Mr.Amiga500

Wow... fast reply! I'm using BeOS. I'm talking about the order of the files displayed on the Atari.

Does anybody know how to get files to be displayed in the order you want them? When copying files to a blank SD, they are displayed in the order that you copy them (strangely, not the file date). This is fine as long as you carefully copy them in the order you want them (although tedious), but once you start deleting and adding files, new files pop up in gaps left by the deleted files. (why??) I tried to create folders and move the files into the folder in the order I want, but then it goes totally random! This is really annoying. Is there any convenient method for getting files consistently in the order you want them? (file names don't help, file dates don't help)

What is your definition of "dead"? I'd love to see something like this completed. Obviously the Atari 8-bit would be pretty useless for web browsing, but I think it'd be great for sending plain text emails. I've got my Atari 800XL set up on a little movable cart in my living room in front of my TV... and it would be great to just pull over the Atari and send off some emails.

Fandal still beats us but here: you deserve it for perseverance Thanks... that means a lot. (said with tears in eyes ) I also finally got Flying Tiger. I think Flying Tiger must be the "consolation prize" for people who are good enough to be Blue Max, but die before completing it. (..that's my theory anyway) I completed everything, but had fuel damage and wasn't going to make it. So I went as high as possible and ran out of fuel. Just then, a runway came up very suddenly (earlier than I ever saw it before) and I had to go down fast to avoid missing the runway. Unfortunately, I went down too fast.... as you can see.

37550 I'm annoyed because I got killed repeatedly on level 4, which seems much easier than level 3. (...where I usually get killed repeatedly)

I don't think adapting my TV to also work in PAL would be a simple operation, but if it was I'd do it. Is it possible to make a switchable Atari - with a switch for NTSC/PAL? That would be pretty neat. I doubt it. I'm sure if it was possible, I would have heard about it by now. I'm not interested in getting a PAL-only Atari just for demos.

Yes, I understand that... but I was talking more about the attitude of people. It's one thing to say, "technically, it's not possible to get this working on NTSC" and another to say, "NTSC sucks! I hate NTSC! Upgrade to PAL." The most shocking thing about this attitude is that it continues to this day. The author an emulator (who I won't mention) told me he doesn't care about the emulator working properly in NTSC mode because he hates NTSC. This is an emulator for a computer that was originally made for NTSC! I don't have a hatred for PAL. I had to search for degraders/PAL switchers to play all the Amiga PAL games, demos and other programs. I had to open all my monitors and adjust the v-height so I could see the cut-off scoreboards, program buttons and text (but some stuff is still cut off and I have to guess what is there). I had to endure the eye-killing PAL flicker, screwed up music speed and graphical corruption. Yet with all that, I don't hate PAL at all.

FujiBoink! is great! Thanks. I've got the Walking Robot / CES demo. I also like things like Pencils and AppleKill. PAL is not an "upgrade". PAL is utterly useless to me. I use my Atari on an NTSC TV which can't handle PAL. (this comment not necessarily directed at Preppie) I don't understand the European attitude towards NTSC - a contempt and disgust as if it's a bad life choice or something. I didn't choose to have my country follow the NTSC standard. Yet many European coders of software (many that I've talked to) for Atari, C64, Amiga and others seem to have an unnatural hatred of NTSC and don't care at all how their software runs on NTSC equipment. If you mention NTSC, they become instantly hostile as if you're a leper who just killed their favourite grandmother or something. There's no such hostility towards PAL from the NTSC people.

Finally! Class 4 Blue Max ...not that it matters. Damn, I thought this thing ended on Sunday.

Yeah, tell me about it. I think it's the game, not the joystick. I got killed many times because the pepper didn't work. I told my wife, "the egg got me because the pepper didn't work!" Somehow, she just didn't understand.

Drunk Chessboard will run on NTSC, but the music plays way too fast and finishes before the video effects finish. I don't remember any graphical glitches with it though. There are a few spots that are screwed up a bit: the white chessboard over the plasma flickers badly, the warped chessboards behind the credits have straight vertical lines over it and the music stops halfway as you mentioned. The demo is so great though that I don't mind. Numen won't run at all because it requires too much memory. I've tried Illusia before and I think it has some problems too. I just tried the Vector demo and it's great! I hope somebody makes a game from it. Another good demo I've found is Elenium. The music isn't that great, but there's some nice plasma in it.

25750 I got to 25000 with 4 men left, then got killed 4 times quickly. It's a damn frustrating game.

Please give me your address, so I may kill you. No... I've just checked my schedule and I'm booked for the next few months. Your killing will have to wait. (...but maybe I can squeeze you in next Wednesday...)

I've seen plenty of "top demo" lists for Atari 8-bit, but none that list "best + 64K + NTSC compatible". I'm trying to find amazing demos like "Drunk Chessboard", impressive animations like "The Magician" and simple, but fascinating graphics programs like plasmas and shade bars. I've just sifted through about 50 useless demos - which either don't work properly in NTSC (one had the gall to say "upgrade to PAL"), require massive memory expansion or just plain suck - despite inexplicably high ratings. I'd prefer demos with good music. (...without those annoying high-pitched fast wobbly notes that European 8-bit musicians seem to like, for some unknown reason)

I just got 10600. I'm not too thrilled with the collision detection in this. How can a pickle get me when I'm half way up the ladder?? (...now there's a sentence I never thought I'd be using) I've never played this before, but I used to play Burger Time - in Apple II emulator on Amiga. That's probably the only game where the Apple version is better than Atari.

I just got 14410. I only had one building in the city to get. A plane bombed me on the runway one second before I was about to take off. (lousy bastard!) I also got Class 1 Squadron Leader again - with only 9440. I can't get that damn Blue Max rating.

I just completed the game with no fuel! I got the flashing green and was flying low, looking for the runway when I noticed I had only 3 fuel left. (is that litres or gallons?) I pulled back like a maniac to get altitude just before I ran out. I drifted and barely made it past the black bars on the runway to land. (...ever crash on those black bars? It's like a kick in the balls.) I scrambled to take a picture of the scoreboard showing 0 fuel, but the final rating came up before I could take a picture. (lousy Class 3 Squadron Leader, 10920)

This just isn't fair. Things were going great. I only missed one building in the city, then landed to get ready for a record score. An enemy plane then came and bombed my hangar and a bit of the runway. It seems normally you can drive over bomb damage, but not if it has a bit of green around it like the one here. I could only helplessly watch it and say, "Ah f--- it!"

I can't see embedded flash. I had to reply to extract the link. That icon bar looks great! I think the 1K loss is worth it.

Finally... a better rating: Class 1 Squadron Leader, but a crap 9790 This run was weird because I got the flashing L after just three runways and 4750 points! Usually I don't get that until 7000. On one run, I didn't get the flashing L until 10650. Bombing seems to be much more important than shooting. I was going crazy killing enemy planes, trucks, boats and hitting all targets, but it looks like you're just supposed to bomb as many buildings as possible.

Ha! I laughed at that... because I did something similar. Anyway, on to more misfortune.... I finished bombing all the targets in the city, so I decided once again to attempt to bomb the big buildings, with the following result:

Ranking Vigorously singing along to the music CHECK Crashed before take off CHECK Hit Tree on take off CHECK Crashed when bombing CHECK Shot by plane when fully damaged and glided into the ground CHECK Landed too late to take off again CHECK Hit Tree on Landing CHECK Bombed on runway CHECK Shot from behind after taking off CHECK Any chance of winning this game UNCHECK (I've no idea how anyone can concentrate for so long to clock the scoreboard) Having fun CHECK Crashed into bomb damage on the runway CHECK Crashed into the final building in the city while trying to bomb it CHECK Shot three times by the same enemy plane CHECK Shot the school bus CHECK Shot the flashing pickup truck CHECK Shot the red boat CHECK Bombed the enemy hangars CHECK Wondered why the hell my rating is so damn low CHECK Sneak attacked enemy from behind then crashed into their exploding carcass CHECK Worked out that W was for Wind CHECK Crashed into the runway when landing due to Wind CHECK ran out of fuel and remembered the tip to gain altitude only to find that I couldn't move and landed on the blue runway CHECK Beat my highest score CHECK By only 10 points CHECK Anyone sussed out what the * means Crashed into enemy plane wreckage that drifted from the left CHECK Pushed down to land, but speeded up instead - making the plane take too long to park, leaving no room to take off CHECK Went to 0 altitude to land, waited for plane to stop, but inexplicably drifted off the side of the runway CHECK Blew up own hangar in frustration, reset, and continued to play with all hangar graphics corrupted CHECK How the hell do you get "Blue Max" and "Flying Tiger" ratings with such low scores and without even finishing the damn game?? I'm working my ass off and all I get is frigging "Squadron Leader".

13580, but still only Class 4 On another run, I discovered an annoying bug. I was having the best game ever. I landed one pixel too far left on the runway so that the wing was touching the black border. I landed fine, but as soon as I refuelled and started, a bomb crater appeared in front of the plane and the plane exploded. Damn!

I wasn't sure but "Blue Max" rating is there! I completed the game in six missions killing more than dozen of enemy aircrafts and my rank was "Blue Max" Class 3... F. Yeah, I once got Blue Max Class 1. I was quite happy about it. Unfortunately at the time I didn't have a camera to take a screenshot. Now I couldn't get that rating if somebody had a gun to my head. (..which, in fact, they do.... it's a long story...)

Ranking Vigorously singing along to the music CHECK Crashed before take off CHECK Hit Tree on take off CHECK Crashed when bombing CHECK Shot by plane when fully damaged and glided into the ground CHECK Landed too late to take off again CHECK Hit Tree on Landing CHECK Bombed on runway CHECK Shot from behind after taking off CHECK Any chance of winning this game UNCHECK (I've no idea how anyone can concentrate for so long to clock the scoreboard) Having fun CHECK Crashed into bomb damage on the runway CHECK Crashed into the final building in the city while trying to bomb it CHECK Shot three times by the same enemy plane CHECK Shot the school bus CHECK Shot the flashing pickup truck CHECK Shot the red boat CHECK Bombed the enemy hangars CHECK Wondered why the hell my rating is so damn low CHECK