Underball

If you read into the latter pages of the "Easier Composite Video Mod" thread, most of the ghosting issues have been resolved through trial and error.

There were tons of complaints about the Longhorn mod as well. Mostly him not delivering, or taking forever to ship. then when it arrived, it wouldn't work because it was poorly assembled on the board. even for those who got a "good" one from him, if you were using strictly S-video from his, it was good/passable if installed correctly. The composite video quality is MUCH better from the "Easier composite video" than from Longhorn's mod. This is important because most newer LCD/Plasma/DLP TV's do not have S-video jacks anymore, just composite. The simple answer I'd go with: Try the easier composite video mod first. It costs maybe $5-$8 in parts from radio shack, and you get to build something! If you don't like it, order Longhorn's. It's $40 and you might have to wait anywhere from 2 weeks to 3 months for him to ship it. And it might not work when it gets there.

I'm starting to think that Bob might have stockpiled Cuttle Cart 2's before they went out of production, and all these great games he's sharing with us are an awesome means to drive up their price!

It would likely be deleted within minutes of being started. Any opinions expressed here that fall short of full and complete support for really anything being discussed is tantamount to heresy, and must be stricken from the record. Oh come on now Underball, you know you love the way the XM is coming together just as much as the rest of us. In common parlance, a devil's advocate is someone who, given a certain argument, takes a position he or she does not necessarily agree with, just for the sake of argument. In taking such position, the individual taking on the devil's advocate role seeks to engage others in an argumentative discussion process. I love the idea of the XM. I really do hope it delivers what everyone expects it will. And now that Bob is back in the fold, the chances of that happening are increased exponentially. My only qualm with the whole thing from the beginning was about XM software. Software volume and quality typically dictate how successful a console or platform will be. Even though the project has been inadvertently delayed by a number of months, the number and available details of games announced hasn't increased. In fact, it's regressed - as a number of projects have been abandoned. I know that there are supposedly some secret projects in the works that haven't been announced, but that's still yet to be seen. I'm not stating this to discourage anyone. I want the XM to be a smashing success. But these are the facts. I'd love for them to be different/more positive.

It would likely be deleted within minutes of being started. Any opinions expressed here that fall short of full and complete support for really anything being discussed is tantamount to heresy, and must be stricken from the record.

My 60Gb Launch model PS3 just YLOD'd on me for the 3rd time. I can reflow it at home for nothing, but again - it's only a matter of time before it goes again. This last time it went 6 months of pretty moderate use. I want to get it properly reballed with leaded solder. There are a few places I've seen advertising this service online, but I don't know of anyone with direct experience. Obviously since it's long since out of Warranty, and I don't want a non-BC slim model in return, sending to Sony is out of the question. Especially since they only reflow anyway. anyone?

My 60Gb Launch model PS3 just YLOD'd on me for the 3rd time. I can reflow it, but again - it's only a matter of time before it goes again. I want to get it properly reballed with leaded solder. There are a few places I've seen advertising this service online, but I don't know of anyone with direct experience. Obviously since it's long since out of Warranty, and I dont' want a Non-BC slim model in return, sending to Sony is out of the question. Especially since they only reflow anyway. anyone?

The 2-button Sega Genesis Pad compatible hack version of this from the Hacks forum is great. You need a Harmony/CC2/etc. or the ability to EPROM burn to play it though.

easily one of the best commercial 2600 titles ever released. It can be had relatively cheap, if you're willing to be patient. I scooped up a CIB(opened) copy for $10 not that long ago.

You're right, I was trying to be playful, but I'm also serious. I was hoping a lighter tone would make it easier to swallow. But I'm sincere about this point: Volunteering is a lot of work. Benefiting from unpaid work is a lot less so, even when it doesn't go how you hoped. Is it too smug to ask for some understanding? Some users want a 'finished product from a faceless corporation'. If the designers shared that mindset, it would all be a lot more professional, but there would be no more new products past 1988 or so. The products you get now don't work under a professional philosophy, because profiting is impossible. Since then, we've been under the volunteer/donation philosophy. That's true, but I'm holding out an olive branch to the community here and asking for some more empathy. I understand people get frustrated when they don't have their new toy. I just want you to imagine how much more difficult that can be on the designer's side, especially when it starts compounding. Two against one is unfair. Five against one, and you look for the exit. Someone has to keep this volunteer program going. And if it's not the people who benefit from it, it won't be the ones who put in the hours and max out their credit cards. You have to be incredibly gracious to get all the way to the end of a project here, because a few bad apples always slow you down. Some designers are so unbelievably cool you might mistake them for professionals. They're still volunteers. The more gracious designers are reading this thread too, but they're too smart to butt in. (Unlike me!) You think this kind of bickering only affects Curt? Maybe extending an olive branch to the beehive wasn't the best plan. Back to lurking. - KS This really is a fantastic reply. Thanks. I agree wholeheartly with all of it. I think what I was pointing out was that your humorously thorny olive branch is a dangerous game here sometimes. But I certainly appreciate the humor, even if others don't.

You don't half talk some shit, Underball. You pollute this forum like a cancer. lol That's nice. I have no idea who you are.

See, this is a funny, timely sentiment and all - but this kind of passive aggressive, elitist attitude of lording over people who may or may not be interested in your crazy homebrew ideas isn't really helping much either. There seems to be an awful lot of this kind of kidding, (but not really kidding), smug looking down upon the community at large here on AA. And As Shawn so eloquently (LOL) pointed out, there are those who patiently wait, those who disagree with this approach/product, and those who will sycophantically defend said passive aggressive bullying as if it's needed and justified. It takes all kinds, I guess. And YES, I realize this post was delivered with a heaping helping of sarcasm, and is not to be taken as an entirely serious attempt at addressing the community. But it is readily apparent that not everyone who posts and reads here has the ability to properly detect and process sarcastic humor and put it into the proper perspective. But seriously, if you're going to throw yourself out there and jump into one of these endeavors, though the community at large may benefit from your actions, the decision is yours alone. Not everyone is going to agree with your choices, and really - no one should be expected to really "care" about your losses if things don't work out as planned. This was the project leader's choice. No one forced them into it. And with that, being gracious with the people who payed ahead of time will bring far more willing supporters than bragging or complaining about how much money and effort and time it may have taken. I've never seen Bob, or Curt be anything BUT gracious throughout all of this, and the same goes for Chad Schell and Ken Siders before them in their projects. and Albert here has been tirelessly diligent in taking care of his customer's whims as well. I'm sure they will be immeasurably relieved once this thing ships and the accolades start rolling in.

"That escalated quickly. Brick killed a guy!"

Not Really. He's been trolling the site for the better part of a week, and already drive Bob (PacManPlus) out of here, and caused him to take all of his homebrew links down. This went on WAY too long.

All the FB2 had to do was run its built in games. The fact that you could run your own collection of back catalogue games by adding a cart connector to it and thus voiding the warranty (because you have to open it and solder wires etc.) was only of interest to probably 0.001% of the people who bought it. the 0.001% of the people who bought it are the one in all these forums Are you done trashing people yet? enough. we get it.

I suppose Bob removed all attachments. The attachments for his other game threads are gone too Hopefully they will be back sometime. I wouldn't count on it, unfortunately.

I'm confused. this is the same guy who trashed bob and drove him to stop posting anymore. He was supposedly put on Mod Preview last week. Why is he being allowed to trash Curt so much in the XM Status thread?

Pop open the 7800's case. Using a pair of sharp scissors or small wire cutters, cut into the corners of the cartridge guide's cup. Do this SLOWLY as the plastic used on the cartridge guide is old and brittle, and will crack in unwanted ways under too much pressure. Do this to all 4 corners, so that the guide cup is now 4 flaps, as opposed to one single cup. This will allow ANY large/tight or oddly shaped cart(Imagic, M-Network, etc.) to fit in your 7800 fully. However, your Activision titles with the thinner cart boards will still be suspect, and may be prone to failure. Think of it as a Vagina Enlargement.

Activision should use Enzyte.

You really don't know what you're talking about. I never "trolled" anyone. All I ever did was ask what games were going to BA coming out for the XM, and questioned the motives of keeping such projects hush-hush. It was my opinion that doing so would hurt sales. For this I had my posts removed, was put on mod preview, and was straight up insulted by a number of people. You're confusing my legitimate questions with the nasty commentary of the former poster mbalducci. And there is a lot going on behind the scenes that you simply don't know about that drove bobs decision to leave. If he decides to come back and share it with you or the rest of the board, maybe you'll be less likely to jump down my throat about it.

There is more to Bob's frustrations than just one guy trolling him in this thread. The whole XM box snub was pretty low. It goes deeper than that, too. The whole tone of this place has changed over the last year or so since the XM project came about. There's an ugly 800 lb gorilla in the middle of the room that no one wants to talk about, but it's made lots of people in this forum quite anxious, and occasionally flat out rude. Longtime contributing members have been cast aside, or treated as inferior vs. a small clique of an "in-crowd". It's sad. I used to look forward to coming here and talking, and reading about Atari 7800 games, projects, homebrew, emulators, mods, etc. Now every time I come here I feel like I'm defending myself or someone I'm friends with because we're not allowed to state our opinions on things. Posts are deleted. People are banned or put on mod-preview just for thinking for themselves. Bob's not leaving because of one troll. He left because he was driven away by the culture here. This thread was just the icing on the shitpie.

You forgot SACD support. Even the power LED is going away in this latest hardware revision we're discussing in this thread. Is this not one in the same? Is not Blu-Ray SONY'S OWN bailiwick, regardless of any euphemistic name with "Association" tacked on? You mean Sony was opposed to this mandate, but someone else imposed it upon them vis-a-vis their own BD format? Sony is just one of many partners in the Blu-Ray Disc Association. The Blu-Ray format isn't owned by Sony and they're not the only firm responsible for it's creation or the sole holder of patents involved in the technology. Gamers just mistakingly associate it with Sony because of the Playstation 3. It's no more theirs than the CD or DVD formats were. But I doubt they're opposed to this mandate. I'm sure they played a major role in this decision since they're a major player in this format from a technical point of view (Royalties on various Sony owned patents related to the technology), Sony Blu-Ray players, and Sony published Blu-Ray media. It wouldn't shock be if they're the party that spearheaded these new standards through. But Blu-Ray Disc Association doesn't equal Sony. They're not one and the same. In my experience, the only people who seem to think BDA = Sony are diehard Xbox/Wii fans and those still bitter about HD-DVD having lost the format war.

Is this not one in the same? Is not Blu-Ray SONY'S OWN bailiwick, regardless of any euphemistic name with "Association" tacked on? You mean Sony was opposed to this mandate, but someone else imposed it upon them vis-a-vis their own BD format? No, They are not the same. Sony is only one of many EE manufacturers on the Blu-Ray Disc Association. Contrary to popular belief, Sony didn't invent Blu-Ray all by themselves. It was a consortium of EE companies, Philips, Panasonic, Sony and a few others, who actually invented the format and brought it to retail. They simply backed it fully once it became a viable platform.

I can't believe the mods are allowing this little shit and his passive aggressive nonsense to persist, even after the bob announced he's leaving. It's one thing fir people to disagree over silly opinions and troll each other for it. This guy just chased away the only 7800 programmer who has completed a full XM game, a couple of weeks before the damn thing ships. And snubbing Bob on the XM box was an absolute insult. Especially since none of those games on that box will ever be finished. what a giant waste. Now there will be no Super Circus XM. No PAC-man collection XM, and none of the other games he was working on either. Good job folks.

Bob, You don't need to go anywhere. You're a great guy and the most accomplished 7800 homebrew programmer to date. The last thing this scene needs is to lose a true talent who actually finishes what he starts, and delivers what he promises, and along the way shares his ideas and hard work with everyone. Honestly in the last year or so, the whole atari homebrew scene here seems to have been co-opted by ego maniacs, conniving profiteers, and condescending know-it-alls. With the great Kenfused having pretty much moved on to other projects, and Propane13 having other more important things going on, - the horizon is looking empty and bleak. Don't go. Just ignore the Haters.