A8 as a (usb?) pc keyboard?

[A8 as a (usb?) pc keyboard?]

Yes, I thought the AtariMax cart was for hooking USB devices to the Atari, not using the Atari as a device elsewhere. However, I've only just glanced at it, so could be missing possibilities.

 

Nice Atari keyboard -> usb project link, thanks! That's exactly what the C64 keyrah is.

 

Hm, I hadn't thought about the bi-directional joystick ports, that would be an option, along with the SIO port (and RS232? is that an SIO device or another physical port on some Ataris?) basically to feed data to a microcontroller that acts like a USB keyboard as far as the PC is concerned. I am far from being that good with hardware, but I've tinkered and hope to someday reach that level. I do think a number of the "entry level" microcontrollers (PICS, etc.) are built around or have samples to provide usb HID keyboard/mouse/joystick input. If that is true, I could imagine a plug into the SIO or Joystick port to handle them as input - joystick would be simple serial or parallel custom raw data procotols, the SIO - I don't know enough to know what that would be. Then on the Atari you'd need a cart or ATR or equavalent that runs and sends all keyboard commands down that communication path. There might be special keys (Reset?) or maybe all keys are readily available - yet another thing I don't know. It'd be nice to send the joystick inputs down the same communication path, too, since this is for fronting emulation as well as just for the fun of using an atari keyboard in-situ.

 

The great thing with the keyboard -> usb hardware link is "it just works". That's why I'm thinking of the cart as the atari software device - power on without the need for an atari monitor, works as a keyboard.

 

Thanks for the great thoughts!

[A8 as a (usb?) pc keyboard?]

I was wondering about using an Atari 8bit as a keyboard to a modern PC. I didn't see anything particular on Google, though I have played with the C64 <dodge tomatoes> Keyrah mod. Great for playing C64 emulation!

 

I was wondering what people thought about the possibility of having a cart that output the keyboard keypresses via one of the peripheral ports to hardware that translated them as a USB keyboard?

 

Anyway, this was just curiosity and speculation on my part, and I wondered if such a project exists and I just didn't find it, or if it sounds possible?

 

As far as I know, the SIO port is the only one on all versions of the Atari, but I suppose that would mean an SIO device that acted as a USB keyboard. Parallel ports are available on XLs and - in different form? - on the XEs, but that would leave out the original 400s and 800s, which would be the most interesting to have hooked up, I'd think.

 

Again, I'm just thinking out loud, more curious than anything else. Any thoughts or knowledge of existing projects that I lack?

[Name of a game? Command chopper, move and deploy armies]

Air Support, it is indeed! Thank you very much. And thanks for the other suggestions, too.

[Name of a game? Command chopper, move and deploy armies]

Does this game ring a bell for anyone? I played it when I first got into A8 emulation 5-10 years ago, so I'm confident it was on an ATR somwhere but I've not had luck finding it via random sampling.

 

It was an army game. You saw the map/valley/battle field from overhead, and it had "hills" in it - isometric/pyramidal terrain heights sort of like Populous, and I think I recall rivers and lakes as terrain as well. You had little black soldier men, probably in groups. The enemy had the same - maybe one side was white and one was black? You controlled a "command chopper" with the joystick, and could fly around the map, picking up and deploying groups of your soldiers around the map. I'm sure there was more to the game than that, but that is as far as I recall getting.

[My new 130 and ATRs!]

Thank you, with those downloads things went much better. Fantastic! Much appreciated.

[My new 130 and ATRs!]

Nothing is too obvious at the moment! I'll give that a try, thanks for the 2x4, keep swinging...

 

Hm, I forgot to mention that I'm initially using a MegaAtrs labled "Yogi/Jellystone Park" either from an old download or off the Ape '98 disk, I don't recall. The menu system always loads, but the individual titles are hit or miss - but different titles are hit or miss on different systems, and seem to be equally hit or miss in the emulator based on the system ROM I pick. I'm just trying to make sense or bring order to my understanding!

[My new 130 and ATRs!]

After a move and 5-ish years since I last played, I unboxed and setup my live A8 collection of a working 400, 800xl, XEGM and celebrated the return by picking up a 130xe and an AtariMax SIO2PC USB! Way better than the Win98 serial SIO2PC cable I dug out of the box, but hey, that one still worked, too! So I've got the 130 setup with my Win7 desktop, and a station over in the corner with the XEGM & 800xl swappable on the Win98 connection.

 

But it has been a while, and my hopeful guess that the 130 would be the most flexible to run the biggest subset of ATRs didn't appear to be true. I doublechecked with Atari800 emulator, and it indeed appears much the same. I'm glad to have the 130 regardless, of course, but I was wondering if you all could bring me up to speed on expectations regarding ATRs and my real hardware! What is my best bet? I probably didn't know half what I should have known back then, and I've forgotten all I did know. Or point me to a nice intro, my google-foo was weak and I couldn't come up with a general ATR "overview and expectations" to orient me. Is there any better starting place than running the emulator and sorting the ATRs by what works there? Is one machine better at running them than the others?

 

Many thanks for assistance. I'm glad to have the collection back all plugged in, and I'm looking forward to having all manner of fun!

 

(One of the things that came out of the box was "my first" home-brewed arcade joystick in a wooden "box" - a happ.com arcade stick + button wired to an Atari "joystick repair cable". Boy that feels good - but I've messed with more arcade joysticks since then, and I'm going to have to build another one based on a tighter joystick like the Ultimarc.com Mag-Stick Plus. Not only is it nicely tight, but is switchable as a 4/8 way stick. I wouldn't have thought about it, but the first game I'm playing is Into the Eagle's Nest and it hangs up on the diagonals. So many fun things to try!)