[Impossible Mission - guess who ?]

Thats what I'm thinking is hack it together so it is playable. Having just the BMX stage is way better than nothing. Call it "Claifornia Games: The BMX Classic" or something. A start up screen, press a button and right to the event would be enough for a sale to me. Even yet just have the events screen only have BMX to choose from, it's still gonna be sweet IMO. Heck if you wanted to go over the top you could even take a couple Summer or Winter games events and sprite hack them into Cali like events for more depth to the game cause if they are along side BMX I don't think anyone is gonna bitch.

 

Well, Shawn, this all sounds doable them. I will endeavor to work on what sources I have.

 

Still looking for a 6502 cross-assembler for DOS or UNIX (preferably Solaris)

 

cc65 includes a cross assembler called "ca65". I built it successfully on Mac OS X, and I would expect you'd have a similar experience with Solaris.

 

Check it out at: http://www.cc65.org/

[UltraSatan preorders open NOW!]

There appears to be 5 North American buyers so far:

 

Fletch (me)

Bill_logidice

Mitch

Guitarman

Goochman

 

Actually there are more North American buyers, but it my case, I've already used WU to transfer money to Mikro independently.

[UltraSatan preorders open NOW!]

Ok I am missing something. I signed p for Moneybookers and added a credit card. I can 'shop' but dont see a link to 'send' someone money like Miro to pay for this.

 

Suggestions?

 

I was reduced to emailing support at moneybookers.com to ask exactly how to use their money transfer service to actually -- you know -- transfer money. It's a little bit unnerving.

[Jaguar - My least favorite Atari Console]

It's always amazing to me how the 5200 draws so many people to either love it or hate it. There doesn't seem to ever be much middle ground. I love the 5200, and nostalgic reasons set aside, it's my favorite Atari system, controllers included. The analog controllers are awesome for many games. Just felt I had to defend it, though this is a thread about the Jaguar!

 

But yeah, including Breakout as the pack-in with the 5200 was a lame idea. I guess they probably just figured they wouldn't sell too many separately, so they may as well throw it in since it was easy to program. It's far inferior to the 2600 game with paddles.

 

The 5200 is my favorite too (followed by the Jag).

 

I find the design of the 5200 to be absolutely amazing. A 5200 with the track ball positioned right next to it is, to this day, the coolest looking system around, and I love the fact that you can control the entire system directly from the joysticks. That is common now, but it was a first back then.

[Empty bank in 520STFM waiting for chips]

Well he can send it to me and I'll do it.

 

Hi Allison.

 

Is there a good source for 520/1040ST schematics on the web?

 

As I mentioned above, I am considering performing your 72-pin SIMM procedure on my 520STfm. In my case, this is complicated by the fact that my ST has a different revision of the motherboard. On mine, the RAM chips are in two rows positioned toward the front of the case (under the keyboard). The MMU is located toward the rear and to the right relative to those rows of chips.

 

I would like to adapt your procedure to my motherboard, but to do that, I would benefit from having a proper schematic for the 520ST/1040ST motherboard.

 

Thanks for your thoughts.

[Development Tools Announcement - Source Code Release]

Have any of you guys tried the GPU main code features yet?

I'd be curious to how that's holding up.

 

.GPUMAIN

 

 

 

BUMP!

 

Hellllooooooooo!!!!! Has ANYONE trued the main code features of the new assembler?

 

 

While I've used SMAC and SLN to compile and link, until the Skunkboard arrives it's all theoretical for me.

[Empty bank in 520STFM waiting for chips]

Thanks, Alison.

 

I'm intrigued by the desoldering iron (the vacuum pump one). Do you have a manufacturer/model number for that one?

[Empty bank in 520STFM waiting for chips]

Speaking of soldering, I am considering updating my setup. I've been using a non-variable 15W iron for about 20 years, and although it has served me well, I am ready to upgrade.

 

Also, upgrading old computers often presents desoldering opportunities. I have had some success with desoldering braid, but I'd love any suggestions about soldering stations and related desoldering tools. I've had no success with a desoldering bulb.

 

Does anybody have a favorite tool for either/both of these jobs? What do you feel is the best value?

 

Thanks!

[Empty bank in 520STFM waiting for chips]

I too have a 520STfm to upgrade, but instead of going to 1MB (which is still not enough RAM for the software I think you're going to want to run -- I had a 1040ST (1MB RAM) that I needed to upgrade back in the day) I'm shooting for 4MB.

 

I found this document describing installing a 72-pin SIMM to be compelling. This procedure is a fair amount of work, but soldering in 16 more ICs is a fair amount of work too. I figure while I'm soldering, I might as well take it all the way up to 4MB.

 

72-pin SIMM upgrade

 

Also, the traces on the ST motherboards are extremely fragile. If you were to populate those RAM banks, I would install sockets first. Of course, if you go with the 72-pin simm upgrade, you can skip installing the sockets.

 

One thing to mention: I plan to use a rotary cutter to remove ALL of the RAM from my ST's mainboard. Once the chips are gone, I will desolder each stub one-by-one. At that point, the board will be ready for the upgrade.

 

Of course, Best Electronics does sell SIMM upgrade kits, but they cost more than a second-hand STe would. For that reason, I think I'm going to go for it!

[UltraSatan preorders open NOW!]

The rectifier will provide some isolation, but I doubt it provides true galvanic isolation (which is what you would need). If it does, then I guess that in thoery it should work. You might ask Jookie for a more authoritative answer, but even then it doesn't look like a very elegant solution, and even a bit risky in the best case.

 

Yep -- that's the crux of my question: is the rectifier sufficient to provide true isolation? I was already somewhat skeptical that this would work (per my follow-up post), and I appreciate your insight.

 

Thanks!

[UltraSatan preorders open NOW!]

Well, I'm not excited about you "floating" the power supply relative to the ground, and as you deduced, there could be issues with the data side of things. That and the ST's power supply isn't the greatest to begin with.

 

I'd vote to not do that.

 

Thanks for your thoughts, poobah.

 

I've found its better to ask about these crazy ideas than to find out the hard way.

[UltraSatan preorders open NOW!]

I've been considering how I want to power my UltraSatan once it arrives.

 

Is there any reason why I can't pull +7V off of my 520STfm's internal power supply? Going from memory, I believe there are +5, +12, and GND lines coming off of it (just as you would find on a PC), and I don't believe the UltraSatan will be too much of a current sink (maybe I'm wrong about that - anyone know?).

 

Shouldn't I be able to hook the + line of the UltraSatan lead up to +12V from the the ST and the - minus up to +5V for a +7V voltage differential? I'm thinking that I'll then run a little connector out of the ST through a vent hole in the case, and I should be in business. In that configuration, I'll have one cord going from the wall to the ST, with the UltraSatan connected to my custom power cable and the ASCI port.

 

Any thoughts?

I wouldn't dare to comment on the specifics of the Atari ST power supply, but in theory this sounds good. I remember reading about the voltage differential technique in an article on under-volting PC fans. It would certainly be nice to run the entire system off a single mains plug.

 

I'm still in the dark as to whether to expect a payment request, having registered on Saturday: I'll just assume the worst, then maybe I'll get a nice surprise.

 

 

My biggest concern with my proposal is that you've got what amounts to a +5V "ground" powering the UltraSatan, while there is a +0V ground on the signal side.

 

Let me clarify: you've got the UltraSatan connected to the ASCI port, and the signal ground reference for that is +0V. Meanwhile, you're powering the UltraSatan off of a +5V ground. For the sake of powering the device, the differential is +7V (+12V - +5V), but if you measure the power connector's ground relative to the signal ground, the difference is +5V (+5V - 0V).

 

I am concerned that this could lead to a situation where, from the UltraSatan's perspective, the data signals appear to be between -5V and 0V, which would be a very bad thing. However, it is possible that the UltraSatan's power circuit is effectively isolated from the data circuit within the box, and in that case, the differential between the grounds does not matter.

 

I was hoping that somebody with better EE skills than I might have some thoughts.

 

As to the UltraSatan payment, I would log into your account on the website and see if the status reads "We're currently awaiting your payment." If it does say that, then you should be able to PayPal over the money.

[I HATE Alien VS Predator!]

Heresy!

 

AvP is one of my favorite games of all time on any computer/console. I'd rank it up there with Carrier Command (Atari ST), DOOM (Jaguar), and Dungeon Master (Atari ST).

 

To each his own, though. AvP is not really supposed to be fast-paced like DOOM is, and I think that's where it falls short of some folks' expectations.

 

That said, you might prefer playing the Predator instead of the Alien or the Marine (although, the Alien is the fastest of the three).

[Price Check: Towers II]

I've got a new copy of Towers II (no shrink wrap, but the cart is still sealed and has never been opened or used and the box and printed materials are perfect) that I can part with. I would ideally like to trade it for another rare game (maybe Zero 5 or something of similar rarity). However, I'd be willing to sell it for the right price.

 

Please PM me if interested.

[UltraSatan preorders open NOW!]

I've been considering how I want to power my UltraSatan once it arrives.

 

Is there any reason why I can't pull +7V off of my 520STfm's internal power supply? Going from memory, I believe there are +5, +12, and GND lines coming off of it (just as you would find on a PC), and I don't believe the UltraSatan will be too much of a current sink (maybe I'm wrong about that - anyone know?).

 

Shouldn't I be able to hook the + line of the UltraSatan lead up to +12V from the the ST and the - minus up to +5V for a +7V voltage differential? I'm thinking that I'll then run a little connector out of the ST through a vent hole in the case, and I should be in business. In that configuration, I'll have one cord going from the wall to the ST, with the UltraSatan connected to my custom power cable and the ASCI port.

 

Any thoughts?

[520STFM Just Arrived]

Best Electronics seems to have RAM upgrades for the STFM. They also have floppy drives on the same page. Most of the later games did come on a 720 disks, so it is recommended to upgrade.

 

Hard disk may be more of a problem, the easiest solution is to find a ASCI to SCSI interface (such as IDC link), but these are hard to find. Another solution again is Best Electronics and they have some Megafile hard disks in these plug directly in to the ASCI port on the back of the STFM. There have also been some internal IDE projects out there but I think these require the desoldering of the CPU.

 

If you only want to play games there is little need for a hard disk.

 

All the best with your new acquisition. I just wish I had more time to play on my STe, they were happy times

Yep, I got the new keyboard and RAM upgrade for the 8-Bit from Best Electric, so I'd be happy to deal with them again. Their ST/VGA cable is a tad overpriced, though, so I'm making my own (see other thread). I mainly want to run the ST in hi-res mode, and I'd really like to do a bit of C programming, perhaps write a few desk accessories, so a hard disk would be useful although they all seem quite pricey. I'll get a SCART cable so I can run low/medium resolutions when I need to. The manual mentions that the floppy drive may be 360K/720K depending on the model: I'm assuming mine is a single-sided, 360K drive.

 

I didn't actually power up the ST for the first time until I'd stripped it down and cleaned it as best I could, but it works perfectly. I got the thing for 10 GBP on eBay, just bidding for the hell of it; I didn't really have any objective in mind for an ST apart from restoring it to pristine condition (which is going to need the Retrobrite treatment), so I can't really justify spending large amounts of cash on it right now. I'm commited to a big 8-bit project at the moment, but when I get time I'm going to enjoy tinkering with the ST. I only wish I'd got hold of one twenty years ago: I would have used it for word processing and had a blast writing software for it. Speaking of software, I have precisely none (apart from the slew of games that came with it), so I'll need a word processor, and some flavour of C. Neodesk 4 looks good, too (I've tried it on STeem).

 

Anyway, thanks for those useful links!

 

I had an ST in its heyday, and I absolutely adored it. Unfortunately, I had to sell it in 1993 in order to acquire my first Mac (an LC II).

 

About 10 years ago I acquired an excellent condition 520STfm that a friend had no further use for. As I had sold my valuable ST hardware years before, I no longer have a hard disk for it but I do still have all of my ST software. Recently the perfect solution presented itself.

 

In a different thread here on AA, they are currently accepting orders for a new run of UltraSatan disks, and I think you really should consider this option. In a nutshell, it allows you to use SD, MMC, and SDHC cards (the same as you'd use with a digital camera) as an ST hard drive. As you know, these cards are plenty large for storing ST software, they're inexpensive, and they're very reliable. For around $100 (US), you can add what amounts to an ST hard drive that is several gigabytes in size and you don't have to comb through old stock trying to find a small, compatible SCSI-1 hard drive to use with the ST. Also, my understanding is that the memory cards can be formatted so that they can be used with a PC (via card read) and with the ST, thereby giving a great way to shuttle software between the two (although I've never actually done this).

 

As to developing for the ST, I really think you should consider setting up a GCC cross compiler so that you can write/compile software on your host PC and then run it on the ST. It will be worlds faster, and modern GCC compilers are sooooo much better than any C compiler that was released back in the day. Combine a cross-compiling GCC on your PC with an UltraSatan, and you have a good way to test, as you can switch the SD card between the ST and the development host.

 

Hope this helps...

[NEW MIO production run.]

The ancient apple drives refused to work with my Black Box, MIO, Falcon030, and my old 520ste(1meg) so I took a trip to double click computers and the fellow there helped me by pointing out the wires at that time, this was around 1990's or so and since this was the only apple dealer around I took his word. He helped me remove one, move another, and one we had not luck with as it only wanted to talk with the apples for whatever reason. We swapped the pcb and the last one was fine. So Apple must have experimented with making it so Apple was looking to limit who and what could be used. Must have been a known issue for the service tecch to know pretty much what was needed for each drive. He even advised me about the need to lubricate the one drive as it was susceptable to what he termed stiction, and a year later I was doing just that. Lubing the spindle bearing on the Apple HD. seems the lube used by the manufacturer would dry out and cause a sticky spindle not starting, hard to start or wrong rpm. After the lube all was fine again. Kudo's to double click for having the answers back in the '90's... the drives were old back then as well.

 

Were the problematic drives made by Rodime, by any chance? Those drives were the only brand of Apple OEM drives I've not personally owned. The Connor and Quantum OEM drives (circa 1992-1996) always worked well for me.

 

Cheers!

[NEW MIO production run.]

wow! apple used to have a wire or two soldered on those to modify them and make them not speak with non apple hardware/software. cool you got it to work without tinkering on the hard drives pcb.

 

Apple OEM drives were not crippled.

 

I've used old Apple OEM SCSI drives on all kinds of hardware, and I've never had any trouble using them with other computers. Specifically, I have used 40MB, 80MB, 160MB, and 500MB Apple OEM drives (made by Connor and Quantum) on an Atari ST, a NeXT 040 Cube, and PCs with Adaptec SCSI card.

 

The way that the drivers were customized is that Apple had the OEM include a custom ROM chip on the drive. In the System 7 days, the included "HD SC Setup" utility would check for the Apple ROM, and if it was missing, would refuse to format or install a driver on the drive. In those days, you could use a third party, non-Apple OEM drive if you used a third party formatter and driver. This "check for custom ROM" nonsense ended around the System 7.5-7.6 era.

[Looking for BJL Rom or other...]

A few years ago, I had the stubulated Jagand alpine board as well as the rest of the developers kit. I was a registered developer with Atari when the ST first came out. I did some application stuff in GEM. I sold it because I didn't have time to use it.

 

I just got a Falcon 030 and want to start coding again both on the Falcon and the Jaguar. Any developer platform is welcome for the Jag.

 

Sounds like you need a Skunkboard. Tursi initiated a fairly recent thread about accepting reservations for the Rev. 2 boards; I'm sure if you look around here in the Jaguar forum you'll find it.

[For Trade: Rare, complete Jaguar games for same (includes Towers II)]

Hi Jaguar fans.

 

I have the following games available for trade. All mint and complete in box at the very least.

 

Alien vs. Predator - CIB, mint, instructions + overlays

DOOM - CIB, mint, instructions + overlay

Fight for Life - CIB, mint, instructions + registration card

Iron Soldier - CIB, mint, instructions + overlay + registration card

Raiden - CIB, mint, instructions

Towers II - NEW in box: no shrink wrap, but sealed, unused cart, with all paperwork

 

 

I am currently looking to acquire:

Air Cars

Atari Karts

World Tour Racing

Zero 5

 

If you want to negotiate a trade, please PM me.

[Development Tools Announcement - Source Code Release]

All,

 

Following on from my release in early January of the SMAC Assembler and SLN Linker, and as promised to all at the time, I am pleased to annouce the release of the source code to these tools.

 

You can find the source on the download page of my dev site http://www.subqmod.com .

 

Enjoy and, if you do nothing else, please use this software to further the development of new games and tools for the Jaguar.

 

Regards,

SubQMod

 

Thanks to all involved for releasing this!

[Development Tools Announcement, and a Christmas Gift to All]

SubQ wanted me to post binaries for Linux and OS X users.

 

Attached to this message are the binaries for Linux users.

 

These were compiled with an Ubuntu 8.04 machine.

 

You can use these in conjunction with the Atari made Linux dev tools. The Atari made mac and aln bundled with their linux tools suite function well with Linux, but with smac you gain the gpu main code feature and bug fixes SubQ has made to the original code base.

 

I will build an OS X set of Universal binaries tonight and post.

 

sln_0.1.4.tar.gz

smac_1.0.12.tar.gz

 

Hi Belboz.

 

I am excite to play with the Mac OS X versions of these tools. Is there a location from which I can acquire them?

 

Thanks!

[Show us your 5200 collection!]

Very nice!

 

Strange that it's a 4-port but it shows a 2-port on the box... I could see if it was the other way around

 

The original 5200 box was the wide one.

 

In 1985-86, the Tramiels started blowing out old video game stock they inherited from Warner. In doing so, they had all three game systems in stores at one point: the 2600 Jr., the 5200, and the 7800. However, when they started dumping the 5200, they redesigned the box so that it was much smaller than the original (to keep shipping and logistics costs down).

 

The redesigned 5200 packaging differed in a few key ways:

1) The pack-in cart did not come in its own box

2) The controllers were shipped in the 5200's controller storage area, instead of separately

3) The pack-in cart was Super Breakout (as it had originally been) instead of Pac Man

 

What's interesting is that most of the 5200 systems they shipped this way were four-port models with the automatic switch box. This suggests that when Atari decided to move to the 2-port model in 1983, they must have still had a stock of 4-port models which they suspended shipping. Presumably, they did this because the 4 port models were incompatible with the 2600 adapter, and consequently, the planned Slam Pam adapter would have likely been incompatible too. By minimizing the number of 4-port models on the market, I think Warner Atari envisioned a smoother upgrade path to the 7800. 2600 users would simply replace their console with a 7800, while 5200 users would buy a Slam Pam. Of course, your 5200 had to be Slam Pam compatible for that to work, and that meant a 2-port unit was required.

 

I actually bought two 5200s (which I still own). The first was purchased in 1983, and it was a 2-port model that came in the huge box. In 1985, I purchased another 5200 in the smaller box. Why? Well, I figured that for $50 (that's what the one in the small box cost), I got two more controllers (can't have too many of those), a new game (Super Breakout was new to me, at least, as my other unit shipped with Pac Man), and I had access to spare parts (including a replacement power supply, if needed).

 

Upon returning from the store, I was quite surprised to discover that my new unit was actually a 4-port with the automatic switch box. These days, the automatic switch box is often derided, but I adored it. In 1985, it was a real novelty to be able to switch from the TV to the game system simply by hitting the power button on the 5200. The automatic switch box also yielded a far superior picture to the image delivered by my mechanical switch RF switch. Suffice it to say, that to this day, my favorite 5200 is my shiny 4-port model that came in the small box.

[Looking for Skunkboard]

FWIW, I too will be ordering a Skunkboard from the next lot.

 

Does anybody have details about the software that performs the USB transfer from the host PC? Specifically, has it been open sourced? Failing that, are detailed specifications available?

 

I ask because I would much rather develop for the Jag using Xcode on Mac OS X, and doing that would be far more convenient if I could port the Skunkboard's USB drivers to Mac OS X. The alternative would be to run Windows within VMware for the sole purpose of transferring the compiled binary to the Skunkboard.

 

There is an FAQ here which states the availability of source for Linux. This could likely be built on OS X. My main OS is Linux and my secondary is OS X so I intend to use the Skunkboard on one of these OS's when I can get my hands on one.

 

Documentation and drivers are available here. There is a mention in the small changelog on that site about easier building on OS X.

 

Thanks for the links!

 

That's exactly the kind of information I was looking for.

I believe, but am not 100% sure, that belboz over at Jaguar Sector has made an OS X binary available...

 

Ok, I searched through the first 16 pages of the thread and found something about it: http://www.jaguarsector.com/index.php?show...st&p=258638

I'm not going any further, cause this took forever lol. You can start there and see if the binary was actually made available.

 

I appreciate your slogging through that. I'll happily pick up from there.

 

Even if the Mac OS X binary is unavailable or out-of-date, knowing that the linux source is available is probably good enough, as I could just port to OS X myself.

[Looking for Skunkboard]

FWIW, I too will be ordering a Skunkboard from the next lot.

 

Does anybody have details about the software that performs the USB transfer from the host PC? Specifically, has it been open sourced? Failing that, are detailed specifications available?

 

I ask because I would much rather develop for the Jag using Xcode on Mac OS X, and doing that would be far more convenient if I could port the Skunkboard's USB drivers to Mac OS X. The alternative would be to run Windows within VMware for the sole purpose of transferring the compiled binary to the Skunkboard.

 

There is an FAQ here which states the availability of source for Linux. This could likely be built on OS X. My main OS is Linux and my secondary is OS X so I intend to use the Skunkboard on one of these OS's when I can get my hands on one.

 

Documentation and drivers are available here. There is a mention in the small changelog on that site about easier building on OS X.

 

 

Thanks for the links!

 

That's exactly the kind of information I was looking for.