ianoid Posted November 27, 2020 Share Posted November 27, 2020 I dumped this cart with a weird label. Not sure if it contains both games as on the label. On real hardware and in emulation it starts up to Chess. Not sure if I need to use different settings for the AtariMax dumper I'm using or if I have all of the data. Chess Othello loaner 8k 3.bin 7 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Supergun Posted November 27, 2020 Share Posted November 27, 2020 Thanks for sharing. Wondering if that 1-10 and 11-14 text on the label implies calendar dates or game selections. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Thomas Jentzsch Posted November 27, 2020 Share Posted November 27, 2020 It contains both games, just select the right game number. Cool stuff! 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
4ever2600 Posted November 27, 2020 Share Posted November 27, 2020 And when was chess 6k and Othello 2k and how does it equal up to 64k? Odd duck indeed... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Video Posted November 28, 2020 Share Posted November 28, 2020 Maybe 64 was the Rom chip size, though I doubt it. I'd agree chess is likely the first ten game options with Othello being the next four options. You just gotta hit the select switch however many times. Don't know about Othello, but chess goes between single and multiplayer, and higher numbers let the computer think longer. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
R.Cade Posted November 28, 2020 Share Posted November 28, 2020 8k bytes is 64k bits. It's common to see it written that way in the old days. Like megabit... 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
4ever2600 Posted November 28, 2020 Share Posted November 28, 2020 Oh yeah your right. I totally forgot about that. Solved. Lol 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+batari Posted November 28, 2020 Share Posted November 28, 2020 This is not the release version of Chess on there but clearly an older build. I remember hearing somewhere that the original version was 6k and the author then pared it down to 4k for cart release. Maybe this is one of the older 6k versions? Maybe there was talk of Atari including Othello on the cart as a collection, and to take up that extra 2k? 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
retroeight Posted November 28, 2020 Share Posted November 28, 2020 3 hours ago, batari said: This is not the release version of Chess on there but clearly an older build. I remember hearing somewhere that the original version was 6k and the author then pared it down to 4k for cart release. Maybe this is one of the older 6k versions? Maybe there was talk of Atari including Othello on the cart as a collection, and to take up that extra 2k? Do you have a source on the 6k Chess? I thought i read that somewhere as well. Lloyd Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+batari Posted November 29, 2020 Share Posted November 29, 2020 6k chess is mentioned on Atariprotos.com. On Wikipedia it's said that bankswitching was developed specifically for this game but ultimately the technology was not used until later. I don't know where the information came from, but this is the first proof I have seen that substantiates the statements above. I think the past protos are all 4k. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ianoid Posted December 4, 2020 Author Share Posted December 4, 2020 Super psyched that this cart looks interesting. And I'd love to see if anyone can provide documentation that 6K chess is or was a thing, that Chess/Othello was a thing, or that this version of chess is smarter or has deeper AI. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
retroeight Posted December 5, 2020 Share Posted December 5, 2020 On 11/29/2020 at 12:38 PM, batari said: 6k chess is mentioned on Atariprotos.com. On Wikipedia it's said that bankswitching was developed specifically for this game but ultimately the technology was not used until later. I don't know where the information came from, but this is the first proof I have seen that substantiates the statements above. I think the past protos are all 4k. The technology was not used until later? Do you know where it was used? I am always on hunt for stuff like this.. lloyd Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+batari Posted December 7, 2020 Share Posted December 7, 2020 I think Asteroids was the first game that used bankswitching that was developed for Chess. That’s what I’ve heard anyway. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tempest Posted December 7, 2020 Share Posted December 7, 2020 Only Ian could make me come out of semi-retirement with an interesting new proto. I've done some testing and while Video Chess has a number of differences from the final, Othello seems to be the same as the released version. However if someone could split out the Othello rom from this cart and do a file compare with the early released version just to verify I'd appreciate it. I've moved my Computer Chess page to a new Video Chess page and added this prototype: http://www.atariprotos.com/2600/software/videochess/videochess.htm I'll have to do an Othello page eventually, but as it appears to be the same as the final and I'm not very familiar with Go Reversi Othello, that will probably wait for a bit. 2 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Thomas Jentzsch Posted December 7, 2020 Share Posted December 7, 2020 4 hours ago, Tempest said: ...Othello seems to be the same as the released version. However if someone could split out the Othello rom from this cart and do a file compare with the early released version just to verify I'd appreciate it. Yes, the code is almost 100% identical. With just 11 bytes changed to interact with Chess. (also the ORG was changed from Fxxx to Dxxx, but that's irrelevant) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
turret Posted December 8, 2020 Share Posted December 8, 2020 wow thats awesome to get an original 6k chess rom finally. cool find! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Wickeycolumbus Posted December 8, 2020 Share Posted December 8, 2020 Very cool cartridge, thanks for sharing! I assume that you have not opened it up and taken a picture? I wonder if the pcb is different from the standard 8K prototype board. Also I seem to remember hearing a rumor that some of the early 2600 development systems had 6K RAM to simulate the cartridge ROM with a slightly different memory map, and the target was to always reduce the size to fit in 4K. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tempest Posted December 8, 2020 Share Posted December 8, 2020 What we need is for someone to take a look at those extra game variations. Are they really more advanced than the ones in the released version or just different somehow? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
retroeight Posted December 9, 2020 Share Posted December 9, 2020 On 12/6/2020 at 7:19 PM, batari said: I think Asteroids was the first game that used bankswitching that was developed for Chess. That’s what I’ve heard anyway. Gotcha... So there was never a 6k cart released? lloyd Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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