Original roms and new homebrew roms on VCS?

[Yurkie]

1. Can all the old and new Atari 2600 games be played on the vcs?

2. Can the original controllers be plugged in and used?

3. Does the vcs require an internet connection to play games? Meaning once I have it up and running, could I store it for a year and then get it out and play without an internet connection?

[Mockduck]

1 hour ago, Yurkie said:

1. Can all the old and new Atari 2600 games be played on the vcs?

2. Can the original controllers be plugged in and used?

3. Does the vcs require an internet connection to play games? Meaning once I have it up and running, could I store it for a year and then get it out and play without an internet connection?

1. No, only games released in AtariOS on that side. On the PC side of the VCS you can do this with Stella and the full rom list, just like any other computer.

2. No, not without one of the homemade adapter things some folks in AtariAge sell.

3. No, not to play games. You can boot up the VCS and play anything (so far) on the system without an Internet connection that makes sense. So, obviously Stadia, Luna, Antstream, YouTube, etc are out, but I have not encountered a game that wouldn't boot without an Internet connection. Some will load weirdly, though, as they are trying to ping leaderboards and such, but everything so far will load and play that I've tried. 

[zzip]

If you use it in PC mode, you can do all that.  (you would need a USB adapter to plug in original controllers)

 

In Atari OS mode,  I think you can hack it to play your own roms, and it should be able to handle anything Stella can.   But personally I use PC mode for emulator stuff since I have complete control there.

[Atari Nut]

On 8/15/2022 at 10:31 AM, zzip said:

In Atari OS mode,  I think you can hack it to play your own roms, and it should be able to handle anything Stella can.   But personally I use PC mode for emulator stuff since I have complete control there.

Any articles out there showing how to do this... so you don't need to leave Atari OS for other ROMs?

 

[zzip]

On 12/25/2022 at 11:47 AM, Atari Nut said:

Any articles out there showing how to do this... so you don't need to leave Atari OS for other ROMs?

 

There's been people on this forum who've posted things about how to add things to AtariOS's Mame or have stated that an AtariOS app isn't much different from any other Linux desktop app

 

I would consider it risky to try it, until someone has made a definitive guide.   If you're up for the challenge maybe back up your AtariOS drives first.