Extended memory beyond 128k on the 400 mini ?

[Atari8man2004]

Anyone know if the 400 mini will run programs beyond 128k ?   This can be a buying decision for many 

Edited March 22 by Atari8man2004

[+MrFish]

I don't think anyone has said yet; but it's an emulator, so there's no reason it should be limited. We'll find out soon enough...

 

[pjedavison]

This is one thing we haven't seen in "reviews" (and I use the term loosely, since they're all really previews thus far) to date. I'm hoping for an interface similar to that found on the A500 Mini, which allows per-game settings for compatibility, memory, control mappings, screen cropping/scaling and suchlike. Hopefully we won't have to do it in the way TheC64 does, which is through settings files or appending suffixes to filenames, both of which have to be done on something that isn't the device itself.

 

I'd like to hope the folks behind this have learned from the previous projects they've worked on, and we'll have plenty of flexibility, but that's someone I'd really like anyone posting a full review of the system (following embargo, of course) to make sure they cover in appropriate detail.

Edited March 24 by pjedavison

[Spanner]

18 hours ago, pjedavison said:

This is one thing we haven't seen in "reviews" (and I use the term loosely, since they're all really previews thus far) to date. I'm hoping for an interface similar to that found on the A500 Mini, which allows per-game settings for compatibility, memory, control mappings, screen cropping/scaling and suchlike. Hopefully we won't have to do it in the way TheC64 does, which is through settings files or appending suffixes to filenames, both of which have to be done on something that isn't the device itself.

 

I'd like to hope the folks behind this have learned from the previous projects they've worked on, and we'll have plenty of flexibility, but that's someone I'd really like anyone posting a full review of the system (following embargo, of course) to make sure they cover in appropriate detail.

You have got your wish...  they both use THE Carousel Manhattan.

THE400 Mini Carousel

 

THEA500 Mini Carousel

And the theme is based on Amazon Prime Video UK, the favorites stars are the same, well we all get ideas from something else

 

Edited March 25 by Spanner

[pjedavison]

It's not the carousel I'm interested in so much as the "Advanced Settings" page for stuff sideloaded via USB -- though if it's running a similar front-end to the A500 Mini hopefully that means there will be a similar level of customisability. I guess we'll have to wait and see for sure! Hopefully some of the reviews that will be out in time for embargo tomorrow will cover this in a decent amount of detail, as while the built-in games are all lovely, the long-term appeal of this thing will be from loading additional stuff into it.

[Spanner]

1 hour ago, pjedavison said:

It's not the carousel I'm interested in so much as the "Advanced Settings" page for stuff sideloaded via USB -- though if it's running a similar front-end to the A500 Mini hopefully that means there will be a similar level of customisability. I guess we'll have to wait and see for sure! Hopefully some of the reviews that will be out in time for embargo tomorrow will cover this in a decent amount of detail, as while the built-in games are all lovely, the long-term appeal of this thing will be from loading additional stuff into it.

Its has bezels now and you can rewind the game now too, to me it looks like it has no real settings like THEA500 Mini had, it uses retroarch and it mainly loads the software without any settings needed, its not like the Atari800 410 emulator and its settings, you can use that on THEA500/Atari2600 Plus with PCUAE Atari 8bit Mode, they properly got the idea from that and PCUAE runs on THEC64 too, they properly do MSX mode next...  each mode in PCUAE will be turned into a mini console...   JOKE...

 

System Options only has one option in it and thats `Music Volume`....wow...  why not just a on or off switch on the carousel instead, no one will turn it down.

 

You can see the carousel and settings in this video from this time: 15:38,
just click on the video and it will start from there.

 

Edited March 25 by Spanner

[pjedavison]

I'm talking about the per-game settings, not the global system settings -- sorry if that wasn't clear. Something similar to the below (which is the A500 Mini's per-game settings page), but with A8-specific options. (Image from https://lyonsden.net/the-a500-mini-review/)

 

No-one has shown the actual process of loading something from a USB yet (presumably due to embargo restrictions), so we don't yet know for 100% certain if there even is a per-game settings menu like TheA500 Mini has. I'm hopeful that there will be, though. They claim the emulator is compatible with all models of Atari 8-bit, not just the 400 itself, so I am guessing/hoping there will be options for OS revision/virtual machine, BASIC loaded/unloaded and simulated installed memory at the very least. Ideally would also like to see the ability for custom cropping (as the footage we've seen so far completely cuts out the overscan border) and custom controller mapping.

[+MrFish]

1 hour ago, Spanner said:

System Options only has one option in it and thats `Music Volume`....wow...  why not just a on or off switch on the carousel instead, no one will turn it down.

Could be possible that all options aren't there yet in the prototype that he's reviewing (on the hardware side, pieces were missing: front USB, USB-C power). Sure, he just got the prototype recently, but I doubt that thing was just built as recently, since the production units were shown very soon after that. So, hopefully we'll see more options than that in the production units to be shown on reviews soon.