someguy Posted February 12, 2002 Share Posted February 12, 2002 Just how buggy is the networking in Jag DOOM, anyhow? Does the game lock up every 10 minutes, about once an hour, etc? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+Mitch Posted February 12, 2002 Share Posted February 12, 2002 quoteI see that there is some sort of capacitor on these that is not on the jaglink cable. That's the terminator for the CatNet setting. You are only supposed to need it if you have a really long network cable. Incidentally, my catbox didn't come with one (bought it used) and I was wondering if you could post a scan of it so I could build my own terminator. Mitch http://atari7800.atari.org Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gaztee Posted February 12, 2002 Author Share Posted February 12, 2002 I was just wondering how I can link two catboxes together to play Doom. Can I use the cable that comes with the Jaglink or do I have to use a cable with the connector that comes with the catbox? I see that there is some sort of capacitor on these that is not on the jaglink cable. I can't see anything about this int the documentation. Or maybe I just can't read. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
goatdan Posted February 12, 2002 Share Posted February 12, 2002 There is a two or three position switch on the back of the Catbox. One of the positions is 'CatNet' and the other is something else. Make sure both Catboxes are on the non-CatNet setting, and then go from there. Hopefully, this makes sense? If not, I'll figure it out better when I get back to where my Catboxes are... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gaztee Posted February 12, 2002 Author Share Posted February 12, 2002 Cheers Dan, I will try this later. Just goes to show thatI can't read as I now think about it there is something about this in the manual. thanks again Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
goatdan Posted February 12, 2002 Share Posted February 12, 2002 quote: Just how buggy is the networking in Jag DOOM, anyhow? Does the game lock up every 10 minutes, about once an hour, etc? It is kind of hard to tell. I have played network vs. DOOM for hours with a friend and have only had it lock up once, and it was when a system accidentally got bumped so in all likelyhood, I probably haven't had a network error. Supposedly, the errors are really bad in co-op, but I've never found DOOM that fun of a game in co-op... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gunstar Posted February 12, 2002 Share Posted February 12, 2002 The only way to use the Jaglink with the catbox is with the catbox's pass-through port which nullifies the use of the catbox(es) since your just using the Jaglink hardware (3-way switch on catbox must be centered for pass-through). The only reason to do this is if you only have one catbox that is being used for audio/video purposes on the on machine. More network errors occur when used in this fashion from my experience. The other way is two catboxes, and it depends on which of the other two positions the 3-way switch is in. One is for catnet operation, I'm not sure if the phone chord from the Jaglink will work here or not, and the other is through the RS232 port and I'm not sure if Doom or anything else supports that. The final way to hook Doom up is with a custom cable that a modification was available for years ago, I'm not sure where it's at now. Co-op is buggier than Deathmatch, not matter how it's hooked up, but I think catnet is much more reliable than the Jaglink, and long cables DO effect it. But I too, have played Deathmatch with the Jaglink and no catboxes attached for long periods without network errors... Co-op crashes more and with increased frequency depending on the difficulty level as this has a direct relation to the amount of 3D sprites being tossed around (enemies), and more not only for the Jaguars to run, but more for the two jags to keep insync with...Catnet is much less effected by this. Battlesphere works fine with the Jaglink, with only rare problems. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+Mitch Posted February 12, 2002 Share Posted February 12, 2002 From the Catbox manual: quoteDoom from Atari has a two-player head-to-head mode that supports the CatBox RS232 ports using a null-modem cable. Doom does not support CatNet. Mitch http://atari7800.atari.org Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gaztee Posted February 12, 2002 Author Share Posted February 12, 2002 terminator for the CatNet setting. My catbox didn't come with one (bought it used) and I was wondering if you could post a scan of it so I could build my own terminator. Sorry, I don't have access to a scanner so I can't do that . I hope to borrow a digital camera next week so maybe I can get a photo for you? I will attempt to link my catboxes again tomorrow. Should really have read the manual properly d'oh! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pocket Universe Posted February 13, 2002 Share Posted February 13, 2002 Stupid question: how hard is it to come by one of these CatBoxes and how much does a poor student have to pay for them? They seem quite nifty and most of all, it's a great improvement from the pre-existing ports on the Jag. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Atari-Jess Posted February 13, 2002 Share Posted February 13, 2002 it is very hard as Atari didn't make them. the guy who sold em stole (or so ive heard) a lot of peoples money by not making more even though people already paid him. and to get one you would have to find someone who was selling theirs and didn't want it, expect to pay at least $100+ id say maybe even $200+ :S Which rots quite the stench I tell you. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+Mitch Posted February 13, 2002 Share Posted February 13, 2002 quoteSorry, I don't have access to a scanner so I can't do that. I hope to borrow a digital camera next week so maybe I can get a photo for you? No problem. If you could tell me what the stripes are on the resistor, and what pin numbers it's plugged into on the RJ11 connector, I think I can figure it out. Thanks, Mitch http://atari7800.atari.org Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JagMX Posted February 13, 2002 Share Posted February 13, 2002 quotehow hard is it to come by one of these CatBoxes and how much does a poor student have to pay for them? They seem quite nifty and most of all, it's a great improvement from the pre-existing ports on the Jag. More rare to find than Battlesphere and Aircars combined. And xpect to pay hefty bills. Atari Jess said 100+ to 200+, Take that 100+ out and keep the 200+, i got mine for 225.00 and i only got the catbox and nothing else!! not even a manual! But worth it for linking and hooking up to an old Atari monitor, headphone jacks....etc. Nice piece of hardware, a shame not everyone can enjoy it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pocket Universe Posted February 13, 2002 Share Posted February 13, 2002 Seriously ? Is it that bad? I've seen quite a lot of folks around this forum who seem to know quite a bit about hardware design, can't anybody start producing these again since there obviously is a market for it? Oh well, I'll just have to stick with these standard connectors then *sob, sob*. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gunstar Posted February 13, 2002 Share Posted February 13, 2002 quote: Originally posted by Pocket Universe: Seriously ? Is it that bad? I've seen quite a lot of folks around this forum who seem to know quite a bit about hardware design, can't anybody start producing these again since there obviously is a market for it? Oh well, I'll just have to stick with these standard connectors then *sob, sob*. from what I understood, and correct me anyone if I'm wrong, the problem was stuff like the BIOS of the catbox not being able to be copied as there is no source code for it or something like that, so they could build something similiar, but without the correct BIOS it wouldn't work with the games because they are desighned to use the BIOS of the catbox or Jaglink. If your only ever going to be hooking up two consoles at a time anyway, you only need the Jaglink. Unless your going to be hooking the Jag up to a monitor, the video&s-video cables for the Jag (which are cheap and common-at least comparitavely) work just as good as the connections on the catbox. The catbox has a lot of neat little things, but unless your going to use the catbox-specific connections, you don't need one. I had one and sold it because I wasn't using anything unique on it and couldn't get another catbox to save my life. Forget about it. Get a Jaglink and an S-video cable for each Jag, two copies of any of the three networking games, and your good to go... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
goatdan Posted February 13, 2002 Share Posted February 13, 2002 Gunstar -- correct. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pocket Universe Posted February 13, 2002 Share Posted February 13, 2002 OK, thanks Gunstar, saved my sanity there. I was just after the s-video and the audio cable features anyhow. Right now I'm stuck with the antenna-version. Not all that fun, however, now that have seen the light I shall go on a quest to see if the vendors of Eskilstuna can manage to get these cables for me (there are not all that many good retro-shops in my town but if all else fails, I'll just go to Stockholm where they ought to have a decent shop). Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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