rdemming

You know that you can jump and then press right? Then you can jump shorter distances instead jumping over it. Robert

The processor in the keyboard is also responsible for keeping track of time. But if you switch the power off, the time is gone too. So this mod makes sure the keyboard processor keeps power when the Atari is turned off. So the keyboard processor keeps updating the time even when the power is off. Robert

Your best bet is to find a "non" Atari mouse. These were in general much faster than the Atari mouse. You also had some software mouse accelerators. But I suspect lots of games will bypass that and will still be slow. But you can always try e.g. Silkmouse from this page. Robert

Maybe on the Patch page of the D-Bug site? Or Klapauzius has some good ones too. Robert

I believe that this person was basically streaming the data to the Atari 8 bit which knew how to show the current graphics 9 screen and the related audio samples. It is very impressive, though not truly an 8-bit video (in my view) due to the way it is streamed and not stored on 8-bit hardware. I'd love to have it on my computer though! The video was stored on a harddisk/CF-card connected to the Atari via the MyIDE interface. Here the MyIDE website with the video's. Of course the video was first converted to the MyIDE video player format before storing it on the harddisk. The Atari is not fast enough to decode MPEG video in real-time. Robert

For those interested, hereby the manual of the ST version of the AdSpeed board. Robert

Yes, the AdSpeed was a 16MHz upgrade. It replaced the original CPU with a little board that contained a 16MHz 68000 and some fast cache ram chips to speed up RAM access. The bus is still on the old speed so without the cache ram, the faster 68000 would have to have for the bus every time. As long as the data is in the cache chips, the faster 68000 can read the data at full speed. The regular STE is just 8MHz. But the Mega STE had a similar 16MHz upgrade build-in. Robert

Not fully but that does not mean you miss a lot. The original XE expansion has the option for separate extended RAM access for the CPU and Antic. You can turn bank switching on for only the CPU, only the ANTIC or both. So Antic can access the extended RAM bank while the CPU still accesses the regular RAM. Or the other way around, the CPU access the extended RAM bank while the ANTIC still accesses the regular RAM. Or they can both access the extended RAM bank. With this system you can thus display graphics from extended RAM while the CPU runs code that is in the same memory range but in regular RAM. A RAM expansion on the PBI bus cannot implement this feature because the proper signals to implement this are missing from the PBI bus. So if you turn on bank switching it is both for the CPU and ANTIC. Pre XE memory extensions and the popular RAMBO extension didn't implement separate ANTIC/CPU access. So this feature was very little used. In fact I can only think of one demo that needs separate ANTIC/CPU access but there could be a few more. Nearly all other programs that need expanded memory don't need separate CPU/ANTIC access. Robert

Making serialised units invalid? ULS is a tool to insert (program) data in session 0 of a pre-encrypted CD image without affecting the encryption. So what CJ means is that with ULS you can easily create personalised CDs without re-encrypting each personalised copy. Just as you can make personalised ROM images for the SkunkBoard. But the SkunkBoard has a build-in serial number (So the SkunkBoard is the "serialised unit" here, not the software). So what Gorf means is that you can make a personalised ROM image for the SkunkBoard that only runs on a SkunkBoard with a certain serial number. This is something ULS can't do because CD units don't have a build-in serial number. Robert

In Europe, you can just make a RGB SCART cable and have high quality picture on standard TV. Every European TV less than 20 years old or so, has one or more SCART connectors. But since American TV's don't have RGB input, you are stuck with RF or better composite video. In my experience, the PAL STF models without modulator, do not have composite video out. That because the composite video is generated by the modulator that is missing. But the STFM models should have color output on composite video out. Best is to connect the ST to an RGB monitor or RGB input of a TV. But if there is no other option, you can use composite video. If you don't want to build your own one, I believe MyAtari still sells them: CABLE ST TP COMP MONITOR 19.95 The refresh frequency is determined by software. PAL TOS set it to 50Hz but NTSC TOS sets it to 60Hz. But the program can change it and that was probably the case with New Zealand story. RGB monitors/TV can handle both 50Hz and 60Hz. But when using composite video, most older TVs can't handle a different frequency, but some modern LCDs do. My PAL 1084S monitor does not handle 60Hz composite (RGB 60Hz is no problem) but my PAL LCD TV does display 60Hz composite without problems. Robert

Green background on International Karate/World Championship Karate. Is that normal on NTSC or do you have an hacked version? The original PAL version has a brown background. Robert

The manual is on the HxC site but can be a but hard to find between the text and pictures. So here a direct link to the PDF.. It should be not problem to connect the HxC to the external floppy port. But since on the external floppy port of a STF model is only the drive B select signal, you can only use it as drive B. But lots of floppy software expect that they are started from drive A. So I recommend to add a drive swap switch inside the Atari ST. Then you can swap around the internal and external drives. So the external drive (HxC) becomes drive A and the internal drive becomes drive B. This is the way I intent to connect my HxC when it arrives since I don't want to loose the internal "real" drive. Robert

.stx is a pasti image (including copy protection) of an Atari ST floppy. So it can't be used by Altirra. Robert

In software terms, OPL could stand for "Object Processing List". I'm glad Gorf is still around Robert

ULS only works for single load games. Existing games that load in multiple stages can currently not be encrypted with ULS. In theory, the technique used in ULS can be used to make a CD with a multi-load program but the program has to be specifically written to read the additional data from session 0 instead of session 1. And the additional data must then be shoehorned into the "general track layout" in session 0 that is needed to make the ULS technique work. So existing multi-load programs can't be written to an encrypted CD using ULS. For that you still need to use the traditional encryption tools. Robert

Have any more details (or a link) on this mod? I am assuming this lets an external floppy become the A drive and makes it bootable? Yes, using the switch you can make the external one drive A and then boot from the external drive. Handy if you have the HxC floppy emulator connected externally and want to boot from it. I just made a quick description of the modification on my website. Unfortunately no photo's of the modification but maybe I will make some later. Robert

Recently I also acquired a 2nd hand 1040STE and its plastic was also more brittle than normal. When I tried to drill a hole at the back of the casing to add a drive A/B swap switch, the plastic was split in two at the place where I started drilling. I never had that before when drilling in computer case plastic. But I think this one was stored in a shed or so. Near the midi ports, the radio shielding and the midi connectors them self started to get rusty. Robert

Do you still use a 16KB 600XL? The BombJake cart runs fine on my unexpanded/unmodified 800XL Robert I tried it on a 64K 800XL and 64K 600XL but I also have a 256K XL but the message was asking for 320K. And I'm not sure what type of expansion specification it's looking for. I was under the impression that you said you can't run BombJake because you don't want to upgrade your Atari beyond the standard Atari provided features. Thats why I answered that you don't need to upgrade your Atari if you use the cart version of BombJake. Similar to that you don't need a memory expansion to run the XE carts like Crime Buster, Airball, Crossbow, etc while they are also big games. But you need a memory expansion if you want to run the hacked disk versions of those. The BombJake cart only needs a 64KB Atari while the disk version needs 64KB+256KB extended memory (thus 320KB in total). If your Atari XL only has 64KB+192KB extended memory (256KB in total), then you need the cart version of BombJake to run it. Robert

Do you still use a 16KB 600XL? The BombJake cart runs fine on my unexpanded/unmodified 800XL Robert

Since there was some discussion if the standard Atari 8-bit graphics modes benefit from VBXE's RGB output, I made a couple of pictures of the three possible output modes (composite video, chroma/luma & RGB) so you can decide for yourself. You can find the pictures in my blog. Robert

Since there is some discussion if the standard Atari 8-bit graphics modes benefit from VBXE's RGB output, I made a couple of pictures of the three possible output modes (composite video, chroma/luma & RGB) so you can decide for yourself. The pictures can be found in my blog. Robert

Introduction Recently there was some discussion if the VBXE's RGB output for the standard Atari 8-bit graphics modes, was really an improvement over the standard chroma/luma output of an Atari XE. Some said RGB was really better than Chroma/Luma while others claimed the Atari resolution of 320*240 or so pixels was too small to benefit from RGB. So I decided to take some pictures of the output so you can decide for yourself. Note that the pictures look of course a little different from real life. It is not easy to take a picture of the screen because of the 50Hz refresh frequency. If the exposure time is too short, you won't see the full screen and if the exposure time is too long, then a little movement add motion blur to the picture. But I think these pictures give a good feeling of each of three possible video outputs. For these pictures, an Atari 130XE is used with the VBXE 2 board. The 130XE was for all three video output modes connected to the same Commodore 1084S monitor. All video output modes use the same monitor settings for brightness, contrast and color. The video system is PAL. Bomb Jake - Title Screen Composite video: Chroma/Luma: RGB: Bomb Jake - Title Screen - Close Up Composite video: Chroma/Luma: RGB: Bomb Jake - In Game Composite video: Chroma/Luma: RGB: Bomb Jake - In Game - Close Up Composite video: Chroma/Luma: RGB: Note that with composite video, there seems a little shadowing in the picture. The transition from brown to blue is not immediate. DROL- Close Up Composite video: Chroma/Luma: RGB: Note that the contrast in the colors is much better in RGB. With RGB you clearly see the red background in the author's name while the red is very faint with composite & chroma/luma. Amaurote Composite video: Chroma/Luma: RGB: Amaurote - Close Up Composite video: Chroma/Luma: RGB: Note that with composite video, you have artifacting that is causing the colors in the picture. With chroma/luma the artifacting is almost gone. With RGB there is no artifacting at all and the picture is pure black/white. MyDOS - Close Up Composite video: Chroma/Luma: RGB: Note that with RGB, the character pixels are a little bigger than with chroma/luma. SysInfo - Small characters Composite video: Chroma/Luma: RGB: SysInfo - Small characters - Close Up Composite video: Chroma/Luma: RGB: Note that due to artifacting, the composite video output is hard to read. Chroma-Luma is much more readable but in my opinion the RGB output was the most readable. Conclusion It is clear the the difference between composite video and chroma/luma is great. Chroma/luma has a much better quality compared to composite video. The difference between chroma/luma and RGB is smaller. But in my opinion RGB output has more vivid colors, the contrast is higher and the picture is a bit sharper than with chroma/luma. So for me RGB output is the winner. Except for the case of Amaurote. In my opinion the artifacting has a positive effect on the graphics. The chroma/luma & RGB output are too sharp here.

Sio2SD & S-drive have great compatibility with disk images but the transfer speed is limited to the SIO bus. The MyIDE interface sits directly on the Atari bus and transfer speed is limited by how fast the CPU can read the data from the IDE IO port. So MyIDE transfer speeds are faster than the SIO devices. But since MyIDE is not using the SIO bus, its compatibility is lower since it is relying on a modified OS to redirect SIO requests to the MyIDE device. For best compatibility I recommend to have the hard MyIDE OS option (replacing the build-in OS chip with a chip with the MyIDE OS or using Steve Tuckers 32-in-1 OS or using the internal MyIDE interface/OS combo). Without the replacement OS chip (the MyIDE cartridge only option), the MyIDE is soft loaded into RAM below the OS. Programs that use this memory section (64KB games) won't work with the soft OS. See this thread on the AtariMax forum for more information about the MyIDE options. Or if you really want a fancy device, you can wait for the SpeedDrive that connects to the PBI port. Robert

I know this is all theory but does that mean you would in effect be able to make an external video card off the PBI using a FPGA with all that on the board? Hell, throw in a vga output while youre at it! Hmmm, this sounds similar to the C64 Chameleon. This is essentially a supercharged C64 implemented in an FGPA that you plug into a... C64 cartridge port. Thus the C64 is just a keyboard for the FGPA C64 inside the cartridge. Robert

Indeed, all standard Atari graphics modes have ultra sharp RGB video output with the VBXE. For me it was one of the main reasons to buy a VBXE. The additional graphics features are a bonus. Because the picture is so sharp, graphics 8 artifacting is indeed gone. A game like Amaurote that has moire patterns with the regular video output (PAL), now has pure black white pixels. For some this might be a disadvantage, but in that case you can still use the regular output. My XE is connected with both RGB and Chroma/Luma to a Commodore 1084 monitor and with one press of a button I can switch between both inputs. One additional benefit is if you have one of those 800XEs with a faulty GTIA chip. The VBXE output displays the GTIA modes correctly because it bypasses the bugged GTIA chip. Robert