Thomas Jentzsch

One more question: In your test ROM, you are displaying a SaveKey, even if there is no SaveKey attached. Is this a bug or am I missing something?

RIP Curt, I will miss you.

Yes, it is seems impossible to detect color delays. It works in Stella when the TIA glitch is enabled. 👍

R77 supports FAT32, so you can use really large partitions. The OS is Linux based.

Got you. But I will only change the software if @batari promises to release it officially when it is done.

The menu code is the part which would be almost impossible to detect. The are too many ways to waste time.

Maybe we could try to detect something like "lda #XX, sta SWACNT" with the same value for XX used at least 8-times? Would that work for multiple, especially coming ARM games? Or is that just special code for Frantic?

For a limited number of combinations, we can add new controllers quite easily. But eventually we will have to refactor. Actually only because it uses INPT0, just like the Sega Genesis (but with opposite values). I meant the R77 kernel. The original Linux kernel was modified by Hyperkin. Paddles are using something like a separate device. Which makes them react to different axis in Stella. I also vaguely remember that there is some kind of controller detection going on in R77. Hot swapping controller types does (or did) not work. Good to know for testing. Thanks. I am sure this can be changed quite easily. But AFAIK even the 2nd joystick support in Harmony which I added by hacking an existing BIOS (needed that for testing my Trackball hacks) is not even officially released yet. Or am I wrong here? You're very welcome.

Not with the current static ROM analysis.

OK, but then you are doing this for fun, no?

What's the value for "_DS_ATARIVOX"? I figure it is changing for each game and maybe even different builds of the same game?

36€ just for the case? Ouch!

An Atari or Amiga mouse would do too. I think they are cheaper and usually need less maintenance. OK, that's the point where it starts getting complicated. Each "DuoTari" can support N^2 controller combinations (more or less). Which adds another level of controller setup on top of the basic controller setup. I wonder if we should go that far or if we (at least for now) only add fixed combinations which are used by an existing game. Then Joystick/Joystick would be the only combination so far, correct? OK, I think we can eliminate this for now. Definitely something for later (if ever). That's why I am asking. Because that seems like the most useful use case so far. SWCHA only. I think handling them for each port separately fits better to our code. Thanks! Looking forward to it. It will only become complex (also for the GUI) if we allow controller arbitrary combinations. Else it seems straightforward. BTW: Have you tested with R77? I doubt it will work, at least the way the kernel is currently designed.

No reason to be sorry, I didn't think you implied something like that. And I have created an issue today. Stella has no run-time detection, so we can only rely on static analysis. Maybe there is a certain code pattern which is used by QuadTari games, e.g. the controller detection or switching? Else I would suggest using signature strings.

Question: Does the QuadTari only support joysticks? Or would e.g. paddles, driving controllers and trackballs be supported too? Also, is it possible to mix controllers at one port? So would something like this be possible? left port: joystick and paddles right port: trackball and AtariVox I figure paddles (and Genesis or Omega BoosterGrip) might be a problem due to INPT0/1 auto detection (maybe this should only work for a moment during power up?), but all others seem feasible, no? if yes, a full implementation will become quite a bit more complex.

@SpiceWare , @johnnywc: Any chance that Stella might be able to detect AtariVox code in the ROM? It already detects the SaveKey using pattern from i2c.inc, but that's common for AtariVox and SaveKey. Alternatively, like for some bankswitching types (BUS, CDF, CTY), we could use a (repeated?) signature string.

I agree, this is pretty rare. I am not even sure if I ever did this, and I stressed the TIA quite a lot already. It would be cool to find out if it happens on other consoles too. The fact that it never was reported means little to nothing, because mid-line background color switches are very rare. As of now I don't know about any original game doing that. If such a game exists and the problem is from your TIA and not the mod, then someone would have most likely reported that already.

Yea, some circuits are more on the edge than others. It even seems to depend where on the screen they are, maybe from how often the register got switched rapidly during the frame). At least that's what the Pesco video seems to indicate. There the top stray pixel appear first. BTW: I am 100% speculating here, because I know little to nothing about this kind of hardware.

We discussed this briefly in the past, but until now we didn't have all the necessary information. Regarding the ports, IMO we would have to come up with something new. I don't thing the CompuMate approach will be sufficient, because we will have not one controller but two. And they have to be switched on-the-fly. The latter is something Stella supports already, but the code is not meant for permanent switching. But this is something for the Stella team to discuss. ( Knowing the minimum cycles for DUMPPORT switches would help developers a lot. BTW: Any suggestions how to auto detect the Quadtari support (static ROM analysis)? Maybe we should define a short text pattern (e.g. "LQUAD" and "RQUAD" for left and right port) for all coming games. And then we need the patterns for the existing game(s?). Also, since we would have to decide for one controller per port, which priority would you prefer? Your example program supports normal joysticks, Genesis and Quadtari. I figure that not that many people will own a Quadtari and/or use Stella for it, so maybe a Genesis would be highest priority? Followed by...?

I am not disappointed. I was only hoping for a lunchbox in Atari 2600 style.

@ZeroPage Homebrew After watching last night's show, I added a new TIA glitch option (delayed background color) for developers to Stella. Picture attached. I had never seen this glitch before. Now I have to check if was already reported somewhere or if your modded console is totally unique here.

That was part of my calculation above already. I suppose you think about a fully unrolled kernel which runs from RAM. That might work, but is far off the original hardware too. I think DPC is not fast enough too. But I am no expert here. Sure, no problem with that. I was just checking the limits of the original hardware.

That sounds really terrible.

As far as I understand the situation, autists usually do not want to be "cured".

How is raising awareness something bad? Isn't it something good if "normal" people are informed and understand autism? Or do they spread wrong information?