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rdemming

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Posts posted by rdemming

  1. Posted

    Did Bill Gates really say that about Spam?

    That's too funny.

     

    Yes he really said that.

    And yes, I found it so funny that I had to add that quote to my sig.

     

    What was the context of his comment? Was he trying to propose we make Spam illegal? I hope so!

    :jango:

     

    It's from an email news letter where Bill Gates or Steve Balmer write once in a while personally about an actual topic.

    This time it was about the things M$ is doing about spam such as the anti spam features in Exchange 2003 and the 15 or so lawsuits against spammers.

     

    Read the full newsletter here: http://www.microsoft.com/mscorp/execmail/2...-24antispam.asp

     

    Robert

  3. Posted

    Hi Atari_Owl,

     

    It was nice to speak to you at JagFest UK.

     

    Now the only sensible place looks like the socket under the floppy.  

     

    Is this right?

     

    Nope. In my Falcon, the TOS EPROM chip is the square chip in a socket under the memory board. My TOS chip has a sticker on it saying TOS 4.04.

     

    The square chip in a socket under the floppy is the audio codec chip.

     

    Robert

  7. Posted

    I've used hyperterminal successfully under XP, so I wonder what could be the problem here. Microsoft is so flaky I tend to wonder why people have random problems with everything from Outlook to Word.

     

    I retried the XP Hyperterminal program it now works. It takes however about a minute before uploading starts.

    I think I was impatient before.

     

    Robert

  8. Posted

    I had no problems with downloading programs with JUGS under XP.

    But uploading BattleSphere screenshots using the XModem protocol did not work with the XP terminal (HyperTerminal) program. Instead I used the old Windows 3.11 terminal program under XP and that works without problems.

     

    Robert

  10. Posted

    I was wondering if somebody on this group was smart enough to make a cable to interface the 7800 with a computer that would allow cart downloads from the system. Another idea was a cd-rom that could be hooked up with all the roms burned. Then you could boot up the 7800 and the cd-rom take over. Like the Sega cd add-on to the genesis.

     

    What your descibed already exists in the form of the Atari VCS 7800 development system (second release) which uses a cable between the computer and the 7800 joystick port to load 7800 programs to a ram cart.

     

    Another solution called the Cuttle Cart II is in development. This uses a MMC card to read 7800 programs to a ram cart creating a stand-alone solution.

     

    Robert

  12. Posted

    Anyone else wonder why the letters in the blue ligtening level codes only go from A to P, rather than A to Z like most games.

     

    Well, with A ... P you have 16 letters. So to encode 16 letters you need 4 bits (2^4=16). So with one byte (8 bits), you can store two letters of the level code.

    With 26 letters you need 5 bits to encode a letter. 2^5=32 possibilities. So you waste 6 possible values and you can not encode two letters in one byte.

    So using only 16 letters makes it easier and more efficient to store the level code.

     

    Sorry for the quite technical answer.

     

    Robert

  14. Posted

    Hi,

     

    I found two different versions of "Brutal Sports Football".

    The first cartridge is a four chip version with 27C4000 OTP-ROMs. The label on the chips say "Brutal Sports Football 05/16/94"

     

    The other cartridge is a two chip version with regualr mask ROMs.

     

    The differences in the game are:

    • - In the four chip version you can't skip the Telegames and Teque intro when you power on the game. In the two chip version you can skip these screen by pressing "B".

    - The four chip version displays in the "Show results screen" the word "points". The two chip version displays "pts" instead.

     

    For the rest I couldn't find any differences in the game itself.

     

    The 2MB checksums of the rom dumps are:

    • - Four chip version: Full: $0192, Hi: $5710, Lo: $AA75

    - Two chip version: Full: $8DC0, Hi: $4B1A, Lo: $42A6

     

    An interesting thing is that in the ROM dump you can find the text "Swap discs" & "Loading". Probably the used the Amiga source as start point for the Jaguar version.

     

    The label and box art is for both versions the same.

     

     

    Robert

  15. Posted

    Another game that came out for the ST was STario Land, which for all intents and purposes was Super Mario Bros. for the NES. It even used the same enemies of turtles, flying fish, etc. The game was sold all over Europe and the U.S. and I never heard of Nintendo going after the developers or the retail places selling the game.

     

    Maybe not with STario land but an earlier Super Mario clone called "The Great Giana Sisters" from Rainbow Arts was forbidden after Nintendo sued Rainbow Arts. Nevertheless, illegal copies where extremely popular on C64/Amiga and ST. It certainly was a fun game.

     

    Robert[/url]

  16. Posted

    But does this mean that you have only one game per CD?

    At least your former mail could be interpreted this way:

     

    Yes, if you store the image in the boot track you can only have one game per CD unless use you a bootloader such as Thunderbird did with the Scatologic Demo CD.

     

    Robert

  17. Posted

    there is apparently some German company that has done just this, they have got mucisians from games of past years and given them time in a recording studio with real synths.  Apparently they have made a few CD's including stuff like Turrican 2 etc.  I will try and find a URL and post it here.

     

    I think you mean SynSONIC Records. They have released many C64, Amiga, ST remix CD's and now a lot of Console Music CDs.

    Also worth to check out is www.c64audio.com which specialises in releasing C64 audio CD's.

     

    If you liked the music of the Amiga/ST version of Turrican you certainly must buy the Turrican Soundtrack CD. If you are into dance music, then the Instant Remedy C64 remix CD is a blast too.

     

    Robert

  18. Posted

    Have i understood this correctly that one way would be to call

    MAKETRK -b800000 -z ALIENVPR.ROM

    could be used to create a CD-Boot-track which the Jaguar will

    directly send to the StaticRAM of an Alpine?

     

    I don't have an Alpine, is there a solution for FLASH-card users?

     

    Matthias

     

    If you make a boot disk then you should use a ROM image without the $2000 bytes header and load it to $802000. This because the load address is the run address aswell.

     

    I don't think a flash card is fast enough to program it on the fly (while loading of CD). You first have to load it into RAM and then flash the card. Since there is less then 2MB of RAM available you must load and flash it in lets say 1Mb chuncks. This requires to split the ROM file in multiple sections (with the partition marker). This because the CD BIOS doesn't alow you to read halfway the file. (Actually it does but then you won't be able to find the exact position of where the data starts).

     

    Robert

  19. Posted

    BOTH the C64 and Atari 8-bits have seperate chroma/lumina AND composite lines as well as the mono audio channel.

     

    Only the XE models have a Chroma signal. On XL models you need to use Composite Video. If you try to use Chroma/Luminace on an 800 XL you get an almost B/W picture which is not purely B/W. The Luma signal on the XE model is truly B/W.

     

    Attached the pinouts of the monitor connector of XL/XE/C64 and C128 models.

     

    I hope this helps.

     

    Robert

    post-119-1053723058_thumb.png

  20. Posted

    Another way you can do it (I believe stone has done it). Is to burn multiple boot roms onto a single chip and then a switch to select which one. Make your PCB that bit smaller and cooler.

     

    Yup, you can find a description of that on my website.

     

    Also there you can find a description of replacing the BIOS of an CD unit to turn it into a developer unit. Not only usefull for playing unencryptes CD games that use a MemoryTrack but you can use it with an Alpine too :!:

    I've put some ROM dumps on CD that loads directly into the Alpine's memory. If you want to see this, come to JagFest UK.

    Instead of hurting my back with bringing my whole cartridge collection, I will bring an Alpine and a bunch of CD's :P

     

     

    There's a website where some guy has already done this. I saw pictures and he even has schematics. I forget where I saw it but I think it was one of those guys in the secret Atari underground. I'm sure someone knows the guy I'm talking about and if they think you are worthy of seeing his site they will give you the URL. If not, I will try and find it for you. I'll bookmark this topic in case I run across it again.

     

    I think you mean this website: http://www.nanomonic.de/jaguar64/

     

    Robert

     

     

    P.S. Where can I find that secret Atari underground?

     

    P.P.S. LinkoVitch, I liked the pictures of the CD unit. I found cutting out the ROM of my unit scary enough but disassembling the complete drive is something I won't do if it is not absolutely necessary.

  21. Posted

    While on the subject of BJL, how come they can make a MOD chip for the PS2 that can fit on a 128-pin TQFP and not require soldering, but us Jag owners have to cut and solder and hack up our rare and beloved jaguars to enjoy modded fun?

     

    Who'd like to take on that project? If anyone has some ideas, maybe we could work together!

     

    Is this a trick question :?

    A solderless alternative for BJL already exists in the form of BattleSphere Gold™ or Protector SE.

     

    Robert

  22. Posted

    You can pick up the 1064 64k upgrade new for around $20, just plugs straight in the back.

     

    I'm presuming it works with the 800XL as well, anyone tried it?

     

    Hmm it should work the technique it used is funny.

     

    Normal the 600XL has 16KB but there is an option to disable the internal ram and use external ram. This line is used on the 1064 which means your internal 16Kb just will be disabled and you use the external 64Kb.

     

    On the 800XL with 64Kb it should work the sameway but what's the use then to disable the internal 64Kb for external 64Kb? The only use I can think of is to rebuild the 1064 for static ram with a battery.

     

    TXG/MNX

     

    The 800XL doesn't have a 5 volt power line on the PBI so you first have to solder a wire inside the 800XL from a +5V source to pin 47 and 48 of the PBI.

     

    Robert

  24. Posted

    NTSC, which stands for Never The Same Colour ;) :P

     

    Since it is an American standard, shouldn't it be Color without the u :? ;)

     

     

    Oh, I thought PAL stood for pretty awful looking???  :?  

    J/K, I've never even see a PAL display.  :D

     

    PAL = Picture Always Lousy

     

    Robert

  25. Posted

    I personally think, before you go making "companies" and planning games you need to do a lot of research on the 6800 which will more than likley be the CPU youll use, and the Jaguar itself, and just some common computing terms as well, you know, 6800 isn't the best language to start off with.

     

    Learning 6800 assembler, motorola's 8bit processor from 1974, might be fun but is quite useless for the Jaguar.

    Start learning 68000 assembler instead.

     

    Robert

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