CharlieChaplin

Well, allthough I should be quiet, because I am not at all a programmer I have the following opinion: I prefer any standard (old fashioned) A8 program "out of the book" (like Emkay said) as long as it is finished - versus/over a modern A8 program "using modern techniques" (like MCS, G2F, MWP, etc.) but being just a demo or playable demo and unfinished... Ok, Yie Ar Kung Fu so far seems to be the most promising new program and its very playable (has a lot of levels and only few bugs). But come on guys, allthough IK+ looks very good, it is just a game-demo, not very playable (not very finished). Space Harrier is great (yes, it is!), alas it is only some kind of playable game-demo with currently 1 Level. Boinxx, well, is also only some playable demo yet (not finished). The same counts for SMB now (unless Analmux is so kind and finishes it), a nice playable demo - but again: an unfinished game project !! And err, I hate unfinished game projects !! Better a standard and finished game, than a modern and unfinished one... we already have too many unfinished programs... and err, it looks like especially those *unfinished* programs using modern techniques are getting more and more. Maybe these modern techniques are taking just too much time, too much efforts, etc. etc. and sooner or later the programmer(s) realize(s) that the A8 is only a hobby and not a major job or a sense-giving life... so hey, I personally can live with standard and old-fashioned programs (as long as they are finished)... -Andreas Magenheimer.

Hmmm, I think it is quite strange to leave the Atari scene because there is no / not enough feedback to one subject: Hardsynth (Pokey music). I would understand it better if you had dozens of projects and subjects about them posted here and there would be no feedback at all. But thats actually not the case!! In my eyes you got a lot of positive feedback for SMB and not so many replies for Hardsynth. But personally I think this has nothing to do with you - more likely with Emkay... Don`t wanna start flamewars here, but in my *subjective* point of view Emkay is a great gfx painter/drawer/designer. Not so with sounds, although he informs or even teaches us new techniques, the music he attaches as examples don`t sound very good. Maybe thats because I don`t like his musical style, maybe that`s just because I find that his sounds are very bad (and I really hate them) while I love the sounds by Xray, Greg and both (Grayscale) where he just says that the latter are awful and out of tune... Well, I know a lot of Atarians that like Xray`s, Greg`s and Grayscale`s music very much, but really hate Emkay`s music (or musical style). And then there is this strange Emkay behaviour not to program any game anymore, just examples... stop - I know what you wanna say... "do it better if you can..." That`s some kind of speech I hear quite often. To tell you the truth, I cannot do anything better on the A8, because I simply cannot program it, I cannot draw or paint real pix nor Atari pix, I cannot make or compose music (I cannot even read or write notes), etc. etc. Still, I will not stop critisizing, I won`t stop telling my opinion, although I cannot do any thing better on the A8... In my eyes I am quite often some kind of re-viewer or tester and that partially explains it. But to return to the subject, Hardsynth was often if not always some kind of a 2-person discussion between you Analmux and Emkay. And if readers don`t like the output of say 50% of that discussion, it is quite easy to understand why there is almost no feedback. On the other hand, what are all those sound-demos or gfx-demos good for ?!? Don`t we already have hundreds of sound and gfx demos ?!? I personally think, to show off the full power or potential of RMT and G2F *one* (meaning one person or better a team) should program something useful, not any kind of demo - but a fully playable game. It is nice to have dozens of G2F pics or demos and intros with G2F pics, but what we need are cool and most of all finished games that use them. Fandal`s "Cubico" is one such cool example (G2F pic by Emkay, RMT sfx by Raster, program by Fandal)... but I hope there is more to come. And err, the subjects Hardsynth and GraphtoFont are already too long to read them from the beginning. Maybe it would be better (instead of continuing posts in those subjects and make them longer and longer) to just start some kind of new tutorials about gfx (with G2F) and sfx (with RMT). But these tutorials should be for beginners and amateurs also, not only for professionals (who most probably do not need such a tutorial)... Ok, time for final words. I hope that I did not talk to badly to or about you Emkay (if so, this was not meant to be). And I also hope Analmux, that you will not leave us so soon. Or if you do, please finish SMB as some kind of final gift... It is always sad to see good programmers leave the A8 scene forever. Sooner or later only the amateurs or non-programmers (like me!) will be left, oh well... -Andreas.

Well, thinking of Uridium clones... - Dreadnought Factor by Activision (available on cartridge); actually the game is older than Uridium, it was on the market long before Uridium, so Uridium is a D.F. clone ! Easy gfx and good playability, but gets boring very soon... - Oxygene by TAT, a PD game from a german demo group; wait 10-15 seconds for depacking and you are looking at a good Uridium or Mirax Force clone; think the goal of the game here is a little different in that you have to land at (the end of ?) the big ship instead of completely destroying it... And err well, I think Gunstar is right - Mirax Force, The Guardian and Thunderfox (as well as Oxygene) are too hard. They would be much more playable if one would not die by running into certain obstacles (afaik, those little things that have shadows)... Mirax Force can be made easier by typing in "CPM", but then again its much too easy, since one has infinite lives with this cheat... (the same counts for Henry`s House, which is much too hard in normal play and much to easy with the cheat CPM...) -Andreas.

Hmmm, afaik the manual says to press Shift-L to load a sound-file. Alas, whenever I typed something in and pressed Return, nothing happened. I used a DOS to load Syntracker of course... (Turbo-DOS XE by Reitershan to be more exact)... Besides, I am missing a Directory function... as always... (Sidenote: Whenever you write a tool, a utility or an application, please ALWAYS add a Directory function ! No-one remembers dozens or hundreds of filenames...) My girlfriend knows the awful Bachus-Naur format (or however it is called, I am no musician). So she can type in some songs, but alas, the program has dozens of other options and settings, that we both do not understand. Maybe an english translation of the polish manual would help here... greetings, Andreas Magenheimer.

Well, there exist three versions of Quick: 1) Version 1.x the type-in listing from (german) Atari magazin; this one is PD and can be updated to versions 2.0 and 2.1 ... 2) version 2.0 - released as a full version commercially (DGS is still selling it!) and also released as an update only on some Quick magazine (to update version 1.x)... well, the quick magazines are PD now... 3) version 2.1 - the same here, released as a full commercial version (DGS!) and also as an update only on a Quick magazine... If you like, I can send you version 1.x and all existing Quick magazines (including the updates 2.0 and 2.1). The Quick magazines contain a lot of tutorial stuff (in german language) and lots of source codes in Quick language... greetings, Andreas Magenheimer. P.S.: If interested in the (zipped) ATR images of Quick 1.x and the Quick mags, e-mail me: amp at abbuc . de

Well, just some examples for Gr.8 games on the A8: - Amaurote - Tower Toppler - Taipei XL (shanghai/mahjong clone) - many old Sierra gr. adventures (ported from the Apple computers), e.g. The Dark Crystal - the Ultima series (part 1-4) - Kult (Zybex clone from Poland) - Pinball Construction Kit (a pirate copy is available in Gr. 15) - Davids Midnight Magic (again available in Gr. 15 as a pirate copy) - Loderunner - Choplifter by Broderbund (also available as official Gr. 15 cart. by Atari Corp.) - Drol (also available as a pirate copy in Gr. 15) - Shanghai ?!? (if I remember correctly) - Hard Hat Mac (also available in Gr. 15 as a pirate copy) - Kaiser II by Carsten Strotmann (if I remember correctly) and many more games and applications (Photo err, Printshop, Newsroom, ...) -Andreas Magenheimer.

Well, some years ago I was able to talk to the programmer of TT on comp.sys,atari.8bit. He told me that he programmed the 7800 version first and then the A8 version. the 7800 version was completed and sold by Atari Corp. The A8 version was not completed by him (since Atari closed their A8 cart. production, due to the low sales of carts) and he did not know what Atari did with it. (Meaning no more payment for his work, so he stopped programming and lost interest in Atari.) Now, refering to the resolution, since the 7800 can do highres with colors, he had chosen that resolution... Although he was/is living in the UK, he owned only a NTSC A8 at that time. Thus, he programmed the A8 version of TT on a NTSC machine, using Gr.8 plus color artifacting. He did not think about any problems a PAL machine would have - except no colors (but it looks like there is also some kind of timing problem and thats why the game crashes after Level 2)... Afaik, he converted or ported the game from the Atari ST version (not from the C64 version). And err, if I remember correct the C64 version was programmed by someone else... -Andreas Magenheimer.

Well, afaik a Happy 810 makes the drive faster... it does not add any more densities (formats, like enhanced or double density) to that drive. but I guess it makes the drive programable and has the ability of creating backups of copy-protected SD disks... -Andreas Magenheimer

Well, in the early 90`s KE-Soft imported this game as an XL/XE prototype cart. to Germany. don`t know where he got it from, but I guess it was Video 61 or B & C. On a PAL TV this game has no colors, since it uses NTSC color artifacting which does not work on PAL tv`s. Now, a friend of mine finished the Atari ST version - so this one is complete (and colorfull on PAL). He also finished the 7800 version, so this one is complete (and colorful on PAL) also. Now guess what, when he tried to finish my cart on the A8, it had no color and it always crashed after level or tower number 2 (when the bonus game with the submarine should start). So he (and me) gave up playing this game on an A8... Besides, on an A8 TT is a prototype cart., most probably unfinished, very expensive and has no color on PAL tv`s. On a 7800, the game is a standard cart., finished/completed, not that expensive (cheaper than the A8 version) and it has color on a PAL tv. So guess which version we do prefer??? - The 7800 version of course... -Andreas Magenheimer.

Well, the 7800 version is complete. The 8Bit version may be complete on a NTSC system, on a PAL system it always crashes after Level 2. Alas, the garbage appears on both PAL and NTSC systems... so, no - the game seems to be unfinished. thats why it is a prototype, playable but unfinished... -Andreas Magenheimer.

Well, how about a mouse-driver that acts in a VBI ?!? Afaik, Frankenstein (of the Mega Magazine) wrote such a driver. I have it at home, as well as dozens of other mouse-drivers. I Can attach a copy of my mouse-utility disk here next week... greetings, Andreas Magenheimer.

Well, for those that are not familiar with clash of the kings: - the game is for 2 players only (no computer opponent) - both sides do have white and very similar figures - at the start each combatant`s king is situated in the middle of his army - you can only move one position (left, right, forward, back) per move; there is no such thing as flying, teleport, magic, magic power points, etc. - if two figures meet at the same place, the combat starts (all figures can fire) - you lose if you have lost all your figures or if you have lost your king! (you win if you wipe out the opponent`s army or kill his king) Thus, clash of the kings is an easy but nice type-in-ml-listing... Andreas magenheimer

Hmm, I think I also remember: - Pipeline XL (by some german Atarian) - H2O by Bewesoft (Jiri Bernasek) - another Pipeline clone by New Breed Software (Bill Kendrick) and of course some more Pipeline clones in Atari Basic and Turbo Basic XL. -Andreas Magenheimer

Well, there was also some kind of Archon clone by Analog Computing. It was called "Clash of the Kings". Ok, it is much much simpler than Archon, but the combat stage is very similar... -Andreas Magenheimer.

Well, MyDOS lists any Harddisk drive with "H" (f.e. 4H if drive 4 is a harddisk). But, when using such a drive you still have to use it as a diskdrive and thus use D: (D1: - D8:) as the drive specifier, otherwiese you will get the mentioned Error... Andreas Magenheimer

Well, most european 800XL`s do not have a Freddy chip, they are standard 800XL computers. But some (approx. 25%-33%) do have that chip and thats why they are named 800XLF - this is a name given by the users, not by Atari, they still named it 800XL... In recent times Atari had many "local" subsidiaries in foreign countries, like in Germany (called "Atari Deutschland"), in Benelux, in UK/GB, in France and most likely in other european countries too. Atari Deutschland released quite some A8 games in german language and because of that they were only available in Germany and nowhere else. Atari France did the same thing, they released french atari games and also changed international english Atari software (like f.e. Atari Writer) into french Atari software. But: It appears that Atari France did something more than any other european Atari subsidiary, they also produced special (prototype, vaporware, ...) A8 hardware with some modifications. There are nowadays known modifications of the 800XL computer available (besides the above mentioned freddy chip)... One of these rare modifications is an 800XL with a SCART connector (since Scart was developed in France and a standard there). It is really rare, still named 800XL and afaik ebay bidders spend more than 1000 Dollars for such a computer... Another modification (maybe by Atari France, but more likely by Atari Corp. / USA) was an 800XL with 128kbytes RAM, it is still named 800XL but has two rows of 8k chips (16x 8k chips instead of one row with 8x 8k chips)... It is unknown to me if there are combinations of these officially modified/different 800XL computers (with Freddy and/or Scart and/or 128k RAM) available or not. So my only hint is to open any european 800XL and take a look inside or take a look at its backside - but since the mentioned 800XL`s (except the ones with the Freddy chip) are very rare, it is quite unlikely you will ever see an 800XL with Scart or 128k RAM by random luck... greetings, Andreas Magenheimer.

Hmmm, why do you use the Numen bootloader?? There are many short bootloader programs available out there. Think I have a nice boot-loader in my collection that will load almost any *.COM (or *.EXE, *.XEX) file. Load it from DOS, choose density (Single, Double or Enhanced) and then it will display all files on disk. Choose the ML-file you want to be loaded upon bootup and voila, the program writes some data into the first 2 or 3 bootsectors which will boot the chosen program automatically... Since the boot-loader stores the filename (of the file to be loaded) at sector number 2, you can add as many files (or sources / source-codes) to the disk and the chosen ML-File will still boot & run without problems... -Andreas Magenheimer. P.S.: Of course this boot-loader has some dis-advantages: 1) it will not disable built-in Basic on Atari XL/XE machines (hold down Option key or append a short file to the bootprogram to disable it automatically); 2) when you press Reset the boot-loader tries to re-load from sector 4 - it does not coldstart the computer...

Well, if there are or if there will be any plans, schematics, source-codes etc. available for your ideas, then there is a big chance of getting a prize. Because other Atarians would then (probably) be able to built that hardware on their own. But - if these ideas are only ideas in the form of written words (dreams, like "I would like to have..."), then there is absolutely no chance of getting a prize. ABBUC will not spend any prizes for hardware that exists only in dreams... On the other hand, the ABBUC hardware contest has no entries, no registrations yet! And err, if there is only one registration in the end, this will automatically be the winner... -Andreas Magenheimer.

Hello folks, this is just a small reminder that the ABBUC software and hardware contests will end by the 31 August 2005. If you still have any contributions, get in contact with the software-ressort of abbuc (softwareatabbuc.de) or the hardware-ressort of abbuc (hardwareatabbuc.de) respectively... For those, who have never heard of these contests, the rules and the available prizes can be found with this link: http://www.atari-portal.net/modules.php?na...sBlk=y&dtId=184 just click on the interested subject and then choose your language (english, german, polish, czech and spanish are available). Well, hope to hear from you soon... greetings from ABBUC, Andreas Magenheimer.

Well, there exists a german homepage (by Bernhard Pahl) which has all these enhancements and schematics available... alas, the descriptions are in german language, but if you still like to try: http://www.b-pahl.de/Atari8bit/Computer/computer.html Zusätzliche cursor Tasten = additional cursor keys Hardware-Reset-Schalter = hardware-reset-switch Rom-Simulator - ROM simulator Anzeige für Basic... = Display (and switch) for Atari Basic (on/off) etc. I guess with the added schematics one can easily create these enhancements (even if the descriptions are in german language)... At Bernhard`s homepage you can also find infos, descriptions and schematics for various RAM(disk) upgrades, a 65816 upgrade, a 65C02 or 6502C upgrade, and much much more - but alas, everything in german language... greetings from ABBUC, Andreas Magenheimer.

Yes, yes, yes !! I want an AMY chip inside my Atari XL asap... -Andreas Magenheimer.

Well, there is also a spanish/mexican version, a french version and a german version of Atari Writer. The german version was available on diskette as "Atari Schreiber" via Atari Deutschland (located at Hamburg at that time)... -Andreas Magenheimer.

Well, not as much as a certain yellow stamp from Sweden... not as much as the famous stamps from Mauritius... not as much as a space shuttle (or the ISS), not as much as planet earth, not as much as the universe and last not least not as much as a human life. So, please, don`t kill anyone just to get such a cart... -Andreas.

Afaik, most emus do not work well (or not at all) with both Howfen DOS and its Tape to Disk copier. Alas, I have not found any patched version of Howfen DOs or the T-D copier yet. But there is a PC program to patch the (Howfen DOS) ATR images, it is called ADIR.EXE by Jindroush (Jindrich Kubek or so)... You can find this utility on his homepage... -Andreas.

Hello folks, there are quite many A8 games with graphical intros - but which A8 games do also have graphical extros ?!? I remember Spy vs. Spy parts 1, 2 and 3 (as well as the PD clone Double Agents from Page 6). Do you know of any other A8 game(s) with extro(s) ?!? If you do, please describe it to us... -Andreas.