justclaws

Hello, At what speed does it take 10 hours? Seems a pertinent question... I've heard that the old 55 mile/hour limits are gone, is that true? Does the USA have lots of speed cameras like Europe and UK? Driving from Frankfurt area, (basically half way down Germany,) to the Dutch coast where I live now, for example, will take most people anywhere between 4 hours (~3.5 my best) and typically 6+ hours depending on the speed you drive, and road conditions. The ~3.5 hours requires that you try to keep over 200+ Km/H through Germany in order to stick near to the 120 Km/H you have to do through Holland. It's weird dropping from 120 miles an hour down to 120 kilometres an hour, but oddly relaxing... (When a friend and I drove up in my car to the Dutch border, for the first E-Jagfest, at one point I noticed him looking rather worried, and thinking it might be my driving or my speed, I asked if the speed was OK. He said he might be going faster, he was worried we'd never get there at 130 Km/H. When I pointed out we were doing 130 M/H instead of Km/H (English car) he was rather reassured, and we made OK time anyway, despite my car being incapable of anything more rapid...) :-) Stone is right though - you guys from the USA don't really understand our European transport issues except when you visit, and we never quite believe films about USA roads like the "Cannonball Run" (a film requiring a game conversion). Cheers, JustClaws.

I would like to know what JUGS-DD stands for, incidentally, without stirring up any argument, it puzzled me for a while... I know JUGS means "Jaguar Unmodified Game Server", and is a joke in the vein of 4play/foreplay, does DD mean anything, or is it meant just to be another schoolboy humour type pun? I thought originally it was a kind of joke about the N64-DD unit. I think that JagFree-CD is also a really bad name, for the CD bypass code Songbird released to developers to embed free in their future cartridges, but the name is awfully confusing. JagFreeCD I suppose is meant to mean it liberates the Jaguar from the CD encrption process, but I still prefer JagCDBoot to both names. Sadly, JUGS-DD doesn't even mention Jag...!

Hello, Control your lust for once, and think about the mission. Go for the ex, and have a good time, you won't be disappointed. However, there's no harm in making stupidly bad decisions a few times just for the eye candy. :wink: Regards, JustClaws.

Hello, It is wonderful just to know that this piece of art and history still exists, and can now displayed to the public. I had thought this lost with other treasures, in fact I find it astonishing that it's finished, most excellent! I look forward to some interesting reports on this, and if possible some screenshots, although if they have to be ones from the ST I understand. This is exactly the sort of thing to be applauded! Your actions are most appreciated, and if anybody else should be able to help you, just ask! Regards, Richard / JustClaws.

Hello, That's fine and dandy, I'm glad he's a nice bloke, but when the bid was pulled and sold to him, other bids were on the table for the same value, and these could have resulted in the legitimate publication of the CD by legal means, the necessary contacts are known already! As this item has been collected, unless he has the intention to find and contact the correct people to arrange publication, that's the end of the issue isn't it, the CD exists (for now), it's lost to Jaguar fans? If his house burns down tomorrow, the only copy's gone forever, likewise if some scum-bag burgler breaks in, just think of risks!!! In an ideal world (and I accept we don't live in one!) collectors would collect published items, and accept copies of unique items. There are some collectors who indeed are philanthropic, and we have many museums in the world which bear witness to that, it is also sad that some priceless works of art are hidden away in a vault somewhere, or have been lost by private collectors too. If every unique item found in history went into private collections we would not see much history at all, would we... such a shame! Naturally people need to preserve their investment in unique items but they should be able to recover their investment completely with profits if they, or others can arrange legal publication or duplication. Some Jaguar collectors are indeed doing great things right now... If something can never legally see the light of day, so be it, but I feel it sad that something should be locked away without checks! Regards, JustClaws.

What's a "Boot Sale"? It's a "car boot sale", basically a "flea market" usually held out of town somewhere like a field or a large car park. Everybody goes with stuff they don't want, and they are very popular in UK. In Europe (well Germany and Holland in my limited experience) people have a flea market in the streets a few times a year, so you get to walk around on a Sunday and pick up bargains. These days though with the Internet, my experience is that it's very hard to find a bargain, people are too savvy about the price most of the time, Ebay is becoming too popular! Incidentally, Alan Sugar who was the boss of Amstrad made his first profits selling aerials out of the back of his car at car boot sales. (For anybody who hasn't heard of Amstrad, it created various classic computers in the '80s, sold the first very cheap PC in the UK, the Amstrad PC-512, and it bought up Sinclair from Clive Sinclair, ending the ZX line. For anybody that has not heard of Sinclair their's no hope. Regards, Richard / JustClaws. Visit my web-site at http://justclaws.atari.org/, someone should! "The opinions I express are purely mine, and I reserve the right to f#ck up technically or politically at any time without notice."

Hello, Yes, anybody that starts to program the Jaguar is implicitely part of the Underground (it's not a secret society, it's Jaguar fans programming without the support of Atari), start programming, you'll mutate to be a member! That's where you're wrong. To get these early game demos you need to be a member of the secret society that is not publicly named, but I call the "Jag Collectors". You need to spend big money on buying rare prototypes, and you need to seek out rare items over months, then it seems if you know who to talk to, you can swap and trade code that nobody else has seen. The Underground just isn't in the same league. For example, the person who bought the one-off "Soul Star CD" recently, he's a "Jag Collector", nobody knows who he is, and the CD has gone, forever maybe? It's not gone under ground, it's been COLLECTED! "The Underground" are the chaps who write code themselves, then they release it to everybody for free! Did you ever play a home-brew game, maybe it came with JUGS or you downloaded it to use with BJL or Protector SE/BJL? If you have, then you know something about "The Underground". Please, get your facts right before you envy the wrong people. Contrary to what Stone says, most Jaguar underground developers don't have cool stuff like this, unfortunately, partly because historically most of them have only had a BJL, and secondly because anybody who has paid big money for a prototype won't balk at big money for a Flash card of an Alpine! JustClaws.

Hello, I think it would have looked absolutely excellent, if it had been black. If you want to know how good things can look in black and red, then just have a search for photos of the Oric Atmos, an early 80's system. I always wish the Jaguar had been black instead of charcoal grey, the Saturn always looks nice I think. I think the Jaguar Combo as a competitor to the Saturn and PSX would have visually competed well personally, but it should have had an integral Team Tap too! Regards, JustClaws.

Additionally, I'd like to ask "what happened to Jeff Minter"? Did he not go in the end, I thought he'd have demo'd VLM-3 maybe? Also, I'd like to ask if any home-brew Jaguar things were shown, and can we have some screen-shots (or a download) of the demo that Linkovitch was showing. (Rushed aside, it's still interesting...) As I could not go, because in the work vs. travel scheduling, work won, I'm suffering from a little sorrow at what I missed at the show! Cheers, JustClaws.

Hello all, Just a word to say that all is restored to good service over at JI-II... Jaguar Interactive II, it's even a friendly flame-free zone these days! http://www.atarihq.com/interactive/ The AtariHQ guys have a happy server again, so no divert page... Regards, JustClaws.

You know, I've got a good feeling about it... that that's true. :-) Well the fear of a potentially unique CD falling into the "wrong" hands was a big fear for me, a lost game was my worst fear... Well I hope that you'll tell the buyer that I'm still willing to help too, if they need any. (If you're reading this, anonymous buyer, please get in touch with the Underground if you need advice on the CD. Easiest way - just contact any of the home-brew developers...) First thing though, please make a CD-R backup of it, just in case it falls on the floor, the dog gets it, the cat scratches it, the baby draws on it, the CD drive shatters it, and/or you step on the bits. Cheers, JustClaws.

What do you call large, out of interest? If you're thinking $200, my original starting bid, forget it... Let's hope something good comes from this sale, and that the CD is not lost in the post, destroyed by accident, or put up on Ebay with a $1000 reserve. I'm intrigued though to know what IS on the CD-R... Regards, JustClaws.

Hello, The items are SOLD, privately, to an English buyer. No details, but the price was very high, as it beat my own offer. You will have to wait and see what happens, but no point in emailing... Cheers, JustClaws.

Hello, It has been back up, for 36 hours now, via a small work-around. Despite server problems caused by the hosting company, a new temporary work-around has been implemented which makes the Jaguar Interactive II board available again, just 1 extra click... Regards, JustClaws.

Hello, There is now a Yahoo group for Jaguar DOOM source code development. http://groups.yahoo.com/group/jaguar-dev-doom/ Come and contribute your skills or thoughts to this open forum for Jaguar DOOM fans who want to help create a new game based on these sources. Graphics, sound, a complete new WAD needs to be created, and nobody knows how today. Can a new game for JUGS or BJL be created? Maybe! The source code is there, but can you modify it to make it better? Can you be the person who will fix the network bugs? Can you be the person who will find out how to support standard PC WAD files for new games? Do you have problems building the new code? Let's talk about it here. Cheers, JustClaws.

That's a good question, but as we know, the ultimate question is: What does 42 mean? If that is the answer, then what is the question? JustClaws.

If indeed you are sincere, send me the link to the Ebay auction that you won, and I will know that you mean this. However, you can easily get a Jaguar from the UK from various sources, not least of all Telegames. You are in the Netherlands? That's no problem to get a Jaguar if you want one cheaply, email me, and also I can help with development too maybe but you will need to modify the Jaguar, or buy Protector SE or BattleSphere and JUGS or BattleSphere Gold (with JUGS included) but firstly you need a Jaguar, I understand that but really it's no problem. Regards, JustClaws.

Hello, Well Dimension X does exist if you believe hard enough. Like Narnia, and Peter Pan. :-) For now, just visit http://justclaws.atari.org/altatari/ Cheers, JustClaws.

It was your turn. Seriously, it's a pity that arguments erupt over matters which could be resolved with some friendly discussion in the thread rather than what ends up as yet another argument which leaves problems. It seems that only Doug and Carl have managed to get their code for loading other tracks off CD to work, or have created a CD which works. Other people in the "Jaguar homebrew community" tried, and failed. I personally have not tried, I've not had the need yet, though. It also seems that Doug has forgotten how he achieved this in the JUGS demo loader, and has presumably lost his source code for it. Carl (Songbird) did manage it for his CGE photos program, but has not been able to find the time to create and distribute an example, but does promise to do so, but personal circumstances delayed it. How does anybody learn if the experts have already forgotten or do not want to share their knowledge, or cannot for other reasons? In an ideal world... we'd work together... and REINVENT the wheel... Regards, JustClaws.

Well please don't get too excited, there was a team working with Carl over this some time ago, and Carl would have indeed loved to have published a DOOM+ which was the original idea, with ID, but technical problems with the WAD format prevented this. Carl even enlisted the help of the (leading?) WAD editor company, and they examined it, but could not produce a compatible editor for the WAD file unfortunately, and the Jaguar file is not a normal version. That is not to say that with more minds looking at it, that it cannot be cracked, but it's not just a matter of "tweaking" a PC WAD file a bit and hey presto, a new Jaguar game. It needs serious work... Well I hate to be the downer on this too, but I'd like to point out that DOOM 2 isn't just the DOOM engine with a new WAD file, it's a seriously updated game engine with lots of new features, unless I'm very much mistaken. Perhaps Carl would be kind enough to open up the Yahoo forum which was used to discuss the technical aspects of the game in the past, or to publish some of the technical reports from the WAD editor people and other aspects such as this, or let me do so... That could then continue as the Jaguar DOOM discussion forum... In reply to the suggestion about using CD audio during the game, there is a fundamental difference in the architecture of a PC and a Jaguar. The Jaguar CD audio needs to be piped through the DSP processor which also provides the network support, and as the objective of using CD audio instead of Doom music would (I guess) be to reduce the load on the DSP, so that it could still adequately process network activities, then this would in fact not work I think as intended. It might be best to try for a non-network game 1st! However, I can see that there are various ways to save space in the game, there are lots resources that could be better used, but the basic problem is going to be creating a new WAD file, even a simple one room WAD file was long discussed but never achieved due the lack of a compatible editor, or conversion tool, or any documented details on the structure of the non-standard WAD. I notice that somebody has "discovered" the extra cheat codes, on JI2, (http://www.atarihq.com/interactive) and to be honest I didn't realise that they weren't already known, but I guess that it might be best to accept that a version of the game with the very same WAD image as now, but with enhancements to the game-play and more tweaks is the only way to be sure of a new Jaguar DOOM. Cheers, JustClaws.

Yes, indeed, this can be a problem, but if you use a good email client, even something as mundane as Netscape Messenger, you can see a threaded view of discussions, this is widely used for UGD-JAG discussion. The archive function can be supported by Majordomo, but is not in the case of the UGD-JAG group, but this is something a 2nd list should have. I absolutely agree, I never visit the Yahoo groups site normally, and receive my emails from the "Jaguar Home-brew" group by email, and I can even approve new members by email. Very nice. If you were to set-up a new group, and participate in that, I am sure that existing UGD-JAG members would be happy to participate, and as I said, natural selection in terms of how well it works, and real give and take would lead to one list becoming more popular than another. Go for it! I'll join...

I'm sorry, but that really says nothing in response to our discussion. Stone already has a solution, he's debugging, for the serial port. On JI2 there was a "survey" on interest, it was unanimously for a PS/2 keyboard adapter solution that would use the serial port. What do you mean by "With some software mods and a different connector I can run from any port on the Jaguar."? Do you mean that your solution would use the joypad ports, and what use do you have in mind? Do you mean it will work either in the joypad ports, or the serial ports? When you wrote "I'm going with the best packaging design and easiest to build mechanically," that suggests that you are actually developing a dedicated keyboard, rather than an adapter for an existing keyboard. Do you already have working prototypes for your solution already? Stone has a prototype and is planning on producing some PCBs, but it would clearly be best if you/Scatologic and Underground developers can discuss here the options, Stone is talking a low-budget ($10-20) adapter. Also, do you have any application for the unit already in mind, or are you creating this unit only to support Matthias' Contiki "Jaguar port" project? As it is now clear that everybody knows about 2-3 Jaguar keyboard proposals including yours, it seems to me that giving some more details now would actually prevent anybody else from stealing your own ideas. (As I said, the 3rd solution is a ZX Spectrum type keyboard I proposed, and which was countered by the cheaper to produce PS/2 adapter idea.) Regards, JustClaws.

Hello, In the thread "ANY NEW JAGUAR DEVELOPMENT?" Thunderbird wrote: This is great news, is this something that you are developing as a home-brew kind of solution, or is it going to be a new Scatologic product perhaps? Is your Jag keyboard a dedicated keyboard, or a converter? The reason I ask is that when Matthias was talking about Contiki I suggested that as the Sinclair Spectrum used a similar keyboard design to that of a Jaguar joypad in many respects, and there are enough lines to be able to have a nice keyboard. Stone then pointed out a rather good PS/2 to serial converter design on the Internet, that would not require a custom Jaguar keyboard, clearly a much better solution than my "spur of the moment" idea. Since that time we (Matthias, Stone, me, and others) have had various discussions (I started a thread that ran for a while on Jaguar Interactive II about it at the time) and the feedback from Jaguar fans was the PS/2 keyboard converter. That made me abandon plans for "my" prototype. The question that was not answered finally was whether the keyboard should interface via a micro-controller to a joypad port, or via the serial interface, but doing that prevents a normal modem from being used, and also prevents an RS-232 connection to a PC for an Internet connection, although Matthias' ethernet card project would overcome that issue. So for me, a micro-controller to the joypad port is preferable. To Stone, the serial solution is better. Certainly I agree the latter is simpler. The design is already complete and Stone has a prototype I think. Matthias does not mind, in fact I think he'd like to see some competition added. What do you think, let's discuss this and go for the best solution. Regards, JustClaws.

I posted a reply on the other thread to say just this. The UGD-JAG members always answer any question on JI2 or AA, and I have no recollection ever of anybody having any development query ignored. Yes, and your site is a member of the "Atari Console Developers Webring" which includes Atari 2600 and Lynx developers as well as the Jaguar. Also all the Atari Jaguar developers help out "new developers", and of course as I've invited a most of the recent people that I've seen doing something productive with the Jaguar (like Mr.Well for instance) we search out members, and I can't think of one developer who is hiding at all anyway, except these mystery "Arachnoid" developers, whom none of us know. Don't forget that people like my "Team Franglais" friend Fred has the French link with leading Falcon developers (just visit Jag Connexion), and the Falcon scene was well represented by Duranik and the 2 EJagFests. There was an OPEN "Underground" developer session after the last one! Regards, JustClaws.

Hello, Don't worry, all the carts have the same capability for a 2K E2PROM, it is just the allocation of the space that is in question. This is all done in the software of the game, so only the downloaded (JUGS or BJL) games need be changed for everything to work, likewise with CD loaded games. The biggest danger is just that if the 2 systems are not agreed, you might not be able to save games written for one system on the cart using another, without the danger of losing your game saves, Thunderbird's worry too. Well I've not heard of anybody being refused slots, Scatologic want developer support too, to sell JUGs, but requesting a slot has been something that I, personally, have been delaying doing pending a solution for the new system, in case it would not be necessary to be so "formal". What I need Thunderbird is 128 bytes, on a 128 byte boundary please. My code already maps out 128 bytes for a normal Jaguar E2PROM, and so I really need that normal 128 bytes. I will send you an email if you can confirm that this is all I need to get "a slot". If I need to use special routines to access it, please let me know what to do. I cannot tell you the nature of the project at the moment, but the 128 bytes are the minimum. Regards, JustClaws.