supercat Posted April 19, 2008 Share Posted April 19, 2008 But regardless, I'd wonder if it's not an issue of accurate clock speeds, but of processors that might be interrupted by something. Many of the older systems had hardware interrupts at 50 or 60 Hz, and while you could certainly point the IRQ/NMI vectors to your own handlers, maybe you couldn't disable the source of the interrupts, so you'd always be at risk of losing sync. I'm not aware of any system that didn't allow for disabling interrupts. Some systems would require that the screen be blanked to obtain maximum throughput, but that shouldn't be a problem--just blank the screen during the load. I would expect that two systems whose clock speeds were within 0.1% of each other, with minimal hardware, could achieve an average throughput of about 64 cycles/byte (using an unrolled loop to the effect of: lda (dat),y sta SHIFTOUT ; Assumes bit 0 for data out, inverted, and other bits don't care lsr sta SHIFTOUT lsr sta SHIFTOUT lsr sta SHIFTOUT lsr sta SHIFTOUT lsr sta SHIFTOUT lsr sta SHIFTOUT lsr sta SHIFTOUT nop 0 iny That's 56 cycles for a byte. Every few bytes would incur a little extra loop overhead. The receive code would be: cpx SHIFTIN ; Bit 7 is data; other bits don't-care ror cpx SHIFTIN ; X is preloaded with 128 ror cpx SHIFTIN ror cpx SHIFTIN ror cpx SHIFTIN ror cpx SHIFTIN ror cpx SHIFTIN ror cpx SHIFTIN ror sta (rxdata),y iny The two processors have to spend a little time getting synchronized, and have to spend a few cycles every few bytes to allow one to gain/lose a cycle on the other as appropriate, but an average throughput of 64 cycles/byte should still be attainable. Even it's not possible to avoid interruptions, the hardware required to tolerate arbitrary-length interruptions is not complicated. Throughput wouldn't be as good as with the "data blast" case, but should still be pretty reasonable. Just have a clock wire going each way, and define the protocol so that one side is master and the other side is slave. If the clocks idle high, the master will start by driving his clock low, waiting until the slave drives its clock low, then master high, then slave high, etc. If the cabling for two clocks isn't acceptable, then wire things so the master can actively pull the clock wire one way and the slave can actively pull it the other way; when neither side is pulling, drive the clock wire weakly so as to hold its present state. Code for that approach wouldn't run nearly as fast as for the "data blast" case, but it would still run a lot faster than 9600 baud. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Crazy Climber Posted April 22, 2008 Share Posted April 22, 2008 Here is an example of a release similar to Actionauts. Elevator action was released as an unfinished but playable (85%??) prototype in a limited run of 200 or so copies. It came with just a box and a Black and White manual IIRC and the games had a high percentage of being Dead on Arrival. It's only been around 6 years and they are pulling $132.50 http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewI...A:IT&ih=024 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
black dog Posted April 22, 2008 Share Posted April 22, 2008 Here is an example of a release similar to Actionauts. Elevator action was released as an unfinished but playable (85%??) prototype in a limited run of 200 or so copies. It came with just a box and a Black and White manual IIRC and the games had a high percentage of being Dead on Arrival. It's only been around 6 years and they are pulling $132.50http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewI...A:IT&ih=024 That price is not the norm. I bought one about 6 months ago for about half that price.At the time I was looking to buy one most Elevator Action auctions were going for $60-$80. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
iwan-iwanowitsch-goratschin Posted April 22, 2008 Share Posted April 22, 2008 Here is an example of a release similar to Actionauts. Elevator action was released as an unfinished but playable (85%??) prototype in a limited run of 200 or so copies. It came with just a box and a Black and White manual IIRC and the games had a high percentage of being Dead on Arrival. It's only been around 6 years and they are pulling $132.50http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewI...A:IT&ih=024 I would like to have an Elevator Action! But not for this price! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Elw00d Posted April 25, 2008 Share Posted April 25, 2008 My copy of Actionauts showed up today. I'm going to try it out this evening. It was nice to see that Rob took the time to personalize the Design notes. El Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mayhem Posted April 25, 2008 Author Share Posted April 25, 2008 #25 huh? Mine got mailed, let's see how long it takes to get here. Out of interest, what's the first word on the box (ending in -SIVE)? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Elw00d Posted April 25, 2008 Share Posted April 25, 2008 #25 huh? Mine got mailed, let's see how long it takes to get here. Out of interest, what's the first word on the box (ending in -SIVE)? Exclusive. El Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Crazy Climber Posted April 25, 2008 Share Posted April 25, 2008 My copy of Actionauts showed up today. I'm going to try it out this evening. It was nice to see that Rob took the time to personalize the Design notes. El Oh man, I can't wait for mine to arrive! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bones Posted April 25, 2008 Share Posted April 25, 2008 Damn, Rob spared no expense, the game was delivered by Brinks! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
theking21083 Posted April 25, 2008 Share Posted April 25, 2008 I just got mine in the mail about 10 minutes ago during my lunch break. I didn't get a chance to realy sit down and play but I did pop it in for a second to get a peek. Mine was numbered Corey/250 which is a nice little personal touch. Thanks for this awesome game Rob I'm glad that I could be one of the lucky people to receive this. I'll take some pics when I get home. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+evg2000 Posted April 25, 2008 Share Posted April 25, 2008 Received mine today also #68. My personalization states: "Charles - One bug remains - sorry. Not all of these features made it through" Thanks Rob, I haven't had a chance to try it yet either, busy around the house. One thing I noticed that Rob might want to careful of on the next ones he mails is that my address label was only attached on one side, the glue most not have been spread on thick enough or wasn't good glue. Hopefully it was just mine, and it made it here safe and sound so no worries! thanks again, Charles www.evg2000.com Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mos6507 Posted April 25, 2008 Share Posted April 25, 2008 My copy of Actionauts showed up today. I'm going to try it out this evening. It was nice to see that Rob took the time to personalize the Design notes. El Are you sticking it right into that safe? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mos6507 Posted April 25, 2008 Share Posted April 25, 2008 Here is an example of a release similar to Actionauts. Elevator action was released as an unfinished but playable (85%??) prototype in a limited run of 200 or so copies. It came with just a box and a Black and White manual IIRC and the games had a high percentage of being Dead on Arrival. It's only been around 6 years and they are pulling $132.50http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewI...A:IT&ih=024 I would like to have an Elevator Action! But not for this price! I would have paid that much if the game had actually been finished. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Elw00d Posted April 26, 2008 Share Posted April 26, 2008 Are you sticking it right into that safe? No, That safe is for my nearly priceless VAG rated Combat (only nearly priceless as mine didn't earn the yellow steaming sticker of quality). El Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TheRedEye Posted April 26, 2008 Share Posted April 26, 2008 Speaking of tributes to "the day" .... I just today saw this for the first time. I peed myself laughing http://www.collegehumor.com/video:1811357 What makes this even funnier is that this is almost exactly how I picture the first GDC. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rolenta Posted April 28, 2008 Share Posted April 28, 2008 #47 arrived today! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Crazy Climber Posted April 29, 2008 Share Posted April 29, 2008 Got mine today! My Atari is not even hooked up right now, busy week at work also so I probably won't be able to play it until the weekend Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rick Weis Posted April 29, 2008 Share Posted April 29, 2008 OMG!!!! my shipping box got Damaged!!! hehe... received mine # 45! Thanks Rob! Rick Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Crazy Climber Posted April 29, 2008 Share Posted April 29, 2008 OMG!!!! my shipping box got Damaged!!! hehe... received mine # 45! Thanks Rob! Rick I wonder how many people will go as far as keeping the original shipping box? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Godzilla Posted April 29, 2008 Share Posted April 29, 2008 If Rob touched it, I'll probably keep it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cosmosiss Posted April 29, 2008 Share Posted April 29, 2008 I wonder how many people will go as far as keeping the original shipping box? Man, am I glad you mentioned it before I got mine! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Thomas Jentzsch Posted April 29, 2008 Share Posted April 29, 2008 I wonder how many people will go as far as keeping the original shipping box? Man, am I glad you mentioned it before I got mine! Keep it unopened! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+Psionic Posted April 29, 2008 Share Posted April 29, 2008 I wonder how many people will go as far as keeping the original shipping box? Man, am I glad you mentioned it before I got mine! Keep it unopened! Crazy as it sounds, I'm willing to bet there's at least one person who doesn't open it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
iwan-iwanowitsch-goratschin Posted April 29, 2008 Share Posted April 29, 2008 I wonder how many people will go as far as keeping the original shipping box? Man, am I glad you mentioned it before I got mine! Keep it unopened! Crazy as it sounds, I'm willing to bet there's at least one person who doesn't open it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Thomas Jentzsch Posted April 29, 2008 Share Posted April 29, 2008 Crazy as it sounds, I'm willing to bet there's at least one person who doesn't open it. I won't bet against crazy collectors. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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