Help Please

[Sheepz]

Should Andrew Davie's tutorial alone be engonth to start me out with no prior knowledge of assembly?

[+Omegamatrix]

Andrew's lessons should be read by everyone; whether they choose to use Batari Basic or straight assembly. They cover the basics really well. Have a try at them.

[Nukey Shay]

Should Andrew Davie's tutorial alone be engonth to start me out with no prior knowledge of assembly?

 

 

Yes, have some.

 

 

Hands-on experimentation is pretty much the only way to learn. Start with a bare-bones display kernel as described by the tutorial (one that just draws a stable blank screen), then try adding stuff to it as you are reading though the tutorial...maybe some playfield background images, or a sprite. Try different ways of moving images around on the screen. If you have a game concept in mind, keep it very simple for starters. Resources on a stock 2600 are in very short supply, so don't try to tackle everything at once. The display comes first, and everything else is built around it. With no prior knowledge of assembly, getting anything on the screen (as intended) is an achievement in itself.

[Snider-man]

Yes, have some.

Subtle Ghostbusters ref. Very nice.

[awace]

Oh so I can give AtariAge my source code and they will put it into a cartridge for me? Well that sure makes things a whole lot easier. I should be able to get an Atari 2600 in 2 weeks or so. I have $20 right now and I am going to sell some stuff on eBay so I should have about $50 after that which should be all I need.

you could find a usb burner cheaper on ebay then atari age has carts as far as blank eeproms just purchase know not to work arcade pcb's

even a working birdie KING II arcade pcb has 17 2732 chips in it!!!!.... most non working crappy titles arcade pcbs are pretty cheap... if you program youre own homebrews a cheap usb burner might be something you want there is nothing more satisfying than telling youre freinds you made YOURE OWN actuall atari game they could run on there own atari!!...

also i think you can send Atariage a rom and the will put it in a eeprom if you get eeprom from them w the pixel past board..

[awace]

Should Andrew Davie's tutorial alone be engonth to start me out with no prior knowledge of assembly?

 

 

Yes, have some.

 

 

Hands-on experimentation is pretty much the only way to learn. Start with a bare-bones display kernel as described by the tutorial (one that just draws a stable blank screen), then try adding stuff to it as you are reading though the tutorial...maybe some playfield background images, or a sprite. Try different ways of moving images around on the screen. If you have a game concept in mind, keep it very simple for starters. Resources on a stock 2600 are in very short supply, so don't try to tackle everything at once. The display comes first, and everything else is built around it. With no prior knowledge of assembly, getting anything on the screen (as intended) is an achievement in itself.

would typing IN checkers for the atari 800 asembler editor help me understand programming from scratch ... I am thinking about learning 6502 and the raster of the atari2600 I kind of understand c but I think the atari would make me more interested in a boring language!!!!

[+GroovyBee]

would typing IN checkers for the atari 800 asembler editor help me understand programming from scratch ... I am thinking about learning 6502 and the raster of the atari2600 I kind of understand c but I think the atari would make me more interested in a boring language!!!!

Do you understand "C" or read and write "C". They are different in my opinion. If you want to program in "C" on an Atari look at CC65 which will work for the 400/800/XL/XE range. Personally I'd start with a much simpler program than checkers. I don't think you'll learn much by typing something in. The best thing to do is to start from simple assembly language programs and work your way up.