Video 61
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Posts posted by Video 61
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Leonard Tramiel has confirmed that the video processor is in no way linked with the Panther. I've attached a video display sub system specification PDF - credit where credit is due: Leonard was kind enough to scan this document so it can be shared and TXG/MNX was kind enough to post it to the Panther group.
that was sure nice of him, thanks for sharing.
lance
www.atarisales.com
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Super fascinating to hear, thanks for sharing the story! I had no idea their Atari Entertainment Division existed in Chicago until just last week after researching more about the Panther.
Do you have any idea why they would have created the development manuals or maybe even distributed the kits from that location? It seems like such a small office but maybe looks are deceiving from Google maps:
you are welcome.
i am not sure about all of ataris operations in the Chicago area. i know they were in development, its where i got some of the information on the unreleased games for the 2600/7800, and the xe. there was even some work on the lynx also.
the picture of the office, may have been only of the actual office part. and other facilities may have been in another part of the area. i asked them once what about their Massachusetts operations once, and why was the development from the u.k. being handled in chicago instead of out east. they never responded to me as to why, its just what atari wanted to do.
by then the east coast operations may have already been terminated.
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Thanks Lance!
PDS#7 testing is currently underway for any of those wanting to see updates:
i checked out your facebook page. nice by the way. one thing i noticed was your post on the panther coming out of chicago. you most likely know this, but if not. at one time atari had a office/warehouse/development dept. in lombard illinois.
that is where atari had me dealing with first. the lombard complex told me that they needed me to help repair the damage to atari's vender/customer relationship.
untold numbers of vendors and customers had ditched atari from lack of support. its how i ended up in distribution. by the early 1990, atari told me i was the largest purchaser of 2600 games in the world.
of course it was a much smaller market by then, but i still sold tens of thousands of 2600 games all over the upper midwest, and parts of canada. then one day lombard disappeared without a trace.
not one word from them. just a disconnect message on the phone. this was typical jack t. in action. i had to call sunnyvale to see what happened, and they transferred my distribution information to the main warehouse, and told me lombard was no more.
they never even contacted their main distribution support in the upper midwest, just closed the place down in one day without a word.
lance
www.atarisales.com
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Hi Lance,
I'm not sure if you would mind sending it to me so I could scan it all into a PDF to share with the community and then send your original documents back? Unless you mean problematic otherwise somehow. Would be great to preserve!
Thanks
the problem is digging it out. i cannot right now. so once i am back to work, then i will try to put it on my to do list.
lance
www.atarisales.com
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On 9/14/2017 at 12:10 PM, TrekMD said:
That is cool. I will have to give it a try.
Please let us know your results!
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As for the dev kit saying "16 bit", I think it was pretty common for early dev systems to be based on older hardware. It would have allowed a developer to get the bones of a game going while they ironed out the real hardware design. The hopeful result would have been some third party games available with the launch of the console.
atari told me that the panther was to be a 16-bit system, but they canned it because things were moving so well with the jaguar.
lance
www.atarisales.com
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Wow, how fascinating!
Here's the wikipedia page about the Panther: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Atari_Panther
What's really interesting to me is how games on the Atari 520ST really look and feel like Genesis games to me. I'd imagine this Panther system, if it was really based on the ST, would have been great competition for the Genesis and SNES. Probably too late, though.
correct, to late as usual. check into to the sega genesis, its basically a ST.
lance
www.atarisales.com
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Hmmm...I have a theory. Maybe Panther was the concept before Jaguar.
yes. but atari told me that they were making so much headway on the jaguar, that they abandoned the panther.
lance
www.atarisales.com
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Hi Lance,
Do you have the manuals that came with it and software? If so, could you possibly posts these to share so we can try to get the unit working?
Also, were you able to get anything running on yours?
Thanks!
i have no software that i am aware of. harry dodgson and his wife came to visit me at christmas time after i told him about it. we booted it, nothing, it may have had a hard drive in it, i cannot remember, there is firmware on the motherboard though. we never got that far with it once it looked like no software was on the drive. that may have been about 25 years ago.
i have dev. paperwork. just getting it all scanned is a problem right now.
lance
www.atarisales.com
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Here is a first look at the Atari 5200 conversion of the 8-bit game Tile Smashers. Game designed by Lance Ringquist with input from Peter J. Meyer, programmed by Peter J. Meyer, and graphics artist Artisan21. 5200 conversion done by Peter J. Meyer and Kamakazi20012.
thanks,
lance
www.atarisales.com
- TrekMD and The Professor
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Here we are testing Video 61's 7800-compatible Trak-Ball on the 7800 game Asteroids. We know that no 7800 games are Trak-Ball compatible in Trak-Ball mode. But, Asteroids seems to respond fairly good in Trak-Ball mode with the 7800-compatible Trak-Ball controller. Here's a look at some gameplay:
Thanks,
Lance
www.atarisales.com
- Atari 5200 Guy, MaximumRD and RickR
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3
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I really want to do something special with the Secretum Labyrinth series on the 5200 with this Xenogenesis game. I know Adventure II has been done, but no one else has stepped up and offered anything within that category. I am adding a few more similar RPG elements like Stamina where your character starts getting fatigue and slows down when swinging the sword too long. Something the improves with advancement of skill level and adds some challenge to the games. Thinking about trading item for item to get past a certain point in the game. Like getting a key to open a certain door. But some feed back on what people like to see inside a game would help.
its going to be a very good release for the 5200. nice job peter.
lance
www.atarisales.com
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The Atari Jaguar FB account posted photos of an Atari Panther dev kit acquired by a collector. The dev kit was intended for developer Psygnosis and includes a manual saying "16 Bit." This is interesting as the Panther is commonly described as a 32 bit platform. Here's the link for those interested:
https://m.facebook.com/story.php?story_fbid=1792770507416923&id=858046584222658
i have one, along with the paper work. when i got it out of atari, they told me it was going to be a 16 bit machine to compete with sega and nintindo. i have had mine since before the launch of the jaguar. it looks kinda like a vcr, in a all metal black case.
lance
www.atarisales.com
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We were trying to see how "Choplifter!" will respond to Video 61's 7800-compatible Trak-Ball in Trak-Ball mode. As you know, it is a joystick-driven game.
thanks,
lance
www.atarisales.com
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Very cool! So it's actually a sub and not a shark? I couldn't help but feel this could've been a great JAWS game but I have an imagination I suppose...
and that is what 8/16 bit gaming is all about, the usage of your imagination. i love it.
lance
www.atarisales.com
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Interesting that this carries a 1984 copyright date; the demo currently in circulation ("Yellow Sub Demo", which appears to be identical to this one) has a 1983 date on the Fuji screen.
Some internal mail from Atari's Vax servers in the Home Computer Division indicate that Paul Comfort was in "Component Test Engineering", and around this time (early February 1984) HCD was looking at an issue in the SALLY chip in A8 computers -- something to do with the data bus and the CLC (Clear Carry Flag) opcode failing in a high percentage of chips when operated at high temperatures. I know very little about 6502 programming but I gather that the CLC opcode *does* get used in some sprite positioning routines. I'm gonna guess that this demo wasn't related to that specific issue (I'm not even sure if the 5200 used the same SALLY revision that was being tested at the time), but it seems like the kind of quick-n-dirty cart that a test group might put together to put an IC through specific paces.
Thanks for sharing this with the community!
ah, that could explain why the sprite just moves around, no need to test other functions of the stick. although, its a great test for joystick movement. and you are welcome.
lance
www.atarisales.com
- Justin, Atari 5200 Guy and Ballblaɀer
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Looks great.
The original 2600 version has a little screen shimmy when your ship crashes into the ground. If possible, that should totally be included in your new version.
thanks for the compliment. i will pass your idea along. it might be to late, but we shall see.
lance
www.atarisales.com
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That's about the only thing I believe he figured out. I just wish he would not have used Atari like he did. It could have been a remarkable company...and the first of its kind could still be around. I know we have an "Atari" today but that is just a name. I hope those people don't repeat dragging the name through the mud again.
the history of atari says in the mud we will go. hope to be proven wrong, but that is the way its been for decades now.
lance
www.atarisales.com
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Interesting demo. However, Lance, the ROMs are reversed from the 8-bit line of carts. On the 5200 the right side of that cart board is for Lo memory locations starting at $4000 and the right side is for high memory locations starting at $8000. That chip is actually in the lo position not the high position. Just thought I would let you know.
man, i thought i had it right. i need to try that again with venture. but on other protos i have, there are e-proms saying low on the left side. i will give venture a whirl and let you know.
lance
www.atarisales.com
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The commentary seems different at the end from the actual video; it's because we had to cut out part of the video. We forgot to adjust the contrast as you can see (the tanks are hard to see) and as we fiddled, the video got blurry. So, we cut that part out, and reused the first part of the video with the complete commentary.
thanks for viewing,
lance
www.atarisales.com
- Justin and The Professor
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This demo for the Atari 5200, we think, was to be used to test joystick movements for the Atari 5200 controllers, as the joystick fire buttons serve no purpose in the function of the demo.
thanks for viewing,
lance
www.atarisales.com
- Justin and The Professor
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What little time I have spent learning the 6502 I have come to one conclusion...it can be a powerful 8-bit processor regardless of what breed it is or what machine it's for. I'm glad Atari stuck with for many of their computers and consoles. Makes it easier to learn the machines they made. Just learn the processor and then you can concentrate on machine-specific features. Smart move.
agreed, at least jack had figured that one out.
lance
www.atarisales.com
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About time! 35 years is too long to wait. LOL.
i feel that way about every game i release, its about time.
can you imagine, the homebrew scene, has made jack look as foolish as he deserves to be.
lance
www.atarisales.com
AMOKBOTS - Work in Progress for Atari 5200
in Atari 5200
Posted
This is the first look at Amok Bots for the Atari 5200. We already have released this on the Atari 8-bit. We hope to release this for the Atari 5200 sometime next year. This is a quick first look at it.
Thanks!
Lance
www.atarisales.com