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Curt Vendel

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Posts posted by Curt Vendel

  2. Posted

    On 7/25/2020 at 10:31 PM, DrVenkman said:

    I hope so ... I think that will require the user to install the SIO port (got one, thanks to @foft's recent efforts) and a PIA chip, which isn't otherwise used by the XM. I might be wrong though - @Curt Vendel could possible clarify.

     

    But in any case, since XM's aren't yet shipping to pre-orders, and I missed that boat, I have hopes that @batari will come through with "Concertino" or the full-on Concerto before I'm likely to get an XM into my hands. 

    XM’s have everything but a PIA.   It’s just plug and play.  Install a PIA the SIO is fully enabled.  It’s already been tested and I did add in the motor control line as well.

    • Like 1

  3. Posted

    23 hours ago, Shawn said:

     

    Will the physical manuals be sent at a later date with the boxes? I'm sure a digital PDF would be just fine for most in the meantime. I really, really hope that BIOS doesn't keep holding the project back from shipping. Seems so close yet so far. Very frustrating. I can only imagine how you feel about it. Shame to be at the mercy of GroovyBee when the hardware is ready to go. :) 

    No one is at anyone’s mercy to be honest. We’ve all be together in this project for years. Everyone has had to step away and back as life family health and finances got in the way of our hobby focus.

     

    its Actually Mark, Bobby and others who were at my mercy for many years if you want to look at it like that.

     

    they had to wait until they had final hardware to create everything needed.  The BIOS is what the end user sees and uses to bring out the features, the magic, from the XM.

     

    this has been a long project.  The devs are writing games for it.  Let’s just get it right and not go into a sloppy rush to make it to some arbitrary finish line.

     

     

    • Like 4

  4. Posted

    Hi everyone, thank you very much for the kind replies.  

     

    I just emailed Mark to get a status on how the Consumer BIOS is moving along and to see when I'd receive the next rev to test out.   I'm going to be working on writing up the beginings of the manual so that I can get that over to someone Albert put me in touch with to do a full professional layout for the manual like the way the homebrew games are done.  I also need to start screen capturing all of the menu and sub menu's to put into the manual.    So I'll let everyone know more soon, thanks.

     

     

    • Like 7

  5. Posted

    Atari Corp was trying to liquidate as much old inventory they purchased from Atari Inc's assets, so they were pushing out everything they could.  I would agree.  You have former Commodore management. There were computer people, not video game people and they had no experience whatsoever in the video game field.  Totally different industry, terms, sales and marketing.   Their lack of knowledge and experience in that field is just one of the numerous things that lead to Atari Corp losing the entire race to Nintendo and Sega in the video game industry.

     

     

    • Like 2

  6. Posted

    Hi everyone...

     

    Some sad news.  As many of you know, the boards are marked “Milo” who was my Pug.

     

    Milo would be my shadow, never leave my side, sleep on my feet while I would sit at my desk and work.

     

    The XM was named after him. Tonight around 7pm just after I gave him dinner, Milo passed away.  He was just over 15 years.  He had a good life and he was my boy, he was such a great friend.  Going to be tough not having him around and with me anymore.

     

    image.thumb.jpeg.2f6ba5596dc4f90bc7d5e85ef5dc353d.jpeg

    • Like 2
    • Sad 40

  7. Posted

    Asteroids was scrapped because of the non-centering stick.  If you have ever played the prototype 5200 Asteroids, it is not always fun to play because of the controls.   Atari really should've immediately jumped on making a digital stick and a centering analog.  I never understood the lack of urgency is fixing the blatant issue, but instead all of these attempted "band aid" fixes of thicker boots instead of directly releasing a digital stick.   Damned shame too... the 5200 games were all great, better than Colecovisions.   It was the controllers lack of centering that really hurt the overall system.   However for games like Star Raiders, Missile Command, Centipede, Space Dungeon and Robotron... the sticks were actually superb.

     

    • Like 2

  8. Posted

    4 hours ago, Swami said:

    It shipped on January 6, but please expect 4-6 years for delivery.

    LOL!!!   No, that would be the Atari VCS you're thinking of :-D

     

    I've already shipped out to quite a few 7800 developers.  Only thing I'm waiting for is the beta of the Consumer BIOS so it can be fully testing out on the final boards (the last version now has the Motor line on the SIO connected, just a very minor change.  All hardware work is done.   I also need the final Consumer BIOS so the manual can be written.   This is a rather extensive piece of software, as well as a rather impressive one as well.   It will actually redefine several of the console buttons during power up to allow certain functions and settings to be done as the console boots.   I already have an early version of the Consumer BIOS and it blew my mind when I tried it out, but many area's were not yet completed.   Any of the 7800 coders... well, a coder on any of these consoles will tell you, the software side takes time.   There are 3 people working on the BIOS and the Dev's have all seen a sneak peak of an early version of it as well as Albert.   I'm just putting together boards and readying them on my end.

     

     

    • Like 17

  9. Posted

    On 6/27/2020 at 11:27 PM, Shaggy the Atarian said:

    Yep. Making games isn't a cheap business. There is a reason that so many titles go multi-plat; Developers are businesses first, as you can't make games without making money.

     

    When Nintendo released the WiiU in 2012, it sold around 425,000 units in that first month. Despite being the successor to one of the hottest gaming consoles of all time, and having a name like Nintendo attached to it, all that wasn't enough to keep 3rd party devs on board. They focused their resources elsewhere, and the WiiU hobbled along until it became a footnote. The VCS over it's lifetime won't even manage a sliver of the first month's worth of WiiU sales.

     

    11-12k is nothing in this business. It's beyond a flop. Even the failed Ouya did better than that initially to the tune of 50-60k units. Atari has done nothing to fuel sales beyond that, and when people do finally get their little underpowered PC box, no one is suddenly going to scream "SHUT UP AND TAKE MY MONEY" for something that can barely get CoD to work. Especially when you'll have the PS5, XBSX, Switch and even the Amico to compete with. No major studio is going to commit any kind of resource to it, it's just that simple. Nostalgia can't cover up for incompetence, and that+lawsuits is all Atari has left to peddle.

     

     

     

     

    To stay in perspective...   Ouya sold over 1 million units, its best selling game, only sold 7,000 copies... so you can see and fully understand why no respectable developer house is going to sign up to make any new games for the Tacobox.    Games are only developed here on the classic Atari consoles because people have a passion for them and want to see the consoles stay active with new games.  If it wasn't for the hobbyist community supporting the Atari consoles since the mid 90's, no one would even remember Atari's name since Atari itself completely abandoned the consoles in 92 and then its Jaguar console was a failure and failed so bad, that Atari itself bowed out of existence in 96 to become a part of JTS.

     

    • Like 6

  10. Posted

    21 hours ago, JR> said:

    Hey Curt,

     

    Just wondering if you'd ever gotten around to re-dumping that 8k Omnimon EPROM?  It will need to be dumped twice, once with the switch attached to the wire in each position to get the entire 8k.

    Sorry, no I hadn't but thanks for the remind, now I'll put a post it on my desk and make a point to do it this weekend.

     

    • Like 2

  11. Posted

    13 hours ago, KLund1 said:

    Atari ACTS.jpg

    Kevin - so those huge empty platter cases on the tops of those washing machine looking units, those are removable hard drives that connect to the mainframes.

     

    Until I can find someone with a working drive unit, which so far no one in the classic computing circles seems to have one in working condition (even I have a drive, but it completely non-functional) and willing to mount the disks and read them.... this is getting to be a serious issue the longer time goes by.

     

     

  12. Posted

    8 hours ago, Allan said:

    Is this something you found online or do you have a physical copy? If the latter, could possible scan the rest of it?

     

    Nevermind. I saw you already did. Thank you.

    ACTS was the Home Computers version of the PITS testing system.   I think I ran across something one time, but it may have just been some emails or a memo regarding, not sure if anything code or technical wise is stored on the mainframe backups though.   I have to find a photo of an early Missile Command for someone, so I will run a search in the Atari MF Restores and see if anything pop's up.  If I do find something I'll post up whatever I've got.

     

     

    • Like 2

  13. Posted

    1 hour ago, digdugnate said:

    Is this what you were talking about, Curt?

    7bfac87a-aaaa-42ed-b2dd-3c19436f4084.pdf 747.56 kB · 7 downloads

    Yes... thanks...

     

    so it looks like Atari is giving up on the console fight and is solely focusing on the joystick.  Which is a really bad move on their part for the simple fact:

     

    I got a direct release of fair use from Ataris head of legal that they couldn’t stop me from making my USB Classics.  My joysticks actually look far more authentic to the old 78 cx40’s than Hyperkins.

     
    I pointed Atari to the post right here on Atariage and announced the sale of the joysticks which got picked up by PC World, MacWorld and dozens of other major sites, plus it was also Slashdotted which for video game & computer geeks is like being on the front page of The NY Times...

     

    Atari has known full well about my joysticks for over 10 years.  They’ve been sold on Thinkgeek, Thumbsup UK, Amazon, Reflex Audio sold a special edition clear version I made...  Ataris lack of action since 2008 to now completely destroyed any standing that they somehow still can enforce being the only ones to sell a CX40 type stick.  So they’ve already lost the case.

     

     

    • Like 14
    • Thanks 1

  15. Posted

    On 6/11/2020 at 8:46 AM, PacManPlus said:

    That's what the case (at the top of this page) is for that I am designing.  No, there is no need to remove it once you have it.

     

    I also was going to design a smaller 7800 case for the people who may have cracked theirs (or just want a new one) starting with the original 7800 design, but since Curt gave out the .STL files for the 7800 case I won't bother.

    Might be fun to make the 7800 case into more of a SuperSystem look, hmmmmmm  ;-)

     

  16. Posted · Edited by Curt Vendel

    On 6/11/2020 at 8:46 AM, PacManPlus said:

    That's what the case (at the top of this page) is for that I am designing.  No, there is no need to remove it once you have it.

     

    I also was going to design a smaller 7800 case for the people who may have cracked theirs (or just want a new one) starting with the original 7800 design, but since Curt gave out the .STL files for the 7800 case I won't bother.

    No reason you can't still make your own custom version.  I thought you mentioned to me you wanted to do new bottoms with AV and Svideo (maybe HDMI) ports on them - NOW THOSE WOULD SELL !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

     

    A smaller design would be VERY cool as well, you could pull the sides in quite a bit.

     

     

    • Like 1

  18. Posted

    On 6/3/2020 at 5:29 PM, PacManPlus said:

     

    Well, I made an attempt to make a case for the 7800/XM combo, and I think the bottom part came out ok:

    IMG-0172.thumb.jpg.9b55253b52110b5901149640a89f9828.jpg IMG-0173.thumb.jpg.49e512bc591a090cd04decd93dd61007.jpg

    I wanted the motherboard to sit more 'flat' and have the joystick ports protrude a little to they were easy to get to.

    I screwed the XM unit into the base so it doesn't move.  There are small pegs that stick up that were made to go through the small holes in the front corners of the 7800 PCB.

     

    The top, however, I'm having trouble with.

     

    It takes FOREVER to print (like 3 days - because of the height and supports) and I'm not crazy about how it looks.  Here is the 3D drawing of the top:

    image.thumb.png.d72c498e0cc842f22ec21af9abaad778.pngimage.thumb.png.416f83cd95b5bacbd7cb83cd4468c99a.png 

    image.thumb.png.a38fa0007bb8428cb5ba711318100c04.png

     

    The outer cylinders are for the screws to go into, and the four inner ones are used to press the switches.

    I used to like the sloped front, but not any more.  I may have the front of the case go straight down and then forward.  Same thing with the back.  My plan is to have a badge on the front (where you see the slope but where I intend for it to go straight down) that has something like '7800/XM' on the front.

    I need to streamline this so it doesn't take up as much filament.  I've been through 4 large rolls of filament just trying to get the bottom and top just right.

     

    Once this is done, I'd *like* to try and make a newer 7800 (only) case, for the people whose cases have cracked.  I plan on using the same base as above (without the walls that hold the XM in place) and design a new top.

     

    Oh, and I've also made a new cart design.  I've used many bits and pieces from other designs...  I think the labels will stick better to this one:

    image.thumb.png.ea98be40963a92475e3ef25f4e451c14.pngimage.thumb.png.365c3da6e5ca2d2bf6a93953e622e3e9.png 

     

    It also fits much better in the 7800 and/or the XM.

     

    Any ideas about the top of the case design?

    Thanks guys

     

    That is some beast of a case Bob!!!  🙂

     

    Did you use the 7800 case files I sent you or did you create that from scratch?   The cart design looks GREAT!  We've all definitely been in need of a better 7800 cart case.

     

     

  19. Posted

    On 5/15/2020 at 11:39 AM, Cebus Capucinis said:

    Resubmitted what I have. Due to my not being on here in....forever....I don't have my email or receipt or order number. Hopefully Curt still has something on his end but I pre-ordered in 2010 so.... ¯\_(ツ)_/¯. Hopefully it works out, should have kept the emails!

    I've found quite a lot of the old orders, now its just getting everyone's updated info, which is a major help obviously...  I'm going to be going from confirmed definite orders and when I get through those, the ones where I can't find anything and they don't have anything, we will try to work together to dig something, anything up.... several people have said they bought others orders, but never got anything from the seller...  that's like buying a car from someone who doesn't have the registration... those people need to track down the sellers and get that info..

     

    I did add in the Motor control line onto the SIO ports.... adding in external power is going to add more to the cost and require more time.   The XM's run fine on every 7800 we've tested... if a 7800 has a 7805 VR that is already on its way out and the XM pushes it over, there are plenty of people who can offer to do the repair, its a 20 min repair procedure...   So I ditched adding the external power option.

     

    I'm now just waiting for the final Consumer BIOS to be completed.   There are 3 people involved with it.  Mark, and two others and it is a GORGEOUS system...    I am going to put together a simple sneak preview and will post up when I get the all clear.

     

     

     

    • Like 14

  20. Posted

    On 5/27/2020 at 4:04 AM, _The Doctor__ said:

    Yes, that's the info. and it was as if paper was crumpled. Maybe he can take a picture instead of a scan.

    @Curt Vendel, can we get a picture of page 12 sio mechanical specs. We have a chance to make some new SIO ports but the quality is making it very difficult.

    Oh that scan is ANCIENT, let me throw that doc back on the scanner and make a new, clean version.   I'll do that Saturday and post up and post a link here.

     

     

    • Like 4
    • Thanks 1

  21. Posted

    2 minutes ago, luckybuck said:

    Thank you so much Curt, first, that is really great news. So sad, the VCF East was skipped this year. Maybe, that would be a place to call for a RM05/CDC9976?

    Even a printout with hex numbers would do it. We type it in, like we did with Star Raiders or TURBO-Basic XL. My hope was, that someone from here, has a personal backup, which will surface by random some day... At least, I have hope for... ;-)

     

    I've asked numerous times already.    sadly, they don't have a working drive.

     

    • Thanks 1
    • Sad 2

  22. Posted

    Just to give you an idea of these drives.   Here is a Dec RL02.  These are only 5mb platter drives.  I have 2 of these, both working perfectly fine.   I recovered about 20 of the RL02 platters of Atari data from them.  One platter was actually dedicated to RBP and had all of the data, chip files and memo's on the development of what would become the ST computer.   The RM05 is a BEAST and is a scary monster, it has to be precision aligned.  I had an alignment pack, but the person I gave it to has disappeared from the vintage computer community and with it, my alignment pack.

     

    These drives have to meticulously maintained.   If they aren't aligned the heads will slag the media surface and destroy them and itself.

     

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sK99WuaU_k8

     

     

    • Thanks 1

  23. Posted

    1 hour ago, luckybuck said:

    We have a new trace! 🙂 The Liberator for A8 may be stored on very old Diskpacks, please see the picture below. Is someone at the West Coast able to get data from those Diskpacks?

     

    Sadly, time is running against us, the magnetic layers won't last forever.

    Meanwhile preservation through digital fusion from fragments is coming more and more into fashion... OMG...

     

    Diskpack3-2S.jpg

    It may be on 1 of 14 300MB RM05/CDC9976 disk packs.   These were placed into the top of a disk drive the size of the washing machine, it would be locked into the hub, the cover lifted off of it and the lid of the drive closed.   I own a very bad shape CDC9976 and supposedly the Rhode Island Computer Society has an RM05.   I've been asking around for years in the vintage computer community if anyone has a working RM05/CDC9976 and no one has stepped up.   I just recently, perhaps 5-6 weeks ago, again asked someone from The Computer Museum if he may have any knowlegde of anyone with a working drive connected to a Vax or PDP that would be willing to read all of the data from the packs and in exchange I would let them keep the physical media, which is also very scare these days.

     

    Ken Van Mersbergen and I researched this for numerous years and during the attempt to get Cloak and Dagger for the 800 finished (I only had the early prototype recovered from a severely bend 5.25" disk found at the bottom of Leonard Tramiels banker box of desk items found thrown out in the dumpster behind 1196 Borregas back in March of 1996 while I was out there.)   Well, Ken and I had found some internal proof that Liberator had in fact been started and it should be on one of the Vax 11/750 disk paks or on a Data General MV4000 disk pack that I have.  I have 14 of these, they are 14" platters, 7 platters in height, about 12" high total and they weigh a good 25-30 lbs each.

     

    • Like 2
    • Thanks 1

  24. Posted

    2 hours ago, Rick Dangerous said:

    Is it possible to find out if I am still on the list? I think I pre-ordered this about 6 years ago. 🙂

    Just go to 7800xm.com and click on the link at the bottom of the page for pre-orders and submit your info.

     

    i never sold any in 2014 so I don’t think you actually pre-ordered one but if you have your receipt and emails please send them on the form.

    • Like 1
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