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TLD1985

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Posts posted by TLD1985

  1. Posted

    Seems to happen when I take a picture with my phone. Simply opening it in paint & rotating it before uploading doesn't work. I have to open the pic w/paint, rotate it, copy it, paste it into another paint document, then resave it.

     

    It's because of the embedded exif data on the photo, which programs read and "auto rotate" your photos for convenience.

     

    When you copy it and paste it's removing the exif data.

  5. Posted · Edited by TLD1985

    Posting up my new Atari Archive video because it has direct connections to this thread: an investigation into the history of the RCA Studio II, from the FRED days through the arcade machines, the Studio III and IV, the Cosmac Elf and VIP, and on to NASA space probes. It's a combination of information from this thread, info from the TCNJ and Hagley archives, and interviews with Joyce Weisbecker, Bob Winder, Jef Winsor, CT Wu, Fauxscot, and Andy Modla. I hope it serves as a good summary of events as we know them up to now!

     

     

    ACH the Apollo 80 was a UK clone not German. I know some sites say Germany but I have no idea where that information originated from. As far as I know no Academy electronics were ever sold in Germany.

     

    :P

     

    otherwise good video.

  7. Posted · Edited by TLD1985

    I'm actually hoping to do both! Book long-term, short youtube documentary in the next few weeks :)

     

    Although it wont be a particular in-depth video. I still have a half-finished video I'm making on the Academy Apollo 80 system, mostly just giving an overview and some vain hope someone else may find it who can fill in missing gaps of info. Do you want/need any photos of the Academy Apollo 80 for your video?

    • Like 2

  10. Posted

     

    Awesome work getting these carts dumped - a great piece of history preserved!

     

    There is some bad news however: the test cart uses some funky memory mapping, which means that it will not readily run on the multicart - or at least not without some modifications... The author of Emma 02 figured out that the cart starts as normal, but quickly switches to an address in the 0x4000 range, where it expects the cartridge to be mirrored. Not entirely sure why it does this, but it seems to be needed to test the system's ROMs and RAM.

     

    Interestingly, it also switches the machine to a high resolution mode (which is relative: 64 x 128), showing 4 memory pages: the top half is the top of the cartridge ROMs (0x0600-0x7FFF) and the bottom half is RAM (0x800-0x9FF). It then goes on testing the RAM, by filling it with 0xFF and writing 0x00 to the addresses and a few other patterns...

     

    The hardware of the multicart doesn't map anything above 0x0FFF, because it only has a 4-bit latch - that means it has 12 address lines. A good thing is that if the console tries to use an address above that, it just sees the same, i.e. the first 4K are simply mirrored. But since the first 1K (0x0000 - 0x03FF) is mirrored to 0x4000 - 0x43FF (where the cartridge is expected to be), jumping into that region creates problems, i.e. a crash

     

    It is however possible to patch the cartridge, so it stops jumping to an area that it not compatible with the multicart.

     

    these are the patches needed:

    0x0417 0x43 --> 0x07

    0x041F 0x42 --> 0x06

    0x0422 0x40 --> 0x04

    0x0601 0x41 --> 0x05

     

    This stops the program crashing: the memory test runs as does the one for the keypads. On my main test machine, it shows a 'digital failure' as it's called in the service manual by showing 3 & 4 in between the two keypads... I need to dig a bit deeper as to what this means, but it could be linked to not running the program from the correct memory bank... I've attached an image of the test card running on real hardware + multicart.

     

    Also attached is a new image for the multicart flash memory, which includes the test card (in slot 4-6). I've moved the demo cart to this bank as well (4-7). Empty slots have a placeholder now, which shows an image on the Studio II (rather than black screen or crashing). If anyone needs this written to their flash chip: either contact me or anyone with an programmer that can handle a 39sf040 flash chip...

     

    FliP

     

    Would a system not getting enough amperage for the test to run also potentially cause error codes? The test cart is stated that it needs 500mA.

  16. Posted

    yeah its strange it has a sticker on it that appears to be sized to fit a standard s2 cart but it slapped sideways on this proto cart??

     

    Well the "Tester I" cart actually has the stock number on it, so it may well be all "Tester I" carts look like that.

     

     

    The proto Demo Cart is also interesting, has what I assume is an earthing wire attached to it? It also says to use a modified power supply for some reason?

     

    Wonder if how different that version of the demo is compared to the "released" version.

    • Like 1

  24. Posted

    In other exciting news: 2 more Visicom carts have been dumped! With the addition of CAS-110 (Maths Drill) and CAS-140 (Gambler I), it means that one (rather illusive) version of Biorythm (CAS-190) remains MIA... Not even sure anyone has ever seen that last one for real - though the same was said about Bingo, so there's hope...

     

    I've zipped up all five for your convenience in .st2 format - so they work in the Emma 02 emulator.

     

    I'll scan in the manuals and other documents as soon as I have a bit more time - they are in Japanese of course, but they might still be of interest to some...

     

    FliP

     

     

    190 does 100% exist. I've posted photos of it before:

     

    Manuals.. I do have a pic of the cart somewhere...

     

    Manual_All.jpg

    • Like 3
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