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Gunstar

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Posts posted by Gunstar

  2. Posted

    quote:
    Originally posted by Tempest:

    Not entirely. One thing that keeps console systems popular is that their easy to set up and use. PC's are still complex little beasts to many people and all that hardware compatibility problems and expense keeps alot of users away. Also, many people like to play games on their TV's (I know I do) rather than on a dorky little monitor. My perosnal belief is that Consoles may loose some ground to PC's but will never go away.

     

    Tempest

     

    There's nothing like sitting in my barko-lounger, and playing games on my 36" tv, with everything hooked up to my surround sound system, with all my snacks, drinks and other "things" on the end table next to me...my computer, even with it's 17" monitor, and multi-media surround system and dvd player just don't cut it for watching movies and playing vids, for one, it's hard to crowd family and friends around the computer for those occasions either...the sad truth is that I feel I totally wasted my money getting a pc with all those "extras," since I never use them. If I was still in college in a little dorm room, it all would be used, but I'm not and they aren't.

  4. Posted

    Well, I was going to add something, but Tempest and Pitfall Harry hit the target. Cheaper and easier and on the big screen. Consoles will survive, otherwise a company like Microsoft (COMPUTER company people!!!) would not be making a console...I never play games on my PC, for the very reasons Pitfall stated, when I want to play a game, I just plug in the cart or slip in the cd and I'm in videoland! My computer is always screwing up and more plumbing just makes it easier for the works to get clogged. I do fear that consoles may start having similiar problems though, now that they are going to have harddrives and game installation...that's what happens when a company like Microsoft gets their grubby, greedy hands on the console market, let make it as complicated as we possibly can so they will have to rely on us for service, tech support, patches, drives, and newer versions that correct the old bugs and add in new ones for the future!!! Somebody shoot Bill already. Dead.

  5. Posted

    quote:
    Originally posted by Robert:

    I've the schematics of the XL series and I see only one audio output on the POKEY. (See
    . Thus explain to me how you can get stereo sound with only one output.

     

    The Pokey can indeed produce 16 bit sound but does this by combining two 8 bit channels into one 16 bit channel. Thus you can have four 8bit channels, two 8bit channels + one 16bit channel or two 16bit channels. Nothing to do with stereo though.

     

    And yes, pokey has indeed some more posibilities than just a double TIA sound such as joining channels, high pass filter, 8bit frequency divider instead of 5bit.

     

    Robert

     

    I figured (stereo sound)it could be done the the same way they modify the 2600 and 7800 to get stereo, I haven't looked at the pokey schematics for a long time, so you may be right about requireing two pokey chips, I just figured they used two, to get two 16-bit stereo channels instead of two 8-bit stereo channels. If indeed, The Pokey only has one output channel, then I guess you would need to Pokey's for stereo, I just thought I remembered seeing a mod way back when that could give 8-bit stereo with one pokey, I thought they even had some demo programs with it, but I could be mistaken...

  6. Posted

    It has nothing to do with spending the most or addiction. People who REALLY love Atari are the ones like me who stuck with Atari through tick and thin, from Pong to the Jaguar and all the computers too. I NEVER owned another brand of hardware before Atari's fall in '96. I shunned all other brands of computers and consoles. My first ever, non-Atari product was the 3DO that I bought used in '96, to get some of the titles on it that were SUPPOSED to come out for the Jaguar...I now own a C64, dreamcast and 3DO too, along with my 2600/7800/5200/xe/lynx/Jaguar and soon will own a Falcon computer. Still loyal and in love, but I since I can't help kill that which is dead, I can now buy other brands and not worry about helping Atari's demise by giving my money to another company besides Atari. Now that's true-blue love and no one else can touch it unless you've done the same...Some of you "Johnny-come-lately's" that are feeling Nastolgia for your 2600's, but have been in Nintendo, Sega, and Sony camps, not to mention other computer brands can just shut-up about "loving" Atari, you don't know what love and loyalty is...

  7. Posted

    O.k., I'll e-mail ya', I prefer boxes for my collection too...unfortunate things happened to about half of my boxes though...so I either have to except their fate and live without the boxes, or find the titles for cheap and buy duplicates...

  8. Posted

    Choplifter was originally released by broderbund on the Apple and Atari, later other platforms, but Sega later released it in the arcades and the C64 version and 7800 version are translations of the arcade version, that's why they look different.

  10. Posted

    quote:
    Originally posted by JagDiesel:

    Good luck on finding a reasonably priced Battlesphere...Club Drive, you can get it off of ebay for about $5 or so, complete, usually new. Also, checkout VGLQ.com as they sell Jag games cheap.

     

    That's BATTLEMORPH that he wants, not BATTLESPHERE, it's much more common and can usually be had for about 30 bucks, maybe less...But that's all right, people get the two titles mixed up all the time...By the way, BOTH are excellent titles, but I really think BattleMORPH is a better game, especially since you don't have to sell your PC to be able to afford one...

  11. Posted

    quote:
    Originally posted by Robert:

    The POKEY chip in the XL series (a double 2600 sound chip) has four channels but where also mixed inside the chip. The stereo upgrades for this machine worked by adding a second POKEY chip. This worked only with adapted software.

     

    Regards,

     

    Robert

     

    Actually, the Pokey can have stereo sound from just the one chip, the reason they used two pokeys is so that they could get 16-bit stereo sound out of it, you see, the Pokey chip is capable of producing 16-bit sound, but only in mono, stereo with one chip would have been 8-bit. There were some odd-ball languages and music programs/players that used the full 16-bit potential of the Pokey, and some demos as well. Also the Pokey chip is MUCH more than just the 2600's chip "doubled" it is much, much, more advanced than that...

  12. Posted

    quote:
    Originally posted by C. Schell:

    Assuming you're talking about the picture of the 2600 I was using at CGE, the reason there is only one RCA connected is that it was connected to a mono monitor. You would use standard stereo RCA cables for stereo sound.

     

    Chad

     

    Yeah, that's what I was talking about, the picture I saw was not high enough res to see more than the one audio and one video cables coming out, I couldn't tell if it was stereo or not, so I assumed it was mono and that's Why I askedcommented. Thanks!

  13. Posted

    First off, the Panther was always being developed as a 32-bit mashine, with a 32-bit graphics chip and bus AT LEAST, maybe more chips like a DSP or something would have also been 32-bit. It's quite possible that they were going to use the same 68000 as they used in the Jaguar though...What's up with the bullsh*t about "you know how Atari is, 16+16=32?" Your falling for the same crap that the general public has, the magazines and the competition used false propaganda against the Jaguar that it wasn't a TRUE 64-bit machine, they did this because they WERE the competition or in the case of the mags, just had an axe to grind with Atari, most likely do to Atari's inept management always falling through on promises, etc., etc. Pure unadulterated PROPAGANDA. The Jaguar IS a TRUE 64-bit machine with 5 proccessors in three chips on a 64-bit bus. 2 of the processors are 32-bit, 2 are 64-bit and the 68000 is 16-bit, but it is a TRUE 64-bit system just as the Panther would have been a TRUE 32-bit system. The Jaguar IS NOT 2 32+32+64-bit chips, Atari never "Did the Math" this way. Just ask anyone at Jaguar Interactive 2, there are a bunch of Jaguar DEVELOPERS that hang there, and they KNOW for sure that it is a true 64-bit system because they have worked on it and they will tell you as much. The 68000 in the Jaguar is a CO-PROCESSOR and it doesn't even have to be used except for "bootstrapping" the system; the OS/BIOS. Atari considered using newer 020 or 030 68x chips and they also considered not having a 68x chip at all! If the Jaguar didn't have the 16-bit 68000 in there at all, it probably would have been much harder for this false propaganda to start or work. Tempest is right about cybermorph and trevormcfur being ported from the Panther though...at least the basic graphic "engines." Also, in a recent interview with one of the Tramiel "sons," the one that headed up software development, I forget his name, he mentioned that the "Jaguar2," the follow up to the Jag/jagcd that would have gone head-to-head with the N64, was going to be called the Panther as well, he said he wished he had gotten a chance to program that machine because it was so awsome...

    But it was (the 32-bit Panther) going to be competition for the Genesis and SNES, but it would have been 32-bit and blown them away.

  14. Posted

    I'm not positive, but I think it's more along the lines of a apply, let dry and buff type of product, I know there is something similair for TV&monitor screens as well, my brother 36" tv got a pretty deep scratch in it by a careless person, and he used the stuff to repair it. If you look really close, you can see where it was, but it looks 99% better than before it was repaired, looks perfect from a normal viewing distance.

  15. Posted

    I found that article on multi-tasking on the 8-bit, and while that "Atari 8-bit survival guide" from AtariUser was NOT the article with the multi-tasking, it does has some reviews of great software and mentions a "kit" that was available at the time that included all the software it talked about. I imagine that this software can now be found on the net somewhere. Anywho, the article with multi-tasking for the 8-bit's is in the November 1990 edition of Atari Interface magazine. The actual article is entitled: "8bit Support--Alive and Well"

    The programs are called MTOS (multi-tasking) and Snapshot (program switching), here is an excerpt from that article...'...(MTOS) allows up to four programs to run at the same time, at a slower rate than normal, of course,but no software company would have spent the time and money to develop this for the atari, let alone one that requires 256k or more.

    When MTOS was about as far as Tom (the author)thought it could go, he came up with another idea. What if the computer only ran one program at a time,but could switch to another program with the touch of a button? With this Snapshot was born.

    There are now several versions that cover almost any hardware setup you have, but still requires 256k or more (memory). The memory versions of this (Snapshot) switch back and forth between a program running and one stored in the expanded (memory) banks. You can even use different DOS setups for the two (or more)programs.

    This article goes into much more detail and talks about using MIO and black box's and harddrives and such with the programs. So there is definately everything out there to theoretically get an 8-bit up and running on the net, even with multi-tasking. These old 8-bit's sure are amaxing little machines, aren't they?

  16. Posted

    It stacks up right where it should; it's much more powerful than the 2600 but less than the 7800, although I believe it to be do to it's memory limitations and not the hardware that make it less powerful than the 7800. Why? because the 5200 is basically a 400 computer, which is compatible with the whole 8-bit computer line 800/xl/xe, and I have seen games that look a lot better on the the 8-bits with more memory, better than 7800 stuff. but the 5200 is restricted to 32k(?) max I believe, while the 7800 (I believe) can use 48k carts and the 8-bit computers can do 64k+(with bank switching even more), although it's possible that bank-switching carts could have been used on the 5200 and 7800 that would have expanded them to 64k and beyond. So maybe the 7800 limitations when compared to the 8-bit computers are only a matter of memory limitations too. Anyway, it's a cool system (the 5200) although if you have an 8-bit, you can get pretty much all the same games for it and they are pretty much identical except in a few rare cases, and there the differences are minimal. I have both the 5200 and 8-bit because I'm a collector, but anything I have on the 5200, I just don't get for the 8-bit and vice versa, so whatever game I come across first for either sytem is the one I get, and not the other. I also like the 5200 analog controls much better for some games, like Joust and StarRaiders...but I got it mainly because it was the system I always wanted when I was younger, but got a 2600 instead, and then I moved on to the 130xe (atari 8=bit computer) and never had a chance to own the 5200 as a child/adolescent.

  18. Posted

    quote:
    Originally posted by -^Cro§Bow^-:

     

    Off topic...but does anybody know if there is a Stereo sound Mod for the 7800 like there is on the 2600 JR models?

     

    That would be cool. Although both BallBlazer and Winter Games sound like crap on my stereo tv with the expanded sound turned on, figures.

     

    I recently saw a picture of that audio/video mod for the 2600jr. too. However, it looked to me like there was only one (mono) rca output coming from the 2600jr board. Is that the way it is? It can hook up to a stereo, but only with one mono rca cord? Also, is this "expanded sound" your talking about an option on your tv? Or what?

     

    But, yes there is a mod similiar to this for the 7800, here: 7800 mods

  19. Posted

    I just recieved a follow-up e-mail from Brain Stewart stating that he currently has three more of 1050 drive/sio2pc combinations that will be ready as soon as he tests them. He Also indicated that he would make the "same type of deal" to anyone that contacts him. I payed a total of just over $50.00 with shipping&handling. He also said he has a new Atari st utilities/tools disc (cd) with 300+ megs of stuff for sale, he gave no price for this cd.

  21. Posted

    I ordered this from a guy off E-bay, but it seems he will sell them both on E-bay and through direct contact. I got mine for $40, he stopped the auction early as he said that was all he was looking for anyway($40). He told me he was making more. Anyway, this is a great deal, and a LOT more than I expected...You see, this isn't actually just the cable, this is BOTH the SIO2PC and 10502PC cables in ONE, then permanently connected to a brand new modified (with this cord) 1050 drive! This allows both SIO ports on the back of the 1050 to be free for all the other pheriphrials(did I spell that right?). This allows you to control everything from the 8-bit (PC drives, printers, modems, etc.), or just download stuff from the PC directly to this modified 1050. It uses 2 db9 (com port) connections for both interfaces and has one power and two "in use" led's for everything. But that's not all! This guy also sent me a cd-rom with not only every pc utility for transfering files to the 8-bit and vice versa that exist, but he also included every Atari emulator, 5200 and 8-bit rom images and bios, and what I believe to be the enire collection of 8-bit games (ATR images) right on the disk, an even more stuff I can't remember, something called Imagic that can handle every file type (.atr, .dcm, xformer, you name it). Plus, he also included a floppy disk for the 8-bit, that I haven't looked at yet, but I imagine it has some tasty 8-bit utilities for using all the pc hardware...

    This guy went the whole nine yards and beyond, and you can't even get a regular 1050 drive from B&C or somewhere for 40 bucks! Just an SIO2PC cable costs 35! I reccomend this man to anyone who is interested in something like this. His name is Brian Stewart, a Canadian, and I just forgot his e-mail, but I'll get it and post it here right away!

  22. Posted

    Actually, some multi-tasking programs were made for the 8-bits (or one anyway). I remember reading about it in the early nineties, I believe it was in a '92 issue of AtariUser, I don't seem to have the issue any longer, but the article was called; "The 8-bit survival guide," it might have even been a column over several issues. I remember it covering the multitasking program that required an 8-bit that was upgraded to at least 256k, using the standard Xe bankswitching and one for Axlon boards (same program, two versions). It would basically allow you to load upto 4(?) Atari programs into the current and extended memory, and then you could just "swap" between the programs which I believe were actually paused some how while the current program was running. So it wasn't true multitasking, but close enough for the 8-bit. This article also covered all the Compression/decommpression programs, the graphic programs like Colorview and APACview that could handle .gif images, basically everything you would need to download stuff off of BBS (or the net) and use it. Another way to go about all of this is with the SIO2PC cable which will not only let you download and upload files between the 8-bit and PC, but will also let you use the PC's drives, modem and printer from the 8-bit. You could then use that VT100 terminal emulator that Glenn Saunders mentioned, Flickerterm80, or another program to get online and use all the PC's hardware as "virtual memory and drives." Although, I'm not sure why or to what end, since if you have the pc, you can just use it to get online...maybe just to see it done.

  23. Posted

    Supposedly as soon as more parts can be obtained (and time to assemble them). The question is where are these parts coming from? I mean, B&C ARE one of the main sources of Atari parts next to Best E., so I imagine they'll be coming from Best E.? This is purely speculation, but I imagine that BEST and B&C are the two main sources that bought up all the Atari stuff from Atari, or Hasbro. I suppose GoAtari, Telegames and VGL might have bought stuff. Infogrames says theys still have a wharehouse full of Atari overstock still, but don't know when they'll "get around to getting around to it" was the basic jist of what they implied. Hopelfully this is just a matter of a few days or weeks and not months or more, but it's not like I don't have the patience, Atari fans have had to learn patatience if they wanted to stay fans...

  24. Posted

    The little green guy DOES have an official name, the same as the title this game had on every sytem it was released for EXCEPT the Atari 8-bit and 7800; Nebulous. This game also was released on the st/amiga, c64, NES and probably others under the name "Nebulous" and this refers to the little green guy. That's his name. Why Atari decided to change the name of the game to the GOD AWFUL title of "Tower Toppler" is beyond me, it's the worst title change that could have possibly occured on such a fantastic game. So if you want to come up with your own name, be my guest, but I'll continue to call him by his true name.

  25. Posted

    quote:
    Originally posted by Tempest:

    Actually I believe it was called Castlin on the NES (or something like that). I like the name Tower Toppler better, that at least describes the game play a bit (you climb and topple towers). Nebulous is just so non-discriptive, you might even say it's... Nebulous!

     

    Tempest

     

    It's non-discriptive because it's the name of the hero, not a discription of the game, maybe that's why Atari changed the name so people might get a better idea of what the game is, but I still prefer Nebulous of Tower Toppler-that name may be descriptive, but it certainly isn't very poetic and it doesn't slip off the tongue as well as "Nebulous."

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