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KulorXL

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Posts posted by KulorXL

  1. Posted

    My strategy is to find the desired game in form of a binary load file (.XEX) file that is working with emulator. Then I convert it to a tape image (.cas) with either XEX2CAS 2.4 or Turgen System (The Standard plugin). The probability of success is much higher. There is a price to pay, however. The .XEXes are usually pirated versions, so you lose the original experience of the fancy loading screens.

     

    Wowwww, thanks for the tip! I just loaded Yoomp through the cassette drive, I had no idea that was even possible!

  2. Posted

    ;-)

     

    Fantastic, that got it working!

     

     

    Try this system, it blows everything else away.

     

    Turgen System: http://turgen.sourceforge.net

     

    This is also great!

     

    I noticed something strange...I found out I can load .WAV files into Altirra, and it would appear that CAS rip of that Yogi game doesn't work in that either. Whenever I try to load it up, either directly from the CAS or from a WAV rendered by A8CAS or Turgen, I get the same flashing "CASSETTE LOAD ERROR" screen that I also get on real hardware. Is this just a bad rip?

     

    The CAS image of Encounter, on the other hand, loads fine in Altirra but still loads into a glitched version of the game on my system. Since it's always glitched out in the exact same way, maybe something other than the cassette loading is at play here?

     

     

     

    Thanks, I'll give that a look!

  3. Posted

    Thanks everyone for all the help!

     

    The setup shouldn't matter. The problem is probably dirty tape head and/or improper level of the recording, entirely possible it's too high.

    And remember on many bootable tapes or disks you need to hold Option on startup (as well as Start for tapes) - until you see the normal blue window.

     

    I've been holding start and option for all of them -- is there a time when I shouldn't hold option? I've also been playing around with the volume level on my phone, and none of the WAV files are clipping.

     

     

    Yeah like Rybags says, there's lots of images about which are not to friendly on tape, as he said levels can be too high leading to boot error also be careful with some images about, they are turbo tapes which only work on a modded tape deck, these were very popular in Eastern Europe due to the price of disk drives being extortionate over there and I believe there was difficulties getting them but I could be wrong on that.

     

    Man that's a pain! I mostly got a PAL model because I want to play those weird Polish homebrew games. Are there any details on what those tape deck mods entail?

     

     

    PS, do try and get some form of SD USB etc type adaptor, its so much easier and MASSIVELY quicker than 15 mins of tape access let alone multi disk games are more fun than multi load tapes which also means there lots of games that can't be ran from tape because disks allow full access to lots of data while tapes just stream in one line, plus the whole fast forward to where the tape counter says X number is a royal pain...

     

    Yeah, I do intend to eventually get a SIO2SD, this is sorta my stopgap.

     

     

    CAS2WAV is VERY old - don't use this program. It was written almost 20 years ago...

     

    You can convert CAS files to WAV with A8CAS-tools by Krótki or with A8CAS-util.pl by FUJI.

     

    The only reason I'm using CAS2WAV is because I can't actually get any of the A8CAS stuff to work! I found another thread suggesting that CAS2WAV might not be compatible with all CAS images (I was calling them TAP before, oops), but it's the only thing I've been able to get to spit out a WAV file. Running A8CAS-Convert just gives me a 40-ish KB file that's definitely not a WAV. I've tried searching for some simple usage documentation but I can't seem to find it, maybe I'm just blind.

     

     

    Not 100% on the 1010, but the 410/XC12s a little Philips head is all it takes to readjust the head after you clean it. Since the speed/bands are not part of this setup, a head clean and adjust would be the 1st order of business.

     

    What would the procedure be for readjusting the head, if I can find the pot for it inside the tape deck? I hope not just trial and error?

  4. Posted

    I just got an Atari 800XL, and right now I don't have anything fancy like a SIO2SD or SIDE or whatever. What I do have is a 1010 cassette drive and a car cassette stereo adaptor, so I've been using CAS2WAV to convert TAP images into WAV files, transferring them to my phone and then playing them back into my 1010.

    It seems to work pretty well...except when it doesn't.

    For some reason, I'm finding the reliability of actually successfully loading a program this way is maybe 50%. There are some TAP images that just absolutely will not load, and others that load more often than not, and I'm not really sure what's going on that could be causing it to fail. Is there some kind of trick to make this more reliable?

    For reference (hope this isn't frowned upon), here's a TAP image that loads successfully pretty much all the time: http://www.atarimania.com/game-atari-400-800-xl-xe-cavernia_959.html

    Here's one that loads the first side OK, but always seems to throw an error shortly into the second side: http://www.atarimania.com/game-atari-400-800-xl-xe-yogi-s-great-escape_5895.html

    The 32K version of this loads most of the time, but it never actually plays and just glitches out when you try to start: http://www.atarimania.com/game-atari-400-800-xl-xe-encounter_1839.html

    My setup is maybe a bit unique in that I have a PAL 800XL, but the cassette drive is one I picked up in the US, and I'm running it on a US mains, if that makes a difference.

  5. Posted

    So I just bought a Lynx 1, actually in really good shape with pretty much no paint chipping. The only problem is that the rightmost third of the screen is a little bit dimmer than the rest of it. Is anyone familiar with this issue and is there any way to fix it? Capacitor problem maybe?

  8. Posted · Edited by KulorXL

    The 3200? I've got info on that from a Retro Gamer magazine.

    ::opens::

    "And then came Project Sylvia, also known as Super-Stella and the Atari 3200. It retained compatibility with the 2600 while offering new possibilities through enhanced sound, graphics and an improved 10-bit processor. It also looked a lot like sandwich toaster, but that's not what killed it. When game designers were presented with the new machine to begin experimental development they found it was simply too difficult to program -- and remember, these people were accustomed to 2600 development which as good as required them to program the TV's electron beam directly! The machine was scrapped, meaning Atari still had nothing but it's ageing[sic] 2600 as its[sp] main product in the escalating console war."

    Wow, their grammar and spelling are terrible. I suppose that really didn't help...

    I've also got a picture of the thing, which I can scan in once I get my scanner working.

     

    EDIT: Nevermind, it's just this one: http://www.atari-computermuseum.de/pics/pr...ypen/cx3200.jpg

  9. Posted

    The inside looks almost identical to my standard 600XL, aside from the Chelco logo.

    I speculate that this (yours) is a very early model, before Atari made Chelco take their name off the board.

    But does that mean all 600XLs were manufactured by Chelco...? Interesting...

    Included are some pics of the standard unit: http://rapidshare.de/files/9129157/StandardTar.zip.html

    Sorry about the quality on these; the other ones were taken outside during the day, but these were taken at night during the last minute before I had to return the camera I was borrowing.

     

    23: No Chelco logo! Woh...!

    24: However, mine does have some gibberish on the keyboard. Two red wires to the door on this one.

    27: Noticibly bigger printing.

    30: Chelco-Tar on top, standard on bottom.

    31: Shield removed. If only I could do this on Chelco-Tar...

    32: Different ribbon cable for the keyboard, and a closer view of the line of resistors not present in the Chelco model and the lack of a Chelco logo.

  10. Posted

    Awesome, so I'm not the only one. I see you're in Houston...I thought perhaps these were models released in Mexico, but yours sounds rather different from mine...

    And yes, the Chelco-Tar is of outstanding quality, whereas the standard one is sorta cheap.

    Revision 8A? They made 8 friggin' revisions? I wonder what the black famous proto 600XL says...if these are proto/mockup 600XLs, then yours is obviously farther along in development and closer to the final than mine, which sounds about right. Possibly the last one before the final model? Though it wouldn't make sense for you to buy a prototype brand new back in those days like that...

    Maybe Chelco did make and mark all the 600XLs. Like I said, I've yet to open up the standard one. My standard 600XL has the black tag with a white serial sticker on it as well.

    I'll post up pics of the standard in the same areas when I can.

  11. Posted · Edited by KulorXL

    I've been on these forums a few times before pertaining to this matter, but never before with pictures as to back up my claim.

    Long story short: A guy who fixes these sorts of things for a living said it wasn't standard, perhaps a mockup or a prototype. It wasn't until I got another 600XL that I was able to fully document the differences. And now, I present to you, as I like to call it, the CHELCO-TAR.

     

    5: Chelco-Tar on the left, standard on the right.

    6: Notice the different font used for the keyboard printing. Also, the "'" symbol is identical to the "/" symbol. Also notice the visible screw right under the spacebar.

    8: Stepped keys! I seriously wonder why Atari ever changed this; this thing is great to type with, as opposed to the chaulky-feeling standard keys.

    9: Parallel Bus, power switch, and the housing are all different.

    10: This power switch really sucks, it's ungodly hard to operate. Also, the holes for the switch box, channel select switch, and power switch are all noticibly smaller.

    11: Close-up of the parallel bus. Everything else is aligned fine, so why isn't this...? Bottom metal things are a lot bigger. There's one on the top that's just as big, but not visible. Also, no metal backing.

    12: No serial number (not even a trace), missing holes in the casing that are present in the standard. Visible differences on the inside that I can't get to.

    13: Overview of the insides. Is there supposed to be a red wire hooked to the cart door? It doesn't seem to serve a purpose. Havn't opened my standard 600XL up yet, so can't point out any differences.

    14: CHELCO...?

    15: The thing preventing me from further exploring this thing; notice, the tab is actually bigger than the hole it's inserted in. They're all like this, too.

    16: I'm not sure if this is standard or not...close up of the Chelco logo. Hard to see in the pic, so I enhanced it in Chelco.png.

    18: Chelco-tar on the left. Hard to tell from the pic, but the text is a lot lighter and harder to read.

    Also included is Tarry.png, a snapshot of the thing in action. I could never really get a better signal than this...

     

    Maybe this can help someone verify for sure just what this thing is?

     

    EDIT: Sorry, had some issues with uploading it. Download it here: http://rapidshare.de/files/9076163/CTar.zip.html

     

    EDIT 2: Do all model 1 power supplies look like this? http://cgi.ebay.com/Atari-AC-Power-Supply-...1QQcmdZViewItem

    'Cuz if so, I have one with some apparant differences as well. It's also worth noting that Chelco-Tar didn't work with a model 4 (I think) power supply that worked with a standard, only the model 1. I havn't tested it on any others.

  13. Posted

    Writing back images with a PC drive is more complicated than you might think …

     

    It mainly depends on the density of the image, and the type of 5.25 drive you have. If you want to write back double or enhanced density images, and your PC drive is an older 40 tracks one (360K), then it is usually ok. Otherwise, it is complicated at best … But seems you like complicated ways to do things, so it might be ok for you :)

     

    That would probly involve a bit of coding, then; my drive's one of the "new", 1.2MB ones. Details I'm not sure of, since I got it from a friend.

    Actually, once I get a bit farther into Java, I might be able to do something for that...if Java can even do that...I'll have to discuss it with my teacher. That'd make a great final project.

    For a quicker solution, I might end up building a SIO2PC and using it with my 1050 to burn a DOS disk, or buy a DOS disk somewhere...once I get that, isn't there an HDD for the Atari that I could use (or an IDE2SIO, or something freakish like that?) to backup the disk images?

  14. Posted

    It's strange that they wouldn't include that as an option for such a program...that and single-density modes you'd think would be essential for 400/800 and XL fans.

    And the tape drive...ahh, I love being an innovater...I'll migrate this method to an MP3 player once I can get one. Problem with that is, if it records in the MP3 format (like you'd expect an MP3 player to do), then it's no good; MP3 involves way too much quality loss to be depended on for data storage, you may as well use tapes...I hear they still make ones that record in a raw format, but they're slowly being replaced by MP3 recorders...

  15. Posted

    It works! Fwahaha! It works like a charm, too. This is so perfect...

    Now, just one last thing: how do I get disk images from my PC 5.25 floppy drive to my Atari 1050? I need to burn a copy of DOS so I can use the durned thing...then, I shouldn't really need a SIO2PC, since I can just use my PC to archive the disk images.

  17. Posted

    It's not the slow times I want, it's the stand-alone that I want (if this works with my PC, I can use an MP3 player for the recording/playing). If I used a headphone/tape adaptor, the sound would still be going through the 1010 and thus be converted. Or are you saying it's saving more than it's playing during the process of saving?

  18. Posted

    If she's a 9-year old girl...call this a crazy assumption, but she's image-conscious, isn't she? And an image-conscious girl wouldn't want to be lugging around an old-skool Game Gear, Lynx or Game Boy. I'd suggest either the SP or the Micro.

    The SP moreso, 'cuz it can play old games as well...but if she's gonna leave it in her dresser drawer all the time 'cuz it looks too "geeky", then go for the Micro -- afterall, that's what it was primarily made for, the image-conscious gamer.

    And if she's not one to care about looks (or breaks that boundary), then I'd say go for the SNK Neo Geo Pocket Color. Great games, great value...great system!

  19. Posted

    Something struck me as I was recording my Atari saving something onto tape for my friend to hear.

    Couldn't I just plug my Atari into my PC, record the sound of it saving, and then plug a headphones-to-tape adaptor into my line out port and play the file back? I'm so gonna try that.

    Then maybe I'll finally have a reliable method of data storage for my Atari...

  20. Posted

    I've got the 1050, but no disks. Just wanted to get the 1010 working for the sake of getting it working, but I doubt that's gonna happen. Ah well, at least it looks cool sitting with the rest of my XL stuff.

    For the sake of saving forum space, I'll just ask this here: how do I get disk images from my PC 5.25 floppy drive to my Atari 1050? I need to burn a copy of DOS so I can use the durned thing...then, I shouldn't really need a SIO2PC, since I can just use my PC to archive the disk images.

  21. Posted

    - Super Mario Bros. clone

    - Sonix clone

    - R-type clone

     

    Agreed, I'd moreso like to see direct ports of Super Mario Bros. 1, 2 and 3, and perhaps the SMS Sonic games (would the A8 be capable...?).

    Some other games that would be cool would be some of the Final Fantasy titles. Not the 8-bit ones, I mean like the stuff that's out for SNES. I hear the A8 is capable of 256 colors on-screen, but I imagine that takes a ton of power, so an RPG would be perfect (they were the SNES's claim to fame, since it couldn't match the Genesis' faster hardware). No mode-7, though...too bad...but imagine the once sample-based music revised for POKEY, that'd be awesome...

    Some other games I think would be cool on the A8:

    -Metroid (never really liked Turrican, I played the Genesis version...but I'll take this anyday)

    -Bee-52 (or was it released...? I know there's a C64 port)

    -Space Harrier

    -Chip 'n' Dale's Rescue Rangers (the NES one)

    -A 3D game! Doom or something...don't care if it's in 2 colors, just so long as it's fun. That would be awesome.

  22. Posted

    You don't need to use the low KHz modes to get deeper bass. I just put two distortion 6 instruments, one on the right. One should take up two channels, and the other just one. Playing the same riff, this'll create a layered bass sound.

    As far as the lower KHz modes...argh, I tried those, but they just made everything hideously out of tune.

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