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alex_79

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Everything posted by alex_79

  1. The lag could be caused by the TV if you're using a digital set. To rule that out, try the console with a CRT if you have that possibility. If the lag is still present, then the problem is the emulator.
  2. Thank you! I don't have a facebook account, and I didn't even know they had a page there... Good to know they're still active.
  3. Any news on this? I used to browse pong-picture-page quite often, and it would be a shame if all the info in there would just be lost. On a relate note, anyone knows if old-computers.com is still mantained? It works, but the latest updates according to the "news" page is dated 7/9/2011, and the forum seems to be dead. That site also contains good info about old consoles and pong systems and I hope it's not going to disappear too...
  4. I agree. That's what I said. I was referring to bringing up CRTs in thread about upscalers in general in a retrogaming forum, not this thread specifically, where we both agree that's off-topic.
  5. I agree that CRT is off-topic in this thread which is specifically about the framemeister end of production. I posted about it only because the subject was already brought up. I also agree with all you said about the HD-CRT. Anyway, I don't think that mentioning CRT is off-topic when talking about upscalers in general, since many people are not aware of the drawbacks in using old consoles with digital TVs. Of course, it doesn't make much sense if you put it in that way. On the other hand, mentioning CRTs to compare advanatages and disadvantages of both solutions might be helpful to let people decide which one fits their needs best. People without more technical knowledge on the subject might think that it's just a question of adapting the video signal to the new technology and everythink will just continue to work like it did before. It doesn't. You can find several posts here or elsewhere of people that wonder why their lightguns games don't work anymore, or why they suddenly sucks at playing "Kaboom!" on the 2600 with their new flat TV...
  6. If you prefer, and have the space for, a CRT then go for a standard definition one: If you can mod the console for s-video or RGB, you'll have the best picture possible, support for lightguns and no lag. The point of an upscaler like the framemeister is to being able to use a modern TVs while bypassing the scalers built-into them or overcome the lack of standard def inputs on some models. Upscalers built-in the TV, and most of the cheap external ones, have filters designed with movies and tv-shows in mind, which increase lag over what's strictly necessary to buffer and upscale the image and generally degrade the picture from an old console (and sometimes don't deal correctly with the non-standard non-interlaced signal). Modifying the console for High Def output (which I guess still requires a frame buffer and so introduces at least a minimal lag and breaks compatibility with lightguns) to use it with a CRT doesn't make sense. BTW, I'm one of those who keeps CRTs around for the sole purpose of using them for retrocomputers and consoles. When/if the last of my CRT will stop working I'll switch to emulation as the compromises determined by using real hardware with a digital TV are not acceptable to me. I'm not interested at all in high def video out on old consoles, being it the result of a video mod, a new FPGA recreation of old hardware or an upscaler like the framemeister. But I do understand the reasons why others have different opinion and I'm confident that as long as there will be interest in old consoles, devices like the framemeister will continue to be designed and produced.
  7. You can modify any cartridge to use eproms, but it would be better to start with a game similar to the one you want to build in terms of amount of rom, ram, bankswitching and eventual Pokey chip to limit modifications and rewiring. For example, boards without ram and/or Pokey, will lack connections to some of the pins (Phase 2 clock, Read/Write signal, external audio from the cart). You can connect those pins, but it will require a lot of work to make the cart fit into the 7800 slot. (It can be done. I made a ramcart using a "Pole Position II" board and had to wire a couple of missing pins) I'm not much into the 7800 (I'm focused on the 2600), but you can take a look at this page for pinouts and schematics of the various Atari 7800 cartridge. Also check this document from Graham J Percy (it contains instructions to build ramcarts for 2600 and 7800 development, but there are some tips and schematics that could be useful also for normal eprom carts.) When using eproms, you might have to add some logic for address decoding, or invert some signals to make them work, but it all depends on the specific type of cart you want to build. As long as he doesn't sell the games, I can't see the difference in playing an homebrew (when the rom has been made available by the author) or difficult to find original game on real hardware using an eprom cart, a flashcart like the Concerto or the Cuttle Cart, a development system with ramcart or anything else. Some retrogaming enthusiasts enjoy tinkering with the hardware too, so keeping info like this as a "state secrets" has the only effect of making them lose interest in the platform. People interested in pirating games, on the other hand, will figure it out themselves (it doesn't takes much skills to reverse engineer an Atari game) and surely won't waste time and efforts rewiring old boards... As a last note, I don't know anything about rarity of the games, but you guys realize that, on the basis of a previous thread by Col7800 (just a few topics below this one, right now), he is probably from Europe and the games are PAL, right?
  8. You can use the "makewav" utility to convert the supercharger roms into remastered audio files. Those can be played from the computer, converted to mp3, burned to an audio CD or recorded on tape. You can set different speed depending on the media you want to use (better use lower speed for tapes). The "Playbin" utility is similar, but it only "plays" the roms through the PC soundcard without generating an audio file. http://atariage.com/forums/topic/247849-supercharger-and-wplaybin/?do=findComment&comment=3414680 Since the supercharger is mono, it would be better using an adapter with stereo equipment. When you connect the supercharger mono plug into the device (PC soundcart, CD or mp3 player, stereo cassette player) stereo socket, in fact, the right channel gets shorted to ground. Most devices should be designed to handle that situation just fine, but a few are not and that short can stress the electronics causing damages after some time.
  9. http://atariage.com/software_page.php?SoftwareLabelID=2751 Roms available here: http://www.atari2600homebrew.com/et-book-cart-atariage.html
  10. It looks very promising! Are you considering a PAL (or PAL60) version too? You should open a new thread in the Homebrews forum: it would be easier for people to know about the game, and you'll have no editing limitation there, so you can keep the latest version on the first post.
  11. TMS4764.pdf I don't think you'll find a pin compatible EPROM for that chip. You'll have to build an adapter to use a 27C64. You must first determine if the chip select pin (pin 20) is active high or low, as it could be programmed in both ways during fabrication. If it's active high, you'll need also an inverter on the adapter.
  12. Probably, it didn't met requirements to be patentable. It's just a switch.
  13. I'm not interested at all in HDMI mod for classic consoles. I have a few CRT TVs that I keep for the sole purpose of classing gaming and the only way I would play them on digital TV is through emulation with CRT effect enabled and usb adapter to use the original controllers. With digital TV you always have some amount of lag, lightguns don't work and without some sort of filter (even a simple "scanline" effect would help) the picture looks just terrible IMHO. That said, I see how some are interested in such a mod and I suggest to get more info before spending big money for it: Unless the mod uses a similar approach as Tim Worthington's RGB mod (that is, the board is placed between the CPU and the TIA so to generate a digital signal bypassing the TIA video generation completely), it would only consist in an upscaler mounted inside the console, which uses the standard definition video signal from the TIA as input. In that case, it would be better to just mod the console for the best standard definition analog video output (with the RGBmod or a good s-video one) and then send the signal to a quality upscaler designed specifically for retrogaming (like the mini framemeister), which will do a better job than a cheap one installed in the console. While more expensive, the external upscaler can be used for many consoles and can be upgraded easily when something more performant comes out. (a scaler for UHD resolution, for example...)
  14. This thread in the videopac.nl forum might help: http://videopac.nl/forum/index.php?topic=1659.0 Compatibility issues comes from different timings between the US Odyssey 2 and the European Videopac. Here is a detailed explanation: https://web.archive.org/web/20070428002945/http://soeren.informationstheater.de/g7000/palntsc.html
  15. I guess the controller doesn't get proper power from the console. It's a fortunate circumstance that Genesis controllers work on the Atari, because the port pinout is slightly different. The main difference is that power is on pin 7 on the Atari, while is pin 5 on the Genesis. Genesis' pin 7 is a "select" line which determines what buttons or direction will appear on the data pins depending if it's in high (+5v) or low (0v) state. The fact is that the original controllers happen to work even if power is applyed to the select line instead of the proper pin 5. (This is not an intended behaviour, it's just due to the internal contruction of the IC used to "multiplex" the many buttons and directions to the fewer pins available on the port). Probably the 3rd party controller you have has different internals which don't show this "quirk" making it incompatible with the Atari. If this is the problem, it can be fixed this by either modifying the controller or building a pass-through adapter. If you modify the controller it won't be compatible with the genesys anymore, so I prefer the adapter solution. To modify the controller you must solder a jumper between the pads where pin 7 and 5 from the plug are connected to the controller pcb, and then cut the wire going to the plug's pin 5. After that, the controller won't be compatible with the genesis anymore. The pass-through adapter only consists in male and a female 9-pin connectors and some wires: Connect pin 7 from the female connector (the one that goes into the Atari port) to both pins 7 and 5 or the male one, then connect pins 1, 2, 3, 4, 6, 8, 9 to the corresponding ones between the two connectors. This require more soldering but doesn't modify the controller, so it can still be used with the genesis.
  16. They expanded it to 16K (F6 bankswitching).
  17. Here there are some more measurements for the 1292 APVS and compatible consoles: http://www.classic-consoles-center.at/forum/interton/interton-cartridge-guide I agree that collecting info on cartridge dimensions and pinout in a wiki would be an interesting project.
  18. Yeah, I can't imagine they made the board compatible with an existing console while using a different shaped case. Assuming that, by chance, the 2600 case with that 25x2 pin board would fit in a master system console, there would be gaps between the cart and the slot, requiring a careful allignement to plug the thing in. That's too cheap even for a taiwanese pirate company. The cart shell dimensions must be the same as the console cart slot, which means there must be a still undocumented console (most probably clone hardware-wise of some system of the era) with the cart slot the same size as the atari 2600 but with a 25x2 connector. And since the carts are not phisically interchangeable because of the different shape, there's no point in replicating the pinout of the cloned console either. The only requirement is that the hardware must not need more than 50 pins for the cartridge and the Arcadia 2001 meets this condition and seems a good candidate judging from the games' titles.
  19. So, are the shells the same size as 2600 ones? Those posted on the racketboy forum apparently are not:
  20. Just noticed that the labels use the exact same layout and font as in Atari 2600 games from Suntek, except they lack the "trademark" symbol after the game title and the product number.
  21. He was referring to connecting them in parallel without extra hardware (by using an Y-cable or soldering the AVox internally to the controller port pins). That won't work for the reasons he explained. It can work with extra hardware, though. The I.C. suggested for the adapter I linked above is not bidirectional, so that adapter will work for two joysticks on the first port, but not for the Avox and a joystick on the second one. Anyway, a different design would surely allow to share the port between the AtariVox and a joystick. Or to have more controllers. There's no limit to what kind of adapters can be designed to expand the capabilities of the 2600, the problem is to design something that is cheap enough to produce and, more importantly, that the programmers are willing to support in their games.
  22. A device like the one described in this post might allow to use 2 joysticks on the first port and the Avox on the second one (or to share the second port between a joystick and the Avox). The problem is that you then need two hardware add-ons, which will reduce the market for such a game.
  23. A lot of those documents can be also found on the digitpress website: http://www.digitpress.com/library/techdocs/#vcs Download works fine there.
  24. An additional note about the comb lines: They're visible on a black background if you turn up the TV brightness because they're at "blanking" level, just like the area on top and below the active part of the picture. NTSC has black voltage level which is slightly above than blanking one. PAL, on the other hand, (and the NTSC variant used in Japan) uses the same level for black and blanking. So on PAL console you cannot see the comb lines or blanking areas on a black background even if you crank up the brightness. Here are pictures of the PAL60 version of space rocks played on a PAL console and TV: According to the 2600 Service manual, at least a couple of NTSC 2600 revision boards have the "blank" pin of the TIA unconnected (2600A revisions 14 and 15) Also the NTSC 7800 schematic on the main AA has that pin unused (don't know if other revisions are different). Those consoles won't show the comb lines on a black background just like PAL ones. I assume the atari 2800 (for Japan market) does the same too, but there aren't schematics of that console available. PAL TIA doesn't have a blank pin at all.
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