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polbit

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  1. Well, it is of course your right to enjoy blocky graphics, poor-res explosions, jerky movement, and tiny sprites, on a limited size screen. AtariBlast is pretty awful, don't really understand why it's used as an example so many times, unless there's simply nothing better. Anyway, this discussion which I tried to keep technical has of course descended into another stupid pissing match. I guess some people just can't let go of the mine-is-better mentality, even 30 years later. Have fun, I'm out.
  2. Rather than try to argue, I'll just leave this right here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pXfq5PDt2aE Apologies accepted.
  3. Specs never translate well into actual products, because it takes a good programmer to use them. Just look at some of the Speccy games, that have no right to look as good as they do. I honestly don't have much exposure to the Atari games, as I grew up around C64. Nowadays I don't play many games, but enjoy 6502 assembly. Looking at equivalents to what I played as a kid, like Pitstop II, or Zaxxon, or Ghostbusters, C64 looks much better to me but I also do love Star Raiders, and some of the newer stuff is pretty amazing on both systems. Both Atari and C64 have their strengths and weaknesses, and tend to favor one type of game vs another. At the end of the day, most of us identify what we grew up with. I'm really enjoying playing with the 800XL because it's new to me, and the new hardware like U1MB and SIDE2, and clean video output really makes it interesting. Learning SDX, OS layout, etc. is pure fun, but I can use a C64 with my eyes closed. The half-shifted cursor keys are second nature, JiffyDOS is ingrained into my brain, Turbo Assembler is what I use to judge other 6502 assemblers, and so on. Just what it is.
  4. It's not that hard to Google you know. How are A8 sprites faster?? What does that even mean? They are scrolled at certain resolution. C64 has finer scrolling for sprites in all but hi-res bitmap mode, where they are equal. Vertically you have to scroll sprites manually on A8, whereas C64 has hardware scroll just like horizontally. 8 sprites vs 5. single or multicolor sprites (turned on individually) vs multicolor overlap only. C64 sprites can be multiplexed, for a total of 112 non-clipped per frame.
  5. You said Atari's 1.79MHz CPU is nearly double the speed. Nope, since the ANTIC overhead kills most of the advantage as compared to C64 for example. You said Atari has has 16 graphic/text modes, but most of them are utterly useless, and not used much. Atari is hamstrung by color resolution, and no amount of modes is going to stop that. You said DLI is an advantage, but it's just a different approach. I happen to enjoy it as it's fun to program, but there is nothing better or worse about it. You said C64 fell short in most other aspects besides sprites, graphics-wise. Nope, C64 has better color resolution, better hardware scrolling, better character modes, Atari only has more colors (see below.) C64 sprites are a HUGE (just to make it bigger than yours) advantage for certain games, as there is 8 of them, are much larger (24x21), and are hardware-scrolled at 320x200 in both directions no matter what mode. They can also be multicolor at half the resolution (12x21). You have to manually scroll Atari sprites vertically, and their horizontal hardware scroll is only at line resolution. There is also only 4 8-bit players + 4 2-bit missiles, or 5 8-bit wide players. No comparison really. Atari has a huge advantage of 256 colors for certain games. I happen to like C64 palette, but I grew up with it, so I'm used to it. Not going to pass judgment as to quality of it, let's call it subjective, but obviously 256 colors is better, especially when you fix the horrid stock output on most 8-bits. It also has some speed advantage for 3D games, but somewhat mitigated by color resolution again.
  6. Why is it that people always feel the need to put down other machines when describing the one they enjoy the most? And usually spreading FUD along with it? Enjoy the Atari for what it was, a brilliant machine released 3 years ahead of the C64. That's an eternity in technology. C64 had color RAM to define each 8x8 separately, even at 320x200, 8 big sprites hardware scrollable in each direction, etc, etc. Atari had two advantages - more overall colors and effectively 20% or so faster clock, depending on the mode.
  7. Ah, thank you! I kept trying to reboot from loader which kept booting the ATR, didn't think about switching back to BIOS. Works like a charm
  8. I guess it’s a catch 22 then. I have no means of getting files onto the APT partition, until I install FATFS.SYS...
  9. This might be a basic question (or a set of questions), however I've done a fair amount of reading and can't find answers... I have SIDE2 and U1MB with FJC firmware. I've prepared a 512Mb CF card with 256Mb FAT16 partition and 5 APT partitions, starting at D3:. I have a bunch of ATRs on the FAT partition, and they load great with SIDE Loader. SDX side works great as well with APT partitions, and sees the FAT partition ("Unknown file system"). Here's what I want to do: - read files from FAT partition in SDX. I do not see FATFS.SYS anywhere. - mount ATR images in SDX from the FAT partition. I do not see MOUNT.COM anywhere All this to basically: - copy files from PC to APT partitions. Any other way? I don't have any SIO drives, physical or otherwise, right now, and can't find my SIO2PC... Thanks for any clarifications/explanations/ideas!
  10. It's sad how few upgrades were made to the main 8-bit machines over the years. Not sure that it made sense financially with the 16-bits around the corner, but it sucks for us now
  11. Well, I realized that my Stereo Pokey board has an extra socket! I tried fitting the Sophia board with it to clear my all-socketed board, however the keyboard won't fit. I view this as a sign, so it's been relegated to the secondary machine (great for living room TV sessions as well!). UAV and 1084S it is, and it looks proper. Just finished Ultimate install, and together with SIDE2 it is running great! My next step is to find a good Alps keyboard, as this brand new Mitsumi garbage I have now is just awful, and the AWC on my second is well past its prime...
  12. I look at it a little differently - does it change the computer well beyond what's reasonable for that era. For example, I have a Tandy 1000TL/2, and I enjoy it for the Tandy graphics and sound - I would never put a VGA or Sound Blaster card in it. Same with the 800 - making it 2-3x faster than a base Atari ST/Amiga just doesn't feel right, although seeing Flight Simulator on it at fluid framerate would be interesting I have a similar dilema with the Sophia DVI I just installed. I have it hooked up to a 17" Samsung LCD, and the screen is like an emulator perfect. It actually feels like an emulator when I'm using it. Not sure I like that as much as a solid chroma/luma into a 1084 monitor...
  13. Ok, got my package from Lotharek today (U1MB, SIDE2, Stereo Pokey 2.0, and a really nice PS) and Sophia DVI and UAV already delivered last week. Originally my plan was to install everything into my fully-socketed 800XL, however I ran into an issue with Sophia - it won't fit with the chips above it in sockets. Myy other 800XL has the custom ICs and RAM socketed but nothing else, so I was able to see what all the fuss was about - wow, almost too good... Unfortunately that means that I have to get sockets in for ROM and MMU for U1MB. Two questions: - If I lift the Sophia board with another GTIA socket, will it be too tall for the keyboard? It looks that way, but I don't have any correct sockets right now to test - Any issues with mounting both Sophia and UAV in the same machine?
  14. Thanks everyone, lots of great stuff to look at! Really like Atariblast, Dropzone and Crownland (I know, not a shooter, but looks great). Quite impressive considering the color resolution and sprite limitations! I have my work cut out for me
  15. As the title says, what is considered to be the best side scrolling arcade shooter on the Atari? Best as in graphics and smooth motion. Quick explanation - I grew up with C64 in the 80s, and switched to ST with Jack. Never had an 800 when it was sold, so I don't have any memories/connections to the games, just enjoy programming on it more than any other 8-bit. Trying my hand at doing a side-scroller, and would like a reference point as to what's possible. Thanks!
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