Beta 2600+ Firmware and Dumper Builds

[John Stamos Mullet]

8 hours ago, Ducko said:

Atari gets everything right in the 2600+ EXCEPT FOR THE DRIVING AND PADDLE CONTROLLERS!!! I was the biggest Atari advocate back in the 80’s…bought the 5200…JUST TO GET SCREWED ON THE BACKWARDS COMPATIBILITY!! Same SHIT here!!

Sir, this is a Wendy’s.

[John Stamos Mullet]

7 hours ago, Ducko said:

They work like shit...I'm supposed to buy a new console to fix?!?!? Buh-bye...MY WHOLE POINT!!!

[MikeM_]

All that’s truly left from my observation is PAL improvements (which I fully admit don’t affect me at all since all my carts are NTSC), nit-picky quality of life improvements, and controller compatibility for a very small minority of games. 
 

If the upcoming HW improvements never happened, I’d still be extremely satisfied with my two R1 2600+ consoles. The moment I could play Pitfall II, I knew this console would remain in my primary gaming rotation for good. 
 

It’s a positive, not a negative that all the people involved are working so hard to solve all these issues, even the ones that may only make 1 game out of 500 better.
 

I’ve got a lot of games that have benefited from the hard work these guys have been putting in:

195 2600 games

18 7800 games

 

With the exception of the games that need the keypad controllers (I’m really not bummed that I can’t program basic or play Sesame Street games on my 2600+), all of my remaining games work to a level I am pleased with.
 

Everything left to do is sprinkles on the cake, not the cake or even the icing. 
 

No other gaming company has worked as hard to create a retro gaming experience this close to perfect. Just Atari (and more specifically Plaion). 
 

Not Nintendo, Sega, Sony, or any other video gaming company have done what is being done here….
 

@DuckoComplaining that improvements are happening is missing everything that these people have done for us that they certainly didn’t have to do. 

[MrChickenz]

1 hour ago, John Stamos Mullet said:

bought the 5200…JUST TO GET SCREWED ON THE BACKWARDS COMPATIBILITY!!

I bought the SEGA CD! At least the 5200 played games! 😄

[MrChickenz]

18 hours ago, Ducko said:

bought the 5200…JUST TO GET SCREWED ON THE BACKWARDS COMPATIBILITY!!

I bought the SEGA CD! At least the 5200 played games! 😄.
 

Apologies @John Stamos Mullet for the post above. I quoted the wrong person.

[shane857]

16 hours ago, MikeM_ said:

All that’s truly left from my observation is PAL improvements (which I fully admit don’t affect me at all since all my carts are NTSC), nit-picky quality of life improvements, and controller compatibility for a very small minority of games. 
 

If the upcoming HW improvements never happened, I’d still be extremely satisfied with my two R1 2600+ consoles. The moment I could play Pitfall II, I knew this console would remain in my primary gaming rotation for good. 
 

It’s a positive, not a negative that all the people involved are working so hard to solve all these issues, even the ones that may only make 1 game out of 500 better.
 

I’ve got a lot of games that have benefited from the hard work these guys have been putting in:

195 2600 games

18 7800 games

 

With the exception of the games that need the keypad controllers (I’m really not bummed that I can’t program basic or play Sesame Street games on my 2600+), all of my remaining games work to a level I am pleased with.
 

Everything left to do is sprinkles on the cake, not the cake or even the icing. 
 

No other gaming company has worked as hard to create a retro gaming experience this close to perfect. Just Atari (and more specifically Plaion). 
 

Not Nintendo, Sega, Sony, or any other video gaming company have done what is being done here….
 

@DuckoComplaining that improvements are happening is missing everything that these people have done for us that they certainly didn’t have to do. 

Hopefully, the 2600+ will be supported 'equally' to the 7800+ when it's released..

Eventually I suppose no longer as with all hardware/software updates...

Such is life.

Does not mean you are ever forced to upgrade. You can always choose Yes or No..

 

 

[shane857]

6 hours ago, MrChickenz said:

I bought the SEGA CD! At least the 5200 played games! 😄.
 

Apologies @John Stamos Mullet for the post above. I quoted the wrong person.

What on earth was sega thinking with all those attachments? Made the Genesis/Megadrive look like Dr Frankenstein's Monster!

Completely off topic, I know. 

Edited November 11 by shane857

[MikeM_]

56 minutes ago, shane857 said:

What on earth was sega thinking with all those attachments? Made the Genesis/Megadrive look like Dr Frankenstein's Monster!

Completely off topic, I know. 

I actually loved my tower of power. 
 

One system that could play multiple different generations of games. 
 

Master system

Genesis/MD

Sega CD

32x

 

Granted, the game selections for CD and 32x never panned out as good as they could / should have. But I loved that the original Genesis was upgradable. Made me feel like it was a smart choice over the SNES and one I still believe was the right choice for me. 

[MrChickenz]

17 minutes ago, MikeM_ said:

I actually loved my tower of power. 
 

One system that could play multiple different generations of games. 
 

Master system

Genesis/MD

Sega CD

32x

 

Granted, the game selections for CD and 32x never panned out as good as they could / should have. But I loved that the original Genesis was upgradable. Made me feel like it was a smart choice over the SNES and one I still believe was the right choice for me. 

The system was great! I just happened to purchase the SEGA CD model 1 when it was released. That Some Beach would freeze up on in the middle of a game on a hot summer day or a cold night in the dead of winter! 😄 Or is it hot summer night or a cold day in the dead of winter? 😁

Edited November 11 by MrChickenz

[BTC]

The driving controllers may not be used for a bunch of games, but the game it works on is one of my favorites!!!

I hope the Indy 500 game works well on my upcoming 7800+ so I can go back to dominating at ice racing 🙂

 

P.S. Now that I've downloaded Super Pro Racers, I have a second game for the driving controllers!

Edited November 12 by BTC

[AtariYMás009]

5 hours ago, BTC said:

I hope the Indy 500 game works well on my upcoming 7800+ so I can go back to dominating at ice racing 🙂

AFAIK, the driving controllers work well on the 7800+

[TornadoTJ]

17 hours ago, AtariYMás009 said:

AFAIK, the driving controllers work well on the 7800+

Well, SMH for buying the 2600+. It does look cool in my living room though.

Edited November 12 by TornadoTJ

[Ripweade]

5 minutes ago, TornadoTJ said:

Well, SMH for buying the 2600+. It does look cool in my living room though.

Indy 500 plays with the joystick.  Seeing how it's the only game that uses the driving controllers, I'm not bothered by it.  There are other racing games which are fantastic and fill the void.

 

Yeah, it's a bummer the driving controllers and keypad aren't supported yet, but for how many excellent games there are, I honestly haven't missed them yet.  Sure, I'd love to play them again, but it's far from a deal-breaker for me.  I've played quite a few games I bought 20 years ago but didn't get into them.  Now I've played them and am enjoying them.

 

Hang in there!  Plaion is working beyond hard to give us more updates.  What they've already done is beyond amazing, to me.

[TornadoTJ]

5 hours ago, Ripweade said:

Indy 500 plays with the joystick.  Seeing how it's the only game that uses the driving controllers, I'm not bothered by it.  There are other racing games which are fantastic and fill the void.

 

Yeah, it's a bummer the driving controllers and keypad aren't supported yet, but for how many excellent games there are, I honestly haven't missed them yet.  Sure, I'd love to play them again, but it's far from a deal-breaker for me.  I've played quite a few games I bought 20 years ago but didn't get into them.  Now I've played them and am enjoying them.

 

Hang in there!  Plaion is working beyond hard to give us more updates.  What they've already done is beyond amazing, to me.

I agree with everything you are saying. I'm Atari through and through, I still have around a dozen consoles of all sorts (even a 2800, 2 and 4 port 5200s, etc.) and when the 2600+ came out I was EXTREMELY excited that I didn't have to think of decent ways to hook up one of my 7800s to a modern entertainment center. Even if I did mods to give it HDMI, I was going to lose HOKEY, or if I modded one of my 2600s I wasn't going to be happy, you get it. What Plaion is doing is remarkable, and I am extremely happy that they are making profits from it. For me, nothing worked with hacks to change the controller, and games like Kaboom are the perfect example. If you don't have the right controller, it's just not worth messing with to me.

 

HISTORY WARNING: And by the way, I'm not just talking gaming when I say I'm Atari through and through. I ran a business starting with a 520ST, continued to mod it and then moved to a 1040STfm, then a STe, then bought what was my dream, a TT/030 with a Megaterm monitor. I even owned a Falcon for a year, but the TT/030 was so much better for business use, it's not even funny. I wrote my own business application in dBase III+ then migrated that to Superbase on the ST/TT. All my payroll, everything that I had to do was all done on my ST/TT computers. I ran a BBS on a STe with an external hard drive box with 4 ST225 20 meg Seagates. I also built a STacy with a 16mhz upgrade that fit into what was supposed to be the battery compartment. I never had a ST Folio though, darnit. I'm sure I'm missing a lot here, I worked for Megabyte Computers in Hurst TX, look them up, you'll find some history on this forum.

 

I even have met Sam Tramiel a few times, and I consider him to be most of what killed Atari, especially the computer line.

 

We even got to go see Fleetwood Mac back in the day for free, that's when Mick had the Hotz Box, all run by an ST backstage.

Edited November 13 by TornadoTJ

[Billiesan]

I just got a copy of Juno First from champ games and i know the atari age version of this game works. My copy from champ doesnt work. I loaded the debug of v6 onto my 2600+ and attached is the info. Any one else have this problem?

[boggis the cat]

21 hours ago, Billiesan said:

I just got a copy of Juno First from champ games and i know the atari age version of this game works. My copy from champ doesnt work. I loaded the debug of v6 onto my 2600+ and attached is the info. Any one else have this problem?

Champ Games website states that it doesn’t work on the 2600+.

[Billiesan]

23 minutes ago, boggis the cat said:

Champ Games website states that it doesn’t work on the 2600+.

They say that about Scramble too but it works.

[IPAWS]

Just asking if the new firmware update will be abailable before the Christmas period?  I'm putting together some 2600+ packages to go under some trees and just thought I'd ask.  

[raz0red]

1 hour ago, IPAWS said:

Just asking if the new firmware update will be abailable before the Christmas period?  I'm putting together some 2600+ packages to go under some trees and just thought I'd ask.  

Yes, absolutely. 
 

Chris.

[IPAWS]

14 minutes ago, raz0red said:

Yes, absolutely. 
 

Chris.

Thanks Raz0red!  LeeT gentleman right there folks!  

[Glokenpop]

On 11/11/2024 at 6:20 AM, Slider271 said:

As @JetmanUK said, they’re continuing to work on making the paddles work better on the 2600+ (and make the other peripherals work) so no, you’re not supposed to buy a new console to fix it. Sheesh. 

 

On 11/11/2024 at 4:20 AM, Ducko said:

Atari gets everything right in the 2600+ EXCEPT FOR THE DRIVING AND PADDLE CONTROLLERS!!! I was the biggest Atari advocate back in the 80’s…bought the 5200…JUST TO GET SCREWED ON THE BACKWARDS COMPATIBILITY!! Same SHIT here!!

Yeah it is frustrating. It's been a year and they work fine on a normal version of Stella I'm not sure why it is taking so long for a fix.

[yorxs]

I'm so looking forward to improvements to the paddle controllers. Hopefully Santa Claus comes through on this present.

[DEANJIMMY]

11 hours ago, Glokenpop said:

 

Yeah it is frustrating. It's been a year and they work fine on a normal version of Stella I'm not sure why it is taking so long for a fix.

I have no internal information about this but from my history as Nortel software support engineer, I would guess it is first a question of ressources which are limited and paddles were not prio 1.

Second, it was no problem to get the code right for the new 7800+ MCU.

So either the 2600+ MCU is not capable or the code is not accessible, a Retroarch bypass needs to be coded, whatever.

The guys working on the firmware did such a great job, there will be good reasons why it takes its time. If you look at similar products you get no such support at all, so I am happy and thankful how far we came over the last year and I am confident about future improvements

🤗

Edited November 16 by DEANJIMMY

[JetmanUK]

I think everyone needs to remember that we are not talking Xbox or Playstation money here, this thing cost £100. These types of devices are often one and done, take it how it's released or maybe get one update if you're lucky. The 2600+ has received an unprecedented level of support for such a cheap retro device.

 

The fact that it has come as far as it has and is still in development one year after release is quite remarkable, and is a credit to the wonderful work the highly skilled and dedicated team have done.

 

Atari/Plaion/the team involved have proved that this isn't just another cheap retro cash in flung out of a factory, there is a commitment to improve the product. 

Edited November 16 by JetmanUK

[IPAWS]

I think too - that it took the 2600+ paving the way out in the wild to get the issues bubbling up to the surface.  Many, many such products only *really* get a real test once released into proper use cases, that being the product going on sale out in the wild in this case.  The 7800+ is now able to take full advantage of that pioneering time.  The 2600+ parity board can - had has - now also gone onto the drawing board.

Still, the frustration of revision 1 2600+ owners does need to be recognized. It's real.  I feel it, and so do many others.  The perception that we're faced with possibly having to buy the system again to come up to speed leaves a pretty bitter taste.  To be clear however **That is not being suggested**  From all I read here - work is actively underway to get us supported.  And I agree that we - here - having access to those at the coal face is unprecedented - and shows a real commitment to supporting the Atari community.

Nuttier issues just can't be solved in 5 minutes.  That's true in a billion industries worldwide.  In a whole load of spaces - solutions take time - for a whole raft of reasons.  I can't - and won't - sit and judge when I'm not at the coalface.

Also to be clear: I find that the 2600+ revision1 works extremely well.  Yes it has issues.  The paddles - Boulder Dash MIA - the janky cartridge slot.  But it's far from a basket case.  A big list of issues have been sorted in the last year.  And the remaining ones are being worked on.  Can all of them be fixed?  We don't know yet - but a damn good shot is being taken at it.  I just think my 2600+ is pretty fine despite what's left on the issues list - and I'm having a blast with it.

New boards with revised slots have been given away for free.  More are coming.  Albert also wants to stock those in the Atari Age store to help us out.  That just cannot be argued with.  It's an awesome show of support and commitment.  What can be done *is* being done. 

The parity board - that brings all the improvements to the 2600+ that are seen in the 7800+ - from what I read *is* being looked at.  Will it end up a real thing that we can get hold of?  I understand that is still a question - however that it *is* being looked at is again - pretty awesome.

If the revision 1 2600+ issues can't be fully solved then my hope would be that some options of recognition are given.  A discount code to use when buying a replacement unit.  A send-in for upgrade scheme.  But from my position as a casual observer - it's too early to be going down those roads yet.

I want to play Boulder Dash NOW!  I get it.  But I can play Pitfall II in the meantime.  That was an awesome support fix by the way.  Fine work Atari crew.

Edited November 16 by IPAWS