philipj

The hardware is still the same... Let them finish their work so we can see this come to fruition.

Just trying to keep the spirits up... I guess it will run it's course after 5 years or so. Time truly is of the essence especially if you've paid the money already for it. Reminds me of when as a teen I was paid in advance to cut a guys yard and I waited too long until the guy finally confronted about it. Of course I got the job done, but the dude never hired me again. A lesson well learned early on in life.

That's usually how it is... A lot of underground developers just don't have the time to do home-brews and hobby products they way they like. Those who do put in work and actually have real prototypes do deserve some respect because it really is a sacrifice on time, energy, money, resources and what have you. Usually work and family comes first, then the pet project takes priority. If you can actually release something and it's good, then that's a milestone over the hurdle of real life where as there's more to life then developing for great retro goodies like the Atari 7800 via XM. Then when it's released and everyone has gotten there's, you'll be sorry you missed out on it. But time is of the essence and that's very important too.

That's why I never really pursued a refund... I knew once the XM is released, I'd kick myself for not waiting on it. I'm a very patient person; sometimes too patient, but I've never known Atariage not to deliver. Kind of reminds me of "BattleShpere" for the Atari Jaguar, the time it's taking for it to be finished... I'm still waiting.

Agreed... I still want this thing to be released.

The game does look pretty laid back like "Root Beer Tapper" or something to that nature.

Whoever want to use it... This is a hobby machine after all and it's safe to assume that people will be getting the XM when it's released. The orders have already have been made at this point. Someone will come out of the blue with something rather it's a YouTube or whatever. It would be nice to see it released pretty soon.

I think the add-ons are a welcomed addition... Besides the YM2151 chip sounds a whole lot better then the standard TIA music wise. On another note, there was an article out there that was released in 1984 for speech synthesis using the old Texas Instrument sound chip in the old "Speak & Spell"... It use to be easy to find on line back in the day, but not anymore. It used PCM or Pulse Code Modulation, which are great codecs to use for sound manipulation. Many of the Casio keyboards through-out the 80s and early 90s used PCM for their store shelve line ups. Here's something that did come up in my internet search. https://archive.org/details/SpeechSy1984

Correct... The graphics chip (Maria) functions more like an arcade graphics chip using raster like graphics, where as the 8bit machine like the Atari 2600 uses missile for graphics that interact very similar to a pong game hence the term "chasing the beam". The 7800 does have the same sound chip as the Atari 2600, which I think the XM would be a dramatic improvement with two extra sound chips and more additional ram. The Maria on the 7800 does differ from an arcade graphics in some respects, instead of using pixels, the Maria uses a display list controlled by the CPU, which is capable of displaying very fast, but is limited in speed based on the CPU speed. The Maria is non programmable meaning you can't directly program the Maria.

Other than the 6502 cpu, there's no commonalities; both systems are designed and built very differently from each other. The 7800 was designed by a company outside of Atari.

Just posting a song composed by "Tim Folling" for the Sega Genesis; it used a similar chip like the YM2151... The guy was a musical genius.

Here's a little something I ran into concerning the YM2151... I haven't looked at it or anything, but it looks promising for programming the 2151 chip. I can't program, but I'd help anyway I could; the website is in Japaneses language so you'll need a good Google translator plug-in if you're using Firefox internet browser. http://mml.o-oi.net/opn-fm%E9%9F%B3%E6%BA%90/fm%E9%9F%B3%E6%BA%90%E3%82%A8%E3%83%87%E3%82%A3%E3%82%BFym2151-opm-%E3%83%A2%E3%83%87%E3%83%AB

I've known that for a while now... The Maria chip works almost similar to the Atari Jaguar object processor; all you would need is the CPU to help it along. I had no idea... I like to see if it pulled off effects like the Lynx; but then again, the Lynx coprocessors in them.

With the extra ram, it may be possible if you can program... If you want to hear a really wild one, try "Mode 7" for the 7800; I'd like to see something like that. But then again, I've always been a little over reaching myself when it comes to dreaming about what a system can do versus what it's actually capable of doing.

Don't forget about Konami's VRC7 sound chip they implemented in their nes cartridges; well... one nes cartridge... It was a derivative of the 2413 chip. https://youtu.be/drwX7MbB_IE He's right... I wouldn't change a thing now. Let things just stand as is for now.

I saw that coming a mile away... lol

Hi... The 2155 sound chip was in the Atari System 1 & 2 arcade boards around the time when the 7800 was sitting in Atari's back room doors. It's perfect for those who still like to mess around with the old YM FM chip. It certainly would've giving the old SID a run for it's money; it was probably more expensive to have them back then, but it certainly would've given Atari the upper hand on bringing the arcade experience home. The Sega Master System in Japan had a lesser version of the sound chip and it sound great. I think Atari just didn't want to deal with the Japanese because they were in direct competition with them between 84 to 86. Didn't mean to get off topic, but just had to get my two-cents. Best regards

Well... It was worth a go... Can't blame an enthusiast for trying. lol

I'm just going to through this idea out there and then let it go, where as I've sold all of my Jag stuff... Has anyone ever thought about using or creating an expansion for the Atari Jaguar? I was think may using it to make a CD module that emulates the CD ROM functionality or something like that. I'm just putting one idea of many possibilities so that the Jag can stay afloat and relevant to some small degree. Imagine making Unity 3D games for the Jag via Java or C running off of a Raspberry Pi. It's just a little something to think about, which I would love to see. I don't expect too many responses for this topic, but it's worth posting anyway just for sheer kicks. Best regards; philipj

I still have mine... I've been waiting a long time for this one; I'm glad I archived my email.

Well the offer is still good for anyone who's interested... If anything, it makes a great collectors item and is still very useful. I have no more use for these things anymore so I'll profit from them one way or another. I couldn't think of a better place to make the offer then here at Atariage. My offer still stands. Best regards; philipj

I had a lot of fun this cartridge back when I bought it in 04 or 05 when it first came out... I've loaded a lot games including a lot of the homebrews that were out during that time... Same way with the RIX C.A.T. Jag adapter; I had to have "Protector SE" to work that one due to not having any soldering skills. I didn't want to break my Jaguar, but Protector SE was the quentessential thing to use before the Skunkboards came out. I'm selling them (Krocodile Cart) because I'm in need of the money and that's just the way it goes sometimes. Best regards; phlipj

I know this topic is a bit old, but I have a "Krocodile Cartridge" (with cord) for sale as well as a first generation "Atarivox" and a "RIX C.A.T. Atari Jaguar BJL Adapter. It's been a few years since I've used any of these items thus I haven't recently tested it, but it worked just fine when I last used it... In that regard I'm selling the lot "as-is". It's been sitting in storage for a while now thus I decided to sell it. I'm selling the whole lot for "$150" via PayPal (only); if anyone is interested, please PM me. BTW: The Krocodile cartridge CD is in decent condition with some scuffs and scratches on it. Thanks. phlipj

I did a little playing around with the sound bite I while back... Here's something from that effort if anyone is interested. God bless... philipj Arcade Intro Mixdown 8.mp3