justclaws

Actually that's not quite right. It has 2MB!!! The Jaguar has a unified memory architecture, where all RAM is main/video RAM, this is what offers the enormous flexibility that offers programmers numerous options and choices for the games! If the system had only had a fixed frame buffer, like traditional systems, then the object processor concept could not have been implemented. Forget the mixed colour depths, unlimited parallax choices, dynamic scaling, dynamic object lists, enormous choice of resolutions, and limit yourself pages of video RAM. No way... Think differently, abandon the frame buffer, and be liberated... Cheers, JustClaws.

Hello, I know the feeling... an endless series of surprising expenses! Easyjet to where? A venue close to a cheap airline would indeed help! How about the next €Jagfest in a destination served by Easyjet! :-) So far, Nice seems to be only place we can all fly cheaply to from all of Stanstead, Newcastle, Amsterdam, but still not from Munich. Maybe Ryanair from Frankfurt Hahn (Hahn, long way from Frankfurt!) still then does not have a good destination. We need Easy-Jag airlines! I still would like to see a Dutch €Jagfest too, how about it you guys? Cheers, JustClaws.

well, you could have been a minute faster! know anyone that has a spare one for sale? Rick I have 2 USA Jaguar PSU's for sale. The trouble is, one is here in Netherlands, the other in the UK. If anybody is in Europe now, and going to the USA, I can help! (They both came from Developer Jaguar units, so have history!) Cheers, JustClaws.

No, the common systems were still 486, but Pentium systems were indeed definitely available! Your experience may be different though! Absolutely, but not everybody can afford to replace all their systems just because a new CPU comes along! It was new PC, or a new Jag! I worked at a university in the UK, from 1992-1998. Trust me, we still had a good number of 486 based systems (even though IT was a major subject) running Windows 95, when I left there in May 1998. Anyway, I digress... In any case, a Pentium system still didn't have any 3D graphics cards like today, and texture mapping was certainly not common. Games like Doom was absolutely leading edge, and there were also complaints that it would not run on the average system, but it was a real incentive to upgrade, at least most people I knew could run Wolfenstein 3D. EGA PC games were still common as shareware! I respect your experience, but I'm sure of my own experiences! Regards, JustClaws.

Hello, I didn't get one immediately, the first units my local store had were USA imports, and very very expensive here in the UK. I got one in late March, 1994, they were in some UK stores from December 1993, not up in the north-east of England. CHIPS was a real importer back then, they had really cool stuff, way ahead of everybody else. They had a Jaguar as an import from the USA within a week of the USA launch, as I recall, Cybermorph didn't do much as a rolling demo though, but it was clear the Jaguar could push polygons... Actually, my first unit wasn't even new. Somebody had got one, and already sold it back to the shop because no games were coming along, and I knew the shop quite well, so they told me about it, and I got a good deal, around 150 GBP, but they knew I'd buy all the new releases as they came! I got Tempest 2000, it was new out, that was 49.95 GBP, as I recall. Generally all the titles were either 49.95 GBP, or 59.95, I think the 4MB releases were 69.95 GBP though! It's funny, all these years later, I'd never pay those prices! From the time I paid my money, and felt the buzz of owning a 64-bit console (the new Digital Alpha chips were making headlines for UNIX systems around that time), getting it home, plugging it into the stereo (because CHIPS sold me an RGB SCART lead from day #1), and pumped up the volume, and watched the action on my 25" digital TV, I was blown away, and absolutely and totally addicted... I pre-ordered a JagCD within a month, and of course I had to wait over a year to get one, as I recall, but I did get one on the day of release, because CHIPS (my local dealer) used Telegames as their supplier, and Telegames UK was big friends with the management of Atari, who CHIPS knew! Within a couple of months, I'd created my first web-site for the Jaguar, "Richard's Jaguar Home-Page", on Compuserve, and over the Christmas 1994 holiday, I made it "JustClaws". Thus, I (slightly modestly) put "Since 1995" on my site... In fact, the Jaguar was pretty much invisible in shops most of the time it was available in the UK - Rumbelows was such a stupid choice of distributor, few shops in my area, and also as a TV shop, nobody ever thought of buying anything there! (They only sold when Rumbelows had a closing-down sale...) I still only own Jaguars, an N64 (which I was given when I left my UK job, I never bought it), and my trusty 7800 and Lynxes for game play. (I rarely use my 2600, when I can use my 7800 for all 2600 games as well as 7800.) These later next generation consoles? I'm not interested... I'm still happy playing on, and occasionally coding for Jag! Cheers, JustClaws.

I intend to come, I just hope information on the venue is better this time. Photos in advance. Information on accommodation. That would all help. The sooner a date is known, the better, then I can book some holiday for the day before, for security, and start saving for the journey. I may not have a car by then in Netherlands, so that's another factor. I want to go, though! Cheers, JustClaws.

I agree, it wasn't bad at the time, but I think Chris was asking from the viewpoint of later systems, like the PS1 and N64, or even a modern PC. I'm certainly not comparing it to a PC graphics card, but it's good to explain what the difference is, I think, in a modern system like that. Yes, but Gouraud shading was what the Jaguar was designed to do. I'm sure that Flare could have done better if texture mapping had been on the radar, I guess they'd have added blitter RAM as well. Yes, indeed, one could ask "Why is a 486 with an ISA bus VGA card not good at texture mapping?" That would be a fair comparison and equivalent question. Cheers, JustClaws.

Hello, Interesting discussion you started... Yes, I agree most things in this thread so far, (except Bin Laden!), and can confirm the only thing which will kill MY Jaguar is when it blows up, based on the lifespan of a 2600 Jr, it's life will be long.. I think the poor developer support was a big factor, and that was closely related to the other problem - shallow pockets, or at least the refusal of the Tramiels to support their products with marketing. Why port new projects to a new system when royalties are high, production costs are high (carts were never cheap compared to the CD of 3DO, Saturn and PSX of course,) and the system was under-developed tool wise, making projects a costly risk for ROI. PSX - Mainly C and libraries Saturn - Mainly C and asm Jaguar - Mainly asm (assembly language) 3DO - not sure, but I think it was C based However, in my opinion, the Jaguar never died, commercial failure doesn't stop a system being fun, and now we can feel happy that the PS1, Saturn, N64, 3DO and NeoGeo etc. etc., they're all dead. Even the GameCube, Xbox and PS1 soon. Will their mass market fans ever create such a cult following as the Jaguar which was blessed with the cult name Atari...? Cheers, JustClaws.

Hello, Yes, I can't get Realplayer to play it either. Update: Windows Media Player 9 can't play it under XP either. I think that AVI is corrupt too... the ZIP file is fine, I unzipped it. :-) It does look a very unstable, badly damaged spider. Lost 6 legs. :-( Cheers, JustClaws.

Paolo, That would be great, if you could help me. I bought it in Germany, from Walmart, formerly it was Wertkauf. It is an Italian made TV, so a local contact might be the answer! It's an Imperial, made by Seleco Formenti SPA. It's just a 14" portable TV, with teletext and a single SCART socket. I've sent you a private message with specific details of it. Their web-site is http://www.seleco.it/ but they ignored my emails! I would be willing to buy a new remote, if the price isn't too stupid. I've tried various "universal" remotes, which list Imperial, none work. My 26" TV which died is a Nokia, a very nice unit with many optional extras, like NTSC VHF input (not just 60hz via SCART) and SECAM. I miss it, but at least having the 14" TV working would be a boost to my continued (but very slow) Jaguar game development efforts. Cheers, JustClaws.

Hello, All nice points, by everybody, nice discussion, and no flaming. :-) Cheers, JustClaws.

Hello, I downloaded this file, but my Media Player 9 on my Windows 2000 box said it can't find the necessary plug-in. Can you advise what's used? Thanks, JustClaws.

Hello, This explanation was really good. To clarify more though, for Chris, could I just add that normally (e.g. on a PC 3D graphics card) the graphics card has local RAM (as the GPU does) and so the texture is stored in that RAM, and required no read from main memory. If the blitter had had local RAM (e.g. 4K) then it could have been a different story, even with pixel mode writes, because the data for the textures would not have involved an external read + miss. The blitter does have a pattern register, but unless you want to create VERY boring textures, it's no help. The real purpose of the pattern register of course is to clear or fill RAM with known data. Cheers, JustClaws.

Hello, There was supposed to be a question at the end of that last post... What development (or gaming) mishaps have you had? I should add: - Monitor being subtly incompatible - I thought it was MY code. :-( - 26" TV died (went to tiny picture) and needed an expensive repair - 26" TV died (turns itself to standby all the time) - just happened... - 14" TV R/C lost - in move - without it can't change RGB SCART :-( - Flash ROM from Best (no refunds) being DOA (it was a prototype) - Flash ROM (another) dying (twice) - Development PC hard data disk crash (but I had backups) - Development PC hard system disk going faulty again - agh... - Development PC motherboard failures (but it inherited another one) - Development PC monitor cable went glitchy (VGA to BNC) - Development PC keyboard died (randomly SHIFTed all input) - Development PC monitor died (went POP) - Development PC network card died - Development PC Zip disk backup#1 got "click of death" - Laptop development PC (not same PC) hard disk died - Laptop development PC glidepad left button died, dropped off - Coffee knocked over development manual on day of arrival :'( - Daughter broke video (connected to dev TV) with plastic fork - A BJL cable I posted to DragonForce went missing in the post... I could list 101 other little things that happen which just sometimes do make me wonder whether my whole gaming is cursed actually! e.g. - I lent 1/2 my Lynx games to a friend, he got divorced, forgot he had my games, and sold my games with his, rare or not, cheap... - I lent my Atari Mega ST to a friend - and his mum threw it out... - When my 26" TV died, it's no good just going to buy another, because I live in Netherlands, and my Atari 7800 (which has no SCART of course) is PAL-I, and here in Netherlands it's PAL-G. Thus, I need a UK TV to use them - but a UK TV can't be used to watch local TV of course. I need RGB SCART for my USA Jaguar development kits too, NTSC Jaguars work on composite. (Remember I lost my remote for the portable, so can't get RGB, and the TV was made in Italy, but only sold in Germany... Grrr!) So what drives you MAD? (Why didn't N64 Harvest Moon get a PAL conversion - I hate that!) Cheers, JustClaws.

Grrrr. The developer's curse has struck me again! What can go wrong usually does go wrong, always to me. :-( I moved my development kits, so I had more space, and got an ideal set-up. My 26" TV next to my development PC, and my Alpine and BJL, connected the Jaguar to the SCART input on the TV, and the aerial input on the Jaguar, to record play, and set to work. A little while later, I went to get something from downstairs, and when I came back the TV had died... My portable TV doesn't have a remote control, it got lost when I moved from Germany to Netherlands. So now I can only get a fuzzy image through composite video, I prefer RGB SCART. Anyway... just wanted to let off steam. Cheers, JustClaws.

Tyrant, Have you any more rotary controllers for sale or in production? Seems I still haven't got one... and would be nice to see more... Cheers, JustClaws.

Hello, We all know the sad story about this. However, regardless of the rights/wrongs of this, did anybody actually get one FREE from this guy on the Internet who was giving them away at the rate of one per week - but has no free auctions up now. I bid, but the auction was cancelled. Did anybody actually get one delivered? I don't mean from StarCat, we know he delivered all his. Cheers, JustClaws.

The problem for me there is that when people get used to getting old software for free, what's to break the habit with new software, and how are Jag fans supposed to know what's old, and what's recent and supported, or recent and home-brew? Once dumped, they're the same! I see that too. The trouble is, once again, people can't tell from a ROM dump necessarily what's an old title, and what's new. What software is worth supporting? How old is too old to pay for? It's a slippery slope. Finally, I do agree with you totally on the "there are more important things to be upset about". This is a hobby. These days people don't generally stake their lives on software. However, don't forget that when people pirate software in a "scene/market" like the Jaguar, people do lose money, and these days those people are individuals, publishing from their own pockets. If they lose money, they probably have to give up the hobby. Regards, JustClaws.

Hello, A good place to ask a question like this for maximum exposure is the Yahoo Jaguar Home-Brew group. :-) As Lars says, there are a number of MOD players available open-source for the Jaguar. It is not simpler, because to play CD audio, the DSP must be running a CD player piece of code, one was supplied by Atari, that's OK. However, to mix the CD audio with sound effects, requires some new code, and to-date nobody has written that. (I'm working on it for Lars in theory, time is short.) So without this, you can have CD audio, or sound effects, or MOD music, but not them all at the same time. Basically, to play CD audio, the DSP is just as busy as when it is playing normal sound effects. More in fact, in some ways. If you're playing audio at 44 Khz, then sound effects are mixed at (perhaps) 16 Khz, then of course the code has to continually mix these sound effects, with multiple channels. It's less complicated than a MOD player, really, but it's new ground. Discovered Atari libraries did not provide a solution for this. Cheers, JustClaws.

Hello, This is to tell Jaguar fans and Jaguar web-masters that Jagu-Dome and Jagu-Sounds, one of the classic Jaguar sites with unique content, has a new home. W3Z and K3V on AtariHQ JI-II asked for somebody to talk-over, and Wes chose me to carry on the torch for Jagu-Dome now. The new URL is: http://jagudome.atari.me.uk/ Webmasters and Jaguar fans, please update your links! The site has become a bit of a cob-web (like JustClaws, my own site) but will get a spring-clean this weekend, and my own JustClaws site has had a new look in preparation for ages. The combined combination will provide even more unique content for Jaguar fans. Cheers, Richard.

Well there is an argument there, yes, but if games which are recently released (since Atari Corp. died) then it will kill the prospect of new releases being released commercially, and kill future development. Most Jaguar fans believe piracy (even of old titles) is wrong. Of course, the argument is that piracy opens up the Jaguar to new fans, via emulation, and PC fans with an emulator then buy a real Jaguar and newly released games. Does anybody here know anybody whose found the Jag that way? Cheers, JustClaws.

Hello Stone, What is "Needle Path Test", and what are the PC files?I know that Jay posted information, but I can't seem to find anything like a "review".

Great to have another coder on board! Please join jaguar-homebrew and create a directory archive there too! Maybe you could add a web-page to your URL, with a couple of small screen-shots, they don't have to be real screen-grabs, you can do the same with a digital camera, but it would explain what they do to the people who can't directly try them out. As I already said, great to have another coder on board! Cheers, JustClaws.

So any chance of an interim report from somebody that was there? A report about the Atari side, rather than just the junk food consumed? Cheers, JustClaws.

Hello, My pack arrived yesterday in the UK! Trouble is, I left for Netherlands again on Monday. :-( So I might have to wait a few weeks tortured waiting to try it out. Sounds really good according to my wife though. Cheers, JustClaws.