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oracle_jedi

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Posts posted by oracle_jedi

  1. Posted

    Glad you like them :) I'll try to snap some pictures of the Diskdrive and also some of the games when I dig far enough down the pile of stuff :)

     

    I thought the SV318 had a chiclet keyboard?

     

    Is this a mis-labeled unit? A replacement keyboard? Or did Spectravideo sell the 318 with the full keyboard in some markets?

  2. Posted

    Are flea markets the best place to go and find older systems for a good deal?

     

    From my time spent reading different posts it seems like deals can happen in the following ways:

     

    You scope out your neighborhoods garbage.

    You scope out Ebay.

    You scope out pawn shops.

    You scope out Goodwill.

    You scope out flea markets.

     

    I'm amazed that I'll read how someone picked up a Turbo Duo for around $10 from a flea market when someone else is paying around $250 for one on Ebay. Are flea markets the best way to go? For me, I find my local pawn shops to be a ridiculous rip-off, Goodwill never has anything gaming related, Ebay is hit and miss and scoping out the garbage in my area would be awkward (the garbage pickup is placed in front of the house).

     

    Does anyone know of decent flea markets in the Chicago area? I will be visitng that area in a few weeks.

     

     

    I still wish Mid Westerners would discover Car Boot sales and do that on a Sunday morning instead.

     

    Let me know if you find any good flea markets in the Chicago area.

  4. Posted

    Hey, does anyone know where I can buy Ti-99 carts online? I just got my Ti-99 system and I want to pick out a couple games.

     

     

    The best online retailer left is Tex in Treasures:

     

    http://texintreasures.com

     

     

     

    You might also check out Competition Computer who sells on Ebay. They have a lot of rare (expensive) cartridges.

     

    If you have a disk drive or a CF7, you can download alot of games from http://tigameshelf.net

     

    Another new download site that is growing is the Planet 99 website: http://www.planet-99.net

     

     

    I have also heard about a GPL Simulator that allows you run to many of the ROM games from a disk, but I don't know where to get it from.

     

    Hope that helps.

     

     

    Graham

  5. Posted

    The UK one was the yorkie (256k upgrade), later re-released by richard gore/DGS in the early-mid 90's, it was basically a take on the atari 1064 but with more memory

     

    Does anyone own a Yorky?

     

    I remember seeing the ads for them but I have never seen a picture of one.

     

    Are they memory compatible with the 130XE? Would they let an 800XL run software that would otherwise need the Claus B 256K upgrade?

     

     

    Graham

  6. Posted

    3) expansion slots. This is being worked on.

    A 1090Xl clone? Or better? Cool.

     

    Allan

     

     

     

    Hopefully a production version of the Atari / IBM 8-bit ISA slot interface:

     

    http://www.geocities.com/dr_seppel/

     

    Since there were so many cards made for this standard, such a product would provide quick access to 80-column cards (MDA), parallel and serial interfaces, MFM disk interfaces, hard disk interfaces, clock cards and so on.

     

    8-bit ISA cards are getting harder to come by, but still infinitely easier than 1090 standard cards.

  7. Posted

    Boy i remember Manic Miner and JSW playing them in a shop display both in stevenage (just north of london) and weekends when i came back home to london...when i had the JSW game on the A8 (Tape version) I thought it was ok, though i prefer the Polish later version (i think it was done by XXL)...I don't ever remember there being a similar game to Star Raiders for the Speccy, Apparently the game Codename Matt 2 (or was it 3) was a space exploration game in a similar vein to SR (but without the Star Trek element to it) only star raiders game to find it's way to non atari format's was SRII ported over by Activision/electric dreams

     

    I think, but can't be too sure ...that Databyte (who had UK licences with certain US software companies) converted Montezuma's revenge, like i said though i can't remember if they did a spectrum version

     

     

    Timegate by Quicksilver on the Spectrum was similar to Star Raiders.

  8. Posted

    Are there Atari 8-bit ports of Manic Miner or Jet Set Willy?

     

    There is both an official Jet Set Willy from 1984 which is ok, and a new conversion of Jet Set Willy done in 2007 by very talented developers in Poland.

     

    I think the same guys who did the awesome conversion of Jet Pac ( Jet Boy ) - but I might be wrong.

     

    The 2007 version is better IMHO, the graphics and gameplay are identical to how i remember the Sinclair version - but it retains the Rob Hubbard music of the official release.

     

    I don't think Manic Miner has been converted.... yet :-)

  9. Posted

    Hello. Thanks for the answers! Elite sounds quite amazing.

     

    It is.

     

    What is even more amazing is that there is no Atari 8-bit version.

     

    There are versions for the C-64 and Spectrum, the Apple II, the BBC Micro (and Electron) - and even a couple of home-brew ports to the Commodore Plus/4.

     

    Someone did port a lot of the game to the 8-bit and produced a running demo - but it does not go past the title screens.

     

    I still hope one day to fly a Cobra Mk III on my 1200XL.

  10. Posted

    Thanks for the well thought out post. I always thought the Atari 800 Pac Man was great. Of course, there are no intermissions, but the monsters IIRC move the way they are supposed to (ie: Will not go up the tunnels above the middle box, but will go down, etc.).

     

    What are your thoughts about Munchman as far as Pac Man clones go? What about TI Invaders?

     

     

    Munchman is an ok game - like many of the maze-and-ghost games of the early 80s, it was an attempt to cash in on the Pac-Man craze without violating Atari's copyright. Whereas some smaller 3rd party operations might have flown under the radar with ports for European only machines, Atari did sue Commodore for Jelly Monsters and would have likely done the same to TI for anything that looked too similar to Pac-Man.

     

    So Munchman replaces eating dots with a complete-the-chain concept, there are monsters chasing you and there are power-ups. The game takes place against a white background, the graphics are small and the sound is mediocre. I would give it a 5/5.

     

    Compared to Pac-Man on the Atari, Munchman is an inferior game. The Atari game looks more like and sounds more like Pac-Man. But unlike Atarisoft's Pac-Man for the TI, the Atari version has the wrong colours - things look orange instead of yellow. The ghosts colours are wrong too and the eyes are just empty black squares. Pac-Man's mouth doesn't move correctly. The whole display looks squashed - especially on PAL computers. The Atari could have supported an authentic arcade conversion - look at Super Pac-Man to see what could have been achieved.

     

     

    TI Invaders on the other hand is a good implementation IMHO. Like many Invaders clones, it does not try to authentically replicate Taito's arcade version, but does retain all the key ingredients including bases that gradually get blown away, saucer ships for bonus points, invaders that speed up as their ranks diminish and each wave starts lower. The entire invaders graphics are replaced in later waves to keep the gamer's interest, and some of the ships at the higher levers are damn hard to hit.

     

    I would say TI Invaders is better than either Space Invaders or the home-brew port "Invaders 5200" on the Atari 800. Deluxe Invaders however is better as it is more authentic. Avenger on the Commodore VIC-20 is the best for me as it plays just like I recall arcade Invaders playing.

     

     

    Neither Munchman nor TI Invaders represent the best of TI games - but neither do they represent the worst. If anyone is interested, the following site shows some good examples of TI games in machine language, TI Extended BASIC and TI Console BASIC:

     

    http://tigameshelf.net/asm.htm

  11. Posted · Edited by oracle_jedi

    I think most people would say that the Commodore or Atari 8-Bit had better graphics, but looking at Demon Attack on the TI for the first time, notably the backgrounds and the "mother ship", they seem to be more advanced than other 8-bit computers were capable of at the time.

     

    On the other hand, Pac Man looks great on the TI, but seems to play real slow. Did the TI 99 have a slow processor? Or am I just playing it on a slower setting?

     

    The TI did have very good graphics for it's time.

     

    The TMS-9918A (or 9929A on the European models) was capable of 256x192 graphics, 16 colours and bitmap scrolling. It also has hardware sprites.

     

    The TMS processor is the same one used in the Colecovision, Adam and MSX machines amongst others.

     

    The Atari machines could outclass the TI graphically due to their better colour palette and mult-directional hardware scrolling abilities. The Atari's display list and ANTIC processor provided alot more power than the TI could manage. No matter how much memory you added to a TI, I don't see it ever producing an Elektraglide, or a Ballblazer or a Yoomp.

     

    Several TI games are slow. TI Basic is notoriously slow due to BASIC being written in an interpreted language called GPL. However even machine language games tend to be slower. The TI's CPU is a 16-bit processor running at 3Mhz. But the rest of the machine is 8-bit. The CPU talks to the rest of the machine through a multiplexer.

     

    On an Atari or Commodore, both the CPU and the video processor can directly access the same memory. Not so on the TI. On the TI the CPU must access the 16K of video memory through an 16bit/8bit interface.

     

    That said, the TI does have a much better port of Pac-Man than the Atari. Several other games are also better on the TI including Donkey Kong, Ms. Pac Man, MASH, Star Trek. This is simply due to the TI versions being more carefully put together. I find it ironic that the Atari 800 with all it's power has one of the worst Pac-Man ports of any home computer. Even the VIC-20 had a better version (Jelly Monsters).

     

    Hardware aside, there is no substitute for a well written port of a great game.

  12. Posted

    I'm only concerned with commerical games and a few utilities, nothing out of the ordinary. Good to hear that everything works. :)

     

    I really need to get my 1050 fixed, the 810 is nice but it's HUGE!

     

    Tempest

     

    I believe both The Pawn and Guild of Thieves were Enhanced Density disks.

  13. Posted

    So this chart is "sales" and not "market share" right? Is it worldwide?

     

    I just looked again and it appears the stats are worldwide: "Table 1.1 US and Worldwide Computers-in-Use Growth". Note this info is 3-4 years old, but was new to me.

     

     

    I doubt this is World Wide.

     

    The European market saw dominance from Sinclair at the low end, and the Commodore PET in the mid sector from the late 70s to at least 1983.

     

    Acorn was also a major player in the UK market until at least 1986.

  14. Posted

    Hello!

     

    There are some programs on the XL/XE that - in contrast to the vast majority - fail to work on either PAL or NTSC machines due to the critical timing in their code (i.e. using longer/more interrupt subroutines than are available on the given TV system). As of now, I know only very few of them:

     

    - Thunderfox

    - Yoomp! (versions prior to 1.1 only)

    - The Last Word (currently being fixed - or is it already?)

     

     

    Does a comprehensive list of these programs and/or fixed versions exist anywhere?

     

     

    Thorsten

     

    Other Games (non-runnable):

     

    Zone X

    Metagalactic Llamas - Battle at the Edge of Time

     

     

     

    (non-playable:)

     

    Elektraglide - on an NTSC system you dont have enough time to complete the sections - I have not found any version re-calibrated for NTSC.

     

    Ballblazer - yeah I know - it plays just fine. But the music!! - on NTSC it comes off as a frantic jig - but on PAL - its a wonderfully moody and sleazy piece that sets a totally different tone and atmosphere to the game.

  16. Posted

    Well,

    this was a theme in the "Atari vs. Commodore" thread, but I think we should have it in a separate topic...

    So please post all your info about A8 artifacting here. I will start with a simple (incomplete!) list of A8 titles that use artifacting - maybe someone can help me to complete this list... ?!?

     

    NTSC artefacting programs on the A8:

     

    - AE by Broderbund ***

    - Choplifter by Broderbund (cart and disk; the cart by Atari uses 4-color Gr. 15)

    - David`s Midnight Magic by Broderbund (disk) ***

    - David`s Midnight Magic by Atari (cart.)

    - Drol by Broderbund (disk) ***

    - Head over Heels by Hitsquad/US-Gold

    - Lode Runner by Broderbund (disk)

    - Lode Runner by Atari (cart.)

    - Pinball Construction Set by ECA (and all pinballs created with it!) ***

    - (most) Sierra online Hi-Res Adventures, like The Dark Crystal and ...

    - Threshold by ???

    - Ultima 1 ? by Origin (not sure if it uses artifacting, since I have never seen it)

    - Ultima 2 ? by Origin (not sure if it uses artifacting, since I have never seen it)

    - Ultima 3 by Origin

    - Ultima 4 by Origin

     

    *** there are also cracked + patched versions of these programs in 4-color gr. 15 mode available...

     

     

    PAL artefacting programs on the A8:

     

    - Artifacting Character Editor by Joel Goodwin (Page 6, issue 52, pages 18-21)

    - Runaround by Joel Goodwin (Page 6, issue 53 ?)

     

    greetings, Andreas Koch.

     

    Flight Simulator II

  18. Posted

    One option for the 3.5 drive is to get a XF551 and mod it. There are instructions and kits around to do this. tho this is only for 720K

    2nd option would be to get a parrallel interface device that supports 3.5 drives.

     

    Does anyone have those instructions or a link to where they might be?

     

    I would be interested in picking up an XF551 if I knew how to mod it to support a 3.5inch drive.

     

    Thanks

  19. Posted

    I found another email address, but it too unfortunately is no longer active.

     

    You may want to try posting in the Yahoo TI99 group, as there are active members there.

     

    I did send in an application to join that group. Its a moderated Yahoo group and so only approved applications can post. The application sat for 2 weeks before being automatically rejected by Yahoo.

     

    I've also tried many TI web sites, but it seems many of them are now little more than collections of broken links.

     

    Thanks

     

    Graham

  20. Posted

    No. The bank switching in the carts is all the same. I would imagine that FSII just checks some code in the OS and doesn't 'see' an 800XL.

     

    I prefer the 1200XL, but they are not your best choice if you are not willing to upgrade them.

     

     

    Bob

     

     

    Well I checked my un-modded 1200XL and it does run FS II on cartridge just fine. So from my collection of about 60 cartridges I cant any that wont run on the 1200XL.

     

    Sorry for the confusion.

     

    Graham

  21. Posted

    Well I'm mainly interested in cartridge games (and little to no interest in mods) so none of that's real important to me. Are there any carts that won't run on a 1200XL but will run on any other XL/XE?

     

    You're going to have 3 problems:

     

    1. Not all carts will work - for example Flight Sim II detects the 1200XL as a 400/800 and refuses to run.

     

    2. Not all carts will fit - notably the Parker Bros carts wont fit into the recesssed 1200XL cartridge port.

     

    3. The video sucks. The 1200XL has the worst picture of any Atari machine.

     

     

    All of the above are easy to fix if you are ok with a little modding. As mentioned earlier the Bob Woolley PBI mod shows how to swap the OS and MMU chips for the 800XL ones and creates essentially an 800XL in a 1200XL case. The video problems can be fixed by applying the Clearpic 2002 mod plus the S-Video chroma fix, and even the cartridge port issue can be fixed by removing some of the plastic surround from the cartridge port guide.

     

    For all that effort you get the coolest looking machine Atari made with the best keyboard you will ever touch. With the Clearpic and S-Video chroma mods the video is the best possible from an NTSC machine.

     

    If only you could convert these things to output a true PAL picture.....

     

     

    Hope that helps.

     

    Graham.

  22. Posted

    Hi Graham.

     

    I tried the email address that Remo provided but was not able to get through. I'm assuming Jaime's email address has since changed. The CF7a+ seems like such an incredible device. It sure would be a shame if production has ended for good. If I find anything I'll certainly let you know.

     

    ... Steve

     

    Steve, thanks for the follow up.

     

    I will keep hoping Santa will be good to me and give us both the opportunity to obtain the expansion device.

     

    Graham

  23. Posted

    I haven't talked to him in over a year but I have his email address from the time, I'll PM you. Hopefully he (or someone else) is still making them, they are just too awesome. :cool:

     

    I'd like to buy a CF7 also - if you get a hold of Jamie - or anyone else who makes the CF7 unit, please let me know!

     

    Cheers.

     

    Graham

  24. Posted

    Boy, I wish I could remember. I got an 800 and a 410 in 1981 and only had Pac-Man (cart) and Canyon Climber (cassette) for a while. Eventually, met another guy in school who had an Atari and had a disk of pirated games. I don't know if I'd even heard of piracy before. A little while later I met another guy who had more stuff and it just grew from there. It's funny, but for a while games were a form of currency. If you had something someone needed, you could broker a trade.

     

    Yes I remember the currency of pirated games.

     

    I was in school in 1983 and remember very well the often vicious disputes that arose when such trades went bad. The Commodore 64 camp and the Sinclair ZX Spectrum camp were both full those cases.

     

    I was the first kid in my year to own an Atari. And to try to convince others they wanted one too, I decided to just let anyone copy whatever they could. The Atari camp therefore had an open exchange policy. The result was about 12 additional Atari owners by the end of the year. A number that compared well with the C64 and Spectrum camps and we quickly dwarfed the Dragon 32 and BBC Micro camps.

     

    Alot of people like to point to the piracy of the Atari platform and claim it was a reason the format never achieved better success. Maybe and maybe not. In my experience it helped the platform achieve some success.

     

    Oh and to answer the original question: Gridrunner for the VIC-20. Sorry Jeff. Although I did go on to buy Matrix, Hellgate, Andes Attack, Traxx, Metagalactic Llamas and several other titles from Llamasoft.

  25. Posted

    I've seen a few articles on making an ST into a Linux terminal by connecting the ST to the PC's serial port and running a terminal service under Linux that presents a login to the serial port.

     

    The Linux part is fairly straightforward and well documented.

     

    But what would i need to do this on the Atari 8-bit side?

     

    Do I need an 850 interface box, a cable and a copy of Ice-T? Is there a better solution?

    What if I want to use an XEP80 interface for proper 80-column mode?

     

    Has anyone done this? How did you do it?

     

    Thanks

     

     

    Graham

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