bcombee

Did the switches replace the domes completely or did you solder the domes over the switches? This looks like a nice upgrade.

I'll take a badge, please: Ben Combee / @unwiredben

I should be able to help out again this year -- probably Friday night setup and a little on Saturday, nothing on Sunday. I'm looking forward to seeing the fest keep getting better.

I don't think Pele was actually represented in the game at all, just on the packaging. It's the same software as 1980's Championship Soccer. Ken Uston's Blackjack/Poker was a 1983 Coleco title and might have predated the Chuck Norris game. While not named in the game, the dealer seems to be physically modeled on Ken. Jack LaLanne's Physical Conditioning was a 1982 Intellivision keyboard component release, but from looking at the manual, it's unclear that there was a representation of him in the game, just the use of his voice on the cassette tape used for loading. Manual link: http://intv.mphokie.com/manuals/Mattel/Jack LaLannes Physical Conditioning_0462.pdf

IIRC, most HuCards didn't have memory, but required the use of a TurboBooster Plus to store save data. For TBP info, see http://www.racketboy.com/retro/turbografx-16/tubrografix-16-tg16-101-beginners-guide

Just listened to the Bill Wilkinson interview; it was awesome hearing from one of my programming icons who influenced so much of my early computing life. It made me sad to hear that OSS wasn't financially successful for him, but I'm glad he had some good memories. I really relished my Basic XL cart, but never got any of the other OSS carts until I started collecting in the 90s. As for podcasting tools -- one that I've heard a bit about, but never used, is the Levelator program that was developed by The Conversations Network early in the life of podcasting. They shut down a few years ago, but the program is still available with instructions at http://web.archive.org/web/20130729204551id_/http://www.conversationsnetwork.org/levelator/

The original Flashback was based on a Nintendo-on-a-Chip design, so I'm guessing the controller is actually like the ones in the NES where instead of having one wire per direction/button, they have a serial connection and a shift register. This can't be hooked up to a standard Atari 9-pin port without some conversion circuit in the middle.

The item description says "The HDMI input allows the converter to perform upscaling on low-resolution HDMI signals, so you can view them at the full 720p/1080p resolution supported by your TV. The output can be switched from 720p to 1080p at the press of a button. Another small button on unit switches between the composite/s-video input and the HDMI input."

I got an Atari 800 for Christmas in 1982 when I was eight years old. We already had an Atari 2600 then, and I'd already been reading books on BASIC programming from my elementary school in hopes that I'd get a computer. I just turned 40 in June and still have my 800 and the 130XE that we got as an upgrade in 1985.

I think it's just Taito wanting the best representation of Space Invaders out there. If some kid picks up a Flashback 4 or 5 without knowing anything about Atari history, she'll see a more modern implementation of SI and think it's an awesome game. Since Space Invaders is still being marketed and licensed out as part of popular culture, having something that looks like all those stickers and t-shirts is a plus for Konami. Having the original Atari version where the invaders looked different and didn't act just like their arcade version isn't a benefit to Taito and dilutes the value of their IP. I'd prefer the 2600 implementation, but don't see having a modern version as a negative... it's just incongruous.

Wow, I didn't realize that APX had used copy protection for some of their releases. Having read once that APX discs were all written from 810 drives on Atari 800s, I figured they'd just be stock DOS 2.0S-formatted.

To emulate a platform, you really need to be running a CPU that's at least 50 times faster than the original to account for all the emulation overhead. The NES hardware was more powerful, but it was still running a 6502 CPU core, and the graphics hardware was limited. The first console that was powerful enough to really emulate 2600 games acceptable was the Sony PlayStation which was around 60 times the CPU speed (33MHZ 32-bit MIPS R3000 vs 1.1MHz 6507). There are 2600 games that use TIA tricks that could never be done in the NES hardware -- it only has 52 colors, while the TIA could output 128, for example. Many 2600 games can be reimplemented fairly faithfully on a NES, but you're looking at a complete rewrite, not emulation.

Space Invaders was licensed from Taito and they wanted their ARM port of the game on the console instead of the Atari version. That Taito license also allowed the inclusion of Jungle Hunt and Frontline. That non-2600 version of Space Invaders was also included in the Flashback 4. The menu issues just seem to be sloppiness on the part of AtGames. Bill Longudise has answered a bunch of questions like this on the Flashback 5 thread at http://atariage.com/forums/topic/221409-atari-flashback-5-new-features-dream-list.

That looks like one of the 1984 boxes. I'd guess maybe a reference to the expansion module/connector that was on the original units but never used? I wish I had a box to check myself.

There's actually a pretty good Atari 8-bit version of Gauntlet on disk. I'm pretty sure it's using ANTIC mode 4 or 5 and doing all the monsters with character graphics, with the two characters and their weapons implemented using players.

Oh! Sorry about that -- I withdraw my objections (although there are plenty of others

Yeah, the "PARKER" logo on the back is also something from recent history, not a logo being used by Parker Brothers in the 80's.

Waterworld wasn't an Atari Club exclusive, it was Atari Video Cube. See the top of http://www.atariage.com/magazines/magazine_page.html?MagazineID=10&CurrentPage=21

There's also the Imagic game selector. It wasn't sold to individuals, just to stores for use in displays. See http://www.atarimania.com/game-atari-2600-vcs-imagic-selector-v2_15741.html

So, this icon is just in the TCL version of RokuTV; for the Hisense RokuTV models, they're using a gamepad icon loosely based on the original PS DualShock controller instead. Also, I just checked the list of names you can use to rename your input and we include a generic "Game Console", but also "Xbox", "PlayStation", "Wii", "Atari", and "Pong"!

The SIO protocol is a single chain without any support for hubs or splitting; I could see starting the chain with the internal peripherals, but needing to chain from the last internal device to the external connector.

Sure... here they are.

I said "inspired", not an actual copy. The button is sideways, but the joystick is very CX-41 ish, and the horizontal deck style is very unlike any current system.

Dislaimer: I work for Roku in their new product development group here in Austin. While I'm not personally responsible for this, I really enjoyed our use of the Atari 2600 as inspiration for the icon used for game consoles on the new RokuTV sets. You also can pick "Atari" as one of the input labels.

I just got to play this a bunch at the Classic Gaming Show here in Austin at the AtariAge booth, and it was a real surprise for me how fun it was! I can't wait for the official cart release; it's definitely on my Christmas list.