Atari 2600+ Beta Update 1.1

[Mi1ez]

1 hour ago, JetmanUK said:

Thanks for the update Ben, and thanks to all those working on it too. 

 

I would like to test this update, I have a boatload of carts, including numerous troublesome 7800 ones, and as I've mentioned on these forums already, some oddly behaving PAL 2600 carts too.  My windows laptop is ready! 

Strangely, Asteroids for 7800 was marked as working but my copy keeps experiencing all sorts of weird problems, including sometimes not reading correctly, sometimes coming up with an error, sometimes rebooting in the middle of playing it, etc.  I didn't see any of that with the other stuff but I thought it was weird to see that with a cartridge that their spec sheet said should work.  Are you seeing that too?

[captcapcom]

I can test things out on the 2600 and 7800 side. Especially with homebrews. Sign me up! 

[gambler172]

Hi

I own all 7800 games, including all homebrews.

All existing 7800 multicarts and lots of 2600 carts.

Greetings Walter

[dashv]

Open to help kick the tires.

 

I have over 100 2600 games and about a dozen 7800 games. All NTSC. Including variants of quite a few.

 

I also have a few working 2600 consoles and a working 7800.

 

Updating hardware/firmware via a windows pc is not a problem for me. 🙂

 

Fun Fact: I started and maintained the unofficial Retron 5 compatibility list back in the day.

https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1oDQByg6OWl6eFwzqLdJm18tDjCZ2up1b2DbOdJyRxFc/edit

 

Edited December 29, 2023 by dashv
Fixed typo.

[JetmanUK]

1 hour ago, Mi1ez said:

Strangely, Asteroids for 7800 was marked as working but my copy keeps experiencing all sorts of weird problems, including sometimes not reading correctly, sometimes coming up with an error, sometimes rebooting in the middle of playing it, etc.  I didn't see any of that with the other stuff but I thought it was weird to see that with a cartridge that their spec sheet said should work.  Are you seeing that too?

I have a 7800 Asteroids cart in the post, it's taking a while to arrive. I'll test it when it does, but I may be on the new firmware by then. 

[+sramirez2008]

I would like to jump in on the testing please. 🙂

[tmop69]

I’m interested in the beta test. Many thanks.

[+MrZarniwoop]

11 hours ago, Ben from Plaion said:

So if anyone here on AA wants to give the update a test with their own carts please post your interest in this thread and I will send the files and instructions to you over the next few days.

Yes please. Thanks for how you’ve plugged into this community!

[VectorDreams]

Yes, please add me to the list to give this a try.  I have about 70 carts along with a many 7800 AA homebrew including Circus Convoy.

 

Thanks.

[Diewaldo]

Hello!

I am interested in testing too. I am in Germany and I can can test PAL-compatibility.

[AtariYMás009]

Hi, I'm also interested.

 

but there is something that I am not very clear about @Ben from Plaion, when the final version comes out, will it be here on atariage or on the official Atari website?
I will also need fairly detailed instructions on the process, because I am highly clumsy at these things hehe.

[THX-1138]

I'm interested in testing.  UK PAL user, have 2600 and 7800 carts to test.  Have access to Windows but would also be interested in testing options from Linux, my main OS.

[Blinky]

I'm interested too!

[Prince Manic]

If there's still time I could test out the fixed atari 2600 difficulty switches and the 7800 button layout on asteroids 7800 version 

[pseudografx]

I would love to test the new firmware with some PAL 2600/7800 games.

[omf]

I would love to test the new update.

Mine is currently in its box as it wont play most of my collection.

[+Intellivision Master]

16 hours ago, Ben from Plaion said:

You will need a Windows Laptop/PC to do the update, its not the most elegant process but should be all done in a few minutes.

I do have a Windows PC.  Will the process be easier with future updates?

[Dolfilemm]

Great news! I would like to test this new update, I have 100 cartridges, 2600 and 7800, including Circus convoy.

[xeex]

I’d like to check this out.

[Pat Larocque]

I would be interested in testing it out as well! I just got the 2600+ a few days ago. I have a Windows Desktop and Laptop, over 200 NTSC carts including Circus Convoy, Harmony Cart and some homebrews.

 

P.S. I got the Harmony Cart working with the + already....the trick is to only have one ROM on the Harmony at a time and not have it in a folder, just download the .bin file directly to the Harmony memory card and it should play fine! 

[mattiebee]

Hi @Ben from Plaion,

 

I don’t have a huge variety of carts but would be happy to test.

Side note, I do have Windows I can use for this. I’m also interested in how the update works and if I could help make it work on macOS as well, provided it doesn’t simply rely on tools that don’t exist there. (I’ve been a systems programmer for many years now.)

[desiv]

8 hours ago, Mi1ez said:

Maybe? 

Yeah, hence my question mark.  I think WINE is a great option... IF it works for that app..

That's the problem.
We'll have to see when this flasher is released what it requires and if there isn't Linux support, if it works with WINE...
(if that hasn't been mentioned in this thread already...)

VMs are great (been working with them since PLEX (and earlier if you count some mainframe/midrange LPAR stuff ;-), but at this point for my home machines, I got to the point that if I needed a VM, I might as well just have a cheap Windows machine.  Which I do...

Getting lazier in my old age...  I'd rather spend my time trying to get the menus in my Cuttle Cart II looking just right than playing with VMs.

[scifidude79]

3 minutes ago, desiv said:

Yeah, hence my question mark.  I think WINE is a great option... IF it works for that app..

That's the problem.

Indeed, that is the problem. In 2008, I bought a computer with Windows Vista on it and I wound up checking out desktop Linux in 2009 because of how terrible Vista was. I was still attached to a lot of Windows apps at the time (now I use more open source software) and I did a lot of messing around with WINE over the next several years. When WINE works for your app, it's the most beautiful thing in the world. When it doesn't and you have to start troubleshooting, it's one of the most frustrating things in the world.

[THX-1138]

4 minutes ago, desiv said:

Yeah, hence my question mark.  I think WINE is a great option... IF it works for that app..

That's the problem.
We'll have to see when this flasher is released what it requires and if there isn't Linux support, if it works with WINE...
(if that hasn't been mentioned in this thread already...)

VMs are great (been working with them since PLEX (and earlier if you count some mainframe/midrange LPAR stuff ;-), but at this point for my home machines, I got to the point that if I needed a VM, I might as well just have a cheap Windows machine.  Which I do...

Getting lazier in my old age...  I'd rather spend my time trying to get the menus in my Cuttle Cart II looking just right than playing with VMs.

Does WINE support USB connections?  I remember testing it to flash something ages ago and it didn't work.  I just setup a Windows VM in VirtualBox and it worked fine.

[desiv]

17 minutes ago, THX-1138 said:

Does WINE support USB connections? 

My WINE support is a bit rusty, but when I used it, it depended...  IIRC, at the time it didn't support Windows USB directly.

But if the program was looking for a USB device and Linux supported that device (storage, serial, etc), then possibly.

I've used it for flashing devices in the past, but I believe the flasher program was looking for a serial device.  That device was USB, but the app was technically just looking for serial.  If the app is hitting the USB stack directly, then it was (still?) not going to work...  
But my WINE knowledge isn't current, so don't quote me on that...

Edited December 29, 2023 by desiv