99 replies to this topic

[SpiceWare]

Eckhard Stolberg said:

Stella for MacOS:
Darrell, I think it might be better, if you tried to port the SDL version of the upcomming version 1.4 of the Stella emulator instead. You wouldn't have to know that much about Mac programming, since the SDL takes care of most of the hardware accesses for you. Also it might make future updates more easy, because the SDL version of stella seems to be the best supported port at the moment.

I'll think on this, though part of my goal is to learn Mac Programming.

[AtariKari]

Whoa. I think you just removed _my_ major attraction to the CCII before I even have the thing in hand: conserving space and using the original controllers.

Who was selling those NES/2600 hybrid pads? And when is the 7800 S-video mod expected (hedging both ways )

Sold! And thanks

[Albert]

SpiceWare said:

Eckhard Stolberg said:

Stella for MacOS:
Darrell, I think it might be better, if you tried to port the SDL version of the upcomming version 1.4 of the Stella emulator instead. You wouldn't have to know that much about Mac programming, since the SDL takes care of most of the hardware accesses for you. Also it might make future updates more easy, because the SDL version of stella seems to be the best supported port at the moment.

I'll think on this, though part of my goal is to learn Mac Programming.

I will send a free Stelladaptor to whomever gets the Mac version of Stella up to date, including support for USB controllers using the HID Manager so the Stelladaptor can be used with it. I'm using OS X full-time, and having a current version of Stella would make my life much easier.

..Al

[Thomas Jentzsch]

Albert said:

I will send a free Stelladaptor to whomever gets the Mac version of Stella up to date, including support for USB controllers using the HID Manager so the Stelladaptor can be used with it.  I'm using OS X full-time, and having a current version of Stella would make my life much easier.  

Great idea!

I hope it works.

[Nathan Strum]

It just might.

[Thomas Jentzsch]

BTW: Swiss knife with USB stick (German, use Altavista's Babelfish for translation)

Sorry, couldn't resist to post it here.

[stephena]

Albert said:

SpiceWare said:

Eckhard Stolberg said:

Stella for MacOS:
Darrell, I think it might be better, if you tried to port the SDL version of the upcomming version 1.4 of the Stella emulator instead. You wouldn't have to know that much about Mac programming, since the SDL takes care of most of the hardware accesses for you. Also it might make future updates more easy, because the SDL version of stella seems to be the best supported port at the moment.

I'll think on this, though part of my goal is to learn Mac Programming.

I will send a free Stelladaptor to whomever gets the Mac version of Stella up to date, including support for USB controllers using the HID Manager so the Stelladaptor can be used with it. I'm using OS X full-time, and having a current version of Stella would make my life much easier.

..Al

First of all, I mustr apologize for the lateness of the next release of Stella (1.4). There are a few problems I've encountered over the past few months.

1) There is this damn sound problem that I can't track down. The sound goes out of sync with the video, and everything I've tried so far has failed.

2) I had pnemonia for about 3 weeks, and I'm only really recovering from it now.

3) I'm in the middle of changing jobs.

4) I'm waiting to hear back from Brad wrt some other stuff.

All these things have contributed to the huge delays. The plan is to move the whole codebase to SDL, so if you don't want to use SDL, then certain parts of the codebase will have to be maintained separately. I would really suggest that unless there is a good reason to not use SDL, then you probably should.

The current CVS code contains the following stuff:

1) OpenGL support, for getting a more 'square' and authentic looking aspect ratio (not to mention hardware acceleration).

2) Event remapping support.

3) Numerous other things that I can't remember right now.

Point (2) is most important wrt the new Stelladaptor. The current code takes generic SDL inputs and passes them to the core as StellaEvents. Since the Stelladaptor will be at the OS USB HID level, SDL will receive those as input events that are passed to the core as well. These events can then be remapped by the new core remapping code.

I did it this way so that when a new controller comes out, we specifically wouldn't have to write new code to support it.

So to Darrell; while you may wish to learn MacOS programming with Stella, it would really be a duplication of resources to rewrite all that stuff in native code, when the whole point of moving to SDL is to get away from that approach.

Now any frontend you write will have to be done in native MacOS code, and that's probably where your efforts should go.

Steve

[Danno]

I ordered it.

Now I must wait. It feels like 1984 all over.

[SpiceWare]

stephena said:

So to Darrell; while you may wish to learn MacOS programming with Stella, it would really be a duplication of resources to rewrite all that stuff in native code, when the whole point of moving to SDL is to get away from that approach.

Now any frontend you write will have to be done in native MacOS code, and that's probably where your efforts should go.

Steve

SDL it is then

[Adrian M]

One dumb question...does the Stelladaptor ship with the necessary USB cable or will you need to supply your own?

[joesmooth]

No, the Stelladaptor does not ship with the cable. We wanted to leave that up to the end user, since people have different setups and different length cables that they might want. You'll need a standard Type A-to-Type B cable.

From what I know, the AtariAge store will have 6 foot USB cables shortly, probably after PC5.

Joe

[Adrian M]

joesmooth said:

No, the Stelladaptor does not ship with the cable. We wanted to leave that up to the end user, since people have different setups and different length cables that they might want. You'll need a standard Type A-to-Type B cable.  

From what I know, the AtariAge store will have 6 foot USB cables shortly, probably after PC5.  

Joe

Thanks for the quick response!
Thankfully, I have several spare type A to type B cables (from various USB accessories that I've purchased over the years) so I'm covered!

[Robert M]

Hi,

Great device! By any chance does it work in reverse to allow the Atari to output signals through the USB port to the outside world? I ask becuase the joystick ports are capable of input and output on a 2600. I won't be disappointed if it doesn't, but I will be thrilled if it does.

Cheers!

[joesmooth]

Hi Rob-

Nope, the Stelladaptor is a transmit-only device. Good idea, though

Joe

[veganjay]

First of all - cool device! I picked one up at PC5 - I got home and plugged it in, and was immediately using the atari joystick with Mame and Z26! Awesome!

After a short run of Jr. Pacman, I decided to try out Kaboom - however, I cannot seem to get the paddles to work. I downloaded the latest version of z26 (v2.11 - 12/2003) from the site. Is there a newer version which has paddle support for the Stelladaptor?

Thanks,
jason

[joesmooth]

As we mentioned at PC5, Eckhard is finalizing the release version and should be ready this week.

A lot of other changes were made to this version of z26, so he wanted to ensure that it was a stable version before releasing it.



Joe

[Thomas Jentzsch]

AFAIK Eckhard is planning to release v2.12 (also including Trakball emulation via PC-mouse! ) today.

[veganjay]

Thanks for the quick response! I had forgotten that the update hasn't been released yet. I'll check back at the z26 site for the new release.

--
jason

[veganjay]

Just got the new Z26 and fired up Kaboom and SCSIcide
The paddles works great - thanks again for a great device!

--
jason

[joesmooth]

Sweet! I'm glad you like it!

Joe

[mojofltr]

placing my order today...

In theory, wouldn't it be possible for someone to write a joystick/keyboard emulator for this device so that the controls could be mapped to any axis or keyboard configuration? While it may not be as perfect as built in support in a a game or emulator, this would at least make it compatible with all games and emulators. Then for driving controllers and paddles, there could be a calibration module so that you could make the controls as loose or ultra-sensitive as you like. Just an idea.

[joesmooth]

When you plug in the Stelladaptor, it is recognized by the operating system as a generic USB Game Controller. So, I suppose you could write a custom program on the computer side to do anything you want. My design intention was to keep it as simple as possible for end-users to just plug in and play with any computer program that supports USB Game Controllers.

Joe

[hepcat]

Ugh, I can't stand this waiting! I ordered mine a couple weeks ago, how long after PC5 will they be mailed?

--Jason

[Albert]

hepcat said:

Ugh, I can't stand this waiting!    I ordered mine a couple weeks ago, how long after PC5 will they be mailed?

The first batch (which should constitute most of the pre-orders) will be mailed tomorrow. The remaining will be mailed on Monday.

..Al

[hepcat]

WOO HOO! I'll be playing Arkanoid all next week!!

--Jason