Airshack

Looking for a modern-era safe replacement power supply for the 810 Floppy and the 800XL console. Any known sources? Are Atari power bricks safe to use or are they system-killers as the Commodore bricks are well known to be? I tried to read the details at Best Electronics but the site itself nearly gave me a migraine. :-p

A very cool idea I’ll immediately adopt. Having a why-didn’t-I-think-of-that moment.

Thanks for yet another important piece of the puzzle. Interesting. Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk Pro

I remember from XB256 I can place a sprite vertically from 0 - 255, even though 0-191 was the visible range. So I can hide sprites off screen (virtually in Memory) at 192 and beyond. As long as I didn’t position them at >D0 which is 208, which terminated the sprite number and all higher sprites. So for the 9918 the vertical blank interval includes drawing some x amount of lines above and below the 0-192 range, in addition to the electron beam diagonal travel time from bottom right to top left? Understood all but that part I think. Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk Pro

^^^^ oh that Vertical Blank Interval Link was a great one! Thanks! Great read for clarity. So...apparently the Atari 8-bit computer graphics systems had both horizontal and vertical blank interrupts. Powerful tools the TI system lacks. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vertical_blank_interrupt We’ll never know when each horizontal line has completed as with Atari’s Horizontal Blank Interrupts, so we’re polling the vsync in lieu of a true hardware vertical blank interrupt. Correct? Link led to this: “As the VBI will be generated at the start of every displayed frame (50 Hz for PAL, 60 Hz for NTSC), it is also a useful timebase in systems lacking an interrupt from a programmable or fixed interval timer. Regular software functions like scanning a keyboard, reading a joystick or maintaining a time or date measurement can be carried out.”

VAST knowledge has he. Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk Pro

So let’s say I successfully poll the CRU for vsync and eventually detect one... In my code, I now know I’ve hit a 1/60th of a second NTSC (or 1/50th second, PAL) event. I believe that’s it. This vsync event now triggers a decision tree gate which runs a specific segment of code. Perhaps I decide to do three things when vsync is detected: A. Update the player character position. B. Hit my roll-ur-own sound routine to update background music. C. Refresh the game scoreboard. How do I know there’s enough time to do these things between vsyncs? How many tasks may I tie to the vsync event? I’m thinking about counting vsyncs and enabling sub-events based on determined vsync counts... Am I attempting to process as much as I can before the CRT beam travels from bottom right to top left on the screen? I guess what I’m looking for is a few tips and techniques on the topic. The idea of using the vsync signal as a constant interval timer is manageable. If I try to do too much after a vsync is detected I’m thinking I’ll miss the next vsync, and my interval timer will then become inconsistent and result in stuttering video/audio? Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk Pro

You sir are an authority on TI gaming! I suspect another TI title which would lend itself nicely to a XXX version would be Munchman. Maybe Ms Munchman? The 2600 awful porn game was Custer’s Revenge: https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Custer%27s_Revenge' class='bbc_url' title='External link' rel='nofollow external'> https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Custer%27s_Revenge Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk Pro

Wondering if the RAM gets appreciably warmer to the touch? I don’t see any capacitor leaks but may wish to re-cap in the future. Any good sources you recommend? How about RAM? I hear Apple RAM in //e and //c models was garbage and should be replaced. True? Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk Pro

Why would my //e boot properly and run game software for hours but then: Do this when rebooted? Seems to always boot properly when cold. Once warm eventually will not reboot? Note: Has a new power supply from UltimateApple2 which didn't remedy the problem...so not power issue.

You prefer reading CRU bit 2 over reading the VDP status register, due to the hardware race or hazard (which results in occasionally missing a vsync) mentioned earlier in this thread, right? Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk Pro

The 5200 needs a good joystick more than any retro game system ever created! Plenty of folks have dumped their 5200s because the games can actually be ruined by how bad the controllers perform. I was waiting on Edladdin’s 5200 controller but this maker looks quality too. Many like me will pull the trigger on the first of the two to actually come out. Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk Pro

I just noticed this update to Magellan. Thanks Rasmus! This is a wonderful tool! Looking forward to the updates. Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk Pro

How you knew this is somewhat disturbing. Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk Pro

I was thinking to myself that it had absolutely nothing to do with Texas and/or the Chisholm Trail, or cattle, or rustling, or anything at all in the published storyline. One can just imagine some Texas Tech (or A&M) grad Program Manager directing his programmers to “make that space game more Texas friendly and we’ll publish it. Good God we’re Texans after all! Our trail is way better than that Oregon Trail.”

Damn! Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk Pro

This is definitely a disappointing situation yet sometimes they still make mistakes with this policy. I picked up an enhanced Apple //e this year at Goodwill ($5.99, minus 20% discount) because they thought it was simply a keyboard or typewriter. Same goes for the C-64 I know Sparkdrummer found a few months ago. No doubt this policy has resulted in the crushing of old systems. Probably because they don't want to deal with the issues of reselling personal data on hard drives - privacy, etc. I cringe each time I see a classic Mac keyboard, mouse and monitor at the Goodwill, because I know that means the computer itself was needlessly destroyed.

Compared to buying an empty warehouse or one filled with early 80s TV antennas, or CB radio gear, I'd say he did quite well. The whole story is rather interesting as it makes me wonder what happened to the other TI regional distribution centers? Where were they? Probably liquidation in the mid-80s followed by moving everything to the landfill for tax advantages. It is pretty cool that this stuff was protected for all these years. So much new old stock...kind of interesting. He claims there's pallets of stuff he hasn't even examined. His prices will eventually come down when the purchases slow. Surely he's not just re-listing the same old items at the same high prices over-and-over without making any sales.

That would be a great service to all. I suspect he’s selling some of his stuff at those “ridiculous” prices so there’s little incentive to come down. I believe he bid on the building without realizing there was a TI goldmine inside, so anything he makes off the stuff is gravy. Pretty sure I remember him saying it was a locked-up warehouse situation with a kind of mystery bid deal that he won. I’m sure if he was made aware of advances such as the FinalGROM he’d be more likely to part with the cartridges at a reasonable price. NOS is nice for PEBs and such but there’s really no practical reason to buy $40 single game common cartridges anymore. Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk Pro

http://nanopeb.com

The excellent Ti99Dir program can be used to manage files on the nanpPEB. I found this much more useful than dropping into a DOS window and using cf2dsk.exe and dsk2cf.exe. I mention this here because the documentation on the nanoPEB website is dated (2010) with no mention -I noticed- of the updated and user-friendly Ti99Dir software. http://www.ti99-geek.nl/Projects/ti99dir/ti99dir.html <===== version 6.4a "Since version 5.1a Ti99dir is equipped with a double browse window and supports Cf7a+ cards and Cf7a+ card images."

PM me. I have one I need to get rid of along with a few flashback 2600s. I’ll make you a sweeter AtariAge-bro deal. I have a box of 4-5 of them that didn’t sell on eBay.

Thanks! That’s a relief and I understand things a little better after re-reading the EA manual, 24.5, p.420 — SAVE Utility. EA5 is simply loading a memory image formatted file. No need to differentiate between the two during development as you can always save the file for EA5 at the end. I’ve been developing using the EA3 option and ignoring EA5, so basically just curious. Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk Pro

BASICally cool. Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk Pro

Is this a new “7800 Mini” system or that same old one that’s been around for years? Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk Pro