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Should we create an 8-bit Hardware Development Subforum?


Albert

Should we create a new Atari 8-bit Hardware Development thread?  

87 members have voted

  1. 1. Should we create a new Atari 8-bit Hardware Development thread?

    • Yes
      74
    • No
      13

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On 7/21/2019 at 8:44 AM, ijor said:

My personal opinion is that I'm not sure it is a so good idea. Of course that the topic is cool and there is enough interest. The question is if better to have a separate forum (subforum or not doesn't matter too much), or keep the topic in this generic 8-bit forum. IMHO, unless the volume is too high that you would better separate, I'd prefer not.

 

It does seem that there are a lot of subjects that crossover between the two areas might occur and be appropriate in each.  

 

I feel like maybe I am unhelpfully straddling both sides of this fence. :?

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A hardware development forum is good in some ways not in others...

good, were it used to wrangle all of the hardware projects from the start of AtariAge into it's area as possible copies of the original posts as an easy to access archive.

bad in that ijor is correct in that newer projects might be missed by the forum members if tucked away from the main flow of topics. I do like when hardware gets revisited and new runs occur when skimming of the main topics bring them back to life

 

cross posting could overcome that or two threads like some already splinter into, one technical, one general. The technical's in the subforum and the general in the main topic flow...

 

on the face of it, seems like a no brainer to do so...  but in practice there are those consequences...

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I voted yes of course. But would this sub-forum include the threads on DIY upgrades from over the years, like Claus Buchholtz 800 memory upgrades, and what ever stuff has been posted here by the original designers? Or is it only for upgrades that will be made available for sale to the general public? And when I say DIY, I don't mean the upgrade boards made by people that you install, but star-from-scratch or upgrade and modding official boards (like 800 boards) and modding directly to the original motherboards. Then there are the ones in-between like 1088XEL that you buy the circuit board(s) and build yourself as well as add in pre-made upgrade boards. Would it be a place where the average joe-smoe like me would create threads about their own one-off customizations and upgrades, and showing other documented DIY's that they did to their own computers? Would all this stuff migrate there or just some? 

 

For years I've made threads about my own on-going projects which I have posted on Atari Sector where I'm a moderator, and where there are specific sub-forums like this, but being a small site with ~150 members and maybe a 15% active posters, as well as a sub-forum, the topics don't get buried very quickly at all, and usually just one or two pages anyway. Of course it's only natural for me to do threads there being a moderator and needs/wants to contribute to a site he helps with. But THE reason I rarely do anything here, aside from the occasion show-and-tells is because it all gets buried, and even when search for old threads I started I can't always find them or due to lack of complete specificity in the title there are still lots of results and mine may still be buried in the results pages and are still difficult to locate unless I remember something completely word-for-word. Not to mention trying to remember titles of other's threads.

Edited by Gunstar
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For very active (as in, posts more than once a week) hardware development, sure. The stuff can be found just by scrolling down the page. But lets face it - hardware development isn’t easy. Some projects might go weeks between posts and those easily drop waaaaaaay down the thread list. Plus, it’s often instructive and useful to examine earlier efforts from years past, whether the project came to fruition or not. Having threads all collected in a single location would be very helpful and useful.  

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So...I guess this will pretty much be only for hardware development that *may* be made and sold to the community as well as on-going threads of stuff already out there and updates of new versions?

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Just now, Tillek said:

Isn't think kind of what the point of the "Club" functionality is for?

No, although if you want to develop something privately, creating a Club for that works well (and will be even better once I enable the Downloads module, which I'm currently working on).  I don't really want to see Clubs used for things that would ordinarily be discussed in the forums.  They are better for niche subjects, hobbies outside of classic gaming, and private projects involving several members where a club is better suited than a private conversation.

 

 ..Al

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8 minutes ago, emkay said:

The Atari 8-Bit Computer Forum really need outsourcing of non Atari Hardware based threads . See today again a thread about 3D programming, using the VBXE, without naming that in the title. Kindly said: It is not nice.

Titles can be changed quite easily.

 

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19 hours ago, Albert said:

Someone has posited that we create a separate Atari 8-bit Hardware Development forum, as there is a fair bit of hardware development and that can get lost among the other threads. 

 

Thoughts?

 

Thank you,

 

 ..Al

As long as it contributes to attract top talent, spur f-awesome ideas and... bring back Candle, I say ABSOLUTELY, TOTALLY YES (!!!)

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Hello Albert

 

Please don't move over the old stuff.  It'll break any links to those threads that are used outside of AtariAge and you will probably miss quite a few.  Plus it's a hell of a job moving all the old hardware development threads over.

 

Sincerely

 

Mathy

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1 minute ago, Mathy said:

Please don't move over the old stuff.  It'll break any links to those threads that are used outside of AtariAge and you will probably miss quite a few.  Plus it's a hell of a job moving all the old hardware development threads over.

The links to threads are not changed when they are moved to another forum. So any existing links to them will work fine.  That would be pretty terrible ifthey broke when being moved!  Plus we can leave temporary links in the existing forum for a time being so people will see that they are moved.  And it's pretty easy to move the threads to a new forum.

 

 ..Al

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I think this is a great idea.  This should be an area where all options are explored and new futures for our favorite computer are explored.  Perhaps even to give the Atari the future enhancements that Warner was too scared too attempt and Tramiel Technologies didn't pull out of the R&D trash bins of the old Atari.  If 8-bit and 16-bit CPUs can be resurrected on programmable logic arrays, as in the Eclaire and the Rapidus, why not a 32 bit Atari that can directly access megabytes of ram using Western Design Center's 65C832 as a basis.  Why not a 64 bit design that extrapolates on previous work?   This could be the place to discuss such things.

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12 hours ago, Albert said:

Yes, they have to be found, but once found it's trivial to move them.  I'm more interested in moving active or relatively recent projects first, they don't all have to be moved at once.

 

 ..Al

Yeah, start with new posts there, then move popular posts for existing hardware from the last few months, and let forum members find the others to move.

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I would say "yes" if there will be a team effort to move all or most relevant past threads into the new subforum. Otherwise some information will be scattered and split between two places. That could make it hard to find past posts and notes. Right now this main forum may be big but at least it's only one place to search and look in.

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19 hours ago, Mathy said:

Hello Albert

 

Please don't move over the old stuff.  It'll break any links to those threads that are used outside of AtariAge and you will probably miss quite a few.  Plus it's a hell of a job moving all the old hardware development threads over.

 

Sincerely

 

Mathy

I hadn't thought of the previous links issue. Good point! Maybe just mirrors or copies can be posted in the new forum? 

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15 minutes ago, Gunstar said:

I hadn't thought of the previous links issue. Good point! Maybe just mirrors or copies can be posted in the new forum? 

No. The topics will be moved to the new forum. We can optionally leave temporary links for any topics that are moved. These temporary links will disappear after a set amount of time (not sure what that is, might be 30 days). 

 

  ..Al

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