Experimental 2600+ Firmware and Dumper

[Sean_1970]

1 minute ago, JetmanUK said:

But Sean, all this aside, when are you buying that Windows PC to update your Atari? Come to the dark side. You know it makes sense. 😋

I will happily donate my 2600+ to a charity shop and get a new one before I do something silly like that. If I had any use for Windows I’d already have a Windows PC 😉

[JetmanUK]

1 minute ago, Sean_1970 said:

I will happily donate my 2600+ to a charity shop and get a new one before I do something silly like that. If I had any use for Windows I’d already have a Windows PC 😉

But think about all those programs you could then run, all the things you are currently locked out of, yes yes, come over Sean. That lovely firmware, it could be yours, feed your 2600 Plus. 😈😜

[Ben from Plaion]

51 minutes ago, Sean_1970 said:

I will happily donate my 2600+ to a charity shop and get a new one before I do something silly like that. If I had any use for Windows I’d already have a Windows PC 😉

I can arrange pick up of your machine, I'll personally update it to the latest firmware and send it back to you, no cost to you, turnaround in about a week or two.

 

Up for it? DM me, cheers Ben

[John Stamos Mullet]

1 hour ago, Sean_1970 said:

I will happily donate my 2600+ to a charity shop and get a new one before I do something silly like that. If I had any use for Windows I’d already have a Windows PC 😉

I will never understand this mindset.

[DEANJIMMY]

1 hour ago, JetmanUK said:

But Sean, all this aside, when are you buying that Windows PC to update your Atari? Come to the dark side. You know it makes sense. 😋

It happened to me too, 30 years ago when Commodore closed their doors, Billy the Gates approached me and said:

"I've been waiting for you, Amigafreak. We meet again at last. The circle is now complete. When I left you, you had a lovely Workbench desktop running, now you need to run my Windows 3.11"😱

 

Well, I never ever will buy any Xbox😉

[JetmanUK]

15 minutes ago, DEANJIMMY said:

It happened to me too, 30 years ago when Commodore closed their doors, Billy the Gates approached me and said:

"I've been waiting for you, Amigafreak. We meet again at last. The circle is now complete. When I left you, you had a lovely Workbench desktop running, now you need to run my Windows 3.11"😱

 

Well, I never ever will buy any Xbox😉

I game on all the major formats, Xbox, PS, Nintendo, PC... 2600 Plus and Evercade. 😋

My favourites are definitely Xbox and Atari though. 

[tradyblix]

1 hour ago, John Stamos Mullet said:

I will never understand this mindset.

It's a really dumb fuckin mindset, but I've read a million dumbass things on this forum. Luckily there are really decent folks like Ben who always replies in the most helpful way to offset it lol 😆

[Sean_1970]

3 hours ago, John Stamos Mullet said:

I will never understand this mindset.

Because it makes more sense to spend more money on a general purpose computer I otherwise have no use for than to buy an updated version of a game console? Sure 👍 

 

3 hours ago, Ben from Plaion said:

I can arrange pick up of your machine, I'll personally update it to the latest firmware and send it back to you, no cost to you, turnaround in about a week or two.

 

Up for it? DM me, cheers Ben

If the touchpad is supported in the latest release I’ll totally take you up on that; only thing I’m missing right now 😊

[SuperZapperRecharge]

1 hour ago, tradyblix said:

It's a really dumb fuckin mindset.

Not really we just "think different". We don't follow the herd. Lemmings jumping off cliffs. Bill Gates Zombies. I liked Windows back in 95-2000, when it was different, but got sick of it crashing all the time. Once Apple went to the dark side, um Unix(BSD), it all clicked for me since I've been using a form of UNIX since 1987.

 

I'm a developer and thrive on a Mac with all the developers tools as most developers do! Go to and AWS ReInvent conference and you'll see 90% Macs. Sure I guess there is some Azure conference or something with a lot of boar ware laptops but pfffft who cares!

 

The OS on thee 2600+ at its core is UNIX / Linux and so the the VCS 800. I'm glad I use a Mac because the command line is the same. Yeah Windows has Cygwin / Powershell but again pfffft who cares

 

Hey some like Windows, some like Mac, some like Linux, some like BSD, some like Atari 800 DOS, APPLE DOS/ProDOS(Nobody like ProDOS!)... The world still works and at least we can all choose what we want to use!

 

Oh yeah I do own MSFT shares and damn that's had a good 2 year run!

[CPUWIZ]

Regardless of generation, you all have too much time to argue about it on a videogame forum. 😅

[Jstick]

3 hours ago, DEANJIMMY said:

It happened to me too, 30 years ago when Commodore closed their doors, Billy the Gates approached me and said:

"I've been waiting for you, Amigafreak. We meet again at last. The circle is now complete. When I left you, you had a lovely Workbench desktop running, now you need to run my Windows 3.11"

I was 100% Amiga from '87 to '96, and it was a very sad day indeed when I was finally forced to make that switch.

[tradyblix]

1 hour ago, SuperZapperRecharge said:

Not really we just "think different". We don't follow the herd. Lemmings jumping off cliffs. Bill Gates Zombies. I liked Windows back in 95-2000, when it was different, but got sick of it crashing all the time. Once Apple went to the dark side, um Unix(BSD), it all clicked for me since I've been using a form of UNIX since 1987.

 

I'm a developer and thrive on a Mac with all the developers tools as most developers do! Go to and AWS ReInvent conference and you'll see 90% Macs. Sure I guess there is some Azure conference or something with a lot of boar ware laptops but pfffft who cares!

 

The OS on thee 2600+ at its core is UNIX / Linux and so the the VCS 800. I'm glad I use a Mac because the command line is the same. Yeah Windows has Cygwin / Powershell but again pfffft who cares

 

Hey some like Windows, some like Mac, some like Linux, some like BSD, some like Atari 800 DOS, APPLE DOS/ProDOS(Nobody like ProDOS!)... The world still works and at least we can all choose what we want to use!

 

Oh yeah I do own MSFT shares and damn that's had a good 2 year run!

You're right. I dunno why we use 2 windows GUI tools when we should just run some unix system V compatible scripts. in fact, everyone should write it themselves and we'll code review

[John Stamos Mullet]

1 hour ago, Sean_1970 said:

Because it makes more sense to spend more money on a general purpose computer I otherwise have no use for than to buy an updated version of a game console? Sure 👍 

 

And then that one will need an update too down the road, and now you end up spending twice as much, and still don't have the ability to update it when/if it needs future updates.

 

It's silly. You're making a principled stand against a piece of software because of some weird brand loyalty, and making your own life more inconvenient in the process.

[CPUWIZ]

8 minutes ago, John Stamos Mullet said:

And then that one will need an update too down the road, and now you end up spending twice as much, and still don't have the ability to update it when/if it needs future updates.

 

It's silly. You're making a principled stand against a piece of software because of some weird brand loyalty, and making your own life more inconvenient in the process.

 

It is no different than idiots boycotting Bud.  I use whatever is needed, be it Mac or Windows, Linux can run on anything anyway. 

[OldSchoolRetroGamer]

44 minutes ago, CPUWIZ said:

 

It is no different than idiots boycotting Bud.  I use whatever is needed, be it Mac or Windows, Linux can run on anything anyway. 

To be fair, BUD is never needed, not when there are plenty of real beers. 😁

[JetmanUK]

8 hours ago, Ben from Plaion said:

I can arrange pick up of your machine, I'll personally update it to the latest firmware and send it back to you, no cost to you, turnaround in about a week or two.

 

Up for it? DM me, cheers Ben

If you do update it for him Ben, please make sure that you take the following precautions:

 

1) Say 2600 Hail Marys

2) Get it exorcised by a local priest

3) Dunk it in bleach

 

It will then be safe to enter our postal service network.

 

Thanks.

[Sean_1970]

6 hours ago, John Stamos Mullet said:

And then that one will need an update too down the road, and now you end up spending twice as much, and still don't have the ability to update it when/if it needs future updates.

 

It's silly. You're making a principled stand against a piece of software because of some weird brand loyalty, and making your own life more inconvenient in the process.

Why would it need a second upgrade? Isn’t the reason for the delay in the final release to get everything addressed they can possibly address? There is literally one game in my 2600 collection I cannot play at the moment and the more time passes the more I am convinced a firmware update will not address this issue, so the likelihood of buying another one (assuming they can justify a MKII/Jr./2800+) seems high to me regardless.

 

In regards to the guy, who I thought flounced out of here weeks ago, the “really fucking stupid mindset” is the level of apologia for a design omission that is frankly inexcusable in a 21st century electronics device that has this price point. I’ve been trying to be nice about it, but when jackasses start believing their idiotic recommendation to buy a PC for the sole purpose of upgrading a niche piece of kit which you can now buy for less than a hundred quid is in any way rational…🤷‍♂️ Unless testing has been beyond the point that probably makes rational business sense, I cannot see how you release something like this without at least an extra USB port for upgrade purposes. RGL seems to have a pretty poor reputation around here for the quality of their hardware and releasing updates for their kit, but even they bothered to do that for the 400Mini so I won’t excuse this or wave someone off for saying it seems overly difficult or obtuse on the 2600+.

[MarcinJ]

15 hours ago, Ben from Plaion said:

I can arrange pick up of your machine, I'll personally update it to the latest firmware and send it back to you, no cost to you, turnaround in about a week or two.

 

Up for it? DM me, cheers Ben

Well, if you could provide me with the update I would be more than happy to send you my 2600+.

[tradyblix]

 

5 hours ago, Sean_1970 said:

Why would it need a second upgrade? Isn’t the reason for the delay in the final release to get everything addressed they can possibly address? There is literally one game in my 2600 collection I cannot play at the moment and the more time passes the more I am convinced a firmware update will not address this issue, so the likelihood of buying another one (assuming they can justify a MKII/Jr./2800+) seems high to me regardless.

 

In regards to the guy, who I thought flounced out of here weeks ago, the “really fucking stupid mindset” is the level of apologia for a design omission that is frankly inexcusable in a 21st century electronics device that has this price point. I’ve been trying to be nice about it, but when jackasses start believing their idiotic recommendation to buy a PC for the sole purpose of upgrading a niche piece of kit which you can now buy for less than a hundred quid is in any way rational…🤷‍♂️ Unless testing has been beyond the point that probably makes rational business sense, I cannot see how you release something like this without at least an extra USB port for upgrade purposes. RGL seems to have a pretty poor reputation around here for the quality of their hardware and releasing updates for their kit, but even they bothered to do that for the 400Mini so I won’t excuse this or wave someone off for saying it seems overly difficult or obtuse on the 2600+.

You don't have to buy a PC. You just have to have a system that can run a windows virtual machine, like pretty much anything other than an M series Mac. Apple wanted to lock you into their walled garden, and now you complain. Tough. If you have a linux box you can set up a VM too, as long as you're on x86.

 

It's kinda nutty the issues people have over this. Get it done, it is the way it is. Maybe they'll change it in the future, but it shouldn't be a problem that the operating system used by 90 percent of computers is required. 

 

Pretty soon the firmware development will be over, the new update will go on new units from the factory and it will be a moot point anyway

Edited May 1 by tradyblix

[John Stamos Mullet]

6 hours ago, Sean_1970 said:

Why would it need a second upgrade? Isn’t the reason for the delay in the final release to get everything addressed they can possibly address?

There are new 2600 and 7800 home brew games being coded and released all the time, one of which you might really want to play that might require future updates to work.

 

6 hours ago, Sean_1970 said:

 There is literally one game in my 2600 collection I cannot play at the moment and the more time passes the more I am convinced a firmware update will not address this issue, 

What game? If it’s Pitfall II, that’s already been addressed here by Albert as working in the next update. 
 

6 hours ago, Sean_1970 said:

In regards to the guy, who I thought flounced out of here weeks ago, the “really fucking stupid mindset” is the level of apologia for a design omission that is frankly inexcusable in a 21st century electronics device that has this price point. I’ve been trying to be nice about it, but when jackasses start believing their idiotic recommendation to buy a PC for the sole purpose of upgrading a niche piece of kit which you can now buy for less than a hundred quid is in any way rational…🤷‍♂️ Unless testing has been beyond the point that probably makes rational business sense, I cannot see how you release something like this without at least an extra USB port for upgrade purposes. RGL seems to have a pretty poor reputation around here for the quality of their hardware and releasing updates for their kit, but even they bothered to do that for the 400Mini so I won’t excuse this or wave someone off for saying it seems overly difficult or obtuse on the 2600+.

There’s nothing “idiotic” about suggesting you buy a necessary tool to correct a problem, especially when that tool opens up the door to assist you in any number of other capacities that Apple has intentionally and programmatically locked you out of in their infinite wisdom. 
 

and you can get a mini/micro pc and a free copy of Windows for less than the cost of another 2600+.

The rest of your post here is just argumentative word salad that only exists because of your personal inflexibility with using a windows computer, and Atari not catering their product directly to you, so I’m not going to address any of that. If you can’t see that you’re not the main character here, I don’t know what to tell you.

 

[SuperZapperRecharge]

4 minutes ago, John Stamos Mullet said:

and you can get a mini/micro pc and a free copy of Windows for less than the cost of another 2600+.

 

Where can I get a free copy of Windows. Please provide the link as the only way I could get a copy off the Microsoft site was to pay for it($132).

I know some have mentioned you can use a free copy and not register it but that seems non legit.

 

I see things like this:

Quote

Nope, Windows 10 is not free, you are just using it without paying. It is against the EULA to use it without a license, it just is not very heavily enforced.

I understood Windows 11 is free for Windows 10 users.

I see on the Microsoft web site there is a Microsoft Windows tool to create an image onto a USB drive. Of course you need Windows 10 to do this.

 

So I figured out how to download the ISO(Download page wouldn't work with Safari had to use Chrome). Now I need to convert the ISO so it works on a usb or get an external CD Drive.

So here is the process(Which I have done)…

Quote

To burn Windows 11 ISO to USB on Mac, you can use the built-in Disk Utility app. Here are the steps:

 

1. Insert the USB drive into your Mac.
2. Launch the Disk Utility app. You can find it in the Utilities folder in the Applications folder, or by searching for it using Spotlight.
3. In the Disk Utility app, select your USB drive in the left-hand sidebar.
4. Click on the "Erase" tab at the top of the window.
5. Set the Format to "ExFAT" and the Scheme to "GUID Partition Map". This will ensure that the USB drive is compatible with both Mac and PC.
6. Click on "Erase" to format the USB drive. This will erase all existing data, so make sure to back up anything important beforehand.
7. Once the USB drive is formatted, mount the Windows 11 ISO file on your Mac by double-clicking on it.
8. Select both the USB drive and the mounted Windows 11 ISO file in the left-hand sidebar of Disk Utility.
9. Click on the "Restore" tab at the top of the window.
10. Drag the Windows 11 ISO file from the sidebar to the Source field in the Disk Utility app.
11. Drag the USB drive from the sidebar to the Destination field in the Disk Utility app.
12. Click on "Restore" to start the process of burning the ISO file to the USB drive.

 

Once the process of burning Windows 11 ISO to USB on Mac is complete, you should have a bootable USB drive for Windows 11 that you can use to install the operating system on a PC. Note that the process of burning an ISO file to USB on Mac using Disk Utility may take some time depending on the size of the ISO file and the speed of your USB drive.

Now lets make sure Windows allows other operating systems to boot on the same PC(disable secure boot).

 

[SuperZapperRecharge]

I do have AtariOS, Windows, Batocera, Ubuntu 202311 on my Atari VCS 800 so I really have no skin in this game. Just saying it's not as straightforward as some are making it out or legal(free).

[John Stamos Mullet]

25 minutes ago, SuperZapperRecharge said:

Where can I get a free copy of Windows. Please provide the link as the only way I could get a copy off the Microsoft site was to pay for it($132).

I know some have mentioned you can use a free copy and not register it but that seems non legit.

 

I see things like this:

I understood Windows 11 is free for Windows 10 users.

I see on the Microsoft web site there is a Microsoft Windows tool to create an image onto a USB drive. Of course you need Windows 10 to do this.

 

So I figured out how to download the ISO(Download page wouldn't work with Safari had to use Chrome). Now I need to convert the ISO so it works on a usb or get an external CD Drive.

So here is the process(Which I have done)…

Now lets make sure Windows allows other operating systems to boot on the same PC(disable secure boot).

 

There are multiple Bmax brand mini pcs that come loaded with Windows 11 for $100 +/- on Amazon.

Edited May 1 by John Stamos Mullet

[chad5200]

We should keep talking about this whole PC vs. Mac vs. Linux thing forever... it's so fascinating and everyone loves these conversations.  It's what we all crave.  Every thread here should be used to discuss this topic.

 

[John Stamos Mullet]

10 minutes ago, chad5200 said:

We should keep talking about this whole PC vs. Mac vs. Linux thing forever... it's so fascinating and everyone loves these conversations.  It's what we all crave.  Every thread here should be used to discuss this topic.

 

Maybe if the Mac users would learn to use the search feature or just, you know, read the damn forum, they would already have their answer.