5-11under

I had an Atari 800XL, which worked well for Word Processing (and more fun things), but in 2nd or 3rd year of College (around '88) we pretty much needed one to do programming. The rich kids were spending $2K+ on brand new 286 machines with orange monitor... poor guy here bought a still-expensive $1K "turbo" XT with green monitor - switch on the front changed speed to/from 4.7/8 MHz. The best thing about the machine was the case... push 2 buttons on the side, and the lid lifted up just like the front hood of a car.

Are these boards better than "ahem" newer versions?

Yep, both those terms should be the same. USB2 vs USB3 for just providing power shouldn't matter. (I think USB3 officially is able to supply more power than USB2, but that really only applies if you're plugging a device into a PC, for instance - where the specs of the PC's output supply needs to have a certain capability).

Yes. It will only use the current it needs, so the 2A adapter can provide power to a 1A or 2A device.

It will probably be okay. The TG likely doesn't need anywhere near 2A, so supplying 1A should be fine.

The replacement screens have the reflector included, all as one piece, by the way.

Sometimes. Sometimes the reflector gets corroded, and needs replacing. Usually that's not the only problem, but it could be.

Talk to Rev.

I love the ZX80 and ZX81, but I will admit that if you're trying to write a book, then those are not really the best choices... but neither is a Post-It Note.

Mini update because my deadline is up... I did some investigation into shipping prices to China - the conclusion is that all methods are expensive. Anyway, the plan is to send this out tonight.

Oh yes, I see... .

The 3rd and 4th fire buttons map out similar to additional keys from the keypad... so you run into trouble when pressing more than one of any of those.

You'd need a double-pole button, to activate the L and R buttons at the same time. In that case you have 3 options, besides none: 1) L, 2) R, and 3) L+R. If L+R is a fire button, then you wouldn't be able to go left and fire at the same time. You could do Pac-Man... L = left, R = Right, L+R = Up, Fire button = down. There might be some issues when transferring to/from the Up direction to the Left or Right, that would have to be managed. The spinners use two magnetic switches, to basically make a square wave. I think the closeness of the two switches allows you to discriminate the direction. Someone else might know the details better.

Yep, only one missing. Does close count? A lot of these would work (if I'm guessing correctly, and maybe with some limitations)... - A ColecoVision version of Quad-Joust - A tank game (like Combat on the 2600) - A clone of Warlords, with play mechanics that fit joysticks better than paddles - Sport games (basketball, volleyball, dodgeball, hockey, maybe baseball, etc.) - A board game, like maybe a clone of Risk, or something more basic like Monopoly - Four-player Space War [don't know] - Four-player Snake/Surround/Tron Light-cycle game - Racing game à la Indy 500 or Off-Road - Four-player clone of Duck Hunt (with mobile aiming crosshairs) - Pac-Man clone of some kind, with four players let loose in a maze I haven't worked with programming the spinners for more than a few minutes, so I'm not sure.

Unfortunately, you can't use all of the keypad and direction keys at the same time. Basically, for each of the 2 controllers, you have 6 input switches. You can divide that into 4 controllers that have 3 switches each, for example: left, right, and fire. If you want more than that, you'll need to use some trickery... You can take advantage of the fact that you normally can't press left and right (or up and down) at the same time (for a standard controller) - in that case, you can add an additional switch that basically presses both at the same time (and you'd be able to check for that). Now you've got 4 switches per 4 players (with some limitations). You can probably get some data out of the spinners, too. You could use some other more complicated timing routines from the controllers. Sort of a parallel to serial converter that takes all the inputs, and sends out a stream of data to the CV. There's also ways you could hook controllers to the cartridge slot or expansion slot - would need additional hardware, of course.

I've done it with an Atmega chip (Arduino programming), driving a small LCD screen. Basically made a drop-in replacement motherboard: https://atariage.com/forums/topic/250994-microvision-screen-replacement/ That way I could control the persistence myself. It worked fairly well (for some reason my programming worked perfectly on my hacked-up motherboard, but less well on the new motherboard), with 16 MHz chip, fairly optimized I/O methods (the standard Arduino I/O is pretty slow), and a screen that I wish had slightly lower resolution (would have required less data transfer). If there were a lot of changes on the screen during one pass, it would lag for a few frames, but then would catch up (there's one game that quickly flashes the screen black to white and back again).

I don't think the design of the screen changed at all.

We (well, my brother, that is) had a ZX80 and later a ZX81. It's what he could afford at the time. It changed both of our lives, and if the computers had any failings/deficiencies, those only made us wiser, and smarter... there always seemed to be a way around or through them... we learned a lot, and not just about programming.

I guess that information was missing from the review.

Status update: 1. Make contact again with the company I've been dealing with Apr. 8: E-mail sent. The company's web site says they're open. I asked if the "file" was still active, and if I could send them the Microvision for evaluation/optimization. Apr. 13: Oops. I found my e-mail in the drafts folder. I sent it, and they responded today that all is well, and I can send them the Microvision for evaluation/optimization. Step 1 is complete. 2. Send them a Microvision so they can evaluate, and optimize the screen Apr. 13: I have a Microvision pretty much ready to go. I just need to make sure it's exactly how I want it to be, to make it easy for them to evaluate (without the shell, but with a cartridge attached - which normally isn't do-able). As per the plan from a couple of weeks ago, my self-imposed deadline is to send them the Microvision within 1 week (Apr. 20). I'll update when it's been sent. 3. Wait for them to evaluate and optimize (possibly additional steps if they need to send me more samples) 4. Send them money 5. Wait for product 6. Test product 7. Sell product

Status update: 1. Make contact again with the company I've been dealing with e-mail sent; waiting for a reply. The company's web site says they're open. I asked if the "file" was still active, and if I could send them the Microvision for evaluation/optimization [Apr. 8] 2. Send them a Microvision so they can evaluate, and optimize the screen 3. Wait for them to evaluate and optimize (possibly additional steps if they need to send me more samples) 4. Send them money 5. Wait for product 6. Test product 7. Sell product

Me too.

Hi all, here's an update on what's happening (or not happening)... Here's the steps I need to follow: 1. Make contact again with the company I've been dealing with 2. Send them a Microvision so they can evaluate, and optimize the screen for 3. Wait for them to evaluate and optimize (possibly additional steps if they need to send me more samples) 4. Send them money 5. Wait for product 6. Test product 7. Sell product What I'm going to do, so this doesn't drag on forever, without closure, is to set a deadline. It's not a hard and fast deadline, because although this project is important and good, it will never be anywhere near my first priority in life, especially these days. The deadline also doesn't cover all the steps, either (for instance to get to step #7 by a certain fixed date), because many of the steps are outside of my control, and could easily vary greatly. The deadline I will hold to is to make sure to do anything required by me within one week. For instance, if all goes well in my world, I will contact the company before April 7 (although hopefully within a day or two). If they have questions for me, same thing: I will answer within a week (hopefully a lot less). Ditto for sending them money, testing product, etc. When the time comes for me to send them money, I'll evaluate my current situation, and we'll see if I need any support for that. I really prefer not to accept money too far in advance, because we all know how that often turns out, and I don't need that stress for myself, either. In all this, I'll also do my best to keep you posted on the status. Current status: I need to do step #1. Cheers, and I hope this post finds you all well and safe.