Xebec
Members-
Posts
627 -
Joined
-
Last visited
Content Type
Profiles
Forums
Blogs
Gallery
Events
Store
Everything posted by Xebec
-
It was fun playing an ST game with a keyboard on my lap for the first time
-
I just went to go play the awesome looking Cosmos Chronicles and noticed how dark my SC1224 was in this game. I have definitely adjusted brightness and contrast up as much as the dials will go, but this game is still relatively dark. If I played in a dark room (i.e. wait for night outside), I think it'll be OK but in daylight (blinds on windows) the browns are pretty dark. Are there any hidden knobs inside the SC1224 or anything else I can adjust or replace to brighten the screen? (I know CRTs are fairly dangerous if not taken carefully, and if it's drastic work required I'll take it to an experienced person). I know my monitor is NOT the JVC style. Mfg Date is "Refurbished". Monitor (off) pics below for version. (Option B is to pull out a 19" CRT and a scandoubler I have and build a wooden shelf to go over the Mega STe to protect it from the weight of the monitor ).
-
ANTIC the Atari 8bit Podcast is now available
Xebec replied to Subby's topic in Atari 8-Bit Computers
Still listening to Podcast 99. What's happened in the last 10 years / what were you doing 10 years ago when the first ANTIC Podcast came out. I really am glad the ANTIC podcast got this full team together, really awesome to hear the stories. I hear Mr. Fujinet in there (he deserves the praise), and I think the AVGCart person - "The Modern Atari 8bit computer" - really funny when he said "over the last 10 years I changed jobs, I changed wives".. :). Both of these creators have done a lot for the community, thank you!. I'm sure there are more voices I'll figure out as I finish listening (Altirra is awesome..). FWIW 10 years ago listening to the ANTIC podcast was a nice break from the stresses of life when I started an extra long commute to a new job (over the next 2 years). At the time just having something talking about Atari / something that has always been fun and nothing else was a great way to relax during the commute. I've missed a lot of episodes, and look forward to going back in time a bit :). Thanks again ANTIC Podcast Team! -
Why no custom resolutions on the ST? (Engineering reasons?)
Xebec replied to Xebec's topic in Atari ST/TT/Falcon Computers
Others can correct me, but I think the chip vs. fast RAM isn't why the Amiga could do much more resolution or had resolution options -- it was due to the flexibility of it's chipset vs. what the ST had. ST is limited to resolutions / color depths that fit within the 32KB space, while the Amiga chipset allowed the graphics portion to go up to 512KB of access (later revised upward). Beyond that the Amiga also had circuits in the chips that allowed you to create custom modes and I'm assuming a better DAC for output/monitor flexibility. In short, the ST "Shifter" chip is limited in flexibility and output compared to the Amiga "Denise" chip. (FWIW -- The ST chipset can actually access the full RAM space that the 68000 can, 16 MB.. while the Amiga never got above 2 MB of chipRAM. On an ST upgraded with a 68020 and 32MB of ram (For example), you'll end up with 14/16MB of "ST ram" and 16MB of "TT Ram". The TT Ram is exactly like Fast RAM - only accessible by the CPU). ... Looking at the Shifter chip info here: https://www.synacktiv.com/ressources/Atari-ST-Internals.pdf it looks like ST Shifter has 16 palette registers, 1 for each color -- and that's what limits the maximum color output to 16 colors at one time, without doing special tricks. A lower resolution with more colors would have required a different chip design. -
Unfortunately no 'original original' pics of my Atari 8bits, but I do have a pic from 93-94 that includes my second Atari 8bit (an 800XL). At the time I was fully on the PC (hosting a BBS, writing C programs, etc). but was occasionally going back to the 8bit or ST for some quality gaming time.. (I was definitely a little less organized in my youth..) Also an ST pic from the same photo set (any idea which ST monitor that is on the right? I seem to have lost it since then..) I think that's a 130XE on the shelf on the upper right..
-
Boris - thank you so much for taking the time and effort to do this! I am starting the read — really appreciated!!
-
Can someone post a picture of the mod that needs to be done to make this work on an Atari 800 (+Incognito)?
-
Holy Moly - I just came here to say this is an absolutely amazing game! I will get serious about installing Stereo Pokey on at least one of my 8-bits.. then try this on real hardware. I assume it requires PAL? (I have a PAL ANTIC swapped Atari that should be close enough to at least try it..)
-
Hi there! I have recently been gifted a 4-port Atari 5200 (thanks Mom and Dad ), and I'm unable to generate any input from either of the two 5200 style controllers it came with. I've plugged them into ports 1, 2, 4, and also via an adapter that appears to allow you to connect both a 5200 style and a 2600 style 9-pin controller.. with no luck. I'd like to artificially produce a 'start' button signal to make sure the Joystick 1 port is at least accepting some input before cleaning/replacing/repairing the joysticks - are there a few pins I can short or similar on the first joystick port? Googling for schematics - I'm a little confused on how exactly to produce "Start". I think maybe connecting pins 4 and 7 would work? (another option if it's easier - is I could push button '2' for Pacman which wants 1 or 2 for # of players). Thanks! John P.S. Diagram I'm referencing: https://allpinouts.org/pinouts/connectors/input_device/joystick-atari-5200/
-
For me, the Wow! I love the ST, software was (after coming from the Atari 8bit): Little Color Demo - Robb says "Wow!" (enjoyed the music and the sound bars) Arkanoid (use the mouse) Risk (this game just works well on the ST) Sundog Frozen Legacy (perhaps my favorite overall ST game) Millennium 2.2 (simple but very atmospheric intro, love the whole game) Dungeon Master Bard's Tale The Union Demo (it's interactive, not just 'watch and exit') Gold Runner* Speedball Stunt Car Racer Captain Blood Carrier Command (btw the modern remake - CC2 is awesome) Civilization I played tons of other RPGs (Phantasie Series, Ultima V, etc. on the ST, but they wouldn't be quite on my "core" ST list). *I really wish that Yamaha ST soundchip had a 4th channel.. I wouldn't necessarily recommend others play all of these but these were my favs..
-
Good Morning! IIRC - Alley Cat supports multiplayer; does it support up to 4 players on the Atari 800 or 2 max? Thanks!
-
Agreed I think it was ST Xformer.. I was also messing with PC Ditto - back then it was extremely interesting to run software from 3 machines on one.. XL-It! sounds familiar .. I *think* I was just using PC Xformer initially.. and then later Atari800Win when I moved to a version of Windows that didn't support DOS dual booting..
-
I think it certainly depended on the workload and emulator. Some *very basic* (pun) benchmarks showed a 486DX-33 able to emulate the Atari 8bit at full speed in a BASIC speed test, and a 486DX2-66 able to handle (simple) CPU and GEM tasks at full speed for the ST: http://www.emulators.com/benchmrk.htm#OLDBENCH You're probably right though - I personally remember running an Atari 8bit decently under PC Xformer back in the day, on an extremely fast 486's (5x86-133 @ 160 MHz), but I don't remember doing serious ST emulation until hitting the website for "Little Green Desktop", which probably meant Pentium II era devices.. I do remember running PaCifiST under DOS though for a while.. P.S. FWIW, Acifist recommended a Pentium 133 for ST emulation (486DX4 minimum). https://www.atari.st/pacifist/download.html
-
Just curious if any of the official ST-based machines from Atari were ever fast enough to fully emulate the Atari 8bit. I remember being surprised as a kid that the Atari ST couldn't emulate the 8bit, though it could run some software. Years later I figured out all of the reasons why.. I'm curious now if the ST platform ever got fast enough, assuming there was a decent emulator to run. It would have been an amazing trick to be able to run A8 software on ST or C64 on the Amiga back in the day.
-
Yes, but it is those 8-bit flight sims that led to interest in making 16-bit flight sims
-
Hi folks! Most sources seem to indicate the Atari VCS/2600 sold 25 or 30 million units through it's lifecycle.. But I also found a 2004 video of Joe Decuir where he says 50 million units were sold "as of the middle 80s, the last time I looked". (Forward to about 22:03, specific comment about 15 seconds later). I'm curious which number is more likely? (P.S. Just to be clear - I'm a big Decuir fan -- it's really awesome he's still involved in the community, and appreciate his amazing engineering contributions over the years.. +POKEY sound / SIO are just awesome.. so I'm not trying to say he misspoke - just trying to figure out how many units actually were sold).
-
Hi folks! Most sources seem to indicate the Atari VCS/2600 sold 25 or 30 million units through it's lifecycle.. But I also found a 2004 video of Joe Decuir where he says 50 million units were sold "as of the middle 80s, the last time I looked". (Forward to about 22:03, specific comment about 15 seconds later). I'm curious which number is more likely? (P.S. Just to be clear - I'm a big Decuir fan -- it's really awesome he's still involved in the community, and appreciate his amazing engineering contributions over the years.. +POKEY sound / SIO are just awesome.. so I'm not trying to say he misspoke - just trying to figure out how many units actually were sold).
-
Hi All! I'm just curious -- the Atari 8-bit computers have a few 'bad' power supply models, and C= Amiga PSUs also don't age very well. What's the situation with ST power supplies? I have a 520STm, 1040STfm, and a Mega STE -- should I consider recapping or replacing any PSUs for these models? (I may also some day collect a regular STE so I can use my Jaguar gamepads on the 'enhanced' ports...) Thanks!
-
I'm going a little off topic from my original ask - but it sounds like 38400 bps is stable even with the stock ST (68000@8 MHz), with the updated port? For faster you need both the updated port and an accelerator? Any chance you can link me to a 'preferred' serial port mod? I'd like to study and learn. Thanks!
-
Definitely and thanks DarkLord! You're fortunate the Mega ST4 also already had the blitter. TOS was very (relatively - it was OK at the time) slow on a TOS 1.02 / 520STf, stock speeds and without blitter . BBS sounds like a good (but expensive?) use of the accelerator. I guess for faster modems in the 1990s that would probably end up being a requirement. I see your other posts on the RSVE mod; I'm being a little lazy here - but a few questions - Did you end up getting it to work pretty well? Did it require an accelerated ST to work at higher baud rates? Did RSVE basically add additional buffer to allow more bytes to be received to allow the CPU more time to 'come back' and get the data? (like faster UART chips on PC). Thanks!