Experimental 2600+ Firmware and Dumper

[shane857]

Personally.. I'll stick with the 2600+ for now and wait for the 7800+ to be released and reviewed.

[DEANJIMMY]

27 minutes ago, shane857 said:

Personally.. I'll stick with the 2600+ for now and wait for the 7800+ to be released and reviewed.

I will stick with the 2600+ and buy the 7800+ too!

I always wanted to have spares... currently I sell my original spares to get a new spare for Christmas 😅

But the 7800+ will not sit in a box, it will be my main console as the Trakball will work on it, right?😉

The 2600+ will replace one of my two remaining old consoles (out of 8 ) in the other room. One original console will have to stay for Atarivox games... probably my 7800 with AV mod will be the last original left for this purpose🤔.

 

Edited August 21 by DEANJIMMY

[+Fred_M]

1 hour ago, tradyblix said:

Hmm. That's interesting. Different dumping ?? Well well well. We'll have to put it to the test, back to back comparisons. Sounds like.... content ! 

It is just my gut feeling, based on what Ben wrote. We will have to wait and see 😉

On 8/20/2024 at 3:47 PM, Ben from Plaion said:

There are some differences, for one the 7800+ comes with the new cartridge socket (and so do newly manufactured 2600+) plus there are some changes to the dumper/controller chips and how they work. I'll be providing more details as we go along.

 

[shane857]

41 minutes ago, DEANJIMMY said:

I will stick with the 2600+ and buy the 7800+ too!

I always wanted to have spares... currently I sell my original spares to get a new spare for Christmas 😅

But the 7800+ will not sit in a box, it will be my main console as the Trakball will work on it, right?😉

The 2600+ will replace one of my two remaining old consoles (out of 8 ) in the other room. One original console will have to stay for Atarivox games... probably my 7800 with AV mod will be the last original left for this purpose🤔.

 

@DEANJIMMY You just wanna play the 2600+ or 7800+ using the trackball. Keep posting it like me with Keypad support for Star Raiders!

Keep it fresh in Atari's minds. 😂

[tradyblix]

Hey @Ben from Plaion do you know what the serial number cut off is for new slots on revised 2600+ ? Just wondering 

[NicodemusLegend]

On 8/20/2024 at 1:52 PM, dashv said:

lol. I check Atari Age at least once a month hoping for this one update (Star Raiders support). 🙂

 

That said, I understand it’s a big lift for 1 game.

 

It’s just that damn good of a game. 🙂

Thankfully, from a technical support standpoint, it's not just for that one game. Once the controller for that game's cracked, it's cracked for lots of other games, too (even if they're not the ones you're looking for).

[Sean_1970]

4 hours ago, NicodemusLegend said:

Thankfully, from a technical support standpoint, it's not just for that one game. Once the controller for that game's cracked, it's cracked for lots of other games, too (even if they're not the ones you're looking for).

The driving controller only has one game, however, if they wanted to do a new one I think top-down track racing games would suit it and with the improved 7800 visuals a multi-cart adding a new 7800 Super Sprint and Tempest ports would be good. Of course I think a key improvement to the controller would be to give the “wheel” more weight and free spinning so it acted more like an arcade spinner for those games. When I destroyed one to build a T2K controller for my Jaguar one of the things that was necessary was fixing some lead sinkers to the knob to enable proper Tempest-style controls. I’m still surprised Minter included support for a controller that didn’t exist as a hidden Easter egg!

[JetmanUK]

On 8/20/2024 at 4:38 PM, DhaemonX said:

This is how you get good at pleasing a woman. lol

We all thought... you said it! 🤣

 

Looking at this, which game should be the pack in for the trackball? 🤔

[JetmanUK]

50 minutes ago, Sean_1970 said:

The driving controller only has one game, however, if they wanted to do a new one I think top-down track racing games would suit it and with the improved 7800 visuals a multi-cart adding a new 7800 Super Sprint and Tempest ports would be good. Of course I think a key improvement to the controller would be to give the “wheel” more weight and free spinning so it acted more like an arcade spinner for those games. When I destroyed one to build a T2K controller for my Jaguar one of the things that was necessary was fixing some lead sinkers to the knob to enable proper Tempest-style controls. I’m still surprised Minter included support for a controller that didn’t exist as a hidden Easter egg!

I am a big fan of the driving controller and it's one game that supports it. I have long been pondering how good it would be with new games, and old games with the controls hacked in. Could be a nice multicart release like the paddles and it's cart.

[tradyblix]

11 hours ago, NicodemusLegend said:

Thankfully, from a technical support standpoint, it's not just for that one game. Once the controller for that game's cracked, it's cracked for lots of other games, too (even if they're not the ones you're looking for).

The other games that use it are things like Basic Math and other kids games that suck. The only real "game" that uses it is that one, and even that one has like 5 clones that are similar or, even better, IMO, that don't require that silly keypad. 

 

Anyway we'll see. Personally those style games (first person view star trek games) haven't aged that well for me so I dont' care much. 

 

Also if it's a libretro issue it might be out of our control anyway

Edited August 22 by tradyblix

[TheRingBearer]

8 hours ago, Sean_1970 said:

The driving controller only has one game

I do know the game Turbo Arcade from Champ Games can use the Driving controller.

 

"Supports joystick (including Sega Genesis 2-button controllers), paddles, and driving controllers"

Edited August 22 by TheRingBearer

[shane857]

If and when the Touchpad/Keypad/Kid's controller is supported, would be cool if Atari re-released them bundled with carts/multi carts.

Maybe Star Raiders with touchpad and Indy 500 with driving paddles as they were originally

Keypad controller with a multi-cart including code breaker, brain games, basic programming, Hunt and score

Kid's controller also with a multi-cart including Big Bird's egg catch, Alpha beam with Earnie, Cookie Monster Munch, Oscar's Trash Race?🤔

[DEANJIMMY]

58 minutes ago, TheRingBearer said:

I do know the game Turbo Arcade from Champ Games can use the Driving controller.

 

"Supports joystick (including Sega Genesis 2-button controllers), paddles, and driving controllers"

Thrust+ DC supports it as well... DC...😉

Edited August 22 by DEANJIMMY

[tradyblix]

1 hour ago, TheRingBearer said:

I do know the game Turbo Arcade from Champ Games can use the Driving controller.

 

"Supports joystick (including Sega Genesis 2-button controllers), paddles, and driving controllers"

Turbo arcade can't be dumped (yet) on the Atari plus systems

[DEANJIMMY]

11 hours ago, JetmanUK said:

We all thought... you said it! 🤣

 

Looking at this, which game should be the pack in for the trackball? 🤔

Centipede 7800 TB version🤙

Missile Command 2600 TB version 🤗

Missile Command 7800 TB version, let's do it😉

 

For the hacks like Star Wars and and Colony 7, the IP is missing🙄

[+sramirez2008]

3 hours ago, DEANJIMMY said:

Thrust+ DC supports it as well... DC...😉

Yes it does...

[+sramirez2008]

26 minutes ago, DEANJIMMY said:

Centipede 7800 TB version🤙

Missile Command 2600 TB version 🤗

Missile Command 7800 TB version, let's do it😉

 

For the hacks like Star Wars and and Colony 7, the IP is missing🙄

Although it's no longer available for purchase, Missile Control Trak-Ball is excellent too.

[DEANJIMMY]

29 minutes ago, sramirez2008 said:

Yes it does...

I have seen those pedals somewhere before😉

[DEANJIMMY]

33 minutes ago, sramirez2008 said:

Although it's no longer available for purchase, Missile Control Trak-Ball is excellent too.

I've got the old version of Missile Command TB😊

Never bought Missile Control...

Edited August 22 by DEANJIMMY

[+sramirez2008]

3 minutes ago, DEANJIMMY said:

I have seen those pedals somewhere before😉

Its a neat controller.

[+sramirez2008]

6 minutes ago, DEANJIMMY said:

I've got the old version of Missile Command TB😊

Never bought Missile Control...

Me too! 🙂 I like the artwork on the old version.

[atwwong]

5 hours ago, shane857 said:

If and when the Touchpad/Keypad/Kid's controller is supported, would be cool if Atari re-released them bundled with carts/multi carts.

Maybe Star Raiders with touchpad and Indy 500 with driving paddles as they were originally

Keypad controller with a multi-cart including code breaker, brain games, basic programming, Hunt and score

Kid's controller also with a multi-cart including Big Bird's egg catch, Alpha beam with Earnie, Cookie Monster Munch, Oscar's Trash Race?🤔

A keypad controller set with a MultiCart would be an intriguing add-on. It has to have Star Raiders. Put some effort to get the original Star Raiders 2 (not the Last Starfighter one) ported and included, and who knows...

[Electric-Dreams]

On 8/21/2024 at 9:44 PM, DEANJIMMY said:

I will stick with the 2600+ and buy the 7800+ too!

You see, it's for this exact reason that I've always thought, deep down, that the Atari 2600+ should have only emulated the VCS, to make room for a 7800+ that would only emulate the original Atari 7800. We could have then avoided using Retroarch and directly used Stella for the 2600+. The emulation would have been almost perfect "day one" with support for all controllers, I imagine. In the end, all Atari fans would end up buying both consoles.

Just my two cents.

[Sean_1970]

1 hour ago, Electric-Dreams said:

You see, it's for this exact reason that I've always thought, deep down, that the Atari 2600+ should have only emulated the VCS, to make room for a 7800+ that would only emulate the original Atari 7800. We could have then avoided using Retroarch and directly used Stella for the 2600+. The emulation would have been almost perfect "day one" with support for all controllers, I imagine. In the end, all Atari fans would end up buying both consoles.

Just my two cents.

I can see your point, but if the 2600+ didn’t play 7800 games, I’d likely have never bought any 7800 carts 🤷‍♂️

[raz0red]

3 hours ago, Electric-Dreams said:

You see, it's for this exact reason that I've always thought, deep down, that the Atari 2600+ should have only emulated the VCS, to make room for a 7800+ that would only emulate the original Atari 7800. We could have then avoided using Retroarch and directly used Stella for the 2600+. The emulation would have been almost perfect "day one" with support for all controllers, I imagine. In the end, all Atari fans would end up buying both consoles.

Just my two cents.

A lot of the emulation issues were not Stella/Retroarch issues.

 

They were related to the dumper itself. The controller limitations are also related to the controller MCU (software, etc.), not Stella/RA.

 

Some issues were related to the hardware itself and how it was being utilized/optimized. Those optimizations were required in either case. 50hz is another issue, but that would need to be addressed either way.

 

Chris.

Edited August 23 by raz0red