Newbie questions

[+MrFish]

2 hours ago, sirlynxalot said:

Good info in here folks.  I'm going to continue to do emulation for awhile, but I think my first choice for hardware would be an xegs since it was marketed as a console and Atari consoles have been the primary focus of my playing and owning up until now, and coming late in the 8 bit lifecycle I assume it has adequate memory to play much of the library. Sounds like floppy emulator is the way to go to be able to load much of the library, so a setup would be xegs and keyboard and joystick and floppy emulator... He he with all that plugged in its already deviating from the simple console like experience 😉

The XEGS has 64 KB  of RAM, which is the standard RAM required for 99% of the library.

 

A floppy emulator is fine; but an AVG cart will emulate a floppy too (with a small additional cable, available) and emulate carts. Emulating carts expands the available titles some, and has the advantage of the instant loading you get with carts, which provides more of a console experience. 

 

2 hours ago, sirlynxalot said:

A shame the 5200 joystick is analogue, many of the games in the library seem designed for precise digital arcade stick like movements to play them well, so it seems like the console would have been better served with something like the 2600 or 7800 joystick anyway.

There are adapters that allow using digital joysticks with the 5200.

 

2 hours ago, sirlynxalot said:

Here's another newbie question. I was trying to play blue max via emulation and no matter what direction or button I pressed on the joystick the plane wouldn't pull up and I crash at the end of the initial runway... How do I take off? 

You need to reach a speed of 100+ before you try to take off; otherwise you'll crash.

 

[+MrFish]

6 hours ago, Keatah said:

"Default", I was thinking, means the first computer that made a major impression on you. Or the one you were first exposed to. Something like that. All else is secondary.

I knew what you meant; I was just messing with you again. But the Atari 8-bits are still numero uno, no matter what you say.

 

 

 

[sirlynxalot]

6 minutes ago, MrFish said:

floppy emulator is fine; but an AVG cart will emulate a floppy too (with a small additional cable, available) and emulate carts. Emulating carts expands the available titles some, and has the advantage of the instant loading you get with carts, which provides more of a console experience. 

Oh perfect, I'd prefer that.

[+MrFish]

6 hours ago, xxl said:

that's not true. SIDE3 does not have full ATR support even with U1MB installed, which is also shown on the AVG website:

https://avgcart.tmp.sk/

All I can see there is that SIDE3 has "limited support of ATR's"; but it doesn't mention anything about it being used in conjunction with the Ultimate 1 MB upgrade. So, I'm assuming it's talking about the limited support before pairing with the Ultimate 1 MB. That's my understanding, and what's stated on the chart posted above by @Beeblebrox ("Full ATR support when used with a U1MB"). If someone can clarify the situation as being otherwise, I'd appreciate it.

 

[+MrFish]

6 hours ago, Beeblebrox said:

Not knocking AVG at all btw. Wonderful cart.

Alright... otherwise, it's a brick through the window, buddy...

 

 

 

[MrTrust]

3 hours ago, sirlynxalot said:

Here's another newbie question. I was trying to play blue max via emulation and no matter what direction or button I pressed on the joystick the plane wouldn't pull up and I crash at the end of the initial runway... How do I take off? 

 

Yeeeeeahhh...  You're going to want to go ahead and get yourself well aquatinted with a site called Atarimania, because you're going to need to reference game manuals quite a bit if you're going to delve into the A8 library.

 

While, yes, there are many "console-like" arcade games that can just be picked up and played intuitively, many, many, many of the titles that really define the system are not so obvious in how they play, as you have seen there with Blue Max.  This is probably the most un-console-like thing about it.

 

Another thing you might want to do is keep an eye on the 8-Bit High Score Club here.  They do a very good job of working their way through the library and pick a lot of interesting games that you might not otherwise try.  Very valuable resource, particularly if you're more oriented toward simpler, coin-op-style games.

[+MrFish]

On 10/22/2022 at 11:20 AM, MrFish said:

All I can see there is that SIDE3 has "limited support of ATR's"; but it doesn't mention anything about it being used in conjunction with the Ultimate 1 MB upgrade. So, I'm assuming it's talking about the limited support before pairing with the Ultimate 1 MB. That's my understanding, and what's stated on the chart posted above by @Beeblebrox ("Full ATR support when used with a U1MB"). If someone can clarify the situation as being otherwise, I'd appreciate it.

So, just to close this part of the conversation, the situation is as stated in the quote here (as I'm sure a lot of people/owners are already aware).

 

Here's a video review of the SIDE3 and U1MB that demonstrates this and other details.

 

 

Edited October 25, 2022 by MrFish

[Mclaneinc]

On 10/22/2022 at 4:20 PM, MrFish said:

All I can see there is that SIDE3 has "limited support of ATR's"; but it doesn't mention anything about it being used in conjunction with the Ultimate 1 MB upgrade. So, I'm assuming it's talking about the limited support before pairing with the Ultimate 1 MB. That's my understanding, and what's stated on the chart posted above by @Beeblebrox ("Full ATR support when used with a U1MB"). If someone can clarify the situation as being otherwise, I'd appreciate it.

 

From what I know Jon factored in a way to use DMA (or was it PBI??..Blooming memory) to load the ATR's, which it does super fast, BUT it's not fully ATR compliant. Also worth noting that as great as the AVG is, even it has the odd not working title. On a side note will also do the DMA load as well rather than use the patched firmware, I think it needs the ECI / PBI cable mounted for this.

 

Basically, if the SIO system is not directly used, then there will be problems..

 

As for the Ultimate 1MB, I don't that other than the PBI stuff it offered anything to help ATR support be totally functional.

 

I think the wording of FULL ATR support means, it supports the ATR format in full but loading them all is another issue, hard coded stuff will still not go very far in most cases. Maybe if the ever busy FJC has a spare min, he might explain this in a more tech manner.

Edited October 25, 2022 by Mclaneinc