Curt Vendel Posted July 20, 2014 Share Posted July 20, 2014 Hi everyone... So here is a quick update. Not much has occurred this year only because I've had several operations and my last in June seems to have fixed an issue that I've had since Dec 12' The Yamaha audio portion is still questionable, it will be implemented it's just ironing it out. There appears to be a very big issue with the memory system and keeping data stable. The bus partitioning needs to be thoroughly tested out. System console compatibility is the last to-do on the list once these other issues are addressed. Mark is helping again as he has time as his job and life are extremely hectic so he can only put in a very very limited amount of time to this as right now I can myself as I've been done and just starting to really work again. I have tremendous amounts of bills to catch up on so my job and work are the priority as that time, but the XM gets my attention as I can. When these major hurdles are fixed, next update post will be made so it will be a while. Curt 30 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bennybingo Posted July 20, 2014 Share Posted July 20, 2014 Thank you for the update. It is very much appreciated! 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lynxpro Posted July 20, 2014 Share Posted July 20, 2014 Curt, did you share on AA that a recluse spider did all of that to you? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The Usotsuki Posted July 20, 2014 Share Posted July 20, 2014 Hey, I'm like Lonestar. I'll take any sort of update over nothing. 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
toiletunes Posted July 20, 2014 Share Posted July 20, 2014 Thank you, Curt. Thank you very much for everything you have done. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TrekMD Posted July 20, 2014 Share Posted July 20, 2014 Thank you for the update. Glad to see the surgery did help! 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Prosystemsearch Posted July 20, 2014 Share Posted July 20, 2014 Thanks for the update, oh Curt. Good job with your recovery. You are doing justice for the 7800. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+swlovinist Posted July 22, 2014 Share Posted July 22, 2014 Thank you for the update. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Synthpopalooza Posted July 23, 2014 Share Posted July 23, 2014 A Brown recluse spider? YIKES. Now I am VERY Spider paranoid. Glad to see you're feeling better Curt. 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tep392 Posted July 23, 2014 Share Posted July 23, 2014 A Brown recluse spider? YIKES. Now I am VERY Spider paranoid. Glad to see you're feeling better Curt. I lived in NC for 3 years. My wife had never heard of the Brown Recluse until we moved there. She was terrified about it and would run scared from any brown spider she came across. 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
toiletunes Posted July 26, 2014 Share Posted July 26, 2014 This may be a silly question, but how are the other portions of the xm doing- pokey, hsc, etc. It's nice to know what's not working 100%, but it'd be cool to have an updated list of the working parts too. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
David Alexander Posted August 2, 2014 Share Posted August 2, 2014 Thanks for the update. Cant wait for the day the XM is available. I hope it stimulates more homebrews & arcade ports Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+Stephen Posted August 6, 2014 Share Posted August 6, 2014 Thanks for the update - glad to hear you appear to be back in recovery mode. Hate to be "Debby Downer" - but it sure sounds like there's a LOT of major issues to sort out with the XM. Certainly doesn't sound like it's ready for a release anytime soon. Memory is not stable and the bus isn't working? What about all the other updates saying it would be out in a few weeks? 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+Random Terrain Posted August 6, 2014 Share Posted August 6, 2014 What about all the other updates saying it would be out in a few weeks? That's easy to answer. Not enough people clapped, so the XM's light grew dim and progress reversed. Do you believe in the XM? Oh, please . . . please believe! Wherever you are, clap your hands and the XM will hear you. Clap! Clap! Don't let the XM regress any farther! Clap! The XM is getting better. Clap! Clap! It's getting stronger! The XM is back on track! Oh, thank you! Thank you! Thank you! youtube.com/watch?v=A6IKaLF4Fqc https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A6IKaLF4Fqc 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
toiletunes Posted August 6, 2014 Share Posted August 6, 2014 It appeared to be working at the Portland Retro Gaming Expo (October 2013), at least with certain games. There was a working YM2151 audio demo (March 2012), a working XEGS keyboard demo and Pokey (November 2011), and High Score worked (October 2011). Maybe some revision fixed some issues but caused other issues. Maybe I thought it worked because I wanted it to work. Maybe I don't know. As an aside, the project officially kicked of September 30, 2010. Curt is trying to catch up on bills and the XM is not a priority at this time. There is no estimated release date, and I don't expect any updates for awhile. Everyone would be happier if things worked out differently, but this is the way it is for now. In before the lock. 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Greg2600 Posted August 6, 2014 Share Posted August 6, 2014 It appeared to be working at the Portland Retro Gaming Expo (October 2013), at least with certain games. There was a working YM2151 audio demo (March 2012), a working XEGS keyboard demo and Pokey (November 2011), and High Score worked (October 2011). Maybe some revision fixed some issues but caused other issues. Maybe I thought it worked because I wanted it to work. Maybe I don't know. It did seem to be working, but quite possible those last few bugs turned out to be major nightmares, and Curt did not want to ship a defective product. He seemed fairly annoyed by the gremlins at the time. Will this ever happen? Who knows, but I have to imagine Curt is monetarily tapped out, and he's probably going to need $$$ in order to fix the problems. If the defects are hardware related, yikes. I nearly pre-ordered this a few years ago, but got cold feet and spent the money on AV mods instead! Thanks for the update. Cant wait for the day the XM is available. I hope it stimulates more homebrews & arcade ports They're coming about regardless. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
toiletunes Posted August 7, 2014 Share Posted August 7, 2014 (edited) I nearly pre-ordered this a few years ago, but got cold feet and spent the money on AV mods instead! Consider yourself lucky. I talked my wife into preordering for my birthday- now I can't talk Atari at home because every conversation leads to "So are you ever going to get that thing I bought for your birthday 2 (3 4 etc) years ago? Why can't you just get the money back?" It's hard to explain, especially after all of the "It will be ready in a few weeks" announcements. Edited August 7, 2014 by toiletunes 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Curt Vendel Posted September 2, 2014 Author Share Posted September 2, 2014 Another update - getting the Yamaha circuit sorted out thanks to Groovybee... BTW myself, Marty Goldberg and the XM (working rev2) and engineering review samples of the rev3 boards will be at the Syzygy Company booth at CGE in Las Vegas Sept 12-14. 21 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CPUWIZ Posted September 2, 2014 Share Posted September 2, 2014 You should check what happens when you plug in a none-XM BBCQ POKEY cart, Mitch is gonna bring one. I will as well, if I can make it. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Curt Vendel Posted September 2, 2014 Author Share Posted September 2, 2014 Hey CPU - great! Mitch is actually slated to be the end all version test guy on the XM since he's got every version to do testing on. I'll be there and def looking forward to trying the cart on the XM, thanks !!! 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+Stephen Posted September 2, 2014 Share Posted September 2, 2014 Excellent news - I hope all goes well at the show and you are in good health again. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The Usotsuki Posted September 2, 2014 Share Posted September 2, 2014 GroovyBee's back on the XM? My face when Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lapetino Posted September 2, 2014 Share Posted September 2, 2014 Great news! Thanks for the update, Curt. Hope you're feeling better and I'll see you in Vegas! 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
chrislobo Posted September 3, 2014 Share Posted September 3, 2014 Hey Curt, how are you doing? I hope you're fine and healthy, man! I'm glad I found you here because I'm worried about the delay in shipping my two "Atari USB classic2" joysticks, which were purchased a month ago. (Order ID: #592) I've tried to contact you via Atariage private message, Syzygy sales and atarimuseum's e-mails (as Retro Rogue told me you asked me to do so), and Syzygy facebook page, but got no response so far... So please, Curt, can you send me the joysticks as soon as possible? I apologize for posting this issue in this topic, but I needed to get Curt's attention. I'll delete it if it's not allowed 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Trebor Posted September 4, 2014 Share Posted September 4, 2014 Question I'm hoping Curt, GroovyBee, or someone else may be able to answer that knows definitively... If a game cartridge already has an included POKEY chip mapped at 0x450, how does the XM handle it? Does the XM turn off it's own POKEY chip mapped at that address or 'cancels' the one in the cart and feeds the data to its internal POKEY chip at that address...Or something else (Does it simply not work/crash/no sound)? 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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