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Moving to Batari Basic Alpha 0.35

Guest

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Batari, I'm not sure if you read these entries, but you deserve some thanks. Your efforts on Batari_Basic are just great. The code converter tool saved me a lot of time and advanced the Ooze project long before it would have actually happened.Someday this is gonna hit the 7800 and it's going to be very cool when it does. I want to write a kernel for 7800 one of these days and really write some stuff on that machine. All in time.. It's the 2600 and Ooze for now. Need to cut my teeth there first. Wonder if the supercharger + BB + 7800 is viable? 6K of program space, with nice sprites might make for some interesting games!It looks like I'll be doing some re-coding. I almost wish the bugs were worked out of Alpha 0.2 and a feature or two from Alpha 0.3 were added. Ooze could be completed there with the most program space. Having said that, the if-then-else, improved bit operations, and properly working gosub should allow for a nice code scrunch. Maybe I'm just whining a bit. We shall see.So, first goal is to get ooze to compile and run. Shrinking code today, using obvious constructs that save space. I know I can yank the PF scroll routine and get the room, but that bugs me. Suppose it shouldn't. Once running and tested, I'll need to make a few iterations to reorganize things. Probably should redo the ooze core code too. It's messy and complex. Once that's done, the ideas from the last coupla entries will be incorporated and another release done for playtesting. After some debugging and serious game balance tweaks, I think I just might have a finished game!

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cd-w

I don't think the supercharger is conmpatible with the 7800. However, 2600 programming is much more impressive :)

 

Chris

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EricBall

The Supercharger is compatible with most 7800s, but only in 2600 compatibility mode. The 7800 BIOS will detect the Supercharger BIOS as a 2600 cart (which it is) and lock the 7800 into 2600 mode, turning off the 7800 MARIA GPU.

 

However, there's nothing that says a 7800 version of Batari Basic couldn't be created. Of course, since the 7800 MARIA GPU is nothing like the 2600 TIA everything associated with the 2600 kernel will need to be replaced with a 7800 equivalent. The basic data & control stuff should be portable though.

 

The 7800 also has a full 32K ROM address space and 4K of RAM, so it really doesn't need the SuperCharger's 6K of RAM/ROM.

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potatohead
I don't think the supercharger is conmpatible with the 7800.    However, 2600 programming is much more impressive :sad:

 

Chris

 

Didn't see comments until after viewing my latest post. To make a long story short, I agree!

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potatohead
The Supercharger is compatible with most 7800s, but only in 2600 compatibility mode.  The 7800 BIOS will detect the Supercharger BIOS as a 2600 cart (which it is) and lock the 7800 into 2600 mode, turning off the 7800 MARIA GPU.

 

However, there's nothing that says a 7800 version of Batari Basic couldn't be created.  Of course, since the 7800 MARIA GPU is nothing like the 2600 TIA everything associated with the 2600 kernel will need to be replaced with a 7800 equivalent.  The basic data & control stuff should be portable though.

 

The 7800 also has a full 32K ROM address space and 4K of RAM, so it really doesn't need the SuperCharger's 6K of RAM/ROM.

 

Agreed on all points. I still think a 7800 Bb is a worthy thing to do. Some of the creative types, currently working with Bb would simply *love* that and I think we would see some very interesting new games as a result.

 

If one could craft a 7800 kernel with a fairly coarse set of display pixels, or maybe just a nice set of sprites and leave the Bb programmer with 8 - 10K of solid code space, it would be just great to create games in. Such games would be able to feature interaction between a fairly large number of objects, compared to 2600 efforts. I'm kind of hoping to see new and interesting gameplay arise out of that someday.

 

The SuperCharger remains an enigma to me. I want to toy with it, but the new supercat cart is really stealing it's thunder. I'm also not quite ready yet. I do see why it's out of place on the 7800 though. It's on my desk though, pestering me each day. Maybe maybe...

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