Final Atari 7800 Expansion Module Box Revealed!

[DracIsBack]

waiting to order one!

 

if only i ever receive those atari usb sticks payed to Curt on 2009...

 

 

If you look through the thread, there's a means to "contact Curt".

[sermajic]

waiting to order one!

 

if only i ever receive those atari usb sticks payed to Curt on 2009...

 

 

If you look through the thread, there's a means to "contact Curt".

 

been there...

done that

[Shawn]

Sorry to hear that Bob. Definitely appreciate your efforts and love your games. I doubt it was intentional ... probably an oversite amidst the 12,000 details of trying to give birth to an ambitious homebrew project like this.

 

 

To be forgotten by means of oversite in some cases (like this one) is still unacceptable and if anything that just makes it more insulting to know it's that easy to be overlooked. Some things should never be second string no matter what the surrounding circumstances.

[gambler172]

Hi Guys

Curt should not post games at a box,which are not released.But i do not care about this.BOB is one of the greatest 7800 programmers,i guess he is the best(my opinion).

greetings Walter

[Jinks]

Hi Guys

Curt should not post games at a box,which are not released.But i do not care about this.BOB is one of the greatest 7800 programmers,i guess he is the best(my opinion).

greetings Walter

Its a box guys get over it. I don't have any boxes for anything(they take up space and I only keep boxes for garbage that will be sent back), I play the games and do not look at them, I have paid for one of Bobs games and plan on buying his other two games that are coming up for sale. And I will buy probably every game he ever makes. In a small market like this there is no room for egos and put downs to anyone. I am just trying to say lets move on. Super Circus Atari Age will go down as the first xm produced game and pictures on a box can not change that fact.

[gambler172]

Hi Guys

Curt should not post games at a box,which are not released.But i do not care about this.BOB is one of the greatest 7800 programmers,i guess he is the best(my opinion).

greetings Walter

Its a box guys get over it. I don't have any boxes for anything(they take up space and I only keep boxes for garbage that will be sent back), I play the games and do not look at them, I have paid for one of Bobs games and plan on buying his other two games that are coming up for sale. And I will buy probably every game he ever makes. In a small market like this there is no room for egos and put downs to anyone. I am just trying to say lets move on. Super Circus Atari Age will go down as the first xm produced game and pictures on a box can not change that fact.

Hi Jinks

I guess,you are right.The most important thing,are the games.......

greetings Walter

[GroovyBee]

Super Circus Atari Age will go down as the first xm produced game and pictures on a box can not change that fact.

 

Not quite correct. The first game announced for the XM was Dungeon!

[Underball]

Super Circus Atari Age will go down as the first xm produced game and pictures on a box can not change that fact.

 

Not quite correct. The first game announced for the XM was Dungeon!

He said produced, as in - actually finished, exists, and ready to go into production.

[8th lutz]

 

Its a box guys get over it. I don't have any boxes for anything(they take up space and I only keep boxes for garbage that will be sent back), I play the games and do not look at them, I have paid for one of Bobs games and plan on buying his other two games that are coming up for sale. And I will buy probably every game he ever makes. In a small market like this there is no room for egos and put downs to anyone. I am just trying to say lets move on. Super Circus Atari Age will go down as the first xm produced game and pictures on a box can not change that fact.

Technically Pac-Man Collection Pokey was the first XM game completed, but it was a hack of an existing game.

 

Super Circus Atariage was the first Homebrew XM game completed after the Atari 7800 XM was announced. Dungeon! was announced before Super Circus Atariage was the 7800 xm, but it isn't completed yet to my knowledge.

Edited July 11, 2011 by 8th lutz

[Underball]

If you want to get technical, beef drop ve was the first title produced to take advantage of the XM pokey option. Or better yet, most of the original 11 launch titles will use the high score cart feature....

[GroovyBee]

If you want to get technical, beef drop ve was the first title produced to take advantage of the XM pokey option. Or better yet, most of the original 11 launch titles will use the high score cart feature....

 

And if you want to get technical Beef Drop is XBOARD compatible first and foremost. The XM design team made the XM compatible with XBOARD at POKEY level so Beef Drop would work out of the box. XM did not exist when Beef Drop was coded.

[PacManPlus]

Haven't looked at this thread in a while.

 

You know, anyone can say "It's not a big deal", "It's only a box", etc. But when you are one of only three active programmers for a system, and there are three screen shots on a box that is being advertised, and you had a game completed specifically for this project, you would absolutely be more than a little bothered if you got passed up. I call 'BS' on anyone who says otherwise. Especially if you've been doing this as long as I have, and thought you were on good terms with the person creating the module. It has nothing to do with ego.

 

I won't say any more on the subject.

 

 

 

*EDIT* - Thank you to everyone who said those kind words in the above posts. I honestly do appreciate them.

[kenfused]

If you want to get technical, beef drop ve was the first title produced to take advantage of the XM pokey option. Or better yet, most of the original 11 launch titles will use the high score cart feature....

 

And if you want to get technical Beef Drop is XBOARD compatible first and foremost. The XM design team made the XM compatible with XBOARD at POKEY level so Beef Drop would work out of the box. XM did not exist when Beef Drop was coded.

 

I've been interested in some of its other features that are supposed to make a few things easier (no idea what they are, maybe just ways to mirror or remap ram)? Is there any ROM in the unit (assumption not)? IRQ connected on pokey? How the additional RAM is mapped (guessing just more bits in the register). I know a lot of those weren't finalized early on, but without any additional information it is hard for anyone else to make anything that can utilize anything else in the XM until it ships except few people that have been working with Curt. I have kinda packed up the 7800 and moved onto other things, for now at least.

 

--Ken

[mimo]

Haven't looked at this thread in a while.

 

You know, anyone can say "It's not a big deal", "It's only a box", etc. But when you are one of only three active programmers for a system, and there are three screen shots on a box that is being advertised, and you had a game completed specifically for this project, you would absolutely be more than a little bothered if you got passed up. I call 'BS' on anyone who says otherwise. Especially if you've been doing this as long as I have, and thought you were on good terms with the person creating the module. It has nothing to do with ego.

 

I won't say any more on the subject.

 

 

 

*EDIT* - Thank you to everyone who said those kind words in the above posts. I honestly do appreciate them.

 

 

I think it sucks Bob, there is no one with more actual finished homebrew/hack releases on the system, your work should have been showcased on the box.

I really feel for you, but I sincerly hope it does not deter you from producing more excelent work in the future, I am looking forward to your WIP releases more than any other.

[GroovyBee]

Is there any ROM in the unit (assumption not)?

 

Yep! There is the BIOS and the HSC ROM. The BIOS is used to detect carts/CC2s and the like and to enable/disable HSC ROM/RAM depending on region. The BIOS also has self tests for testing RAM and sound so users can check if their system is working correctly.

 

IRQ connected on pokey?

 

Yep! And the IRQ on the YM2151 is wire ORed.

 

How the additional RAM is mapped (guessing just more bits in the register).

 

Two banks of 8K with various control registers.

 

I know a lot of those weren't finalized early on, but without any additional information it is hard for anyone else to make anything that can utilize anything else in the XM until it ships except few people that have been working with Curt.

 

I'll be supplying example code showing how to access pretty much everything on the XM so that developers can pick it up and run with it pretty easily.

[8th lutz]

Haven't looked at this thread in a while.

 

You know, anyone can say "It's not a big deal", "It's only a box", etc. But when you are one of only three active programmers for a system, and there are three screen shots on a box that is being advertised, and you had a game completed specifically for this project, you would absolutely be more than a little bothered if you got passed up. I call 'BS' on anyone who says otherwise. Especially if you've been doing this as long as I have, and thought you were on good terms with the person creating the module. It has nothing to do with ego.

 

I won't say any more on the subject.

 

 

 

*EDIT* - Thank you to everyone who said those kind words in the above posts. I honestly do appreciate them.

I know where you come from. I question the box when I saw Arkanoid on the box. Propane 13 I know has been busy outside of programing and there is no telling if Arkanoid will be completed. The same thing happened with the Author of Froggie and I think Froggie will never get completed for the Atari 7800.

 

 

I just hope that the 7800 XM box doesn't effect you in terms if you would continue to program for the Atari 7800 or the Atari 7800 XM.

 

The 7800 homebrew scene would have died off without you around 2007 or 2008 for a couple years after B*nq was released for the Atari 7800.

[GroovyBee]

The same thing happened with the Author of Froggie and I think Froggie will never get completed for the Atari 7800.

 

This is what what Schmutzpuppe last said about the release of Froggie back in March this year :-

 

http://www.atariage.com/forums/topic/69060-frogger-first-playable-demo/page__view__findpost__p__2242510

 

So don't give up hope yet .

[tremoloman2006]

Haven't looked at this thread in a while.

 

You know, anyone can say "It's not a big deal", "It's only a box", etc. But when you are one of only three active programmers for a system, and there are three screen shots on a box that is being advertised, and you had a game completed specifically for this project, you would absolutely be more than a little bothered if you got passed up. I call 'BS' on anyone who says otherwise. Especially if you've been doing this as long as I have, and thought you were on good terms with the person creating the module. It has nothing to do with ego.

 

I won't say any more on the subject.

 

 

 

*EDIT* - Thank you to everyone who said those kind words in the above posts. I honestly do appreciate them.

 

Bob,

 

I 100% agree with how you feel. If I were you I too be upset about not being included in the packaging. If it weren't for you I never would have bought a 7800 in the first place! You have done tremendous work with all your games and I hope this oversight won't keep you from contributing in the future! Give me your address and I'll send you a trophy - screw the box!

 

As always, keep up the great work and you are VERY well respected and appreciated by myself and 99% of the community here. The other 1% can suck it!

 

-Trem

[Curt Vendel]

Actually it does Bob,

 

There are 4 sides to the box, each side has different games in the preview panes including yours - Super Circus Atariage, Failsafe and Space Invaders, I added 9 different game shots to the box and the bottom of the box has just standard company text, rights and other info, but the the two sides and top all have different games in them.... I mean come on man, I gave your the source code to the 7800 games years ago and you took off with that stuff and ignited 7800 coding, you've been involved with the XM since the beginning, of course you have game shots on the box for crying out loud!

 

Not to mention your name is in the User Manual and also on the PC boards too!

 

 

Curt

 

Seriously? I love Bob's work, but the slipcover art was selected as placemarker art months ago, from the small handfull of games that had actively been announced and doesn't reflect recent months work. It's been sitting waiting for the rest of the project to come together. Curt is already thousands in the hole and not likely to spend a couple thosand more just to have them reprinted...

 

 

Seriously? Super Circus Atari Age was announced for the XM *October 2010* - Nine Months Ago - and has been completed since *November 2010*. None of the other games are even completed as of yet. No offense to GroovyBee or Propane13 - GB is a much better programmer for this system than I'll ever be, and Propane13's Arkanoid is on it's way to being a great release. But after trying to put off anyone wanting a Stand-Alone release to have a COMPLETED game for the launch of the XM, I'm starting to wonder why I even bothered. Would it have hurt sales so much to have one GB screenshot, one Propane13 shot and one of my shots?

 

Anyway, what's done is done and it really doesn't matter.

[mimo]

well I hope it's not too late

 

Actually it does Bob,

 

There are 4 sides to the box, each side has different games in the preview panes including yours - Super Circus Atariage, Failsafe and Space Invaders, I added 9 different game shots to the box and the bottom of the box has just standard company text, rights and other info, but the the two sides and top all have different games in them.... I mean come on man, I gave your the source code to the 7800 games years ago and you took off with that stuff and ignited 7800 coding, you've been involved with the XM since the beginning, of course you have game shots on the box for crying out loud!

 

Not to mention your name is in the User Manual and also on the PC boards too!

 

 

Curt

 

Seriously? I love Bob's work, but the slipcover art was selected as placemarker art months ago, from the small handfull of games that had actively been announced and doesn't reflect recent months work. It's been sitting waiting for the rest of the project to come together. Curt is already thousands in the hole and not likely to spend a couple thosand more just to have them reprinted...

 

 

Seriously? Super Circus Atari Age was announced for the XM *October 2010* - Nine Months Ago - and has been completed since *November 2010*. None of the other games are even completed as of yet. No offense to GroovyBee or Propane13 - GB is a much better programmer for this system than I'll ever be, and Propane13's Arkanoid is on it's way to being a great release. But after trying to put off anyone wanting a Stand-Alone release to have a COMPLETED game for the launch of the XM, I'm starting to wonder why I even bothered. Would it have hurt sales so much to have one GB screenshot, one Propane13 shot and one of my shots?

 

Anyway, what's done is done and it really doesn't matter.

[PacManPlus]

Hi Guys:

 

Well, I truly have egg on my face.

 

I apologize to all involved. Especially Curt, GroovyBee, Sauron, and Al. I just felt like I was being piled on. First what I thought was the XM box, (boxes usually only have one 'face' side to advertise with, no?). With as much as this hobby means to me, I was hurt where I shouldn't have been. I made two statements about it and tried to drop it, but then sermajic started. When Underball was calling him out, it looked to me like Sauron was more concerned with what Underball's comments than seeing what was going on. Finally, I got the (incorrect) feeling that GroovyBee wanted me to leave. Now - something that I never told anyone until now is that: add to that getting three health bad news within one week: 1) My brother's "Trigeminal Neuralgia" started up again, after two procedure that were supposed to help remove the pain, 2) My wife having two (plaque) blockages in her legs and possibly needing stents (although since then she's been put on Plavix and told to walk more - they will do the procedure if it gets worse), and 3) My best Friend finding a lump on his neck and being told they need to take a biopsy to see if it's the big 'C' word or not. Please keep in mind that I am not making excuses, just giving you the state of mind I am in - why my thought process may be a little altered and I wasn't as patient as I normally am. Anyway add all of that together, and I felt like I was being piled on, and had some choice words for everyone involved which I now regret.

 

Anyway, after all is said, I again apologize, and promise to try harder not to let someone (i.e. sermajic) have that much power again.

 

Thank you everyone.

Bob

[GaryH917]

Hey Bob, glad to see everything get resolved! It seems like life piles numerous issues on us at once and sometimes it hard to see an end to it. Take each issue one by one and try to deal with each one individually. Life is most important, but you always have a place here!

[GroovyBee]

Welcome back Bob!. So... everybody that pointed fingers, made incorrect assumptions about what a b@stard Curt is and whined will be apologising for getting it all wrong now?

Edited July 21, 2011 by GroovyBee

[Madaracs]

Welcome back Bob!. So... everybody that pointed fingers, made incorrect assumptions about what a b@stard Curt is and whined will be apologising for getting it all wrong now?

 

I hope that nothing I said would indicate either were bastards.

 

I'm glad we have BOTH Bob and Curt. No matter if they team up or not. But like Ponch and Jon, Starsky and Hutch, Bo and Luke, Scarecrow and Mrs. King, Lavern and Shirley or Mork and Mindy... The team is best when they're together.

 

Thank God there is no Coy and Vance or Ponch and Bruce Jenner.

[Allpaul]

Hi Guys:

 

Well, I truly have egg on my face.

 

I apologize to all involved. Especially Curt, GroovyBee, Sauron, and Al. I just felt like I was being piled on. First what I thought was the XM box, (boxes usually only have one 'face' side to advertise with, no?). With as much as this hobby means to me, I was hurt where I shouldn't have been. I made two statements about it and tried to drop it, but then sermajic started. When Underball was calling him out, it looked to me like Sauron was more concerned with what Underball's comments than seeing what was going on. Finally, I got the (incorrect) feeling that GroovyBee wanted me to leave. Now - something that I never told anyone until now is that: add to that getting three health bad news within one week: 1) My brother's "Trigeminal Neuralgia" started up again, after two procedure that were supposed to help remove the pain, 2) My wife having two (plaque) blockages in her legs and possibly needing stents (although since then she's been put on Plavix and told to walk more - they will do the procedure if it gets worse), and 3) My best Friend finding a lump on his neck and being told they need to take a biopsy to see if it's the big 'C' word or not. Please keep in mind that I am not making excuses, just giving you the state of mind I am in - why my thought process may be a little altered and I wasn't as patient as I normally am. Anyway add all of that together, and I felt like I was being piled on, and had some choice words for everyone involved which I now regret.

 

Anyway, after all is said, I again apologize, and promise to try harder not to let someone (i.e. sermajic) have that much power again.

 

Thank you everyone.

Bob

 

No sweat! Glad you're back!