retroclouds

thanks for asking yeah, development has been real slow lately. Too much real-life stuff in the way. That's also the reason why I originally planned the release date for 2011. However, the good news is that in August I'll be having some time off. That should allow me to make some decent progress

So true, Codex really has done a great job on Magellan! These are the things I'd love to see in a future version: * Sprite support (multicolor effect) * Bitmap graphics support * Gallery: Overview screen with thumbnails of screens in map. Would allow an easy selection without having to cycle through each individual screen * Gallery: Possibility to reorder screens in map * Gallery: Possibility to add description/notes to screens in map * Undo for last operation(s) * Option to clone the same object multiple times without having to re-select the object boundaries * Built-in help and documentation/tutorial * More default fonts (e.g. TI title screen font, colecovision font) * VDP raw dump import

Enclosed in the attached zip file are 2 VDP dumps I took from the Colecovision game "Gorf". I wanted to get you a SCREEN1 dump (as bitmap mode is not yet present in Magellan). The VDP dumps were taken with MEKA (still my favourite Colecovision and SEGA SG-1000 emulator). I took each dump 2 times (raw mode + text output). VDP register dump and 16K VDP memory dump are in separate files. VDP dumps.zip Dump 1: GORF title screen ========================= Name >1800 (tiles) Color >2000 (color table) Patterns >0000 (tiles patterns) SPG >3800 (sprite patterns) SAT >1B00 (sprite attribute table) Dump 2: GORF game screen ======================== Name >0C00 (tiles) Color >3600 (color table) Patterns >0000 (tiles patterns) SPG >2800 (sprite patterns) SAT >1800 (sprite attribute table) This comes with no warranty Dumps were taken while watching ....... you have to watch the full video to understand

ok, I'll get you some VDP dumps today or the latest tomorrow

Excellent stuff

You might want to check out Mono here. I guess it should allow you to run Strawberry on Linux and OS X as well. From their project page:

One important topic that should be covered in the book - at least in my opinion - is how to debug assembly language programs. This should cover debugging tricks/techniques and the tools involved. Especially thinking about emulators (classic99, MESS) and their built-in debuggers.

Any chance you would consider a cartridge version too ? I mean 64K of ROM + 32K RAM ?

I think that a more TI general forum would attrackt new people as well. Just look at the "classic computers" subforum here on atariage; it sports TI-99/4A releated posts on a regular basis. As far as the Y! trolls are concerned. I've got the feeling we won't see many of those here...

I'd say go for it Matthew! I would certainly buy the book. You could also offer a PDF version for sale. Personally I like having both. I have my TI library with me on a USB stick.

Very cool! Looking forward experimenting with this

Very nice!

I know RetroClouds has settled on the name, so I hope he'll forgive a couple more suggestions: Nutty Tutty or Tutuncommon -- you get the name AND cartridge rarity all in one! --Rich

I wouldn't say you are lacking the latter man If you keep this pace up you'll be rocking big time. Hey, did you ever consider an IT career ? I mean sure, this is fun and work is work. That is what I like about programming for a living; you are solving your little (or big) problems, code it and watch it go. It's a thrill seeing your program do what it is supposed to do. Or see it horribly go wrong and then track down the nasty bugs hehe, I still get a kick out of that even after all those years.

Just checked out Hacker's Delight book. Interesting stuff. This is the fun part of our TI programming forum. It's not just about programming TI games. You learn so much along the way

Hey, just call me a geek But I would be interested in learning more about GPL.

Taking GPL classes. Hey, does it get any cooler than that ? On a sidenote, I didn't know that Car Wars was written in GPL. That game has quite some arcade action. Pretty sure you could do some fine games in GPL. Too bad Texas Instrument didn't do more quality arcade games.

Interesting discussion people. I like the idea of a recommended vendor list. But who'll decide whether a vendor is a recommended vendor or not. And here's the provocative question: should Kyle be listed as a recommended vendor or not ? Some will say yes, others will say definitely not. I don't mind seeing this forum expand. I mean it's affecting the TI. As long as we don't go that off-topic as it now regularly happens in the Y! groups we should be fine. And after all, if you'r buying Extended Basic or a GPL assembler, then it's programming related anyway What I would like to see is that we get a similar structure like they have for the Atariage Colecovision forum. We could have a forum dealing with everything related to TI-99/4A and in there you have the programming subgroup (this one). Albert, if you are reading this: please

Hi Owen! I just saw your latest video. Man I'm impressed. Your lava world looks so cool! :thumbsup: The only thing I have to ask: Why don't you make the viewport bigger ? You still have plenty of screen space and you'r running assembly language my friend. Lot of power there

ok folks, I have to ask this: Were there any cool arcade games written in GPL ? I mean Munchman, TI invaders, Parsec, ... that's all assembly language. Is there a good example for a game running in GPL ? This brings up memories. Back in the 80's one of our young TI club members got all excited about GPL. I don't remember the details because I was a kid myself. Guess about 12 years old or so. I do recall I was very impressed by this university student that got into GPL all the way. He did little demos that looked pretty cool. Wonder how he did that cause there was hardly any information available at the time.

Excellent post Gary! Thanks.

To be sure I guess we'd have to ask the senior guys at the yahoo group. I seem to recall that Kyle bought a complete stock of stuff when one of the last distributors quit in the early to mid nineties. That was a time where the interest in the TI-99/4A was dropping like a falling rock. So I guess it was either he took the stuff or it went out to the dumpster. Sure he's making cash with it now, but no one is forced to buy from him. And who could foresee that there would be a renewed interest in the TI ? He kept all the stuff for at least 10 years. Now this might be different in the US, but here in Germany I can't afford the storage space for keeping all that gear. That would be way to expensive. So I guess he sticked to the TI at times where most (including me) left the TI scene for exploring other areas. I hope to think he still has a good heart for the TI and it's not all about cash. It happened to me more than once that he put in an extra article for free when I ordered something. However, I have to make this clear: there is no excuse to what he did with Marcs' Neverlander. Trying to sell it on ebay was way out of line. I'm sure he is lurking in the yahoo group and I think he learned his lesson. Hhhmmm, he might even be here among us right now Kyle, if you are, then please become a member of the atariage group and be part of this great community. It would help us to better understand

I've bought stuff from him several times in the past and can't complain. Delivery, packaging, etc. was all fine. Yes, some of the stuff is expensive. But he does occasionaly have stuff up for sale that I haven't seen from any other sellers. This especially goes for technical documents and the like.

i u want, i agree for pay half with you. I just bought 3 cardridge from him, i can add this ok, I'll send you a PM shortly

Rumors have it that TI originally planned a "GPL processor" as CPU for the TI-99/4A. hhhmm, makes one wonder if with todays FPGA possibilities such project would be possible. Kyle has an interesting GPL document up for sale on ebay. Check out here: eBay Auction -- Item Number: 150447363604 I considered buying it, but it's a bit too expensive. If someone is interested in a group buy. I'm willing to contribute 20 EURO