Atari 8-Bit Computers

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Re: Atari 8-Bit Computers

Unread post by RealLarry »

Those who are not familar with Atari 8-Bit Computers and it's behaviour and meanings of the "special keys" (Start, Select, Option) might use the patched system rom, which I found here: https://atariage.com/forums/topic/20688 ... nt-4333535 The patches are:
  • Alternative math pack (might be incompatible with TurboBasic)
  • Reversed function of the option key (normally you have to press OPTION while booting to disable Basic)
EDIT: Oh, just discovered, that - in contrast to the MiST version - it isn't possible to select another OS as they're statically build-in.
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Re: Atari 8-Bit Computers

Unread post by zeen »

I tried the XEX version of Galaxian for the Atari 800XL but is not working either. Please tell me what setting are you using or where to get the working XEX.

Thank you.

Chris23235 wrote: Tue Jul 13, 2021 12:01 am
zeen wrote: Mon Jul 12, 2021 11:40 pm I'm having problems with Galaxian game on the Atari 800 core for Mist and Mister. The joystick is not detected. I tried using the swap option in the core.
Do you mean the 1982 Galaxian by Atari? I tried a XEX version of the game and the joystick did work. Which version of the game did you try?
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Re: Atari 8-Bit Computers

Unread post by Chris23235 »

zeen wrote: Wed Jul 14, 2021 10:38 pm I tried the XEX version of Galaxian for the Atari 800XL but is not working either. Please tell me what setting are you using or where to get the working XEX.

Thank you.

Chris23235 wrote: Tue Jul 13, 2021 12:01 am
zeen wrote: Mon Jul 12, 2021 11:40 pm I'm having problems with Galaxian game on the Atari 800 core for Mist and Mister. The joystick is not detected. I tried using the swap option in the core.
Do you mean the 1982 Galaxian by Atari? I tried a XEX version of the game and the joystick did work. Which version of the game did you try?
BIOS: OS A
RAM: 64K
Start game with F6
Works with my USB2DB9 Monster adapter.
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Re: Atari 8-Bit Computers

Unread post by zeen »

My Xbox 360 Arcade Stick USB is still not working in this game. I guess is the core. Thank you.

Chris23235 wrote: Wed Jul 14, 2021 10:49 pm
zeen wrote: Wed Jul 14, 2021 10:38 pm I tried the XEX version of Galaxian for the Atari 800XL but is not working either. Please tell me what setting are you using or where to get the working XEX.

Thank you.

Chris23235 wrote: Tue Jul 13, 2021 12:01 am

Do you mean the 1982 Galaxian by Atari? I tried a XEX version of the game and the joystick did work. Which version of the game did you try?
BIOS: OS A
RAM: 64K
Start game with F6
Works with my USB2DB9 Monster adapter.
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Re: Atari 8-Bit Computers

Unread post by zorrobandito »

Chris23235 wrote: Wed Jul 14, 2021 10:49 pm
zeen wrote: Wed Jul 14, 2021 10:38 pm I tried the XEX version of Galaxian for the Atari 800XL but is not working either. Please tell me what setting are you using or where to get the working XEX.

Thank you.

Chris23235 wrote: Tue Jul 13, 2021 12:01 am

Do you mean the 1982 Galaxian by Atari? I tried a XEX version of the game and the joystick did work. Which version of the game did you try?
BIOS: OS A
RAM: 64K
Start game with F6
Works with my USB2DB9 Monster adapter.
I had a similar problem with the atr versions I had, even with zeen's helpful settings.

However, I had a lot more success with a copy from http://www.atarimania.com
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Re: Atari 8-Bit Computers

Unread post by zorrobandito »

TLPD-AVW wrote: Mon May 10, 2021 12:11 am What exactly does the Win key do in this core? I can't find the info on this. It makes taking screenshots with Win+PrtScr practically impossible as the graphics get all messed up while the Win key is held.
I've been quite frustrated with this too, trying to capture some of my own screenshots of some of these classic games.

Reading the doco from the developer of the original core, Mark Watson, the Windows ket performs the same functions as the Atari Key on an original keyboard. What that key is supposed to do on a real Atari I don't know but if you find a way to disable it, let me know.
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Re: Atari 8-Bit Computers

Unread post by moralek »

zorrobandito wrote: Sat Jul 31, 2021 3:15 pm ... I've been quite frustrated with this too, trying to capture some of my own screenshots of some of these classic games.

Reading the doco from the developer of the original core, Mark Watson, the Windows ket performs the same functions as the Atari Key on an original keyboard. What that key is supposed to do on a real Atari I don't know but if you find a way to disable it, let me know.
it probably has to do with this:
https://github.com/MiSTer-devel/Atari80 ... +held+down

according to the comment:
"pause as WIN is held down"

... it's a shame I don't know how to compile or rebuild that :/
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Re: Atari 8-Bit Computers

Unread post by Ray »

Hi,

Disclaimer: i am new to this :)

Tried to play some games, but failed to play with keyboard, as I have no joystick at the moment.
I was doing the following: "Map Atari 800 buttons" -> assigned up/down/etc. to keys on the keyboard.
Pressed Num-Lock until it shows joystick 1 (or 2, tried both). Fire-Button works, but I could not get up/down/left/right to work and I don't know why?! Tried it with several games and different key-mappings, but no luck. Can anyone help?

Thx,
Ray
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Re: Atari 8-Bit Computers

Unread post by akeley »

I've just tried the default remap (cursors+Z) + Joystick 1 in Alley Cat & Ninja and it works no problem. What games have you tried?
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Re: Atari 8-Bit Computers

Unread post by Ray »

A lot, 20-30, must be making a mistake somewhere. Just found out i can connect my xbox one controller via usb, happy now 😉

Thx, ray
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Re: Atari 8-Bit Computers

Unread post by seastalker »

Is the core compatible with save games? Not save STATES, but in gave save progress? A quick game of Panther wouldn't need it, but Infocom adventures, Alternate Reality, and others would. I was afraid to save an Infocom game thinking it might write to the original game .atr file. Would it?

On a real Atari 800, I'd save to a blank floppy disk on my 1050 drive. Would this core allow write support to some .atr 'blank' file? Any help is greatly appreciated.

I also noticed not just in this core, but for many with multiple drive support, the core doesn't seem to 'see' anything I put in drive 2. I'm sure it is my error and not the core. An example would be my namesake: If I put Seastalker Side A in drive 1 and Seastalker Side B in drive 2, the computer ignores my side 2 and I end up just using the one drive and swapping sides. It's no huge inconvenience but learning how to get the core to 'see' the 2nd drive would be great too. Thank you!
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Re: Atari 8-Bit Computers

Unread post by akeley »

seastalker wrote: Wed Nov 17, 2021 4:43 pm I was afraid to save an Infocom game thinking it might write to the original game .atr file. Would it?
Hey, it's only a digital copy :) Anyway, I've just tried to save in Seastalker and it seems to work ok.
seastalker wrote: Wed Nov 17, 2021 4:43 pm I also noticed not just in this core, but for many with multiple drive support, the core doesn't seem to 'see' anything I put in drive 2.
I'm not sure every game sees the 2 drives, at least that's my experience from other machines.
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Re: Atari 8-Bit Computers

Unread post by seastalker »

Ah, so you saved to your Seastalker disk? Even if digital only, could that corrupt the disk eventually? I think I have some digitized .atr files from my old floppies. Maybe I'll figure out how to create a digital blank copy again.

Thanks on the game-specific advice for seeing two drives or not.
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Re: Atari 8-Bit Computers

Unread post by akeley »

I did save to Seastalker disk 2. This game has 4 save slots, not infinite saves, so it uses an allocated space limit which may or may not affect the real disk. Of course in case of real floppies it'd not be a good idea to try it, though I know some games don't mind at all, even expect you to save to game disk instead of a dedicated save disk. It'd be mostly stated in the manual. And they also usually advised to make backup copies of floppies anyway.
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Re: Atari 8-Bit Computers

Unread post by seastalker »

That's interesting about Infocom allocating 4 save spots on the disk. I suppose if I bought them second hand again I may find someone else's save games then. I remember with Alternate Reality you make a character disk. I guess I have to look up each long game's in-game abaility in this regard. Seven Cities of Gold, Ultima... I can't imagine how many it would be too time eating to complete in a single day.
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Re: Atari 8-Bit Computers

Unread post by Chris23235 »

seastalker wrote: Wed Nov 17, 2021 5:24 pm Ah, so you saved to your Seastalker disk? Even if digital only, could that corrupt the disk eventually? I think I have some digitized .atr files from my old floppies. Maybe I'll figure out how to create a digital blank copy again.

Thanks on the game-specific advice for seeing two drives or not.
You can find blank atr images here:

https://atariwiki.org/wiki/Wiki.jsp?pag ... %20DOS%202
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Re: Atari 8-Bit Computers

Unread post by areeve »

seastalker wrote: Wed Nov 17, 2021 4:43 pm Is the core compatible with save games? Not save STATES, but in gave save progress? A quick game of Panther wouldn't need it, but Infocom adventures, Alternate Reality, and others would. I was afraid to save an Infocom game thinking it might write to the original game .atr file. Would it?

On a real Atari 800, I'd save to a blank floppy disk on my 1050 drive. Would this core allow write support to some .atr 'blank' file? Any help is greatly appreciated.

I also noticed not just in this core, but for many with multiple drive support, the core doesn't seem to 'see' anything I put in drive 2. I'm sure it is my error and not the core. An example would be my namesake: If I put Seastalker Side A in drive 1 and Seastalker Side B in drive 2, the computer ignores my side 2 and I end up just using the one drive and swapping sides. It's no huge inconvenience but learning how to get the core to 'see' the 2nd drive would be great too. Thank you!
Yes, the Atari 8-bit core support writing to disks (.ATR files).
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Re: Atari 8-Bit Computers

Unread post by areeve »

Chris23235 wrote: Wed Jul 14, 2021 10:49 pm
zeen wrote: Wed Jul 14, 2021 10:38 pm I tried the XEX version of Galaxian for the Atari 800XL but is not working either. Please tell me what setting are you using or where to get the working XEX.

Thank you.

Chris23235 wrote: Tue Jul 13, 2021 12:01 am

Do you mean the 1982 Galaxian by Atari? I tried a XEX version of the game and the joystick did work. Which version of the game did you try?
BIOS: OS A
RAM: 64K
Start game with F6
Works with my USB2DB9 Monster adapter.

Use either OS B or the XL OS... OS A was phased our pretty quickly. OS B would probably be the 'most' compatible as it had years of software written for it and by the time the XL line showed up with a new OS ROM software developers wanted to make sure their software ran on both older and newer machines so they generally stopped making undocumented OS calls (which was the reason for translator disks hence OS B ran the stuff with undocumented calls and anyone targeting the XL wanted to make sure their code behaved on an OS B [Atari 400 or 800] machine as well).
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Re: Atari 8-Bit Computers

Unread post by areeve »

zorrobandito wrote: Sat Jul 31, 2021 3:15 pm
TLPD-AVW wrote: Mon May 10, 2021 12:11 am What exactly does the Win key do in this core? I can't find the info on this. It makes taking screenshots with Win+PrtScr practically impossible as the graphics get all messed up while the Win key is held.
I've been quite frustrated with this too, trying to capture some of my own screenshots of some of these classic games.

Reading the doco from the developer of the original core, Mark Watson, the Windows ket performs the same functions as the Atari Key on an original keyboard. What that key is supposed to do on a real Atari I don't know but if you find a way to disable it, let me know.
I don't know about disabling it, but the 'Atari key' basically toggled inverse video on an off when typing characters. I don't recall using it unless I wanted a program to print out something in inverse video.
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Re: Atari 8-Bit Computers

Unread post by Chris23235 »

areeve wrote: Sun Dec 26, 2021 9:46 pm
Chris23235 wrote: Wed Jul 14, 2021 10:49 pm
zeen wrote: Wed Jul 14, 2021 10:38 pm I tried the XEX version of Galaxian for the Atari 800XL but is not working either. Please tell me what setting are you using or where to get the working XEX.

Thank you.


BIOS: OS A
RAM: 64K
Start game with F6
Works with my USB2DB9 Monster adapter.

Use either OS B or the XL OS... OS A was phased our pretty quickly. OS B would probably be the 'most' compatible as it had years of software written for it and by the time the XL line showed up with a new OS ROM software developers wanted to make sure their software ran on both older and newer machines so they generally stopped making undocumented OS calls (which was the reason for translator disks hence OS B ran the stuff with undocumented calls and anyone targeting the XL wanted to make sure their code behaved on an OS B [Atari 400 or 800] machine as well).
You are completely right. The reason why I tried it with OS-A was that both XEX versions I found didn't work with the XL-Rom and in such a case I fall usually back to OS-A first before trying OS-B.
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Bruce Lee (1984), SNAC and ATR vs ATX

Unread post by edburns »

Hello Atari 8-bit MiSTer fans.

I finally got my MiSTer set up this weekend and I am happy to report the Bruce Lee (1984 Datasoft) worked without problem. I have two questions, however:

1. I had to use the ATR disk, the ATX one did not work. Why is that?

2. I don't see SNAC support in the Atart 800 Core, I would like to play with my classic CX-40 joystick. Given the absence of SNAC, what is the best option?

Thanks,

Ed

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Re: Bruce Lee (1984), SNAC and ATR vs ATX

Unread post by limi »

edburns wrote: Mon Jan 03, 2022 5:08 pm 2. I don't see SNAC support in the Atart 800 Core, I would like to play with my classic CX-40 joystick. Given the absence of SNAC, what is the best option?
Any DaemonBite-based adapter should serve you well. Depending on where you are located, several retailers have versions of it. And if you can do simple soldering, they are very easy to put together.
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Re: Bruce Lee (1984), SNAC and ATR vs ATX

Unread post by Chris23235 »

edburns wrote: Mon Jan 03, 2022 5:08 pm
1. I had to use the ATR disk, the ATX one did not work. Why is that?
ATX is not supported by the core.
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Re: Atari 8-Bit Computers

Unread post by foft »

Chris23235 wrote: Mon Jan 03, 2022 8:36 pm
edburns wrote: Mon Jan 03, 2022 5:08 pm
1. I had to use the ATR disk, the ATX one did not work. Why is that?
ATX is not supported by the core.
It is supported upstream, though some of the timing is not quite right. So they don't all work...
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Re: Atari 8-Bit Computers

Unread post by Jetset8bit »

Just incase you were not aware Fujinet can now be done in software only so hopefully at some point this could be implemented into the Atari core at some point, its already a very good core.
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Re: Atari 8-Bit Computers

Unread post by cathrynmataga »

Jetset8bit wrote: Fri Jan 07, 2022 8:58 am Just incase you were not aware Fujinet can now be done in software only so hopefully at some point this could be implemented into the Atari core at some point, its already a very good core.
Is there Fujinet that runs on PI? If so, maybe could be run on the Mister Linux, or perhaps run on something like the MT32 PI. The Atari core has another emulated CPU in it, but I don't know if it supports C++. I think maybe too much work to get Fujinet running on that.
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Re: Atari 8-Bit Computers

Unread post by lotsotech »

I've been making a little bit of headway with the Atari 800 core. Managed to find a blank disk that worked for me. I ended up using a 90kb.atr and that worked fine. The problem I'm still having is with the joystick. It sounds like from this thread it's a little bit of a crapshoot. I have a USB arcade stick and a SNES keypad that I use with all the other cores. With the Atari, I can move, but none of the buttons work. I'm not 100% clear what Scroll Lock does, but it sounds like it just lets the keyboard emulate the joystick. I've remapped the buttons a few times while in the core, but that doesn't seem to help. Anyone get past this? Is it just really picky on what controllers it likes?
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Re: Atari 8-Bit Computers

Unread post by RealLarry »

RealLarry wrote: Tue Aug 25, 2020 3:55 pm You're absolutely right. I wish someone would create a small interface for MiSTer's GPIO<->SIO to be able to connect all Atari devices which are using SIO bus.
Should be doable with no great witchcraft as very similar interfaces exists for Arduino, PCs and many others. The tricky part would be to implement this into the atari800 core...
Necrobumping this to myself... I just have appended some details to https://github.com/MiSTer-devel/Atari80 ... /issues/10
I would be glad if someone would implement this to the core. I would also donate some money if needed!
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Re: Atari 8-Bit Computers

Unread post by circletheory »

RealLarry wrote: Tue Mar 29, 2022 8:56 am
RealLarry wrote: Tue Aug 25, 2020 3:55 pm You're absolutely right. I wish someone would create a small interface for MiSTer's GPIO<->SIO to be able to connect all Atari devices which are using SIO bus.
Should be doable with no great witchcraft as very similar interfaces exists for Arduino, PCs and many others. The tricky part would be to implement this into the atari800 core...
Necrobumping this to myself... I just have appended some details to https://github.com/MiSTer-devel/Atari80 ... /issues/10
I would be glad if someone would implement this to the core. I would also donate some money if needed!
I would LOVE to be able to connect by Atari 1050 drive to my Mister as well! I know there are folks working on this for Commodore 64 Floppy Drives via SIO.
viewtopic.php?t=4469
Hopefully one day, we can see it done for Atari 8-Bit machines!
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Re: Atari 8-Bit Computers

Unread post by CMR »

Can anybody get Sea Dragon to run? All the versions I've tried, including the .xex version, freeze on the title screen.
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