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Development log

Entries in this blog

Do you miss good 12" Vinyl?

I do and kind of went on a flashback tour....   https://www.youtube....h?v=MJG5ewAgKhw   https://www.youtube....h?v=okGfFYKCwYU           https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D2o99jGlZ2o   https://www.youtube....h?v=ucQ6FMUszNY

potatohead

potatohead

What really was possible in the 80's

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Hvx4xXhZMrU   This video is pretty great. It covers a retro title made on modern devices remade for the device that inspired it! Enjoy.   I think it speaks highly of the many activities going on in our little corner of the retro scene.

potatohead

potatohead

Civics

Remember these?   http://youtu.be/0dVo3nbLYC0   Remember what it was like when you watched them?   Now consider this:   http://youtu.be/S6ZsXrzF8Cc   Get as aggressive as you want in comments, but be very prepared to support what you say. Enjoy!

potatohead

potatohead

CFFA 3000 installed today

I'll go ahead and post up some images and such later. Didn't have a lot of time for that today, but I did have time to install the card and get it configured well enough to go and run some stuff.   My Apple only has a single Disk ][ That's been a little limiting, simply because it's not enough storage for some of the better things you can run on an Apple. Don't get me wrong, an Apple ][ computer with ADT and a single disk is a lot of fun, and much is possible. I've been able to do some lig

potatohead

potatohead

Some stuff I did

Was having a conversation about past projects only to find the project pages rotting out there. Since that conversation is happening here, I thought I would just make a quick archive.   This is a STL file viewer I wrote. Two screening, one from a CAD system, and one from the viewer showing a reduced polygon file.   The binary package contains compiled binaries for Windows, IRIX and Linux.   The cup.jpg is from the CAD system. The other .jpg is the viewer displaying a low resolution poly

potatohead

potatohead

Image Container

Just a place to upload stuff I captured from my Apple //e A type in program and some pictures Keatah posted here.

potatohead

potatohead

Apple II Disk Image Related Things

I wanted to use my Apple as a simple VT100 type terminal for various Propeller related things. I remembered Pro Term way back when, and it was a very solid product, employing then modern GUI type interaction. Interestingly, that interaction is familiar even now, tab, space, arrows doing what a modern Windows computer would do. Funny that. Really, some of the tools I needed to get Pro Term onto a 5.25" disk are handy for a lot of other things, and might not be obvious, so...   Here is what

potatohead

potatohead

Running Apple this weekend.

Scored a really great 80's portable TV. It can sit right on top of the Apple. Now, if I could only find one of those green screens... all in due time.   Anyway, the TV is sweet. Required almost no real adjustment. I pulled the back and did the usual. Expanded the displayed frame, by pulling the yoke back just a bit. it's a newer one, so I didn't have to re-converge, which is a bitch let me tell you. Dealt with the video drives, linearity, etc...   It's just about pixel perfect now.

potatohead

potatohead

Got My Apple!

Ok, so I got sucked in. It was a great deal, and I usually know better than to go using e-bay...   The plan is to play some older games. I've a copy of Ultima on disk that I've not played for years. Hope it works.   At some point, I want to put Propeller chips on cards for use with the Apple as a retro-dev station. Just getting started thinking about that.   What I really need is some quick tips on how to get that Apple running some software. It has 80col card, disk, and I think the s

potatohead

potatohead

I want a Apple II+ or better machine.

Missed out on the sale posted here recently, and it just solidified my desire for a classic Apple ][ series computer.   I'm not too particular about the model. Would prefer the e, but a nice plus, with 8 col card, language card, etc... would be just fine.   Ping me. ...or just know I want one, and maybe post up what you want, just because we can!

potatohead

potatohead

On the future of digital gaming.

I'm gonna put this here so I can find it later. A comment triggered some thoughts of mine that I may want to refer to later on.   The context here is digital distribution and the ongoing grumblings about it, and specifically that "servers are expensive" reasoning we hear a lot.   I think it's about more than that, and so here it is:   Well, there are several kinds of servers. There are download host servers. Those are cheap ass, but for the authentication / DRM servers they need to connec

potatohead

potatohead

Spectrum 48Kb now emulated on dual Propeller setup.

Looks like I've gotta get hold of a board called "dracblade". It's a board using two props, some RAM, and other components.   People have CP/M running on it rather nicely. Recent sound emulations of the SID and AY, led to a nice Speccy emulator that runs many games. It's not quite at speed, but fast enough to play the games.   So, we've gone from a Manic Miner port a few years ago, to an emulated Speccy, running that title!   It's getting time to do some 6502 computers. The Z80 guys

potatohead

potatohead

The end is near.

Let me explain that. For the last few years, I've really been struggling. Bad thing after bad thing has happened, and that's just the truth of it.   After looking around, I realize that perhaps the string of ugly stuff is over. Mrs Potatohead and I have been caring for older parents and kids for a long time. (too long maybe)   We will be down to just one kid, after the death of my Father in law, who I loved as a father. My own wasn't all that familiar to me, the two of us being VERY dif

potatohead

potatohead

Color Computer Artifacting (~1024+ colors? )

There are basically two approaches to artifacting on the color computer 3. My blog entries from before use the 640 pixel, 4 color mode to generate artifacts. That's a good palette, with lots of texture, some bright colors, some dim colors, but lacking in red, and generally kind of coarse in places. When artifacting in 640 pixel mode, the 4 grey scale values are used.   320 pixel mode artifacting is a bit different, because the computer has 4 bits per pixel avaliable, meaning colors can be m

potatohead

potatohead

HOLY SHIT! BATMAN! NES Emulator Plays Pac Man on Propeller

I've got to get setup to run screen captures and such.   Here's the link for now:   http://forums.parallax.com/forums/default.aspx?f=33&m=417068   Eric Ball saw my crude 6502 emulation project and wrote up a nice core, deciding it wouldn't do VCS well at all. Left for some others to tinker with, and this is the next project outta the gate.   A low memory Apple computer will be in the works shortly.

potatohead

potatohead

Color Computer 3 Artifact Art

Check 'em out!   These are NTSC artifacted images. ~200 + colors, captured off a real CoCo 3. Check the Kings Quest one... And the 130 color Sonic one at top!!   Unlike other CoCo 3 hi-color methods, this one requires only a composite display. No interrupts, or CPU time required. It's just a full on 160x200x256 bitmap, with some of the colors duplicates, resulting in a 200+ color display.   (Yes I geeked out on a CoCo 3 this weekend, but I've wanted to render some pictures on it for

potatohead

potatohead

More Color Computer

First attachment is   256 color swatch pattern. 640 pixel mode, 4 colors, composite display, palette entries are 0, 16, 32, 64. (all monochrome)       Value start with 0 in upper left, counting up to 15 at lower left, 16 next column over, filling to 256 at lower right.

potatohead

potatohead

Building a Propeller based VCS?

Well, most of the electronics have arrived. I've got some 2Mhz 6502's, a 6809, just because, misc resistors, a coupla buffers, and static RAM on the way.   This project has me seriously intrigued:   http://www.parallax.com/tabid/708/Default.aspx   Basically, the Propeller clocks the 6502, and can read the 6502 address bus, and can control the data bus. The included demo programs show how to load the RAM, and how to have the 6502 interact with the Prop, like it would in a classic computer

potatohead

potatohead

40, 64 and 80 Column Text Driver for Propeller

Edit: So I bagged on the mouse for now. Released version 1.0, text only to the object exchange. I'll attach a code archive here that auto-detects HYBRID, HYDRA and Demoboard, that includes a nice text demo. The release candidates serve no purpose now, so I pulled them. If you have been using this, please download the 1.0 version as that's stable going forward.   I've attached a new screenie at bottom, in 40 columns, showing off what got done.   PotatoText01.ZIP   This whole VCS on Pro

potatohead

potatohead

Some progress...

Here's a screenie of my WIP for what is titled Battle Pong. See blog entry from the past for some of the ideas surrounding this game.     Notes for me:   Playfield toggle as one power up to denote ball random velocity change as it passes through center net.

potatohead

potatohead

On "The Trance" Mad musings of a Retro Gamer.

Video games are addictive. Doubt that? Look around at us, and many others like us, who just won't give it up! 'nuff said. Why are they addictive? For me, the single biggest reason comes down to the trance state that often happens on an intense gaming session.   The trance is a state of gaming where the gamer reaches a change in their consciousness and is able to maintain it and play the game. Thought become motion, time slows down, and every element of the game is understood and seen as

potatohead

potatohead

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