Maria chip has been resythensized...

potatohead, on Sun Dec 13, 2009 6:40 PM, said:

Gorf, I had struck out on my own too. Was about the time I was doing Ooze, and I had the time of my life, and the bucks were good.

Economy + a health care situation just completely destroyed everything. Been climbing back up the ladder, slowly, and life is kind of good now, but man... what a chip that kind of thing leaves on your shoulder, and tell me about the time. It sucks not having your own gig in that way.

BTW: Your UFO port was one I was looking at closely. That game should be on more systems, and with some variations too.

Anyway, cheers! I'm pretty sure it won't always suck this badly. (and it does suck huge for most people right now)

The only plus is I've been through worse than this so it can always be worse. I'll try to complete that first.
That one will be put on cart for sale to help someone out who can use it. In fact that someone is
someone most here know and made me realize I dont have it so bad. That someone though you'd never
know it by that persons attitude makes me realize I could be in a much less desirable situtation.

Edited by Gorf, Sun Dec 13, 2009 7:55 PM.

[quote name='Curt Vendel' date='Fri Dec 11, 2009 8:34 PM' timestamp='1260588873' post='1895897']This is the 1702B. I have another tape out with the 1702C, I think I may have found the PAL MARIA as well, but I need to finish 2 other Corporate Research chip recovers first.[/quote]

AMY???

One can only hope. I can just imagine the retro community jumping up over that, trying to mod 7800s, XE's, and ST's with that "lost" chip.

How much would it cost to fab a MARIA chip these days? I'm curious about that since I think it would be healthy for the scene to somehow get more POKEYs and SIDs fabbed instead of cannibalizing the existing stock...

[quote name='Curt Vendel' date='Fri Dec 11, 2009 8:34 PM' timestamp='1260588873' post='1895897']I have also recovered "Stellette" which is a later improved version of the Stella/TIA chip. What may be interesting is the recovery of the Ricoh 3in1 chip, if that can be recovered, it is a CMOS chip design and between that and recovery of the 1702C, that is the core of what is needed for a new true hardware 7800 recreation. Throw in some SRAM, re-do the video out (basically just drop the RF all together and go out straight Composite) and there is the potential of bringing the 7800 in a much smaller form factor back to life.[/quote]

Any chance of adding DRAM to it?

Some other person in the forums [either 8-bit, 5200, or 7800 forums] mentioned planning on doing an HDMI adapter instead of S-Video from now on...

[quote name='Curt Vendel' date='Fri Dec 11, 2009 11:14 PM' timestamp='1260598484' post='1895979']
Bob is totally correct, especially given the fact that the 7800 can do things better in certain aspects. Look for instance at Space Duel - never done on the 5200 or 800 platforms, its a gorgeous port.
There are also opportunities to do other ports NOT ever done on an Atari console - like as he mentions - Frenzy, which would then be a great engine for Major Havoc. A 2 player Star Raiders could be done, other ports like Scramble, would be great on the 7800 too. Groovey has been working on some nice new games, he's shown my a private showing of an RPG game he's working on which is totally original. Bob is working on a sequel to Countermeasure on the 7800 called Failsafe which has a new twist to it making it a unique new game too, so they is plenty of originality mixed with Ports people definitely want.[/quote]

Do you think Minter would be up for doing a 7800 port of Major Havoc or do you think he'd avoid 8-bits at this point? He seems to be burnt out from Xbox Live after the negative reception to Space Giraffe... I feel guilty about that but had he made it for the PS3 I would've purchased it...

[quote name='kool kitty89' date='Sat Dec 12, 2009 2:31 AM' timestamp='1260610299' post='1896037']

You've already got a fully compatible VCS ASIC used for the Flashback II, right? Couldn't that be used in conjunction with a new MARIA chip to create a modern 7800? (optimally you'd want a single chip ASIC though, and if built-in games were planned, perhaps POKEY built-in as well -the 2 POKEY games being some of the best 7800 games -BallBlazer especially)
[/quote]

How about a Double/Quad POKEY design on a single chip? Then again, if Curt and others have recovered the designs for the AMY, then why even bother with the POKEY? Either way, I'd imagine the source code to existing games would have to be modded to take advantage of either of those chips and update the music and sfx...

quote name='Gorf' date='Sat Dec 12, 2009 1:10 PM' timestamp='1260648602' post='1896294']
[quote name='Curt Vendel' date='Fri Dec 11, 2009 10:22 PM' timestamp='1260588153' post='1895887']
Your right Steve, lets toss out the original copy of the Constitution.
[/quote]

Since our current govt wipes it's ass with it any more, might as well.[/quote]

After having been a history major at university, I haven't been a fan of the Constitution ever since. Once you learn the truth that the Framers got wrong their original goal - to emulate the mechanics of the [unwritten] British Constitution - one cannot really be a fan of it with the exception of the Bill of Rights [although the English Bill of Rights existed since 1688]. The Framers were under the mistaken impression that the King and Parliament acted as checks [and balances] against each other instead of actually working in concert with one another. From that, we get our legendary gridlock that never gets anything done, or if something is accomplished, our Supreme Court of Ambulance Chasers deems it unconstitutional [like the Line Item Veto, State enacted Term Limits on their own Reps, etc.]. Of course, Tony Blair had to muck up the British Constitution and create their own Supreme Court to replace the Law Lords [not to mention upending 800 years of how the House of Lords worked] so even that system is not perfect... Sorry for the momentary diversion... Don't bring up Doctor Who, thank you...

[quote name='Stephen' date='Sat Dec 12, 2009 4:07 PM' timestamp='1260659243' post='1896401']
[quote name='The_Laird' date='Sat Dec 12, 2009 4:52 PM' timestamp='1260654745' post='1896353']
He has only released it for the Jag CD, thats it :!:

[/quote]
And a damn fine port it is, says the owner of #29!
Although I must admit I am very surprised by Gorf's attitude about this discovery (MARIA). It's preservation for preservation's sake. Nobody is trying to recreate these old consoles and pretend it's the early 80s again. We know that time has passed. I will never do anything with an ENIAC, but I sure am glad the design specs are still out there for it. It would be a terrible shame if this information was lost.
Stephen Anderson[/quote]

I disagree that it is in the past. We're talking about modern classic games. People still play the Monopoly board game. Yes, I am making an analogy here.

[quote name='kool kitty89' date='Mon Dec 14, 2009 6:03 PM' timestamp='1260839031' post='1897956']
[quote name='Curt Vendel' date='Sat Dec 12, 2009 8:14 PM' timestamp='1260677669' post='1896599']
FB2 chip from 2005 is now owned wholey by Atari, Inc. I did an improved version -codenamed "Toby" which is my design, but its only in Xilinx FPGA and I haven't gotten it done to ASIC due to the last year of medical problems and my finances.
[/quote]
Any chance of Atari Inc being interested in a 7800 based FlashBack 3?
[/quote]

If they are I hope they go for the translucent design of some of the 7800 prototypes. That was awesome...