tep392

I bought a 7800 a few months back and I've noticed that all my 7800 carts are very hard to install/remove yet my 2600 carts pop in/out of the machine very easily. The force required is high enough that my 5 year old daughter can't install/remove them. This is the only 7800 I have used so I don't know if this is normal or not. I'm worried that the force it takes will stress the PCB and crack it over time. Does this sound normal?

None that I found, but I didn't read through every line of code. The original XE cart copied 2 8k banks of code/data into ram and then switched through the remaining data off of rom. I didn't change this basic structure. I only changed the references to rom bank $8000-$9fff to point to $a000-bfff. There were some other minor things I had to change and I also added some code to search the flash cart for the start of the rom files. This allows some flexability when designing multigame carts with the maxflash software. Perhaps Atari didn't find this necessary because the process of converting to an executable format isn't so trivial. 8k-16k carts are much easier and might warrant some self destruct code.

I just finished a version of Battlezone XE that will run off the Maxflash carts on a 64k machine. Tested on my stock 800XL and worked great. You can find BattlezoneXE along with the Mario BrothersXE version I did right here. tep392

It could be called "almost new", but not NIB. The seller says "this unit has only been plugged in once but has never really been used". Used once is still used in my book. Definitely a nice find though.

Hi, I played this last night and the version done by Atlantis G.G. You've done a good job but I think their version is more controllable. I think they used a different font to yourself, no bugs as far as I can see, though Atlantis seem to have introduced a couple of quirks, see my comments on the other thread This is great work for your first project and hopefully you will do more for the Atari If you are looking for inspiration here's an old thread about games that need fixing or you could add Trak-Ball support to others, or create a new game altogether?! Was there another trak-ball type arcade game way back then sort of like missile command (not on the Atari 8-bit) Thanks for the . It would be easy for me to change to sensitivity of control but the spider glitch has me stumped and I don't see much point in putting any more time into it since Atlantis made theirs available for download (the right thing to do by the way). My 2nd project was to update the XE versio of Mario Bros to work on my Atarimax flash cart. My SWMBO is getting a little irritated with the time I'm spending on the 800XL so I going to take a little break for now. I'll spend my free time actually playing the games. Regards.

Turned out not to be so easy because maxflash software puts all the 8k roms at the lowest banks regardless of which workbook slot they are in. I struggled with this a while until I contacted Steve and he explained how it worked. I was shocked at how quickly he updated his code to allow different slots to be selected for startup. Thanks Steve! It actually works out better for me that it's done this way, because I can put the 7 roms at the bottom of my multi cart menu, and not have to scroll thru them. They will still end up in the correct banks of the cart image. The xex goes wherever I want it. tep392

I hadn't thought of that since I'm using an 8mbit cart and have it loaded with games. It should be simple to change the line of code that selects the bank to shift everything by one slot. The xex could then be put in slot 1 and the cart set to automatically run that slot. I'll give it a try tonight.

Hello, Those of you with Atarimax Maxflash carts might be interested in this. I've just finished modifying the 64K Mario Bros XE game rom to work on the Maxflash carts. The bank switching method of the flash carts is different from the XE carts, so I had to move code around and change memory references. The cool thing is, since the program runs out of rom, it will work on machines with 64k of RAM. The xex version that's out there requires 128k ram. I've posted the files with some instructions on the Atarimax forum. http://atarimax.com/flashcart/forum/viewtopic.php?p=4339#4339

I'm the OP, and I thought I would report back that I ended up getting an 800XL and I couldn't be happier. The wealth of s/w available for this machine is just mind boggeling. I'm using Atarimax flash carts which are working out great for me. I would still like to pick up a 5200 with a few of my favorits carts though. You can never have too many Atari's! Regarding joysticks, I was playing a few games last night with a new 2600 joystick that I picked up from Best Electronics, and the control was very tight and precise. Maybe it's because I grew up with this joystick, but the feel and control are just perfect for me.

I have a question for you folks. I'm running Atari800WinPlus and it will run much faster than realtime when unthrottled, so my 3 year old desk top has more than enough power. But if set to run at 100%, it runs much slower than the real hardware. Are there some settings that I'm missing that will make it run at the same speed as a real 8-bit?

What do you think of the player speed? Too fast? Too slow? Just right? The way it's setup right now, you can really zip across the screen when the ball is spun.

It shouldn't be a problem to make the TB mode the default. I've noticed that the spider will corrupt for a split second sometimes, but I haven't looked into why that's happening.

I noticed a few days ago that you were selling a cartridge, but I had already started my little project. Being a EE, my initial plan to solve my Centipede dilemma was to hack my CX80 to output an analog trackball signal on POT0 and POT1, ala 5200. I even had a working circuit running on a breadboard, but I decided to keep my CX80 original. It's been a while since I did any assembly programming, so I thought the software approach would be fun. I have another improvement in the works that I hope to post in the next week or so.

I have a CX80 trakball and have not been satisfied with the joystick mode for Centipede, so I decided to take a stab at modifying Glenn's 5200 translation to work with the CX80 in true trakball mode. Here is my first attempt. The response might be a little too fast, but I think the controllability is more consistent than with the joystick mode. Please try it out and let me know what you think. Use ctrl-T to switch between joystick and tb mode. Also, please let me know if I have introduced any bugs. This is my first attempt at game programming. Perry Centipede (5200) - TB.zip

I didn't realize how much it deviates from the arcade version until Bob came out with Pac-Man Collection! and corrected a few things...dig: - The maze colors are wrong. Never noticed it before, but the first maze in the arcade version is NOT pink -- it's light beige with red outlines. - I think the monsters' colors are off a bit. - Ms. Pac-Man doesn't slow down as she eats the dots. - At least the first maze is short a few dots. After my post, I decided to try the Original, on Mame, and my 7800 side by side at the Banana level and they didn't seem all that different in regards to speed. I didn't pay attention to speed change as dots are being eaten. I also tried the 5200 and 8bit versions emulated and they seemed much slower compared to both the 7800 and mame. While the 7800 version may not be perfect, I still think it is one of the best ports for consoles of that era.

My first Atari purchases in 25 years. - 7800 and about 17 carts. I also picked up a new trim plate from Best Electronics to get it looking like new. - 800XL (waiting for it to arrive) - a couple 2600 Sesame street carts and kids controller for my 4 year old. - cx80 trak-ball and missle command cart.

The seller also sold a gauntlet repro for $90! ouch!

You mentioned playing Missile Command with the analog stick as a con. As I remember, the arcade version was played using a trackball. The Atari 5200 trackball is probably the best controller Atari ever made for it's console. Being able to play Missile Command and Centipede like in the arcade is one of the compelling reasons to own a 5200. The joysticks that came with the system weren;t that well built. No one ever complains about the quality of the trackball.-Moonpatrol I guess I wasn't too clear. "con's: - analog joystick (pro for missle command)" I mean that, in general, the analog joystick is a con. This is due to poor centering and feel of the stick. The comment in parentheses is that the joystick is a pro for games like Missle Command.

Thanks for the feedback everyone. I think the 8-bit machine will be my best option at this point. Probably an 800XL. Would still like to pickup a 5200 but that can wait. Plus, I still have fond memories of the Atari 400 I had back in the early 80's. I can still remember playing Defender for the first time and how dazzled I was by the graphics. It really felt like I was playing the arcade version except the joystick made it much more playable. I would let the humans get picked off just to watch the landscape explode.

EDIT: Yikes! Just searched and saw how a "vs" thread can unravel. I'm just looking for feedback, pros/cons, to help me decide on my next purchase. I'll probably end up with both at some point. Original post: I am looking for some opinions on the 5200 vs. 8-bit computers for gaming. I currently have a 7800 and am looking at picking up an 8-bit computer so I can play some of the games that are missing on the 7800, like Missle Command and Defender. What I'm trying to decide on is should I just get a 5200 since the hardware is so similarand there are quite a few other games available as well. What I see as pro's and con's are: 5200 pro's: - good library of games that are not available on my 7800. Adventure 2, missle command, defender - good trackball option - programable multi cart available con's: - analog joystick (pro for missle command) - will have to spend some bucks for a good alternative joystick. - not sure if a good arcade style stick is available 8-bit computer pro's: - very large library of games including some of my fav's like missle command and defender. - many good joystick alternatives - programable multi cart available con's: - is a good trackball available? What other pro's/con's am I missing? Are there some "must have" games on the 5200 that I won't find for the 8-bit? I would appreciate any and all feedback. Regards, Perry

That's interesting. I was playing Ms. Pacman last night and thought it was fast and fun. I'll have to try the mame version to see how it compares. Graphics wise, it seems pretty authentic compared to other ports from that era. Sound is ok, though not as good as the 8-bit or 5200 versions.

I just got my 7800 and a stack of games off ebay a few weeks ago. I haven't played Atari since my 2600 back in the early 80's and I was a little shocked at how chunky the graphics looked on my 42" LCD. Definately not what I remembered. So I pulled my old 19" RCA out of storage and now the games are what I was expecting. The 19" CRT rounds out the jagged edges just enough without making the picture fuzzy. I'm in retro gaming bliss. PS. I tossed my 2600, 400 computer and carts back in the late 80's and I'm really kicking myself now. Good thing we have ebay.