Dreaming of a Next Gen Atari - one can Dream!

[pixelmischief]

I've thought more about what the right modern system would look and feel like. Here are some requirements.

 

1. The desktop would have to look and feel like GEM.

2. Desktop must support 16K colors.

3. Desktop must support images as backgrounds.

4. Desktop must support 256 color icons.

5. Desktop must support 4:3 resolutions up to 1280x1024.

6. Desktop must support 16:9 resolutions up to 1080p.

7. Desktop text and icons must scale DPI to make the desktop usable at higher resolutions.

8. Desktop must suport legacy resolutions (ST, Falcon, and TT modes).

9. Cleanly written GEM software must run in legacy resolutions).

10. GameEx patched games must run as they do on legacy hardware (switching resolutions and returning cleanly to desktop on exit).

 

If the platform is to have any software support.

1. The OS must be cross-compilable from LinTel/WinTel machines.

2. A good C compiler, IDE, and libraries supporting low-level graphics/sound/input and gem/desktop code must be available on the system.

 

A custom Linux kernel that we call TOS, a VDl-like layer for graphics/audio/input/network, and a GEM-like windowing manager would be a great start and not nearly impossible.

An integrated emulation layer that could recognize TOS and GEM software on execution (like Wine on Linux) an slip seemlessly into those modes would make the whole thing really close to complete.

Add library support and some good tribal knowledge for porting software to the platform and we might have something that still feels like Atari while providing modern comforts and...it could be very cool.

 

A little custom case work, color matching, and labels and it might just be enough to satisfy that nostalgic need. It's a two-year project if it has 14 collaborators across several disciplines, but it could be done.

[joska]

 

Why run mint when you can have Linux? why stick to GEM in 2017 when you could have MacOS, Windows or any of the UI's that Linux provides with an ST emulator to run your old software?

 

Why drive a 1968 Camaro when you can drive a 2017 Camaro? Same question

 

I use MiNT every day. But on real hardware, not a simulation. To me that's a huge difference.

[tonma]

I really like this idea.

It would be nice if the sdk in C could have a limitation per machine. We could make a game with the limitations of the ST for example in number of colors / palette / number of sprites to recreate the style of these machines.

Can we add compatibility with the Jaguar?

[pixelmischief]

I really like this idea.

It would be nice if the sdk in C could have a limitation per machine. We could make a game with the limitations of the ST for example in number of colors / palette / number of sprites to recreate the style of these machines.

 

Can we add compatibility with the Jaguar?

 

What you are describing is compilation targets. Definitely. Being able to compile to target "68030 TOS 2.06 GEM" or "68000 TOS 1.04 VDI" and have the compile link in the right libraries would be quite incredible. In fact, having that capability in a cross-compiler on Win/Lin would be a powerful start to this.

Edited February 23, 2017 by pixelmischief

[leech]

I have seen this now a couple times about TOS 4.92.

 

Give me the cliff-note version about this. I had never heard of it.

 

Guessing the last Atari TOS before they went belly-up that was never installed on any systems?

 

What benefits over the last TOS would it have brought?

 

TJ

An image of TOS 4.92 was leaked at some point, you can use it directly in Hatari. There was a nice post with the summary of differences, I think the main useful oe was support for TT video modes under the Comparibility video modes button. Other changes were adding color to dialog boxes, etc

https://atariage.com/forums/topic/42720-tos-492/

[Xebec]

EmuTOS is up and running pretty nicely on Vampire'd Amigas now, and performance isn't really that far off of the FireBee, despite 100% 68K/020/etc compatibility..

 

The Vampire stand alone that's being worked on would probably fit the bill for a next-gen Atari system.. The economics are there for FPGAs - Moore's Law is still working for them, and the CPU horsepower there can overcome a lot of things..

 

Although not having really played with 'next gen TOS's' I guess EmuTOS is probably not what would constitute "next gen"..

[Xebec]

 

Can we add compatibility with the Jaguar?

 

That would be awesome - I saw TOS up and running on the Jaguar.. Although I suspect the registers for the Jaguar custom chips would interfere with accessing ST hardware (YM2149, Glue, Shifter) ?

[MrMaddog]

EmuTOS is up and running pretty nicely on Vampire'd Amigas now, and performance isn't really that far off of the FireBee, despite 100% 68K/020/etc compatibility..

 

The Vampire stand alone that's being worked on would probably fit the bill for a next-gen Atari system.. The economics are there for FPGAs - Moore's Law is still working for them, and the CPU horsepower there can overcome a lot of things..

 

Although not having really played with 'next gen TOS's' I guess EmuTOS is probably not what would constitute "next gen"..

 

Don't forget that EmuTOS is used to boot up FreeMiNT which is a modern version of TOS that's actively supported to this day. The great thing about FreeMiNT is that it could be run on "real" Atari computers (including 32-bit clones), FPGA based hardware, emulation through Aranym or even Vampirized Amigas...

 

To me, FreeMiNT is the Next-Gen Atari platform and hardware is just the means to run software.