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Just got my hardcopy #159. Went to play it and unfortunately they loaded Casey's Gold onto the cart by mistake. At least I have my digital copy of Circus Convoy to tide me over until they can straighten this out.

An epic journey for your Mattel Intellivision. Coming soon.

This made me curious about the speed of the ship movement in both the 7800 and arcade versions, so I decided to do a side-by-side test. To compare with Bob's version, I had my laptop sitting next to the TV; the 7800 was connected to the TV. The laptop was running MAME and using the 'galaxian' and 'galaxianm' sets as my arcade references. Joystick on the 7800 was a CX78 with the mushroom stick screwed into the D-pad; this made it possible to operate the game one-handed, freeing up the other hand for operating MAME. Only Normal difficulty was used. Testing was as follows: Simultaneously start a new game on both MAME and the 7800. Wait for both player ships to appear. Jam the joystick hard right in both MAME and on the 7800, watch for the amount of time it took for the ships to reach the extreme edge of the screen, note any lag (i.e., one ship arriving at the edge before / after the other). Repeat for the opposite direction. Do this until you're fed up with it Taking into account the possibility of lag between when one hand moves the MAME ship and the other moves the 7800 ship, Bob's version was generally pretty much spot-on with the arcade versions. Both ships would reach the edge at near enough the same time as didn't matter. As an aside, running the arcade versions side-by-side with the 7800 version showed just how excellent Bob's translation of the original Z80 code for enemy movement to 6502 really is. Seeing the player make the same moves at the same time on both versions and watching the aliens leave the swarm and attack virtually identically on both is seriously awesome. Anyway, if the player's ship were to have a speed-up option of some sort, I'm not sure how I'd feel about that. While I generally have no issues with gameplay enhancements as long as they are selectable, the game is impressively arcade-accurate as it stands. And with rapid-fire already being a feature, adding in a faster ship just seems like it would take too much challenge out of the game. If there was an ending or different stages to get to I could see more of a case for things like that, but as each wave just repeats all it would really do is let the level counter increment with less effort than it takes now. Just my $0.02. It's no skin off my nose if it becomes a feature or not, but that's ultimately up to whether or not Bob wants to implement it.

Software update! Changes: * Possibility to turn off the LCD backlight in "Forced Power Supply". * Added header bit support for Double Pokey and Yamaha. Now setting these bits is necessary to get the sound. As a reminder, the current Cart Type settings are as follows: bit 0 = pokey at $4000 bit 1 = supergame bank switched bit 2 = supergame ram at $4000 bit 3 = rom at $4000 bit 4 = bank 6 at $4000 bit 5 = supergame banked ram bit 6 = pokey at $450 bit 7 = mirror ram at $4000 bit 8 = activision banking bit 9 = absolute banking bit 10 = pokey at $440 bit 11 = ym2151 at $460/$461 bit 12 = souper bit 13-15 = special * Fixed bug that did not allow to go back to a higher directory when changing the game. * Added an adjustable delay for restarting the console. The loading time of some games is so short that it did not allow the capacitors in the power supply of the console to discharge, causing it to reconnect itself. * Added adjustable delay for scrolling files up / down. * The "Force RAM" option has been removed from the Menu, the latest PMC_XM already has Yamaha detection. * Changed options displayed after loading the game. * Automatic IRQ inclusion for games using Pokey has been added. For this to work, the Pokey @4000 or @0450 bit must be set in the header and the Pokey IRQ set to "Yes" in the Menu. When this option is set to "No", the IRQ will always remain off. In the attachment: the latest firmware, current manual, YM and Dual Pokey files with modified headers. v1.06.zip Manual.pdf Corrected files .zip

Asteroite April update. Thank you Krauser for new music and enemies, @SlidellMan for the pipe tiles: and some initial work on a large BOSS, consisting of several parts, animated using key-frames (like the bosses in later Contra games) Thank you Krauser for the BOSS parts.

I think the problem with wanting everyone to embrace it is with this question. If it didn't have the Atari name attached to it would you have cared or been excited for it? The name got me excited at first, but beyond the looks of it I can get this product elsewhere for a similar or cheaper price without the need to mod it to make it worthwhile. Things should be embraced because they are good. Not just because of the name attached.

Thank you so much! Being that I already messed up by posting the RC before next week (it was supposed to be during the developer spotlight), I did another update (I added the 'Game Over' text to the attract mode demo) If nobody finds any bugs, this will be the final one. Thanks again! Galaxian.A78 Galaxian.BIN

Nice interview! So are people gaming and streaming like never before? It has been released for a while now and really haven't heard much about it.

Yeah, kinda like an Atari Corps re-release label variant or something. Anyhow I got another problem. I left for a little bit and came back and was horrified when I saw my cart. Yep, it's Audaplaque. I can't believe it. I mean I live on the coast and it is damp here, but it's only been open for a few hours. This is unacceptable. I'm stunned... I had a bad feeling when these guys said they weren't homebrew. Of course! A homebrewer would never allow this. They must have fired all of their QC quys. I feel sick right now. Audacity has already gone over the corporate edge of cutting corners to improve the bottom line. It's too late.

Yes, is possible to run JAVA bytecode on 8-bit home computers and develop some atari examples using standard class libraries. Here a demo running on Atari800 (The .XEX was tested on a real machine). This is a port to Atari from the B2FJ java virtual machine that allows to run bytecode on C64 (https://mzattera.github.io/b2fJ/) Demo Sources: https://github.com/eahumada/b2fJ/blob/master/dev/test/b2fJ/test/atari/ColorMusicPlayerTest.java Project on GitHub: https://github.com/eahumada/b2fJ/ Video: https://youtu.be/Zym4K55Vecc b2fjplay.xex

Here's the cap, but I don't have a belt that allows me to change out the buckle.

UWEEE HEHEHE! The white PLA print looks great! Screw holes line up, LED lines up with the slot-- all that jazz! Even got the plastic side to mate with the corresponding metal side! (Using the original screws!!) My cellphone battery is flat at the moment, so it will be a bit-- but once it is up enough to do the needful, I will make some photos. I need to do some minor revisions (I never added the recess for the pull tab, and there is an issue with the LED cutout (it cuts through both sides of the shell... Just an issue with the type of cutout in my cad software. Easy fix.) and with one of the screw posts trying to 'ever so slightly' collide with a voltage regulator on the 32k card by about half a millimeter, indicating the post needs to be shaved a bit there.) but this bodes **VERY** well for making 3D printed clamshells. and YES-- it DOES fit inside the PEB!

Does anyone else read "Kieren" in the retro gaming context and immediately distrust whatever comes next, then have to double take when you realize it's a DIFFERENT one? Man, even the name is ruined anymore.

Did they have anyone hopping around on the top of their truck?

UPS just stopped by. Found a good place for the semi!

And the reason you don't have 1024KB but have the 917K ram, is the following. On a stock Geneve, you have 64 x 8K pages which are what we call "physical" pages that can map into the mapper registers as pages >00 to >3F. That's the first 64 x 8K pages or 512K. Next, on the stock Geneve, you have 32K ram which is another 4 x 8K pages. They are 4 of the physical pages from >E8 to >EF. Not sure which of the 4. If someone added the 32K ram expansion, then they have 8 of those 8K pages with physical pages >E8 to >EF all available. The PFM provides pages >C0 to >EF or 384K ram. Here is where you see the stock ram and PFM ram overlap. I think it was determined and confirmed with some testing by others, the original 32K stock ram is still active, so really, the PFM only provides 384K - 32K or 352K. Now while the chips are 512K, the memory in physical pages >F0 to >FF are ROM, not RAM. The BIOS on a stock Geneve sits at physical page >F0 and >F1 and physical page >FF is used as a "null" or "dead" memory page that is not writeable. With both the Memex and PFM, anything in the Physical page range of >F0 to >FF is not writeable. The @InsaneMultitasker would need to confirm what is on the other pages that are dictated by what the PFM writes. I think it is the PFM Flashdisk, but not completely certain. If you add a modified Myarc 512K card, or a 504K Memex, I think they both use physical pages >80 to >BF with page >BA being mapped out as it is unique page to access the PEBox Card DSR's and chips. In addition, page >BC is hardware accessible, however the MDOS operating system removes that memory page from useable memory as if you have a Rave Speech adapter in your system, or some other more rare cards, page >BC gives mapped access to the speech synthesizer and would cause memory errors if you were to have a program loaded in that memory space. Pages >40 to >7F are only accessible if you have a GenMod system. With a GenMod system, it also opens up pages >C0 to EF like the PFM does. Everything I mentioned above deals with pageable 8K memory blocks called "physical memory". When we start talking task pages, then we are talking about the current memory map from address >0000 to >FFFF. In MDOS mode, the mapper is at addresses >F110 to >F117. You can if you so desire, map something like page >32 into >F110, >F111, F112, >F113, >F114, >F115, >F116, and >F117 effectively having each 8K bank identical Make a change at >0500, and the change would be replicated at >2500, >4500, >6500, >8500, >A500, >C500, and >E500. Or, you could map pages >32, >33, >34, >35, >36, >37, >38, >39 into the range >F110 to >F117 for 8 x 8K or 64K of contiguous ram. The only thing to be careful here in MDOS mode is the TM9995 chip does have it's only RAM memory one needs to be careful. That memory resides in a portion (not all) of the >E000 to >FFFF range. Consult a TMS9995 manual for more details. When a user loads a MDOS program, MDOS assigns pages to accommodate the file, and only it's file size. So, if you load a program and it fits into memory and does not extend beyond address >2000, then only TASK page 0 at >F110 will be assigned in addition to a "default" page >13 (I think that is the physical page number) in task page 7 at >F117 for the >E000 to >FFFF memory range. This is upper memory range is always assigned so the user can have access to workspaces. If you need more memory beyond the immediate file size up to the top of that current task page 8K bank, then you need to use the Memory XOP to request more memory and map it in. Now, when you go into GPL mode or "TI-99/4A Emulation Mode", the Geneve memory mapper locations move from >F110->F117 to address range >8000 to >8007. The GPL interpreter also does some special mapping to give access to additional banks of memory at >6000 to >7FFF for cartridge space, plus all the GPL cartridge bank memory. This is where the Geneve Gate array does a lot of its magic. Anyways, this is a bunch of information. If you program, it is probably worth it to copy this text and print it out for reference if this is new to you. If you don't program, then you just read a message and are probably sitting here in a daze. If you are in a daze and want to understand things more, then I highly suggest getting Bruce Hellstrom's BHDMV program as you can watch MDOS "at work", and have some limited access to playing with the memory map. I used Bruce's programs years ago to learn some of the underlying abilities to multitask as well as to decipher how to page the MDOS Command Line Interpreter into a program. Enjoy.

That's by design. In a situation like this, I think it's really important to let the guest outline what details are and are not crucial.

I learned a lot from this video:

Greg now has physical cartridges of XB 2.8 G.E.M. available!

printed one..

Just matters what your definition of "hit" is...

If there was they were camouflaged like a chameleon.

So, roughly 7 years after being forced to sell off pretty much all of my retro stuff, I'm now in a better place and have spent the last year slowly building thing back up a little. I still have a 600XL that I owned from new and the A1200 is mine (found in my parents attic - so it survived the cull). Thanks to some lucky finds (the Philips monitor was listed as local pick up 10 mins up the road and went cheap) and buying broken items and fixing them up I now have my very own man cave! Just behind this is my (small) workbench. Just big enough for repairs and upgrades:

Definitely - the major relevant points were pointed out conclusively. Those of us that "get it", got it thee years ago. Those who don't, did not and never will and that's fine. Now that this has pretty much all passed, how long until the next one I wonder?

The A8 Memo Pad starts out in upper case, but I didn't implement the A8 caps keys. Technically the xegs keyboard reports capitals as unshifted, and lower-case as shifted. Meh, gotta leave something for the kickstarter stretch goals. Also, congrats on being the first to report the April Folly Easter Egg - xegs keyboard support!

He's out now... ?

I check this side of the forum (forem) once a month now. I get a laugh and move on. If you like the Box, enjoy it. If you hate the box, I get it. Neither side is going to change the opinion of the other side at this point.

Hey, I worked real hard to land in last place!!!!

I found a spare PFM+ stack and installed it (replaced the existing chip stack) into my working Geneve. Everything worked fine except for the PFM identification. As best I can tell, the LS139 is interfering with the ID sequence when the flashdisk chip is selected. This makes little sense except that the LS139 Select line may be flip-flopping the chips during the operation. The fix for my Geneve was to force the 9901 to select the system chip prior to the ID sequence. I've attached the identification program. I would appreciate it if a few of you with the PFM512 or PFM+ could run it then share the resulting text, along with the type of PFM in your Geneve. PFMPROD (tifiles format) Edit: I updated the core standalone utilities and proceeded to upgrade the spare PFM stack from v3.0 to v8.0 then updated the installed MDOS from 2.21 to 7.22 - so far all is working as expected.

I haven't tried it yet, but I had to buy it when I saw it ...

Like this?

Bump ?

I was looking for some footage around the Atari release date, and funnily enough, I found an Atari commercial captured in the middle of this CBS Evening News with Walter Cronkite from Monday Sept 12 1977. Thought was kinda funny. Time: 24:12

One of the best purchasing decisions I made. A fun mini-project to boot: Items purchased: 1. REQUIRED - DE10-Nano Kit 2. REQUIRED (Can be substituted) - MakerSpot Micro USB OTG Hub 3. REQUIRED (Can be substituted) - Rii X8 Portable 2.4GHz Mini Wireless Keyboard Controller with Touchpad Mouse 4. OPTIONAL - Samsung Electronics EVO Select 256GB MicroSDXC 5. OPTIONAL - Mister SDRAM Extra Slim XSD v2.5 SD Board 128MB 6. OPTIONAL - Vonets VAP11G-300 Wireless to Wired Ethernet dongle WiFi Bridge [Arriving this weekend] Additionally, I am utilizing an 'oldie but goodie' Saitek P880 USB Controller, though anything with USB capabilities can be leveraged - wired, wireless, Bluetooth. After the initial setup, all selection and menu navigations can be performed with just the controller; switching cores, changing settings, rebooting, etc.

Definitely scan the newsletters, we'll get them onto WHT from your posts here. I think I may actually have the Electronics and Computing issue with the TI Supplement--I think it is the only issue of that magazine I have. . .

I got a 9 gold for Xmas a while back.... I haven't even taken it out of the box. The Kieren interview was good. No surprises in there, but good to hear it from his perspective.

That’s an awesome variant. I would hold onto that.?

I wish you every success on your voyage. Lol. Giving me direct access to billing your PayPal account might speed the process up. ?

From my experience, which admittedly might be a bit of an outlier cost wise, it costs approximately eleventy billion dollars to properly assemble an Inty collection. YMMV. Lol. Having said that I need to dig into these figures a bit more...

Haha! I picked up a cool glass unit from IKEA to display some of the smaller items. Still need to properly organize it all.

ok. I gave the most recent version a go and I have to say it is REAL good. I'm still not a fan of the "shot" sound. But I played it back to back with the arcade version and it really "feels" like the arcade. I have to say this is definitely the "definitive" port of Galaxian. And believe me I've played the console version of Galaxian on many systems! On a side note I didn't care much for the kangaroo move version. Those boxes drive me crazy! LOL

3.2D - Oct 1988 = last official disk based release from ICD 3.2F - Feb 1994 = rebranded to FTe when released as shareware, no functionality difference 3.2G - June 1994 = Minor updates by FTe including D9: support, release notes included in the ATR, I'll have to look it up. Edit... dates & details from "CHANGES.32G" file, some decent bugs squashed and annoyances handled actually:

Ha, that image would actually look amazing with some tacos. Though that ain't a pile of sour cream.

Needs a few ?

@jblenkleGet out of my spot!! ?

ZeroPage Homebrew is playing Get Lost! on tomorrow's (Fri Apr 2, 2021) stream LIVE on Twitch at 12PM PT | 3PM ET | 7PM GMT! Hope everyone can watch! PLEASE NOTE SPECIAL START TIME OF 12PM (NOON) PT DUE TO HOLIDAY WEEKEND ZPH Twitch Stream: https://www.twitch.tv/zeropagehomebrew/ Games: Worm! (2010 | 7800) by Mark Ball @GroovyBee Into the Void (2021 WIP | 7800) by Steve & Jeff Fulton @fultonbot Dungeon Stalker (2015 | 7800) by Steve Engelhardt @Atarius Maximus, Mike Saarna @RevEng Get Lost! (2013 WIP | 7800) by John K Harvey @Propane13

ZeroPage Homebrew is playing Dungeon Stalker on tomorrow's (Fri Apr 2, 2021) stream LIVE on Twitch at 12PM PT | 3PM ET | 7PM GMT! Hope everyone can watch! PLEASE NOTE SPECIAL START TIME OF 12PM (NOON) PT DUE TO HOLIDAY WEEKEND ZPH Twitch Stream: https://www.twitch.tv/zeropagehomebrew/ Games: Worm! (2010 | 7800) by Mark Ball @GroovyBee Into the Void (2021 WIP | 7800) by Steve & Jeff Fulton @fultonbot Dungeon Stalker (2015 | 7800) by Steve Engelhardt @Atarius Maximus, Mike Saarna @RevEng Get Lost! (2013 WIP | 7800) by John K Harvey @Propane13 (SET VIDEO TO 1080P60 FOR FULL QUALITY)

Here is an interesting variant: https://www.ebay.com/itm/Vintage-Texas-Instruments-TI-74-Basicalc-Programmable-Calculator-In-Case-8k-Ram/384071545049?hash=item596c72b0d9:g:qmwAAOSw-hhgZM69 The Cummins Engine TI-74

Gee, I'm missing that one...