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Marius

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Posts posted by Marius

  1. Posted

    Oh I keep my fingers crossed for millipede. It is by far the ONLY game I really "master" on atari 8bit. I would love to play millipede to see whether I still could progress. 

     

    Millipede is by far, and for years, no decades, my #1 game on atari 8bit.

     

    I was SO happy that someone years ago fixed that PAL issue in the 'swarming insects' ... 

     

    So please let us unite and do Millipede :D

    • Like 1

  2. Posted

    Have been playing this game so many times with my dad back in 1989 or so. We played it mostly on the 2600 (that version is comparable, although it is different). Although I personally can not decide which version I prefer (a8 or 2600) I think the 2600 version is slightly smoother / quicker. One thing is (for me) a fact: Missile Command on atari is AWESOME. 

     

    The game is old, and compared to other classics the game concept is not even that 'interesting', but the game itself is SO challenging. It happens many times that when all my cities are lost, I want to play it one more time... and one more time... okay this is the last time.... and one more time haha.

     

    I saw the game in the HSC and I thought: yeah let me play!

    • Like 2

  3. Posted

    @drac030  for me personally the killer feature of the blackbox (next to some hardware stuff like P: and R: ports) is that amazing button that let you drop into the blackbox menu during the operation of a program, and return to that program. Just like The Freezer it 'breaks in' into a program and then it shows the blackbox menu.

     

    I know you and I talked about this a few time, but IMHO the IDE+ definitely should have this feature as well. Especially for people who are not mainly using SDX the ability of mounting/unmounting ATR's or APT partitions during the operation of a program is for me really a feature I use a lot with The BlackBox. 

     

    Since I am a huge fan of Stock a8 equipment, I think IDE+ is still one of the best harddisk interfaces for a8. Of course I also like the MyIDE 2 and SIDE2 ... but on stock a8, IDE+ wins the competition (IMHO).

    Is there still a chance IDE+ will get that 'button' in the future? And is there a chance the IDE+ menu system will make mounting/unmounting ATR's a little more easy (and more versatile)?

     

    Thanks anyway, I still love it!

  6. Posted

    Great answers so far! Thank you SO MUCH all. 

    I have been using my BlackBox for a pretty long time, but then I moved on to MyIDE2 and later SIDE2 and all kind of other peripherals. My Atari 850 is in use for years to do the R: and P: controls.

     

    Meanwhile I was thinking of re-starting to use the blackBox. It is not compatible with the APT, so when I use my harddisk (or CF card) on the BlackBox I can not simply use it in SIDE2 or MyIDE2... 

    But it was so much fun using the BlackBox back in the day...

     

    And... it has the amazing IRQ button that breaks in (almost) any runnning program so you could switch partitions or do some peeking (and pokeing) in the memory.

     

    Hmmm... difficult choice. 

     

  7. Posted

    Hi all!

     

    Since it is, with its initial release date somewhere in 1989 already a retro add on in itself.... but I was wondering... who is still using the Black Box as I/O device (for storage or as printer/rs232 port).

     

    I haven't used my Black Box for quite some time, but now with all these new and modern  storage solutions I was like: hey that old black box gave me more the nostalgia satisfaction. 

     

    Please let me know!

    • Like 1

  8. Posted

    42 minutes ago, Fred Olivas said:

    Thank you.  I also love my SIO2IDE device.  Reprogrammed?  Do you mean flash again via .HEX file?  Using XLoader?  I've forgotten what Arduino I installed so I need to disassemble my device after so many years.

    Not sure. It has been a long time since I did this. But I think that is what you mentioned. 

  10. Posted

    On 10/15/2020 at 6:06 PM, Fred Olivas said:

    Hello all, I've recently noticed that my Kingston CF cards have started having problems booting on my SIO2IDE device.  I often have to reset my Atari at least 9 times before the card is recognized.  Does anyone know what the issues might be and how to fix them?

    Thank you very much.

    My experience with sio2ide is that from time to time the Atmega needs to be reprogrammed. The fuse settings had been wrong initially so there is a chance that it does not operate flawlessly anymore.

     

    Not sure if that is the case in your situation. I have sio2ide 3.3a in a cigar box. And although it is terribly obsolete these days, I still love it.

  11. Posted · Edited by Marius

    12 hours ago, candle said:

    really?

    as for beta testing - it was 10 months in beta testing and active development, and Jon keeps delaying release of U1MB bios and drivers for a month right now

    last thing that did change was SanDisk card support

    it was very nice of Jon to accuse me of something that was a part of our private conversation over the forums - grown ups do things like this i guess

     

    Of course we don't know exactly what happens behind the scene, but there is one thing that we all know and that there is hardly anyone in this scene who takes atari 8bit software development more serious than @flashjazzcat. His products are always from an outstanding quality and we may call ourselves lucky that we have him around.

     

    Take the amazing side2 loader or even cooler the U1MB firmware upgrade. Both excellent examples of where we absolutely need somebody like Jon. He knows what the demanding a8 user needs and he knows how to code. I have been testing The Last word, Side2 loader and U1mb firmware for him for months if not years and all those time I haven't had a single argument or problem with this guy.

     

    He is extremely dedicated to whatever he feels is his responsibility and I think some people could learn from that. We already have way too much half baken products in the world that were rushed on the market.

     

    Meanwhile I have learned two things. 1. If Jon tells me there is a technical problem with this or that, it is worth the time checking it out. He is most of the time completely right. 2. The guy invests all of his spare time to do the job right. It is a good thing to appreciate that.

     

    I do not want to put myself in the spotlights, but I really could have done good beta testing for Side3 those last 10 months you are speaking about. If people want to gets things done, I am always willing to help. So please let us stay focused on the development of great a8 stuff.

     

    Big thanks to @flashjazzcat and all his hard work for the a8 community. 

    • Like 4
    • Thanks 1

  12. Posted

    6 minutes ago, BillC said:

    The U1MB DOES NOT add a PBI/ECI, the Atari it's installed in may have this feature. If installed in a stock 1200XL/NTSC 65XE/XEGS there is no parallel interface.

    The Incognito does add PBI to the 800, but would not be active in 800/Colleen configuration

    Perhaps I used the wrong word. I mean this: thanks to FJC we can turn U1MB + SIDE2 (and 3 soon I hope) into real PBI harddrives. That would be great if possible with an external solution in stead of U1MB.

  13. Posted

    Before people start inventing something from scratch.

     

    I would advice take the Turbo Freezer 2011 as a starting point. 

    Add PBI (like U1MB has) and External OS slots (like syscheck II has) 

    and then start adding possible other stuff.

     

    Turbo Freezer is already an amazing external device, and it would be a pity if not all those features would be brought to a new-to-design add-on.

     

    I have been thinking of an EXTERNAL U1MB for quite some time, and as far as I can see it, it must be possible. I would prefer external over internal anyway.

    If Turbo Freezer had OS slots, and it had PBI it would be ultimate already. 

     

    Perhaps external Stereo... yes amazing. I am not sure though whether that is possible.

    • Like 2

  14. Posted

    What you describe sounds familiar with a certain keyboard type of the 800xl. I have to say, and I might be an exception, that those are my favorite 800XL keyboards. Yes the keys are more heavy than on other types, but you'll get used to it when you type a lot on it. 

     

    When your fingers get stronger, it is not longer a problem. I actually love the feel of these keyboards. And, they give me the impression that even an elephant could stand on the keys, without breaking anything :D

  15. Posted

    On 10/10/2020 at 7:00 PM, jamm said:

    Good point - I should've mentioned that I'm in Tucson, Arizona!

     

    Thanks - that's great info.  I'm assuming Atari BBS's are running on the UDS primarily, but we'll definitely have to get details on the particular model.

     

    Those assumptions might be right, but perhaps it is 'dangerous' to conclude too soon about that; especially when you want to 'tackle' issues. My BBS (although offline) mainly operated with a Lantronix MSS100. I have done quite a lot of testing back then, and I found that the MSS serie was in almost every case the best choice. It could be interesting to check what the difference is between the two in operation. 

     

    By the way, when thinking of 'hanging' connections, the first thing I was thinking of, perhaps there is something going on with flow control. That the Atari BBS or the Lantronix is expecting some XON/XOFF which is not coming? 

  16. Posted

    Please take in mind that there are at least two types of lantronix device servers that operate with a different telnet protocol.

     

    The MSS serie appears to give a more stable and genuine connection.

     

    The UDS serie gives just a very basic connection without any handshaking or other intelligent acknowledgement.

     

    This difference for instance leads to double characters (no matter  what setting used on the uds side) when a Lantronix from the UDS serie is used as a modem to host BBS's when calling in with the Mac OS x terminal, and other terminals. While this issue does (and should) not (!) occur on more improved telnet handshaking. When the BBS operates with a Lantronix MSS the connection works great with Mac os terminal and appears to be more compatible and stable by any means.

     

    I can not lend anything out, but I hope this information is already quite interesting for further steps.

  20. Posted

    12 hours ago, emkay said:

    Because they take use of the available chip commands and features. But they sound very "common" . Special tunes use also much more CPU there. 

    And, yes, It's one of my "development goals", to have best POKEY sound with the lowest need of CPU.

     

    You don't find any other tune at an equal quality , using equally low CPU....

     

    (CPU usage given by the player itself)

     

     

     

     

     

    I have two wishes:

     

    1. Oh... I should definitely learn to arrange stuff like this. I think always way too much from the perspective using chords which eat way too many notes. This is really a fabulous song, with a wide acoustic field. Well done, any suggestion how I could learn this? (I know how music works, it is more that I am not skilled in making this kind of arrangements)

     

    2. I love using atari 8bit, and I dislike using PC / Mac for Atari 8bit stuff. You seem to use RMT (am I right?) ... so that would not my #1 choice, since I want to use my a8 more frequently. Is there anything native on a8 that comes close to what RMT can do? I thought Theta Music Composer was adviced to use on a8 to me... but I can not remember clearly. Is there a good manual available for Theta Music Composer, or do you recommend a different composer on a8? 

     

    Great stuff emkay!

  21. Posted

    I most certainly should give this one a try. Although today it seems to be a quite obsolete music editor (compared to other formats like RMT, but even compared with TMC and MPT), but it is the only music editor I ever learned to use. 

     

    Is this updated version also compatible with atari's with a STEREO upgrade? I noticed that originally CMC songs do weird things on Stereo Atari (which has to set to mono with the switch to sound good).

     

    Thanks for keeping CMC alive. I will give it a try soon!

  22. Posted

    53 minutes ago, Jacques said:

     

    Just a quick question, is U1MB required for cartridge emulation or can SIDE3 do it alone, too?

    I think you have just described the strength of SIDE3 here. 

     

    You can mount a cart (loaded from FAT32), and start SDX and have them together running on a stock Atari (with enough memory of course).

    You also can mount a cart (loaded from FAT32) without SDX of course, on a stock Atari.

     

     

  23. Posted

    30 minutes ago, carlsson said:

    Sorry for the extreme necrobump, but while browsing Japanese computer magazines, I found an advertisement for the Atari 400 (198,000 yen) and Atari 800 (298,000 yen) going back to April 1980!! I haven't really seen any older reference than so, and given the computers were released in the US in November 1979, I wouldn't expect them to reach Japan much sooner as well.

    https://archive.org/details/Io19804/page/n37/mode/2up

     

    Perhaps this is old news? I didn't check any A8 FAQ for a detailed timeline when certain products appeared on each market.

    This was funny.

     

    I saw this thread, and the first thing I thought was: hey what an interesting thread. Lol, turned out, it was the thread I started in 2009 lol. Excellent find Carlsson!

    • Like 1
    • Haha 4

  25. Posted

    6 minutes ago, DrVenkman said:

    My last order (Incognito last year) took almost a month to arrive after shipping via Polish Post. Since US buyers this year were advised to use FedEx or UPS due to wordwide shipping disruptions, hopefully my SIDE3 will get here a little quicker. :)

    Oh I know exactly what you mean, but then with parcels from Germany. German packages that are shipped with Deutsche Post, are in The Netherlands shipped by DHL. Oh dear... DHL stand (funny joke) in Dutch for "Duurt Heel Lang" (Takes a long time) ... It happened several times here that a package delivered by DHL, originally sent from Germany, took over 4 weeks to arrive (Germany is close to The Netherlands). 

     

    When I am awake enough I always ask the Germans to ship with UPS. Then it takes 1 day (yes 1 day, that is something else than 4 weeks eh... omg).

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