Donkey Kong XM on CPUWIZ's Versaboard

[CPUWIZ]

To CPUWIZ off subject, but there were suppose to be games "in the works" on the XM, like a title called Dungeon by Groovy Bee, is it possible these may appear with the use of the Versaboard? or maybe any other titles coming like Donkey Kong PK? Very interested as this unlike the XM actually is finished.

 

DK PK is sometimes available from tep392, you should ask him. I don't know what Groovy Bee does, nor do I really care, sorry. From what I hear, nothing ever gets finished, so I don't want to be involved.

 

I think the XM will get finished. And if not, I would be willing to buy some of the parts already produced and turn them into development kits.

[Shawn]

Is there anyway to make a copy or clone of the Versaboard? Finding one is close to a miracle from what it sounds like.

 

You into stealing from your neighbours in real life too?

[DrSidneyZweibel]

If the Versaboard design is finished and proven to work with games like Donkey Kong XM and Bentley Bear, etc. why isn't the board being produced and sold in the AtariAge store so all the people involved get their proper cut of the sale?

 

Seems like that would be the elegant solution, no?

[PacManPlus]

You are assuming it isn't being sold.

 

The issue here is not the board, it is the lack of Pokey (sound chips) that are required for these games.

Edited April 27, 2017 by PacManPlus

[CPUWIZ]

You are assuming it isn't being sold.

 

The issue here is not the board, it is the lack of Pokey (sound chips) that are required for these games.

 

Come on now, we made over 500 of them just for fun. Selling? Bah, we use them as drink coasters, one time use only, ask Albert.

[DrSidneyZweibel]

I don't see them in the store. Where are they being sold?

[+DrVenkman]

I don't see them in the store. Where are they being sold?

 

You're missing the point! They are not meant to be sold as bare boards, but as "hosts" for homebrew titles that use POKEY sound. Right now, the supply of POKEY chips severely limits the numbers of such games that can sold. Hopefully, someday, the "HOKEY" project will bear some fruit - this is a work-alike clone using modern hardware that can be used instead. So far that hasn't happened.

[tep392]

CPUWIZ winked because he just sold me 15 boards and other key parts. I didn't announce it publicly because I already have a list of buyers that exceeds 15 so I contacted them directly. If anybody want's to get in on the next batch of Donkey Kong PK's, just let me know and I'll add you to the list.

[DrSidneyZweibel]

 

You're missing the point! They are not meant to be sold as bare boards, but as "hosts" for homebrew titles that use POKEY sound. Right now, the supply of POKEY chips severely limits the numbers of such games that can sold. Hopefully, someday, the "HOKEY" project will bear some fruit - this is a work-alike clone using modern hardware that can be used instead. So far that hasn't happened.

i know. I was asking about the games themselves. I understand that Versa is just a board design.

[+DrVenkman]

i know. I was asking about the games themselves. I understand that Versa is just a board design.

 

In that case, take note of the rest of my reply. POKEY chips are very limited. Games will be sold when/if Al or someone else like Perry can accumulate enough Versaboards and POKEY chips to warrant the effort. Ideally, the HOKEY project will get us all access to a modern replacement for POKEY chips and we'll be awash in excellent homebrews from for AA store.

 

Personally, I hope this is the case soon. I really, really want to buy Bentley Bear, Beef Drop and Super Circus Atari in their POKEY goodness, as well as updated classics that could benefit from full 4-channel POKEY sound in lieu of the quaint 1977-esque sounds of the TIA originals. But I don't want to pay $20 or more as a premium per cart for individual vintage POKEY chips.

[Jinks]

People keep thinking the Versaboard is a passthru add on like the xm will be.

I have found this assumption multiple times in the 7800 section.

The real deal is the centipede boards and pp2 boards which I have. If you shove them in the expansion port on the model 1 7800 you get 6 channels. Also will work as a short wave radio.

[Retrok7]

But do the Versaboards operate independently in any capacity?

Edited April 28, 2017 by Retrok7

[Trebor]

But do the Versaboards operate independently in any capacity?

 

They operate at flux capacity when supplied with 1.21 gigawatts of power and thrown at 88 mph.

[Jinks]

 

They operate at flux capacity when supplied with 1.21 gigawatts of power and thrown at 88 mph.

Thats the most helpfull suggestion you have had to date.

[Lynxpro]

Someone was selling a mod service in the AtariAge MarketPlace that involved installing a POKEY into the 7800 itself, and it wasn't via an XBoard. It popped up briefly and we linked to it from the 7800 Facebook group but I can't remember the name of the person involved. It made a little bit of noise and then everyone forgot about it like the situation involving the retrieval of 7800 Paperboy from the programmer's attic in the UK.

Edited April 29, 2017 by Lynxpro

[DrSidneyZweibel]

Doesn't Brad at Best Electronics have a butt load of pokeys?

[Albert]

Doesn't Brad at Best Electronics have a butt load of pokeys?

 

Probably, but I doubt he'd sell them to me in any meaningful quantities!

[+DrVenkman]

Doesn't Brad at Best Electronics have a butt load of pokeys?

 

 

 

Probably, but I doubt he'd sell them to me in any meaningful quantities!

 

For the last year or two, he's had POKEY's listed at $20 each, limit 1. Ugh. Like many of us probably do, I have "spares" to the extent I have multiple machines (personally I currently have 12 A8 computers) but I really don't want the community to have to sacrifice more and more working Ballblazers and otherwise-working computers to keep others going, or to build 7800 game cartridges.

[Jinks]

 

 

 

For the last year or two, he's had POKEY's listed at $20 each, limit 1. Ugh. Like many of us probably do, I have "spares" to the extent I have multiple machines (personally I currently have 12 A8 computers) but I really don't want the community to have to sacrifice more and more working Ballblazers and otherwise-working computers to keep others going, or to build 7800 game cartridges.

Thus the reason for the xm. Had it neen done in 2010 hundreds of pokeys would still be in their original home.

[CPUWIZ]

Thus the reason for the xm. Had it neen done in 2010 hundreds of pokeys would still be in their original home.

 

Nope.

 

I know Jaybird sold about 100 Ballblazer boards to some Europeans for A8 work. And I know someone else who butchered a couple hundred Ballblazer's for a guy who works on Arcade machines.

 

Didn't that cave dude waste thousands of them as well?

[Dauber]

FWIW, I got a few POKEYs from here:

 

http://www.ebay.com/itm/162070513913?_trksid=p2060353.m2749.l2649&ssPageName=STRK%3AMEBIDX%3AIT

[Jinks]

 

Nope.

 

I know Jaybird sold about 100 Ballblazer boards to some Europeans for A8 work. And I know someone else who butchered a couple hundred Ballblazer's for a guy who works on Arcade machines.

 

Didn't that cave dude waste thousands of them as well?

The a8 needs a good pokey or they don't work. Probably was the quad pokey mod..

[+Cafeman]

I've read this thread before but I still have some q's. Sorry, I miss a LOT of AA threads, I've searched around but not found A's to my Q's.

 

Anyway , if POKEY chips are in ever dwindling amounts, what is so exciting about CPUWIZ's Versa board w/ POKEY mounted on it. It appears to be a 7800 pcb ... which is good of course -- but if POKEYs can't be found in reliable quantities, what makes Versa different from whatever other 7800-PCB's were used before it?

 

Just how limited are available POKEYs? Are we down to the last couple hundred for example?

 

Which leads to HOKEY - I've read about it but I'm confused. It sounds like somebody has a design to replace POKEY with HOKEY - what is the problem then? Has the design run into technical issues, or is a matter of the cost of manufacturing a new chip? Or what?

[+DrVenkman]

I've read this thread before but I still have some q's. Sorry, I miss a LOT of AA threads, I've searched around but not found A's to my Q's.

 

Anyway , if POKEY chips are in ever dwindling amounts, what is so exciting about CPUWIZ's Versa board w/ POKEY mounted on it. It appears to be a 7800 pcb ... which is good of course -- but if POKEYs can't be found in reliable quantities, what makes Versa different from whatever other 7800-PCB's were used before it?

 

Just how limited are available POKEYs? Are we down to the last couple hundred for example?

 

Which leads to HOKEY - I've read about it but I'm confused. It sounds like somebody has a design to replace POKEY with HOKEY - what is the problem then? Has the design run into technical issues, or is a matter of the cost of manufacturing a new chip? Or what?

 

You have multiple questions. In order, basically:

 

1. What's exciting is it's a newly-available PCB for POKEY-enabled homebrews, which means you don't have to sacrifice working Ballblazer and Commando carts. It also is configurable to support multiple ROM memory bank-switching schemes, so - again - you don't have to sacrifice existing 7800 carts to make new games.

 

2. Unknown except generally - I once picked up a pristine in-box 600XL for literally $5 + $10 shipping on eBay, just to have a spare system. Sellers used to sell POKEY's for a few bucks, and Ballblazer carts (the most common "POKEY-donor" carts) used to go for $2 or so. Compare to modern prices.

 

3. We don't know. Presumably technical problems but the only one who knows is Fred (a/k/a Batari) who teased the community with what appears to be a prototype/proof of concept unit about 3 years ago, but about which no one has posted anything definitive in about 2 years.

You're welcome.

[CPUWIZ]

There is no existing Atari PCB, that can do what the VersaBoard can do, that was part of the challenge. It's all Bob's fault.