MrFish

This is basically what I was saying in the quote above. Some developer might have perfect success using their device powered on the PBI when it's the only add-on device doing so; but as soon as one or more other devices get plugged in expecting to receive power from the Atari, all bets are off. Devices could draw power from the machine on the SIO port too (unless you're an unmodded 1200XL), which adds another ingredient to the cauldron. Developers have no way of knowing how many other devices someone might have hanging off the machine, and could easily create devices that were completely void of consideration for what else might demand power from the machine (especially back in the "wild west" of computing 80's). So, by Atari forcing them to get their PBI devices powered elsewhere, it could avoid a lot of potential user frustration (and support frustration for Atari).

Yeah, thankfully they had the sense to include it on the XE's. Maybe because you couldn't plug a 1064 into it. Haha...

Yeah, it's a kinda weird situation. It's obvious that it's useful to have it on all PBI's, because external power is often not needed/necessary (the Atari power supply provides enough power). Maybe it was a means of insuring that any PBI devices would have whatever power they needed, because they would be responsible for supplying it (externally).

As far as the history, this seems similar to CopyMate (by Mike Palmer), but adds the highspeed, etc. features. Maybe an updated clone of sorts. CopyMate had a lot of variations/versions.

Yeah, I'm not saying the joystick connection for 5 volts isn't useful, I just prefer the internal mod. I often used the joystick connector when I would get a new 800XL and wanted to test the RAM 320XL out on it.

I just opened up my 800XL and snapped a shot. The 5 volt mod is the yellow wire, obviously.

There are quite a few modern PBI devices that expect 5 volts from the PBI port. RAM 320XL and the Turbo Freezer 2011 would be two examples. RAM 320XL came with a cable with connectors for pulling 5 volts from a joystick port; but that's a rather cobbled looking solution compared to adding one small internal wire to the 800XL motherboard.

In the documentation (found on the disk) for 2.1 it says this: MyCopyR! 1.0 vs MyCopyR! 2.1 There have only been three major changes from 1.0. These are the addition of a directory option, the removal of the disable memory upgrade option (INVERSE KEY), and the removal of the MANUAL ENHANCED density function. Also, due to a bug in the HAPPY ROMs, all HAPPY drives are set for FAST-WRITES. This will eliminate the 3rd byte bug that caused problems with version 1.0. Several minor bugs that were version 1.0 were fixed in 2.1. The worst of these bugs prevented version 1.0 for working with a 400/800 or 1200XL computer. Also, you get this in the docs: MyCopyR! 2.1 by Glenn Smith PO Box 3209 Grand Jct., CO 81502

Correction there, I meant to say 8 pixels wide. Too late to edit my post now...

I just had a look at the 8-bit computer version ROM in Omnivore. You're using the right view, except it's easier to see if you make the byte width = 2, since each sprite is 2 bytes (4 pixels) wide. When doing that, you end up with this starting at $3C9A. Having a look at the 5200 version, you end up with the same thing at $7CB3, but the sprite data doesn't line up like the 8-bit version; basically because the beginning of the sprite data just happens to fall in the file/ROM on an uneven byte number. I'm not sure if Omnivore has a way to shift the view of the bytes to accommodate (the ability ought to be added if it doesn't exist). I couldn't see how to do it in a quick scan of the menus, though. Anyway, at least that gives you a starting point.

I should point out that by entering the Self Test from BASIC the Memory test will not test as much of the RAM, though.

Nice looking machine. Keep that keyboard out of the sun. Hold down <OPTION> while turning the machine on, and you'll get the "Self Test" screen. You can test out the keyboard keys (manually when it's not run using "All Tests"), sound voices, and RAM. You can also get to the Self Test by typing "BYE" (then hitting the <Return> key) from the READY prompt in BASIC, or typing "DOS" (then hitting the <Return> key) from the READY Prompt in BASIC (if you haven't loaded a DOS from a disk drive).

Here's the thread about the World Record table. "Empty", in this case, means the default records that came on a new copy of the game. Summer Games

There's a thread on the forums where getting a version set up with a clean (empty) World Records table was done. Although at this point maybe a clean, original dump has been made too.

Yeah, alright... I thought there was something else different about the cart version that I didn't like.

Probably what XXL is thinking about with Spelunker are the differences between the Micro GraphicImage release and the Broderbund release. The Micro GraphicImage version had this title. And the Broderbund version had this title, and some little animations for the various game credits.

That was already mentioned above (I even posted an image of the disk version title screen). The cassette and cartridge versions both have a low-res Zaxxon logo, that gets drawn on the screen as if it's being written by hand.

OK, a quick look reveals that it was just one option left off when Atari converted Summer Games to an XEGS cart. The option is pretty important though; it's the ability to save and retrieve world records. This is somewhat understandable, since an XEGS cart has no way of storing dynamic data; but nothing would have stopped them from allow a user disk to be inserted for such an option. This was certainly done with other cart games (Eastern Front 1941 comes to mind). Saving and challenging world records was one of the more interesting aspects of playing Summer Games in the first place. So, I consider this to be a serious downgrade.

Yes, a rather odd exclusion for something going to a large (64 KB) XEGS cart. Having a look inside the cart, there seems to be ample free space for storing the title screen data. I added the title screen to an XEX version -- all variations of which are missing it, due to being conversions of either the cart or cassette versions. I also enhanced the screen some and started working on a more heavily enhanced version. See in this thread: Hardball - Title Screen I never really thought the XEGS title screen was much of an improvement. I at least appreciate the attempt; although I think the main drive was about getting the large "Epyx" logo off the screen. The thing I didn't appreciate is that the game itself got downgraded in the conversion. It escapes me, right now, exactly what was left off of the cart version; but I believe it had to do with the options for gameplay, and possible one event (?). So, whenever I play it on cart, I go for the Atarimax conversion of the disk version of the game.

I didn't expect it either. It may just be a result of using an unshielded cable; but I rather like having the option.

All of the Spy vs Spy games had title screens on the disk versions, but missing on cassette versions. Hardball was another one with a missing title screen on cassette version.

Bruce Lee is another one. It had this splash screen, and also music that plays while the splash is displayed. These weren't included on the cassette version.

Yeah, the disk version of Zaxxon also adds this splash screen. I would say that counts too, as he was asking about "content".

To elaborate on this one... Some things added in the disk version are: 1. missile silos that fire up at your ship 2. uses the real 3D effect in space, compared playing on a plane in the cassette (and cartridge) version. There may be other differences; but those are the two I know about.

I found an interesting and better (in some cases, in my opinion) way to display highly artifacted screens on Atari 8-bit computer games on my JVC BM-H1300SU CRT studio monitor. I took a few photos and posted them here: alternative artifacting option.