Paul Slocum

I've asked this before, but I never figured it out. I have Atari800Win running fine in 5200 mode. I have Ms. Pac Man loaded and running perfectly. My question is: How are the 5200 controller's Start/Pause/Reset buttons emulated? I can't get any games to start. I tried F4 but it doesn't work. I'm guessing that F4 is the Start button on an Atari 800 keyboard, not a 5200 controller. -Paul

The Vectrex version of it is almost arcade-perfect. I wish I had the overlay. -Paul

I just built an XE-1541 cable last week. I had to get the latest beta for it to work, but it works great! I'm using it with a Pentium 166. I first learned to program on the C64, and I wanted to back up my first programs on my PC. I was also able to download and make disks of games where my original disk had gone bad or is lost. -Paul

My favorite C64 game is Below the Root. Others that haven't been mentioned: Racing Destruction Set Alice in Wonderland Conan The Neuromancer -Paul

I believe 33 people should have their Synthcart at this point. For anyone else who's interested, you can read about them and order them off my website. Thanks to Rick Weiss, there will be one at NWCGE that you can check out. BTW: There is an easter egg, if you can find it! Synthcart Site -Paul

Atari 2600 graphics just aren't conducive to a game like Star Castle. There's probably some way to do it, but it would be exteremly diffcult and probably wouldn't look very good. 5200 would be a better candidate. -Paul

Sorry I haven't gotten back to you. The top 3 bits index into the sound type array. The note on/off/accent volume you stated are correct. I believe the tempo is 7 frame for the fast tempo and 10 frames for the slower one. -Paul [ 03-10-2002: Message edited by: Smart Patrol ]

Well it's not entirely new, but here's my entry! entry -paul

The Synthcart does have a consistent 262 scanlines, but I do a STA TIM64T during the third VSYNC. I've run my program in PCAEWin on PAL colors, and the difference is barely noticable since it's mostly text. I may go ahead and make a version with the correct number of PAL scanlines. The reason I've been hesitant is that it significantly changes the tempo values. Thanks to everyone for all the great information. -Paul [ 03-10-2002: Message edited by: Smart Patrol ]

If you guys don't mind, tell me what kind of TV your using too. The reason I'm asking about this is that I've started selling the first Synthcarts, and some people who don't have any NTSC carts but have PAL setups have been wondering if it will work on their system. Thanks for your help. -Paul

For people who have a PAL Atari and TV, do NTSC cartridges work on your PAL system? -Paul

I'd love to see that project done. If you do get it working, I could probably find time to enhance the beat player so it supports more than just two beats, but still works on the Supercharger. I'll answer your question about beatdata.h when I get home and can look at my notes. -Paul

You could make the game split screen and have a suction cup divder that goes on the TV so each player only sees their side of the TV. -Paul

It really helps if you've programmed drum machines before because then you kinda know where stuff goes to get a normal sounding beat. When I was making my beats I did a lot of copying and pasting too. I got some basic drum patterns down and then I'd modify them into new ones. Mostly I used the noise sound at a low pitch for a kick drum, middle pitch for a snare, and high pitch for a high hat. I'd make a simple beat using those, then fill in other cool noises between. Here's Hally #2: beat1 byte %10011110, %00111001 byte %00111011, %00111110 byte %01100001, %00111101 byte %00111110, %00110111 byte %10011110, %00111001 byte %00111010, %01100110 byte %01100001, %00111101 byte %00110110, %11000110 byte %10011110, %00111001 byte %00111011, %00111110 byte %01100001, %00111101 byte %00111110, %00110111 byte %10011110, %00111001 byte %00111010, %01100110 byte %01100001, %00111101 byte %01110110, %11000110 byte %10101010, %10101010, %10101010, %10101010 beat2 byte %00110111, %00111111 byte %11110111, %00101111 byte %11010110, %11111111 byte %11100110, %00111111 byte %01100101, %00111111 byte %11110101, %00101111 byte %11010100, %11111111 byte %11100011, %00111111 byte %00110111, %00111111 byte %11110011, %00101111 byte %11010011, %11111111 byte %11100010, %00111111 byte %01100101, %00111111 byte %11110001, %00101111 byte %11010001, %11111111 byte %11100011, %00111111 byte %10001000, %10001000, %10001000, %10001000 [ 03-05-2002: Message edited by: Smart Patrol ]

Well I just sent out the first five Synthcarts and then realized that there was a problem with the casing with some of them. There's a capacitor on Chris's board that snags the dust flap when used with 4 or 6 switch Atari. You have to fold the cap down after soldering on the EPROM. The problem carts work fine on a 2600 Jr, which of course is what I was doing my final testing on. I'm probably going to have send out a few replacements too. It's hard when you don't have a QA department! -Paul

Why are the silver Space Invaders/Asteroids only 3 in rarity? Is there back stock somewhere or something like that? I've never seen either of those, and I only find one in completed items on ebay. I'm sure there are a few that don't use the word "silver" in the ebay listing, but even so, it seems like there should be more than just one. -Paul

We need Chris Wilkson to finish his Superchip board. -Paul

I sent in a Commdore 64 program to 3-2-1 Contact magazine and it got published in 1987. I got a fat $25 for it! (which I was really stoked about since I was 13.) -Paul

How about you use an inverted version of what StellaSketch does. So the whole screen flickers at first, but captured areas are the background color. That way, as you do good in the game, you're rewarded by less flicker! -Paul [ 02-27-2002: Message edited by: Smart Patrol ]

Thomas: How were you picturing Qix on the 2600? -Paul

Well, they have them on the page. They could be out as their page isn't always up to date. Worth a try, though. -Paul [ 02-26-2002: Message edited by: Smart Patrol ]

I've decided which beats will be included on the Synthcart. The Synthcart is so much better because of all these great beats. Part of my decision was based on how well beats combined with other beats. Most of the entries are made up of two combined beats, and in some cases I just used one of the two. In cases where I did this, I indicate A or B. Battlezone 1A Felemel 1 Felemel 2 Felemel 3 Hally 1A Hally 2 Hernan Callo 2A Jeff Gregory 1 Moycon 1B Randy Ball 1A Randy Ball 5A Scot Kinnebrew 1A Smitty 4B Thanks again for all the great entries! -Paul

Controller Page

Atari 2600 -> C64 -> 1040 ST -> PC -> SNES -> N64 -> Gamecube -Paul

I must sound like I work for 4jays, but I've just been happy with their prices and service. They have them loose at 4jays for $25: 4jays -Paul