Tursi

Unlike some systems, there really are no standard file formats for models on the Jag, and sprites would be hit or miss. You probably won't see automated tools anytime soon for that reason, they'd mostly have to be tailored to each game.

You can also build the parallel "BJL" cable. Notes on the software here: http://www.geocities.com/SiliconValley/Byte/4242/jaguar/ Nice how-to here: http://www.a8maestro.com/sites/bjl/how-to-use/use.htm How to install a BJL ROM if you can burn EPROMS (also includes BJL pinout): http://www.a8maestro.com/sites/bjl/index.htm The PC side software is DOS based and though it should work in 95 and 98, has trouble in 2000 and XP (and I've no data on Vista). Someone (sorry, not sure who!!) released a 2000/XP version of the BJL software that included the necessary driver code to open the parallel port - that works well for me under XP but it may take a hunt to find it! (Unless the author reads this and can link it). Some people have had trouble using a home built cable - make sure you use a good quality shielded cable. I used a shielded VGA extension cable - one of the needed ground pins was not wired in that but I used the shell successfully. If you can't burn the ROM, some Jaguar games (Protector is mentioned a lot) have it built-in. Also if you have the Jaguar CD you can just burn a CDROM of the code (not sure where you can download that - I did the EPROM).

The docs talk about a different mode that shifts out the video data at double the clock rate, and that requires external circuitry to decode the video since the functions of the output pins change. Since you can set the pixel width as low as one clock, though, you can get the existing hardware to clock video out at much higher resolutions. You have to pull some tricks with the line buffer to get a sensible picture, though, at least in my experimentation. And yeah, a TV or low resolution monitor won't be able to display every pixel at those resolutions, but you can still see there is a difference.

The PC port of Tempest 2000 was not based on the original code (so far as I know), and doesn't really come close. I'd even disagree with the review that it's graphically faithful (although the main game was fine, the special effects like the 'melt-o-vision' were not present). It was a competent remake but fell short.

I recently sold a batch of stuff on EBay after a couple of years just buying, and IMO the selling experience has gone way downhill. They charged a small fortune for the listings, and so many people use sniper scripts now that there's no real auction anymore, at least not for the stuff I sold. Might as well just sell through Amazon's store, at that rate. I dunno. I still need to figure out how to get rid of the rest of my unused stuff.

I've been running the machine for 22 years, I know the hardware inside and out, and I can assure you there is no hardware support for analog paddles on the TI-99/4A. The MBX expansion set, however, I believe that thing supported analog. I never had one so I don't know that it had paddles, but it's more likely.

Missed this earlier - I know what you're talking about. This was "Joytalk", which was a serial printer interface that ran through the joystick port and used a small assembly program for the Minimem cartridge. I actually built it -- it drew +12v from the video modulator port since there's no positive voltage on the joystick port, and used software timing to spit out the RS232 signals.

Best reference site for TI-99 hardware is http://nouspikel.com/ti99 Although there's some debate about the UK monitor pinout (which is covered in the forum topic that was linked ). Like Bruce said, there's no way to get SVideo out of a US TI-99, not even with hardware hacks. The 9918 outputs composite video right from the chip. (Sure, you could split it later, but that defeats the purpose and won't improve the signal). UK TIs have a different signal from their 9928, seems like it might be possible but I don't know exactly how (and it would be 50hz).

I'll just reply here... I've sadly never seen the GPL simulator source material... I always assumed someone wrote a little hack that copied the interpreter to RAM, and patched it to run from VDP instead of GROM, though I never looked into it in detail. Back in the day, I never really liked the GPL Sim copied games, but in reading your thread, it's a good point that there's some value in them now. I've been designing a little add-on to link the PC to the TI, but my spare time is so short I'm not expecting to have anything anytime soon.

Thanks, Remo - I'll go take a peek at that topic. I meant to add above, too, the Alpha Lock issue should only affect 'up' on the joysticks (up doesn't usually work unless Alpha Lock is released). Just the way they laid out the scan matrix.

Thanks... that program's only really useful for emulators (at least today). It just loads a disk-based program image into memory, dumps the memory into GROM format, and prepends a GPL loader. So in essence, it makes a "cartridge" for emulators out of a disk game. But making GROMs in the real world today is tricky (though that's on my todo list too), and it's a bit wasteful of space to do it the way I did (some compression would be better for real world use). All the cartridge does is load the program from GROM back into RAM then execute it. (Which is also a real-world issue since an unexpanded TI wouldn't even be able to use it). Still, it works. I wrote it for another guy in the community who had acquired a bunch of protos on disk and wanted to make it easier to use them with the various emulators.

Ooh, something up my alley. Although I'm too late - most of the points are addressed already. Joysticks on the left, yes. The rear port is for the cassette tape interface. The official TI sticks fail far too easily. I have no sets that actually work (out of three). The main problem is that the contacts were simply painted on in all the ones I've seen, and that paint wears off pretty quickly. Thus the Atari adapter cable is the best approach to joysticks on the TI. Atari sticks without an adapter don't work as the pinout is completely different. Also, powered joysticks may or may not work -- usually sticks with autofire. The TI port does not provide +5v like the Atari ports did... despite this I had one rapid-fire stick that DID work, although I've no idea why. Genesis controller will work with an Atari adapter - it'll work on most Atari compatible ports. The TI joystick port can not read analog paddles directly - it's a pure digital switching system mapped right to the IO chip (it's actually a part of the keyboard matrix - two driver lines and five returns). You could in theory build an interface using an external RC system, but to my knowledge it was never done (and the lack of power might be problematic). I'm not aware of any analog supported games on the TI outside of the MBX system, which has it's own ports. I'm a TI user since '83, my system is still up and running. I also wrote an emulator (Classic99 - http://harmlesslion.com/software/classic99) and built a PS/2 keyboard interface (http://harmlesslion.com/software/ps2) for it. Joystick replacement is coming when I get some spare time.

A lot of Homebrew requiring filesystem access didn't used to work on the MMD, though maybe that's fixed now. The two slot solution is a bit bulky with all the nice single slot solutions coming out now. Still, it was pretty reliable when I was using mine. Having to unplug it to the DS to upload was annoying, but it worked, and using standard compact flash was convenient.

heheh.. Captain C (the YouTube video above) is mine. I never really finished anything fully, but I have a compilation CD on my page at http://www.harmlesslion.com/games/psx that has a handful of demos and two finished games, plus that Captain C proto.