New to Jaguar

[party@karl's]

Hi I just purchased a Jaguar from my local retro gaming store in the hopes of doing some good homebrew gaming now i have little to no exp. so i want to ask how do you start modding/hombrewing the Atari Jaguar

[Hyper_Eye]

I would say getting your hands on a Skunkboard would be a pretty high priority. They are not changing hands in high numbers at the moment so I hope you don't mind being patient.

[ovalbugmann]

Welcome to Atariage & Atari Jaguar ownership - a cult classic type of console.

 

To prepare you for the world of the Jaguar: Nothing is easy with the Jaguar, -nothing man. But that's one of the appeals is the big challenge it offers developers as well as players(many games are tough on it). Hell, even the community is a challege as there are many many conflicts and differing opinions.

 

I would poke around Matthias' site: http://mdgames.de/jag_eng.htm He has a BJL(Behind Jaggy Lines) chip mod that you may want to do(cheapest Dev method), a chip piggy back on the Jag's Bios Boot ROM chip. Check out morethangames.a8maestro.com. It's at: http://morethangames.a8maestro.com/prodgame/game-nav1.htm

 

My best advice to you if you want to do some Jag modding and make hombrew games is to inform yourself. This Jaguar forum you are in is at least 100 pages long with many threads on each page. I would start reading here about topics that interest you - there is a TON of info here to assimilate into your brain if you really want to know the Jaguar. You will be surprised at the level of detail of everything Jaguar here and the amount of Jag info. There are also some very cool and quite helpful people here in this community that will help you with things you want to do with the Jag. You will get to know the people that are JagTech savvy around here if you visit regularly. There is a development forum here but it's not used hardly. There is a big development forum at the jaguarsector.com - sign up there too if you want.

 

Enjoy!

Edited January 9, 2010 by ovalbugmann

[party@karl's]

Thank You for the advice so far all of you and i will defiantly look at those sites and the only i want to ask is how does modding/ putting homebrew games on a Jag happen i mean i get the whole put the mod chip on put what about after that

[JagChris]

Thank You for the advice so far all of you and i will defiantly look at those sites and the only i want to ask is how does modding/ putting homebrew games on a Jag happen i mean i get the whole put the mod chip on put what about after that

 

 

ugh. I wouldnt recommend mod chipping anymore.

 

either use a bjl cd or cart or wait to get your hands on a skunkboard.

 

I thought 3do Kid was going to do another run of skunkboards. Whatever happened with that?

[party@karl's]

where do you get bjl cd or cart or a skunkboard (and from what i have seen the skunkboard looks easiest)

[The_Laird]

Thank You for the advice so far all of you and i will defiantly look at those sites and the only i want to ask is how does modding/ putting homebrew games on a Jag happen i mean i get the whole put the mod chip on put what about after that

 

 

ugh. I wouldnt recommend mod chipping anymore.

 

either use a bjl cd or cart or wait to get your hands on a skunkboard.

 

I thought 3do Kid was going to do another run of skunkboards. Whatever happened with that?

 

Don't know he went MIA. He was supposed to come to JFUK earlier this year and never turned up!

[Zerosquare]

ugh. I wouldnt recommend mod chipping anymore.

Why not ? It's the cheapest option by far, and it's harmless if you know what you're doing.

[ovalbugmann]

ugh. I wouldnt recommend mod chipping anymore.

 

Why? If he can solder or have a good solderer do it, it is the BEST BJL option to have. Yes, Boz's disc is free, quite sufficient, and easiest though, I will give you that.

 

But, There is nothing wrong with doing a little soldering and doing Matthias's or Robert Demming's BJL mods. As a matter of fact there are benefits to doing a chip mod, that other BJL options don't have. Debugging and dumping back your code to the computer is one, the nice readout screen with details, and one other one which I won't mention.

 

But you know what they say Jagchris, opinions are like -------- everyone's got one!

 

But I don't know anything; I am the "unsilent minority" right! jagchris?

 

OP: You can get the BJL cd at hillsoftware.com, party@carl's since it is the path of least resistence.

Edited January 9, 2010 by ovalbugmann

[Austin]

Thank You for the advice so far all of you and i will defiantly look at those sites and the only i want to ask is how does modding/ putting homebrew games on a Jag happen i mean i get the whole put the mod chip on put what about after that

 

 

ugh. I wouldnt recommend mod chipping anymore.

 

either use a bjl cd or cart or wait to get your hands on a skunkboard.

 

I thought 3do Kid was going to do another run of skunkboards. Whatever happened with that?

 

Don't know he went MIA. He was supposed to come to JFUK earlier this year and never turned up!

 

He pops up daily at the 3DO Zero forums, so I would check there and see what he's up to..

[JagChris]

ugh. I wouldnt recommend mod chipping anymore.

 

Why? If he can solder or have a good solderer do it, it is the BEST BJL option to have. Yes, Boz's disc is free, quite sufficient, and easiest though, I will give you that.

 

But, There is nothing wrong with doing a little soldering and doing Matthias's or Robert Demming's BJL mods. As a matter of fact there are benefits to doing a chip mod, that other BJL options don't have. Debugging and dumping back your code to the computer is one, the nice readout screen with details, and one other one which I won't mention.

 

But you know what they say Jagchris, opinions are like -------- everyone's got one!

 

But I don't know anything; I am the "unsilent minority" right! jagchris?

 

OP: You can get the BJL cd at hillsoftware.com, party@carl's since it is the path of least resistence.

 

Hell I dont care. He can do what he wants. Mod it, solder it up. take a skillsaw to it. Just so long as he knows his options and that physically modifying isnt necessary.

[Atari_Owl]

ugh. I wouldnt recommend mod chipping anymore.

 

Why? If he can solder or have a good solderer do it, it is the BEST BJL option to have. Yes, Boz's disc is free, quite sufficient, and easiest though, I will give you that.

 

But, There is nothing wrong with doing a little soldering and doing Matthias's or Robert Demming's BJL mods. As a matter of fact there are benefits to doing a chip mod, that other BJL options don't have. Debugging and dumping back your code to the computer is one, the nice readout screen with details, and one other one which I won't mention.

 

I could be wrong here but i thought the skunkboard didn't work with BJL modded jags?

Oh and I think theres a game or two that don't work either?

Edited January 10, 2010 by Atari_Owl

[ovalbugmann]

He's just getting started so I mentioned BJL(cheapest), but I didn't mention Skunkboard at all because they are hard to get and probably around $200.00 now(and he is NEW here). I think he would want to test the waters before jumping in with big expenses on a system that is going to be an intermediate-to-advanced level to code on. After he hits his first several Jaguar challenges to overcome he may not want to put in the extended efforts/time to deal with Jag homebrewing since he is new to it, and probably not really attached to it in any way. He knows nothing at this point about Jag developing, but may have an good advantage if he is experienced with C or asm already.

 

But yes, rush6432 had a problem getting his Skunk to work with a BJL ROM in his Jag. Tursi would have to let us know if that would still be an issue. Not an issue for party@carls since he doesn't have one. But rush6432 had the BJL ROM in a socket so he just switched out the BJL boot ROM chip for an original Atari boot rom and then his Skunk worked.

Edited January 10, 2010 by ovalbugmann

[Atari_Owl]

Just pointing out potential hazards down the line

[Gorf]

Hi I just purchased a Jaguar from my local retro gaming store in the hopes of doing some good homebrew gaming now i have little to no exp. so i want to ask how do you start modding/hombrewing the Atari Jaguar

 

Dont mod your jaguar..this is not necessary anymore.Forget the skunk board. Get a CD player and BJL or a Protector SE

cart before you try to invest tons of time and see if you even have the apptitude to deal with coding the Jaguar.

Otherwise you will spend a lot of money for something you may not be willing to deal with. At least the Cd will allow

you to enjoy games on the Jaguar where a skunk board does'nt really help. Anything out there that is legal to use on

a Jaguar will load with a BJL anyway. If you then see that you can handle a five processor system, then you might want

to consider a skunk board.

Edited January 10, 2010 by Gorf

[Gorf]

ugh. I wouldnt recommend mod chipping anymore.

 

Why? If he can solder or have a good solderer do it, it is the BEST BJL option to have. Yes, Boz's disc is free, quite sufficient, and easiest though, I will give you that.

 

Because it is completely unecessary to mod your Jag anymore. Why take a chance when you can simply plug in a cart(PSE) or a CD pllayer and burn

a disc? If these did not exsist I could understand but even then, he said he knows little to nothing about coding the Jaguar. I do not care what

kind of homebrewing he may have done in the past, it doe snot come close to the headache you have to deal with coding the Jaguar.

[ovalbugmann]

ugh. I wouldnt recommend mod chipping anymore.

Why not ? It's the cheapest option by far, and it's harmless if you know what you're doing.

 

That's right! It is THE cheapest way to go for a beginner, since to use Boz's BJL player you still need to buy an $200.00 expensive Jaguar CD Player!

 

However, ProtSE is only $80.00 so that would still be 5 times as expensive as chip modding.

Edited January 10, 2010 by ovalbugmann

[ovalbugmann]

he said he knows little to nothing about coding the Jaguar. I do not care what

kind of homebrewing he may have done in the past, it doe snot come close to the headache you have to deal with coding the Jaguar.

 

Get a CD player and BJL or a Protector SE

cart before you try to invest tons of time and see if you even have the apptitude to deal with coding the Jaguar.

Otherwise you will spend a lot of money for something you may not be willing to deal with.

 

If you then see that you can handle a five processor system, then you might want

to consider a skunk board.

 

These are very good points, for the OP to consider.

Edited January 10, 2010 by ovalbugmann

[party@karl's]

All right let me make this clear this is the first time i have ever dived into the home brew scene i choose the jaguar because it had the biggest and what seemed the most impressive home brew scene now i have another request for you guys can you make me a list of what i can do to get the most out of my jaguar and possibly how much it will cost because i don't have a lot of cash to burn but i am willing if the gaming is good with the Jag i know the CD is really fucking expensive so im not too sure about that but anyway if you guys could make a list of possibilities that i can do with the Jaguar and i don't care if its necessary or not i just want to know my options

[The_Laird]

If you are serious about the Jag then I would say the CD unit is pretty much essential.

[ovalbugmann]

All right let me make this clear this is the first time i have ever dived into the home brew scene i choose the jaguar because it had the biggest and what seemed the most impressive home brew scene now i have another request for you guys can you make me a list of what i can do to get the most out of my jaguar and possibly how much it will cost because i don't have a lot of cash to burn but i am willing if the gaming is good with the Jag i know the CD is really fucking expensive so im not too sure about that but anyway if you guys could make a list of possibilities that i can do with the Jaguar and i don't care if its necessary or not i just want to know my options

 

Jagchris & Gorf; the bolded statements above are the main reason ZS & I suggested to go with the BJL chip. Not because we don't like the options you guys mentioned(I do like them ), but just because he is new and it's THE cheapest - That's all. I've been practicing soldering/desoldering on some thrift store electronics and I am becoming more and more comfortable with soldering. It's just practice, like everything else. I have a cheap 30watt Home Depot fine tip iron.

 

Ok, Party let's add it up(one option):

 

BJL chip: $20 from a8maestro.

BJL adaptor: $20 from a8maestro.

Male to Female DB15 extension cord: $10 from Sewelldirect.com

 

=$50.00

 

You could possibly save money by having someone here burn you a BJL chip, and making the BJL adaptor yourself, according to the pinouts. The BJL adaptor goes into the 2nd controller port. As well as getting the cable cheap!! at a thrift store -good idea. It's the shipping on some things that is a good porton of these costs.

 

Here is a another cool Jaguar BJL site(Robert Demming):

 

http://www.xs4all.nl/~rdemming/Atari/index.htm

 

Another option: ProtectorSE that Gorf mentioned is $74.00 + Shipping from Songbird-Productions.com - you will still need the adaptor and VGA ext. cord.

 

Then there is:

 

Alpine Dev and Felix and or Rapier Official Dev systems - $500

 

Jaguar CD + Boz's BJL CD - $150-$200

 

Skunkboard, if you can find it and it's $200 now.

 

A chipped Jaguar CD player, but you still need a JagCD - $150 -$200

 

There is Official Atari Jaguar Development cartridges -they run $200 -to about $350 depending what may already be on them(rare Jag beta & Alphas).

 

Or burn a CD everytime you need to run code - still need a Jag CD.

 

Get a cartridge board, socket it , then get a $300 EEProm burner and blank cart chips and burn a cart chip and put it in the socket, for each new code/change you want to run -

 

Let's see what have I forgot........ Oh there is at least one other rare Official 3rd party JagDev system, forgot the name(It's called something like "Snasm"?). "JagMod" has one & a guy here very recently found one and posted about it.

 

There is even a fifth kind of Official 3rd party Development unit I have seen: "Willard" and "BuddyBuddies" - guys here, have purchased some kind of PC based of Jaguar development system which contained two or three rare betas of the Tiny Tones Jaguar game that never made it out to us. If you search their names and look for the thread you will see pictures of it. "Atarifan49" Glenn Bruner found it on ebay for them because he lives in Silicon Valley and knew the seller.

 

There you go Party - that's pretty much everything and now you can see Zerosquares' logic in suggesting a BJL chip Mod.

Edited January 10, 2010 by ovalbugmann

[Gorf]

ugh. I wouldnt recommend mod chipping anymore.

Why not ? It's the cheapest option by far, and it's harmless if you know what you're doing.

 

That's right! It is THE cheapest way to go for a beginner, since to use Boz's BJL player you still need to buy an $200.00 expensive Jaguar CD Player!

 

However, ProtSE is only $80.00 so that would still be 5 times as expensive as chip modding.

 

 

 

It would also be 2000% safer than hacking up your Jag. Not to mention, if you blow up

your Jaguar trying to mod it(and that is not hard to do) you just blew at least $80

anyway.

 

.....have you ever...

 

A ) coded the Jag?

B ) Hacked your Jag for a BJL mod?

C ) Hacked your Jag for a JagServer mod?

 

I've done all three. I know you are trying to help but for goodness sake, unless you know

something we dont, let the experienced give the advice for everyone's well being.

 

Moding your Jag is dangerous to your console, unecessary and quite frankly dumb, and as far as

Im concerned should not be considered as an option any more....at one time it was THE ONLY OPTION

and there was no other choice around it except a $5000 dollar dev kit from Atari who were rather

picky about who they sold them to.

 

$80 For a game that allows dev is a very good investment. At least with the PSE cart, you still

have a good game left if you dont stay with coding the Jaguar. The CD Player with a 10 cent CD

burn and a free download is the best beginner option hands down.

 

Oh and also tht $200 Cd player allows you to play games you cant play on a modded Jaguar. It is

a win, win win all around.

Edited January 10, 2010 by Gorf

[Fadest]

I could be wrong here but i thought the skunkboard didn't work with BJL modded jags?

Oh and I think theres a game or two that don't work either?

I have a BJL modified Jag and a Skunkboard 2, and I never got any problems with it

 

 

First, I used to use PSE as BJL option, but switching off/on the Jag often in order to test a new build was really boring (without forgetting to press the correctkey on jagpad), so I asked Zerosquare to modify the Jag (with the reset mod also), and this was a whole new life

I now have a skunboard and this is really another dimension, faster (USB), more reliable (less transmission failure). Il really love it

 

But I'm not the usual homebrew gamer as I mainly use my jag to test my code & games, so all I can say is that PSE (or the BJL CD if you have a Jag CD, or I believe JUGS would do the job) is the easiest way, a modified BJL Jag is more useful if you do not intend to mostly play old stock games (as they won't boot directly on BJL Jag, you must press a button to run them)

[party@karl's]

Thank you ovallbuggmann and im assuming that later in life it would be a goodidea to get the cd rom attachment just one more question what does the BJL chip do and how do you make it work

[ovalbugmann]

A). No - I am a player not a coder. Are YOU better than me Gorf because of that NO.

 

B.) Yes, I have recently done a successful BJL mod.

 

C.) No.

 

let the experienced give the advice for everyone's well being.

quite frankly dumb

 

DON'T YOU DARE TRY TO BELITTLE ME,...

AGAIN YOU KNOW WHAT IS BEST FOR EVERYONE, DON'T YOU???

 

You don't have to be a coder to know the damn loading options for a Jag. WHAT IS IT THAT YOU DON'T UNDERSTAND ABOUT SAVING MONEY GORF??????????????????????? SCREW TRYING TO SAVE ANOTHER JAG FROM A BJL MOD THAT COULD GO BAD, IT'S HIS HE BOUGHT IT LET HIM DECIDE!!!

If your rich, fine but others are not and do need to save every penny.

 

I was just thinking that a bjl chip would be his cheapest option $50 is $50 bucks that's food for a week. He may not have the extra dough for a ProtSE investment right now as much as you want him to get it.

Edited January 10, 2010 by ovalbugmann