Fred_M

There is a workaround for that by manually changing the config file that is created for each software image on the USB stick. More info here:

Many days ago I already commented that this "ultimate fix" is not a definitive fix.... The design of the joystick is cheap and faulty. This all could have been prevented if Retro Games Ltd would have asked some die hard Atari 8-bit users (there are so many of them on AtariAge) to test their product.... A few days ago I decided to place a warning on my Facebook page (1380 followers). This is so sad, I really hoped the 400 mini would have been a fantastic product and a great tribute to the Atari 8-bit home computer series 😞

(deleted) Sorry, my post was about 9 pin to usb....

You do not have to be a member. Everyone can access the website and download software. No account is needed.

In the later years (end of the 80s, early 90s) various games and software were released for the Atari 8-bit computer that used the ST mouse. The mouse support had to be included in the software itself. Here are a few examples from the Atari 8-bit FAQ: Subject: 8.6) What programs have a track ball mode or support a mouse? Contributors: Andreas Magenheimer, Mirko Sobe Title Keystroke Required -------------- --------------------- - Missile Command by Atari CTRL-T - Slime by Synapse [T] - Shanghai by Activision choose controller type: ST mouse ! (plug it into port 2; if you do not have one, you have to reboot!!) - Bombdown by Roemer of Uno choose between Joystick, Amiga mouse, ST mouse or CX85 numeric keypad (use port 2 for any mice) - Minesweeper by Raindorf-Soft use an ST mouse in port 2 - The Brundles by KE-Soft use an ST mouse in port 2 - The Brundles Editor by KE-Soft, PD use an ST mouse in port 2 - Geisterschloss by KE-Soft, PD choose Lightgun (port 1) or ST mouse (port 2) - Vanish (ZONG, Vol. 5+6/1993); use an ST-mouse in port 2 - Hong Kong (ZONG, Vol. 5+6/1993); use an ST-mouse in port 2 - Maus-DOS (ZONG 5+6/1993); use an ST-mouse in port 2 - Faecher-Patience (ZONG 1/1993); use an ST-mouse in port 2 - Macao (Zong 5+6/1994); use an ST-mouse in port 2 - Multi-Mouse manager (PD) drivers for mice, TB, etc. - Multiplayer 2.1 by Madteam supports ST + Amiga mouse in port A - Unriagh I (german PD adventure) has drivers for ST mouse+Joystick (stick=port 1, mouse=port2) - Unriagh II (german PD adventure) has drivers for ST mouse+joystick (stick=port 1, mouse=port 2) - little Calculator (AMC-Verlag, PD) uses ST-mouse only (port 2) - big UPN calculator (PD) uses ST mouse, TB, Touch tab. and joystick; (there are different COM files, rename the one you wish to use to *.EXE; all drivers use port 1 - if I remember correctly) - Operation Blood (ANG/Mirage) press mouse fire or Select to start in ST mouse mode (port 2) - Operation Blood 2 / Special Forces press mouse fire or Select to start (ANG/Mirage) in ST mouse mode - Sprint XL (ABBUC Jahresgabe 1992) uses an ST mouse in port 2 - M.O.S. (ABBUC magazine) uses an ST mouse in port 2 - Diamond GOS (Reeve software) all three versions support an ST mouse in port 2 - S.A.M. (Power per Post) german GUI, supports an ST mouse in port 2 - G.O.E. (TCS) supports an ST mouse in port 1 - BOSS-X (MS-Software, Mirko Sobe) supports ST-Mouse in Port 2 Missing in this list are a.o. Mines! and Rotor II AFAIK the emulator used in the 400 mini is based on the open source Atari800 emulator and that emulator does support the use of a mouse. From the info on Github: - Paddles, Atari touch tablet, Koala pad, light pen, light gun, ST/Amiga mouse, Atari trak-ball, joystick and Atari 5200 analog controller emulated using mouse.

My thoughts.... the atari 8-bit computer community is a different one compared to the 2600. Take a look at the 8-bit computer forum here on AtariAge. Most of the people there are serious and passionate users. They have been using their 8-bit computers for a very long time and are still creating new games, hardware pheripherals and magazines. These people are proud of their Atari 8-bit home computers and are not necessarily a fan of the 2600/GSPRO consoles. For example, I never had a 2600 or a 7800 as a kid, but I did have an 800XL. So I would not say there is only "one" community. These Atari 8-bit computer enthousiasts know their stuff and are probably not the target audience of the 400 mini (the GSPRO and the 2600+). That is probably why you do not see many of them in this part of the forum. But these people know their stuff and know what the Atari 8-bit computers are capable of. It is hard to see that RGL/Plaion/Atari made a product that does not show the full potential of the Atari 8-bit computer line. Simple testing would have showed that: the joystick is not responding correctly, the placement of the function keys in the ring of the joystick is not a very good idea, MULE has some bugs, the display does not show enough of the available screen, (virtual) keys are missing on a connected USB-keyboard, strange mapping of the keys of an USB keyboard, stereo Pokey is not supported (the Atari800 emulator does support this), artifacting is not supported and controlling 5200 games is very difficult with the CXstick. The Atari 8-bit computer community is a small community, but a very active community. If they don't like something they will say it out loud 😉

The PCB of the CXstick has test points, I think it is easier to solder wires to these points than to the legs of the very small chip 😉 I am planning to add a DB9 port to my CXstick. Thanks for the resistor tip!

Sorry, but my CFG post was a bit off-topic. It will not solve your problem, it is a solution to run PAL-games that are not compatible with NTSC from USB stick. This has nothing to do with your tearing problem. So you tried both 50hz and 60hz. You also tried different power supplies. The only thing you can do (sorry 😉) is to connect it to another monitor or TV, just to find out if your 400 minis are faulty or that your Dell monitor cannot handle the HDMI signal the 400 mini generates. I just have taken a look at the manual of your monitor and 720p resolution is not listed as a supported resolution.

Somehow (I don't know how) the usb ports at the front are signed to the player numbers in the games. So USB port 1 is joystick 1, USB port 2 is joystick 2 and so on. With only a joystick in port 4 your custom buttons will work but in game it is player 4. That's why I put my keyboard dongle in port 4 😉

Yeah that was really ridiculous 😆 But (I am being honest here) those youtubers got their consoles for free, I was not expecting unbiased reviews.

My joystick is very bad too. As an Atari 8-bit user since 1985 I can honestly say that this is the worst (and most expensive) joystick I have ever had 😢 As the Atari 8-bit computers have a large and enthousiastic user group worldwide (and on AtariAge) I can not understand why RGL/Plaion/Atari did not collaborate with "us". So many mistakes could have been avoided. Sorry, I am Dutch and Dutch people are direct. This product lacks passion.

Thank you! Can you supply the cfg of an European game please 🙂 for example Henry's House or Elektraglide. I was hoping that there was a cfg-file for the emulator itself, like this one of Atari800: https://github.com/lutris/atari800/blob/master/debian/atari800.cfg

Did you find any configuration files in there? The cfg-files that are created for the USB stick games are different than the standard cfg-file Atari800 uses. It would be nice to find some extra cfg "commands" to enable for example stereo pokey (Atari800 does support that) and maybe other "commands" to make the 400 mini more compatible.

Thank you for the update!👍 Sadly the Atari VCS joystick is not available in Europe....

I was editing my post to add some extra info, but sadly..... yes.

No, it does not. It only switches when you make a choice for 50hz or 60hz during setup. So it looks like the 400 mini has the same behaviour as the C64. But....I tested the config file trick and it works. If the system is setup for 60hz and you want to play European games that have compatibility issues when played in NTSC this simple trick will make them play. Open the cfg-file of the game on the USB stick. If there is no cfg for that game, you have to run it first so the cfg-file is created. In the cfg-file you will see a.o. emulator_machine = "130xe-ntsc"; emulator_force_pal = false; American users will see someting like "130xe-ntsc" or any other Atari 8-bt system. Change the emulator machine to "130xe-pal" (or any other Atari 8-bit computer in PAL) and emulator_force_pal to true. emulator_machine = "130xe-pal"; emulator_force_pal = true; The PAL-games will still run a bit faster than intended to (60hz), but they will work properly. I have tested this with a.o. Inside by Spektra (garbled screen and crashes in NTSC) and Draconus (flickering player missile graphics/sprites in NTSC). Playing PAL-games at the correct speed should be possible. For example Altirra runs on Windows PCs. Monitor output of PCs is 60hz but when Altirra is set to PAL, all games and software run correctly and at the right speed even when the monitor output is 60hz. I will take a look at the Atari800 emulator settings, maybe there is an option to include in the cfg-file.

I don't know if it matters, but I have plugged the USB dongle in USB port 4 at the front of the 400 mini and it works fine for me.

I have tested the output of the 400 mini. It actually does switch between 720p 50hz and 720p 60hz, depending on the choice you made during setup. Many PC monitors only work with 60hz. In the cfg files of the games on an USB stick there is an option to state the machine used: emulator_machine = "130xe-pal"; I am going to test this while my 400 mini is in 60hz (=NTSC) mode. I think it will work as the European built in (50hz) games (for example Henry's House and Elektraglide) are also running at the correct speed even when the user selected 60hz.

Maybe the low serial number consoles are at the bottom of the stockpile 😉

I have also successfully connected an old wireless USB keyboard that comes with its own dongle.

Yes, it is so weird that RGL chose to make the joystick this way. Even on Aliexpress you can find new counterfeit CX40 joysticks (sadly only db-9) which use microswitches inside for under 10 euros. The64 mini also had a crappy joystick, some people even broke them litterally, but RGL decided to improve that joystick for the64 maxi release.

Yes, you are right ofcourse 😉 Luckily most of them (or even all?) are available as xex files 😉 Other solutions are available too, like the Picocart and the AVG cart.

You can still continue your trip into the Atari 8-bit era, it is a great destination 😉 Use the money you will receive from your seller to buy a second hand 800XL or 130XE and a SDrive-max. The Sdrive max is a SD-card device to load (and save to) any ATR, ATX, XEX, COM, CAR and CAS-file. 100% compatible 😉

Yes, it was taken from Atarimania:

It took the64 community 2 years to get the source code..... From:http://vice-emu.pokefinder.org/wiki/Hall_of_Shame By the way, KOCH MEDIA = PLAION -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- THE64 THE64 is a "mini console" running x64 of VICE, distributed by KOCH MEDIA. It started as this indiegogo project. x64 is statically linked into their THE64 binary the updates are Linux executables that are statically linked to libgcrypt, a LGPL 2.1-licensed library. The packaging / Manual contains no pointers to GPL software. it contains this interesting (and obviously wrong, cloanto didnt even exist in 1984) copyright notice though: CBM 8-bit ROMs © 1977-1984 Cloanto Corporation. All Rights Reserved. Furnished under license from Cloanto Corporation. The required GPL notice on where/how to get the source code is at the bottom of a 5270 lines license notice, which you can view through their menu. The same note can also be found in their FAQ. You may obtain the corresponding Open Source code from us for a period of three years after our last shipment of this product, by sending a money order or cheque for 5 GBP to: GPL Compliance Division, Retro Games Ltd. Suite 112, Crystal House, New Bedford Road, Luton, England. LU1 1HS Please write "source for <firmware version number>" in the memo line of your payment. Obviously they are trying to make it as hard and unattractive as possible for users to get their hands on this source. on 11.06.2018 algorithm requested source via their contact form. let's see what happens (->nothing) on 13.11.2018 swingflip from the thec64 forum posted the actual sourcecode that he recieved. we still need to examine it and find out if it is complete (the updater program seems incomplete at least) 17.11.2018 quick update [...] So it seems that the code provided wasn't 100%. The main bugbear I have is that the libnand for sun7i platform in the U-BOOT is incorrect so the U-BOOT code does not compile. [...] Secondly the code for the firmware update was swapped out with stubs. Not sure why this was done but technically it violates GPL [...] Also the code provided for the kernel doesn't seem complete either [...] RESOLVED some time around january 2020 a github repository surfaced, which appears to contain at least the VICE part of the firmware: https://github.com/retro-games-lt