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"Dragonfly" preorder


rj1307

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5 hours ago, -^CrossBow^- said:

The Dragon Fly has a YM2151 synth chip. That is the same one that was used in quite a number of arcade games so it stands to reason it would sound the same or really close.

 

Yeah, now we just need some expert dev to port Shinobi...

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On 8/15/2021 at 12:06 PM, rj1307 said:

One technical note - a PokeyMax postponed from an Atari XL / XE will only function as mono, like a regular Pokey. To run Dual Pokey and Covox mode, it is necessary to reprogram the PokeyMax. The author of the software is a colleague @foft, and I have not been authorized to publish this version of the program. 

In that case, since I did not realize this when I ordered, would it be possible to still purchase a reprogrammed Pokeymax from you for my Dragonfly?

Edited by Gunstar
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8 hours ago, Gunstar said:

In that case, since I did not realize this when I ordered, would it be possible to still purchase a reprogrammed Pokeymax from you for my Dragonfly?

I believe he said his stock on PokeyMAX is exhausted and he can only offer DF with YM and no pokey or with original Pokey. But...perhaps you could reach out to him and it might be possible to send your PKMAX to RJ and he can reprogram it?

 

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@-^CrossBow^-

I knew he was out of Pokeymax's, but I thought it was a temporary issue and those who want a Pokeymax could wait a bit until more arrived.

 

Seeing if the Pokeymax I have could be reprogrammed had crossed my mind, But I still have another Atari 8-bit I can install it in and it's not just a stereo Pokeymax + Covox, but a Quad Pokeymax + Covox and even though it can work in dual-Pokey mode, I felt it would be a waste.

 

You see, it was misunderstood that I was interested in installing my own Pokeymax in the Dragonfly right away, even before I was told they had to be reprogrammed, I had mentioned that I had plenty of extra Pokey's because I was in the process of upgrading my two Atari 8-bit computers from DIY dual-Pokey upgrades to Pokeymax's and so I had 4 extra Pokey's at the moment.

 

But since I found out the Pokeymax's need reprogramming for the DF/7800, I realized upgrading the DF to a Pokeymax at my leisure, in the future might not be possible, so I thought I'd see about getting a Pokeymax RJ after all, believing that he would get more in stock soon.

 

Honestly, I think I'd rather keep my Pokeymax's I have for my Atari computers as there already is a lot of support for stereo Pokey's, Covox and more for them and I can live with a mono Pokey for my 7800. I will be modding the Dragonfly with stereo output for the YM2151 too anyway. I can live with just stereo for YM stuff on my 7800. Hell, there are more games in stereo now on the 8-bit Atari's than there are games in the 7800's entire library period. Or possibly I can do an old-school piggy-back style DIY dual-pokey upgrade with real Pokey's for my Dragonfly. I think that should work straight up without needing "reprogramming."

Edited by Gunstar
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I decided that my Dragonfly module needed a bit of cosmetic sprucing up and to make it match the style of the 7800 better. The Dragonfly decal started peeling up on me anyway, the 2nd day I had it, so I just completely removed it and placed it on wax paper and put away for safe keeping. You couldn't see it when the Dragonfly was plugged in anyway.

 

 

20210831_000056.jpg

Edited by Gunstar
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9 hours ago, Gunstar said:

I decided that my Dragonfly module needed a bit of cosmetic sprucing up and to make it match the style of the 7800 better. The Dragonfly decal started peeling up on me anyway, the 2nd day I had it, so I just completely removed it and placed it on wax paper and put away for safe keeping. You couldn't see it when the Dragonfly was plugged in anyway.

 

Very Cool. Nice clean 7800 too. Mine looks like it was stored under a shed for a decade.

Did you use the Aluminium Duct tape for the stripe? I was thinking of that and rubbing it on an embossed Atari Logo to create a raised relief on the Tape.

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4 hours ago, Ritchie said:

Very Cool. Nice clean 7800 too. Mine looks like it was stored under a shed for a decade.

Did you use the Aluminium Duct tape for the stripe? I was thinking of that and rubbing it on an embossed Atari Logo to create a raised relief on the Tape.

No, Better. It's faux brushed metal to match the real brushed metal on the 7800. I have used it before for DIY devices for my Atari 1200XL system so my 3D printed cases have brushed metal trim too. I was searching for years for something like this, then found it in an unusual item; No Solicitors window/door decals. I trim off strips from above and below the print. I'd love to find blank faux brushed metal decals so I don't have to have so much waste. The chrome Atari Fuji raised decal I used I bought a dozen of off Etsy or Ebay.

 

 

20210831_142246.jpg

Edited by Gunstar
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1 hour ago, sramirez2008 said:

That 7800 is a beauty!

Thanks! I keep all my electronic equipment well maintained and dusted, cleaned and detailed regularly so it all stays as new looking (and working) as possible. I also do refurbishments and restorations (for myself only). I'm very anal about it all as well as clean and neat console and computer areas, I'm very anal about that too. Ironically, the interiors of my automobiles are the exact opposite!

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46 minutes ago, Gunstar said:

Ironically, the interiors of my automobiles are the exact opposite!

I'm pretty anal about the interior of my automobiles and I take apart and clean my systems every now and then and have been known to reapply the trim color to my 2600s (Atari and Sears).

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1 hour ago, Gunstar said:

No, Better. It's faux brushed metal to match the real brushed metal on the 7800. I have used it before for DIY devices for my Atari 1200XL system so my 3D printed cases have brushed metal trim too. I was searching for years for something like this, then found it in an unusual item; No Solicitors window/door decals. I trim off strips from above and below the print. I'd love to find blank faux brushed metal decals so I don't have to have so much waste. The chrome Atari Fuji raised decal I used I bought a dozen of off Etsy or Ebay.

 

 

20210831_142246.jpg

We're all going to create knock-offs now.?

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2 hours ago, sramirez2008 said:

We're all going to create knock-offs now.?

NS decals $15 each, Atari logos $20 each. ?️‍♀️ What can I say? I'm a capitalist!? And like all capitalist's these days, except for shippers, I'll offer free shipping.✈️ Have you ever wondered why as shipping costs skyrocket (for the average Joe, anyway), more companies are offering free shipping???

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2 hours ago, sramirez2008 said:

I'm pretty anal about the interior of my automobiles and I take apart and clean my systems every now and then and have been known to reapply the trim color to my 2600s (Atari and Sears).

I would rather have a spotless interior in my vehicles, and actually the Buick I never use is, but I also have two work trucks and it's a full time job just to keep them clean, so I've given up but for a couple times a year.

 

A project on my hobby to-do list is exactly that; reapply the orange trim on my black four-switch 2600.

 

It has the silver Fuji and Atari 2600 imprint on the front too, and the 2600 numbers and silver line underneath are badly "rubbed off." I've thought about what to use to fix that, including detailed hand painting with a fine brush. But the Fuji and Atari name are in decent shape, so I've been thinking of just removing the 2600 and line altogether when I repaint the orange on the console and controllers.

 

I've got lots of custom painted controllers and a couple of consoles too. I'll get around to posting pics of them in my blogs one of these days. I had blogs of everything I did up on a now defunct forum, the blogs lost forever and I have been slowly rebuilding them over here, from scratch, but I only have a couple done so far. The first time I made them it was fun and it was a bit here and there as things progressed. But rebuilding them all from scratch is definitely a real chore. I intend to accomplish eventually though, or it was all in vain, and I can't have that either.

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On 8/28/2021 at 9:04 PM, Gunstar said:

I knew he was out of Pokeymax's, but I thought it was a temporary issue and those who want a Pokeymax could wait a bit until more arrived.

I would like to clarify that I am not a producer of PokeyMax modules and I have no influence on its availability. Cortex-M4 systems that are used there are four times more expensive, there is also a problem with their availability. It is unknown if and when PokeyMax will be re-produced.

 

Unfortunately, I also have a problem with the availability of parts, as of today, Dragonfly cartridges are not available. 

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From what I understand from the 8-bit forum and it's threads on the different versions of Pokeymax that have been released since it existed, the V3 Pokeymax pretty much has everything in it from all other versions and only the V3 is currently being produced and sold and they are still available from Retronics. I bought a V2 Pokeymax Quad + Covox from them last year, the V2's had several variations including dual or quad Pokeys, Covox, SID, etc. And all were set at different prices, each about $5 more than the previous with extra options. The V3 is now the only option and includes everything from all previous versions and more: quad-Pokey, dual SID, dual PSG, 4-channel Covox with Paula style DMA, etc. Other versions were still being sold until stock ran out, which appears to have happened since there are no more for sale on ebay at their store. V3 sold by order only, ordering info from @Duddie at Retronics. Obviously this is all moot at this point, as far as Dragonfly is concerned, since it's not available anymore.

 

I'll just do a DIY piggy-back dual-pokey with the real chips as no special programming is needed, just wired up to the right pins on the right IC's and be satisfied with that and the YM that I'm going to do stereo out for as well. I have Covox on my two Pokeymax's for my two 8-bit Atari's and am satisfied with that.

 

 

 

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On 9/1/2021 at 3:36 AM, rj1307 said:

I would like to clarify that I am not a producer of PokeyMax modules and I have no influence on its availability. Cortex-M4 systems that are used there are four times more expensive, there is also a problem with their availability. It is unknown if and when PokeyMax will be re-produced.

 

Unfortunately, I also have a problem with the availability of parts, as of today, Dragonfly cartridges are not available. 

 

Well I want to greatly thank you for the one I have. It's my go to multicart for the 7800. A true blessing for the system that I was waiting many years for a device like this to be offered to the masses.

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4 hours ago, Shawn said:

 

Well I want to greatly thank you for the one I have. It's my go to multicart for the 7800. A true blessing for the system that I was waiting many years for a device like this to be offered to the masses.

Hear, hear!

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On 8/26/2021 at 4:50 PM, Synthpopalooza said:

To further explain things:

 

Even in mono, double POKEY has the advantage of being able to combine two channels to make 16-bit channels, or using filters.  This basically allows for greater than NES quality music on this device.

Actually, that is an ability even a single Pokey has had all along and was often used on the Atari 8-bit computers (mostly with music apps and demos, but few games too): 4, 8-bit voices or 2 combined 16-bit voices or 2, 8-bit voices with 1, 16-bit combined voice.. With dual Pokey's you have double that and more varied mix of 8 and 16-bit channels. With Quad Pokey you have 16 8-bit channels or 8 16-bit combined, or several 8 and 16-bit voices.

 

There are a couple of popular (back in the day) Music composition apps on the Atari (they were released on C64 and others as well), Activision's Music Studio and Electronic Art's Music Construction Set. On the Atari 8-bit versions, Music Studio used 4 8-bit voices at the usual 3.5 octaves. Music Construction Set allowed you to choose 4 8-bit voices at 3.5 octaves, or 3 voices with up to 7 octaves (one voice was 16-bit combined 8-bit voices which doubles the octaves on that voice), maybe 2 16-bit voice option as well, I don't recall, but I can find out easily. This was back around '84/85 these apps were released. One Pokey, mono sound.

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