jaybird3rd
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Posts posted by jaybird3rd
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One of the beautiful aspects of the Atari 800, though, is that the four joystick ports are already built into the design. If they're cloning that, they'd simply have to add an extra two connectors (an added cost, I know, but a small one) to give you a four-player option. Packing in two extra sticks might be too expensive and bulky, but they could start selling their FB2 joysticks seperately (which they really should do anyway since a lot of us could use some new CX-40 replacements).
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The FB3 will NOT be a 2600-compatible platform like the FB2 ...
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No, it would be lame. The FB2 is cool because it's running actual 2600 code. An "Arcade Flashback" would not be running actual arcade code, because very few arcade games use exactly the same hardware. Every game on it would have to be reprogrammed for some other chipset, which is exactly what the Jakks arcade sticks are.Yeah, about the only coin-op platform that would give you enough of a variety of games to make such a unit attractive would be something like Atari's System 1 platform. But even that has too many coprocessors for a low-cost TV unit, and the different controls for each game would be a problem too.
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Exactly. That's what I'd love to see: something that is an easy-to-use cartridge-based console on the outside, but has at least an SIO header on the inside. A keyboard header on the inside for a PS/2 keyboard (something like the C64 DTV 15-in-1 has) would be nice, too, but I know that this would add more overhead to the design work. The C64 unit had it because that chipset was an offshoot of the C-One computer, which already had the keyboard interface built-in.
I wouldn't get my hopes up about any kind of flash drive or hard drive interface, as I've said before in this thread, because the price point won't allow it. It would require a significant addition to the original design, which already has a perfectly good cartridge slot that Curt has already said will be used (albeit in a different form factor).
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The last 2600 release was Klax, which was released PAL-only (in 1990, I believe).
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Yes. Many of the XE cartridges only require a 64K computer, so they can be played on an 800XL and on a 600XL that has been upgraded to 64K. I can't say whether or not they will work with a 1200XL since I don't own one.
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Yes, there was an eight-player top-down version of Tank that put two players on each side of the screen. It looked VERY cool and must have been a lot of fun to play with a large group. Harry's game looks and sounds like a lot of fun, too, and I'm picking up a copy as soon as I get paid.
I have some ideas that I'm working on for an eight-player Combat for the 7800, in fact, one of which is to design a simple "team tap adapter" that would allow four 2600 sticks to connect to each of the 7800's joystick ports. Internally it would function like a 2600 keyboard controller but with more "buttons," which would provide enough inputs for the directionals and triggers. I'm also thinking about ice-skating and "bumper car" variations, and I even considered using paddles but rejected them for the same reason Harry mentioned (no fire button).
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I'm surprised to hear this. The CX-24 ProLines were pretty rugged controllers; they were just uncomfortable. If you're talking about the European gamepads, that's a different story; those weren't very well-made and seemed flimsy AND uncomfortable to me.I guess I just don't understand why people say the 7800 controllers were good. When the 7800 first came out the controllers came with a 90 day warranty. I went through 3 or 4 sets before that warranty went out and mailed them all back. I finally gave up and bought third party controllers.If the 5200 controllers were worse then they REALLY sucked.
Unfortunately, that's not the case; the only 320-dot mode on the 400/800 was the pseudo-monochrome mode (mode 8 in BASIC, I believe) that used color artifacting and other tricks to simulate high resolution. All other modes were 160 pixels per scanline (or less).As for low-res backgrounds being nothing to brag about, how many games on the 7800 aren't stuck using low-res for everything? Even though the 7800 has a 320-dot mode, it seems like it's fundamentally designed around 160-dot mode. Maybe I'm mistaken, but I'd always thought the 400/800/5200 seemed to be more "fundamentally" 320-dot machines.The 7800 mainboard is pretty crowded as it is, and I'm not sure where Atari would have put even a reduced-pin-count POKEY (presumably including only the sound circuitry) without a daughterboard. Besides, I get the impression that the Tramiel Atari was never enthusiastic enough about the 7800 to go through the trouble of repackaging or consolidating POKEY or any other chips in the system. They were still manufacturing a ton of those chips for other machines, and probably wanted to save money by using them as they were (when they had to). I've heard that they never even paid their suppliers for the last batch of MARIA chips they used. Speaking of which, MARIA was originally supposed to include better sound, but that idea and the low-cost "Gumby" sound chip that GCC was developing eventually fell by the wayside.
Things might have been different if the 7800 was manufactured by a company that actually cared about it, but sadly, the 7800 was the ultimate red-headed stepchild of the console world.
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Yes, around '88. It was actually one of the last new items I bought for my 800XL when I use to use it all the time. I purchased it at a Federated store in San Diego. That, and my SpartaDos X and R-Time8 cartridges. Boy, those were the good ol' days, when you could get excited about get your hands on the new gadget for your Atari.Now, I get excited when I get my hands on an 'old' Atari item on ebay that I haven't got in my collection yet.
Thing DO come full circle!!! LOL
What really amazes me is that there is such a large supply and variety of "new old stock" Atari merchandise left, and that more hidden stashes keep cropping up around the world. A lot of this stuff is at least twenty years old, and every time I get my hands on some of it, it's almost like getting something from inside a time capsule. I take much better care of it now than I did in the old days, especially the packaging.
It's really too bad about the XEP-80, though. It probably would have gotten a lot more support if it had been released earlier. I'd love to see emulator support for the XEP-80, but I doubt that will happen.
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Hi everyone... can I use the power supply from the Flashback 2 on a regular Atari 2600? I may be getting a 2600 from someone but it is lacking a power supply. I do have a Flashback 2 though and was thinking that if I can use the same power supply I can use the 2600 right away when it arrives.A little off topic but where can I get a replacement power supply? (Radio Shack by chance?)
No luck with the FB2 power supply; the connector and the amperage are different than the original. Fortunately, the 2600 uses a fairly common power supply (9VDC 500mA), and modern equivalents of this can be found at Radio Shack (among other places).
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Here ya go! This contains the 64K version, the 128K 130XE version, and the Proofreader (three disk images total):
Sadly, I'm not aware of very many programs that used the XEP80. I'd love to know about more myself, since it's a nice (albeit weird) little Atari peripheral that I'd like to get more use out of. Didn't it come out very late in the life of Atari's 8-bit computers (around 1988)?
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One place to start would be to look at the metal domes on the circuit board inside the joysticks. I don't happen to remember if they are the same size as the domes used in 2600 sticks; if they are, you could probably pick up some inexpensive replacements (although these seem to wear out faster than the originals). Another alternative would be to simply unplug the whole board and plug in a new one; if you're interested, I think I have a few extras.
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I had both striped and non-striped versions, and they seemed identical aside for the cosmetics. I actually like the non-striped version better, so when it came time to sell one, that's the one I kept.
Speaking of the Intellivision II ... the label says that it requires a 16.2VAC power supply. Is it really that picky? I'm running my unit right now with a 12VAC 1200mA power supply because it was the closest match I could find, and it seems to work just fine.
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I had an XEGS with a bad ANTIC chip once, so I swapped it out with one from a dead 600XL. It worked fine, and I suspect that the 6502 and the other coprocessors are also interchangeable.
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One other issue with the AtariMania site (and I do visit periodically when I'm looking for something that can't be found elsewhere) is the abundance of hacked/cracked versions of Atari software. One example is Boulder Dash: there are 24 "versions" in the database, but if I remember correctly, there were only three legitimate releases for the Atari 400/800 (Boulder Dash, Boulder Dash II, and Boulder Dash Construction Set). The others seem to be duplicates or cracked versions with different (annoying) greetz screens, and I've seen this problem with other games, too. It would be nice if the cracks could be filtered out or somehow distinguished from "virgin" copies (if any are available).
In spite of that, though, I do think it's a great resource, and I wish I had more to contribute. I did get a bunch of brand new Atarisoft titles today (Apple II and TI games) that I wouldn't mind scanning in for the Atarisoft section, if anyone at AtariMania is interested.
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The XF551 is actually capable of using DSDD diskettes in their full 360K capacity (assuming you're using the correct DOS), so it is not necessary to notch these if you're using them for simple data storage or to store game binaries. A lot of larger programs that require the older 90K format of the 810, however, are configured to read data from both sides of the disk and will ask you to switch to one or the other as needed. If you're interested in making backups of these, you may find it necessary to notch your disks. I'd recommend getting a proper disk notcher for this; it's a lot easier (and safer) than measuring and punching out the holes and B&C ComputerVisions sells them for only a few dollars.
Does anyone happen to know whether the XF551 is capable of reading/writing to flippies as easily as the 810 and 1050 could? I know it uses a standard IBM-compatible drive mech, and from what I remember, those aren't nearly as compatible with flippies. I'd test it with my XF551, but I'm using it with a 3.5-inch drive mech at the moment.
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I think Curt indicated that it would be a slot that is pin-compatible with the original cartridge slot, but in a different form factor. I imagine it will be something smaller, cheaper, and easier to carry around with you than the original cartridges, but also something that would allow an (unauthorized) adapter so you could play original cartridges if you want to. I don't care too much if they use a 5200-looking case, which would probably be "retro" enough to suit the product even though it isn't as recognizable as the 2600, as long as it is a 400/800 clone internally and not a 5200.
As for games that should be included, one of my points in pushing the 8-bit computer idea for FB3 is the richness of its library of titles. Almost all of the major arcade games of the era had ports on the Atari 400/800 or 5200, many of them of high quality, and they could easily assemble a recognizable collection of core pack-in games by tapping into these, as well as some of Atari's 400/800 titles like Star Raiders, Star Raiders II, Caverns of Mars, and some APX games.
Other titles they could tap into to create a really nice mix include the most popular games from EA, Broderbund, and Lucasfilm (I'm thinking mostly of Archon/Adept, Ballblazer, and Lode Runner), as well as some games from Synapse (Necromancer and Pharaoh's Curse would work great in a handheld, IMHO) and some others like Spindizzy, the Boulder Dash games, Flip and Flop, Jumpman Junior, etc. A lot of these are third-party games that would have to be licensed, though, so they might make better "sold seperately" titles instead of pack-ins.
Of course, I wouldn't mind seeing some new games, either, as long as they aren't rushed like some of the FB2 games seemed to be.
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It's another NOAC (NES-on-a-chip) system. There are two little glop-tops on the tiny board inside; I assume that the larger one is the main integrated chipset, while the smaller one is either the game ROM or the chip that controls the menu.
The games in this unit weren't terrible, but they weren't accurate enough to hold my attention for more than a few minutes. With a little modification and a few parts, though, they make the best Atari 7800 controllers you can buy.
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I can tell you for a fact that the Intellivision TV-game units are NOT the real deal. They're NOAC systems like many of the others, and the handful of games I tried only superficially resembled the Intellivision originals. I heard Keith Robinson say in an interview somewhere that they were produced as a way to raise money to license more Intellivision games for future emulation compilations. I picked up one of the 10-in-1 units after I heard that (albeit at a discount), just to support the Blue Sky Rangers. I think the final product could have been much better, though, and I don't plan on getting much use out of it.
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I've always liked the SMS/GameGear implementations of Sonic. The Genesis versions blow them away graphically, of course, but the SMS/GameGear versions were very impressive 8-bit efforts. Didn't they give you things (like different level designs) that you didn't get in the Genesis versions? I seem to remember getting a rocket pack of some sort in Sonic Chaos.
One of my most ambitious homebrewing goals is to attempt a port of SMS Sonic 1 to the Atari 7800 once I get more familiar with the system.
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I recently sold off my entire video game collection with the exception of all Atari items (2600, 5200, 7800, Jag, Lynx), Colecovision, Intellivision, Vectrex.Basically, I kept the 'classics'.
Anyway, I want to expand into the Atari Computers, but don't know where to start.
As a kid, I had a TI-99 and a C64 so I don't know where to really begin.
I want a system with a lot of carts. Don't really want to load tapes of 5 1/4 disks if I can avoid it.
Is the 800XL the best place to start, and what am I looking at price wise to get a nice starter set. (system w/ a couple of games)
I personally would recommend the Atari XEGS. It has a couple of advantages over the other machines in the 8-bit family: it has composite video/audio jacks built right in, the cartridge slot is right on top of the unit and easier to access than the XE computers (which moved the cartridge slot to the back), and it has a detachable keyboard that you can extend using any DB15 joystick extension cable. I've also found that the video quality is better than the other machines, which require a special cable to connect to today's front-panel composite TV jacks.
The XEGS is compatible with all XL/XE cartridge software and comes with Missile Command built-in. You can get them in pristine condition for $50 from B&C ComputerVisions (which is where I got mine), or you can usually find inexpensive ones on eBay if you want to risk going that route.
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OK I have discovered that I have several brown Atari 800 games (Qix, Basic, Star Raiders) that have two socketted chips inside! 24pin. Most are soldered. I assume these are 2732 4kb each? I was thinking of burning some binary game files to eproms and making my own cart. What kind of Eproms can I use? Can I use larger ones and just duplicate the code like on other systems to make it work? What if I want to use a 16k file? I am sure Nir would be the expert to ask...I've got quite a few carts with soldered ROM chips also. You can't use EPROMs as drop-in replacements for these chips, though, at least not without also adding a hex inverter.
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FB3...
in AtGames Flashback and Portable Consoles
Posted
I agree, they should re-use the FB2 controllers for the FB3 because they were well-done and are all that the A8 games really need. That would save them money that would otherwise go toward developing new controllers. If there are games that require more buttons, I imagine they could pull out the inputs for a handful of keys, add them to the console itself, and reconfigure the games to use them. The C64 stick did something similar, as did the XEGS (with its pastel function keys).
Regardless of what they do, though, I'll definitely be buying one too. Has anyone heard anything about a release date, or is it too early to know?