31–40 of 72 posts
Earlier quoted context omitted.
As a Commodore person, FujiNet (and thus SIO) is one of the things that I envy about Atari. https://np.reddit.com/r/retrobattlestations/comments/10cktls... >
I’ve seen equivalents for the C64 and Apple II.
Earlier quoted context omitted.
Yup, the Amiga is more Atari than the later Ataris are.
I honestly like the STs better as computer designs. They are clean and general-purpose while the Amigas ended up being hurt by an overly complicated hardware that made it expensive for Commodore to keep up with PCs.
What hurt Commodore was technologically clueless management. Just one example - they didnt update Audio/Floppy controller chip for 9 years because original designer Glenn Keller left (maybe even fired, you never know with Commodore) in 1988, nobody else knew how to and Commodore didnt want to hire/pay competent people. As a result Commodore was shipping computers with 720KB drives all the way to 1994 while on PC 1.44MB was standard since 1988.
Happy for Albert to get a job, but I expect this to be the end of the site in the not so far future, given that Atari seems to be more about squeezing every last drop out of their old portfolio. The homebrew community can be forever grateful to the site though (well, to Curt Vendel and Glenn Bruner) for getting ahold of the original Jaguar Encryption keys so that homebrew CD games just work on unmodified consoles, so…
The old company is long gone. Even if it was around, the people/skillset are no longer relevant to game development. There's no engineering/developer continuity, tech continuity, etc.
So it makes no sense for Atari to attempt to compete with other AAA game studios on state of the art games. Compete on what merits? At best they're just a publisher of other dev houses games.
In essence Atari is nothing but a name, and a gaming legacy attached to that name. And what a legacy for a killer retrogaming Nostalgia brand. It seems they're focusing core business around this concept.
I suppose the idea is that they become a publisher of games specifically tailored to retrogamers, heavily leveraging the classic Atari games lineup. A lot of heavy hitters in there. Atari 50 nailed that perfectly, showing that they've figured out how to package gaming nostalgia in product form. They can reboot/reimagine classic games franchises, introduce to modern audiences, etc. Throw in some retro inspired hardware, limited edition cartridges, and other swag on the physical items side of the business.
It seems a more sound strategy than what they've been doing with the brand up till now. Retrogamers may be a limited market, but it's a real market that's currently not being serviced by large companies in any consistent way. They might be able to create a new market segment in the casual gaming space as well. Mr. Run and Jump shows that this idea of arcade/twitch gameplay with casual gaming might have some legs. It certainly feels like Atari.
I'll admit I'm guilty of throwing them money just to get the Fuji logo on some items. I bought the VCS, speakerhat, etc. I love my new 2600 joystick with USB port. So I, for one, welcome our new Atari overlords.
Earlier quoted context omitted.
I’ve seen equivalents for the C64 and Apple II.
I'm not sure how far along the Apple II version is, but that's not surprising given its ability to autoboot from a card. As I discuss in the linked thread, FujiNet for the C64 is not and cannot be the equivalent because of lack of SIO or something akin to it.
https://fujinet.online/2023/06/28/fujinet-and-meatloaf-at-vc...
Earlier quoted context omitted.
Yup, the Amiga is more Atari than the later Ataris are.
I honestly like the STs better as computer designs. They are clean and general-purpose while the Amigas ended up being hurt by an overly complicated hardware that made it expensive for Commodore to keep up with PCs.
The comparison point for the ST should be the IBM PC or the Apple Mac, not the Amiga. Productivity computers that were many multiples the cost. In 1985, 1986 there was nowhere else where you were going to get that much memory and clock rate for the price Atari was charging.
That plus the crisp paper white monochrome monitor (no dubious interlaced flicker), the Mac-like UI, PC compatible floppies. They had potential for a real winner, but he problem is that Atari failed to effectively iterate. At least not until it was too late. The Falcon was a great machine.
Happy for Albert to get a job, but I expect this to be the end of the site in the not so far future, given that Atari seems to be more about squeezing every last drop out of their old portfolio. The homebrew community can be forever grateful to the site though (well, to Curt Vendel and Glenn Bruner) for getting ahold of the original Jaguar Encryption keys so that homebrew CD games just work on unmodified consoles, so…
Earlier quoted context omitted.
I honestly like the STs better as computer designs. They are clean and general-purpose while the Amigas ended up being hurt by an overly complicated hardware that made it expensive for Commodore to keep up with PCs.
Absolutely. That was Tramiel and Shivji's intent, I believe. Rock bottom price general purpose computer. People comparing to the Amiga are missing the point. Tramiel didn't care much about games, and was interested in "computers for the masses, not the classes" -- bringing cheap 16/32 bit computer power to the market (and as fast as possible before the competition could). The comparison point for the ST should be the…
The inverse color scheme? Not so great... which people are finally admitting 40 years later.
Wow. Time to bring my 130xe out of storage and see if it boots...
Get a FujiNET for it. I bought one of these. About $60. The FujiNET is amazing. It works via the standard SIO subsystem provided by the Atari system OS ROM. Device independent I/O. D: DISK P: PRINTER ETC... Now has N: for network. This device makes Atari Basic Internet capable. People have written 10 line programs to do all sorts of Internet tasks. Multi player online games are possible and have been done. There are…
In the early '90s I wanted to get some drawings I did with the Atari Touch Tablet into my Windows computers. So I looked at the specs for the BMP format and learned enough 6502 assembly language to do the conversion on the Atari. Then I hooked the Atari modem and a Windows computer up to phone jacks in my parents' house, fired up TinyBBS (if I remember correctly) on the Windows computer, and uploaded all the graphics from the Atari over the household phone lines.
Felt pretty clever after that.
Earlier quoted context omitted.
Absolutely. That was Tramiel and Shivji's intent, I believe. Rock bottom price general purpose computer. People comparing to the Amiga are missing the point. Tramiel didn't care much about games, and was interested in "computers for the masses, not the classes" -- bringing cheap 16/32 bit computer power to the market (and as fast as possible before the competition could). The comparison point for the ST should be the…
Don't forget the built-in MIDI. The inverse color scheme? Not so great... which people are finally admitting 40 years later.
Happy for Albert to get a job, but I expect this to be the end of the site in the not so far future, given that Atari seems to be more about squeezing every last drop out of their old portfolio. The homebrew community can be forever grateful to the site though (well, to Curt Vendel and Glenn Bruner) for getting ahold of the original Jaguar Encryption keys so that homebrew CD games just work on unmodified consoles, so…
It's weird that you've said so much and yet you're apparently not aware of the upcoming 2600+. https://atari.com/products/atari-2600-plus
I do wonder how compatible it will be with expansion chips (like the DPC in Pitfall 2). I assume they have an internal list of recognized games, but I wonder what happens if someone wires up their own homebrew game with one of those chips and plugs it in?
But you're right, I should have mentioned it because it's a good idea to do and a legit product, I just had it purged from memory because I wasn't interested in it.