LoTonah

Well, if you got a CPU upgrade to 16MHz, then the Apple II emulation would run pretty much at full speed. I wonder if some games may run funky if precise timing is required (with or without the CPU upgrade).

If you have another 720Kb drive to test with, do that first. If it doesn't work either, it means you have a blown FDC chip. Silver lining: if that is the case you can buy a better one that would allow for 1.44Mb drives.

I'm being "that guy" and not using my Google-Fu. Sorry...its been a crazy day. Any help? Thanks!

Where are you based out of?

I am curious to know why it couldn't be ported. From what I've seen on YouTube, it looks like straightforward redefined character graphics and simple sound effects. I wonder if that guy was displaying a bit of snobbery of that I've seen from other platforms. If a game like Sydney Hunter can be made for the unexpanded Coleco, surely this can.

According to this video (about the Raspberry Pi): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6HZXM6cLVUg&t=1550s Running SysInfo, it says 7.16 times faster than an A400 @ 25MHz. So yeah, it is pretty sweet that way. Once I get this up and running, and it is stable, I may be looking at selling off what's left of my Amiga hardware.

I don't know what all the fuss is about. Everyone is going to have their preferences. At this point, there are three main options: 1). Run the old hardware (despite the fact that more of them are failing with each passing year) 2). Run emulation on your Mac/Windows/Linux box, or a Raspberry Pi. 3). Run one of these FPGA solutions. Basically, I think of the Vampire standalone is like using an emulator, without having to deal with a host operating system and all the bullshit that it brings with it. They are fast to boot, and with a lot of the modern amenities that we want like USB and SD cards. Frankly, my biggest concern is whether it is worth buying the Vampire, or just using a Raspberry Pi booting Ambian, since I'm interested in having a stand-alone box instead of using my main computer. My A500 is getting flakey, and my A2000 won't boot anymore from the hard drive. I no longer have the funds to keep it going, either. I'm not so rabid that I can't see options 2 or 3 as viable, thankfully.

Looks interesting...never played Chu Chu Rocket, so this is new to me. What's next for it? Any planned game mechanics that we don't see here? What levels do you have planned?

Hi exxosuk, I've been to your website before. Your stuff looks great! Definitely bookmarking it. I guess I need to take possession of it, and then take it apart to answer a few of my questions. For instance, I can find specifications all over the web on what CPU it used, sound chip, etc. Should I assume that the board is the same as the 260ST? http://www.old-computers.com/museum/photos.asp?t=1&c=922&st=1 If that is the same board, then can I assume that your 6 chip to 2 chip TOS upgrade would work? Also, i sure hope that the ROM area has sockets, arthritis is making soldering harder each year. Is 1.04 the highest I can expect it to go? I'd love to push this as far as technically possible.

Thanks, it is working great!

Hi everyone, I've had a 1040STM for years, (and a 520STFM). Have a friend who is going to give me an original 520ST, but I would like to know what options I have for it. Probably few, because it was quickly replaced by the models with the drives built in. I don't even know if it has TOS in ROM...is that still available? If so, how high can I go? Curious about memory upgrades, SD card or CF card upgrades (yes, I'd be okay with making a small slot for access to swapping cards), CPU upgrades, etc. It comes with the external floppy drive as well. Wouldn't mind upgrading that to a 1.44 drive, if that is even possible. So what can I do with this? If I have good options, I may sell off the other two units and just keep this one, since my wife is bugging me to slim down the museum again. Grrrr.

Yeah, the shipping quote I got from Canada Post made me gag on my coffee. Almost $40. And the UPS site was f'd-up so I couldn't even get a quote (Win10 with Chrome and Firefox, tried on both)... I know, a first-world problem. Canada sucks in this regard, I must say!

If I had to guess, they were probably using refurbished, standard ST units. Every cash-strapped computer business that I've ever seen/worked for have tried to use what they can't sell.

I've got one that I could sell. My wife has been bugging me to part with more stuff so this could count toward that. No idea what it is worth. I'm a reasonable guy, so tell me what you'd consider paying for it. Thanks!

I'll ask again, like I do every year. Please, PLEASE, will someone record as much as possible and put it on YouTube. I'd love to go, but once again it is too far away and I can't afford it. Very much appreciated!

I would like to see a text editor on both Windows and Mac that I could type in program listings from magazines, and it would have a virtual keyboard so I could easily enter ATASCII codes. In order to do that now, I have to type directly into an emulator. But I would also love the convenience of having a modern editor with macros, full screen editing, cut and paste, etc. Hopefully I've explained that well enough. Thanks!

So which one do we start with as #1? Shmup, or Frostbite?

Sweet! Appreciated.

Very nice! I'm afraid I have to admit I didn't know that there was a light gun for Vectrex. But since I actually have a spare Sega light gun, I'll put this on my to-do list!

Good to know. I may have it already, there are a lot of files that I've downloaded and never ever looked at.

Well, maybe in the future Opcode could potentially offer a software "upgrade", for say $50, that would allow SGM games to play on it. But even if it is never offered, this looks tasty. Potentially could run LOTS of things, like maybe a cartridge that would allow a keyboard to hook up to it (and other various hardware). Would die to have a new ADAM kit, for instance!

Interesting. Dumb question: is there a way to pull in fonts from the alternate ROM set when using SmartBASIC?

Penticton, British Columbia (Canada)

Interesting interview that I found. Haven't finished reading it yet, but I wanted to make sure that everyone who might be interested sees this. http://www.retrovideogamer.co.uk/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=511:rvg-interviews-jennell-jaquays&catid=91&Itemid=160

I wrote one for the C64 back in the day. It was for my (then) girlfriends bookstore. Took care of inventory, ordering, A/R and A/P and RTV functions. Did it on my C64 instead of the A8 because: the program was written to EPROM (I had a PROMQueen burner already bought and paid for) and I didn't want to give up my A8! Later I ported it to the Atari ST in HiSoft BASIC, just because I wanted to write it without all of the PEEKS and POKES I had to resort to to get things done on the Commodore. Sorry if this post doesn't actually help, I just started reminiscing when I saw this topic.