Larry
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Posts posted by Larry
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Just upgraded my PC cpu to an Intel Conroe E6320.
Atari800WinPlus now runs at ~3400%, up about a 1000-1200% from my E4500.
Anyone getting over 4000%? An "accelerator" of sorts...
-Larry
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At any rate, posts by the author are there.
Hello Larry
Reevesoft is Alan Reeves!
greetings
Mathy
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Yes, where are the pics? All I can find for these threads are "not found" and "removed."
Was the upgrade placed on "double secret probation?"
-Larry
Where did the pictures go? I need to refresh my memory for correct installations.
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UPDATE:
Out of curiosity, I searched comp.sys.atari.8bit in the Google Groups Archives using the Advanced Search tool. There are a number of posts there about (key word) Diamond including several posts by Steve Reeves. It makes for interesting reading on the subject. BTW, the time period was around 1998.
-Larry
Walter-
You might try to contact Reevesoft. *IIRC* Years ago he came "back online" at CSA8bit and I think that he made it freeware. But don't take that as an absolute answer. I'd start by searching through the Google archives of CAS8bit.
If/when newer 80-column display devices become available (and I'm especially thinking about Claus' proposed video cart), then an 80-column version of this might be a logical, nice project. We already have the mouse interface. An accelerator would likely be a plus. Now would all this stuff work together...
-Larry
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IIRC Reevesoft is still in business. You'd have to get thier permission first.
Tempest
Walter-
You might try to contact Reevesoft. *IIRC* Years ago he came "back online" at CSA8bit and I think that he made it freeware. But don't take that as an absolute answer. I'd start by searching through the Google archives of CAS8bit.
If/when newer 80-column display devices become available (and I'm especially thinking about Claus' proposed video cart), then an 80-column version of this might be a logical, nice project. We already have the mouse interface. An accelerator would likely be a plus. Now would all this stuff work together...
-Larry
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ah... the 800 is so nice... and I was not aware that nearly everything was on a chart... even the CPU/GTIA/ANTIC board...
imho a very professional looking "tank"...
Yes, isn't it amazing how BIG most all the pieces were? Of course, same for everything of the time. I feel fortunate to have "gotten on for the ride" in '82.
Now if we just get a few more pieces to bring our A8 "up to date."
-Larry
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Here is a link and a short text file that might help with the original question.
http://atrey.karlin.mff.cuni.cz/~pavel/atari/nirpal.html
(Obviously written many years ago so the contact info is invalid.) I believe that Nir still lurks here occasionally, though.
Incidently, if all you want to do is play an occasional game or demo, then the emulator makes a very easy to use alternative.
-Larry
one way to get pal games to work on ntsc machines is to swap antic for a PAL one. Just about all modern TV/ monintors will be able to sync the different frame rate.
James
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A very good choice, I'd say. Star Blazer *almost* led me to buy an Apple II -- glad I went to a dealer and watched the Atari 800 after seeing the umpteenth "Only on Atari" TV commercial. Star Raiders sealed the deal!
-Larry
Was Sky Blazer (also known as Star Blazer on the Apple II) ever released as a cartridge? I've got it on floppy, but my 1050's acting weird, and I wouldn't want to have to replace it just to play this excellent game.
(Sure, I could play tons of other games, but most of the ones that interest me are available on cartridge anyway.)
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A lot of folks here still like floppies, but I prefer images of everything possible. However, that fits in with my overall strategy of using my PC with my Atari whenever feasible. For my display, I use an ATI All-In-Wonder video card which I use for the Atari or watching (mainly) NFL football. Can't quite watch TV and use the Atari at the same time, but I suspect that's coming, since multi-core processors make things like that much more feasible.
Since I use the PC for my A8 display, I virtually never start up the Atari without APE running. APE is amazing, next best "Atari 810." Of course, these are Win Apps. But there are similar systems for Mac's and Linux. If you are a Windows user, check out APE, and in particular its extra features such as printer emulation and its APE Loader menu system and its PC Mirror. A few features are "crippled" in the Trial Version of APE.
Some folks prefer the SIO2SD or (similar) SDrive to store their images. I have both and they are nice, but to me you can't beat the convenience of APE. I keep a well-stocked folder of ATR's on the desktop, so it's a breeze to grab an image and slide it into position in APE's "drive array."
Copy-protected software images: APE will do some as "Pro" images. (Requires an AtariMax dual interface or a Pro interface that is different that the regular SIO2PC.) Be cautious with old floppies, since APE has to read each track several times to deduce the copy protection. That can "eat them up" if the oxide/binder is in poor condition. There was interest several years ago for an "open source" imager for protected software, but after having some work, that has gone pretty dormant. Still there are some ATX images posted that can be used with APE or the emulator (IIRC). This was called the VAPI project, I believe, and IIRC, requires a 1050 Happy Drive.
Good luck!
-Larry
Hi guys I have recently joined the forum after dusting down my 8 bit kit which as been stored in the attic since 1993.I have invested in sio2pc and will be transfering original software where possible to my pc as ATR images. I do have spartados but any advice on transfering original copy protected software .I also have lots of stuff on multiboot menus and cassette software that was put onto disk with transdisk software. Any advice from you guys on managing 8 bit software on todays technology(also have 3 1050 with doubler fitted) and software emulation would be much appreciated before I start configuring my set up.
many thanks to all the guys that welcomed me to the forum on my first posting.
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Thanks, Flashjazzcoat. I've done some more searches, but can't find any info on if Freddie is used on the late model Taiwan 800XL boards. I suspect it is not, but I'm going to look at a couple of my newest boards.
Was wondering myself, so just found this:
FREDDIE
CO61922, CO61991
(snip...)
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Showing my ignorance here... what exactly is a "Freddy 800XL?" I keep reading references to "Freddy" but I don't believe I've ever met him...
I remember that when the 130XE came out (U.S.), "Freddy" was described as the MMU. But I also seem to remember that was later said to be incorrect -- that Freddy was not the MMU. If not the MMU, what does Freddy do for a living in the A8? Did late model (Taiwan) NTSC 800XL's have typically have Freddy on them -- or just PAL versions? I have a bunch of late model Taiwan NTSC boards, so is there a specific part number that I can check for on the board?
Thanks,
Larry
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Ah, thanks! It's what I call the "plunger type" and at a good price.
http://www.mcmelectronics.com/product/TENMA-21-8240-/21-8240
-Larry
If you look at this link you'll see the word 'It' from the next sentence was accidentally made part of the link.
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I use a desoldering iron I got from MCM Electronics probably 10 years ago: http://www.mcmelectronics.com/product/TENMA-21-8240-/21-8240It works very well and is extremely affordable. I've desoldered everything from resistors and transistors to 40 pin IC's and ISA slots from PC motherboards. It's not listed ESD safe, but I've never had any problems even with old CMOS stuff.
Are you sure about the link -- I got a "Product not Found".
What type is it -- iron with plunger, iron with rubber bulb, etc.
-Larry
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> I recently bought the fun and challenging game, Jumpman Jr, on cart by Epyx. (snip...) <
I pulled out my JJ cart and put it into my 130XE (320K with stock XEOS only).
First plays title screen intro and song.
Next shows the screens contained in the game.
Pressing SELECT at any time takes you to "Number of Player?". OPTION changes from 1 to 4.
Pressing START takes you to the SPEED selection, 1-9 with 1 being the fastest and 9 really slow.
Tried the JJ cart on another 320K XE with an 800 OS and it would not come up at all; nor would it come up in the XE OS in that computer. That computer has an internal MyIDE, so that might be the issue.
Tried the JJ cart in a 256K 800XL with the XL/XE OS -- works perfectly. Switched to Omnimon (800 OS) in that computer -- works great. Tried the JJ cart in the same XL with the Omniview -- won't come up at all.
It's a little picky, but my guess is that your cart has issues.
-Larry
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Sounds perfect for APE's PC Mirror (registered Version only, though). Set the PC Mirror for your PC directory and D: as the target drive directory. I've done this many times with MyDos, but not Sparta. But I still think it would work fine.
In my case, ©opy D4:*.*,*.* It hauls away...
-Larry
I am looking for a FAST easy way to copy a bunch of files from a PC dir to an A8 SpartaDOS folder. Obviously I can do them 1 at a time, but I need something faster. The H: device in A800winplus 3.1 doesn't support a wildcard copy from H: to D: so that is out.
Any ideas out there?
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They should put him to work FOR the U.S. if he is that good, and I suspect they will. If the do extradite him, it will improve the Justice Dept's bargaining position with him. BTW, what do you think MI6 would do?
-Larry
Just wondered what people think of Gary McKinnon the British hacker the US want to extradite. It sounds like they are exaggerating just slightly about the damage he is supposed to have done.
He started out with an Atari 400 - more can be found here....
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Looks fantastic! Sure looks nicer than D-ram upgrades.
As you add to the manual(s), could you please include pics of the finished project(s).
-Larry
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Hi Ed-
Nice to hear from you, but sorry to hear of your health issues. Hope you are well on your way to a complete recovery.
-Larry
As the second oldest Atarian here (Larry beats me by a year
),I just wanted to say "Hello" to all my 8 bit friends!I had another stroke amd had to be in a nursing home for a while,but I am back and full of piss and vinegar!!!!
To all my Atari buddies:
Atari Forever!
Dinosaur
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While looking up an article in my Analog's, I kept running across the columns on FORTH by "Sally Forth." Always wondered who that was -- I guessed it was really written by Joel Gluck (sp?) who IIRC wrote some FORTH things published by APX and Analog (Bounce?). Anyone actually know who it was?
-Larry
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For the sake of trivia, there was a "Mouse Trap" sorta-like done in BASIC in Analog magazine. The game was called "Cat and Mouse" and was included in the article "Atari's Multicolor Character Sets" by David Plotkin. It was part of an article on using GTIA multi-color character sets.
Analog #12, July/August, 1983. All the basics are there, and probably could be greatly improved if someone was ambitious.
-Larry
It would be a great game on the 8bits, you could use Z, X, C for Yellow, Blue, Red gates and the fire button for the Dog.
Only Venture and Mousetrap on the 2600 were released, too bad...
Curt
Isn't Mouse Trap for the A8? I know it for the Coleco.
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I'm running 1.4B3, and last I remember, Warerat said that 1.40 wasn't released yet. Perhaps I missed that? But IIRC, he also said that the math/config number displays were better in 1.40, but that its disk operations were the same as the 1.4B3. I'll check into this, but as I mentioned, my newer 80-pin drives show the Blksz: 512 (with 1.4B3).
-Larry
BLKSZ doesn't change to 256 when you hit the spacebar?
No, but then I didn't try to get it to. I'm thinking that 512 is the correct block size, and all my other working drives show 512. The modified firmware pads the other 256 bytes, so the MIO is dealing with 512 byte block size, isn't it?
-Larry
No, you need to set that value to whatever the DOS is looking for. What firmware are you running? I run 1.4.0 which is newer than 1.4b2. IIRC, I don't think you can set the BLKSZ with 1.4b2.
If BLKSZ is 512, that's probably why it's bombing. Earlier versions (like 1.4b2) didn't allow you to set that BLKSZ. When I boot my drive with SD 3.2g, it will only see drives that the MIO sets at 256b - the 512b are unreadable by SD3.2 (and probably ALL known A8 DOSes) and you cartainly cannot boot from or format them. If I boot with SDX 4.42, it will see both the 256b and 512b drives.
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BLKSZ doesn't change to 256 when you hit the spacebar?
No, but then I didn't try to get it to. I'm thinking that 512 is the correct block size, and all my other working drives show 512. The modified firmware pads the other 256 bytes, so the MIO is dealing with 512 byte block size, isn't it?
-Larry
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ST31055N fw: 0532
When you say it almost works, how is it failing?
Thanks!
At the MIO config menu, it gives 512 for the block size 100% of the time (unlike some drives that give varying or weird numbers of zero or 65536 or such for the blk sze). My first inkling that something was amiss was a failure while saving the config data on about the 4th or 5th save. When I go to MyDos and try to format the drive. It pauses a bit, then gives error 163.
If I apply no termination to the drive, it almost works (as above). If I apply term power, then it fails instantly, 100% of the time -- gives a blk sze of 200K+ (IIRC). (???)
-Larry
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Hi GroovyBee-
I thought that Y1 looked suspiciously like a crystal, but that is the smallest I can recall seeing!
But anyway, I took your advice and re-flowed all the solder joints and added a little at a couple of pads that ICD "shorted" on the solder.
And the R-Time 8 works perfectly now! I've got TDLINE activated and I'm watching the seconds tick by -- it hasn't missed a beat!
Thanks much!
-Larry
Looks like a trimming capacitor to me. The silver tube led down (before it in the picture) is the 32kHz crystal. Try reflowing all the joints on the underside of the PCB. Don't heat the crystal up too much tho. If the crystal and trimmer capacitor aren't connected properly due to dry joints that could also cause problems with keeping track of time.
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How fast will your emulator run?
in Atari 8-Bit Computers
Posted · Edited by Larry
Hi Rybags-
Interesting. Our processors are very similar (E6400 vs. E6320 Core Duo @ 2.13GHz, 2MB+2MB cache) so I would think the performance would be pretty similar. No matter what my settings (video refresh rate, window size, etc.) mine seems to run around 3000 - 3400%. I do normally use real hardware, but for a few things like using ARC, having that kind of speed is pretty neat. I'll still probe around in the settings and see if something is amiss.
-Larry