jpatters

Please put me down for a cart, thanks!

I'd like to see a new design with production runs of different colors. Preferably with a wrap around (front to back) label.

I'll buy an XM version if I'm not too late

If the carts were worth .86 cents at the old price for gold, which sounds about right, they would be worth $0.013 now, not $1.30.

I'm not opposed to an emulation based implimentation, so long as it is indistinguishable from a hardware based one. If we are talking about making a dedicated 2600 clone with the core chipset running in emulation on a microcontroler, vs having it implimented with an FPGA, There are several things that both would have in common. For example both would need a custom PCB, cartridge connector, controler ports, switches, and a case. I favor designing new controlers to put the console switches on the controler. I also would want to have some circuit that takes the TIA output and processes it to work better with modern displays. The question then is, how hard would this be? For the emulation version, you would have to port Stella to whatever microcontroler is chosen, and make it work better than it does now on Windows or Mac. For the FPGA version, you would need to port over the VCS chipset to Verilog or VHDL, and make it work better then the Flashback 2 works. I don't have the experience to state which one would be harder, but there is at least one person who has gone the FPGA route: http://tolgaretro.blogspot.com/2007/05/atari-2600-on-fpga.html It looks like he etched his own board, too. He used a 100,000 gate FPGA and as far as I can tell, it was about a $9.50 part.

I got mine, and it worked fine the first time I used it, but the second session the TV kept losing color. I have a Sony Trinitron CRT television that has never had problems with console video signals before. Is this a known issue with the FB2?

Are you suggesting that the microwave radiation accumulates in the microwave popcorn bag while heating, and then is released when you open the bag? Or that the microwaves somehow induce radioactivity in the substances contained within the bag? We're getting off-topic here, but that is, on it's face, contrary to the laws of physics. So if it is indeed documented, as you claim, that microwave popcorn is the worst thing to cook in a microwave for releasing radiation, to that I'd say: [citation needed]

I ordered one from amazon about a week ago, but went with the free shipping, so I'm still waiting...

Maybe deleted items could go into a deleted items folder type of thingie, and then a CAPTCHA could be required to empty the deleted items folder. That would be less annoying then having a CAPTCHA for every delete operation.

How about this simple design: 1) FPGA 2) ROM with Jaguar chipset definition and several Jaguar games 3) Microcontroler 4) Jaguar compatible cartridge connector 5) S-Video out, Left and Right audio outs, Controler inputs On startup, the microcontroler would configure the FPGA with either the Jaguar chipset definition, or some other chipset contained on a special cartridge. Other platforms would be made available on these special cartridges, which would themselves have the appropriate cartridge connector on the other end for the cartridges for that platform. For example, you would buy the Atari 2600 platform cartridge, which would have the VCS chipset definition and lots of games, and a cartridge connector for VCS cartridges. Since we are using the Jaguar controlers, the keypad buttons can control the console switches, and there can even be an appropriate overlay. Ideally, paddle and driving controlers would be made available as well. Just a totally crazy idea.

What I'd like to see is a new machine using modern parts, with a TI OMAP (ARM based) system on a chip, plus an FPGA, some RAM, and a cartridge connector. Classic systems could be implimented on the FPGA. If we want ATSC output, the project would need to be big enough to be able to afford a $10,000 annual license fee, so a straight 2600 implimentation with HDMI output would probably be economically infeasable. You would have to find other reasons for the machine to exist, in order to sell it to enough people to make the high up-front costs worthwhile.

I am trying to get back into 2600 programming, and until I get a Harmony Cart I need to be able to use my original Cuttle Cart to test on the real hardware. Is there a makewav binary for OSX, or a source file that compiles on OSX? So far I have been unable to get the makewave 4.1 source to compile.

Got mine today, managed to beat level four once, but so far a repeat victory has eluded me.

Did you have the cartridge shells custom molded? Do you own the mold? Can you sell empty shells to other developers?

There were three Atari 7800 homebrew games announced on cartridge on the front page of this site just recently.

What we need is a system that outputs cleanly to modern HDTVs, and is a reliable replacement for older hardware. TI OMAP System on a Chip with an ARM Cortex A9 CPU, plus GPU, plus DSP. FPGA for implementing any console chipset up to a reasonable level of complexity. (maybe Channel F thru Dreamcast?) 4GB RAM, 32GB Flash. The SOC would output video thru HDMI at up to 1920 x 1080. The FPGA would have S-Video for output, but the system should also be able to overlay the video signal onto the HDMI output using the DSP to scale, since we can optimize the scaling algorithm for classic video game video. (Scaling the output from a classic system onto HDTV sucks with the built in scalers on the HDTV sets!) Single cartridge port. Adaptors could be used for different console and home computer cartridges, but the native cartridge connector should be fully featured with comprehensive hardware access. It would be a killer developer platform because you could run an ARM Linux hosted IDE targeting the platform of your choice, and immediately compile and run on whatever hardware you have implemented on the FPGA, connected to a separate monitor, or overlaid as a window on the HDMI display. Games could also be developed for the ARM CPU, and the FPGA could be configured as an application specific co-processor. All of this can be built now (or soon) with off the shelf parts, except for the cartridge adaptors which would need to be custom made. The software is another matter.

Please add me to the list if they are still available, thanks!

The Wii uses infrared sensors in the sensor bar (just like the PS3 gun has its own separate sensors), so yes. The Wii is 'intended' for many types of displays. The sensor bar is not actually a sensor, rather it just has a couple of IR LED's. The WiiMote actually does the sensing of the LED's that are in the sensor bar. The position of the WiiMote is calculated from the orientation of the LED's in its field of view.

I'm interested as well.