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Showing results for tags 'Jack Tramiel'.
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I'm working on a TRS-80 Color Computer Emulator "Middle of Nowhere" for the Commodore 64! ? This hybrid Tech emu will be similar to my Atari 2600 emulator for the C64, Game Loader. Game_Loader_Commodore_64_Atari_2600_Emulator_WhitePaper.pdf This project was inspired by Lonnie Falk and Prospect Kentucky (middle of nowhere) and by Jack Tramiel. Details: Like Game Loader, Middle of Nowhere is going to be part emulation and part Transmeta magic. Middle of Nowhere will take a Color Computer program and output a native C64 program. Just Like Game Loader, the emu will use about 80% of the C64's screen to put the Color Computer program on. Full Adventure game support: All of the Rainbow Adventure Books Interactive Fiction titles should be playable in the emulator. All of the T&D text Adventures should also be playable. BASIC semigraphics games will convert to PETSCII dynamically like Game Loader! SOUND and PLAY statements from Microsoft Extended BASIC will be emulated on the phenomenal SID chip with enhancements to sound. Lines greater than 80 characters will convert to Microsoft BASIC 2.0 structured logic blocks. Unlike Game Loader, Assembly Language programs will not be supported (the Color Computer is 16-bit). Release planned for December 2022
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- lonnie falk
- jack tramiel
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fire hazard C64 Atari Emulator and Debugger play BLITZ
Mr SQL posted a topic in Atari 2600 Programming
Commodore Business Machines released a PET that could increase the screen refresh rate via an undocumented register address. On later hardware models this undocumented feature was revised and changing the address with the same software could damage the PET and cause a chip to overheat. In this demo video of the Game Loader with the debugger attached (an Atari 2600 emulator for the Commodore 64) there are sparkles on the real hardware like were seen on the CBM PET where the refresh rate could be increased: Technical Details on the debugger and the freezing bug: The debugger is attached and throwing SYMBOLS from a shell in the upper left and there is an extra 2% time loop reserved if things get tight. I don't think the overhead from the debugger is causing the pause, because it's intermittent. Corruption in the Zero Page The Commodore has a lot of activity marshalling the Kernel and there is corruption of data on the zero page. I keep chasing these programs to either remove their access to the zero page or coordinate which programs should participating. Kernel sub programs with a legitimate purpose, get to keep their registers in low RAM and I have moved several Shadow registers and fast RAM variables around in the zero page to accommodate those. Some are very tricky and corrupt a value temporarily and then pull it back out of the stack and put it back; I think that's what's causing the freeze when it happens, it's not always the same spot very difficult to track down. I added a debugger to the emu to assist in finding them and reviewing the maps which are very helpful. Here's the Atari 2600 program code the Game Loader emulator is running, you can see the Shadow registers are already implemented, some partially. Soft collision detection with the sprites and the tile playfield is working in the vid, but not the hardware collision because I have not wrapped the bare metal API for those yet though there is a stub for it already present in the sub Framework so that no errors on compile will happen. Mapping the switches on the console The Joysticks are already mapped and SWCHB is getting mapped to the function keys on the right side of the Commodore with perhaps shift-lock for the BW/color toggle. Thoughts and ideas welcome on this interesting emu! More details on the architecture are here I plan to release the Game Loader emu/game transformer after more thorough testing to ensure there is no chance of damaging a C64 by frying a chip like with the PET by pushing the VIC-II to emulate a 1 Mhz system on 1 Mhz platforms.
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- overclocking vic-ii
- jack tramiel
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C64 Atari Emulator beats a real Atari - YouTube The Gameloader was a vaporware Atari 2600 Adaptor for the VIC-20 that played Atari games with enhanced Commodore graphics and sound. Gameloader64 is now in Beta for the Commodore 64! Running Atari 2600 games on the C64: Details on the racing the beam sub framework architecture for the C64 are on the Commodore forum and it is already possible to use SuperCharger BASIC or Assembly and Batari BASIC to construct Commodore 64 games. Advanced Atari games written in Assembly and SuperCharger BASIC will run cross platform on the C64 through Gameloader with no changes to the code like the demo program example below. Expansion model: It is possible to add a stub to the sub framework for batari BASIC SuperChip games using the 32x32 playfield and standard bB games using the 11x32 playfield. Getting free form Atari games to run with no changes to the code is the more challenging aspect of the project, and requires a specific framework stub for each program or set of programs that create their own graphics accelerator card to map it to the VIC-II region space. Benchmarking program used in the video: Atari2600_demo_umodified_on_C64.txt This is the benchmarking program, the timing is identical on the Atari 2600 but it deliberately fails to race the beam and the screen rolls when making the Assembly call in the BASIC program to blit the screen at 60 Hz with the soft ANTIC blitter. Technical: This can only be done using display list calls to the soft ANTIC chip that on the Atari 2600 can achieve at most 75% of the screen at 60 Hz, but to blitter the whole playfield on the 2600 only the 30 Hz display mode allows enough time. 32X throughput One of the most interesting aspects of the benchmark demo is that the C64 is blitting 32x the bit depth, each 1 bit phat TIA pixel is transposed to four PETSCII tiles that can be redefined (see commented code in the listing for C64 tile and background tile arrays in the BASIC dialect). Benchmarking Atari 2600 games against Atari 2600 games: The same test program can also be cross compiled with Flashback BASIC which performs similar Transmeta magic through the Program Coordinator in the sub Framework to host SuperCharger memory format and bank switching schemes natively on CBS RAM. It's interesting to note that the benchmark test results show CBS RAM Atari 2600 format also performing faster than the Supercharger with less of a screen roll though not nearly as fast as the C64. GameLoader64 was inspired by Jack Tramiel and the SillyVenture Atari Commodore Sinclair Demo Scene
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I couldn't find these InfoWorld articles posted at AtariAge, so here they are in case you haven't seen them. They're at archive.org, but I'll include copies in case the magazines eventually get removed. What went wrong at Atari? InfoWorld - November 28, 1983 - Volume 5, Number 48 archive.org/stream/Infoworld-1983-11-28#page/n152/mode/1up Next week: Why Atari and Ray Kassar failed to keep up with the video-game market and why Warner hired another "marketing man" to replace Kassar. What went wrong at Atari InfoWorld - December 5, 1983 - Volume 5, Number 49 archive.org/stream/Infoworld-1983-12-05#page/n146/mode/1up
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Hi everyone, Microzeit is a new German publisher on the digital era of home computing and pixel creativity. The Atari ST and the Creative People book vol.1 has been sold worldwide for a good quarter now. Due to the increasing request from North America, especially from Canada and the US, I decided to offer exclusive express delivery to North America. I have feedback from customers: Only 7-10 days and the book is there >>> >>> MICROZEIT is a new independent publisher focused on digital culture and computer history. We open up with a book series about digital creativity in the 80s. THE ATARI ST AND THE CREATIVE PEOPLE are narrative art books with a premier presentation of contemporary motion design. For the first time fast paced pixel movements are captured in a book. Our hearts are beating for digital art as well as good storytelling. Find our trademark design and view on the pixel era in the first volume BREAKIN’ THE BORDERS. Every part of this book is a journey and we work hard on transmitting this idea for you. It’s work-in-progress. Thanks to a solid crowdfunding it will be an attractive analogue conversion of screen art. As independent producers it’s our ambition to fill some pieces into the puzzle of “digital culture”. Be with us. www.microzeit.com-
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- Atari stdemoscene
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This is a very very sad day indeed: http://www.forbes.com/sites/davidthier/2012/04/09/computer-legend-and-gaming-pioneer-jack-tramiel-dies-at-age-83/ RIP Jack.
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