Atari 2600/Classic Console Programming Wiki

Blackbird · December 31, 2009

Happy New Year everyone!

Recently when redoing the VESWiki, I realized that the site could easily be expanded to include other consoles... Having attempted programming for the Atari 2600 before, I figured it may be worth trying to create a Wiki repository for all the programming knowledge for the 2600 that's been accumulated over the years. Take a look:

http://classicdev.org/2600/

Much of the information is pulled from other, existing sites (the Mini-Dig and Bjars.com, particularly), now presented in a wiki format that anyone can register and edit. Some of the goals I'm working on accomplishing:

Unifying and expanding old documentation. I've started doing this by converting over old text files (such as HMOVE Timing, TIA Color Chart) and expanding some other information (Reading paddles). Many code snippets are incredibly useful but have little context until you research them (SkipDraw, etc.) Also this makes it easily to add new documentation (reading Kid's Controllers, explaining SwitchDraw) to the site.
New tutorials/information. The site currently links to several excellent tutorials (2600 Programming 101, Programming for Newbies) but it's always possible this could be expanded with other primers on TV syncing, sprite generation, TIA basics...
Maintaining a list of disassemblies/tools. I went through the effort of converting over the disassembly/source and tools listings from Bjars.com and the Mini-Dig, maintaining a local copy of all the source files and noting their completeness. Now anyone who finishes a disassembly would be able to go in and update/add to the list as they're completed.
Maintaining a list of projects? This is currently done with the VES wiki, but it would also be possible to maintain a page for listing current works-in-progress, projects, finished homebrews, &c.

This is just an experiment, but I thought it might be worth a shot. I'm going to continue updating the documentation as I find the time/work on my own games. If you're interested in contributing to the wiki, please do! And any suggestions you might have on expanding/improving the site are also appreciated.