Category: Vintage Computing

Atari TIA schematics

by insecure_automaton

Atari Age hosts two sets of copies of the schematics for the Atari VCS TIA (Television Interface Adapter), the custom chip that was used in the VCS/2600 for graphics and sound. One set has sheets at 2048 x 1396 resolution, the other is in a whopping 14400 x 9820 format.

Might be neat to simulate the TIA and other VCS hardware in Minecraft and run a ROM entirely in that world. Why not? Something similar was done w/ the Commandore 32!

Another interesting link – a recent rundown of the TIA hardware.

30th anniversary interview with Galaga creator/designer Shigeru Yokoyama

by insecure_automaton

Neat background info on everything Galaga, from the programming to the cabinet design: https://web.archive.org/web/20150803002342/http://shmuplations.com/galaga

Galaga screenshot, courtesy The Society of Peripheral Studies
Galaga screenshot, courtesy The Society of Peripheral Studies

“The Core”: resurrecting Atari 2600 homebrew abandonware/vaporware…

by insecure_automaton

…from a single screenshot more than 20 years after it disappeared due to unfortunate circumstances.

Interesting thread here at AtariAge discussing the current effort and a contemporaneous description of the game by the original developer, Paul Oswood, here.

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I’d be remiss if I didn’t link to the original screenshot of course:

Original screenshot of
Original screenshot of “The Core” ca. 2000

Digitpress interviews David Rolfe…

by insecure_automaton

…developer of – among other things – the Intellivision Exec OS and Star Fire, the first arcade game to use a sit-down cockpit, and more notably, allow a user to enter their initials after achieving a high score: https://www.digitpress.com/library/interviews/interview_david_rolfe.html

David Rolfe, programmer of Star Fire and Intellivision Exec OS
David Rolfe, programmer of Star Fire and Intellivision Exec OS

 

 

Browser-based 8080 PCjs machine emulation of 1978’s Space Invaders

by insecure_automaton

Suh-weet: https://www.pcjs.org/machines/arcade/invaders/

Also, the Github repo for PCjs.

Rare and valuable Atari 2600 games

by insecure_automaton

Amazing the obscurity of some of these titles and the resultant sales prices: https://www.racketboy.com/retro/rarest-and-most-valuable-atari-2600-games

Programming the Atari 2600 VCS

by insecure_automaton

As I wrote previously, I’m considering taking a stab at programming Atari 2600 games for fun and _.  May just update helpful links here:

Twin Galaxies records

by insecure_automaton

One of my 2023 goals is to rank on the Twin Galaxies records boards. I’m likely going to have to do it in what I call the “Tim Ferris way” though – by technicality haha…

Then again, there are a lot of really high scores already, at least for the games I currently own. Maybe I’ll just have to shoot for next-to-last rank for Gopher on the Atari 2600.

Interesting read on the technical aspects…

by insecure_automaton

…of the Galaga no-fire cheat: https://www.computerarcheology.com/Arcade/Galaga/

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