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Asking on behalf of a friend: Out of curiosity, I was wondering if there are any expansions for the Atari 800, much in the vein of the expansions we have for the Atari XL/XE computers (RAM expansion, etc.) The Atari 800 maxes out officially at 48K RAM, which isn't enough for most of the homebrew games and such that target 64K+ RAM systems. I remember reading a long time back about some RAM expansions and such that do work on the Atari 800, but it's been ages and I'm wondering if most of that information is still relevant or not. One I remember reading about was the Incognito card (?), which gave the 800 a nice RAM boost. I *think* that was the name of it? (see what I mean by it's been ages? ) Anywho, can anyone point me to some good expansions that target the good old 800 computer that may still be available for purchase somewhere? I don't need anything like a SIO2SD or an Ultimate Cart; those are handled already. -
Since I was a kid playing my old 2600 I wish I could pause the game every time my mom would push me to do something she deemed more important than playing video games (like there was such a thing!!). Shower, dinner, homework, whatever. All sorts of useless activities which would inevitably force me to start the quest for that new level all over again. Later, the wife took over the pushing task from my mom with renewed energy and the problem would just not go away... Then the blessed Victor Trucco came up with the long needed pause mod for the 2600, but I just couldn't get myself to punch a hole on my old friend to install the pause switch! A while ago I came up with a version of Victor's circuit which had a proximity sensor instead of a physical switch. That worked well for a while, but I had to put a sticker on the console to mark the place where the sensor was installed. Still not exactly what I wanted. Finally, I came up with a different approach: to use the color switch to pause the game. I never really used the color switch so it seemed like a good compromise. So here it is, a pause circuit which does not require any external modification to the console plus a few extras: 1. The installation is a bit simpler: there is no need to cut any tracks or remove the pull up resistor from the RDY line. 2. If the console is turned on with the color switch in "B/W", the pause is disabled and you can switch between color and b/w like it was originally intended to. 3. There is already a dedicated line to mute the audio channel, so no need to use an extra diode if you want to mute during pause. 4. It can be easily integrated with composite video mods to black out the screen during pause. 5. It is a lot smaller than the original board I tested it on my old console and it works fine: I made a few extra kits, so if anyone is interested, I can sell them for 9.99€ plus shipping from Europe (about 3.70€ for international shipping to any country). If anyone is interested in reselling just pm me and we will figure out a better price. I will work on an installation manual if there is interest.
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What exactly is missing from our knowledge of the Atari VCS/2600's hardware that prevents us from making a perfect hardware clone of it? I've looked around, and apparently there's already a lot of information, and even hand-drawn schematics, on the TIA custom chip. What else is there missing?
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Anyone played bit with algo3? Even so the EPXY doc says "algo 3 is broken"? It seems that some circuits are left which work, but mainly for Y.
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Ok so i have been working on a variation to this thread http://atariage.com/forums/topic/231131-flashback-to-colecovision-controller/?hl=%2Bflashback&do=findComment&comment=3805492 i have gone through and fixed the issues with the code pasted in the above link and rewritten it to allow a jaguar joypad to be used the current working prototype runs using every usabe IOpi on an atmga328p-pu microcontroller using its internal 8hz clock before i would decide where i should go from here i would like some feedback i cant add any more functionality using this processor becuase it is being fully used, so say if i wanted to add 2 players it would mean using another processor of the same settup to control joypad 2 an option would be to use at atmega 2560 which has many more pins that could be used. unfortunately this is a surface mount chip so it i a bit of a pain to make your own boards with it attached especially for prototypes i have hopfully attached a poll to this for everyone to provide some feedback before i decide what to do next
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I'm an Oregonian, so I'd probably be outside on a rainy day, but it's not raining. No, it's sunny and it's hot enough to fry an albino on a cancer drug sitting next to a window in less than 5 minutes. Ask me how I know from Monday… So, project! I dismantled my console and managed to drop a washer! I did find it though. Was a bit tough because it's not magnetic: It's now in the tray with everything else. Of course once it was apart I got to see some genuine 35+ year old thermal goop. Crusty. Fortunately there's alcohol, q-tips, and a pilfered Motel 6 keycard for getting that crud out of there. Scrape off most of it, q-tip the rest, and let's apply some fresh … uh, slightly over-spec paste. While I'm here, I should clean the contacts of my side port, they look a little grubby. There's not much I can do about this, even though it's worn down to bare copper in places. My understanding is that the way you fix this requires a fair amount of flux, an air station with a lot of heat and a lot of volume, and some fresh solder. And don't do it with a cheap air station because those will burn the board or melt the plastic components before they actually do anything with big planar traces like these. I'm not an engineer/technician or anything though, so … I'll leave it be. Y'know, if I could operate a soldering iron properly, now'd be a good time to insert a diode… There's one more thing for me to do. The cartridge connector on these things has this little dust filter on it. It's almost certainly disgusting. I noticed gunk on a couple of my carts' edge connector and I've had a spare edge connector from Fest West 2017 … since 2017. At the very least you should take the cover off of yours, remove that foam bit from it, and just throw it away. That's the source of the gooey residue. I sprayed some deoxit in there and tried to scrub the contacts as best I could without a card edge cleaner, but that probably needs a going over by someone who's got the right little tool to go in there and clean those contacts. I assume the spare I have came from Greg who kindly reconditioned these for us. I'll have to be sure to give him this one so he can prepare it for the next person who needs one. Eager for F18A orders to begin, having done all of this I now know exactly how to do the installation of the thing. Hopefully this summer? [Edit: A couple images got lost in the editing process]
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I added an article to BallyAlley.com called A Power Transformer Substitution for the Bally/Astrocade Computer System by Michael Matte (MCM Design). Michael wrote this article in April of 2018. If your original Bally power supply fails, and you have experience in electronics, then these detailed instructions with schematics and picture explain how to build a substitute power transformer. You can read the article in various formats, here: http://www.ballyalley.com/faqs/faqs.html#AstrocadePowerTransformerSubstitution Here is an example of the finished power supply (more pictures are included in the article): Thanks to Michael for writing this article. Enjoy! Adam
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I know we've had some topics discussing this off and on, but let's get some numbers up on the board. I know I left out SECAM; sorry, it would have made for a bewildering combination of choices. My personal path was as follows: 1. Real hardware only, BITD 2. Emulation only, once emulation was good enough to make it worth while. For me, that meant Atari800WinPLus in around 2004/2005. I didn't own any real hardware until about 2008. 3. Mostly emulation, with some real hardware, since 2008 until now. My real hardware setup is right next to me when I'm at my PC. They share the same audio connection via a compact Behringer mixing board (which sounds fantastic), and my SIO2PC is always ready to go. I use real hardware quite a bit at times, but I always have and most likely always will use emulation more because of the speed and convenience of having it on my PC. I spend a lot of time using my PC, mainly for Atari-related activities also (aside from emulation). So most of my computing is directed towards Atari 8-bit computer related use and production. I love my real hardware and CRT though. I consider them a necessity for testing. Emulation -- as good as it is -- still isn't there in areas that I consider important. I'll get on kicks of using it almost exclusively for a day or so. Gaming is great on it, and there's nothing like it. My real setup is also fast and convenient, just not as fast and convenient as emulation.
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Hi all, As of today, I have put all files related to my snes2joy project on github. https://github.com/ivop/snes2joy It contains: * design documents * hardware schematic * gerber files * firmware source code and pre-compiled .hex file * native software to test, incl. source * step by step build photos * freecad and .obj files of 3D printable enclosure Everything is free to use (0-Clause BSD License), so if anybody wants to make a batch of them and sell them, be my guest. Would be nice if you send me one though But no obligations of course. That's what 0BSD means. Regards, Ivo Edit: to clarify, this means I won't be doing a run myself. -
From the album: Atari 2600 Gameplay on YPbPr Component
My high score on Atari 2600's Vanguard. This is on my modded Atari 2600 4-Switch Woodgrain console using YPbPr Component output using Tim Worthington's 2600RGB Mod kit installed.© SavyIsJoshoArts aka Activision Man
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How many of you have one of these stuffed into your TI's P-Box? Do you have any insights or experiences that you would think a Newbie should know about? If so, I'd love to hear about them. I'm considering upgrading my DSK1 with one of these. I'm thinking an HDX/Lotharek combo would kick some serious azz!
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From the album: Atari 2600 Gameplay on YPbPr Component
Gameplay of Pitfall! NTSC version Played on my Atari 2600 4-Switch Woodgrain Console modded using Tim Worthington's 2600 RGB Mod showing it in YPbPr Component Video Output.© SavyIsJoshoArts aka Activision Man
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From the album: Atari 2600 Gameplay on YPbPr Component
High Score on The Activision Decathlon. Played on my Atari 2600 4-Switch Woodgrain Console modded using Tim Worthington's 2600RGB Mod showing it in YPbPr Component Video Output.© SavyIsJoshoArts aka Activision Man
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From the album: Atari 2600 Gameplay on YPbPr Component
High Score on Activision's Oink! Played on my Atari 2600 4-Switch Woodgrain Console modded using TimWorthington's 2600RGB Mod showing it in YPbPr Component Video Output.© SavyIsJoshoaArts aka Activision Man
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From the album: Atari 2600 Gameplay on YPbPr Component
My high score on Activision's H.E.R.O. played on my woodgrain 4-Switch Atari 2600 using YPbPr Component Video Output.© SavyIsJoshoArts aka Activision Man
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From the album: Atari 2600 Gameplay on YPbPr Component
My high score on Activision's H.E.R.O. played on my woodgrain 4-Switch Atari 2600 using YPbPr Component Video Output.© SavyIsJoshoArts aka Activision Man
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From the album: Atari 2600 Gameplay on YPbPr Component
Activision's Grand Prix played in crisp YPbPr Component Video Output.© SavyIsJoshoArts aka Activision Man
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From the album: Atari 2600 Gameplay on YPbPr Component
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From the album: Atari 2600 Gameplay on YPbPr Component
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From the album: Atari 2600 Gameplay on YPbPr Component
© Activision 1981
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From the album: Atari 2600 Gameplay on YPbPr Component
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From the album: Atari 2600 Gameplay on YPbPr Component
© Activision
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From the album: Atari 2600 Gameplay on YPbPr Component
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Trying to debug another 800XL that has issues with the color circuit. Yes, it's another one - ordered this one as a spare so I had something to check against while fixing the other one, but when I got it I found that this was an 800 XLF revision 3 board instead (actually says XLF on the actual board). With an entirely different problem related to colors, what rotten luck :-( There's some noise in the color signal and while it looks strange, the adjustment of the color pot also has a wierd effect that I'm not sure if is normal since the other one I have is not an XLF. I get vertical banding, when adjusting it seems like I'm opening colored curtains before it goes B&W (see youtube clip below, some interference with camera) instead of shifting the color spectrum. Have been trying to match this to the schematic I found by SOBOLA, but I think there are quite a few changes leading up to my revision 3 board since his revision 1. Not sure if it matters, but I've been looking at the Phi 2 signal though it might be a totally wrong place to end up. Schematic connects phi 2 for ANTIC behind 74ls08 with GTIA getting signal directly from SALLY - the board however connect POKEY, PIA, ANTIC and GTIA via 08 pin 3 only leaving FREDDIE connected directly to SALLY pin 39. Is this normal, I could understand it if they were simply bridged but seems like completely separate on PCB so thinking schematic doesn't match up.
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Have been fiddling with an Atari 800XL I bought a couple of months ago from someone in England, so it's a revision D PAL unit that I'm using over composite (from retrocomputershack) on my LCD (no space for the old CRT thingies) with one of Lothareks PSUs. Have been looking at the posting on http://atariage.com/forums/topic/230225-colors-ntsc-vs-pal/to help debug some color issues I'm having, essentially the wrong colors substituted in the middle of the spectrum. I can adjust R38 back and forth and it'll either go totally out of whack or B/W, don't have a scope though so I've tried using small increments. The closest I get on the startup screen is what I can only refer to as DOS blue though my XLF, extreme jailbars aside, looks more like teal. I've replaced all 4146 RAM chips (mostly dead MT4246 originally), GTIA, ANTIC, 4050 with CD4050BE, PAL crystal, 2N3904 transistors as well as all electrolytics without any significant changes to the colors. Picture below is from SALT 2.05 running via a SIDE2 cartridge, have also tried using a basic script to show all colors and hues where I'm seeing the same "repeat" of colors in the middle. Anybody got ideas any ideas on how to explain this? NB! LCD works with ZX Spectrum, Acorn Electron, Commodore 64, Commodore 128, Dragon 32, Atari 520STFM, Amiga 500/600/1200 with some duplicates (which is probably why I've got storage problems). Never seen anything like it so I think it's something to do with the circuit.
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