MAC-42

This message does not exist. Move along please.

By the way, Paul, thanks again for including your code for examination. This is a really useful aid.

Good thing I didn't give gaming up for Lent. Thanks, Paul!

I had success in the Terminal.app on OS X, Allan. I had to cd to the actual folder I'm storing 7800basic in at the moment. (In my case, ~/A7800 Development/7800basic/7800basic.0.1beta20140228/ which is sloppy, but hey. ) When I ran the install_ux.sh file after doing so, things just popped.

There was probably enough room back there, I'll bet, for a big ol' CRT TV for them to play...well, another 5200 on! It is a big machine; probably could cause its own dimensional anomalies and allow for paradoxes like that.

NES. Talk about crappy design. I have to take mine apart and re-bend the doggone pins on the cartridge connector (because I'm super-cheap) just to make it work? I don't play it much these days, and one good re-bending usually does okay for ages, so I guess I'll shut up now. It's just...come on! /mindless rant

I started playing the daylights out of DK Jr. lately after neglecting it for a long time. Good fun. I'm on the waiting list for Perry's DK conversion. Getting close!

Mark sometimes exaggerates for effect. Much as I actually *SHOCK* enjoy the 5200 stick...95 days out of 100...I still got a cackle out of that one. I mean, c'mon. A claw. That's not funny?

Ahh, modern gaming. You never know who's playing along with you. Heh.

I picked up a light-6er lot on eBay and kinda scored a lucky find along with it: 3 working 5200 joysticks (!) and a 5200 Wico Command Control joystick. The Wico didn't come with a Y-cable, though. Any idea what one might cost me? And if one might be available? Thanks!

I haven't had any problems with it using my Atarimax cart, though I've had similar problems with Zaxxon. That's a bit unfortunate.

It plays a bit like Asteroids., generally speaking But that's not what you might think given the joystick. (I'm always killing myself in the Asteroids conversion.) It plays nicely. The game takes advantage of the analog sticks to alter the speed of rotation and motion. I like it.

There is no PS4, only Atari! Another great conversion, Aking. Thanks again.

Thank you for doing this! Even if it's not much to play with, this will be a good practical example to inspect.

Come on then. You and me, outside, to settle this. Let's go. That being said.... Heh. Yeah, I'd just rather game on the 5200. Lynxpro's points are pretty solid (apart from his questionable taste in color schemes ).

Well I don't know it personally, but I do know that its 16k (most likely) of RAM can be upgraded to 64k by the user if you're into poking and prodding around inside these things. As I recall from what I've heard, it's not too taxing if you know which end of the soldering iron not to grab. And I believe that there are upgrades that can take it past the 64k limit, too. Storage is of course a potential problem. I don't have a real drive for my Atari XEGS--takes up space I don't even have for the XEGS!--but instead use a device called SIO2PC, which lets you plug your Atari computer's SIO port in on one end and your PC USB port on the other and, with some software, lets the Atari see the PC as storage media. Lets you load disk images, print, and do telnet BBSing, too. There are of course a number of other solutions for storage, depending on your needs. Check out Atarimax and investigate some of the offerings. (There are others out there, too, but I've done a bit of business with Atarimax this past year.) And how did you find that at a goodwill? I never see that sort of thing around here.

I have a 5200 and an 8-bit. I have the 5200 because I didn't feel like gaming on the 8-bit. I'd rather use the 8-bit for practical things. So my 5200 is my gaming machine, pretty strictly. And that is why I have one. It's a silly reason, but there it is. (This explanation, while serious, is something of a joke. The punchline is that the 8-bit I have is...the XEGS. That is, the XE...Game System. The other consolized 8-bit computer that Atari released. Take my insane advise with this is mind. )

Well, I snagged what I could during a moment of uptime several months back. I have 5200BAS sources and a binary, but it is a Windows binary. I can post this if it would be useful. If so, I'll post it tomorrow. I'm about to crash face-first into my keyboard.

Yes! Thank you, Paul! I've been too shy to ask for this sort of thing from anyone to date! This will be very interesting. And thanks for this new conversion, too.

For any folks who might care, I did a search of the 5200 area and found several threads related to this idea. The most interesting post that I could find was this one. Contains possible wiring instructions and a code example. Nothing that has been implemented practically, just some discussion. Interesting reading nonetheless. Thanks again to Allan for pointing me in the right direction.

I played against the 5200 and thought it was fun. I've got two working joysticks, so maybe the little one or the Mrs. Would like to play. Too bad about not having four sticks working...we're having friends over tonight. This would have been fun. The more conversions, the merrier. These are greatly appreciated. Thanks!

Thanks, Allan. I'll take a look. This really is just a whimsical thought that struck me suddenly with no rhyme or reason. As I'm not qualified to do anything about this whether or not, if it can't be done, all it will do is satisfy my curiosity.

Here's something that crossed my mind just now. Let me see what you folks think of it. The 8-bit computers have the ability to use the XG-1 light gun for games. The 8-bits use DB-9 connectors for input from controllers like the XG-1 or the CX-40, etc. The 5200 uses the DB-15 connector for input from devices, but one can use an adapter to connect a CX-40 (which, again, uses a DB-9 connector) into it and use it as a joystick. I don't really know anything about the pinouts for the XG-1, so this question may be answered with a simple, "No, you can't." If so, pardon my musing. With those premises in place, though, here's the question. Given the fact that the 8-bits and 5200 are relatively compatible with each other, taking into account alterations in a program for changes in the hardware registers, and given that the 5200 can use controllers with DB-9 connectors via an adapter, is it possible to create/port a game for the 5200 that makes use of the XG-1? Can an adapter deliver a usable signal to the joystick pins on the 5200? And if it can be adapted in a hardware sense, does a coder need to write code for the gun input differently due to this altered method of input? Again, just a sudden musing that hit me. Holds no meaning beyond that. Thanks to anyone who can enlighten me.

Thanks very much for these conversions, Aking. They're really great.

My (daughter's) copy of Xevious arrived today, too. Just remember with Xevious that you want your difficulty switch in the left position if you want to use both buttons independently. I forgot this for several minutes.