Has Atari Lost It's Soul, or is it just Summer

[Keatah]

On 9/27/2022 at 4:52 PM, Beeblebrox said:

A few points I picked up on and a few observations.

 

Firstly the 2600 is a gaming console and as far as I know the general internal achitecture is more or less the same in the various incarnations of the 2600 models. AFAIK it's the same chipset, joystick ports, a cart slot and output to a TV. I am guessing that a single plug and play cart designed with the ARM driven enhancements works across the whole 2600 range. They all have the same cart port.

That's right. Architecture never really changed. There've been minor revisions of the chipset and PCB to fix issues or usher in cost-cutting. Some models may have trouble with some games, ARM included. But tiny fixes have been developed - like installing or removing a capacitor or inductor.

 

Maybe a fix for startup glitches or a TIA revision for stability. Small stuff like that.

 

On 9/27/2022 at 4:52 PM, Beeblebrox said:

My point is that the retro computing, and in particular the 8-bit computers lines such as Atari, are not like the 80's games consoles of the likes of the 2600 build.

They were among the early pioneering home computers which have the precursor to the USB (SIO) and thus allowed peripherals and had expansion in mind from early on. The majority have PBI expansion ports and/or ECI ports.

I understand that the guy that made SIO made the first USB implementation also.

 

On 9/27/2022 at 4:52 PM, Beeblebrox said:

They were also mass produced over a long period of time. Different models, different levels of build qualities, sometimes different architecture. Making particular upgrades that work across the board isn't that easy and frequently not possible. With all due respect I am therefore not sure comparing the relatively simply architecture of 2600 consoles with their single purpose use and the successful enhanced cart - to the Atari 8-bit line of computers works in this instance.

I would say (loosely) the architecture remained the same. The chipset stayed the same. But memory configurations and I/O features changed from the original 400/800 rigs.

 

Pretty much all the original 1979-1980 software worked across all 8-bit computers. Star Raiders, Defender, and all that. It all worked the same. And the computers shared the same CPU and chipset. Unlike the IIgs from Apple, whatta drag! It was really 2 distinctly different computers glued together.

 

On 9/27/2022 at 4:52 PM, Beeblebrox said:

There will be many on the Atari scene who'd welcome plug and play hardware for the Atair 8-bit line of computers I am sure. Me included. It's whether at times that is realistic or possible. As I said if it is possible, as we are seeing, then it will eventually happen - almost entirely thanks to the dedication of many very talented individuals.

I'm more accepting of hardware that plugs in without having to open the case. The whole experience is more authentic. And if there are any technical issues or incompatibilities, it'll be easier to test and fix.

[Jetboot Jack]

On 10/11/2022 at 7:16 PM, Mclaneinc said:

I think the only thing that might revive some interest is if it could be made in a plug in non solder fashion, even then even that may not be enough to pull people back to it.

I think that this is not the solution - it's always optional however simple to use.

 

I know you all think I am banging some weird drum, but I live and work in games development and have for over 35 years. Add ons are NOT the way - think 32X/Mega CD vs SFX chip - and even if the system is designed open (PC, Apple 2) you can only bank on a small portion of the user base to have the features they can choose to have...

 

Create an upgrade that is inside a cart with the game that uses it - that way it is adopted because the game is compelling - many people buy games, few people by upgrades. Establish a standard through great software!

 

Feel free to disagree, but history and user behaviour is on my side 🤪

 

sTeVE

[CapitanClassic]

3D accelerated cards (3Dfx / VooDoo) and Soundcards (Creative / Sound Blaster or even more so Adlib) were probably the most widely adopted add one for PC.

 

 

[Mclaneinc]

1 hour ago, Jetboot Jack said:

 

I know you all think I am banging some weird drum, but I live and work in games development and have for over 35 years. Add ons are NOT the way - think 32X/Mega CD vs SFX chip - and even if the system is designed open (PC, Apple 2) you can only bank on a small portion of the user base to have the features they can choose to have...

Feel free to disagree, but history and user behaviour is on my side 🤪

 

sTeVE

Steve, the fact that you are in the core of the industry tells me that if someone has a clue about what is wanted, then it's a person like yourself. Although I've had a variety of adventures in the industry (ie publishing games, writing, selling etc ect) I never created anything for it and it's users. I know what I like but as for what users want as a mass, nope, not my thing..

[Jetboot Jack]

2 hours ago, CapitanClassic said:

3D accelerated cards (3Dfx / VooDoo) and Soundcards (Creative / Sound Blaster or even more so Adlib) were probably the most widely adopted add one for PC.

 

 

Indeed they were, PC's are open systems and adding in features is part of their design.

 

However these upgrades are largely transparent to software - buy an AMD, NVIDIA, Intel GPU - all work with the games you have, invisible largely - you can run a DX9/11/12 game on a very wide range of CPU and GPU combinations, not one specific one only...

 

A PC game gives you audio if you have basic speaker, a Soundblaster, an Adlib, or an MT-32 - we knew what was possible, and costed that into the development - same with software rendering or hardware using Glide for 3D!

 

However on closed systems like the A8 upgrades like this are less so part of the default user behaviour, disc drives and printers aside...

 

sTeVE

Edited October 13, 2022 by Jetboot Jack

[CapitanClassic]

Largely transparent now, but it did take a while for a standard to be agreed upon. Before then you have Glide, Direct3D, OpenGL. Not that this diminishes any of your points about the a8. The market is too small, and it is too late in the a8’s life for even a killer app to make such an add-on viable.