is trivial, simulate the other VCS HW is a pain. When the celebrations for the Lynx birthday will over, I'll back on this.

Well I have heard the Supporters has wiped evidence of loving the real/fake VCS. Guess they were embarrased? Anyways here's some captures of it for the good times. Thanks for the help in making the memories of this possible.

my daughter has decided that when she is annoyed with me she'll exclaim "Daddy, you're impossible!" I think that is a funny thing for a 3 year old to say

Two stray kittens in our neighborhood seem to have adopted us. Trying to figure out the next steps to safely introduce them to our 12-year-old cats.

Welcome! I would say that that there is a lot of utility in getting a Final Grom. It greatly reduces wear and tear on the cartridge port and gives access to lots of great programs easily. Just make sure you don't have a QI version of the console.

I see no reason to get one, my system is chugging on just fine, and if it were to fail I'd just get it repaired until some PRO thing pops up in 2020 as I figured it so they can continue to get the tweaked ports of the other guys stuff for years to come. If they decided not to and stuck with the device I'd weigh my finances against a repair vs the v2 model with the lower power consumption.

And we're off! Key caps and switches from AliExpress arrived... So I carefully laid them out into the pattern I made for the Aquarius Mechanical Keyboard... And then I cut a jig to hold them all in place while laser sintering the paint/pigment (powder coat paint) to the keys... More pics after I get some samples laser sintered. - Sean

Atari just released a special update to backers...

Pressure Cooker: 302,125!

Oink: 999,999 Pressure Cooker: 276,965

For the upcoming PRGE and eJagfest events it would be nice to have about 30 second demo clips of games produced for the 30-year celebration of the Atari Lynx. The normal mp4 clips don't play so well on small computers like Raspberry Pi. Especially when you want to run full screen OpenGL stuff at the same time. So I coded a new skin to my favourite jukebox software and Mike accepted it yesterday After a little research I found out that this command converts a video nicely for playing clips on a Raspberry Pi 3A which I am using. ffmpeg -i onduty30.mp4 -b:v 2M -vf scale=320x240 onduty.ogv If the clip contains video material the animated rotating platter assembly is replaced with a video clip like below. This version is now also in github since yesterday in case you happen to own a Raspberry Pi. Just pick it up git clone https://github.com/chundermike/rpi-fruitbox.git cd rpi-fruitbox chmod +x ./install.sh source ./install.sh chmod +x fruitbox sudo ./fruitbox --cfg skins/WurlyVideo/fruitbox.cfg This is the application I will be running at PRGE. Enjoy! Edit: All the mp3's and ogv's should be in ~/Music directory. At startup the code creates a file ~/fruitbox.db If you want to add videos or music delete the fruitbox.db file and let the code build a new one. You can also edit the fruitbox.db to fix the fields from "Unknown artist" to "Atari Lynx" The new Pi4 is not yet supported! There is a conflict in one of the X11 libraries in Buster Use stretch! Example clips in 30 seconds: http://79.125.115.174/pics/onduty.ogv and http://79.125.115.174/pics/findaway.ogv You should be able to use any Pi. I tried this on PiZero and it was sluggish so I moved to a faster Pi.

Hello folks, electrolytic capacitors have they names because of its liguid in it, the electrolyte. In German we call them Elko (Elektrolyt-Kodensator). Elkos do have a minus pole and a plus pole. For that its is VERY important to solder them with the right side. The minus pole on an Elko is marked. The older Elkos get the higher is the probability that the electrolyte drains and the Elko loses more and more its capacitance. For me that was reason enough to change the Elkos on my 38 year old TI-99/4A EU PAL 1981 V2. Additionally i changed the voltage controller 78M12 on the PSU-Board with the modern 12V DC/DC-Voltage Controller TSR 1-24120, because its much more efficient and produces a LOT less heat than the 78M12 with its huge heatsink. The black plastic at the Cartridgeslot is now muuuuch cooler. But... this is only what i did. Some people think that they do not need an Elko-Change until a device gets problems. Make your on decision. Iam not responsible of what you do! And remember this is an EU PAL Version for 230V. US-Devices for 110V do very probably need other parts. These are the parts that i needed. This may vary on your TI-99/4A. TI-99/4A Maiboard: 22µF/25V axial. Quantity: 5. Articlenumber on www.reichelt.de: VIS MAL203036229 100µF/16V axial. Quantity: 3. Articlenumber on www.reichelt.de: AX 100/25 10µF/25V axial. Quantity: 1. Articlenumber on www.reichelt.de: AX 10/35 TI-99/4A PSU-Board: 3300µF/35V axial. Quantity: 1. Articlenumber on www.reichelt.de: COS 105 3300/35 1000µF/25V axial. Quantity: 1. Articlenumber on www.reichelt.de: COS 105 1000/25 470µF/12V radial. Quantity: 1. Articlenumber on www.reichelt.de: RUBY 16ZLJ470MT 47µF/16V axial. Quantity: 2. Articlenumber on www.reichelt.de: AX 47/16 4.7µF/35V axial. Quantity: 1 Articlenumber on www.reichelt.de: COS 105 4,7/50 12V DC/DC-Voltage Controller TSR 1-24120. Articlenumber on www.reichelt.de: TSR 1-24120 Modulator PHA 2037: 22µF/25V axial. Quantity: 3. Articlenumber on www.reichelt.de: VIS MAL203036229 0,47µF/63V radial. Quantity: 3. Articlenumber on www.reichelt.de: RAD 0,47/63 47µF/16V radial. Quantity: 1. Articlenumber on www.reichelt.de: RAD 47/16 Here we go: This is how the mainboard and the psu-board looks before the changes: Before i ordered the new Elkos, i desoldered the elkos on one side to better see its capacitances Look at the huge heatsink on the 78M12 voltage-controller, left of the 3300uF Elko. This is how it looks with the new Elkos and the TSR 1-24120: The videochip got a heat-conducting pad See the TSR 1-24120 at the right side of the orange Elko. It needs no heatsink! After that i changed the Elkos in my PHA 2037 PbPr to SCART RGB Modulator and readjusted the rotary potentiometer. Before: After: Now look at the overall result. This is the picture quality on my LCD-TV. Kind Regards from Germany Sid1968

I recently heard about Procedural Generation and it seems to be closely related to Controlled Randomness (something I've been interested in since the 1970s). The Wikipedia page for Procedural Generation says that it's "a method of creating data algorithmically as opposed to manually, typically through a combination of human-generated assets and algorithms coupled with computer-generated randomness and processing power." It also says "In video games, it is used to automatically create large amounts of content in a game. Advantages of procedural generation include smaller file sizes, larger amounts of content, and randomness for less predictable gameplay." I stumbled upon the term Procedural Generation when looking up No Man's Sky after somebody mentioned the game in a video. Speaking of No Man's Sky, the video below has a good description of the game. Here's the text from that section of the video: "The most impressive simulation of an entire universe has now been created by a small team of 15 indie developers. The game 'No Man's Sky' is probably the most complex and the largest game world ever created and it fits on a single DVD. Every player starts exploring on a randomly chosen planet in the games' universe. The players starting coordinates are the variable that is put into the games' sophisticated, but still simple formulas. The result creates the whole visible game world in real time. It would be impossible to store all of the details using traditional methods. You would need entire data centers to store the data of the roughly 18 QUINTILLION true-to-scale planets, together with their unique ecosystems. It doesn't matter if it is a whole planet, a space ship, a tree, a rock or a single blade of grass--every detail is the fractal result of a mathematical formula. So, one of the most realistic and complex simulations of our cosmos emerges from nothing but mere mathematics!" If you've read this far without falling asleep, I'm not talking about creating random mazes like you might see in a game like Maze Craze. I'm talking about creating different types of games using Procedural Generation. Playfield scenery or rooms for adventure games, platforms and enemy placement for scrolling platform games, road curves and scenery for racing games, planets to land on similar to Moonsweeper, and anything else you can think of. I'm bad at math and basically any kind of thinking that requires an IQ over 75, so I can't come up with the magical algorithms myself, but if anyone has any ideas on how to do this magic on the Atari 2600 for batari Basic users, a lot of ROM could be saved while providing more content and even programmers could be pleasantly surprised every time they play their own games.

This is something I had never seen. Thought it might be interesting to the assembled 99ers here.

Go HAM. Because the first measure is the number of medals, you don't have to worry about the points to beat most of the field. I'm sure there will be people that get all 8, but anyone that doesn't wont be able to top your score if you do. So score all the points you can, get all 8 medals and I'm feeling pretty good you will finish in the top 10 without having to worry about your score at all.

@Machine definitely check out the below thread if you haven't already. It's @Philsan's handiwork, complete with a chart and everything comparing all of the different options.

so i modified one of my SCART Genie EVPC boards to work as the circuit will be. in a good case and all for the GBS8200.

The coupon coincides with my 1,000th positive feedback. I had not considered that before, so I wonder if that is part of why I received the invitation.

Correct. For there to be a second batch: - someone else needs to negotiate and pay for the license from Digital Leisure - note that this likely includes a minimum quantity up front - the packing materials need to be redesigned (I don't know exactly what, but the license holders noted any new version needs something changed ) - someone else needs to pay for the packing materials (labels and boxes and insets) - someone else needs to buy the raw programmed PCBs from me wholesale - someone else needs to assemble the carts (including sourcing their own shells), sell them, and distribute them I am willing to help with contacts and introductions, and the programming of the PCBs. I have enough blank PCBs to do a fairly good sized run. However I won't do anything without license in hand. I still wouldn't mind a Space Ace, but the detailed information on the scenes that made Dragon's Lair possible don't seem to be available, just very vague walk-throughs. All that said, I still have a handful that I'll toss up on Ebay from time to time. I was planning to list one this weekend when time permits.

Yep. I ran the numbers on using an Arm microprocessor when doing my Parallel port expansion project as well, and given the interrupt latencies, the bus requirement to respond with /MPD and/or /EXTSEL within 48 nanoseconds of getting a valid address is a pretty hard requirement. 50ns is a 20MHz clock, it's all ok to do it via hardware in the old days because you didn't need the flexibility of programmable memory apertures or what have you. It's a bit different trying to do that in a software world... In the end I went with an FPGA. That way I could get very fast responses, and also have direct access to memory, giving me interesting opportunities for memory management I'm still (slowly) working on it, even though the project thread went radio-silent. I think the cost was a problem (and I think I've found a way around that, roughly halving the cost at Q50) and I've got a board out with Seeed now to test out some of the connectors. Anyway, just poking my head in - and letting people know I'm still playing/thinking about the PBXL, even though it might not seem that way

9,475 Got in the zone today.

I might be 1 day user of WUDSN, but I have been sailing the "Turgen System" ship through the treacherous brown oceans of coffee since the good old times of Java 1.3. I hope kyle22 will happilly stay "in the zone" with Windows XP for a while. It is delaying the inevitable, though.

I've added some more levels. Lots more. About 100, actually. To fit them in, I've increased the ROM to a 64K ROM. I figured there was little difference, really - all the extra space is just the cost of having oodles of levels. I hope/think I might eventually get up to around 1000 levels - that would be something. Right now it's at 250 exactly. The video shows a quick preview of all of the new levels. It's also useful for seeing how pretty much all of the random colours are working well. Credit where credit is due, ten of these new levels are by Marcus Hof - see http://www.sourcecode.se/sokoban/levels "Revenge Collection 7 - Marcus Hof". The rest are "Zone 26" by Dries de Clercq from the same site. You can see the first 10 are getting rather large and convoluted - but actually I prefer to smaller boards as in "Zone 26" and I will preferentially install that sort of level from now on. I got a bit sick of cut/pasting each level into the "SokoConvertor" compressor at the site http://www.erimsever.com/sokoban1.htm and then into my source code, which took about 2 minutes/level, so I wrote my own compressor that takes any text file downloaded from the above site and spits out the source code of the compressed level. Now it takes me those few minutes to get 100 or so levels installed. I've got a real production line going. With so many levels, though, I think that's a death-knell for SaveKey support. There's no way that I'm going to get allocated 1000 levels x (about) 2 bytes/level - say 2K for storage. I could go rogue-pirate and just use 2K without permission but somehow I think that's not going to go down well. So, looks like SaveKey is out - at least for storing the best scores for all levels. 250.mp4 sokoboo_20190914.bin

Twelve TELE-GAMES