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Stephen

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Posts posted by Stephen

  1. Posted

    6 hours ago, flashjazzcat said:

    I'd very much like to read that conversation myself.

    Am I making up false memories again?  Maybe it wasn't about multi-tasking, but I swear there was a lot of conversation about windowing, various methods for rectangle based redraws, determining "dirty" areas for the drawing, and it ramped up when the 6809 board was being worked on.

     

    Sorry if I'm wrong on all this - it certainly wouldn't be the first time.

    • Like 1

  4. Posted

    1 minute ago, Dinadan67 said:

    If you want a FPGA-based Atari with the possibility to run much faster than the original, take a look at EclaireXL: 

     

    Yes - a beautiful machine.  Switchable PAL/NTSC on the fly, as well as various turbo modes, 2,4,8,16,32X.  Supports real peripherals (disk drives, joysticks, etc.), as well as USB keyboard and USB gamepads.

  5. Posted

    19 minutes ago, Mazzspeed said:

    The Coco3 is an interesting machine and surprisingly capable, it even has an 80 column mode and certain operating systems can run simultaneous multi users. Personally I think it was tainted with the same brush that painted the Coco2 in the eyes of the consumer (which was an OK machine, but lacking software) and as such sales were low.

    There exists a 6809 adapter board for use in the Atari 8-bits.  Also, @flashjazzcat spoke with a author of the liber09 OS for some tips on multi-tasking in his GUI OS.  Sorry I don't have better links, posting quickly while finishing up work, but a quick search here should turn up all the details.

    • Like 1

  7. Posted

    10 hours ago, Faicuai said:

    On Atari's SIO, and enabling PC-Link drivers on SDX, you will reach sustained 110Kbps effective (actually close to 12 KBytes / sec of throughput). 

     

    That is the SIO hub (4+1) that cleans-up your SIO topology, and also enables Pokey Divisors 1/0 to run for all devices connected, all day long, including your host computer (zero modifications required). There you can see how or why SIO is related to USB's design / concept. (Joe Decuir)  

     

    Here's a video showing a single pass copy of a 180kB disk using APE USB version, and divisor 0.

     

    Here's writing to a US Doubled 1050

     

    And now for something completely unrelated.  This is how fasts are drives could be, if they were not saddled with the slow SIO port.  This is a MegaSpeedy doing a single pass copy of a disk.  I got scared the first time I tried this - I thought it was formatting the disk.  Since it holds the entire copy in internal memory, you can read once and write as many times as you want.  Excellt way of mass duplicating disks.

     

    • Like 4
    • Thanks 1

  9. Posted

    6 minutes ago, _The Doctor__ said:

    I get beat down for this many a time, but I always suggest learning to solder on broken electronic crap you are sending to e-cycle or were going to be trashing anyway, You know... the smoke came out of this chinese cheap throw away thing with tiny crappy thin traces etc... if you can solder on that stuff (not to fix just to practice) then your ready to move to some older electronics of thicker traces etc.. and as you get better you can touch 130XE traces without killing them

     

    as always, try a trace repair kit using high temp epoxy if need be...

     

    Remember the Atari is from a time of low temperature lead (PB) solder... rohs lead free silver bearing solders etc are high temperature and your asking for trouble using those modern solders and high temp soldering irons! Get adjustable irons and use low temp solders!!!!!!!!!

    Dude - I can take a 140 watt soldering iron, leave the tip on for 30 seconds, press it hard against the PCB for 30 seconds, and not lift a trace.  How the absolute hell does this shit happen?  I want to see video of it.  I can use my 240VAC 50 Amp TIG welder and not pull traces from a 130XE PCB.

     

    I demand to see video of how people are fucking up these machines.  Because I don't think I could do it blindfolded with my right hand tied behind my back while in a centrifuge.

    • Haha 1

  10. Posted

    Here's an idea.  Why don't all of us users, that have more than 16kB, CTIA, and cassette, tell all the people making new hardware and upgrades to fuck off and stop wasting their time.  We don't need upgrades, we don't like upgrades.  We'll keep pretending it's 1978, and stop trying to advance the platform.

    • Like 1

  11. Posted

    Just now, kheller2 said:

    As a normal end user I would say there is nothing enticing about going over 128.  However, back in the day, ram disks, bbs, etc were so much better with that ram.  
     

    please realize your question is no different than going from 48 to 64 to 128.  Ok, 64 is way better than 48 but ...

    Why use a floppy drive or a hard drive when we have a great 600 baud cassette?

     

    Better yet - let's phrase our question in 2021 to make it sound like anyone using this machine in 2021 is an idiot.  Why would I use a hard drive on the Atari that can give me 100kB/sec when I can use a PC and get 60MB/sec.

    • Like 4

  12. Posted

    Just now, pixelmischief said:

    Please, enlighten us all about what excellent capabilities are activated by having the higher memory.

     

    This statement is as irrelevant as it is rude.  I'd apologize for having annoyed you, but I honestly don't give a damn.

     

    That said, if you told me that I would be unable to play Ultima IV without 256K of RAM, or that it would have better graphics as a result, I would be sold.  If you said that Yoomp! needs 1MB, I would sell blood and semen to get a RAM upgrade.  That's the kind of high-value proposition I am asking about. 

    Well, don't come in here and say that all we need is 16kB.  Don't come in and ask why do we need extra RAM and then get pissy when I give examples.

    • Like 5

  13. Posted

    2 minutes ago, pixelmischief said:

    Ummm...confess much?

     

    Yes.  I got my first 800XL and 1050 in 1984.  I have had an 8-bit Atari of one kind or another ever since then.

     

    OK.  Tell me why.  Tell me what was especially exciting about it.  Tell me what would be exciting about it today.

    Nothing would be exciting about it today.  If you want Intel core I-9 and GTX 3080 GTX level stuff, then perhaps you should leave a forum devoted to 1978 era hardware.

     

    If you are not excited by the modern era stuff we can do such as:

    VBXE2 for 80 column 640*240 pixel screens, or 320*240*256 colour out of a 21-bit palette, then I can't help you.

     

    If you don't think it's amazing to do word processing on this machine with 80 column screen, 160kB single file, or 10 16kB documents, then again, leave.

     

    We have a DOS that offers 16 32MB partitions, nearly 90kB/sec R/W speeds, full batch processing.

    • Like 5

  14. Posted

    God damn it.  I wish we could have a get together for a simple soldering class.  This is kindergarten level shit but all I keep reading is people killing 1970s era machines because they can't solder 3 or 4 wires for an upgrade.  It's not like we have an easy supply of spare parts for these machines.  How can we stop the slaughter?

    • Thanks 1

  15. Posted

    48 minutes ago, pixelmischief said:

    Other than the Numen demo, is there any real reason to have more than 128K.  I admit to being only an intermediate participant in the Atari ecosystem, but I do flatter myself that I play just about everything that comes out on the platform.  Why so much RAM?  What can I do with 1MB that I can't do with 128K?

    If all you do is play games, then no.  There is nothing for you.  If you are an app coder, or use the machine as a content creator rather than a content consumer, then you wouldn't even ask this.  Go back to playing Combat on the 2600.  2kB is all you need.

    • Like 6

  16. Posted

    1 minute ago, pixelmischief said:

    C'mon guys.  Even if you told me that The Last Word REQUIRES the extra memory, I would still argue that a Word Processor on an 8-Bit system can not be considered a "killer app".  I'm looking for something that needs the memory and is an experience or capability that makes getting the memory an exciting proposition.

    What are you looking for?  Porn movies?  Did you have one of these machines in the 80s?  Going from16kB machine to 128kB and then above was a major event.

    • Like 5

  17. Posted

    With SDX, the machine becomes like an early generation PC.  Hi-mem, relocatable device drivers.  Last Word can open 10 documents at once, or 10 different 16kB documents.  It's damn impressive working on a 160kB document on this machine.

    • Like 4

  19. Posted

    The term is normally used regarding downloading way more than one would upload (in the days of peer to peer).  Maybe the site only allows a certain number of downloads per day?

     

    OK - I tried to download one disk, and got the same error.  We'll have to determine the site owner and contact them.

  23. Posted

    OMG - this is the relief from work I have needed.  If it is a dead mouse in there, please post a picture for us!

     

    I've heard all the talk of Jaguar and the fumes it gives off causing such strange behaviour, but just put it down to internet lore :)

    • Like 1
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