cdoty
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Posts posted by cdoty
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SOLD.. Thank you.
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The 2nd PV-2000 is also working, but doesn't include a joystick, and includes a boxed game and a loose game. The keyboard film has been removed, cleaned, and replaced with a low quality printed sheet of paper. All of the keys are functional. The paper cover gets the job done, but would look better if it was replaced with a nice overlay.
The price is $300 with shipping and insurance within the US. Shipping outside of the US will be more expensive. For shipping outside of the US, I would prefer to ship through DHL, due to the pandemic.
Additional high res pictures can be viewed at:
https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/1n46gQMHFr06eWxpThJkrwMz4byqmmiUj?usp=sharing
The system includes a working power supply, a boxed games, and a loose game. It does not include an AV cable. It is a standard cable. I can provide one for $10, if you prefer.
The game box is intact, but does show signs of moderate to heavy wear. Both games do work.
It is fairly easy to wire up a Genesis 3 button controller to the system, even for a beginner. I can provide pictures and instructions if interested.
I am working with a guy in my area to get NES controllers working with the system.
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I purchased a couple of PV-2000 bundles to pick up the pieces for the system. These are the extra pieces I have.
First one sold.. one still left.
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Looking at the MAME source for the driver, the Gauntlet board has support for 1024 "motion objects". These object could also be a variable number of tiles in the X and Y direction.
There is also a playfield, so no sprites were needed for the background.
It's pretty safe to say, the hardware alone could handle enough sprites for Gauntlet.
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I am looking for an F18A chip to complete an AppleTi card.
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Has their been any clever code you've amazed yourself with lately?
For me, it's a joystick handling routine.
Handling joystick input, in any assembly language, is always messy.
I got the idea to wrap the joystick handling into a macro that accepts "callback" routines for each of the movements, buttons, and an idle "callback". This is closer to the model used in many higher level languages.
This separates the joystick handling logic from the bit processing to identify the inputs, and it allows the code to be used in different sections of the game, I just have to write routines to handle the specific inputs.
I also customize the macro based on the inputs expected. My current one only looks for left, right, and fire. But, in a high score screen, I might need all four directions.
A potential downside would be the handling of diagonal movements near an edge. The macro could be expanded to check for diagonal movements first, and call the appropriate callback.
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On 7/14/2020 at 8:00 PM, doctor_x said:MSX computers - at least some of them - are kick ass looking which has made me research them a bit... Seems like all they are really good for are Games.. I did read that someone ran a BBS on one so I suppose they can do more than that - but why so much money for a machine that is basically just a Nintendo?
Am I missing something?
All MSX machines had more RAM than the NES. The lowest RAM MSX was 8kb, and there are only 1 or 2 models that had that much RAM, 16kb was the typical starting point, which quickly grew to 32 or 64kb.
The MSX also had a keyboard, a version of Microsoft Basic, a tape interface, and typically some type of expansion port or second cartridge slot. Basically, you could do a lot more with a MSX machine than you could a NES. The pricing of the MSX was consistent with typical computer prices, such as the SV-318, Sega SC-1000, etc.
On 8/12/2020 at 3:45 PM, doctor_x said:Thanks for the replies guys.. the guy who mentioned them behind a “standard” makes sense to me now that I consider all of them have most things exactly the same - and only a few additions on a few models.. I know there is one that was called a “communicator” or something.. built in modem and i believe phone handset too....
i also lust after the sony X68000 and used to think it was an MSX as well - but nope its not.
From what I understand, a MSX machine had to meet the minimum spec, but companies were free to add their own customizations as long as they didn't break compatibility.
There are MSX 1 machines ranging from the small Casio MX-10 to MSX machines that would not look out of place in a home theater setup.
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This seems to be the 0.45 version of tniasm. It chokes on the v1.0 directives.
I did find several situations where it's generating an optimization suggestion that is technically correct, but risky.
It will suggest replacing a call followed by a ret with a jp/jr.
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On 8/14/2020 at 12:16 PM, Pixelboy said:I googled this subject briefly, and I'm seeing indications of a limit of 32 buttons, but I could be misreading this.
The Retronic Design USB adapter supports 16 buttons, the joystick, and the spinner, from the Super Action Controller. So, at least 16 is possible.
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Yeah, I had to use an EPROM board for that. The Phoenix should be able to load the ROM from the SD card, right?
I started looking into modifying the embedded ROM in the AtariMax firmware, but it looks like it used BIOS calls.
If it's possible to get the source, I would be happy to modify that source to work on the Pencil II.
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10 hours ago, phattyboombatty said:I just dug up this thread, which I found inspiring. I am curious to find out how the Pencil II games play, and I think it would be neat to see them running on a ColecoVision. I did a quick search, but I'm not sure the ROMs have been made publicly available. Has anyone considered releasing and/or converting these for The Fun of Discovery?
They seems to play fine. Both action buttons, the keyboard, and the joystick worked fine. I thought I had found an issue when Treasure Hunt stopped at the end of the game, but it was just waiting for the * button to be pressed.
It does run fast on a NTSC Colecovision, since the Pencil was a 50 hz PAL system.
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9 hours ago, Bmack36 said:So it is just a different BIOS used, otherwise everything else is the same?
A different BIOS, and it needs 2k instead of 1k. And, it will use the SGM as extra RAM.
It also runs at 50hz instead of 60hz. The music plays fast on a 60 hz Colecovision.
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I have code running on the Pencil II, and have started working on a game (or 3) that will end up on the Pencil II.
I have my own library running on all known TMS-9918 based systems, and have tested it out on the actual systems via a cartridge and/or cassette. This does not include add in boards for a few systems, and the Apple IIe add-on, but I have ordered a AppleTi board and I'm trying to find a F18a board for it.
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Yeah, the balls would definitely make the controllers easier to use.
I only know of Treasure Hunt that can be found and is supported by MAME. I guess there are three others around that haven't been dumped yet.
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It works!
Here is it booting. I had to use a 27e257 EPROM with the modified BIOS duplicated 4 times to fill up the EPROM. I couldn't get my EPROM burner to burn a 27c64 EPROM today and an EPROM emulator didn't work in 2764 mode.
After that, I burned the Treasure Hunt game to another 27e257, and the boot screen started cycling, which I recognized as a memory issue from my testing in emulators.
Once I reseated the Super Game Module, it came to life and the game worked:
The controller works as expected.
Here is an IPS patch for the mt.u4 BIOS rom:
This will work in BlueMSX if RAM is added (16k or 24k at $6000) in the Machine Configuration. It doesn't emulate the Super Game Module RAM correctly, or at all.
It also works with the Basic cartridge, and the cartridge does recognize the extra RAM. The controller does generate some input.
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5 hours ago, Serguei2 said:If there's an usb version, I will buy it.
Depending on how the extra buttons are mapped, Retronic Design sells a USB adapter that supports ColecoVision controllers.
https://www.retronicdesign.com/en/
As a bonus, it supports a lot more classic controllers.. and mice, if you ever wanted that feature.
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Given that there's a slim chance that I will ever see a Hanimex Pencil II for sale, and an even slimmer chance that I could afford it, I decided to do the next best thing, convert a Colecovision to a near Pencil II system.
The system would use a Super Game Module to supply the 2k of RAM needed by the Pencil II. I'm assuming that changing out the SRAM chips wouldn't give the Colecovision 2k, since there probably aren't enough address lines running to the SRAM. This should be closer to a Pencil II with the 16k ram expansion.
I currently have a BIOS working under BlueMSX. I only need to patch in a routine, of 7 bytes, to enable the SGM and change the initial jump to jump to the routine first. I'm not doing any checks for the SGM or Adam ram, since it's designed to go into a Colecovision and the SGM needs to be present for any of it to work. I'm pretty sure the $1A01 area of the BIOS is safe to use, as it seems to contain the name of a source file, which is duplicated, in lower case, below it.
The only potential issue I see is timing with enabling the SGM ram. I will be able to test later this week, as I have purchased a modified Colecovision with a socketed BIOS. Granted, this will not support the keyboard or cassette tape interface, but my main objective is to test out Pencil II software, that I create. The Basic cartridge does load up and accept input from the controller.
Are there any other potential issues I may have missed?
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On 6/28/2020 at 5:16 AM, bfollowell said:I would certainly never knock any of Lotharek's products. He makes and sells great items and has great service, but this doesn't look like a very good device in my opinion when compared to a Gotek or one of Lotharek's SD HxC floppy emulators. The two major issues that I see are:
1) This would keep your ST shackled to a modern PC much like SIO2PC-USB for the 8-bits. This may or may not be a problem for the OP.
2) It says right on the product page that this device is read only, so the OP would never be able to save anything to a disk image, no game saves, nothing. That seems like a major drawback to me, almost to the point of being a defect.
TGB1718, you definitely have other options besides the Gotek if you want to consider them, but I don't think the device suggested here would be a good one for the above-mentioned reasons.
I do also own an UltraSatan and a Gotek, but find the USB card the easiest solution for playing games on the ST. It's a bit rare for games to write to the disk. UltraSatan is nice, but requires more than the standard 1MB of RAM, to load games. And, having to configure the floppy slots, on a Gotek, does get a little tiresome. Being tethered to a PC can be a problem, but it does simplify the process of changing disks.
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On 6/26/2020 at 9:56 AM, mdivancic said:I’ve never seen a Gotek for $25.00, but you would need a case and a cable for an external version, or just replace your floppy directly. Advantage is that it emulates a floppy for games that only run from a floppy.
Ultrasatan is another option. Hard drive emulator. It’s what I use as I don’t have any need to emulate a floppy.
Check out Lotharek’s site for retro computer goodness.
Amazon (in the US) has Goteks (or knock off versions) for $27.99, I bought two last week and they worked with FlashFloppy.
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On 6/25/2020 at 9:00 AM, TGB1718 said:What is the best way to transfer files/games to the ST, I was thinking of using a USB to Serial cable I have that
I use on my 8 Bit Atari's to my PC but also think I would have to write some sort of program to handle the transfer.
I would recommend the USB HxC board.
https://www.lotharek.pl/productdetail.php?id=42
It is super simple to use, and removes the need to mess with a physical floppy drive at all. As a bonus, it is also compatible with several other computers.
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There should be nothing stopping you from using a Z80 assembler and setting the start address to 100h. A com file is just a headerless binary that starts at 100h.
I use this technique on the Tatung Einstein and Memotech MTX512, both similar machines to the Coleco Adam, and it works fine.
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1) Is this idea interesting for you?
Yes, especially if the joystick could be configured to support multiple systems. Being able to support obscure systems would be a huge advantage.
2) Are you looking for some new joystick because your old was damaged?
Either damaged or just not included with the purchase.
3) What types of sticks do you prefer? What joysticks do you like? What was your favourite joystick in 80/90's? ( CX40, QuickShot etc. )
I prefer the NES/SNES style controllers. They just seem so much more comfortable than a joystick.
The Hyperkin Scout is a decent joystick.
I never did play with a good quality joystick in the 80's. The Gravis Gamepad was a nice controller in the 90's.
4) Would you like exchangeable stick at your joystick ( when you will get tired of the old type of stick you can simply change it for another one ) or you'd rather buy another new joystick when you want to exchange the stick?
Swappable joysticks never seem to work out. The swappable parts are usually the weak point.
5) Is the autofire function important for you?
No.
6) How long stick movement do you prefer? ( short movement is like pressing a small button, long movement is like pressing a key on your keyboard )
Short movement.
7) Do you like an idea that you can buy only the 3D data for your 3D printer and make it for your own?
No.
Do you have some tips why this idea doesn't make sense?
Poor quality or outrageous will not go over well.
There may be a bigger market for adapter cables rather than joysticks.
Finding quality joysticks for older systems is a huge challenge. Buying original joystick is often very expensive.
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On 11/28/2019 at 10:44 AM, carlsson said:How common is it for Apple II games to utilize the analog properties of the joystick? I understand this adapter will convert the digital signals of the joystick/gamepad to full throttle on the analog inputs. If you're using an IBM to Apple adapter with an analog joystick, you'll retain that property at the cost of a not as nice joystick.
It's probably a lot like Dos gaming. Outside of racing and flight simulators, most games used a direction only approach.
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Yep. I got an e-mail yesterday, and ordered one.
Thank you.
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TMS-RGB: An RGB Mod for 2020 and Beyond
in ColecoVision / Adam
Posted
TMS-RGB will not work on either of the SG-1000 MK II systems I have. One has a TMS-9918, the other has a Sega custom chip. Luckily it was easy enough to mod the system for composite video, which was my initial goal.
I will be trying to install one into a Dick Smith Wizzard next, which does have a TMS-9929, I believe.